After saying that, Hugh paid the girl behind him no mind at all and strode off at once.

"..."

Sophia narrowed her eyes and looked at the huge pile of strange materials in her arms. She fell silent for a moment.

"Big Sis Sophia, I'll carry them."

Yugo was very sensible. He immediately took more than half from Sophia's arms.

Even so, he still wasn't as tall as Sophia. That little pile was enough to block his view of the road ahead.

Sophia took part of it back from Yugo. "Just carry those."

"An, can you tell what these materials are for?"

As she walked, Sophia asked in her heart.

An stretched lazily first, then spoke in a somewhat sluggish voice.

"Juice from The Tree of Life, a druid's finger bone, soul fire, Behemoth mane... obviously, the spell built from these is used to detect the type and source of magic."

"However... this spell is missing some materials, so it may fail to identify a few kinds of magic."

Sophia asked, "A few?"

"Mhm. For example, our Dragon Language Magic, your Fey Magic, and @#￥% magic."

"What was that last one you said? Why couldn't I hear it clearly...?"

"It's supposed to be unclear... humans can't distinguish the pronunciation of that last kind of magic. And... you probably won't come into contact with it yet."

"Yet?"

"Tch."

Clearly, An was getting annoyed by Sophia's endless questions. She clicked her tongue and simply stopped talking.

Sophia silently memorized that strange pronunciation and didn't ask any further.

"So-Sophia... slow down a little..."

From far behind, Sophia heard the call. She turned around and saw Yugo hugging a huge pile of materials, panting as he lagged behind.

Obviously, these materials were still a bit too heavy for a little boy.

But Sophia had no intention of taking any more from him. She only slowed her pace by quite a bit.

Following Hugh, Sophia arrived at the square in the center of the village.

Calling it a square was a stretch. It was really just an open patch of ground, probably where the village chief usually held meetings.

By the time Sophia got there, Hugh had already drawn some strange patterns on the ground. Some of the materials had also been placed where certain lines intersected.

"Why are you dragging your feet? Get over here."

Hugh's tone was somewhat harsh. His gaze at Sophia was full of displeasure and reprimand.

That look made Sophia pause for a moment.

Not because of the displeasure.

Because of the familiarity.

Back then, when her swordsmanship teacher scolded her, he used that same tone.

...

"Feya! Look at that slash you just did. It's absolute trash! There's no strength, no technique. Are you some pampered little noble princess waiting to be married off!? Again!"

"Mr. Sword... huff... huff... I-I'm really too tired... at least let me rest for a bit."

Smack!

"Ah! Hss—d-don't hit me! I get it, I'll do the slash again right now."

"Did I say once!? I said a hundred times! Move! If you don't finish, then no dinner for you tonight. Don't think I'll go easy on you just because you're His Highness the Prince!"

"Yes..."

Smack!

"Ah!"

"Louder! You'll become a great lord in the future, maybe even a king. Stop acting so timid!"

"Hss—Yes!"

...

"What are you standing there for!? Get over here already."

Hugh's voice pulled Sophia out of her memories...

Before her eyes, Mr. Sword's aged and resolute face gradually blurred, then finally turned into Hugh's deadpan face.

"Coming."

Sophia pressed her lips together and walked over with the materials in her arms.

"Do you recognize these materials?" Hugh asked while focusing on carving the magic circle at his feet.

Sophia nodded. "Some of them."

"That's enough. Go put the juice from The Tree of Life in the southeast corner, about three meters away. Then put..."

Hugh wasn't polite with Sophia at all. It was like he had directly treated her as his assistant and started ordering her around.

Sophia shrugged and didn't mind.

The instructors at Babel Academy always had all kinds of weird personalities and tempers.

Back then, one instructor found out his student had been beaten up by a beastman chieftain. He immediately grabbed his staff and went to beat up that chieftain's son too.

Afterward, the beastman tribe could only swallow their anger.

Because... that instructor was one of the ten great human Arch Sages of the current age.

Honestly, it was kind of hilarious. A highly respected grand magic sage had traveled across vast distances just to beat up someone's son who wasn't even three years old.

Compared to that eccentric sage, the guy in front of her was only a little too "overfamiliar." He was much better already.

Though, he really was pretty annoying.