I Possessed the Heroine’s Teacher

“So how was it meeting your mother? Did you cry with joy, hugging each other?”

Squall was teasing me by poking my cheek, much like how one would tease a 10-year-old boy. Well, since Squall, being a descendant of the Mongma, was over 200 years old, I suppose to her, both 10 and 29-year-olds look like children. However, from the perspective of a fully grown adult, being treated like that was nothing but unpleasant.

“My mom is actually quite similar to me.”

“How so? In what way? You mean in appearance?”

“No, I don’t know about the appearance, but in terms of personality… I realized, oh, this person must really be my mom.”

Although she looked like a little kid with silver hair and purple eyes… her gaze and attitude were all things that a mother could have. At the same time, she had eyes that seemed somewhat sad and lonely.

“Well, even without me, she lives in a mansion with the butler. We agreed not to care too much about each other, just live as we have so far.”

“… Doesn’t it make you sad?”

“I always thought she wasn’t around. So now that she’s here, I don’t really feel sad or anything.”

At that, Squall hugged me.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll take care of you.”

“I don’t need it, move aside, it’s hot.”

“Aww, aren’t you colder than you were back then…”

Before Squall could finish her sentence, the Celestial Mage’s hand separated us at the speed of light. To be precise, his strange form of holding me had just changed.

“Stop it, you evil spirit. The kid said he doesn’t like it, so stop clinging. Think about it from an older person’s perspective. Imagine an old man, hundreds of years old, sticking to a kid he’s known since they were 10 years old. Isn’t that just disgusting?”

“Hah, you’re old and yet! Besides, you look like an old man! My appearance is still in my twenties! You just didn’t reverse age because your face was ugly when you were younger, right? It’s better that you look old!”

Squall struck a beautiful punch gesture at the Celestial Mage. But of course, our Celestial Mage wasn’t an ordinary person. He demonstrated a beautiful hand gesture, clenching both fists and pushing his thumb between his index and middle fingers. Hehehe, are these people really over 350 years old? Based on their actions, they look like they’re in third grade at a local elementary school.

“I, the great one, dislike going against the natural order of appearance, so I refuse to undergo the process of reversing my age! It’s fundamentally different from someone like you, who absorbs energy from men to maintain youth! That’s a monster!”

“Hey!!! I only absorb energy from dreams!!! I’ve never eaten a man! Besides, I can get nutrients from regular meals too!!!”

“Hmph, I don’t listen to monsters who eat men!”

“You’re just an old fool who couldn’t reverse your age because your face was ugly, and now your ears are getting dull!”

My head started to hurt. Is this really a conversation between people over hundreds of years old? I guess it just means they’re comfortable with each other. Even in the game, these two were rivals. It wasn’t like the hostile relationship between Ricardo and Melchior, but more like a rivalry where they fought over every little thing.

“Sigh… Please stop fighting. We’re about to enter enemy territory, and if you keep this up, we’ll be wiped out before we even start.”

If we get wiped out due to internal conflict before even fighting, that would be the biggest comedy ever.

“By the way, are you really okay? Even with that kind of relationship with your mother…”

“I told you, it’s fine. She even gave me a gift.”

I kept the gloves, the sword with the red hilt went to Camellia, the sword that emits cold air went to Glacies, the ring went to Lorcha, and the earrings went to Iris.

Camellia was surprised when I gave her the sword, saying her old one had worn out. She asked where I had found such a fine sword, and then she gave me a light kiss on the cheek, just like when she did the same when I was little to thank me.

Glacies blushed and invited me to her room to thank me. What happened in that room, I’d rather leave to your imagination.

Lorcha, trying to hide her flustered face, said, “Th-thank you. But I still can’t repay even one millionth of what you’ve done for me. The old me would’ve been fine with that, but I’m not like that now,” and left. However, she sent me a lunch she made herself as a thank you the next morning.

Iris, too, kept repeating her thanks, and then kissed me on the cheek, just like Camellia had. Well, a kiss on the cheek is a common greeting… Even if Zig finds out, he probably won’t kill me. The kiss just lasted a little longer than usual, and it was a bit close to my lips, but… It must have been just my imagination.

