Hello, ITalkToSky here.

This is a great day for me, so I will present this chapter to you. Sorry for the slow pace story, but too bad, it will still continue to be slow. I don't need plot holes, so I will go in slow and solid. Do not take that out of context.

I have a question for you guys.

Do you think there should be any romance in this story and between whom?

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The Next Day

The sun way high, but the canopy of leaves shaded the two from the offending light. The forest was quiet and cool.

One figure was leaning on the rough bark of the tree. The small green cap on her head was squished and her hair was slightly disheveled. Her posture was firm without sway.

On the same tree's roots, Lunaire was sitting with his legs stretched. On his lap, a thick book laid open showed pages jammed with foreign language. While the book was held open, being held by his thumbs, his blue eyes weren't.

Soft regular breathing could be heard. They were napping here since late morning, waiting for their guests to arrive. The position of the tree and their angles they were leaning, they could clearly observe if anyone arrived at the clearing in front of them.

Suddenly, Lunaire stirred. Slowly his eyes opened to see teenagers appearing from small blue flashes across the clearing. His hand plunged smoothly into his slacks' pocket. Lunaire glanced at the pocket watch he withdrew and sighed satisfyingly. While they didn't amount to much yet, at least they were on time.

While the children were confused, Lunaire tugged on her sleeves and whispered something. The reaction was immediate. Meiling sprung up straight, making her hat fell to the ground. The magician could only chuckled as he dusted and returned the hat back to its owner, who nodded appreciatively.

Lunaire turned back when the students were getting rather restless in the clearing. A clap of hand with the magic induced tremor shut them up. Most of them should ease up as they were visited at one time since last evening by one of the members of the organization. For what he knew, all went without a hitch. Alice and Marisa proved to be quite good at getting through to these teenagers. After all, they probably knew least about them and didn't have any prejudice. On the other hand, they were rather intimidated by him. While Lunaire didn't exactly do anything to them, he made quite a few remarks that cowed them. Still he made amends by going a bit easy with the talk. The fact that he had to punch a few in the face to calm them down was a secret.

"Good day!" Lunaire yawned and stretched his body that was a little sore. "It's nice that you are on time, so we can start on schedule. You might be wondering what you are here for. Some of you might be told last night, but I will say it anyway. You are here for some basic physical training. Whether you will end up in combat group or not doesn't matter. I at least want everyone in our organization to be able to avoid getting shanked in the back street somewhere." Lunaire chuckled and paused.

Many knew that without weapons, they were quite useless. The public security was good, so the chances of encountering situation like that was rather small. But the point still stood that they couldn't protect themselves from dying a dog's death, so they kept their mouths shut. While there were some with martial arts training and could defend themselves, they also didn't say anything because the point was valid.

"After that you will learn the rules of our organization and then basic equipment train. While I think you need to know the rules as soon as possible, I don't want to tire you too much." More like Lunaire still didn't draft the rule for the organization. "Hey, now you only have the physical to worry about. I am sure you will have enough with just this." He laughed, sending chills up the recruits' spines.

"Oh, so I am training these little ones, right?" Finding her chance, Meiling joined in casually. Her easy-going attitude caused some of the recruits to gawk. Compare to Lunaire in no-nonsense mode, her appearance was almost an abnormality to them in more way than one.

"She is Hong Meiling. Calling her China is fine too." Lunaire shrug.

"Pleasure to meet you, wait! No! Don't call me China. Call me Meiling." The girl in Chinese dress almost let that one slipped, so Lunaire clicked his tongue.

"…Moving on. She will be in charge of whipping you guys into shape. Meiling, you know what to do."

"Alright, the routine we agreed on. After that I can teach my martial arts?" Meiling tilted her head quizzically.

"Yes. Today, training will last till four, so use your time wisely." After tidying the matter with Meiling, he turned to the rest. "Every day, you are expected to be here by six in the afternoon, whether weekdays or weekends. You will train till nine, are we clear?"

He didn't wait for them to answer though as they would probably protest. Sadly, as it was, Lunaire had to intrude upon their private time to get them up to shape as quick as possible. He had many things planned for them, so he needed to get the foundation ready first.

"I have business to take care off, namely get this whole place warded and lit up." Lunaire then pretended to look as if he realized something. His right hand reached out as on ordinary stick was smoothly pulled out of the black rift. "Use this. I said whip them to shape after all. It won't cause injury, only pain. However, don't hit too hard. A tap will suffice."

As soon as he finished, he turned around and left under the glare of many new recruits. They couldn't glare for too long though as they were about to face another trial.

"Okay, start with a slow jog up the hill. Just follow the marked trail and you will arrive back here, 30 laps." Meiling beamed.

"Thirty?!"

"Oh, a mountain like this? How long is this trail anyway?"

"To begin with, where are we?!"

