Chapter 123: 59. Sudden Change
Just as Fisher relieved the pain of having his magic power drained, he suddenly realized something while lying on his office chair. If the soul has “independent splitting ability,” it means that each fragment of the split soul maintains a deep connection with its original body, provided that the split individual still retains a high degree of vitality.
Upon careful reflection, isn’t Renee’s Hart Bird embodying such a characteristic?
Each Lark is a split product of her soul; although separated from her, they should still inherently retain a deep connection. In other words, those Hart Birds are actually, to some extent, equivalent to Renee herself!
So, when she said she had no connection with the Hart Birds, that she couldn’t view her own perspective through them, wasn’t she deceiving herself?
Moreover, following this line of thought, it becomes quite possible that she is the “Undying Sorceress.”
Leaving aside whether she possesses the terrifying self-healing ability he had previously seen in Carlo, even if her original body were to die, those Hart Birds would regenerate her complete soul, which is tantamount to a form of resurrection, isn’t it?
Fisher silently regarded Renee as the Undying Sorceress, but this time, he didn’t call the Hart Birds to notify Renee to come back. As he had said before, Renee was the best sorceress Fisher was looking for; as long as she remained by his side, Fisher could be at ease.
Furthermore, considering Renee’s personality, while she doesn’t particularly like humans, she certainly wouldn’t be described as hating them, unlike Raphael, who had been tormented by humans and whose home had been invaded. Renee had always hidden within human society, reflecting that she didn’t harbor such intense hatred, otherwise he wouldn’t have had the chance to interact with her for so long.
However, for now, Fisher didn’t plan to reveal to Renee that he knew her true identity. He even wanted to pretend that he was completely unaware, cancel his suspicion towards her, and wait until she let her guard down before catching that wicked sorceress red-handed.
As Fisher thought about this, his head began to ache again, forcing him to temporarily abandon the reasoning, open the doors and windows of his office, and go out to enjoy dinner.
In the campus cafeteria, students came and went, chatting with each other. Fisher calmly walked through the crowd and coincidentally overheard several students discussing Shivali’s visit to Nali.
Later, when he went to the cafeteria for a meal, he learned that the Golden Palace had issued an announcement; in a few days, Shivali’s academic delegation would visit Saint Nali, targeting Professor Fisher Benavides and his theory on the source of magic souls from Saint Nali University.
As soon as he sat down, Fisher felt numerous eager eyes on him, and some people were even whispering,
“Look, that’s Professor Fisher.”
“So young! Can I write a letter to the professor? I rarely see such a gentleman that fits my taste.”
“Why don’t you ask Her Highness Elizabeth?”
The female university students were already fully grown; in terms of romance, they weren’t like those still inexperienced girls. Many had been influenced, to varying degrees, by their families and the societal atmosphere of Saint Nali, aspiring for a free and pure love. The current trend of free love was flourishing, and any “age factor” warned by parents would be regarded as “outdated” by them.
Just like what Laura wrote in her poem,
“There is an age difference among people, but love knows none.”
So many wealthy businessmen quite openly kept several young women as mistresses, even if they already had families, and they could freely proclaim the preciousness of love to the outside world.
One could say Laura’s idealistic ideas were indeed a bit too romantic; Fisher wasn’t much interested in that, but he indeed counted as one of the relatively younger gentlemen in Nali compared to these students, with only a seven to eight-year gap. Young and talented, he just lacked a bit of economic foundation; otherwise, Elizabeth might not have been able to stop the enthusiastic ladies of Saint Nali.
“Professor Fisher!”
Just as Fisher was dining, a girl carrying a tray unexpectedly sat down in front of him. Fisher looked up and saw Milica, with her black hair, greeting him with a smile.
“Milica, where are Jasmine and Her Highness Isabel?”
The three of them were basically inseparable throughout the day, but he didn’t see the other two ladies now.
Milica glanced at the sky outside and said,
“They have other activities to attend to tonight. I came over to have dinner first, and I didn’t expect to run into you here.”
Fisher chuckled and gestured for her to sit. Then he recalled her home situation,
“How is your father doing? Is he still worried about you?”
“No way! I’m already a grown girl, not the child who cried when she couldn’t solve math problems!”
“. Maybe so.”
The moment she mentioned being a “grown girl,” Milica’s little face couldn’t help but turn slightly red.
