The Genius Villain Dies Tomorrow

"Whoa, whoa, hear me out—"

Rian started backing away, hands flailing in front of his body. He hadn’t accounted for this, any of it. Was she really some kind of spirit protection activist?!

’Is—is she really going to kill me for this?!’

But instead of getting blasted with an ice spell and suffering an eternal damnation like he expected, the Ice Witch was suddenly clinging to his leg, bawling her eyes out.

"Please tell me how you did it! How did you make a spirit appear? How did you convince it to choose you? I’ve tried everything!"

She tightened her grip.

"I’ll pay anything. Just teach me!"

The last remnants of Rian’s first impression of her shattered completely. If he remembered correctly, Nadine was confirmed to be in her early fifties—the same as Adrian.

Yet, she was throwing a tantrum like a kid on the floor. It didn’t help that whatever spell she was using to keep up her appearance...made her look like one, too.

Even Alicia, who usually didn’t show much but her aloof resting face, had widened her eyes as soon as Nadine dropped to the floor.

Having a 7-Star Mage bawling at his feet felt strange, so Rian quickly helped her to her feet. "Alright, alright, please get up. This is kind of awkward..."

Though the more he thought about it, the more Rian realized he had overlooked a certain piece of information from the novel.

Despite being a highly sought-after teacher, Nadine only taught one subject at Eidelgard Academy—Summoning.

’But she gets invited after everything goes down in Eisenbran...so how the hell can she teach summoning when right now she’s clinging onto my leg like this?!’

Well, just a simple look at the spirit hanging around in Rian’s pocket was enough of an explanation.

As soon as Nadine got closer, the spirit within Rian’s pocket withdrew immediately. It flew into his coat with an offended expression, pinching its nose as though Nadine’s mana smelled worse than rotten cheese.

"Again! Why do the spirits hate me..."

Though upon inspecting closer, Rian realized there might be a correlation. The mana inside her body continued to leak outward, so much so that it was less like a leaky pipe and more like a broken dam.

’Maybe it was her intent as well?’

Before he could examine the phenomenon any further, Nadine sprang to her feet. Having apparently promoted Rian from unwanted intruder to prospective teacher, she hurriedly dusted off her pajamas.

"Ah, forgive my discourtesy! Please head upstairs, esteemed guests!"

Rian and Alicia exchanged a glance. Just minutes ago, Nadine wanted to throw them out. Now she was practically rolling out a red carpet.

Alicia quickly retrieved the small arsenal she left outside before following her Young Master into the tower. Nadine didn’t seem concerned about the weapons anymore.

If anything, she looked more afraid of the fact that Rian might freak out and run away.

"Why are you so interested in spirits?" Rian asked between breaths, climbing up the fifth flight of stairs already. "I mean, you’re already a 7-Star Mage..."

"I reached 7-Star more than a decade ago," she eventually said. "At the time, I believed it was merely another step."

’She really is a humble person, huh?’

"But no matter what I tried afterward, I couldn’t progress any further," she continued. "Meditation, mana-crystal absorption, reconstructing my circulation..."

"And none of them worked?"

"Do you think I would be begging you if they had?"

"Fair point."

They reached the next floor. Nadine led them into a circular study filled with books, incomplete magic circles, and stacks of handwritten notes. Several expensive gifts had been shoved carelessly into one corner, most likely offerings from Felix and Rosalia.

Nadine swept a pile of papers from the nearest couch and gestured for them to sit.

"Eventually, I began researching alternatives," she said. "That was when I discovered spirit contracts."

Rian remembered reading an explanation on it. He wasn’t sure how exactly, but spirit contracts usually helped with bottlenecks in advancements at higher ranks.

Though compatibility was the most important factor. Which meant a 7-Star Mage like Nadine would be looking for an equally strong spirit.

"Does that mean you’re trying to contract a Lord-Class Spirit?"

