Aidan charged at Ludger like an enraged bull.
His head slammed straight into Ludger’s abdomen, knocking Ludger backward.
Ludger had relaxed the moment the battle ended—he had not expected to suddenly receive a full-force body tackle.
Even he hadn’t anticipated Aidan to pull something so reckless.
But what surprised him even more was Aidan’s physical ability.
Even back in his student days, Aidan had possessed unusually good physical traits for a mage.
It was an inevitable side effect of the anti-magic techniques he learned.
And in the three years Ludger hadn’t seen him, Aidan had grown even stronger.
“Teacher! You really are alive! And you’ve come back!”
“I can hear you. Now get off.”
Ludger grabbed Aidan by the scruff with a shadow hand and lifted him effortlessly.
He stood up, conjuring a breeze of mana that blew all the dust from his clothes.
Aidan dangled in the air like a kitten held by the scruff, wordlessly watching.
“Whew.”
When he finished dusting himself off, Ludger let out a soft sigh and looked at him.
“Are you calm now?”
“Yes!”
Judging by the immediate answer, he was nowhere near calm. He was utterly thrilled.
Yes—Aidan had always been like that.
“You’ve gotten even more shameless while I wasn’t watching.”
“Ahaha. Really?”
Aidan scratched his head sheepishly.
Ludger lowered him to the ground.
Seeing Aidan stand properly on both feet, Ludger finally absorbed how much his student had changed.
“You’ve grown a lot.”
Before, Ludger had needed to look down at him.
Now their eye level was nearly the same.
“Maybe I did grow a lot. I ate well and slept well, I guess?”
Aidan glanced over his own body as if the changes were nothing.
He saw himself every day; naturally he felt no surprise.
But for Ludger—who had last seen him three years ago—the transformation was striking.
The lingering traces of boyhood had vanished.
His shoulders broadened, his height increased, and his movements from earlier—from subduing beastkin warriors—proved he now possessed the physical strength of a knight while still being a mage.
“And you, Teacher, still look exactly the same!”
“There is something that never changes, I see.”
Whether he lacked awareness or simply lived in his own world—
Aidan’s warm, cheerful smile remained the same as ever.
Even that very smile felt unchanged.
“Ahaha. Thank you for the compliment.”
“Stop smiling. I’ll get attached.”
Or perhaps... he already had.
“So why are you here, Teacher? And what’s with °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° that outfit? Wandering around the southern wastelands wearing a coat like that?”
Aidan pointed at Ludger’s attire.
It was hardly suitable for traveling through harsh plains.
“That’s something ordinary people worry about, not me. I’d be fine even if I dropped into the middle of a desert. Don’t concern yourself.”
“As expected of you, Teacher!”
Normally, someone would question such an absurd statement.
Aidan accepted it without blinking—as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
His lack of prejudice bordered on foolishness, but in Aidan’s case, it made sense.
He was a mage from Theorn Academy, but unlike most mages, he had real combat experience and exceptional senses.
He had the body of a knight, the magic of a mage, and the intuition of a war mage.
Aidan knew Ludger possessed superhuman abilities.
To him, Ludger’s words weren’t exaggeration—they were truth.
He didn’t logically analyze it; he simply sensed it on an instinctive level.
“How long do you intend to keep calling me Teacher? I’m no longer a Theorn instructor.”
“But you’ll always be my teacher. Calling you something else feels... awkward.”
“Hmph. Call me however you like.”
“Yes, Teacher! So, why exactly are you here?”
Aidan seemed more curious about why Ludger had appeared in the southern lands than about him being alive.
“I haven’t been back long. I was wandering for a change of pace.”
“A self-discovery journey, then?”
“......Surprisingly perceptive. Yes. I’ve been traveling to meet old acquaintances. As for why I’m in the south—”
“You came to see me!”
This boy.
Interrupting was one thing—but being right made it somehow more irritating.
He’d always been like this as a student.
While others were intimidated by Ludger, Aidan alone remained unshaken.
Because of that, Ludger remembered his days as a teacher at Theorn more clearly.
“I came to places where you might be. I didn’t expect to run into you this quickly. Well, since you seem fine, I’ll be going.”
“Oh, come on! It’s been forever! Why leave already? You know Iona lives nearby, right? Since you’re here, go visit her too! Don’t worry—I’ll guide you properly!”
Aidan grabbed Ludger to keep him from leaving.
His strength was enough that Ludger’s body was actually being dragged slightly.
Of course, Ludger wasn’t resisting seriously, and he had a reason not to.
“More importantly, what about these beastkin?”
“Oh. Right. These guys.”
Aidan finally remembered the subdued beastkin and nodded.
“They’re scavengers. They raid nearby settlements. Their tribe hates humans, so they cause trouble all the time.”
“Raiding? Isn’t it unusual for beastkin tribes that hate humans to even touch human-made weapons?”
