Grea stumbled over her own feet and bumped into the stone counter behind her. After dealing with the initial shock, she raised her arm and pointed at Silvia while showing an ecstatic expression at Asterios.

“You fucking madman! Did you really sneak the princess in here?!”

He chuckled. “Kind of.”

“Damn, was I blind when Umbra moved me to you guys back in the Demon Continent. I blame that old coot. I didn't realize it until you told me about it before the ceremony.” Grea pressed her fingers against the sides of her head and shook it in disbelief. “I honestly still can’t fucking believe it. To think that your weird-ass lineage would connect with the True Sun Bloodline…”

She then dropped her hands and rolled her eyes.

“Well, obviously it would when we consider fire affinity but still. Man, your shit just can’t stop getting weirder, can it?”

“Trust me, I know that well.” Asterios showed a wry smile. “I wouldn’t have expected such a development ever.”

“Me neither,” Silvia joined in. “It was the first time in my life that I met someone whose spiritual energy resonates so… well, so… synchronized with mine. I would have never expected to meet a bloodline with higher authority over fire than mine and Father’s. Without being boastful, of course.”

“Ah.” Grea gasped and hastily dropped onto one knee. “Forgive my manners and crude language, Your Highness. I got a bit too excited.”

The princess waved a hand at her. “There’s no need for that. As you might have realized, I’m not here as the royal princess but as a member of Asterios’ party. Just act natural, be yourself.”

The crimson-skinned woman stood up and nodded. “Aight, then. Fancy hairpin, by the way. It’s not that easy to find such a trinket that doesn’t emit obvious waves of mana into the air when it's on. Even with my Third Eye closed, I would have been able to notice it in an instant if it did.”

“A keepsake from our trip to the Demon Continent,” Asterios explained. “I bet Radir has already filled you in on most of the things that happened back there.”

She groaned. “The only thing he has filled me with was his constant rambling about the ground-breaking research on Sealing Magic that your team stumbled on in some hidden, underground complex. Getting anything else out of him was a challenge worse than figuring out your secrets.”

Miria and Tina giggled together and then glanced at each other. The latter couldn’t really understand the part about Radir that well since she hadn’t even met the man yet but she could easily agree with how complex Ast’s situation was and had been even much earlier in the past.

“Sorry about that,” Asterios apologized. “We kind of dropped him onto you without a warning.”

“Eh, I don’t mind, just as I said back then when you contacted me. He’s an annoying ass but the same can be said about me, honestly. He has sealing, I have summoning. It seems that this obsession runs in the family.”

“That’s true. You can get quite heated sometimes, Professor.” Tina chuckled softly, earning herself a squint from her ex-teacher.

“Besides,” Grea spread her arms, “I should thank you rather than blame you. I’ve always kind of kept my distance from my old man. Our relations couldn’t be described as the best. Now, I can’t really make any more excuses since I already owe you a deal big enough to not pay myself back in my lifetime if I refused.”

“Have you maybe considered that he’s just bad at expressing himself with you?” Asterios asked.

She snorted and rolled her eyes. “Him? Bad at expressing himself in front of women? Yeah, like I would believe that. He’s as bad at talking to girls as you are at summoning them.”

All of Ast's companions chuckled quietly and even Asterios couldn’t stop the corner of his mouth from lifting up. Everyone knew how accurate Grea’s statement was, at least towards him. He wouldn’t be so sure about Radir after talking with the man in the underground complex. Radir seemed quite concerned about her.

“Speaking of which…” Asterios decided to put that topic away for now.

“Right. There was this winged chick by your side the last time we saw each other through Umbra.”

A crimson gate rose from the ground a moment later, letting Bryn step into their realm. She smiled warmly at everyone present and nodded toward the red-skinned professor.

“Greetings. I’m Bryn. It’s an honor to meet one of Master’s friends.”

