Chapter 343: “Teacher Had a Student Before?”

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Leah examined the “child” her mother had “sent” to her.

“Melyn…”

Witch names were generally chosen from common ones. However, this name also belonged to a relatively famous witch in history who researched the “Primordial Candle” magic. But the Melyn before her did seem somewhat timid, following her slowly, silent, and appearing exceptionally well-behaved. Her red hair looked meticulously cared for; though it hung loose, the stray strands at her forehead and the back of her head were tied into small braids. Her height wasn’t much different from Leah’s—which was normal. For some reason, witches’ bodies always seemed to stop growing at this point, with only a very few sub-branches growing to resemble normal seventeen or eighteen-year-old humans. Although she looked like a child, witches’ physical and magical aptitudes were definitely at an adult level!

She… she couldn’t simply treat Melyn as a child; perhaps she was already over fifty years old…

“Here. Teacher Leah, what do you need?”

Leah had merely murmured her name, and Melyn obediently looked up, her red eyes—the eyes of a witch—staring at Leah. Truly, aside from the “Teacher” suffix, she was nothing like him. If it were him, when she called his name, he probably wouldn’t look at her so obediently. He would probably lean in, murmuring, “Teacher Leah, if there’s anything you want to tell me, just say it.”

“Nothing. Although I did just achieve something, I… I don’t think I have anything to teach you…”

“It’s okay. As long as I can be in the lab and watch how Teacher conducts experiments, I’m sure I’ll learn something.”

“You’re… a fully automated good student, aren’t you?”

Leah sighed. Though somewhat reluctant, she still let Melyn into the lab. Every witch’s lab was a relatively “private” space. After all, the essence of their lifelong magical research might be concentrated in that lab, so they naturally wouldn’t want others to just wander in and observe. Besides “students” and “family,” this place represented almost all of a witch’s privacy.

“The lab… isn’t the light on?”

Melyn, having received Leah’s invitation, poked her head in to glance at the lab’s interior, then cautiously stepped inside with a foot clad in a small brown leather shoe. She was exceptionally careful. At least in this regard, she was nothing like him. The first time he entered the lab, he practically barged right in.

No… that’s wrong.

Leah shook her head. She shouldn’t… she couldn’t keep looking for Will’s shadow in others—even if they were also students. Even if he was… her first and only student, she shouldn’t do this. After all, she couldn’t go back to that past. And there was no future with him either…

“The previous experiment required minimizing heat sources from light to ensure consistent calculated and experimental temperatures, so the lights weren’t on…”

“Is this… a task Teacher Leah set for herself? So amazing, to research the wax oil in just a few days…”

In the blink of an eye, Melyn seemed to “tour” the lab, walking to the lab bench where Leah took notes and organized things—that is, the bench where Will’s quest note was taped.

“Th-That can’t be seen!”

“Hmm? But… this is… a very ordinary task, isn’t it? And Teacher Leah even checked it off.”

“Th-This…”

Leah suddenly realized. To an outsider who knew nothing, the note taped there would never be linked to… linked to being a “future quest” left by someone she loved—such a strange thing. It simply looked like a very ordinary task, most likely one she had written for herself.

“Y-Yes. It’s my own task.”

“Then, Teacher Leah’s next task is… 505, trying to assemble the candle wax and wick?”

“Yes.”

“Sounds like it’s not too difficult… Can I join?”

She held her staff, looking eager in front of Leah. Leah seemed to realize that Melyn wasn’t entirely different from him. For example, in terms of curiosity and initiative… she did seem to have some similarities with him.

Was Lis having her take a student at this time because she had noticed that Will hadn’t returned and something must have happened between them? So… as a “mother,” she wanted to force a “student” on her? According to Lis, according to what Lis often said, she probably didn’t want herself to be affected by a mere “human” for too long, so… so she wanted her to start anew?

But… but what Lis didn’t know was…

Leah looked at Melyn’s back as she stood in front of the lab bench. In her eyes, that red hair slowly turned into short brown hair, standing by the coal lamp, like every night, when she couldn’t hold on any longer and lay down on the bed, only to open her eyes and see the tireless Will still at the lab bench.

