“Okay,” began Luke as they stepped out of the building. “Since you've found your solution, I think I'll head home now.”

“Why so soon?” Samuel asked in surprise. “You could stay a while.”

His friend shook his head and said sardonically, “No way. If I come now, Sarah will insist I sit down, and when I sit down, she'll force me to have a drink of water. After that, I'll end up chatting with you lot and never have the time to spend on my private life, and I want to spend some time privately.”

Samuel chuckled and said, “Okay. I'll see you at work tomorrow.”

“You definitely will!” Luke replied with a smile. “See you around, Lucia.”

“Take care,” she replied with a smile.

Nodding at her, he flapped his wings and kicked off into the sky be flying off in another direction. They watched him go before they too flapped their wings and flew into the air, heading in the opposite direction. Lucia was trailing behind Samuel, who was carrying her luggage.

“I can carry it on my own!” She insisted in a loud voice.

“Don't worry about it!” Samuel replied loudly with a laugh.

She looked at him with a resigned face and asked, “How did you two meet each other?”

“You mean Luke and me?”

“Yes.”

“At work obviously,” he replied with a light chuckle.

“I see,” she replied, understanding the nature of their relationship. “I suppose he asks you for favours every now and then?”

“Only with his clients and that's only when they're troublesome to talk with.”

“Naturally. He's got a bit of a short temper, although, he's also got a good sense of humour.”

Samuel laughed and said, “Yes, but it mostly involves making fun of other people or speaking in an exasperated way with them.”

“That's true,” agreed Lucia with a nod of the head. “So, what is your son like, Sam?”

“What do you mean?” He asked her curiously.

“Well, I want to learn about my student, what better way is there than asking their parents? So, please tell me what your son is like with his attitude, concentration, and effort level.”

Samuel looked over his shoulder at her and asked, “Don’t you think you should be the one to find out what my son is like first hand?”

“Huh?” She asked, looking surprised by his response.

“Well, I don't know if I'm qualified to tell you this but… when you're going to teach a student, I think the teacher has the responsibility of learning about their student because kids behave differently to different people. For example, he may be jolly and happy around me, whole energetic and cheerful around his mother. So, I think you should figure out how my son behaves around you and adapt to teach him appropriately.”

He spoke the last sentence while turning his head to look at her. Lucia's eyes were round, with a shocked expression clearly displayed on her face at his explanation. Then, as if finding sense in what he spoke, she began nodding her head and smiled sadly at him.

“I'm sorry, Sam,” she said apologetically. “I didn't really think about all that you said, but now I realise. I'll take notes of what you said and do my best for your son.”

Samuel laughed and facing the front once more, with Lucia looking intently at him from behind. The older man gave her a feeling of casual and easy going, but when he gave her explanation, she felt as though both of those people took a backseat and a man of wisdom had come forward to share his experience with her.

This made her curious and propelled her to ask, “By the way, I'm only asking but who was your teacher, Sam?”

He did not look around to face her when he spoke, but his voice was calm and casual as he said, “My parents.”

She blinked in surprise at the unexpected answer, but she quickly realised that the conversation had ended. Thus, she followed him from a little behind until they entered the outskirts of the city before descending and landing a few minutes later.

“Wow,” she said the first thing that came to her mind when she looked at the house before her. “It's… certainly better than mine.”

Samuel chuckled and said, “Let's go in. I'll introduce the family,” and he marched towards the entrance carrying her luggage.

She fell behind him while looking at the house in wonder. It was not an extravagant construction, but there was something close to elegance in the way it was built that made her wanting to look continuously at it. Still, she curbed her temptation and followed him quietly into the house and heard him call our to his wife.

“Sarah! I'm home!”

“Sam!” She exclaimed, hurrying from the kitchen to meet him. “I'm glad you're safe. Um… who's this?”

Her question was addressed to her husband as she looked curiously at the smaller girl that stood behind him. She did not recognise whom she was, and what was more amazing was that the girl was looking around in amazement.

Her husband smiled and said, “I've brought home a tutor for Al to teach him magic.”

“Magic?” She asked him, looking amazed. “Are you sure? It might just be a case of late awareness thing that he's going through, similar to my grandmother.”

“I don't know whether I can believe a story that's based to inspire you to improve,” he replied with a wry smile. “I want to be realistic, Sarah, and not live in a delusion that he'll succeed. That's why I asked for Luke's help, and he showed me to her.”

As he spoke, Lucia walked forward nervously with her hand held out and said slowly, “How do you do… um… madam?”

Sarah did not immediately say anything, nor did she accept the greeting gesture that Lucia was doing. She was assessing Lucia from her body, height, and age before looking back at her husband with an unsatisfactory face.

“Are you really sure she's capable of teaching my son?” She asked him flatly, not even caring that Lucia might get hurt from her words.

If she was hoping to have the woman reveal her true character by making sure to provoke her, she got her wish. However, she did not expect to see that the girl was brimming with excitement at the ridicule instead of taking offence.

“Of course you would be sceptical about my skills as a mage, but don't worry! I'll prove my worth!” Lucia said with a grinning face full of excitement. Then, looking towards them both, she asked them, “Is there anything I can work with?”

“Pardon?” Samuel asked, looking surprised. “What do you mean?”

“Like dirty laundry, dirty plates, and anything you want to test my skills on,” she replied with her eyes glittering with excitement and hope.