“Can you stop growing your harem for five seconds?” Grea crossed her arms under her chest and smirked at him. “Leave something for other Summoners. Oh, wait. They can’t even compete because you are holding a monopoly on an untapped source of beautiful women from countless other realms.”

The Valkyrie blushed faintly and Asterios shook his head.

“Please, don’t assume that every single new summon will become my mate. It’s neither a rule nor a requirement,” Asterios replied.

“Mate, huh? You have fully embraced your inner Dragon, I see. Did you already turn Tina into your mate too?” she asked, raising a playful brow at him.

“Yes, I did.”

While the person in question dropped her gaze to the floor with a faint trace of rosiness covering her cheeks, Grea blinked a few times in quick succession, getting slightly dazed. She totally hadn't expected Asterios to confirm it so matter-of-factly. A tiny smile decorated Tina’s lips as she stepped a bit closer to him, enough for their shoulders to touch.

“Well… Uhhh… Congratulations, I guess?” Grea cleared her throat and stopped gawking at her blue-haired pupil. ”Glad to hear that you two finally got together. I bet your capabilities will soar even more now that you can receive even more support from your prince charming.” She attempted to return to her usual, mischievous manner.

Tina opened her mouth to reply but Asterios stopped her mentally, knowing what she wanted to mention. She withdrew herself before Grea noticed her intention to say something.

“Let’s spare Tina the embarrassment, Professor, shall we?” Asterios chuckled wryly. “Especially in front of Princess Silvia and everyone. My mother has already bombarded us with a fair amount of her teasing.”

“Curse Kindra. She went way overboard while raising you. It’s almost impossible to fish any funny reactions out of you because of her. And now I can’t even bully your girlfriend, pfff.”

“I’m fairly sure that as a teacher here you shouldn’t bully any students. Especially considering the fact that the academy might be getting interviewed quite thoroughly soon.” He smiled at her. “Regarding that, how are the Council and the others?”

Grea laughed openly. “How could they be? You two put a literal fire under their asses during the ceremony. They would surely love to run away but that would be like admitting that they are guilty, especially knowing that the royal family is watching this place attentively.”

Miria giggled adorably. “Good. They deserve it after how they treated Master.”

Asterios scratched behind her ears. “Hopefully, this will turn out for the better. The academy is great, just some people aren’t.”

“Don’t worry, we will personally keep a close eye on the case with Father,” Silvia reassured him, glancing between Asterios and Grea. “Rosewind’s Summoning Academy was one of the institutions our kingdom took pride in, beating even the elves from the far west. We should have been paying more attention to it before the accident.”

“That’s great to hear. Maybe this shithole will become slightly less insufferable and I won’t have to actually quit. I would miss this lab so much. So many memories. Good and bad both…” Grea grazed the counter with her hand, staring at it with a slightly melancholic smile.

“It would lose its most valuable asset if that happened,” Asterios replied, meeting her gaze and smiling too. “Anyway, we dropped by just for a moment while waiting for some arrangements to be finished at the castle regarding Tina’s recruitment. Any progress on your side?”

She pushed herself off the counter and walked to one of the walls with a seductive step, glancing at him over her shoulder.

“See for yourself.”

Turning to the empty surface, Grea began tracing some lines and patterns over it and soon revealed a complex formation under her fingers. It took her almost thirty seconds to move and spin all its elements into their proper places.

After the glow emitted by the magical array faded, part of the wooden floor shimmered like a mirage in the desert and a sturdy hatch appeared in everyone’s sight. A few sigils and runes still remained on it for a brief moment before also turning off.

“Did you really hide your father and his workshop under your lab?” Asterios asked, slightly in disbelief.

“What?” Grea raised a brow at him. “It’s the safest place, certainly much safer than my house which I barely even visit. I’m not as skilled as he is, but we crammed this place with multiple seals together, effectively turning the underground chamber into a sealed dimension. I bet even your Dragon Eyes would have a hard time spotting it.”

