This incident was just a misstep, but it was about to take me to a different direction that seemed more unpredictable.
I trusted the wrong person, and it failed; that was on me. This incident wouldn’t prevent me from trusting anyone else, it just taught me to be more cautious.
Falling and standing up are a natural part of the cycle of life.
"What do you plan to do from here since you took it upon yourself to drop out of the academy?"
Luna asked as she massaged my shoulders. This relaxed me more than anything.
"Focus more on the alchemy. The academy was more of a distraction and a stepping stone. Although the professor offered me a bit, he was still useless."
I held one of Luna’s hands and linked our hands together.
"What are you going to do about the Northern laboratory, the crown has already confiscated it."
"There wasn’t really anything informative in there except for the failed experiments."
The laboratory in the noble district had been found out and I’m not really sure how.
"Won’t that push you back, master? Abelion will have to remake everything again, while you also have to do the same."
She said distressed. There were more than fifty different tanks and all of them just went down the drain.
It took more than two months to make them.
"We’ll make new ones. As Blair informed us, my dear professor was the recipient of my hard work."
I leaned back and forced a chuckle.
"He was clearly looking for your test results. Your research is fascinating, master."
I nodded. The professor had wanted to know how to engrave the obedience spell into the brain without damaging it, but I didn’t teach him.
Why would I? When he didn’t give me enough benefits.
"There is nothing he can find anyway."
We fell into a comfortable silence as Luna continued to massage me.
"I want your honest opinion, Luna. What do you think about this whole situation?"
Luna paused and leaned forward until she was maintaining eye contact.
"Do you want an honest answer master?"
She asked. I nodded.
"Yes. Brutal honesty. "
Luna took a deep breath and let go of my shoulders. She walked around and stood in front of me.
"This situation is mainly your own doing master, you carry most of the burden. "
My eyes widened. I sat up straighter to listen to the clearly incoming lecture.
"How so?"
Getting my approval to continue, Luna clasped her hands together in front of her.
"You have been careless and procrastinating on a lot of things."
"Ooh, I didn’t notice that. I think I’ve been moving at a faster pace even."
Luna shook her head.
"I’m not talking about the experiments, I’m talking about your goals. For example the matter about the saintess and the prince. You have been doing nothing but playing politics when you taught me that we should crush our enemies before they dare to bite."
I nodded.
"Aah.. I understand. I probably didn’t notice it myself, but I think I was trying to keep the peace between the duchy and the crown. Mother said not to cause any trouble. I’ve reprimanded Seraph for being influenced by mother, but I think my decisions subconsciously leaned toward not making her unhappy. "
"The duchess will never be unhappy with you."
I nodded.
"Luna, you are really my guardian angel. Before we leave the capital, how about we go out with a bit of flair? I’ve gotten too soft for my liking."
"Yes, master."
Luna smiled. I pulled her onto my lap. She automatically wrapped her hands around my neck as I bit into her. Her hands came to my hair as she massaged it, softly running her hands through it.
"What do you plan to do after going back to the duchy master?"
Luna asked. This question had also been in my mind. Although I had planned to leave the academy earlier, it had not been this early.
"I’m pretty sure there will be war in the near future; it might not even be with the duchy, hence, before that, I plan to leave."
Luna pulled back and looked at me in surprise. I had not told her this arrangement since it wasn’t fully planned.
"But why master?"
"Luna as an alchemist, I can positively say I have exhausted most of the duchy and capital resources. You remember the book I got from that trader in Essex, right?"
She nodded.
"On the first page, it says a Philosopher who never leaves their threshold risks mistaking thoughts for truth. Let the Philosopher become a pilgrim."
Luna nodded, understanding what I meant.
"You are stagnating, right, master?"
"Yes, the world is too large for me to confine myself in one place. To gain immortality that I so desire, I need to search for answers everywhere, even if it means crossing the black sea. During this journey, I will be able to gain power, insights, and learn. I cannot allow myself to stagnate."
Luna leaned onto me. Her head was placed on my shoulder.
"Will the duchess accept your request. "
"She will, it’s not like I won’t be returning home frequently. There are teleportation stations everywhere, and I can teleport myself if I really miss her."
"Won’t that strain your body?"
I chuckled.
"A little pain won’t stop. It will just drain most of my magic according to the distance, that’s all."
.....
"If you don’t let me go they will know you are the one who kidnapped me!"
The professor who was tied to one of my makeshift beds shouted as he looked at me with fear in his eyes.
"Ooh, don’t worry you’ll be back in your house in a sand glass, they won’t even notice you are missing."
The professor started to struggle trying to get out of the straps but it was all useless.
"Young master this was only a slip of tongue. Just a small amount of greed. I’ll return all your research materials please don’t do this. A teacher is like a father."
I laughed at that.
"I don’t really need a father, that would be an inconvenience," he looked at me in confusion, "Ooh, did I forget to tell you? I was planning on killing you anyway. "
"What! Isn’t that too cruel?"
The smile dropped from my face.
"Why would it be cruel when you lust after my darling Luna. You think I’m stupid, do you? I wanted to wring your neck every single time I saw you, but my dear Luna saved your life. You know what she told me, you are the perfect tool to be used while in the academy she promised to destroy you herself. Right luna?"
I glanced at luna who was organising everything needed for the operation.
"Yes, master."
The professor’s eyes almost popped out of his eye sockets. A comical scene.
"Then you’ll be doing it. This will be your first independent operation, and we have a sand glass to finish whatever we are doing and take him back."
"No, young master are you trying to kill me?"
I smiled down at him.
"Of course not that would be too much trouble. "
"Then what? Are you going to put an obedience spell inside me?"
My eyes filled with pity at his hopeful eyes before turning to amusement.
"Don’t you remember our lesson, I’m the only one who can engrave it. This one is more extensive. News is going to spread about the professor who went mad, won’t that be the best topic at the academy? The mad professor, sounds perfect. "
"No! Anything else but that I’ll..."
Luna injected Zelph into his system. He passed out mid-sentence.
"I hope you can do everything as I thought you could, but mistakes are also inevitable. "
Luna nodded and started the operation.
"Luna, I’ve been thinking about how to get back at the church, something that would hurt them, a warning if I may call it that way."
Luna didn’t stop her hands but glanced up at me briefly.
"And what would that be?"
"Blowing up the church, this will give them a reason to concentrate on something else and the rumours would shift to them. I do not like the fact that mother and Seraph have had their names pulled through the mad."
Luna nodded. Although mother and Seraph seem not to mind the rumours i minded since they were also being pulled through the mad with me.
"I thought you would brainwash the saintess and the prince."
Luna said nonchalantly.
"No, I should have done that the moment we met, but right now they are very aware of what I do and wary of me in general. I’m sure they might already have a high-ranking mage or knight beside them. It’s not like I can’t destroy them in other ways. "
I chuckled softly, then continued after checking Luna’s progress.
"I don’t need to dirty my hands with their brain to win, I know they’ll one day come begging for my help. This kingdom cannot prosper without our family."