Leah thought, unconsciously pulling down the sleeve of her right hand, covering the marks left by injecting Bloodmint Essence. Lis didn’t know that she couldn’t go back.

“First, we need to cool it, right? Teacher Leah?”

Her thoughts were interrupted by Melyn, who curiously pointed to the wax oil Leah had just refined behind her.

“Yes. But this is still experimental. The total amount refined isn’t enough. It’ll be even less after impurities are removed…”

“I see, so we need to refine enough before starting, right? Yes, that seems like a safer method.”

“That’s right.”

Wait…

As Leah agreed, she noticed that her initial “resistance” and “rejection” towards a new student had gradually disappeared. Now, she could actually communicate with Melyn quite naturally as a teacher. She had originally thought she would not only reject students after Will but also reject the idea of taking on students at all. After all, before Will, she hadn’t even been willing to take on any students.

“Okay, let’s start then. From a time perspective, it might be two or three more days of work.”

This time passed quickly. Leah stared at the task note, watching the Frostmare Horse liver slide off her lab bench and roll down as a solidified wax block, feeling a sense of accomplishment.

Melyn was amazing as a “student”… no, even as a “helper.” Leah hadn’t expected it. Every time she gave an order, she didn’t have to teach her how to do it; Melyn quickly caught on. Whether it was preheating the lab bench, cleaning the magic isolation hood, or maintaining temperature with simple fire magic. She did everything perfectly.

Days passed. Leah, who had barely spoken to Melyn at first, now occasionally chatted with her about the progress of her research, and what she had encountered at the human school—things that, as a teacher, seemed to be the most common after-class topics.

However, she only… she only never mentioned having had a student.

The entire story about Will, especially the long, long period it occupied in her past three years, and the most profound memories in her century-long life…

“This, well, there was one time in the lab…”

—She would stop herself, like this, just before his name would “naturally” come out of her mouth.

“N-Nothing. Just some small trouble in the lab, and then a sudden flash of inspiration for a solution… that’s all.”

—And then, like this, she would skip over his part.

Because, Leah couldn’t say it. She thought that under Will’s influence, she would no longer “deny” or subconsciously “avoid” facing emotions related to interacting with people. But when she was about to say his name, a sharp pang in her heart would still choke her words.

“Okay. That’s an interesting experience… Let’s continue, Teacher Leah.”

…

Having a helper was different from having no helper at all. Leah found that the experiment progressed about twice as fast as she expected. The two quickly produced enough material for the next round of experiments. From the task description, it should have been a very simple assembly task. However, because both the wick and wax materials were very special, it might require more data experiments to find the optimal method. And there was also a technique to burning the newly produced wax blocks.

“Let’s stop here for today.” Leah, unusually, was the first to suggest “rest.”

“Okay. Then, Teacher Leah, I’ll head back first.”

Come to think of it, she didn’t seem to know where Melyn lived. She seemed to live in the Witch’s Coven, and Leah only ever walked her to the lab door—Melyn never needed Leah to walk her any further. But the Coven was huge, probably housing thousands of witches.

“See you tomorrow.”

“No, before I go… I have a question I want to ask, Teacher Leah.”

“Hmm? What is it?”

Leah kept her smile.

“Teacher Leah, you must have had a very excellent first student, right… or perhaps, a very excellent founding disciple?”

“…”

Her gentle smile, as a “teacher,” slowly faded from her face.

“Because you don’t seem to know how to teach a student from scratch, nor do you seem to know what they need.”

“Th-That’s… that’s probably not true…”

Leah sensed something “unusual” about Melyn. When she asked that question, it didn’t sound like a question from her student. She felt her hands begin to tremble, especially her right hand. It wasn’t even a very offensive question, yet she instinctively wanted to avoid it…

“And, you’re not very good at maintaining a ‘sense of distance’ with your students… It feels like the ‘student’ you learned from was… somewhat different…”

“Is… is that why?”

Bang.

Leah said nothing in reply, fearfully slamming the door shut.

“Ha… ha… ha…”

She gasped, looking up at her reflection in the mirror opposite. The pink in her eyes flickered, slowly fading, replaced by a deep blue.