The goddesses attempted to gain my salvation.

"The classroom has already been cleaned. If you use it, won't it get dirty again?"

Ryan had a vague feeling that he was being targeted.

However, Ryan was still unsure whether this targeting was aimed at him or at hindering Claire.

Seeing Claire grow up so quickly every day, Ryan finally made up his mind.

He wanted to take Claire to audit a class.

His first target was Victor, a senior theoretical mentor in the academy with a white beard and three fire magic circuits.

------

“Mentor Ryan, it’s not that I don’t want to help you, I have my own difficulties.”

Victor looked troubled and anxiously stroked his beard.

He's plucked those few hairs so much they're practically sparking. This old man, isn't he afraid of accidentally setting his beard on fire if he moves too fast?

"What's wrong? Tell me about it." Ryan leaned against the wall, arms crossed, and voiced his question.

Victor's face was extremely grim: "Mentor Ryan, didn't you already know Claire's identity all along?!"

"Oh, you mean this? I know. But what's wrong?"

Victor quickly lowered his voice, afraid of being overheard.

"Don't you know? Claire is the number one criminal in the Duchy of Ferrante. Even the old king said he didn't want her to study magic. Many of my students come from the Duchy of Ferrante."

“If they find out that I’m privately tutoring Claire, and it gets back to the old king, I’ll be in deep trouble.”

“I’m getting old, and I’ll be able to retire in a few years. Mentor Ryan, please let me live out my last few years peacefully.”

Ryan picked at his nails, glancing at Victor out of the corner of his eye.

“I don’t like beating around the bush. Professor Victor, what you’ve said so much about is just that you don’t want to lose the support of those students from the Duchy of Ferrante and the forces behind them, right?”

“You’re worried that letting Claire come and audit your classes will upset the students in the Duchy of Ferrante, and ultimately affect the financial support they receive from your family.”

"What a simple thing."

Viktor blushed deeply when a single sentence exposed his weakness.

"Well... I did accept donations from students' parents. But don't all the professors in the college do the same thing in private?"

Ryan lowered his voice, his expression serious: "That's true, but you need to understand one thing. Although you are an instructor at the academy, it is the Church of Bysma that gave you the opportunity and the position. You are not to be loyal to the power behind those students, nor to money, but to the Church."

"The reason the Vatican turns a blind eye to tutors accepting funding is simply because it allows you to have more income and teach your students better. But what you are doing now has put the cart before the horse."

Victor had a long, sullen face, and his eyes were practically rolling back to the sky.

"You're so high and mighty, but I'm not going to let Claire come and audit my class."

Ryan cursed inwardly.

That old bastard.

So you're just going to give up and abandon it, huh?

Okay, I have ways to deal with slacking off too.

Fortunately, Ryan had collected a lot of dirt on his mentors in his spare time.

As for the source of the negative information, it was none other than Tracy, the self-proclaimed heartthrob and alcoholic from the academy.

Every time she drinks, her mouth chatters away like a machine gun, from the gossip about her mentors to forbidden romances between teachers and students, and even the quirky hobbies of the high-ranking officials of the Vatican—there's nothing she doesn't know.

From this perspective, Tracy does indeed have some skills.

Therefore, Ryan never tells her anything.

He was terrified that if he opened his mouth, he would be dead the next day.

“Professor Victor. Although the academy isn’t strict about accepting financial aid, it strictly forbids another matter.”

"As far as I know, you're quite close to Shuna in private, aren't you?"

Victor's expression changed drastically as he stared at Ryan in disbelief.

That look in his eyes clearly said, "How did you know?"

"Although I don't have direct evidence right now, I don't mind telling the Vatican's enforcement team about this."

“You are also a veteran of the Vatican. You should know what methods the enforcement team will use to purge those who violate the doctrine.”

Victor couldn't hold back any longer.

"No! Please! Don't tell the law enforcement!"

