The next day, since Cardan was busy, Elvin took her to the mage tower for her usual lessons, as always.
Official students of the tower had to live there full-time. But since she was still so young and her status too high a risk, she only attended lessons twice a week. Naturally, this arrangement had been Cardan's idea.
Next, Tatau taught her how to control a puppet doll with her mind. His demonstration went perfectly smoothly. But when it was her turn, the doll shot straight up and slammed into the ceiling.
She was praised for doing so well on her very first try. Still, Emilia could not shake the feeling that she was doing something wrong.
After the lesson, Emilia felt discouraged. On her very first day, she had already punched five holes in the ceiling. That was apparently not bad at all.
Elvin asked if she was ready to head home. That was when Emilia suddenly remembered something and asked if he could take her to the royal library. So she dragged him off to the library.
But, as it turned out, Fay was not there that day.
Seeing how down she looked at missing her friend, Elvin quickly hurried off to find paper and a pen, telling her she could just leave a short note instead. That way, her friend would know she had stopped by, once he read it.
And so Emilia left a message behind. I'll stop by here whenever I come to the mage tower.
Back home, Emilia diligently practiced her dance in front of a smirking Cardan.
"Drop that ridiculous dance. I could do it a hundred times better than that."
Cardan, watching from behind, privately admitted that she actually had a bit of talent.
Emilia grumbled. She had been practicing this for three whole days, and it still was not turning out right.
Cardan told her that at her age he had already mastered it perfectly. Then he laughed and admitted that he honestly had no idea how to make it look that graceful either.
Hearing that, Emilia felt like dying of frustration. Just as she was about to complain that he kept teasing her without ever demonstrating properly himself, Cardan used his magic to make the doll stand up and give her a light tap on the nose.
After teasing her, he added with a laugh, "Controlling it really is difficult, isn't it?"
That only made Emilia more determined than ever to master it, just to beat the old man someday.
On her second day at the tower, Tatau announced there would be a test at the end of class, then ran off to fetch his equipment. Emilia waited the entire session, but he never came back. So she went off to look for him.
Finding him sitting motionless in a corner, she panicked, hoping he had not just keeled over dead. Getting closer, she finally let out a sigh of relief. It turned out he had simply worn himself out and fallen asleep.
She was about to leave and let Tatau rest when a voice suddenly rang out.
"Hello, Emilia. It's been a while."
She turned around and saw her friend Fay. "It's been a while. I read your note. I missed you, so I came to find you. Hope I'm not intruding."
Seeing Fay made Emilia genuinely happy. She asked why he was here. Wasn't entry into the tower supposed to be strictly controlled? Even Elvin had to wait out in the hallway.
Fay just smiled at that, reached out and touched Tatau, telling him to sleep deeply.
Emilia guessed that the person who had put Tatau to sleep must be standing right in front of her. Could this be the all powerful mage himself? He really did look peaceful sleeping like that.
Seeing her sitting there watching Tatau sleep, Fay immediately held out his hand and asked if she wanted to go out with him. He wanted to take Emilia to the plaza.
Though she had never been there before, she had heard it was a bustling marketplace right in the heart of the capital, where merchants sold every kind of goods imaginable. Of course, she had only ever heard about it, never actually set foot there. But would it really be all right going along with Fay? What about the guard standing outside?
Fay smiled and said that as long as they did not get caught, it would be fine. With that, he took hold of Emilia's hand and carried her straight to the plaza in a flash.
The moment they arrived, Emilia blinked in confusion and asked, could Fay actually use instant teleportation magic? Even their clothes had already changed into different outfits.
Fay took her on a tour around the plaza. As they passed by a shop selling paintings, she stopped to look inside and noticed all the paintings. They looked remarkably similar to one another, which only made Emilia more curious.
Fay explained that these were portraits of figures who held great influence over the people.
After looking around for a while, Emilia spotted a particularly striking painting and reached to take it down. Just then the shopkeeper walked over. "Ah, little customer, that's a portrait of the great arch mage, a real favorite among many."
Fay smiled at that. "Emilia, if you like it, take it. I'll buy it for you."
And so Emilia chose the portrait of Cardan.
As the two of them stepped happily out onto the street, a golden-haired boy crashed straight into her. Instead of apologizing, he snapped. "You should watch where you're walking. How dare you run into me. Get down on your knees and apologize right now."
Emilia thought irritably to herself, he was clearly the one who had run into her. And on top of that, what was with this attitude?
But Emilia did not bother arguing. She simply said sorry and let it go.
Just then, the boy's two attendants came rushing over in a panic. And seeing him about to raise a hand against her, Fay, standing behind, merely narrowed his eyes, and the boy crumpled straight to the ground.
Fay smiled and took Emilia's hand. "Let's go."
As she walked away, Emilia could still hear him shrieking behind them. "Stay right there, you insolent little brat. I won't let this go."
The two of them finally made their way happily back to the mage tower. Tatau was still fast asleep, exactly as they had left him. Fay walked over to stand in front of him, smiled once, and said goodbye to Emilia.