Why Did You Summon Me?

When they left the house, Mia took Lulu to her favorite spot: a plateau atop a small, lush hill. They laid on their bellies and gazed in the direction that the border patrol troops had gone.

Lulu’s gaze was fixed on the spot that Captain Aegis had stood for a while before heading to the next village. “Now, that’s what a real sorcerer looks like, right?! Did you see how commanding he was? I held my breath the entire time he was in the room with us, and…”

Unlike her Lulu, who was visibly excited by the previous encounter, Mia remained silent, and her eyes had been reduced to arcs. Her gaze was vacant as though she was lost in her thoughts.

When Lulu sensed the unrest behind Mia’s calm expression, she gently nudged Mia’s cheeks with her own. “Hey, what’s the matter?”

“It’s nothing,” Mia replied, setting aside her thoughts. “I was… I just get a little upset whenever I remember my Dad’s face.”

That was a lie. Mia knew about illusion spells—especially the ones that have been well cast—much more than the Rohlserlians did; thus, she could tell when a simple one was being used. She had lied because her troubles were not something she could share with Lulu, her close friend, right now.

“Is that so?” Lulu recalled the disfigured face she had seen when Mr. Apprentice took off his mask. She could also remember how much it had startled her. However, her fear had long since been replaced with sympathy.

Lulu opened her arms and embraced Mia warmly, in an attempt to comfort her. Looking uncharacteristically solemn, Lulu said, “Hey, everything’s alright now. It’s all in the past, right? Your father is a kind and gentle soul. He hides in his armor all the time because he doesn’t wanna scare anyone away. It doesn’t matter how ugly that incident left him; a kind person like him will never lose love and respect!”

“Besides,” Lulu continued, “From how beautiful you are, we can all imagine how handsome your father must have been!”

Lulu’s clumsy attempt to cheer Mia up embarrassed the latter. When Mia remembered Baiyi’s old appearance, she blushed. She liked Baiyi’s current appearance more than the previous one, as the mask he used before—which had three lines on it that could be used to simulate complex human expressions—was really funny, making it hard to take him seriously.

Lulu’s countenance reverted back to her regular, playful one. “Oh, I just remembered! There are some medicines for burns sitting at the counter. Let’s go check them, out and find the best one for your father! It might be useful!”

Lulu pulled Mia’s hand and led her down the hill, after which Lulu purposefully raced to her house with Mia in tow. Lulu’s family were apothecaries, who concocted potions using herbs. Their alchemy profession was at its infancy.

Mia returned home earlier than usual with a stack of cans containing burn-relief medicines in her arms.

“You’re home early. Already running out of places to make a mess of?” Baiyi—who was seated at the table, doing some calculations on a piece of parchment—asked. When he noticed the cans that Mia was carrying, he asked, “What local specialty did you bring home this time?”

Mia was amused and embarrassed at the same time. “She was very sure that they are effective for burns.”

“Er, right. Hmm, now I remember. That was how your Royal Gramps met her, apparently,” Baiyi said as he used his mana to make a can soar into the air, after which it shook a little. “She was administering these medicines to the wounded soldiers in the army. That caught your Royal Gramps’ attention. Of course, this is going to happen a long time from now.”

Baiyi examined the hovering medicine for a while longer and said, “The formula for this burn-relief potion was lost to history, so I think we should keep all these for ourselves. We might be able to replicate its formula when we return to the future.”

Mia did not seem interested in her Royal Gramp’s backstory. A few moments later, she whimpered, “Aww…”

Baiyi quickly sat upright. “What’s the matter?”

Whenever Mia began a sentence with “Aww” — or something to that effect — she would then play her ‘daughter card’ to acquire something she wanted. Baiyi could not see any reason why she would do that right now; this made him tense.

Mia went quiet for a few seconds, after which she said, “Mr. Ho — no, Daddy, do you still think we shouldn’t visit Royal Gramps? I’m sure he has found out about you already.”

Baiyi let out the breath he had been holding in. He had yet to discuss the fiasco surrounding the Book of Servitude with her, so he was quite shocked that Mia had figured it all out on her own.

“You got into a fight yesterday when you went to rescue the old couple’s son, didn’t you? You even tried to use a Forbidden Spell, too; I could feel it. And that captain guy that came earlier, he was looking for you, wasn’t he?” Mia asked, visibly concern.

“You didn’t accidentally get yourself involved in some really serious trouble, did you?”

This was what Mia was concerned about. She was worried that Mr. Hope was being hunted by the Ancient Rohlserlian government. As Baiyi was currently the strongest being in the universe, the only person in this time that could contend with him was the empire’s strongest sorcerer, her Royal Gramps. The thought of the two people she cherished the most doing battle frightened her.

“Oh, is that what you’re worried about? Really, it’s all just a small misunderstanding. Besides, I’m sure it’s all solved now,” Baiyi replied dismissively, unaware of the restlessness that plagued the Emperor because of his loss of control over the Book of Servitude.

“Oh, really?” Mia sighed in relief. “Still, are we really going to pass up the chance to see Royal Gramps at his prime? I know you mentioned that butterfly thingy, but how are we so sure that whatever we do will, you know, cause a big storm? In the end, it’s just a metaphor and a theory. It’s not an objective truth, is it?”