"Yes, yes, quiet down. Just this much is nothing. If you have enough strength to complain, use that to run. I will show you how to use that teleporting pad back after we are done." Meiling tapped the stick in her hand unconsciously like how she normally treated a sword. While unintentional, this caused many recruits to gulp uncomfortably. "Come on. No big deal, I will even run with you, come!" China pointed at the trail, hopping that they were motivated. As a self-motivated martial artist, she didn't quite understand why people don't like to train.

Suddenly, Meiling's body froze as if she came to a sudden realization. She shook a little before staring at them. Meiling thought they didn't trust her as an instructor. She must do something.

"Come on, if you train hard, you can even do this." China said so and let out a casual kick at the tree she leaned on. While it was certainly casual, the result made many shivered as the tree snapped apart. The sound of the upper part crashed down was deafening.

The minds of the recruits blanked. How naïve were they to think that the girl in front of them might be normal? They knew why Lunaire asked her to just tap them. If she was serious, a stick probably would kill them when swung by Meiling. The recruits suddenly felt the urge to start running.

Kirin sipped her cup of tea. The taste was quite right, so she sighed in contentment. It would be more perfect if she wasn't cooped up in her workshop. She spent too much time in her lab. Even when the shop supposed to be open, she only personally watched the shop during busy hours. At other time, she let her assistant handle it.

It couldn't be helped. The more she probed into the items she received, the more stunned she became. While some investigations weren't fruitful, the ones that did could catapult the research of the casting assistant device by many decades. It was on par with the loop cast system announced by Four Leaves Technology. Perhaps even more, because the improvement would benefit all magician, not just for certain situations. She didn't doubt it. These people were genius, beating the whole world to the punch.

For many weeks, she was engrossed by her investigations. But, unlike today, she usually wouldn't be in the store on Sunday. Instead of lazing about in front of her television, she brought herself from the embrace of her home here to wait.

Before her tea got cold, she was alerted by knocking on her door. She didn't lock the door, but the lights weren't on and the alarm wasn't armed. The only one who would enter regardless in the middle of the day from the front door could only be them. She rushed to open the door.

"Good morning, Kirika-san. I hope you got our notice yesterday."

"Yes, I got it. I seem to be fine with your tests, Alice-san. I am happy." Kirin smiled was crisp as she giggled.

"You should be proud. Even Patchouli said something good about you."

"Is that so? One of your friend I assumed?" The older woman, appearance wise, backed up, letting Alice into the room. Alice walked in with a spring in her steps.

"You will meet her soon enough." Alice crossed her arms behind her back and leaned forward. Her smile was absolutely charming and adorable.

"The letter told me that you will take me to the headquarter. Can you drive?" Kirin tilted her head.

"I don't think so. The way we usually move around is flying. However, since it isn't exactly appropriate in this situation, I will teleport you there." The blond girl relaxed and softly squeezed her shoulders.

"…I…don't know whether I should be surprise that you can fly or not. However, teleportation is something else entirely. Most magic effect can be replicated with pure science in laboratory, but we are nowhere near the point of confidently spatially transferring matter. Now, you are saying that you can teleport? I…" Kirin couldn't bring herself to finish. She sucked in deeply.

It's no doubt that Kirin understood the reason that they were concerned with secrecy. Improving induction stone, flying magic, not to mention teleportation, any one of these achievements would warrant government hunting them down and interrogating them for all they knew. These would make any nation drool. While the world was peaceful now, there was tension hidden beneath the fragile cover. If there were such technologies that would give them such large edge, any world power would be willing to pay any price to obtain it.

Her dread didn't continue for too long as she felt something touching onto her arms. Kirin looked down and saw Alice tugging her arm.

"I finish with setting up the barrier. Hold on to me, so we can get going." Alice beamed cheerfully.

"Ah, yes, ok." Kirin's voice sounded listless from the shock inflicted. Alice said to hold on, but Kirin only grasped at Alice's dress. It wouldn't do at all.

"Excuse me. Hold on tight." As she said so, Alice grabbed on to her arm and drew close.

The next moment, blue glow showered the room and the circle filled with intricate symbols came into being. From Alice's supple lips, incantation flew without pause. Normally, she wouldn't use teleportation because she enjoyed fresh air from flying. Still, it was perfectly within her capability to cast teleportation unassisted. It was worth noting that she had teleporting token tucked into her shirt anyway, but didn't see the need to use it. Replacing the token's power source was a little tedious, so Alice wouldn't use it unless necessary.

There wasn't any time to protest, because the sublime light grew brighter and then abruptly vanished. Nothing were left behind on the spot both stood.

Kirin's eyes spun and her mind turned parched white. She couldn't feel her footing for a moment. It didn't last for too long, because her feet fell on something hard a second later. At that point, her body lurched forward. If not for Alice's firm tug, Kirin would have dip her head into the ground.

"Careful." Alice's voice caused Kirin to be a little spoked when she pulled herself up. Unlike her, Alice was firmly planted on her feet, not swaying in the slightest.

