Chapter 1527: Apprentice Secrets

At first, I thought about just deceiving her and coming up with some random explanation about my Shadow Guards but... I figured if I was going to learn seriously, I would need to tell her the truth.

I gave her a serious look as I leaned forward in my seat, "Is there an understanding that my secrets will be safe with you?"

She paused for a moment, looking at me over the rim of her teacup, "Of course. I am not someone who would go spilling the secrets of my apprentice to anyone. Whatever it is, it is safe with me."

"Could I get you to swear on it?"

She raised an eyebrow at that request, "Is this secret that could potentially put the Academy at risk and is highly illegal?"

That’s... A really difficult question to answer...

I considered it for a moment before grimacing, "If this secret gets out... It could potentially put the Academy at risk... But more because people would attempt to steal or take what I have for themselves. As for it being illegal... I do not believe there is a law against it anywhere."

She stared at me for another moment before she nodded, "In that case... I swear by my name as Vesper Nightshade, daughter of the Nightshade House, with Goddess Isre as my witness, I will keep the secret that my apprentice is about to tell me unless it is something that threatens the safety and sanctity of Aerialla Academy."

I felt Isre’s presence for a moment and I’m not sure if I was imagining it but I think I heard her voice whispering something at the edge of my hearing before it disappeared.

Also, her oath is pretty specific huh?

I mean... I was also trying to be careful here by making her swear an oath but she’s also not stupid where she would just trust me blindly seeing that we barely knew each other.

Thus, she worded her oath in such a way that would grant her an out if she realised that I had deceived her somehow.

Well... The good thing was that she couldn’t have known that I am familiar with Isre and if she tries to go back on her word, I’m pretty sure I could ask Isre to step in for me.

Anyway, figuring that this was the best that I could get, I let out a breath and told her about my Shadow Guards.

I mentioned how I found out I had the talent to summon a lot of Shadow Summons which was already something of an abnormality before that fateful day where I accidentally threw a Stone of Monsterfication at my own Shadow Summon which ended up turning all of them into Shadow Guards.

She was an attentive listener as I went into detail about how I could consume all of my mana to summon one of them that I could then store away in my shadow without an apparent limit.

I made sure not to tell her how many exactly I have in my shadow, of course... Since I have a feeling she might have a heart attack if I did.

She asked if she could see one of my Shadow Guards and I summoned Eins for her, my Shadow Guard appearing beside me while wearing her usual maid uniform with her head bowed.

"She looks like you... Just with a different... Colour palette I see... Because she’s your shadow? I take it that this is not by design?" She mused.

I nodded, "She became like this on her own."

"Is she sentient?"

"Yes. Eins?"

Eins bowed her head, "I am here, Master. Would you like more tea?"

I smiled at her, "Yes please."

I let Director Vesper watch as Eins moved forward to take the teapot from the table to refill my cup with the tea before she stepped back without other instructions from me.

The Director watched the entire thing without showing any other reaction, only asking her next question when she was done.

"You have more of them in your shadow?"

I nodded and called up Zwei and Drei, both of them bowing and greeting me as soon as they appeared.

Director Vesper stared at them for a moment before speaking again, "Fascinating... To think that this could be possible... You have a literal fighting force just sitting in your shadow... That you can just call upon at any time without even needing to use any spells. When Professor Evangeline told me about this, I had merely thought it was just a simple original spell that was a branch of the Shadow Summon spell... But this is way more extraordinary than I thought... I must know... How good are they in combat? They must be weaker than you are, right?"

I assume she was talking about their stats so I shook my head, "They have the same exact strength and speed as I do. As well as magic power."

For the first time since I’ve seen her, she actually gave me a look of surprise as her eyes widened comically and her jaw dropped a little.

To her credit, she only showed that expression for less than a second before she quickly snapped her mouth shut and schooled her face back to a mask of neutrality, sinking back into her cool look.

"You are talking about at the moment of summon, right?"

Ah... No wonder she recovered so quickly... She had the wrong idea of how my Shadow Guards worked...

I shook my head, "No... They scale with me... If I get stronger after I summon them, they will also get stronger as well."

Her face changed back into one of shock and she was now looking up at my three Shadow Guards who were still standing behind me.

"They... Will grow stronger as you grow stronger?"

I nodded.

She stared at them for another moment before shifting her gaze back to me, "You mentioned that they have the exact same magic power as well... Are you also saying that they are able to cast spells as well?"

"Yes. They can use any spells that I know as well."

"I... See... And how many of them do you have in your shadow?"

I grimaced, "That... Is a question I would not like to answer..."

"More than ten?"

"Way more..."

"A hundred?"

"Erm... More..."

"A thousand?"

"Director... I will just say that I have been summoning at least one of them every night ever since I have managed to obtain this spell... And it has already been a few years since I have obtained this spell..."

She mumbled something under her breath before she gave me a nod, "I understand why you would have me swear upon my name to keep this a secret now... If this... If anyone with malevolent intentions heard about you... They might have ideas on using you to possibly conquer the world... You... You’re not planning to do that, are you, apprentice Aster?"

I made a face, "Eh... Not at all. That sounds really bothersome to begin with. I have no interest in that."

She steepled her fingers in front of her, "Are you sure? Right now... I am already aware that you are already quite abnormal as a student with how many types of magic you are proficient in as well as the fact that you are still learning and practising them diligently. I have no doubts that by the time you graduate, you might end up being stronger than some of the Head of Departments here. If that’s the case, I think you would be able to use these summons of yours to easily take over several kingdoms if you wanted to."

I shrugged, "Sure but... What happens after that? I would need to rule over those kingdoms right? I’ll have to worry about logistics, about maintaining order, about the welfare of the people, about expanding the infrastructure of the kingdoms and it just sounds like a pain to deal with, you know? I’d rather just be a normal person and explore the World without a worry and be free to go wherever I please."

She stared at me for a good long minute before she exhaled deeply, "Am I right in saying that you are seeking power and strength so that you can be free to go wherever you want without worrying about being held back?"

"Ah, that is exactly the case, Director Vesper!" I nodded excitedly.

"You are quite interesting, apprentice Aster. I can now see why you have also caught the Chancellor’s attention as well. You might be the most interesting student I have met in my entire time in this Academy."

I had to hide my face since I felt heat bloom in my cheeks, "Oh Director... You are exaggerating, surely..."

"I am not. But now that I know your situation... I suppose I should come up with a proper plan to help train you given your... Special circumstances. That was a very enlightening talk, apprentice Aster. I will make sure that you gain the power that you seek in this school."

Oh. Ok? Umm... Thanks Director! I’m looking forward to it!