I was surprised to see Roselia's reaction.
Since Roselia didn't have a significant role in the novel, her backstory wasn't thoroughly detailed.
Additionally, she only appeared up through the Academy arc and never again.
"It's been a while, hasn't it, brat?" Irethiel stated.
"M-Master? Is that really you?" Roselia exclaimed, tears welling up in her eyes.
"I see you grew up quite nicely, Rose," Irethiel remarked, smirking.
Roselia rushed over to Irethiel, still crying, and jumped into her arms, hugging her.
"...."
Meanwhile, I stood there speechless, staring puzzledly at their reunion.
'There are numerous elements that haven't been covered in the novel, so I shouldn't always rely on my novel's knowledge.' I pondered this as I waited for Roselia and Irethiel to finish their reunion and tell me what the fuck is going on here.
After a few moments, Roselia calmed down and turned her attention to me, wiping her teary eyes.
"What do you want to do with this human master?" Roselia wondered.
'Fuck, that implies she is a demon as well,' I thought to myself as I heard Roselia's comment.
"...Ah w-well, he was the one who saved me," Irethiel explained, hesitantly.
"...I see, I appreciate you saving my master Ares, but as you know, humans and demons cannot coexist in this world.
And I can't trust a human knowing a secret about my master's existence, so please don't hate me for this, my student," Roselia remarked, pointing her dagger at me.
"...."
'Bitch, the master you serve is my slave,' I thought to myself as I heard her speak.
"But don't worry, I'll kill you painlessly for the sake of—" Irethiel smacked Roselia on the back of the head, cutting her speech short.
Smack!—
"Ouch, what was that for?" Roselia exclaimed, cradling the back of her head while questioning Irethiel.
"Do demons' brains deteriorate as they age?"
Seeing the shift in Roselia's behavior, I remarked and began laughing.
"Hahahah....!"
"What exactly are you laughing at—" Roselia was going to say something further when Irethiel shut her mouth with one of her hands.
"You're digging your own grave the more you speak...don't be fooled by his appearance," Irethiel added.
"Huh!" Roselia was perplexed after witnessing Irethiel's behavior.
"Allow me to introduce you to her, Ares. Her real name is Rose, and she is one of my former subordinates.
And, as you may have guessed, she is not human," Irethiel said, pausing for a moment and glancing at Rose.
Rose sensed Irethiel's gaze and realized she was being asked to show her true form.
"Tsh," she clicked her tongue and followed Irethiels' command.
!?
And my eyes widened in amazement as I saw Roselia...no, Rose's actual appearance.
She didn't really alter much in terms of appearance, but she did get two fox ears and six tails.
"...She is the Mystical Nine-tailed Fox spirit?" I remarked.
"Yeah," Irethiel replied and confirmed with a nod.
"...."
As I stared at Rose, I recalled everything I knew about the Nine Tail Foxes.
After centuries of training, foxes were able to attain magical power, emotion, and the ability to morph into human form.
The longer they train, the more powerful they get, and as their power grows, so do their tails.
If the fox reaches an exceptional degree of power in addition to the nine tails, it turns white or gold and they are referred to as the Fox Deity.
They lived to an astonishing age, which leads to wisdom and knowledge of the universe.
...And one of the most well-known facts about them is that they are exceptionally attractive and have the ability to charm the opposite sex.
***
"So she already has six tails, Huh?" I muttered.
"Yeah, it appears so, even I'm astonished to see it because she only had two tails back then," Irethiel said as she looked at Rose.
"It's been decades since you last saw me; were you still expecting me to have two tails?" Rose expressed her dissatisfaction.
"...What happened to the others?" Irethiel asked, uncomfortably.
Rose remained silent for a few moments before responding.
"...Almost every one of your subordinates was chased and killed by that treacherous bastard," Rose stated, her face contorted as she recalled the events.
"However, some were able to escape alongside me, and we were forced to hide among humans," Rose concluded.
Irethiel remained silent while Rose explained, as if she expected it.
"Wait! Did Ivica know you were a Nine-tailed fox?" I inquired as I was curious because she could have deceived everyone else but Ivica.
"Of course, she was aware of my existence. And she was the one who offered me to join the Academy while I was looking for a means to save Master from that dungeon," Rose responded.
"...So you knew where Irethiel was imprisoned and were looking for ways to free her in the rune books?" I inquired.
"Yeah, I've been studying the rune language for decades in order to save her,...but now she's being rescued by some adolescent who isn't even 18 years old," Rose replied uneasily.
"Why did Ivica let you into the academy? Isn't there a reason for this?" I questioned her with interest.
"Because she is a half-dragon, and I am assisting her in seeking a cure in rune—" Rose came to a halt in her speech, realizing she had said something unnecessary.
"Don't worry, he's already aware of that dying half-dragon," Irethiel said.
"...No, I was concerned about how you would respond to seeing me cooperating with a dragon," Rose explained, awkwardly smiling.
"...."
So that's how things stand; Roselia's absence from the screen following the Academy arc was due to her learning of Irethiel's death, whose life she had been attempting to save.
The rest of her story doesn't need to be said once she lost her decades of objective.
she might have lost her sanity, and eventually, Ivica might have handled her.
However, all of these are merely my speculations, but there is one thing that remains unchanged: ...that Ivica is dangerous and I have to be on guard against her.
The impression I had of her from the novel had now changed, as she would never have collaborated with a demon because she despised them the most, and her reaction after meeting Irethiel was also different from what I had anticipated.
To even go to such extent as to conceal a Nine-tailed fox in the academy as a professor? I have no idea what else she could be concealing.
"Is she the same Ivica I had read about in the novel?"
***