"Master?"
"Dermon, how have you been?" She could see her student's body trembling, probably from disbelief and shock. Well, she would have expected that since nobody comes back from the dead (or in her case, reincarnated into another body entirely with her memories and magical power still intact), not especially when it was announced all throughout the kingdoms.
"But how? They said that your body was engulfed in a white magic, as if the Goddess is claiming back what she gave to you. Does that mean that she did not devour your entire being to punish you for your wrongdoings? Does that mean that the King have told lies again of what has happened to you?!" Now, that is something that she did not know.
'What a load of trash spewing from that King's mouth.' The thought echoed on her mind, knowing that it was not from her own thoughts but from the Goddess.
When she is speaking, it feels like an echo from the soul, and not from the mind, though it feels like it comes there.
'Goddess...?'
'Do just ignore me. I have only came to check up on you, but it looks like you need no help from me at this time.'
'Can I tell him the truth, then?' Humming filled her soul and mind, as if the Goddess is thinking of what she should answer. She sighed, knowing that this might look like she is ignoring Dermon on the outside, but in reality...
'I have read his spirit, his loyalty to you is unwavering.' Thank you, Goddess.
"...and he told the King of this country that mages that was under you should never be trusted, but the King said differently of course! He is not like that bastard of a man that we wrongly supported." It seems like that the anger still runs hot and deep inside his veins, which is good because she WILL make the King answer for his many crimes.
"It seems that he have progressively became worse." Dermon nodded, rage showing in his face.
"The people of the kingdom, noble and commoner alike, are suffering. They cannot leave for they will die. Those that are fortunate enough to leave have started hiding, changing their names and such. We all took your last name since the King made it clear that you have none. Most of us changed first names, but when I was accepted as one of the court magicians, I told the King my true name and nature. But, there is one that did not do it from the start..." Why was she expecting Fernando's name to come up? Well, maybe she knew him well, all too well actually.
She was positive that the one that did not change his name, nor even hid and ran from the kingdom is Fernando.
"It's Fernando, isn't it?" Dermon nodded answer. She sighed, fearing for the worst. If right from the start he had not stayed hidden, then what has happened to him? Do not tell her that he have died, and her sacrifice to save him was all in vain!
'I wanted you to live your lives freely, dummy! Not outright fight the king!' She thought, irritation showing in her face. But still, she could understand why. If she was in his place she would have probably done the same...
'Yeah, I don't think I have the right to say anything about Fernando's choices.'
"Master! Please! Come back with me! We can show everyone that you have been given a second chance by the Goddess! We can dispel the rumors about you being destroyed by her because of what you have done to the royal family! Please!" Dermon suddenly said, bowing his head and tears streaming down his face.
She is aware that her death and the events after that have affected her students, but she didn't expect it to be this much. Yes, probably most of them were from the streets, and she might have treated them as her own children, but... she thought that maybe they just saw her as a teacher, someone that they should be grateful to, but not that much.
"You..."
"Master, you don't know how much we cried when the news of your death broke out. Not one of us stepped out of your manor, praying for a month for your soul so that the Goddess may bless you. And when rumors, negative rumors, about you started to spread, we tried our best to tell the truth. Even when the king got too close to our place, or we were close to being spotted, we didn't stop." Dermon stepped closer, tears still falling down from his eyes as he told her of what they have done to clear her name of the nasty and untrue rumors that the King and his henchmen have definitely started.
"Dermon, come here." She said, opening her arms wide. Whenever she open her arms wide, her students know what she is telling them to do. Dermon immediately cried out loud, rushing towards her arms and hugging her.
'I think they grew up too fast...' As most of them are from the slums, and the streets, she knows just how much they were forced to mature. And when they were suddenly picked up from the streets by a woman who was well-known for her magic? That probably added pressure to them to do their best.
To be the best of the best compared to other trained magicians; they do not want to let her down.
"Do not worry. We are going to give all of you the justice that you deserve. And thank you for fighting for my name. It must be so hard for all of you." She said, patting him in the head. She knows that Dermon likes having his head patted.
"F-Forgive me for being so emotional, Master."
"It is alright."
They stayed like that for five minutes, with trying her best to comfort and calm down her student. Her student, who now is taller and much older than she is as of this moment. But, that doesn't matter, she still sees him as her precious student, one of her little ones as she would fondly call them.
"Master, what do you want to do now? You're back, and there's a lot of things things happening..."
"Well, first off, I would want to tell you about the Goddess' gift to me." This got her student to freeze. It is not a surprise since the Goddess rarely show herself to anyone, only to her priests and the one that they consider 'saint', though it has been a long time since they ever had one.
"The Goddess?!" He asked, shouting in shock. She giggled lightly, telling him to sit back.
"Well, I would tell you the summary of it..." She then proceeded to tell him everything that has happened to her, from the minute that she died, then to the last second where she came in the room. '
She also told him about the young lady that her soul has inhibited, and how that her first agenda is to clear the poor Airla's name of her status as a villainess, and show the real faces of the people that have bullied her and is destroying her reputation.
"T-Those people! I HAVE heard of how awful Lady Airla is, but for them destroy a young lady's life just because of their selfishness..." As expected, Dermon does not like the way others have treated Airla. Well, that is to be expected as she made sure to teach her students not only magic, but also how they should treat other people.
And now, she is sounding more and more like a parent.
"Which is why, my first plan is to liberate her status before I would do anything in her body. I promised her that I would make everything right in her life, and that everyone who treated her wrong would pay." To others, it might sound like a petty threat, but coming from her? Oh no, everyone who knew her would know that she WILL do what she said she would.
"And I suppose that you have a plan written down somewhere, master?" Oh, Dermon knows her well. Of course, she does. She wanted to get ready for the upcoming battles that she would face, and not to mention, make the third prince eat his heart out for believing Jilliana rather than the one that he grew up knowing.
'Might have been too stupid for the throne.' If the first and third prince does not change, this kingdom is ruined. They were easily being manipulated by their people around them, how are they expected to not be used by the nobles when the time comes that they are going to hold positions in the kingdom?
"Yes, and my first agenda is to break the engagement between me and the stupid third prince," She knew that Dermon likes that, he might have been also teaching the third prince magic and knows him well, "and to marry someone they did not expect would be a candidate for the throne."
Dermon's eyebrow raised, probably not expecting that she would still be planning to be engaged to someone. He probably would have expected that she would fight alone, without a partner in her side, just like always. Well, not this time.
Besides, she have decided that she would improve the Duke's- well... everything! It would come to a point where they would have no choice but to respect him and apologize for their unsavory rumors.
"I am still in the body of a young noble lady, Dermon. I still have the duty to be married between the ages of eighteen to twenty-eight to someone." Which is something that she does NOT understand; why would they force literal children to marry someone?! Shouldn't they be enjoying their lives at this point of life?
"I completely forgot about that... so, who is it?"
"You must know Duke Adiran Mort."