She puffed her cheeks, seemingly recalling the time Fisher first tutored her, when she had cried to her father to change tutors because she couldn’t do the math problems. However, that Archbishop, despite doting on his daughter, was left speechless by Fisher’s few words and realized the importance of educating his daughter, thereby ignoring her request for the first time and making her continue to study math.
While she didn’t end up pursuing a scientific path, it must be said that that strict teaching helped her a lot, at least preventing her from continuing her rebellious phase. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to get into Saint Nali University.
Many things in life are like that; they seem like you’ve put in a lot of effort for no gain, but they will always repay you in some way, gradually transforming you into someone different from before.
“My father is currently busy with voluntary teaching. Many of the former professors from the Royal Academy are too old to continue their volunteer work, and many young professors are unwilling to participate. He’s been worrying about that; many professors at our school are also reluctant to sign up.”
Although doing voluntary work pays, it’s ultimately a public good, and it’s basically impossible to receive a generous reward for it. The older generation of scholars has a mindset of contributing to Nali society, but the younger generation does not necessarily share that outlook. One only needs to look at the researchers from the Royal Academy to understand their nature.
As those old professors’ health further deteriorates, the traditional volunteer activities may also disappear.
“This time I signed up, so I can contribute a littlebit. If I’m not mistaken, traditional literature is the key subject for voluntary teaching; compared to other subjects, the most people participate in the class. Did Lady Laura from our school sign up?”
Speaking of this, Milica pouted in annoyance and, somewhat angrily, bit into the beef on her plate,
“Hmph, I thought about helping my father a little, so I specially wrote a letter inviting Professor Laura to participate in the voluntary teaching, but she didn’t even reply to me! I wrote two or three letters, and she pretended she hadn’t seen my letters before and said she didn’t have time recently! I see she’s quite free, going to the Healing Room every week for her treatments!”
As soon as Milica finished speaking, she realized that she might have spoken too loudly. After all, Laura was still a professor at Saint Nali University, and Milica was still her student. If she found out, her classes would surely become difficult.
“You young people’s vocabulary is really getting richer, so what is the Healing Room?”
“Hmph, as if Professor Fisher is very old. But only the ladies of Saint Nali would know that place. Many wives like to go there for treatments; I’ve heard they have secret recipes from the Southern Continent that can make a lady’s skin whiter and smoother, and repair scars and wrinkles.”
Fisher thought for a moment; it was probably similar to a beauty service location. There used to be such a place in Saint Nali, but it used magic for services, and ultimately went bankrupt because it was too expensive and the service effects were poor.
Now another one had just emerged.
“Many female students at our school have been there; the results might really be good. A classmate from my year went once, and her freckles disappeared. Now she cherishes her face very much.”
“I see.”
Regarding women’s love for beauty, Fisher didn’t comment much. During the time they enjoyed dinner and chatted, the atmosphere was relatively pleasant. However, she clearly knew that he appointed Jasmine as a teaching assistant and kept hinting to Fisher whether he needed a student assistant to run errands outside of class.
Although her learning abilities weren’t great, she was quite skilled at serving tea and coffee.
Fisher smiled and shook his head, but out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of his staff leaning nearby, suddenly emitting little sparks of light—light that shone with a white glow, indicating that a magical setting Fisher had made somewhere had just been triggered.
This magic was set in his laboratory to prevent Eil from being discovered by others; if she left the laboratory or if someone intruded from the outside, this magic would shine.
He glanced in the direction of his laboratory, frowned, and immediately stood up,
“I’ve finished eating; I’ll leave first.”
“Hey hey?”
Milica watched Fisher hurriedly grab his staff and hat and rush out of the cafeteria, thinking he had suddenly remembered something urgent, and she could only pout helplessly and continue her dinner.
Fisher didn’t leave through the main door but climbed out of the window of his office; he was now more adept at escaping the school than those students.
In the fields outside the school, he ran wildly, following the direction of the sunset, quickly arriving at his laboratory door. Just as his staff had indicated, the laboratory door was wide open. He walked into the room but did not see the demon girl who had been sleeping.
“Eil?”
He frowned and called out, but there was no response.
“Boom!”
Just as he spoke, a loud noise suddenly came from a distance, causing Fisher to quickly look towards the more distant fields outside the laboratory.
