For the Egyptian ministers, Alaric's appearance at Nitocris's side was an extremely unexpected development.
Thus, during the council meeting, these ministers did not devote their attention to state affairs at all.
Instead, they focused single-mindedly on remonstrating with Nitocris, insisting that someone like Alaric was nothing more than a hollow fraud.
A truly qualified pharaoh, they claimed, would never favor such a person who merely relied on flashy tricks to attract attention, that was the behavior of a benighted ruler who would bring about the fall of a nation.
If this had been in the past, when Nitocris had no choice but to bow to the ministers' power, she would have essentially agreed with their demands, like a human seal, affixing her approval to whatever they decided.
But this time, the female pharaoh cast aside her former weakness and instead forcefully refuted the ministers' opinions, insisting on keeping Alaric at her side.
Nitocris's change shocked the ministers.
All along, this female pharaoh's "sensibleness", or rather, her weakness, had been what they appreciated most.
Because even though they controlled Egypt's actual power, the prestige of the pharaoh ran too deep.
The vast majority of Egyptians still believed that the pharaoh was the descendant of the gods walking among mortals.
Before they could completely overturn the pharaoh's position in the hearts of the Egyptian people, it was still necessary to preserve the existence of the pharaoh.
That, in turn, meant that if they wished to grasp power, they had to maintain an obedient puppet pharaoh.
This was precisely why they had chosen the "weak" Nitocris, rather than any of her other siblings, to ascend the throne.
Yet now, Nitocris had suddenly "defected" on the matter of Alaric, and they could not very well do anything to her.
After all, they could hardly kill the pharaoh outright and replace her with someone even more obedient.
"Forget it, forget it, he's just a musician."
"When women reach that age, it's normal for them to admire handsome young men."
"He's only a wandering bard anyway. He can't possibly stir up the heavens."
"At worst, we'll just find a way to get rid of him later."
With such thoughts in mind, the ministers ultimately made a show of compromise.
They did not openly tell Nitocris to send Alaric away, though what schemes they might be plotting in secret was anyone's guess.
And Nitocris, as if the one who had just resisted them had not been herself at all, continued in the subsequent discussions to act as a perfectly qualified human seal.
The council ended as it always did, amid an atmosphere of apparent harmony.
Yet only those present knew that beneath the surface, undercurrents were already surging between Nitocris and her ministers.
After the council concluded, Alaric and Nitocris remained in the female pharaoh's study just as they had the night before, only, unlike last night, this time it was Nitocris who was responsible for teaching Alaric the knowledge of Egyptian rune sorcery.
Naturally, Nitocris's little guardian deity, the god Medjed, was there as an auditor.
During the teaching process, the two of them would occasionally use divine arts to let Alaric personally experience the corresponding power.
And just what sort of person was Alaric?
Although Nitocris herself could be considered a powerful spellcaster, her reserves of knowledge and breadth of experience paled in comparison to Alaric's.
Setting aside the difference in knowledge demands between divine spellcasters and arcane spellcasters, even looking at Alaric alone, his volume of knowledge and understanding of magic was unmatched among legendary mages.
True, from the time he began learning magic to the day he became a legendary mage, he had spent several decades, compared to him, some prodigious geniuses reached the legendary realm far faster.
But Alaric was different.
Because even when other mages became legendary, they merely attained legendary-level mastery in a single branch of magic.
Alaric, however, as a legendary mage, had crossed three worlds, and every category of magic he had mastered had reached the legendary level.
What did that mean?
For ordinary legendary mages, casting a legendary spell required preparing materials in advance, setting up rituals, expending vast amounts of time and energy, and only after a long casting process could the spell finally be unleashed.
But for Alaric, legendary spells were no different from ordinary spells, requiring only a brief preparation.
Even the most large-scale legendary spells merely demanded that he spend a bit more time.
After all, he was someone who, with a mortal body, had deduced a "Rite of Apotheosis," helping Hecate, or rather, the original Pandora, ascend to become the highest-ranked deity beneath the Creator: the Goddess of Magic, the God of Mages, the Goddess of the Weave.
Although there had been elements of opportunism involved, and the process was entirely unrepeatable, it was more than enough to prove Alaric's attainments as a mage.
Such a person, what kind of spells had he not seen? What magical theories had he not studied?
Learning Egyptian rune sorcery came to him even faster than Nitocris herself learning magic.
In just a single morning, Alaric grasped the majority of the fundamental principles behind rune sorcery.
At this pace, in no more than two days, Nitocris would have nothing left to teach him, if not for the fact that he did not believe in the Egyptian gods, Alaric might already be able to freely wield Egyptian divine arts.
In short, over the course of one morning, Alaric successfully made Nitocris doubt her own existence, much like how, in her childhood, she had once made the high priest who taught her divine arts doubt his.
Originally, Nitocris had believed that in terms of spellcraft, she herself was already a rare genius.
This was a conclusion proven by generations of Egyptian priests over many years.
In divine arts, especially rune sorcery, there had never been anyone in all of Egypt who could compare with her.
If not for the fact that, as pharaoh, she could not freely turn her spells against the ministers, Nitocris would never have been elevated to the position of female pharaoh.
And this very ability was also the reason she had been able to preserve her chastity under the covetous gazes of those ill-intentioned ministers.
Unfortunately, she had now encountered Alaric, an existence that could be called a genius among geniuses.
Unparalleled talent combined with unparalleled accumulation ultimately gave rise to a "monster" like Alaric.
"I'm starting to wonder whether you're some god of wisdom who wandered here from somewhere," Nitocris commented to Alaric after the lesson ended.
"Tell me the truth, Thoth, are you really not a foreign god of wisdom, or her divine child?"
"Medjed! Medjed!" The god Medjed nodded solemnly, expressing agreement.
"No, I'm quite certain I'm not," Alaric said half-jokingly. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to make that goddess of wisdom fall in love with me."
"Eh? Thoth actually wants to have an ambiguous relationship with a god?" Nitocris was taken aback by Alaric's words.
"What, is that not allowed?" Alaric thought for a moment and explained, "Maybe it's not like that in Egypt, but where I come from, it's perfectly normal for gods and mortals to fall in love."
"Eh, is that so?" Alaric's words seemed to leave Nitocris feeling a little dejected.