Lucian looked at the strange girl Anastasia in front of him, rubbed his chin, and fell into deep thought.
Ironforge was a border city, right next to the Freezing Country, so every year it would sometimes open up trade routes with the Freezing Country, trading with them.
This job would fall on the head of the Ironforge mayor.
Trading with other countries was a tough job, and that's why it ended up on a small mayor.
The higher-ups only gave you the orders, and how much you made was all up to you. If you lost money, the mayor of Ironforge had to take the loss.
This job wasn't easy at all.
Lucian knew that trade route too. It went through a long, dangerous forest full of monsters. The people who carried the goods were crazy people who didn't care about their lives.
That's probably why Raymond came up with this idea-maybe he wanted to use the group of elves that Lucian had with him.
After thinking for a while, Lucian said slowly, "I'll take this job."
He was a supernatural person, a 3-stage knight. Even if he couldn't finish the job of protecting the trade, he could at least take care of himself. Plus, in the second half of the year, his two children would be born, and his power would get even stronger.
Anastasia laughed, "You already have two beautiful sisters. Why would you want me?"
"Is it because guys like younger girls?"
Looking at the bold girl in front of him, and the big letters on her head that said "Not Pregnant," Lucian shook his head in annoyance.
"Well, let's go practice magic."
Half a month later.
Lucian sat in his study, bent his fingers, and lightly tapped the table.
Sunlight came through the big window and landed on the carpet on the floor. The warm sunlight wasn't bright, and it made him feel safe and comfortable.
After thinking for a while, Lucian looked out the window.
In the estate, Anastasia Acheson's small figure was constantly making gestures in the air. Occasionally, there was a sigh, and the calm but slightly cold voice of the elf gave some advice.
"Miss, you can't just get good at magic by getting angry," Sylph said, holding her magic stick and moving it through the air in a beautiful arc. "Magic is about controlling magic, talking to magic. Humans are naturally bad at understanding the essence of magic. If you want to learn magic, you have to work really hard."
Anastasia said in frustration, "But this is too slow. Am I not talented at all?"
It had been more than half a month since Lucian took on the job. Under Raymond the mayor's quiet approval, Anastasia, the mayor's daughter, had almost moved into Harrow Manor. Her goal was clear-she wanted to "learn magic."
But magic was something that humans found really hard to master. Humans were different from other races. Even Olivia, who had a natural connection to magic, found it hard to understand the true nature of magic.
The dragons were the best at this. They were born with a strong ability to control magic, which is why they had Dragon Tongue Magic-a type of magic that other races couldn't use, couldn't learn, and couldn't even understand.
Humans usually used their supernatural hearts, which came from their supernatural jobs, to turn magic into something they could use.
For example, The Knight's Soul turned into Knight's Energy. It had a fancy name, but it was actually a very low-quality form of magic.
Only knights could use it, and it had very limited uses. But this was how most races used magic.
Mages were the purest and most extreme type of job. They didn't have a magical heart like mages did. They directly touched and understood the true nature of magic.
People without the right talent couldn't even understand that kind of power. Even if you had the talent, like Anastasia, it was still really hard to control magic.
After all, going from zero to one was really hard.
Talent only meant you had the chance to learn magic. How fast you learned had nothing to do with your talent. You still had to work really hard. Only when you became a real mage and actually controlled magic would your talent affect how fast and how high you could go.
Thinking about this, Lucian rubbed his sore shoulders and walked into the garden of Harrow Manor.
Sylph gave a slight nod. "Mr. Lucian, good morning."
Even though she still didn't like humans, she could see how well Lucian took care of Margarethe. She also treated the other elves just the same, and didn't look at them as different races.
This sense of equality made the elves from the Zelle tribe feel really comfortable.
When Anastasia saw Lucian, she lit up. She looked at him with a sad face and said, "Mr. Lucian, this elf meditation technique is way too hard to understand. It's so boring and annoying! Their bodies are different from ours, so it's just too confusing!"
Looking at Anastasia complaining, Lucian smiled and ruffled her hair. He cleared his throat and said, "Miss Sylph, thanks for your hard work. I'll take over from here. You can go rest now."
Sylph nodded and said nothing else. She left.
Once Sylph was gone, Lucian said, "This is the best teacher we could find in Ironforge.
I've asked other mages too, but when they heard they had to come to this small town to teach a noble girl, they all said no. So just bear with it. Once you get the hang of it, things will get easier."
Anastasia pouted. "Those mages are so arrogant! If I become a mage, I'll never be like them!"
Lucian smiled and didn't say anything, just ruffled Anastasia's hair with a little bit of affection.
He saw how hard she was trying, so a couple of complaints didn't bother him at all.
Anastasia's eyes darted around as if she had just come up with a crazy idea.
"What if I don't want to be a mage anymore? I'll just learn to be a knight with you. Those knight armor and swords look so cool!"
Lucian gave a dry laugh. "Then Mr. Raymond would probably kill me. He hired me just so you could be a mage. Plus, being a knight takes a strong body.
How about you try running three laps around Harrow Manor right now?"
Anastasia stuck out her tongue. "Nah, I think being a mage is actually pretty cool!"
Lucian shrugged. He knew Anastasia was just joking, and he didn't take it seriously. After thinking for a moment, he slowly said, "What's the meditation technique like for elves?"
Anastasia explained, "Sylph always tells me to listen to the whispers of nature, to feel the flow of moonlight. But how do you actually listen? How do you feel? We humans don't even have the right organs to feel nature, okay?"
Lucian listened, then said, "Elves are different from humans. They're born with the ability to feel nature, to connect with it. Humans don't have that. So, maybe we should try using our own human senses to catch the magic around us. Don't listen-look."
Anastasia tilted her head, completely confused.
Lucian explained further, "You can probably feel the presence of magic, you just don't know how to use it.
Elves can hear the whispers of nature and use its power to organize the magic around them. We can't do that. So, imagine magic like water. The magic around you is a huge wave.
You need to pull out a small stream from that wave and bring it into your body."
He said that while grabbing Anastasia's arm and guiding her to feel the magic around them.
Lucian wasn't a mage, but he was a supernatural being. Copying things wasn't hard for him. Knight's Energy was basically magic, and even if he couldn't use it in the same way as a mage, he knew how to absorb it.
Under his direction, Anastasia closed her eyes and let her body sink into the magic flow. Then, she actually saw a huge wave of magic, and with her own power, she pulled out a stream of it and brought it into her body.
Suddenly!
A few tiny sparks of fire lit up from Anastasia's fingertip, then vanished in a flash.
She had mastered magic!