Mia asked as she sat at the table and stared at Baiyi in anticipation.

“I guess you’re right. There’s no proof to support or dispute the possible occurrence of the Butterfly Effect. Besides, we will not know how many changes our actions would bring unless we really try,” Baiyi murmured.

He, too, wanted to see his the younger version of his Master. Trying to work out a theory on time-travel alone proved to be a grueling undertaking. Furthermore, he would not go anywhere if he continued to coop up himself in the cottage. He would be much better off getting his master’s input and help, and if he had his master’s permission to assemble a team that contained the best Rohlserlian sorcerers.

There was also the fact that Time itself was unexplored territory — a fertile patch of earth for all manner of researches. Once Baiyi learned how to return to his own timeline, he would do some things here in the past, after which he would return to the future to study whatever changes his actions in the past had caused. This was an experiment that would help him understand the Law of Time better than he already did.

However, this method carried a lot of risks, which Baiyi would have to worry about. The odds of messing up the future, if he used this method, was much higher, so Baiyi could not make up his mind about it.

“Honestly, Mia, I think I need to remind you that your Royal Gramps, at this time, is far from the kindly old man you remember,” Baiyi warned. “He isn’t going to be easy to talk to.”

“But he’s always going to be Royal Gramps. They are the same person. I’m sure someone like him has a consistent personality,” Mia replied.

“Er, I think you’re understating how inconsistent his personality really is,” Baiyi replied, sighing helplessly. The differences between both men in question could not be greater than it was now: one was an imposing emperor, who ruled his people with a firm hand, and the other was an amiable old man.

“You know what, just let me think this through,” Baiyi said and lapsed into silence.

Unfortunately, even after a week had passed, he had not made up his mind. Should he talk to the Archmage now? If yes, then how would he talk to the Archmage? What did he have to do to reduce the chance of a Butterfly Effect happening? These were questions that he could not come up with answers to.

Fortunately for him, however, after the altercation he had with Captain Aegis earlier, Baiyi was no longer a suspect. Furthermore, it was rumored that several people on the list of most-wanted criminals had been caught during the manhunt.

Hence, Baiyi was out of the spotlight for now.

However, the townsfolk of Aegir frequently visited him, bearing gifts of farm produce and, sometimes, baked treats. It was apparent that they were doing their best to build a cordial relationship with the mysterious and powerful Mr. Apprentice.

Many of the visitors had asked Baiyi if he believed that their children had a future in sorcery. To this, Baiyi had tireless replied — often to the point of repeating himself in verbatim — that “Magic does not discriminate. Anyone can walk the path of magic; you just need the patience and perseverance.”

This speech was not a made-up one. The Ancient Rohlserlian Empire did not forbid its citizens from learning magic. Seasoned sorcerers taught at a lot of schools in the empire. Learning magic was not a perk exclusive to the elite; even people of the lower classes could participate if they wished to.

This was the reason why Baiyi considered the ancient Rohlserlian empire a lot more knowledge-friendly than modern-day Isythre. It was just the difficult requirements to become a sorcerer that made the number of sorcerers so low.

A worried couple and their son paid Baiyi a visit. After they were offered seats, the couple directly explained the reason for their visit.

“To be honest, our son is not very bright. He’s not brighter than the Smiths’ boy. Do you think he can become a sorcerer?”

“As long as he is willing.”

“That’s it? The Smiths’ boy, who is smarter than our dumb son over here, is in the Magic Academy, but he has not done his Pa and Ma proud. Also, these school fees are really… unaffordable.”

The fees were not really exorbitant — it was just the couple that could not afford it. Low productivity was, again, to blame. The limited amount of trades conducted in border towns like Aegir was also the problem. This was a harmful consequence of the Rohlserlians’ malignant pride. The Rohlserlians believed in their superiority of the empire so much that they refused to conduct international trades with other states. This inhibited many border towns’ economic potential as trading hubs.

The worried couple continued to talk about their financial difficulties, and after some time had passed, they left without reaching a conclusion. Baiyi gazed at the big sack of corn on his table, which he understood to be his consultation fee.

Days passed by uneventfully. Mia had explored every inch of Aegir and was beginning to get bored with the town. Her desire to travel to other locations was increasing.

“Lulu’s family will visit a city in a few days. Can we tag along?” Mia said with an extra dose of cuteness in her voice.

To her shock, Baiyi agreed almost immediately. “I agree. We do need a change of scenery, after all,” he said. As they talked, Baiyi torched the piles of papers on the table, till they were ashes. It was obvious that he had reached another bottleneck in his research, so he sought to gain inspiration elsewhere.

Mia and Baiyi accepted Lulu’s invitation to travel to the city closest to Aegir. Because they would be traveling in a horse-drawn carriage, the journey was going to be a long one. Furthermore, they would be crossing many uphill paths on their way to the highlands.

As the two families were neighbors and the girls were close friends, Baiyi was comfortable enough to speak freely. He talked about the culture of some other parts of the empire, and this caused Lulu’s eyes to twinkle in anticipation.