“I know I said that and all, but… how did our meeting end up like this?” Alex thought to himself, looking very uncomfortable.

He was in a nicely lit room and was seated on a comfortable chair alongside Luna, who sat to his right, and Lucia, who sat to his left. In front of them sat a man who was none other than his teacher’s father, and he was looking at them with a serious expression on his face. His daughter, Lucia, had her arms crossed in front of her and glared daggers at her father.

The atmosphere in the room was quite heavy caused by the tension between the father and daughter duo, making Luna look very nervous, and Alex to sigh in discontentment.

“What a mess?” Alex thought wearily. “How the heck did we end up in this mess?”

It was not long ago that they flew through the air with help from Lucia’s magic before they finally arrived at their destination, which was her father’s home. The magic teacher slowly descended towards the ground until she landed softly before letting go of the two youngsters, who looked towards the house in amazement.

The house was built neatly without a single trace of oldness or extreme fashion. There was even a small garden situated at the front of the house, which looked like it was being taken care of with great care. Overall, the place gave of an air of peace and quiet, completely negating the expectations that Alex and Luna had about the place considering all that they heard about Lucia’s father.

“This is a nice house,” commented Luna with a smile forming on her face.

Lucia shrugged and replied, “Father’s a bit of a perfectionist, always making sure things are simple, neat, and clean. He’s also raising the garden as a hobby considering he’s well past his mid-fifties.”

“Still, it’s a lovely house, miss,” said Luna unperturbed by the older girl’s comment.

“Lovely?” The older girl asked, and she smiled softly. “It isn’t about the house feels, Luna; it’s about how the inhabitants of the house behave that matters. But don’t take my word for it. See for yourself. Come on,” and she lead them towards the entrance.

She raised her hand and as she was about to knock on the door, having last minute regrets about coming there and wishing she could just leave without seeing her father. Alex, who noticed the hesitation in her teacher, decided to take matters into his own hands and knocked on the door three times loudly, startling his teacher in the process.

“Alex!” She exclaimed, looking thoroughly shocked.

“If you weren’t going to do it, I thought I might as well do it, miss!” He said to her with a bright smile on his face, which made her look helplessly at her student before slumping her shoulders down in defeat.

“You win, Alex,” she said while letting out a sigh, which only made him smile even brighter than before.

And so, the three visitors waited at the entrance for the inhabitants of the house to open the door for them. However, as the seconds turned into minutes with there being no sign of the door being opened, Alex went to knock again. This time, his teacher quickly grabbed his hand and looked sternly down at him.

“Alex! We knocked once and that’s enough!”

“But miss, he probably didn’t hear me knock earlier,” replied her student, raising an eyebrow in exasperation at his teacher’s unwillingness.

She looked a little apprehensive as she told him, “Yes, but... I don’t know.”

There was a few seconds of silence between them before they heard a movement coming from the other side of the door, causing them to instantly back away for the door to open without hitting them. A moment later, the door opened to reveal and elderly looking man with white hair and beard that covered much of his face, who was in his night clothing while clutching a kane that he used to support himself with.

The man also appeared to be quite annoyed as he began saying, “Who’s disturbing me at this‒?”

He stopped and froze on the spot as soon as his eyes fell on his daughter standing there beside two children he had never met before. Lucia initially avoided making eye contact with her father, but she eventually shifted her gaze towards him and spoke in a tentative voice.

“Hello, father.”

“Lucia!” He exclaimed and immediately darted out of the house, casting the cane aside and hugging his daughter tightly in great happiness. “It’s good to see you!”

“Wha?!” She exclaimed at the sudden radical behaviour her father was showing, and her expression was mirrored in Alex’s and Luna’s faces as they did not expect him to do that. Lucia began to push him away while shouting, “Father! Let go! You’re hugging me too tightly!”

“Oh…! My daughter...! You finally came home… and you brought your children as well…!” He said, after being pushed back by his daughter but continuing to look at her lovingly. “I’m now a grandfather…! I’m so… happy!”

“Wha?!” His daughter exclaimed, blushing crimson in embarrassment by her father’s comment. She pounced forward to deliver a karate chop straight on top of her father’s head, causing him to wince with pain. “W-W-What the heck is wrong with you, father?! They’re not my children,” and she introduced them by indicating and Alex and Luna respectively, “This is Alex, my student, and this is his childhood friend, Luna.”

Her father looked very disappointed when he heard that they were not her children, making his shoulders slump and his head bow down in disappointment while muttering, “I finally thought I was a grandfather…! Ah…! The disappointment… Ah… It hurts… so much!”

“That’s what you get for jumping to conclusions! Geez!” His daughter retorted, folding her arms and looking away in annoyance.

He sighed twice more before lifting his head and looking kindly down at the children before asking them, “Hello there, kids. I’m her father, Matthew. How do you do?”

Alex and Luna simply started at him because they did not expect him to be this polite after the description about him that his daughter gave to them. It made the two children look cautiously at him. Just then, Matthew suddenly realised something and tapped himself on the side of his head while putting on an embarrassed smile on his face.

“So sorry. Where are my manners? Come on in,” he said, welcoming them into his house and going into it first.

Alex was the first to enter the house, and Luna followed behind him, and the first impression they got from the interior of the house was that it was amazingly simple and neat. Just like how the house looked quite simple and classic from the front, the inside also felt the same, with no sign of any extravagance. Rather, it felt warm and comfy for them as they stood there while Lucia came behind them and closed the door.

“Impressed?” She asked them quietly so that only they heard her.