She lifted the hatch and jumped down. Everyone else exchanged glances and quickly followed after the demon woman, actually using the stairs properly as normal people would. The lid closed itself after the last person passed through the opening.

~You are not going to talk about the summoning part with Professor Grea?~ Tina asked Asterios through their bond as they descended side by side.

~I will, for sure, but not at this very moment. I think we can both imagine Grea’s reaction after she learns the truth. Just think how you reacted back there and multiply it by a hundred.~

She giggled in their minds, completely agreeing with him on that and getting a little warm on the cheeks when reminded of the previous night.

~I would like to let her know about everything with just us alone, or at least with just the people she considers close, like you for example. I might have an idea about her reaction but we both know that Professor Grea isn’t exactly too predictable and can suddenly turn very emotional.~

~You are right. I think it would be best if you spoke with her alone, just like you explained things to me. We are not so different, after all.~

She continued with a gentle smile, making Asterios a little curious. They soon reached the bottom of the short staircase and entered a spacious chamber with a few additional compartments connected by doorless arcs.

The main section was heavily littered with copious amounts of papers, scrolls, parchments, and books. The bookcases and shelves were full, the counters and cupboards were overloaded too, and even the walls had been turned into pinboards where numerous notes and other pieces of paper hung from.

Such a scene crafted an image of an underground den of some conspiracy theorist with how many of those elements were connected by colorful strings leading from one point to another and building an utterly chaotic network no one could follow accurately except for its creator. And that creator knelt on the ground amongst the sea of tomes while attentively working on something and muttering some incomprehensible words under his breath.

Grea walked up to her father and landed a solid kick into his butt.

“Wake up, old man. You have guests. Gods, have you even slept in the last three days? You look like shit. More than usual, that is.”

Radir flipped himself over and shakily stood up, dusting his completely crumpled clothes off. He truly looked completely exhausted yet still full of energy.

“Sleep is for the weak! I haven’t deciphered even a quarter of this in a week!” he shouted while flailing his arms. “Oh. Asterios. Great! Come here, boy! I need you to translate something for me!”

Before Asterios could react, he was already being pulled towards a desk packed with open books. He decided to help Radir out for a moment or two since the man’s analysis of both Red’s research on Sealing Magic and Summoning Magic could definitely be of great use to him and his companions at one point. Naturally, Radir’s main objective was the seal in Ast’s memories.

While the men were busy on the side, the girls chatted briefly about the academy and a few other things related to Radir’s and Grea’s work on the material Asterios had left in their hands. Miria and Selene also filled the demon woman in on their adventures with their master in the Demon Continent in more detail, saving just a few of those they weren’t sure if it was okay to mention yet.

Grea was quite interested in hearing about how Silvia and Asterios met so they mentally asked him if they could bring up the case with the cult. He trusted her wholeheartedly and didn’t mind as he had planned to talk about those events with Grea someday in the future.

Therefore, they recounted the entire operation from start to finish, explaining how they had even gotten involved with an organization of that scale and with such nefarious goals. It all had begun by accident during the search for a missing boy, which everyone found both extremely lucky and unlucky at the same time.

After Asterios finished translating and interpreting the parts of Red’s notes and scribbles that had been taken with a draconic script, everyone gathered around again and they moved to another room. Inside, they found multiple magical circles and formations on all six surfaces, unbelievably more complex than what Grea had in her summoning chamber.

“Alright.” Radir rubbed his hands together. “I haven’t made any praiseworthy breakthroughs but I’m almost certain that I should be able to push the seal at least a teeny weeny bit back again. Besides, we have to experiment a little with this anyway so that I can gather more on-hand data from you.”

Miria jumped into Asterios from behind and hugged him tightly, resting her chin on his shoulder and showing a brilliant smile.

“That’s great, Master! We might be able to learn more about you!”

He chuckled lightly and petted her adorable ears. “Maybe. We can only try. I feel like every small bit will mean a lot with what we currently know. There’s a lot of doubt around everything.”