“Well, they used to avoid them, but the trend’s changed. Scavengers, regular beastkin—everyone’s adopting human technology now. They may hate humans, but they like human tools.”
Aidan added more explanation.
The shift was largely due to Iona, the designated successor to the tribe’s chieftain position.
“Iona, you say.”
“Yes. About three and a half years ago, she solved a major crisis within the beastkin tribes. If it had escalated, it would’ve sparked a war with nearby humans.”
Three and a half years.
Ludger remembered what happened then.
‘It was during the break, wasn’t it? Victor—the First Order of Black Dawn—was planning something.’
Victor had been running a secret lab in the southern lands.
He abducted beastkin to experiment on their unique power, Spirit.
When tribe members went missing, the beastkin blamed nearby humans.
Humans suffered losses too, and tensions escalated rapidly.
But Aidan and his friends—Tacey, Leo, and Iona—intervened.
Ludger even sent Owens personnel as backup, just in case.
Victor’s plan failed spectacularly, and war was averted.
More importantly, Iona proved herself worthy of becoming the next chieftain and began guiding her tribe toward a better future.
‘Well, she even learned human magic—the very thing beastkin detest.’
Because of that, many beastkin opposed her leadership.
“Judging by what you’re saying, she had a hard time. So how did she unify them?”
“She fought them and won.”
“.......”
So simple—yet the most beastkin-like solution imaginable.
Beastkin who rejected human methods were proud of their origins.
They wanted to become strong warriors by embracing their raw instincts—not by suppressing them.
Born fighters.
Born hunters.
Strength ruled.
Iona understood that perfectly.
She challenged every beastkin who opposed her—and defeated all of them.
“It must’ve been difficult.”
“It was. But Iona wasn’t alone.”
“Not alone?”
“Yes. She had a dependable friend with her. Well... perhaps no longer just a friend?”
Ludger sensed something off.
He remembered Aidan had once traveled around with certain companions.
“You mean Leo. Did something happen between him and Iona?”
“Not a problem, really—more like good news. You didn’t know? Leo is marrying Iona.”
“......What?”
Well... considering how well they got along, it wasn’t surprising that something developed.
Even back as students, they looked good together.
And after the break, though they pretended nothing was happening, the way they looked at each other had been full of fondness.
Still—three years felt fast.
They had only just graduated.
“Iona says that by beastkin standards, she’s actually late. They usually marry around sixteen.”
Since Iona was over twenty, she was considered quite late.
“So Leo—despite grumbling on the surface—didn’t dislike the idea. Now he’s the chieftain’s son-in-law.”
“......How unexpected.”
“They’re having the wedding soon. I came because of that, but since the scavengers were causing trouble nearby, I was about to deal with them before heading over.”
“What have you been doing since graduation?”
“I’ve been traveling as an adventurer. I wanted to see more of the world and gather experience. Explore places, take pictures, write journals... stuff like that. I’m planning to cross the Giant’s Spine soon and see the new continent.”
A Theorn graduate, using anti-magic, blessed with top-tier talent, choosing a future as uncertain as an adventurer.
Any major organization would’ve welcomed Aidan with open arms.
‘Especially the Imperial family—they must’ve coveted him immensely.’
Judging by his attitude, he had received plenty of extravagant offers.
He refused them all.
“Why turn down such good opportunities?”
“I wasn’t confident yet. And after that fight... I wanted to understand the world more.”
Aidan remembered the day of the Sacred War.
Everyone had seen the great cage shattering, the barrier that suppressed the world.
While most were overwhelmed, Aidan had felt something different, as if something inside him that had been itching for years was finally released.
Freedom.
Human potential, once suppressed by Lumensis, surged forth.
The kind of realization ordinary people never reached, but Aidan truly felt it.
Freedom. To do anything. To choose anything. Without restraint.
He realized that the world was far bigger than he had ever seen.
So he became an adventurer.
Even if others called him crazy or tried to stop him.
If it was what he wanted—he would move forward without hesitation.
That was Aidan’s path.
“You’re quite stubborn.”
“Haha. Maybe. But listen, Teacher—Lexerra, one of the greatest mages in history, started out as an adventurer too, right?”
Lexerra.
His name was now synonymous with 6-Circle mages.
But to the general public, he was more famous by his title—[The Adventure King].
A wandering mage who roamed the world, experiencing countless things.
His travel journals were legendary bestsellers.
Lexerra wasn’t the first 6-Circle mage.
Titles weren’t given to the first achiever, but to the one who systematized the magic of that tier.
Lexerra had done exactly that—and vanished on a final voyage across the northern seas.
“If he could do it, I can too.”
So Aidan said he wanted to follow that path.
“How very like you.”
Ludger smiled faintly at Aidan’s endlessly youthful innocence.
Aidan braced himself expecting a harsh lecture about practicality and reality.
Because the Ludger he remembered had always been uncompromising when it came to his students’ futures.
“But... that is undeniably a splendid dream.”
Aidan’s eyes widened at the unexpected answer.