“Yes. This is… um…” Luna began and faltered, unable to pick the right word to describe her feeling.

“Unexpected,” supplied Alex, and Luna nodded at him in appreciation with a smile forming on her face.

“Yes! It’s unexpected for your house to be… this nice,” explained Luna, continuing to look around in amazement.

Alex also agreed with his childhood love, but he found that to be odd and asked his teacher, “Are you sure he’s part of the council members, miss? I mean, for an important person, he seems to live alone with not a sign of security around.”

Lucia smiled and stated, “To be frank with you, Alex, father doesn’t care about hiring security guards to protect him because he believes it’s a waste of money. Besides, what use do guards provide when he’s actually quite powerful. One of the strongest members from the council, I believe.”

When she was speaking about her father, she appeared to feel highly about him and was praising him unintentionally. Alex noted this and smiled as his suspicions that she truly cared about her father and highly respected him were indeed true. She noticed him staring at her with a funny smile, making her falter and look puzzled.

“What’s wrong, Alex? Is something on my face?”

“Oh. It’s just that you looked really happy when you were praising your father, miss,” he replied with a sweet smile on his face.

“Huh?!” Lucia exclaimed, coming to the realisation about her behaviour up until that point and became flustered. “N-No! I was just… um… just saying something general because, well, he was my teacher after all! That’s all, Alex!”

“Sure, sure,” her student replied with a smile, causing her to exclaim, “Geez, Alex! You’re a naughty boy!”

As he laughed, they heard her father call to them, “Don’t just stand there. Come over here and sit down! It’s improper to keep standing there when I’ve already invited you once.”

Alex and Luna blinked in surprise, but Lucia, who was already aware of her father’s behaviour, sighed and told the children, “I told you, he’s a strict man with strong principles and beliefs, not to mention a slight perfectionist. Anyway, let’s go and take those seats before he becomes angry.”

Seeing her looking a little concerned made them understand and move to the living room, which was very spacious. The hall was split into portions, one side being the living space, the other that had a dining table for people to eat together, and a kitchen at the rear with side entrances that led towards the individual bedrooms.

While Lucia and Luna walked over to sit down on the chairs in the living space, Alex paused to watch his teacher’s father waving his cane around. Matthew moved it around to make a drawer open and caused three glasses to rise into the air and gently land on the table before pushing the drawer to close with a wave of his cane. Then, he pointed it at a jug of water and made it fly over the glasses and pour water into them to the brim before waving his cane to set the jug down.

After that, he waved his cane at the glasses and caused them to rise into the air and moved them towards them while coming over himself to sit with them. Alex, who had watched the fluid movement of the old man using his cane in executing his magic silently, was very impressed at how simple it looked. However, easy as it may have looked, he knew deep down that it would take years and years to master control over it, with or without making a contract with a Spirit of Life.

“Take a seat, boy,” said Matthew, tapping him on the shoulder and moving to set the glasses down on the table before grunting as he sat down on a chair himself.

As Alex sat down and they took a glass eat to sip on, the older man smiled serenely at them before turning his attention towards his daughter.

“So, what’s this I heard earlier when you introduced them to me, Lucia? That this boy is your student?” He asked with a hint of seriousness in his tone despite the smile he showed them with his eyes closed.

Lucia, who had noticed the tone, set her glass of water down on the table and looked at her father with seriousness before replying, “Yes, father. You heard me correctly. He is my student, and I am teaching him magic.”

“Oh…?” He asked, and he slightly opened his eyes to look very seriously at his daughter. “You still haven’t dropped it then?”

“No way!” She replied in a firm voice. “I told you many times before, and I’ll tell you a million times more; my goal is to bring awareness to the public about the alternative to use magic instead of quietly accepting their fate and being conscripted into the army.”

Her father stayed silent for a few seconds before commenting, “You speak too much, Lucia, but then again, this isn’t the first time you’ve outspoken yourself. However, you should stop living in that dream land and face reality and see that your goal will never be accomplished.”

“Says you, father!” She retorted, looking stubbornly at him. “I’ll prove it to you that I can, and I will succeed! Then you’ll be the one to open your eyes and see the truth!”

In that instant, a tense atmosphere formed around them as the tension between the father and daughter dynamic caused invisible sparks to fly between them. Luna was looking at Lucia, then at Matthew, and back repeatedly in a very nervous manner. Alex could only sigh to himself and look discontentedly between the them at how childish the to of them appeared to him.

Finally, his teacher’s father breathed a sigh and closed his eyes again while asking, “It’s clear to me that you didn’t come back with a change of mind and heart, so why did you come?”

Lucia flushed with anger at her father’s careless words, and Alex feared she might retort angrily at him. He quickly touched her hand, causing her to snap out of her anger and turn to look at him in surprise. Her student gave her a pleading look as he wanted her to act calm, causing her to sigh deeply and turn back to face her father.

Trying to use as much calmness as she could muster, she asked him, “Father, I came to request you to teach us on how to form a contract with a Spirit of Life.”

Once she finished speaking, there was an intense silence in which her father opened his eyes briefly to look angrily at her. Then his gaze shifted towards the two children, who flinched because of his sharp look, which made him sigh and closed his eyes again. He then folded his arms and looked grim as it became apparent what he wanted to say.

Controlling his temper, Matthew opened his eyes and gazed at his daughter, asking her, “You already know my response, right?” She remained silent for a moment, but she narrowed her eyebrows and finally nodded. This made him smile a little and reply with finality, “In that case, this marks the end of this discussion. Full stop.”