Just as the two of them were about to reach the Headmaster's office, they ran into a tall, long-legged elven girl coming from the opposite direction.
It was Illya.
"Big sis?" Edith waved at her. "What are you doing here?"
Illya was coming from the direction of the Headmaster's office, holding a sheet of white paper in her hand. Her eyes were full of curiosity and focus. In fact, she hadn't even noticed Ron and Edith until Edith called out.
Hearing the voice, Illya paused, her expression calm and detached. The curiosity in her gaze vanished instantly, replaced by an emotionless, almost robotic stillness as she replied, "The Headmaster needed to see me."
Even in front of her own sister, Illya remained as stoic and unreadable as ever—your textbook expressionless magic scholar.
Unless it involved magic circles, nothing else ever seemed to interest her.
At that moment, as if remembering something, Illya quickly stashed the white paper into her storage space, clearly not wanting anyone to see what was written on it.
Ron hadn't paid the paper much attention at first. He'd just assumed it had something to do with magic circles.
While the sisters chatted, he was busy executing the legendary "pure and noble gaze of appreciation, free of any indecency" to sneak a peek at Illya's long legs.
Unfortunately, Illya was wearing a long skirt—only the slightest bit of ankle was visible.
What a shame.
Then his gaze landed on the white paper in her hand.
Even though Illya had reacted quickly and tucked it away, Ron had already caught a glimpse—and that glimpse was more than enough.
His eyes widened, and he almost burst out laughing like a pig.
—"Noon."
That's what was written in Chinese characters.
Illya had a piece of paper with Chinese on it?!
Considering she had just come from the Headmaster's office, Ron quickly pieced together what had happened.
"What did the Headmaster and that squad captain rummage through in my study yesterday…? And now they're handing it out like public research material?" Ron silently groaned.
He couldn't help but feel a little helpless and amused.
Illya, being a magic circle expert, must have received that "Noon" character from the Headmaster…
Did they mistake that crude little doggerel poem of his for some sort of ancient magic sigil diagram?
It's a completely different world's language! And it's just twenty simple characters from a silly poem—what could they possibly analyze from that!?
Well, at least they didn't manage to copy any of his precious artbooks.
Especially the Illya Special Edition...
"We were just on our way to see the Headmaster. He should still be in, right?" Edith asked.
"Mhm." Illya nodded with a vacant look in her eyes, clearly just giving a half-hearted response.
Edith, already used to her sister's personality, simply reminded her to eat dinner before waving goodbye and leading Ron the rest of the way to the office.
Illya didn't mind at all. She simply pulled out that "Noon" character again, holding it carefully in her palm, her expression now completely different—curious and engaged.
These two mysterious glyphs looked incredibly simple. Just a few strokes and lines—any three-year-old could probably copy them.
But the Headmaster had personally given them to her, and said that these weren't the only glyphs—there were more, and some were even more complex.
Illya was eager to decode the meaning of the symbols in her hand, hoping that once she made some progress, she could convince the Headmaster to share more with her for further study.
At the office door, Edith turned and smiled. "I won't bother you while you talk to the Headmaster. I'm heading back to the lab."
"Thanks," Ron nodded. Then, remembering something, he added, "I'll be busy tonight, so I'll skip out on dinner with you all. Can you tell Mason and the others for me?"
Edith made a "got it" gesture, waved, and left.
Ron took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
Knock knock knock.
"Come in."
Ron pushed the door open and stepped inside.
There were two people in the room.
One was Headmaster Vosbites, looking scruffy as usual—his beard unkempt, his enchanted robes wrinkled and carelessly thrown on.
The other was a middle-aged man in an elegant mage's robe, standing in front of the desk, receiving a piece of paper from the Headmaster.
The mage stared intently at the paper, eyes burning with curiosity. Only when the Headmaster gave a pointed cough did he snap out of it, realizing someone else had entered the room.
Remembering the Headmaster's earlier warning, the mage quickly stored the paper away and greeted Ron before making a hasty exit.
He looked like he couldn't wait to go home and start analyzing whatever he'd just received.
Ron didn't catch what was on the paper, but he could guess.
"Was it 'Hoeing Millet,' 'River Diagram,' or maybe just a big 'Bird'?"
Now that the room was quiet, just the two of them, Ron stepped forward.
"Hello, Headmaster. I'm Ron André," he said politely, pulling out a Nether Orchid imbued with a trace of divinity from his [Inventory] and placing it on the desk. "A small gift for our first meeting."
When Vosbites first saw Ron, he felt a moment of guilt.
After all, just yesterday, he and a companion had snuck into Ron's study and stolen those "mysterious glyphs," and now he was handing them out to mages like Illya for analysis.
And now Ron had come knocking? That made things a bit awkward.
Still, Vosbites kept a calm expression.
After all, how could Ron possibly know his glyphs had been… borrowed?
But the moment Vosbites laid eyes on the Nether Orchid—and sensed the faint divine aura it carried—he shot up from his chair in shock!
Realizing his reaction was too obvious, he coughed to cover it up and walked around the desk, pretending he was just going to sit somewhere else.
"Prince Ron, how very thoughtful of you," Vosbites said, passing by and smoothly slipping the orchid into his storage space. "Please, have a seat."
Ron smiled to himself and sat across from the Headmaster, separated by a coffee table.
Vosbites looked at Ron, who was sitting there all neat and proper, and couldn't help but sneer inwardly.
He'd looked through Ron's "illustration booklets" last night.
He hadn't thought much of it at first, but after seeing Illya in person today, he realized several volumes were dedicated entirely to her.
Then there was Ron's close relationship with Illya's little sister, Edith...
Let's just say Vosbites now had a much deeper understanding of Ron's character.
Still, he had no plans to judge. After all, they had trespassed into Ron's shop.
Besides, Ron had just given him a gift as precious as a divine-imbued orchid. That alone earned some serious goodwill.
Men being into beautiful women? That's just nature.
Understandable.
And frankly, the Nether Orchid with divine traces held far greater value to Vosbites than any romantic interest Ron might have in the Elven sisters.
After studying Ron for a few seconds, Vosbites took the initiative to ask:
"Prince Ron… have you been followed?"