“Well, those gifts were useful, and that’s all they needed to do. I don’t have any regrets.”

“Yeah, that kind of affection has no meaning anyway.”

The Celestial Mage suddenly patted my head.

“My master, the Black Scythe Sword Saint, also said that affection is like the venom of a very deadly snake. No matter how strong you are, if you get caught up in affection, you’ll lose your life in an instant. So he told me to stay far away from affection.”

What a harsh teaching. That Black Scythe Sword Saint must not have been an ordinary person, both in skill and personality.

Surprisingly, Squall joined in.

“My master, the righteous thief Darkwing, said something similar. He always said the ones who bite the necks of the strong are those close to you—family, friends, lovers, those around you.”

Since the personalities of the two people’s masters are similar, did they both grow up to be such reckless adults? When I teach Iris, I must never belittle affection. The fact that their masters looked down on affection must be the reason why their disciples turned out like this.

“By the way, how much further do we have to go? It feels like we’ve been walking for quite a while since we got off the carriage.”

“Hmm? We’ve just arrived.”

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

All I could see in front of me was just a vast, empty wasteland. A wasteland where not even a single blade of grass grows. The land is probably worthless too.

But why are we here, not to see the land, and this place is one of the Black Round Table’s strongholds? Is this some kind of outdated April Fools’ joke?

“Heh… well, it might look like that.”

“You’re still far behind, huh?”

I couldn’t understand what they were saying. I made time in the middle of a busy schedule to come here, and yet I’m just looking at wasteland and land developers.

“Although it looks like a wasteland… this is only the false exterior of a space, distorted by curses, magic, and various artifacts.”

Even after waving my hand, I didn’t feel the false nature of the space. However, when I focused on sensing the magic, I could sense that the flow of magic was slightly unstable. Of course, it was so natural that unless I focused deeply, I wouldn’t have noticed it.

“… The flow of magic is definitely unstable.”

“I see, you sensed it because you’re a wizard. We detected it in another way.”

They sensed it in a different way, not through magic? Aside from the slightly unstable magic flow, there was nothing unnatural about the place.

“So how did you and the old man figure it out?”

“Thief’s instinct. I had a gut feeling that there would be a lot to steal inside.”

“I felt a murderous intent and heard the wails of restless vengeful spirits from inside.”

So that’s how they detected it… They used their respective fields of expertise to sense it. But even if they detected it, nothing changed. It’s still a false space, and there’s no way to enter.

“By the way, is there a way to get inside? It seems like it wouldn’t be easy to invade a space that’s been inverted by a spell.”

It might be possible for Squall, being a thief, but the celestial mage or me, it would be impossible. Trying to forcibly enter such a spell would likely tear our bodies apart, turning us into minced meat.

Then the Celestial Mage laughed and patted my back.

“Heh, yeah, it’s not easy to break into a fortress-like spell like that, unless you’re a top-class thief.”

“Oh, then Squall can go by herself, and we’ll just eat our lunch outside.”

“Heh… that’s not a bad idea, but… I’d like to get some exercise before lunch.”

The Celestial Mage cracked his shoulders and stepped forward. But even if we keep walking, we’ll just end up entering the false exterior space…

“Black Wing Break Palm, third form—”

The Celestial Mage swung his palm, filled with an enormous amount of magic, and the air started cracking as if it were breaking glass.

“Heaven’s Collapse!”

The wasteland, with not even a single blade of grass, disappeared without a trace, and only a massive temple could be seen.

“That’s one of their strongholds. Should we go in?”

“Can’t we just have the old man blow up the building like he did just now?”

“Unfortunately, what’s visible above ground is just the tip of the iceberg. To destroy the areas buried deep beneath the ground, we’ll need to put in a bit more effort.”

That’s just the tip of the iceberg…?

“Moreover… I can sense a powerful aura. There are probably monsters inside that won’t die just from having a building blown up.”