The Sword and The Shadow

Regretful

Leguna scratched his head awkwardly. "Ummm… Do you know where Eirinn is?"

"Eirinn?" Annelotte turned to him with a look of surprise. "Wasn't she with you?"

"Alissanda came over just now, so she said she'd come to you," Leguna explained.

"I didn't see her. I was busy with the performance just now as you can see."

"Hmmm…" He scratched his head somewhat and shrugged. "Well, maybe she just went walking around on her own since she couldn't find you."

"She couldn't have gotten into any trouble, could she?" she asked worryingly.

"It's fine. It's the First Magic Academy. Guards and bureau agents are all over the place, not to mention she's a high-order priestess. How could she be in trouble? Let's just go somewhere and wait. She might come back after taking a walk."

"Alright."

She didn't insist since he had a point. He also had to stay there, since the real main character of the night wasn't Eirinn or Annelotte. Leguna had to be there at that time.

The two of them found a table with few people and sat down. Coincidentally, Andro and his son, Kanjiras, were setting there.

Leguna chatted with Kanjiras. While he knew he was good friends with Harrison and often went to the brothels together, he found Kanjiras far more pleasant compared to the arrogant and foolish Harrison.

While Kanjiras was a lustful person not serious about anything, he at least knew his limits. Even when he was sitting by the same table as someone as beautiful as Annelotte, he didn't make any moves and behaved politely and maintained a comfortable distance. He wasn't afraid to speak out in fear of her wrath either.

He made some cursory responses and praised her somewhat for her beauty and talent, which was quite normal and expected for Leguna. In fact, he preferred the way Kanjiras responded to the situation.

It was small details like this that improved Leguna's impression of Andro considerably. It must've been quite a tough task to raise his son to be that agreeable.

The performance continued on stage. After both academies finished their performances and the principals gave their speeches, it was time for the students of both academies to show off their talent on stage.

The performances alternated between academies. Some students displayed their most beautiful spells, while others dueled with low-level spells. With the instructors and elders watching them, it was a rather safe affair. At least, nobody died from the duels.

As for the number of injured… One could guess from the number of beds within Eirinn's infirmary. The concrete number, however, was ordered to be kept secret by Annelotte.

Apart from the performances, Second Magic Academy also held an auction. The students were selling off the fruits of their research. Eighty percent of them were mainly funded by the academy while the rest were kickstarted by the students with the help of the academy.

The most popular of all the innovations was a sharpeye potion. It could allow the user to improve their vision by twenty percent upon consumption. But the high price made it so that even the military could only by a few bottles for their elites to use.

But after the students' research efforts, the price to make those potions could be decreased to a tenth of what it was before. While it became half as effective as before, it was still good enough for use on a large scale. Even though the applications of such a potion was far fewer compared to healing potions, producing them in large quantities was still a decent and profitable venture.

In the end, the potion's recipe was sold to the largest potion broker in Melindor for the price of 100 thousand gold coins. Ten percent of the earnings went to the academy and the rest belonged to the students that worked on it.

"Magi are the richest people in this world for good reason…" Leguna mumbled. He worked so hard for one year and only earned a couple thousand gold coins, yet apprentice magi could earn up to 100 thousand with a sudden breakthrough like that.

Annelotte cast him a glance and said, "What if I told you that these 100 thousand gold coins have something to do with you too?"

"Really?" His eyes glowed bright like money. They looked like two shiny coins from afar.

Her gaze cooled, causing him to look down instinctively. She then said, "This recipe is what Innie and her Eirinn's Guard came up with!"

He felt both joy and regret upon hearing that. He was happy that Innilis improved so much in a short half a year and managed to earn that startling an amount of money. He was regretful because he had been neglecting her for quite some time, with him being busy looking for Marolyt and dealing with various other matters from the bureau. He didn't really have time to spend on her.

But even when he wasn't looking, she had never stopped moving forward and learning more. She kept trying her best to be able to stand before Leguna, looking more and more beautiful and amazing each time.

The thought of her efforts made her a little remorseful. He often hid in the bureau to avoid seeing her because of the promise of taking her as his fiancee when she turned 16. As she was also quite busy with her school matters, he shamelessly left her alone. It was a crucial skill of scummy men he had honed for so long -- feigning ignorance.

That didn't mean he wanted to toy with her feelings. Perhaps, he shouldn't have promised her without really meaning it back then. The reason he did so was for Annelotte's sake.

To Leguna, Eirinn definitely had a place in his heart. She was also the unquestionable one who progressed the fastest with him. It wasn't something hard for Annelotte and Innilis to accept either. The two of them had shared many of each other's firsts, after all.

But when it came to Annelotte and Innilis, one of them was bound to be trailing behind the other. Leguna worried how the one at the back would feel.

As a result, he had kept quiet and pretended not to notice Innilis's matters. However, Annelotte's reminder made him aware that not only would this action hurt Innilis, even Annelotte couldn't stand seeing him do that.

It was obvious she was trying to get him to act by reminding him about it. So, he steeled his resolve to settle this matter for good. Like Gahrona had told him, since he had made the choice of three-timing, the girls were bound to get hurt somehow. It was unavoidable.

He smiled awkwardly and stroked his nose.

"I… I will settle this as soon as possible."

"I hope you keep your word," she said coldly.

He looked at her and mumbled, "I'm really sorry, Annie…"

"I told you I don't need your apology or gratitude! Innie deserves that! I have nothing to do with you!"

Just as he was wracking his brains over what to say, applause sounded near the center platform. The honor student representative was about to give her speech.