The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

After hesitating for a while, Eula decided that there was nothing wrong with putting in a request for the little girl. Anyway, if there was an issue, others would just reject it.      

She patted the little girl's head. "Just wait for a while. The array is paused for about thirty minutes every ten hours or so. When it happens, I can ask the professors if there is a way to lead you in. Of course, you'll have to show that to them, and be on your best behavior, got it?"     

"Thank you!" Evelyn jumped in joy, and keeping up with her act, even stepped forward to hug the green-haired girl.     

With their height difference, the pink haired little girl didn't even come up halfway to her chest, and Eula could only pat her head helplessly. 'Don't tell me she still has that crush on me? Well, I guess I haven't done anything to get rid of it either.'     

Evelyn could feel that the older girl was probably thinking something weird, but she felt that it was fine as long as she got to meet Aurora soon. "How long will it take for them to stop?"     

As for any misunderstandings this girl might have, she could always clear them up later.     

Eula cleared her throat awkwardly. "Well, the last one was about eight hours ago, so I guess around an hour or two more?"     

"Ohh…"     

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━      

Evelyn thought that her luck was quite good, since she didn't have to wait that long before the fluctuations in the spirit energy in the air became apparent from the array being stopped. According to the green haired prefect, this was a sign of the grand array changing, and also their cue to go in.     

Evelyn had assumed that there would be quite a bit of resistance from the professors guarding the array, but most of them either ignored her or shook their heads ruefully as Eula led her towards the dark tower that previously belonged to Mantis unobstructed.     

When they got to the entrance at the base of the tower, however, a halberd wielding woman stopped them with a glare. Evelyn thought that her face looked shockingly similar to the one that she had bullied before.     

"No one is allowed inside, don't you know?"     

"Well, the senior professors didn't stop us—" Eula cleared her throat awkwardly, nudging at the little girl by her side to show her keepsake.      

The dark haired guard lady frowned. "That's because you're just tiny little students. In the end, they're here to defend from actual threats, and reacting to you is just a waste of time. As a prefect, you should still have enough sense to not disturb them."     

Evelyn could already feel a few familiar spirit power fluctuations brush against her, but she still 'followed Eula's instructions' like a good girl and took out Aurora's keepsake. That being said, she couldn't just wave it around now that her teacher was observing her, could she? That would be a surefire way to get scolded.     

'Why isn't she calling me in already?' The pink haired girl looked awkwardly at the guard lady, deciding to stall for a while. "Aunty, do you have a sister?"     

Aurora probably wanted to see if she would be naughty, right?     

"Eh? So what if I do?"     

The pink haired girl shook her head. "Ah, nothing, I just met her earlier. She was super nice!"     

The dark haired woman frowned, wondering if that was some sort of threat. But then again, this was just a little girl. What threat could she possibly make against her sister?     

Just as she was about to forcefully chase them away, however, an ethereal voice floated their way from within the tower.     

"Let her in."     

Evelyn immediately recognized Aurora's voice, and grinned. As expected, she couldn't really watch her being chased away. Her teacher was a bit too softhearted, after all, but that was a good thing for her.     

As a mere guard, the woman could only let her go, though she still blocked Eula, who shook her head helplessly. "I'll wait for you here. Don't bother your teacher too much today, alright?"     

Evelyn gave her a cheerful smile. "Okay! I'll just cuddle a little and be right back!"     

Since Aurora could sense her presence, the others could, too.      

The other pillars and ex-headmaster gave Aurora a weird look, wondering how a pillar could lower themselves so much, and although she pretended not to care, they could tell that she was a little embarrassed.     

But thinking about what she could do if they made a joke, none of them thought it was worth it.     

"Take the spiral staircase all the way up."     

Aurora thought that her student was a little naughty, but even if she had to be punished, that would have to wait until they were alone. At the very least, she didn't act too obnoxiously in public, so she decided to spare her dignity in front of others as well.     

The pink haired girl followed her teacher's directions, and it didn't take long for her to arrive at the very top of the tower.     

From here, she could clearly see that the four pillars, including the now ex-headmaster and Aurora, were each seated at the four nodes of a circular array on the ground. A wave of weak spiritual power flowed out from its center and into the open skies above, and Evelyn could tell that it was some sort of inactive link.     

Aurora waved her over, her expression neutral and hard to judge. "You came at quite a good time. We just paused to rest again, or you'd have had to wait much longer."     

"Ah, sorry, teacher. I knew you were busy, but there was something really important I had to tell you." Evelyn glanced at the other three shyly. "I-It's a bit embarrassing."     

Aurora sighed as got up from her spot. "We'll skip a session."     

Kaizen and Kaling shared a knowing look before shrugging. "No problem for us."     

The headmaster didn't object and kept his head down, though he didn't offer any affirmation either.     

"Lord Hyperion shall take this time to familiarize yourself with the tower, if you wish, or just rest properly. We can resume the practice from tomorrow at sunrise."     

'So he's called Hyperion, huh? Is that his title or name?' But although Evelyn was quite curious about this headmaster turned pillar, she didn't dare to use her probe skill to check. Since Aurora could sense it, the others here probably could as well.     

Unless she had a proper excuse for probing them, or they were already in conflict, it was better to err on the side of caution. Anyway, she was sure she would get plenty of opportunities in the future.     

Aurora held Evelyn's hand as the two of them flew directly up from the tower and towards Aurora's own.     

Once the two of them were far enough, the only remaining female pillar chuckled. "Lady Aurora sure pampers that little girl, huh? I think she might be training her to replace you soon, headmaster."     

Kaizen nodded along with his wife. "Maybe you can go back to living that lavish, carefree life in just a couple hundred years or so, ahaha."     

Well, technically, the title of headmaster now belonged to someone else, but it would probably take a few more months to get rid of their habit of the last few centuries.     

The dark haired man snorted. He could always trust these two to come up with the most ridiculous arguments. "Is it so easy to train someone to a pillar's level? Looking at the little girl's lack of resolve alone, I can tell she won't be able to grow properly. As soon as she faces a threat above her level, she'll probably start crying."     

Kaling shrugged. "Well, I doubt that would be much of a problem, considering Aurora can just spoon-feed her to a high enough level."     

Her husband hummed. "That may be true, but I see what the headmaster means. Doing things that way is not really a good idea, is it?"     

Kaling blinked. "That… I'm sure that Aurora must have her reasons for picking a student after so long. It would be a bit ridiculous if the little girl just got stuck at breakthroughs, right?"     

The dark haired man snorted, cutting off the couple's debate. "Hmph. Aurora has never raised a student before, so maybe she doesn't realize how hard it will be for her to break through that level without proper insights. For a talentless person, boosting them up the levels is a great boon, but for the truly talented, what Aurora is doing… is just going to hold her back!"     

Silence reigned on the tower's roof as the pillar couple were left sharing an awkward look.     

Oblivious to their discomfort, or perhaps uncaring, the ex-headmaster shook his head. "I always thought it was a pity that Aurora never took on a student, but now I know it was a blessing in disguise instead. With how she pampers and spoils the little girl, she's just ruining a talented seed, absolutely incompetent!"     

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━      

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━