“So, it’s because of that Blood Pact?” After all that fussing around, Sherlock finally went limp and sprawled across Morris’s lap. Earlier, she’d offered Morris a lap pillow herself, so using his thigh as her pillow now felt perfectly reasonable.
“Yeah, yeah.” Morris, sitting on the bed, nodded again and again. “That Blood Pact is the strongest Revelation School spell an Artificer Tier wizard can cast. It doesn’t really have side effects. The only effect is that the two people bound by it can’t be more than ten meters apart.”
“Huh?” Sherlock pretended to punch his thigh hard. “Why would Usak do something like that?”
Morris thought for a moment, then said, “Maybe he saw how handsome I am, figured I’ve got an honest face, thought I looked like a good guy, and just tied you to me.”
“You’re full of nonsense...” As Sherlock said that, she quietly lowered her head a little. Her face was full of shy embarrassment right now. She couldn’t refute that line at all, so she absolutely couldn’t let him see her expression.
“Come on, Your Highness. I do think I look pretty friendly, at least.” Morris carefully reached out with one finger and gently poked Sherlock’s cheek. The spot his fingertip touched was warm and soft, something no word could really describe. He couldn’t help getting a little addicted to it. He kept poking as he spoke. “Right? Besides, Uncle Usak obviously wanted me to take care of you, but was afraid I wouldn’t agree, so he forced this on us.”
“S-so noisy.” Sherlock brushed his hand away and muttered with a pout, “Can it be undone?”
“It can, but...” Morris hesitated.
If he lied here and told her the Blood Pact was easy to undo, then if she learned the truth later, either their trust would crack, or Morris would have to expose his identity. Neither was a good outcome.
Among the five major schools, Revelation School magic ranked second in difficulty. First place belonged to the most mysterious and rarest of all, the Forbidden School. Generally speaking, any wizard capable of even beginning to cast Artificer Tier Revelation magic had to be at least at the peak of Artificer Tier.
In other words, Revelation School wasn’t something you learned step by step from the ground up. It was a field you could barely touch only after achieving something in other domains first. Every spell in it was interesting, sure, but learning them was absurdly difficult.
Even Morris himself had needed nearly half a month back then to learn all several hundred Revelation School spells and use them proficiently.
That alone was enough to show just how ridiculously hard this school was, my friend!
What was more interesting was that the person who had truly brought Revelation School magic to prominence was the founder of the Lunhai Holy Church, the first Lunhai Pope—Judas. Because of that, the entire Lunhai Holy Church held Revelation magic in high regard. Even so, very few wizards actually studied it. Most still chose the Transformation School, since it had the lowest barrier to entry. That was also one of the reasons the Church of Lunhai had been losing prestige day by day.
After thinking it over, Morris still decided to stick to his original plan. He met Sherlock’s gaze and continued, “But it’s troublesome. Honestly, very troublesome. It’ll probably take some time.”
“If it can be undone at all, that’s already pretty good.” Sherlock asked curiously, “Morris, what rank of wizard are you exactly?”
“Uh... just a mere Law Aspect,” Morris said with a smile. “If I were any higher, I could just undo the Blood Pact directly.”
“That’s incredible.” Sherlock’s eyes went a little blank. She’d been mentally prepared before, but after hearing the truth, she still swallowed hard. “How old are you, anyway?”
“I come of age tomorrow. Eighteen.” Morris sounded a little emotional. On the day he turned eighteen, he had finally broken free of Alex, broken free of Lenna, broken free of the Church of Lunhai. Someone like him really ought to get some kind of reward. “It really wasn’t easy.”
“Oh my god!” Sherlock’s pupils suddenly shrank. “You’re not even an adult yet?!”
“Y-yeah.” Morris was startled by her reaction. “But it’s only until tomorrow...”
“Oh my god, oh my god...” Sherlock suddenly sat up and looked Morris up and down over and over, muttering to herself, “If it’s you... maybe you really can defeat my fiancé...”
“Don’t worry. I’m super brave.” Morris smiled. “No matter what rank your fiancé is, I can beat him flat.”
There probably wasn’t anyone in this world stronger than the current Lunhai Pope, the strongest Saint, except perhaps the mysterious Demon King of the Demon Realm.
“I hope so.” Sherlock let out a long breath, and her expression gradually softened. “But now... I finally see hope.”
The hope of being saved. The hope of being snatched away from the Pope’s claws.
Ever since Sherlock learned half a month ago that she had suddenly become a tool for political marriage, she had never been this happy again... though thinking about it carefully, the seventeen years of her life before that hadn’t held much joy either. She had many friends around her, but the only person who had ever truly touched her heart was Morris.
“Back to the point.” Completely unaware of all this, Morris rubbed his chin and said, “You should know Revelation School magic is one of the harder types within Arcane Source Magic. Unless you’re a whole tier above it, it’s hard to dispel.”
“Mhm.” Sherlock lay back down comfortably again, and this time she felt much more at ease than before... after all, this was someone who might actually be able to defeat her fiancé.
“I’m only Lawform Tier, so I can’t undo it quickly, but I can do it slowly,” Morris said. “It’ll still take at least a month, but that’s faster than waiting for Uncle Usak to get out of the hospital.”
For some reason, hearing that made Sherlock feel a little disappointed. So she gave a dismissive little huff and rolled over on Morris’s lap as if she didn’t care. “Fine. Then do your best.”
Morris scratched his head at that. He might never have been in love before, but he wasn’t dense. Sherlock obviously looked unhappy. He had no idea what was going on, so all he could do was complain inwardly that girls were such a hassle.
“Your Highness Sherlock, are you enrolling?” Morris tried to change the subject, so he asked, “I heard from the priest that Royal Academy’s admission season is coming up. Other than that, you probably wouldn’t have any reason to travel here all the way from the Holy City’s royal family.”
“That’s right.” Sherlock asked softly, “What about you? I remember you came from Macedon City too.”
“Yeah,” Morris replied. “But I haven’t really thought about enrolling yet...”
“Then why not enroll with me?!” Sherlock suddenly perked up. She curled her lips into a smile, sat upright on his lap, and said with stars in her eyes, “Come on. We’ve still got a month between us anyway. For this whole month, we’re in a contract relationship, right? If you really don’t want to, then come be my bodyguard. I’ll pay you for this month and have you stay by my side. How about it? Don’t worry, it’ll definitely be a huge sum!”
Morris thought about it and realized that actually made perfect sense. Besides, idle was idle. In his previous life, he’d had a blast watching TV plots where the emperor went incognito to mingle with the common people. And now he actually had a chance to do something like that himself? And get paid a huge amount on top of it? He wasn’t short on money, but he was short on fun. With a chance this big right in front of him, who wouldn’t want it?
The more he thought about it, the more excited he got. Morris readily agreed. “Alright. Then I’m willing to enroll with you too, Your Highness.”
Sherlock happily thought to herself that now, even if the Blood Pact disappeared, Morris wouldn’t be able to run away.
Meanwhile, Morris excitedly imagined a future scene where some academy thugs tried to mess with him, only for him to wave a hand and reveal his identity as Pope—
Bold fools! You dare lay hands on the current Lunhai Pope? Do you know your crime? Why are you not kneeling at once?!
That sounded like it would feel amazing.
Though their thoughts were completely different, the two of them had, for now, reached an agreement.
In Morris’s mind, a colorful academy life had already begun to take shape.
