What Have You Done

Ye Chuan found Kaiaolen. The latter appeared to be in the middle of writing a letter, but upon hearing that Ye Chuan had come to see him, he immediately invited him in.

"What is it, Lord Xixi? Is there an issue with teaching my granddaughter magic?" Kaiaolen continued to scribble away on the paper, the pen scratching against the surface. He didn't seem concerned about hiding the contents from Ye Chuan.

After all, it was mostly regarding the matter of the disguised monsters, so there was nothing really worth hiding.

"It's about Elara. Isn't her magic power level significantly weaker than other mages?" Ye Chuan’s opening question caused Kaiaolen’s pen to freeze in mid-stroke.

A trace of surprise flashed across his face; he evidently hadn't expected Ye Chuan to discover this in such a short amount of time.

"Yes. As a mage, Elara's magic power is indeed low... or rather, excessively low. We’ve had many mages examine her, but none could find any issues," Kaiaolen admitted. "How did you discover it?"

"Oh, I just touched her all over."

"What?! You bastard! What did you do to my granddaughter?!" Kaiaolen shot up from his chair instantly, looking as if he were about to explode.

"I felt something was off, so I examined her magic circuits and magic core. What’s the problem?" Ye Chuan shot him a sideways glance.

"That... that is true..." Kaiaolen choked back his anger and sat back down. "But couldn't you have used magic to scan her? Why did you have to use your hands?"

"That's the only way I know how."

"You... Fine." Kaiaolen realized he couldn't really argue with that logic. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "So? Did you find the problem?"

Kaiaolen didn't hold out much hope; he was even beginning to question the wisdom of entrusting his granddaughter's magical education to Ye Chuan.

However, considering whether Elara could enroll in the Imperial Academy, finding a reliable teacher was undoubtedly crucial.

And while Xixi Chinayega often seemed unreliable, spouted nonsense, and acted erratically, he did possess genuine skill. Even Kaiaolen had never seen a mage quite like him.

"Yeah, I found the problem."

"It's fine if you couldn't find... What?! You found it?!" Kaiaolen was astounded. "What is it?!"

"When I was feeling around just now, I noticed that several key points in her magic circuits seemed to be blocked by something. Or perhaps it's a type of curse?" Ye Chuan said. "I'm not sure of the specifics, so I wanted to ask if you knew about any curse in Clara's body."

"It's Elara."

"Oh, Balala."

"..."

However, Kaiaolen was pondering what Ye Chuan had said about a curse. He furrowed his brows in thought, then said uncertainly, "Is it a curse?"

"Well, it's probably not a blessing."

After a moment of silence, Kaiaolen said, "When I was young, I encountered a terrifying monster. Before it died, it placed a curse on me. I'm not sure if that's the cause..."

"You got hit even with your high magic resistance?"

"Yes... that monster was terrifying. It was as if it didn't belong to this world. I could even sense that it was already injured at the time." Kaiaolen fell into deep thought.

Ye Chuan interrupted, "I don't want to hear your reminiscences."

"You really are a young man with no sense of atmosphere."

"Since we've found the root of the problem, I should just be able to break the curse, right?" Ye Chuan asked.

"Can you do that?"

"I could remove that human-skin monster attached to you; isn't removing a curse a piece of cake?"

Hearing this, Kaiaolen stood up and said solemnly, "I'm counting on you, Xixi Chinayega!"

Ye Chuan twitched the corner of his mouth. Too lazy to say anything more, he waved his hand and went back to find Elara.

...

At this moment, Elara was still sitting in her chair, hugging her staff in a daze. After all, she had just been touched all over by an unfamiliar man. Even though it was for the sake of examining her magic core, the mere thought of it made Elara's face turn bright red, as if steam were rising from the top of her head.

"Uuu—"

"Oi, Lala." A voice from behind interrupted Elara. The young girl turned around to find Ye Chuan standing not far away.

"Lord Teacher!" Elara hurriedly stood up, but due to her clumsiness, her staff pinned down the hem of her skirt. With a splat, she tripped over nothing and fell flat on the ground.

Ye Chuan: "..."

A bit clumsy, isn't she, this girl?

"Are you okay?" Ye Chuan helped Elara up. Seeing that her face was red from the impact, he brushed it with his finger, and the tiny scrape instantly vanished.

"It... it doesn't hurt anymore?" Elara said in surprise. "Teacher, do you know healing magic too?"

"I've mastered magic of all attributes," Ye Chuan said casually.

"That's amazing..." Elara's eyes went wide, believing Ye Chuan's words without a doubt. "Is there really a mage who can master all attributes?"

This girl is pretty innocent, isn't she?

Seeing Elara trust him so easily surprised Ye Chuan a little. Perhaps it was because she had been sheltered so well by Kaiaolen that she was this naive.

However, that wasn't Ye Chuan's main focus. He said, "There's a problem with your magic circuits. I just asked the Little Dragon Man about it."

"Little Dragon Man?"

"Kaiaolen."

"Uh..." Elara hugged the staff in her arms a little tighter. "Yes, that's why my magic progress is very slow. Even with magic of the same level, the power I display is weaker than others."

"Grandfather looked for many mages before, but they couldn't find the cause... In the end, everyone said I was just clumsy and not suited to be a mage."

"Lord Teacher, am I really not cut out to be a mage?"

"Why are you talking so gloomily? Even if you were clumsier, you'd still become a talent in my hands," Ye Chuan said.

"Eh... really?"

"Don't worry, I won't give up on you." Ye Chuan patted Elara's shoulder. "You are my precious treasure (money tree)."

"?!" Elara was stunned. A blush began to climb up her cheeks, and she seemed to crash like a computer. "Tre... treasure..."

Is... is this a confession?

We only just met for the first time.

"Alright, let me check your magic circuits."

"P-please take care of me from now on!"

A question mark slowly appeared on Ye Chuan's face. Seeing the girl bowing while clutching her staff, he looked a bit confused.

No, wait, what are you doing?

A moment later, Elara realized she had misunderstood. She was so ashamed she wanted to find a hole to crawl into.

"Is everyone on the Aether Continent this abnormal?" Ye Chuan sighed.

As a normal person, living on this magical continent was just too exhausting.

But fortunately, he had finally relocated the position of the curse on Elara—and when dealing with such things, Chaos was the best power to use.