Nadine crossed her arms. "Yes. After years of research, I finally managed to deduce that Undyne, the Sovereign of Water, and Sylpheed, the Sovereign of Wind...remain somewhere in Eidelgard."

The names weren’t unfamiliar to Rian.

Both were benevolent spirits born from the purest concentrations of natural mana. Unlike their destructive counterparts, they had occasionally formed contracts with humans throughout history.

"My compatibility with water is considerably higher than it is with wind," Nadine continued. "Naturally, Undyne became my primary objective."

"And that brought you to Eisenbran?"

"The river carries mana directly from the surrounding mountains. The waterfall provides a constant concentration of untouched water-aspected mana," she explained. "There was no better place to attract a water spirit."

"...And how long have you been here?"

"Five years, four months, and eleven days...and counting."

Hearing Nadine explain her history didn’t prove Rian’s theory, but it made it a hell of a lot more sense now that he had the pieces to work with.

Mana was more complicated than Rian had initially realized. It retained traces of its owner’s emotions and intent.

Nadine constantly leaked mana, and her obsessive desire to secure a contract had become imprinted upon every trace of it.

To an ordinary spirit, her mana must have resembled a suspicious stranger sprinting toward them with a collar in one hand and a contract in the other.

"Of course they ran..."

Before Rian could decide how much of his theory to reveal, a faint blue light caught his attention.

Several mana crystals had been scattered among the various shelves in Nadine’s study. Some were used as paperweights while others were in random glass jars spread everywhere across the floor.

’What the...are these actually...?’

Rian bent over to pick one up. The color slowly drained from it, turning dim and moving towards his fingers.

[Life Force Synthesis Lv. MAX — Activated]

[Estimated Lifespan: 24 days, 11 hours, 58 minutes]

’They’re real...!’

He turned away from the dim crystal to Nadine. "Where did you get all of these? Did Rosalia give them to you?"

"Hmm?" the witch turned. "No, I picked them up from Eisen River."

Rian looked toward the window overlooking the waterfall. "You found mana crystals lying in the river?"

"Plenty of them." Nadine picked up one of the larger pieces from her desk. "They were scattered throughout the riverbed when I first arrived."

"Wh—How many of them?"

"Hundreds, perhaps thousands. Most were smaller than these obviously," Nadine replied like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"That’s impossible."

Nadine frowned. "You’re holding one."

"That isn’t what I mean. Alicia and I followed the river all the way here. There weren’t any mana crystals in the water."

"Not anymore."

"Why?"

"How should I know?" Nadine shrugged. "Merchants probably collected the rest of them. I had already gathered enough for my research, so I stopped paying attention."

"Were they part of the reason you stayed in Eisenbran?"

"Partly," Nadine admitted. "Mana crystals form where ambient mana remains unusually concentrated for long periods. Finding so many in running water suggested that an enormous source of natural mana existed somewhere upstream."

"And you thought that source might attract Undyne."

"Precisely."

Nadine had interpreted the crystals as evidence that Eisenbran possessed the ideal environment for a water spirit. Combined with the river, waterfall, and surrounding mountains, her conclusion had been reasonable.

Yet something about it bothered Rian.

’...What if the two were connected? The crystal mines...the spirits...’

Nadine eventually sealed whatever existed beneath the crystal mines in the original novel, which caused the disappearances to stop immediately afterward.

’...And so did the production of mana crystals.’

Rian had always assumed the mines were abandoned because they were too dangerous. But if crystals were merely natural deposits, then Nadine’s act of sealing shouldn’t have stopped them from forming.

Unless it had never been a coincidence.

She believed that Eisenbran’s mana crystals were attracting a spirit in the region, which explained why she stalled Felix and Rosalia’s conflict.

But what if Nadine had reversed cause and effect?

"What if the mines only existed—"

Rian stared at the dim crystal between his fingers.

"...Because a Lord-Class Spirit is already there?"

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