Chapter 65.2

Theodore wasn't bothered with that answer for just a few seconds.

"Fine."

He immediately curled the corners of his mouth, a mischievous smile on his face.

"Sounds like fun. I'll give you a ride."

"So, do we have a deal?"

This was how a sister and brother-in-law quietly made a secret pact with each other.

****

After parting with Theodore, Rishe hastily wrote several letters.

She entrusted them to her maidservants, ate dinner alone, and then went to work in the fields. After checking on the maidservants' work, she bathed in hot water, and returned to her room.

Once her hair was dried, she waved the maidservants away for rest and to be alone.

She sat down in the only chair in the room and breathed softly. She naturally thought about Michel.

"- Thank you, teacher."

In her life as an alchemist, he had once taken Rishe out to the northern tip of Koyor.

"I didn't expect to see such a magnificent aurora borealis."

That was the simplest word she could come up with at that moment.

On one continent, in Koyor, the Northern Lights could be seen. But Rishe had never seen them throughout her lives.

"It was just the right time of the year. It's most visible on an evening when it's warm for a while and then suddenly cools down, but it looks like it's going to rain in a few hours if we don't hurry."

As they walked through the snowfield, Michel took out a glass bottle.

Inside the corked bottle was a special chemical Michel had formulated. Normally colorless and transparent, it only produced snow-white crystals when the temperature dropped.

It wasn't exactly accurate to be reported to the royal family, but it helped a great deal to the extent that Rishe and the others used it on a daily basis. Michel was right. It looked like they had to hurry on their way back.

"So, Rishe, did it give you a pointer on the research you've been choking on?"

"Yes, very much!"

"That's good to hear."

Michel laughed as she shook the lantern in her hand.

Rishe was also wearing a fur cloak, but Michel, who was frozen, was one step more lumpy. The multiple layers wrapped around his neck made it difficult for him to move.

"I'm sorry, teacher. I'm sorry you had to go all this way for me."

"Why are you sorry? It's because you're my apprentice."

Michel exhaled a cloudy breath and bent his head.

"I can show you anything you want to see. If there's something you don't know, I'll teach you with all the knowledge I have... Of course, if you want to get to something on your own, I won't stand in your way."

Michel often told Rishe that.

When the people around her saw him, they were always surprised. Their impression of him was always, "The only thing Michel Evan cares about is his research. He doesn't care about anyone else."

But that wans't the case.

"Why are you paying so much attention to me?"

"Why, you say?"

"If you didn't take an apprentice, you could devote yourself to your own research. So why is that?"

"Hmm, that's right."

Michel put a hand to his chin as they walked down the snow-cleared path.

"Maybe it's because it's the only 'good' thing I could do in my life."

"...Teacher?"

His mumbled response sounded as if it had been sucked into the surrounding snow.

"Well, you don't have to dwell on that. Just learn more, absorb more, grow up steadily, and grow taller."

"... Teacher, I can't grow any taller physically."

"Huh? You're already that old?... Well, that's shall we say out of the question."

He looked back at Rishe and smiled really gently.

"... I'm very much looking forward to what kind of scholar you'll be."

She thought that line must have come from Michel's heart.

It wasn't that he was particularly kind only to Rishe as his student. He also looked out for Kyle and liked the people living in Koyor.

It wasn't that he had some kind of animosity towards others. It wasn't that he wished to "experiment" with gunpowder out of some nasty feelings or cruelty.

It was for these reasons that it was impossible to get a handle on him.

What Teacher wants to do is experiment to see if gunpowder can change the world.

Rishe slowly meditated.

— I wonder what will happen if I tell Teacher everything.

That was the option that went through her brain.