After the middle-aged man bought the spellbook from Beatrice, he then began walking away, quickly moving all throughout the town, before casting some sort of spell, making sure that nobody was following him.
The moment the middle aged man made sure nobody was following him, he walked into a secluded restaurant before ordering something, he then turned to the book in his hands, examining it for a few moments, searching for any sort of curses or other methods that could be used to track him
After making sure that no sort of tracing spell was placed on the book, the middle-aged man placed it back into his robe, before continuing to eat his meal.
Knowing that nobody was following him, the middle-aged man, who seemed slightly paranoid, ate for a bit before disappearing from the restaurant without a trace.
...
A few minutes later, inside of a completely unremarkable house,
Three teens littered a certain room, each of them silently waiting for something to happen, standing still and not making a sound for some reason.
Suddenly, one of the teens, a young-looking boy, suddenly opened his mouth.
"It's getting kinda late, do you guys think something happen to her?" asked the young boy, Shane, as he looked at his two friends, a boy and a girl.
Hearing Shane's words a frown appeared on the forehead of the boy.
"Don't say that, you know how cautious Catherine is, if anyone could survive something, it would be her," said Oliver, the other boy in the group as he looked at Shane, feeling quite unsatisfied with the latter's mentality.
"I didn't mean it that way I wa-"
Before Oliver could finish his sentence, a middle-aged man suddenly appeared, opening the door of the house before walking in.
The moment the group saw the middle-aged man, their eyes suddenly lit up.
"Catherine, it's good that you're okay, I don't know how long I could have stayed together with these two without going insane," said Madeline as she lept towards the middle-aged man.
Hearing that, some disdain couldn't help but appear on the face of the middle-aged man.
"Don't try to cozy up with me, I spent almost the entirety of my savings for this," said the middle-aged man, his rough voice creating a sharp contrast with the youthful energy being given off by the rest of the group.
"Fine fine, don't worry, I will pay you back when I get some more elemental stones," said Madeline as she quickly approached the middle-aged man, who then took out the Water Element Spellbook from his robes.
"Here you go, that's going to be 379 elemental stones you will have to pay me in the future," said the middle-aged as Madeline picked up the spellbook before opening and beginning to read it not long after.
"You already said that once, you don't have to repeat it, I already know better than trying to borrow something from you without paying you back," said Madeline as she looked at the middle-aged man with some resentment in her eyes.
"Well I gave you a very generous interest rate, you know, no bank wi-"
"Catherine, I think Madeline has understood your point, don't worry, If she doesn't pay you back, we'll be the first ones to catch her and make her pay you up, " said Shane, looking at the middle-aged man who at the moment, was transforming
Suddenly, the body of the middle-aged began becoming smaller, and only a few moments later, the middle-aged man had returned to her true form.
"Don't worry Shane, as long as Madeline pa-ys back her debts to me, I won't bother her in the slightest," said Catherine, coughing as she adjusted to her original voice.
Hearing that, Shane couldn't help but turn his head towards Madeline, who right now, was reading the spellbook Catherine had just bought, reading it.
"I think we need to help Madeline pay Catherine back, otherwise Catherine might wring her dry," whispered Shane as he turned his head towards Oliver.
"I can pitch in one hundred and fifty elemental stones, just make sure Madeline isn't crushed by interest," whispered Oliver, in a tone almost completely unhearable more than a few dozen centimeters away from his mouth.
"Good, I will also put up one hundred and fifty elemental stones, we just need to come up with the remaining seventy," whispered Shane, as he and Oliver began speaking to each other.
Seeing that two of her three companions were immersed in a discussion, Catherine turned her attention towards the third, Madeline, who was sitting on the floor, being completely immersed in the spellbook, showing no signs of doing anything else, unlike her usual self.
'This is quite nice,' thought Catherine, a rare smile appearing on her face as she stared at the scene in front of her.
"You should learn at least some self-protection spells first, that place could be somewhat dangerous," said Catherine as she looked at Madeline, showing some concern in her tone.
"I understand," said Madeline with a serious look on her face, unlike her usual relaxed nature.
"Good, you just need to protect yourself," said Catherine as she began walking towards her room.
Looking at the departing figure in front of her, Madeline couldn't help but look toward the ground.
"Thank you for all the help, otherwise right now I would probably be still desperately searching for spells to practice," said Madeline, in a practically unhearable voice, so quiet that not even Shane and Oliver, who were nearby could hear.
The moment Madeline spoke, the corner of Catherine's mouth slightly rose, forming a smile.
...
Several hours later,
At this moment of the night, when her three other teammates were already asleep, Catherine laid in bed, staring at the ceiling, which had a square pattern imprinted into it.
"Everything's going to be alright," mumbled Catherine as she stared at the ceiling, slightly stretching out her left hand towards it.
After a few moments, Catherine then slowly lowered her hands back down, as her eyes eventually closed, having completely fallen asleep.