“Alex, are you reading it again?”

  Upon hearing the old man's voice from behind, Alex turned to look at his master. With a smile to hide his guilt, he said in a low voice. “Ah, yes, master.”

  When the old man saw his student like that, he wished to scold him, yet he could not bring himself to do it. Instead, he could only let out a long sigh. “Haaa.”

  Then the old man looked around. As the roll upon roll of bookshelves entered his view, the old man exhaustively said. “There are many more things that you need to compile.”

  After that, he turned to look at Alex, who was sitting. “Do not forget our real objective.”

  Receiving the stern warning from his master, Alex stretched the back of his head. He might have tried to find an excuse to get himself out of the sermon from the old man.

  Then, as if he just remembered something, he exclaimed in excitement. “Oh, about that…”

  Then he energetically said, “I am trying to find clues about what kind of preparation they made. They only vaguely mentioned it from time to time. Yet, no detail was mentioned.”

  He smiled broadly as he said that, thinking that this excuse could save him from getting reprimanded by his master.

  As for the old man, seeing his student like that, he could only shake his head in disappointment. The old man's face showed that he knew it was an attempt by his student to distract him, but the old man just let it slide. Then, he gave his opinion on the matter. After all, he was Alex’s teacher. “That can’t be helped. From their perspective, it was not safe to write down any detailed plans. There were only risks involved.”

  Then, the old man weakly continued. “…Moreover… every one of them already knew about it. Since it was common sense, no one bothered to write it in detail.”

  Upon hearing that, Alex showed his understanding of the old man’s deduction. “Yes. It was like you taught us at the academy. Commonsense becomes sacred knowledge, and sacred knowledge will turn into commonsense if we give it enough time.”

  Hearing that his student recounted his words during their time in the academy, the old man let out a satisfied smile. He might have felt pleased that his student paid close attention during his class.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Then, still wearing the smile, the old man said while nodding his head. “Indeed, the flow of time is truly scary. Even great names would be forgotten over time. How—”

  Although the old man still had something he wanted to say, he could not, as he was interrupted by Alex’s shouting, “Talking about it, master, I think I found something significant for you.”

  Being interrupted by Alex, the old man furrowed his eyebrows. Yet, he still asked his student. “What is it?”

  Knowing that he caused his master’s ire, Alex panickily rummaged through the diary in his hand. “Let's see. Let's see… I think it is this page. Ah, here it is.”

  Upon finding the part he wanted to show, he opened the book wide and pushed it to his master's face. “I think your wife would love it.”

  Seeing his student's rough handling of the precious book like that, the old man’s anger almost flared up beyond measure. Yet, he tried to hold it in as he carefully received the book from Alex.

  Yet, unbeknownst to him, Alex just innocently told his master with a smile, “I think it was the origin of his title as the ‘saintess’s guard.’ Don’t be surprised, master.”

  Then, upon reading the part Alex pointed out, the old man’s face began to change color. “This…”

  When he saw his master’s surprised face, Alex smiled broadly as he found that he had succeeded in distracting his master. So, Alex said with a grin. “I found that it was not from his official position that people in the capital referred to him like that. They called him ‘saintess’ guard’ because of his conduct at that time.”

  Then, the old man gently closed the book and carefully placed it on the table.

  Then he got lost in his own thoughts. After a while, the old man began to murmur. “Over this silly reason? It is possible, considering the psychology of the human.”

  After that, the old man looked up at Alex. “However, I cannot rule in this favor alone. It could be only from her perspective alone. Or because she ‘felt’ bored around that time.”

  “So? Should we investigate it more?” After seeing his master’s serious face, Alex carefully asked.

  Receiving his student’s question, although it was a tempting offer, the old man decided to reject it. With a weak smile, the old man said. “We will put it on hold. It is just my private matter, so we should not mix it with our current tasks.”

  “If you say so, master,” Alex replied in disappointment.

  “It is good that you understand.” After the old man said that, he produced a book from his bag.

  Then he carefully handed it to Aria. “Here, Alex, this is your new task. I just found it in the innermost section.”

  Alex also carefully received it with both hands. Then he began to examine the cover. Upon reading it, he looked up in surprise. “This is the record from the Holy Emperor?”

  Yet, the old man just silently nodded at him in confirmation. Then, he sternly handed out the tasks to Alex. “Translate and inscribe it into the system. I have somewhere I needed to go.”

  “Master?” When he heard that his master would be going somewhere, Alex looked puzzled. After all, they are inside the lost dungeon located in the middle of nowhere. Where could the old man possibly go without any escort?

  Yet, without further explanation, the old man just calmly replied. “Don’t ask Alex. Just do what I told you.”