"Shuna and I... are truly in love. Don't tell the enforcement team about us. They'll ruin Shuna..."

Ah, yes, yes.

The beautiful and pure love between the white-bearded old man and the female student is so touching it makes you want to pee your pants.

Seriously, I was almost moved to tears.

"People, as they get older, always want to try new things, I understand. If I could, I wouldn't bother with this kind of nonsense. But, about Claire's matter..."

Victor completely gave up resistance, slumping into a ball: "...Bring Claire over first thing tomorrow morning."

Ryan smiled with satisfaction: "That's more like it, Mentor Victor. If you had realized this sooner, I wouldn't have had to waste so much breath."

Ryan put his arm around Victor's shoulder, and they walked and talked like old friends.

"But speaking of which, Victor, could you tell me what it's like for an older man to be with a younger woman?"

"I told you, we're truly in love! Truly in love!"

"Okay, okay. True love, true love." Ryan rolled his eyes speechlessly, but immediately leaned in with a mischievous grin: "So, how does it feel?"

Victor blushed, just like a young man newly in love.

With her head down and fidgeting, she looked at Wang Ji with a sense of unease.

"It's...very moisturizing."

Goodness, you're really young at heart despite your age!

Chapter Ten: Come and fight me!

"Therefore, Claire will be attending today's practical course as a transfer student for a period of time."

morning.

On the playground belonging to the first-year students, Victor stood with his hands behind his back, slowly stroking his beard, his expression serious.

Ryan stood to one side, while Claire was next to Ryan.

Before me stood more than thirty new students.

"We are all classmates, and we will have many opportunities to study together over the next four years. So please put aside your prejudices and accept this new classmate."

Ryan really wanted to complain.

Who introduces things like that, putting aside their prejudices?

This shouldn't have been mentioned at all.

Sure enough, as soon as she said that, the students below began to whisper among themselves. Those who didn't know Claire asked those around them, while the students from the Principality of Ferrante who knew the situation very "kindly" explained the whole story.

Before long, what was originally known to only a few people became known to the entire class.

People started looking at Claire with strange eyes.

Claire sensed the malice in those gazes and took a step back, half her body hiding behind Ryan. Ryan, meanwhile, cursed inwardly at this old idiot who only knew how to have sex.

After a brief introduction, the hands-on course officially began.

Although Victor isn't the brightest, he does have a very unique understanding of the key to fire attribute—burst damage.

The explanations were very detailed, progressing from simple to complex, and Claire quickly mastered the techniques for casting fire magic.

Combined with the basic magic theory that Ryan had explained earlier, the result was that in the first round of magic casting tests, Claire fired five fireballs, all of which hit the straw target with perfect accuracy.

Even the top students in the class only managed two hits on the target, and their individual shots were far less powerful than Claire's.

Victor stroked his beard, marveling at Claire's talent.

“Mentor Ryan, this student is indeed a promising talent. However, I heard before that her magic circuits were destroyed. Logically speaking, she shouldn't be able to cast spells.”

Ryan was also very satisfied with Claire's performance.

Therefore, hearsay is not credible.

Victor seemed to be deep in thought.

Perhaps the old king of the Duchy of Ferrante never destroyed Claire's magic circuits at all, and it was all just a rumor.

But whether it's a rumor or not, what does it have to do with him?

Seeing that it was almost time, Victor announced that free practice time would begin.

Students can form teams to practice magic together, supervise each other, and improve together.

Then, he went with Ryan to the warehouse to retrieve the props needed for the next class.

------

For the next few days, Claire would come to Victor's class to audit lessons every day.

Of course, as his mentor, Ryan accompanied him throughout the entire process.

Under Victor's guidance, Claire's strength improved at a visible rate.

Ryan and Claire were naturally very happy, and Victor, as a mentor, also enjoyed seeing the young people make progress, even though she wasn't his student.

However, this improvement has also drawn dissatisfaction from some people.

for example......

------

On the playground.

Today is another practical magic training session.