"Good day, young lady. I am Dermon Hugo, the mage that will assist you in your status checking." She stared at him, her eyes wide open and her voice stuck on her throat. Dermon... is alive. He is doing well, and is living his life freely without any problem in this kingdom.
The Goddess have told her that almost twenty years have passed since her death, and that though every single one of the people that she have saved that day have lived on, almost all of them have carried a heavy burden when her death has been announced all throughout the kingdoms. She said that almost every single one of them blamed themselves for not helping her, with this very thought torturing their minds for all those years.
'Dermon...' And they have taken her last name, Hugo as well. On the day that she died, she accepted the fact that her mother's last name 'Hugo' will be gone for good, forgotten through time and eventually vanishing from the people's minds.
But... they never left her alone. To tell the truth, she thinks that they never left her at all.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Mister Dermon." She greeted, bowing her head at the man before her. She never thought that the once good and obedient Dermon would look like a strapping man. Before her is not the Dermon that she once knew... it made her both happy and sad at the same time.
'I have missed twenty years of my students' lives.' She thought staring intently at the red head before her.
She must have stared too much because Dermon started scratching the back of his neck, looking everywhere other than her direction. She knew of this habit of his, and is glad that there are some things that have not changed... at least.
"Airla, stop staring at the poor man. You are going to burn holes through his head." His father joked, trying to make Dermon relax before her.
"I'm sorry, father." She answered, smiling at her father's direction. She quickly walked nearer Dermon's position, where the magical ball has been set up earlier. If she wasn't so focused on her old student then she might have done the assessment as of now.
"I am sorry too, Mister Dermon." She said, bowing yet again to the man.
"That is alright, Lady Airla. Now, what I want you to do is put your hand on this red magical ball, and push a bit of your magical power into it. You don't have to worry about anything, this is just a standardized examination for your power." She knows the procedure well, she have done it before for countless of her students and the nobilities' children back when she was working at the castle.
Still, she took a deep breath and carefully placed her hands on top of the magical ball.
"Now, start to push your magical power into it." The thing about magical balls is that they were designed to know the level of your magical power just by pushing even a tiny bit of your magic. She developed it into something so sensitive for children that has no control over their magic and might implode a normal one if they force even just an average amount of theirs into it.
Now, she is going to be subjected to her own design, probably betrayed by it too since her potion is the only one that can hide her magical level to it.
'Here goes nothing.' She pushed just a bit of her magic, praying that maybe her design might have a bit of flaw into it.
...which of course did not happen since she is a perfectionist at EVERYTHING that she does. She have perfected this normal magical ball and now... it is emitting her aura and cracking.
Her aura shows a mix of different colors, representing all of the affinities that she has. It isn't different from the result that she has gotten on her first successful prototype but back then... she is an adult with much experience on her body and magic.
But now...?
"Y-Young lady...? This power, it is like none other! Your magical level is through the roof, and you might even break the magica-" And she did at the midst of him saying it. She quickly removed her hands from the breaking magical ball, trying to look surprised and shocked about what happened.
"What happened? Why did my magic break the ball?!" She asked, doing her best to put up a show of shock. Dermon immediately casted a spell to clear out the residue of the magical ball, gathering everything on a bag that he would probably throw away later.
"I think, young lady Airla, you have exceeded the magic that someone your age might have! By how you have immediately broken your magical ball, I might estimate that your magic might be somewhere in between a skilled magician or even someone who have mastered one element. Not to mention all the colors that I have seen- it is incredible! I have never seen anything like this, not since the death of my..." He trailed off at what he was suppose to say. Oh she knew, she knew what he was going to say.
He have never seen anything like that ever since his master died. His master who is standing directly in front of him.
She wants to hug him, tell him that everything is going to be alright and that she would do anything in her power to make everything right. She wants to assure him that master would always be by his side, teaching him, and protecting him but... he is not a kid anymore.
All of her students have grown so much.
"Master Dermon? Can you tell us what this means to Airla's magic?" She was thankful at how sensitive her parents are to emotions that they are threading around him a bit careful.
"A-Ah yes. Forgive me, her magic just reminded me so much of.... my old master." When he said that, she started to think of something. It might be beneficial for her to reveal her identity to her old student, that way he could be her teacher, and people would not even blink an eye on how she could use advance magic.
'As far as I know, all of my students have made a reputation for themselves before my death. They are far more advanced in magic than any other magicians in outside and inside the court, I made sure of that.' But... how? How could she get him to talk to her without other people around?
She can't ask her parents to leave the room, they are most likely going to be reluctant as she has just recovered from a long coma. And the servants are also quite protective of their young lady so...
"This means that young lady Airla is given by the Goddess of such tremendous magic that I could say it even exceeds the first prince's own magic. I can surely say that with training and studying, she could even achieve the level of magic that I am right now or even much more powerful. Her affiliations also is extraordinary, she has..." She tuned the rest out as she already knew what she has. She does not need training for the basics to be honest, but what she needed is a teacher that is willing to hide her prowess.
She needs someone that she can trust, someone that can tell everyone that the magic that she did was something that he taught to her so that she could be covered up.
And... that person is right here at that very moment.
Dermon "Hugo", her former student and her soon-to-be magic teacher, and she thought of a way how.
"Time magic is very intriguing is it not?" She suddenly said, looking intently at Dermon with a smile on her face.
"A-Ah, yes young lady and I am sure that with the right training you would have the ability to do that. I would like to recommend someone under me, a student of mine since I am unfortunately-" She muttered the spell under her breath, raising her hand and casting it inside the room. Now, it is only her and Dermon that can move.
"Impossible...? How can you have so much control over your magic when you have only gained...?"
"Hello Dermon, it is so nice to see you. I am happy that you have grown up well."
"Master...?"