Radir took place at the edge of the giant array on the floor and Asterios walked over it to the very middle. He knelt on the ground and took a deep breath, taking a glance at his companions. All his mates smiled at him and he nodded, noticing even Umbra hanging around on Selene’s shoulder, ready to jump in to help him in case anything happened.

Signaling to the demon man that he was ready, they began.

One by one, all the patterns lit up and Asterios let whatever magic was imbued in them enter his consciousness. He felt the similar sensation of someone swimming through his memories to their very beginning and Radir soon arrived in front of the unimaginably complex barrier.

Compared to the last time, Grea’s father seemed to know a little better what he was doing as he poked various parts of the giant and ominous seal. He switched places of some runes and sigils, changing the patterns or the script. Asterios could see him untangle a few characters and turn them into words.

Ten minutes later—at least according to how it felt inside his mind—Radir covered quite a lot of magic arrays. When compared to how much was still left untouched, it might have very well been nothing, but it was just enough to trigger something.

The seal trembled, shimmered, and flashed brightly, filling Ast’s mind with a crimson glow. Subjected to that blinding light, he could feel something popping back in place, a small, tiny fragment of something that had been taken away from him at some point.

He quickly located that piece and focused all his will on diving into it.

※ ※ ※

Asterios opened his eyes to an unexpected scenery. Clear, blue sky spanned above him but that wasn’t all. Someone’s face hung over his figure, which seemed to be positioned horizontally towards them. He quickly realized why after the missing sensations flooded his mind.

Kaguya was currently holding him in her arms and breastfeeding Asterios with half of her chest uncovered by her soft and elegant robes. As expected from the baby he had been at the time of that memory, he was greedily sucking all the milk from his mother that he could possibly get.

From what he could see without turning his head around—which, of course, wasn’t possible—there was no ground in his field of vision. If he wasn’t mistaken, they sat on top of a literal cloud, or something very closely resembling a fluffy, white nimbus.

A faint shadow was cast onto him and Kaguya as a man came closer to them.

Red.

He looked down at the two with his arms crossed and sighed heavily.

“We need to move soon. We’ve stayed here for too long. It’s too risky.”

“Got it. Just let me finish here. It’s much harder to fly and breastfeed than I would have ever thought, and I did quite a lot of things in the air in my lifetime,” she replied with a chuckle.

“I can always take you on my back.”

She raised a brow at him. “Are we that much in a rush? You rarely let me ride you. Something about pride if I remember correctly.”

The man shook his head and silence filled the air for a brief moment before he spoke again.

“I really shouldn’t have. Especially considering our situation.”

Kaguya glanced up. “It did not seem like it would change in another hundred years or so. And I really wanted a strong heir. He will be a strong one, I'm sure of it. He comes from a Dragon.”

“I wouldn’t have agreed if I knew he would turn out like this. It’s really unexpected. I have a feeling that it’s all because of that wound I got from Black. I thought I managed to heal it up enough over so many centuries but I guess I was mistaken. Under current circumstances, it’s literally the worst possible outcome.”

“That’s why we went back to the Spire and conducted the operation, didn’t we? And you succeeded. Do we still need to do more?”

“He will never be safe like this and neither will we. Since we don’t have the necessary materials and equipment now, I will seal the other one with a barrier around his body, and block his memories just in case. Then, we need to find a good place for him, as common as it can get. Nothing should leak through the barriers even if someone finds him by accident but we shouldn’t take unnecessary risks.”

“Alright. It’s a little saddening but I won’t have to tend to him all the time, at least. It was always a pain during the first few months or even a year. He does seem to be smarter and growing faster than the other children I had, though. Just look at those bright eyes.”

They both glanced at Ast’s baby face and he stared back at them, still suckling on Kaguya’s breast. No one said anything else and the feeding time soon ended. Red brought out his wings and she brought out seven tails. They shot into the sky together, heading towards the horizon.

Soon after, Asterios felt himself leaving the memory.