Padded the Table Corner

Two days later.

In the towering magical hall of Winter Spring Valley.

From high up in the dome, pillars of light shone down, making the entire hall shimmer with dots of light, giving it an otherworldly sacred atmosphere.

This was the center of power in Winter Spring Valley, the round table council chamber of the Seven Stewards.

Periodically, or whenever certain anomalies appeared on the continent, all seven stewards would gather here to discuss and respond.

And at this moment.

All Seven Stewards were gathered.

Sitting at the head position, First Steward Andrew flipped through the magic book in his hand, looked up, and said seriously:

"Fellow Stewards, it's been about three months since we excavated the Ancient Elven Royal Court within the Western Empire's territory. How is everyone progressing with decoding the text on those secret scrolls?"

He looked around, his gaze eventually falling on Nanako, who was sitting opposite him in a daze.

The tiny lolita was slouching there, with a bubble growing and shrinking on her nose, her steady breathing making everyone around extremely uncomfortable.

Andrew's gaze immediately became stern.

"Nanako, you go first."

Instantly, Nanako reflexively stood up, with wide eyes, and said:

"Is the meeting over? Can we leave now?"

"..."

"..."

Silence fell over the room.

Crows cawed as they flew overhead.

The other stewards around were all holding back their laughter, while Andrew's face turned iron-blue, his beard quivering with anger.

He said deeply: "I'm talking about the ancient elven secret scrolls distributed three months ago. Decoding the ancient elven text is very important to us. How is your progress?"

Nanako was stunned for two seconds.

"Ancient elven secret scrolls?"

After she uttered these words in a confused tone.

The entire hall fell pin-drop silent.

Andrew took a deep breath and said: "Nanako, please don't tell me you—forgot—about it?"

Nanako suddenly shuddered, trembled, and then instantly remembered the task assigned three months ago.

She vaguely recalled that there seemed to be such a thing.

Three months ago, the Ancient Elven Royal Court was excavated.

As Winter Spring Valley, they were naturally the first to act, and successfully obtained a large number of elven documents from various powers.

But because the text was too ancient, decoding it was extremely difficult.

So they had no choice but to let top mages like them find ways to decode it.

She remembered!!

Three months ago, she did indeed take that secret scroll back to her mage tower, then casually placed it on the desk, humming and preparing to take a nap first.

Then she heard her disciple say the table was unstable and needed something to prop it up...

In an instant.

Nanako's eyes widened.

"Used... used it to prop up the table leg..." she mumbled.

"What?!!" Andrew's eyes bulged with rage, his beard flying.

Nanako immediately jolted, staring with big eyes and said: "No, nothing, Nanako has been very successful in decoding, and is about to decode the entire scroll, it's a great success!"

"Yes! That's right!"

Nanako nodded her head like a sieve, her long ponytails dancing up and down.

Andrew gritted his teeth, so angry he almost laughed, and ground out:

"Is that so? Looks like Nanako is quite remarkable. This old man has only decoded two pages in three months, yet Nanako has already completed the entire scroll. How impressive indeed!"

Nanako scratched the back of her head, smiling awkwardly but politely.

"Yes... yes... no! No!"

Nanako stared with wide eyes, shaking her head frantically.

Bang—

Andrew slammed the table and said in a low voice:

"Fine, since you say so, Nanako, bring your decoded ancient elven scroll here before noon tomorrow, so everyone can study it properly!"

"Meeting dismissed!" Andrew shouted and stormed off.

...

Outside the Seventh Steward's mage tower.

Lynn lay in his rocking chair, holding a book, swaying back and forth.

Squinting drowsily, feeling the cool breeze, taking sips of tea.

[Ding! You've successfully slacked off for two hours, congratulations on gaining 20 magic points]

[Ding! You've enjoyed the cool breeze for two hours, feeling content, congratulations on gaining 20 spirit points!]

[Ding! You've read a certain colored book, feeling excited, congratulations on gaining 20 stamina points!]

"Life..." Lynn squinted drowsily and said:

"Would be worth it if I could just stay this lazy forever..."

The task of copying magic books left by his lolita master, naturally hadn't been touched at all.

The required two thousand push-ups and meditation sessions were, of course, planned to be fudged through.

If a person isn't lazy...

Then what's the point of living?

It had been two days since the training ground incident.

During these two days, he had naturally gone comfortably to the church, where the priest sister helped heal his physical and mental trauma.

Gaining lots of points.

It had to be said.

The priest sister's voice was so gentle, and her little hands were so soft when held~

If it weren't for his lolita master forcefully dragging him out, he felt he could have stayed there for a year or more.

The cold wind howled.

And at this moment, Lynn, who was comfortably lying in the rocking chair, suddenly froze.

Then he did a kip-up to sit up, looked toward the sky, and said:

"Master is coming back?"

Just as he finished speaking.

In the distant sky.

The wind howled.

A twin-tailed lolita wearing a blue robe and a large wizard's hat, riding a broomstick, was seen rapidly approaching the mage tower.

It was Nanako!

Lynn immediately stood up, tore open space, and threw his rocking chair and little book inside.

Then waved toward the sky, shouting:

"Welcome back, Master!"

That's right.

The disciple's character setting still needed to be maintained. As a stupid but thoughtful disciple, greeting the master immediately upon return was absolutely necessary!

But Nanako seemed to not hear her disciple's voice at all.

Lynn paused, speculating:

"Is she lost in thought?"

Then under Lynn's watchful gaze, Nanako, riding her broomstick, didn't slow down at all and crashed into the mage tower with a bang, creating a huge hole, with rolling black smoke immediately rising from it.

Lynn nodded and said: "She was indeed lost in thought."

Then he heard a series of chaotic crashes from inside the mage tower.

All the way from the top floor to the first floor.

Then the main door burst open with a bang.

Out rushed Nanako, covered in soot and dust, clutching a thick book, with wide eyes.

"0.5 seconds..." Lynn said helplessly: "Looks like master rolled down the stairs again..."

Not hearing Lynn's words.

Nanako heavily slammed the book onto the table.

Her sapphire-like eyes looked down at the book, flashing with high spirits.

"Decoding an entire scroll in one day is nothing for this young lady!"

She suddenly turned her head, ponytails flying, staring at Lynn and said:

"Isn't that right, disciple?"

Lynn didn't even think about it, decisively nodded and replied: "Yes, Master, you're the most capable, you can do anything."

[Hehe, just agree with whatever the lolita master says, I don't even need to know what it's about.]

[Because based on past experience, the only result when the blue-haired lolita shows such high spirits is—she'll definitely deflate within half an hour!]

[I could even use a stopwatch to time it precisely ヽ(￣▽￣)ﾉ, guaranteed not a minute more, not a second less!]