Although Hei Duomi was ready to take us back to her academy, after hearing that her academy was about a day's journey away from here, we decided it would be better for her to change into a fresh set of clothes first.
After all, her current clothes were covered in burn marks, which looked quite terrible.
Of course, I didn't mean terrible in that way. As a gentleman, I wouldn't be interested in a girl whose clothes have exploded, would I?
...At most, just a quick glance.
"Eh? Don't want to wear a swimsuit?"
Mary took out a swimsuit from her ring and offered it to Hei Duomi, but she shook her head like waves.
"That... looks too revealing..."
"Too revealing..."
Mary felt a bit embarrassed, then looked at herself.
"Why not just throw a cloak over it outside?"
"But... it's too embarrassing..."
Crossing her arms, Hei Duomi expressed her aversion to the swimsuit.
"But then... it seems there are no clothes of your size that are suitable."
Mary frowned.
Most likely, the swimsuit in her hand was bought for Hei Luoli and the others in the store, or there wouldn't be Hei Duomi’s size.
After pondering for a while, Mary sighed and produced a magical robe emitting a blue light.
"Here, put this on."
"This..."
Hei Duomi looked at the garment in Mary's hand, unsure whether to accept it or not.
"This must be quite valuable, right?"
"Not really, anyway... it was obtained through exploring."
Hey hey hey, it wasn't exploration; I distinctly remember that last time we plundered a royal treasury, and then shared the loot together.
And...I remember she said that apparently she couldn't fit into it after getting it...
Hmm, better keep quiet at times like this, or I might end up like an icicle.
"This..."
"Hurry up and put it on, don't make things so complicated."
Seeing Mary getting impatient, Hei Duomi quickly took the garment.
And she was quite skillful, directly putting on the magical robe, then covering it with an outer robe, swapping out the torn magical robe underneath.
Tsk tsk tsk, not even a bit of bonus, huh?
But, with her short hair covered in ash, she did look quite odd in this outfit.
However, Mary and the others clearly weren't too concerned about these details, urging Hei Duomi to lead us to her academy.
"My academy is called the Domis Academy. Originally, there were no academies in the tropical zone, just local specialties, especially various tropical fruits that are highly popular among residents of the West continent's other zones. So, further development of the tropical zone was carried out...say, where are you guys from?"
"The Ais Empire."
Mary answered without hesitation.
"Eh?"
Hei Duomi pondered.
"Is there such an empire?"
"Yeah, in a place far to the north, hardly anybody goes to our place, so we ran away."
Mary said matter-of-factly, her face serene; from the look of it, an average person would think she was telling the truth.
Guess I underestimated her usual behavior.
"I see, that's similar to the situation in the tropical zone. However, the tropical zone has developed rapidly in the last hundred years, and Domis Academy was established around 70 years ago. Many mages and scholars who wished for a quiet research environment came over from the mainland and settled in Domis Academy. Because of this, Domis Academy is now one of the top five academies on the continent."
Quite impressive, on our mainland, besides the slightly renowned Grey Stag Academy, most institutions mainly serve their own countries.
Of course, except for Fir, that boring fellow who roams about aimlessly here and there.
"So there are so many academies; how amazing that you are all self-taught."
I said jokingly.
I mean, can’t say we just pick up a book and learn it, right?
"Self-taught? That’s really impressive! I’ve spent so long just studying meditation to restore magic."
"Isn’t it hard for us to learn? It's just that you guys study in schools, while we are taught in our family, which surely is much tougher than your ways."
Mary interjected quickly.
Hey, hey, is it okay for you to randomly assign us identities like this?
"Well, that’s true. But I think perhaps learning only the family's magic might be too simple. Why not come to our academy? The strength of the lady just now, after a period of study, she could definitely become a very powerful mage."
"Me?"
Fran pointed at herself.
"Probably... depending on the situation; I am quite interested in the magic taught at the academy."
I think all three of us share a similar thought now. For us, we only know the lost magic from our mainland, while the magic on this continent is still an unknown field for us.
Too bad Fir isn’t around here, when he hears that he could learn a bunch of new magic skills on this continent, he'd probably be ecstatic, right?
Wait, seems like on this continent, we can't directly learn skills from books either.
"But... this lady... seems to be an elf?"
"Eh?"
Blanche looked at Hei Duomi curiously.
"How do you know~? I have clearly used magic to tuck my ears away~"
"Because... you look strange, with a white and a gray little elf on your head."
Upon hearing that, Blanche's expression changed.
"You can see the little elves? How... could it be... do you have elven lineage in you?"
Then, Blanche turned around Hei Duomi, the expression on her face becoming more and more uncertain.
"This isn't right, it's not true... what on earth is this..."
"This person must be naturally highly sensitive to magical elements."
Fran suddenly spoke up from the side.
"I remember reading a book that mentioned some people are extremely sensitive to magic, their magic power is hundreds of times that of an average person. Under a massive influence of magic, even their eyesight would change, and they would react to things carrying magic."
Saying that, Fran walked over to Hei Duomi and stretched out her hand.
"Can you see this?"
"Yes..."
Hei Duomi nodded.
"A red leaf."
"Exactly."
Fran nodded.
"I think I know why your teacher doesn’t let you go out; you are simply a treasure...I bet your teacher would go insane if she found out you ran away, hahaha."
Mary and I glanced at each other.
“Why do we always encounter some kind of bug on the way?”
“Who knows, anyway, we are all bugs, maybe bugs attract each other?”
“Possibly... given her magic power, if she meets Fir, the walking magic encyclopedia, it would be...”
“It’s too awful to even think about.”
“Alright, let’s not talk about this for now.”
Fran quickly interjected.
“Let's head to your academy quickly, or we might miss dinner.”
“Good point, let’s go.”