"Thank you." When Kirin was upright, Alice let go and began to walk forward. Her steps weren't hurried and her posture was poised and upright.

Even an older woman couldn't help but be surprise at the atmosphere the girl before her radiated. She didn't look like a high-schooler by any standard. Kirin went through graduate magic engineering school and with her sharp eyes she knew. As a working citizen in the society, she could tell that Alice was confident. Far too confident to not be founded upon accomplishment in life. Realizing this, Kirin was momentarily surprised. Just momentarily, because that was expected from a girl belong to a cadre of geniuses.

Regardless, this place was both surprising and expected for Kirin. It was surprising because Kirin expected the facility housing these geniuses to be more futuristic, not a well-kept traditional mansion in the middle of forest somewhere. Still, the real workshop might be hidden inside, so appearance might not mean everything. However, the old mansion suited Alice's atmosphere very well. Not just her, but Kirin thought that even Lunaire and Marisa also belonged nicely here.

Before even entering the main gate, Kirin felt something different around the mansion. She sniffed cutely. There was something in the air. She felt refreshed, more than expected from the forest.

"You like the air? I like it here too. Outside here is rather suffocating." Alice said without halting her steps.

"The air? Outside?" Kirin blurted out.

"Yes, I am sure even you can tell the difference between the air around this premise and the air outside, right?"

"I think it feels…fresher somehow." Kirin sniffed again. "Both inside and outside the mansion felt the same though. But comparing to the city, it felt completely different, as expected of a mansion inside the forest."

"I think you misunderstood me. By outside, I meant outside the barrier. This whole place is encased by barrier to keep the air saturated with mana and people away."

"Mana? I don't know what that is, but keeping people away? How do you know when people will come?" Kirin inquired as Alice navigated through various corridors.

"We have some surveillance magic, but we don't really know when people will come. The barrier is on all the time, so no matter when, none will stumble upon this place."

"Wow, then you must have a lot of magicians to keep the barrier up. This place is rather large, so how many magicians do you need rotating?" Kirin asked incredulously. Even Ten Master Clans wouldn't do something like hire a lot of magicians to keep their barrier around their home. It was more efficient to hire magicians as guard as they only need at most fifty per shift. To have magicians maintaining barrier around a mansion, thirty people wouldn't last half a day before needing to rest. As wealthy and influential Ten Master Clans were, they wouldn't be so wasteful to hire at least hundred personnel like that.

Kirin gulped. She sweated at the amount of resources available to the organization's disposal. She thought that they couldn't surprise her more, but she was wrong. She began to worry what kind of entity she would be working for.

"No one is maintaining this barrier you know? We bounded the barrier to the keystone, so we don't have to actively cast to keep the barrier going. Only occasionally do we have to renew the keystone."

"What? No one is casting to maintain the barrier?!" Kirin's voice rose through the roof, causing Alice's shoulders to twitch from surprise.

"Yes? Is that strange?" Alice replied, a little concerned.

"It's not just strange, but absurd. Without magician to sustain the effect, magical phenomena could not be sustained. Law of physic will immediately reassert itself. Everyone knows this. The limitation is fundamental and yet, you claimed that you found a way to sustain the effect?"

"Don't ice remain frozen when you finished your spell." Alice tested.

"That is completely different. The spell that ended is heat transfer, so the ice will remain and melt. Are you testing me?" Kirin's breaths were a little ragged. Alice only chuckled.

"I guess you can look that way."

"What?"

"In the store, you were always smiling. I didn't think you were that expressive. Still, I quite like you sisterly aura. It seems that what I said shocked you quite a bit." Alice glanced at Kirin behind her for split second, giving the other woman no chance to see her expression.

"I…well…of course." The word eluded her mind, so Kirin could only muster a few fragments. "I mean…if there is a way to cast magic without magician, it will revolutionize the world as we know it. The magician will no longer be a gear driving…" Kirin's words were cut short.

"Impossible, such day will never come."

"…Why?"

"The advance knowledge of magic can only be realized by equally adept magician. Even if magicians no longer are the gears, they are still the ones manufacturing the pieces anyway. How is that different?" Alice read her fair share of history with Lunaire, so it was expected that some of his darker perspective rubbed off.

"…" Kirin didn't expect the whole conversation to turn sour that quickly, so she could only swallow her words.

"We are here." Alice said monotonously. Seeing an ornate wooden door towering over her, the magician continued without hesitation. Alice held the door open. "Welcome to the Magic Library of Scarlet Devil Mansion. Don't steal anything. The wards Patchouli put up have been tried and tested countless of times against Marisa. While it didn't work too well, it should take care of just about anyone else."

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There you go. I hope you guys are happy with this chapter.

As before, please leave a review. It really motivates me to make more chapter. If you have any request, I will properly request it.

For some reason, I am cold and starving :P