No matter how much Freyr probed, Lilith remained tight-lipped about her teacher's identity. The young girl stubbornly refused to divulge even a single detail, and not even Freyr's attempts at indirect questioning yielded any results. For now, he had to assume her teacher was some kind of hidden master.
Lilith had lived with her teacher in a secluded place, deep in the mountains. According to her, she had only left this hidden home twice in her life. Almost all her time was spent studying magic at home. Her daily routine consisted of learning various magical knowledge, memorizing complex and obscure spells, and... washing her teacher's clothes.
"Washing clothes?" Freyr chuckled. "You know how to wash clothes?"
He took Lilith's small hand and examined it. "These delicate hands don't look like they've ever done household chores."
"I-I can!" Lilith's face turned red, either from Freyr's disbelief or the fact that he was holding her hand. "I-I can use magic to wash them. With just a spell, the clothes will wash themselves."
"Oh... like a washing machine," Freyr thought to himself.
Lilith's first trip out was when her teacher took her to the headquarters of the Magic Guild in the imperial city for a secret, non-public magic level examination. Before the exam, her teacher had said, "Let's make those fools at the Magic Guild stare wide-eyed! Let them see what an incredible genius I've trained!"
The result was... the wizards in charge of the examination were indeed nearly dumbfounded. From a magical standpoint, Lilith was a prodigy—a genius among geniuses! A fourteen-year-old eighth-level wizard! Such an achievement was unprecedented in the history of wizards.
"That was a year ago," Lilith said shyly. "The wizards wanted me to stay in the imperial city, but my teacher said there was no one to wash the clothes at home, so he took me back."
"Hmph, your teacher didn't want the Magic Guild to recruit you," Freyr mused. "An eighth-level wizard is a significant figure anywhere. Even in the Magic Guild, how many wizards are above the eighth level? And you're still so young."
Lilith blinked, not fully understanding Freyr's words, but she quickly brightened up. "That examination passed, and my teacher was very happy. He gave me a gift—烈... 烈日!"
"The dragon?"
"Yes!" Lilith's eyes sparkled with excitement as she talked about her magical pet. "It's him!"
Freyr sighed. Who exactly was her teacher, giving a dragon as a gift? This wasn't a cat or dog; it was a dragon!
Lilith stayed in her teacher's secluded place for another year, continuing to learn magic and wash clothes. Her second trip out into the world was recent, to capture the fearsome illusion beast that had escaped—her teacher's pet.
"Wait!" Freyr suddenly jumped up, looking excitedly at Lilith. "What about that illusion beast? Do you still have it?"
Lilith nodded and opened her robe. The tiny illusion beast was in a small cage hanging from her waist.
"Stomach, we've got a solution now!" Freyr's eyes gleamed with hunger as he swallowed. "Hey, silly girl! We don't have to starve. This little thing looks plump and juicy. Even without seasoning, it should taste pretty good roasted."
"..." Lilith blinked, taking a moment to understand Freyr's words before she screamed, "No! No! You can't eat my Jiujiu! It's my teacher's pet. If you eat it, I... I..."
"We don't have a choice," Freyr said firmly. "We've been starving all day. If we don't eat, we won't have the strength tomorrow. And we don't know if we can catch any fish!"
"No, no, no, no! Don't eat my Jiujiu." Lilith clutched the small cage to her chest, refusing to let Freyr take it. "Don't eat my Jiujiu."
"Fine! Then we'll eat your dragon!" Freyr exclaimed. "It's big enough. We can cut off a piece of meat, and it won't die."
"E-eat... eat the dragon?" Lilith felt faint.
Just when she thought this young noble was a good person, he turned into a demon again! Eat a dragon? Oh, merciful gods, spare poor Lilith. She had never heard of anyone daring to consider a dragon as food!
"No, don't eat my Lie Ri! Don't eat my Jiujiu... Dad, Mom..." Seeing Freyr's determined expression, Lilith's tears flowed once more.
Freyr, exasperated, looked at the crying girl and shook his head. "This won't do, that won't do... fine! We'll let it be for tonight. Tomorrow, I'll try to catch some fish. If we can't, we can't starve to death. If it comes to that, we'll have no choice but to cook the illusion beast!"
At this moment, not only was Lilith crying, but even the plump little illusion beast in the cage—an advanced magical creature that understood human speech—was trembling with fear. Its tiny eyes stared at Freyr, and its chubby body quivered.