In merely a few minutes, Selena read the memories of the entirety of the Watford family, allowing her to quickly figure out what she had happened in the decades that she was gone for.
From these memories, one single, thing, or rather, a single person immediately stuck out like a sore thumb to Selena.
Iris Watford, who had a very uncanny resemblance to someone from Selena's past.
Only a few moments after learning of this person, and learning how she looked, Selena suddenly flew away from the Watford estate.
...
As she looked at the city in front of her, which had been built not too long ago, after the previous city had been completely flooded and torn to shreds, Beatrice couldn't help but touch her chin.
"It looks like they've tightened up security a bit..." mumbled Beatrice, who was planning to kidnap some more people.
Although Beatrice had taken in a large number of people after that disaster from ten years ago, after so much time, most of them had been put to good use, either on the farm on the lowest floor, on creating numerous smart ants, or from other experiments.
It was not that Beatrice was unable to deal with the fledgling city in front of her, that was not the reason why Beatrice was feeling a bit frustrated right now.
In fact, Beatrice could probably destroy the entirety of the Kingdom of Lyon, if she so wished.
What Beatrice was afraid of was attention.
It was quite likely that the disappearance of an entire city full of people would alert the entire island, which may then alert some random mage from the Magic Continent.
If this mage was like Beatrice, and did not care much about people, thing would still be alright, as he would either go on his way or investigate further, when Beatrice would promptly kill him.
But if, by chance, this mage did in fact care about human lives, he would most likely report the disappearance of this city, something which only a powerful mage could do, to the Magic Academies, which was what Beatrice was truly worried about.
If she wanted to, Beatrice could of course sneakily kidnap small numbers of people over time, but such limited efficiency was not something that attracted Beatrice in the slightest, leading to her current conundrum.
A moment later, Beatrice froze for around a second, before turning around and looking at the very familiar person that was just staring at her.
...
As she stared at the tall, winged mage in front of her, who was about 2 meters tall, Selena could not help but become slightly happy.
'It seems as though luck is on my side this time,' thought Selena as she continued staring at the female mage.
A Dark Mage, really quite powerful for an Official Mage, as well as someone who seemed to be just as interested in experimenting as her.
Not only that, Selena and this mage also had a blood relation, although extremely faint.
A suitable minion.
In fact, this mage was even more suitable to become her minion than Skye Higgins, who was a little bit too powerful, as well as too close to becoming an Archmage for Selena's tastes.
...
As she looked at Selena, her former teacher, who was silently inspecting her with a thoughtful look on her face, Beatrice couldn't help but begin silently cursing her bad luck.
Although Beatrice did not know what the chances of her encountering an Archmage while hidden on Golwall Island were, she knew they were quite small, as even Selena, who was by far the Archmage she was most likely to encounter, had not come to this island in decades.
After a few moments of thought, Beatrice finally spoke.
"Senior, how might I have disturbed you?" asked Beatrice with an extremely respectful look on her face, bowing as she looked at the Archmage, displaying the image that she had just the discovered the other party was an Archmage.
...
As she looked at the little girl in front of her, who was seemingly calm, but in truth, extremely stared of her, Selena could not help but wave her hand, signaling to the girl to abandon her stance.
"Don't worry, you didn't bother me in the slightest, I was simply surprised to see that a direct descendant of mine had become an Official Mage, especially after the Magic Academies began acting," said Selena with a smile on her face, causing Beatrice to instantly realize what was happening.
'This old hag wants to use me as a minion...'
In the end, although Beatrice definitely did not want to involve herself with Selena, she still quickly obeyed the latter's words on the surface, knowing that she might have a bad fate if she disobeyed the old witch.
...
Only a few hours later,
"Sister Selena, that's my apprentice, I took her in not too long ago, so she doesn't know very much yet," said Beatrice as she pointed towards the young girl that was currently reading a book with all her might.
Although Beatrice's hideout was very hard to find for Official Mages, Beatrice knew that she would not be able to hide from an Archmage in the slightest, and quickly showed it to her newfound 'relative' after the latter asked for her home.
"That's very good, getting an apprentice is a good thing to do while you have some free time," said Selena as she looked at the walls of the room, feeling a bit surprised by Beatrice's underground hideout.
It was not that the hideout itself was beyond reason, as although large, it could definitely not compare to her own home back before she became an Archmage.
No, what surprised Selena was the faint resemblance that this hideout had to her underground home.
It was as if Beatrice had taken inspiration from her, although Selena knew that this was not possible.
In the end, Selena could only say that great minds think alike, was not able to further comment on the hideout of her 'descendant'