He looked at her for a moment before turning to his wife and asking, “Is there anything?”

Sarah was filled with scepticism as she replied, “Just a minute,” and she headed into their bedroom.

A few seconds later, she came out carrying some dirty laundry in a basket and set it down between her and Lucia.

“Is this sufficient?” Sarah asked curtly.

Lucia nodded eagerly and said, “This is plenty!” She waved his right hand at the laundry and said, “Cleaning Ray!”

In an instant, the dirty laundry were suddenly filled with water before they got surrounded by soap. For a few seconds, the bubbles flew around before water appeared out of nowhere and submerged the clothes in the basket. A few seconds later, the water drained away, leaving a wet soggy clothes in the basket.

“Heat Wave,” said Lucia, waving her hand at it.

The basket was suddenly emitting smokes as the entire thing was heating up wildly. The heat was causing the wetness of the clothes to evaporate, leaving them looking fresh and new.

Once the magic finished, she looked at Sarah expectantly and asked, “How's that?”

Sarah did not speak anything because she was unable to due to the sheer shock she received at witnessing the magic at work. Normally, it would take her almost half-and-hour for when to clean the clothes, but this young girl did the exact process without once touching the cloth. So, she was mesmerised by the strong magic control Lucia had in demonstrating her capabilities in front of them.

“Is there more?” Lucia asked them happily.

Like that, Lucia went through cleaning their clothing, dishes, and helped them move stuff around the house completely with her magic. There was not much since Sarah always stayed on top of things, but even the small things impressed her quite a bit.

“I never knew magic could be this convenient,” Sarah commented once it was all over. She looked apologetically at Lucia and said, “I'm berry sorry, Lucia. Please forgive my rudeness earlier. I… I just thought you were just someone here to trick us and rip off our money.”

Lucia giggled and replied, “It's okay, madam. It's only natural to wonder since magic is only used by the council members and only their lineage are allowed to learn magic.”

“Yes! It's quite unfair!” Sarah commented in a strong voice while narrowing her eyebrows to form a serious expression on her face. “It's like those council members do love to put down their people in this regard.”

Samuel chuckled and said, “Lucia's father is member of the council.”

Upon hearing that, Sarah's complexion whitened in shock, and she looked with sudden fear at Lucia. However, Lucia walked towards her and placed her hands on Sarah's hands reassuringly.

“My father may be affiliated with the council, but I'm different,” she explained with a bright expression. “Even I don't like what they're doing to the society as a whole. It's obviously with fear that the common person will rise up against them. I'm not interested in any of that, but I am inclined to spread awareness that there is an alternative to not feeling your energy.”

Sarah looked at her younger girl in wonder at the sheer determination she was filled with. She could not help but smile at Lucia as she said softly, “I agree. Anyway, please feel free to stay in our house however as long as you like, but please teach our son to be as strong as you.”

Lucia looked uncomfortable as she saw Sarah asking her with an imploring look on her face. She move forward and clasped her hands once more with a determined look on her face.

“There's no need to that, madam. I'll do my utmost to teach your son and make you feel proud of him! I swear it!”

Sarah nodded and finally smiled at her. Samuel watched the interaction of his wife and the young mage with a pleasant smile on his face. He knew his wife well enough to know that she would spill her worry as soon as she found the right outlet. That outlet was Lucia, and the young girl was willing to reassure a troubled mother.

They admitted Lucia to a room upstairs, located right beside Luna's room. Samuel discovered that both children were fast asleep from feeling sleepy due to the heat. So, since there was nothing for her to do, Lucia began to expand in her demonstration of what she was capable of. This included igniting fire in midair and cooking food on it before transferring it onto a plate, all of that being done in midair.

“Having magic makes life so much easier,” commented Sarah happily, to which Lucia nodded enthusiastically.

They did not know that Alex has woken up a few minutes earlier and had gone to the bathroom. When he came out, he was puzzled by the sound of excitement and chatter he could hear coming from downstairs.

“Do we have guests over?” He wondered curiously.

Slowly, he stepped down the stairs and walked towards the kitchen to find his mother happily cooking with a complete stranger standing next to her. However, that quickly changed when the young girl suddenly began casting magic out of her hand to conjure a small ball of energy much to his surprise.

“What's that?” He asked, looking puzzled as he did not immediately recognise what she was doing.

“See, madam? Even with magic, you could conjure energy balls like this,” said Lucia happily to Sarah, who nodded in agreement.

Without their notice, Alex wandered into the kitchen and asked in a puzzled voice, “Did she say magic?”

Both women whipped around to look at him in surprise.

“Al!” His mother said happily. “This lady here will be teaching you magic from now on!”

“Of course!” Lucia said brightly, saluting to him energetically.

At that moment, she looked apprehensive and looked at the ball of energy she had gathered with magic, which looked like was going critical. Sure enough, there was a bright flash of light before a bang occurred followed by a small explosion in the kitchen.

Samuel hurried over the moment he heard the explosion and demanded, “What happened? Is everyone alright?”

“We're fine but… Lucia…” said Sarah hesitantly.

They all focused on Lucia, who was covered from head to toe in smoke. As she coughed smoke out of her mouth, Alex began to laugh as he found her appearance to be very funny. While his parents looked at her in amazement, Lucia looked at the boy with a bright smile on her face.

That was how the most feared person and the most influential person in history met on that fateful day.