I AM A MAGE BUT WITH MILF SYSTEM

Chapter 731: A new variable?

The bond between them had shifted once again.

And both of them knew it.

***

It was somewhere around seven or eight in the evening when a knock came at a particular door in the western wing.

knock knock

For a moment nothing happened.

The corridor outside was quiet. The frantic noise of the day's preparations had finally settled into the calmer rhythm of the late hour. A single mana lamp burned at the far end of the passage, its light reaching the door in a pale, narrow strip.

Tap… tap… tap…

Then footsteps could be heard, coming from within the room.

It was slow and unhurried as they moved toward the door. There was a calm, steady ease in them, as if the person had been expecting the knock. Then the latch clicked.

It was slow and unhurried, with the particular ease of someone who had been expecting the knock. Then the latch clicked.

click

The door opened slowly.

The figure standing in the gap was shrouded in shadow at first, the interior of the room darker than the corridor. Then the light from the mana lamp fell across her face and the darkness gave way.

Louisa.

She stood in the doorway with a silk robe drawn loosely around her shoulders, her hair falling free. The smile that appeared on her face when she saw who was standing outside was warm and knowing.

"You are here," she said.

Her voice came out melodic and unhurried, carrying none of the sharpness it held in public settings. She seemed to be in a good mood.

The figure on the other side of the door dropped immediately to one knee and bowed deeply.

"My lady."

Cathy.

She was still in her soldier's uniform, the crossed swords insignia of Liam's faction on her shoulder. Her hair was slightly disheveled, and there was a nervous tension in her posture that was unlike her.

Louisa's smile remained but her eyes sharpened slightly.

"You are here," she repeated.

A brief pause, and then the tone of her voice changed.

"And it took you this long."

Cathy kept her head lowered.

"My lady. Upon completing my observation at the training ground I went directly to brief Lord Liam. Upon hearing my report, my lord determined that their previous plan could no longer proceed as designed and took me to meet with the pillars of our faction to discuss a new plan."

Silence.

Louisa looked at her for a long moment without speaking.

Then she turned and walked back into the room.

"Close the door," she ordered. "And sit down."

click

Cathy closed the door behind her and crossed the room. She took the chair opposite Louisa's and sat with her back straight, her hands resting on her knees.

Louisa had settled into her own chair, a glass of wine resting on the table between them.

The room was well lit now that Cathy looked around. Several mana lamps burned at different points, giving the space a warm, soft light.

Louisa looked at Cathy with an expression that had moved past initial warmth into something more focused.

"So it is true," she said.

Her voice was quieter now, carrying a particular edge beneath.

"What I heard was not fabricated."

The rumors had reached her hours ago.

Young Lord Kraven and Commander Aldric had clashed in the private training grounds, and it hadn't been a simple spar. The power they unleashed was so intense that it shook the containment field surrounding the area, something that rarely happened. Word had it that even the Duke himself had been present to witness the fight, which only made the whole incident feel more serious.

But rumors were still just rumors. She had received no detailed report, and she did not act on incomplete information.

"Tell me everything," she said. "From the moment you arrived at the training ground. Leave nothing out."

Cathy nodded once.

She began.

She went through everything in order. The containment field visible from fifty meters away. The pressure in the air as two Arch Mages flared their overwhelming mana. Her arrival at the outer wall and the view through the gap in the door.

Then the phoenix.

She described it plainly, without any decoration, because decoration was not necessary. The living fire, the magma-bright core, the wings that sent scorching heat rolling across the enclosure with each flap. These alone were enough to convey what she meant.

Louisa's expression did not change visibly as she listened. But her hands, which had been resting loosely in her lap, pressed together slightly.

Cathy continued.

She described the exchange of techniques — the griffon and the phoenix, Aldric pressing and Julian countering. She described the Thunder Sovereign transformation, the way Aldric's power had surged beyond what they had previously assessed him to be capable of.

"The commander," she said, "has been concealing the full extent of his power. What I witnessed in the final phase of the duel was not the power of a standard Arch Mage. He is at peak. Possibly at the upper boundary of peak."

She paused.

"He is a significant variable just as the young lord."

Louisa was very still.

Cathy finished the story and fell quiet. She didn't add anything more, just let the silence do its work.

She could immediately see the changes in her lady. Louisa's jaw was set tightly, as if she was holding back a reaction. Her eyes remained fixed on the table and even her hands had tightened significantly.

SLAM

Her hands came down on the arms of the chair with a sharp crack that broke the silence of the room entirely.

"What is happening," she said.

It came out low and controlled but the control was doing visible work now. The pleasant melody of her earlier tone was entirely gone.

She stood.

She walked to the window and looked out over the duchy below. Her reflection stared back at her from the glass. For the first time in years, there was anger there.