Cloud Thinking

"Really? He's a water magician!"

Helia happily hugged Stella, jumping and dancing, and finally picked her up and spun her around several times.

Seeing Helia like this, Alfie finally realized that she was eighteen years old.

After all, she was just a half-grown girl, but she had to grow up because no one could do the work for her.

Look at Starley. With Helia protecting her, she lives so freely and happily. This is how she should be.

Could it be that she was raising her sister as if she were her own?

"It's May now, and Abraham College will not start recruiting new students until September. During this time, I'll ask Alfie to find a good teacher for you in the association, okay?" Helia suggested.

Starley looked at Alfie and said a little embarrassedly: "Is it too much trouble..."

"What's the big deal? With my friendship with the little princess, even if Your Highness wants me to be your teacher, there's nothing wrong with that." Alfie said with a smile.

"Is it settled then?" Helia looked at Stella and left the decision to her.

Starley looked a little embarrassed, but no one knew what she was worried about.

"Can I not ask the teacher..." she said in a low voice.

Helia hesitated for a moment and nodded, "Of course, sister, you have your own ideas, then do it according to your heart."

Starley breathed a sigh of relief, perhaps wanting to explain the reason to Helia, but because of the presence of Alfie, an outsider, she just smiled.

"Can I have dinner with my sister tonight?" Helia saw that she had something to say, so she invited her to have dinner together.

"Yeah, of course." Seeing that Helia and Alfie were still busy, Starley stopped disturbing them and left after saying goodbye.

Alfie summoned his wand and dropped a barrier, creating a space that no one else could see.

"Little princess, you know your sister..."

He didn't finish, but seeing that Helia's expression didn't change, he knew that she already knew it.

"So, what is that?" Helia asked.

She originally wanted to invite Elroy, after all, he obeyed the royal family and she was not afraid of him betraying her.

Moreover, the secret of Starley is not convenient for more people to know.

It was a pity that Elroy refused to see her, and she didn't want to alarm Claude, so she didn't look for Britney and the others.

Claude is a man who values ​​value above all else. If he knew the secret of Starley, there's no telling how he would exploit her.

Although Alfie is a member of the association and an outsider, he has interests connected with her, so she is not afraid that he will defect at will.

Moreover, he is not afraid of the imperial power, and with the support of the Association and the Turafa family, there is no fear that he will be forced to betray secrets.

But she was also worried that if Starley's secret could bring enough value, Alfie might betray her.

She had secretly measured the magic power in Starley's body a long time ago, and she also knew that she had a high affinity for the water element, but that time, she still noticed something wrong.

In addition to the pale blue ball of magic power deposited in her body, there is also a ball of golden light in Starley's body.

The golden light was very strange. Not only did it not resist Helia's penetration of magic power, but it also moved closer to her as if to show goodwill.

Helia vaguely guessed that this might be the reason why Starley's bones and blood could heal injuries.

But she didn't know what this thing was.

Helia had to ask a senior magician to come and take a look.

Alfie fits that bill perfectly.

"I don't know either. That ball of light is very strange. Instead of resisting me, it caters to me and stays close to my magic." Alfie replied.

"I'm sure that thing isn't magic. If it were magic, it wouldn't be like this, wagging its tail and coming up to me like a pug."

He touched his chin, and a light flashed in his eyes, as if he was interested.

"You two sisters really have your own secrets and abilities..."

"I want you to find out. Can you do it?" Helia asked.

"Even if you don't tell me, I will check it out. Just don't worry." Alfie agreed.

"Also, this matter is known only to heaven and earth, you and me. You must never let anyone else know about it, understand?" Helia reminded.

Alfie waved the wand in his hand, "Of course I know, otherwise why do you think I took out my wand?"

"But the person you want me to hide the most is your father, right?"

Helia just gave him a look and said nothing.

Alfie waved and sat down to eat his snack.

"Don't worry, now that I'm on your ship, I'll do my best to serve you."

"Do you have anything else to say?"

"Do you have anyone at the academy?" Helia asked.

"Do you want me to find someone to protect Her Highness Starley in the academy?" Alfie asked knowingly.

"That's not all." Helia said, "It's time to deal with the problems at the academy."

"Hey, if you want to stir up trouble, I like it, and I want to get involved too!"

Alfie had no awareness of being the association's grand elder. Not only did he not protect the association, but he also helped Helia to undermine the association.

"How on earth did you get to the position of Grand Elder? Didn't they doubt you?" Helia was confused by his words.

"Why do you doubt me? I'm a young genius, so what if I have a little temper?" Alfie said and gave himself a thumbs up narcissistically.

"The association is a mess now. If it weren't for the noble families holding it back, it would have fallen apart long ago."

"But the magic world has become increasingly chaotic over the years, and the association has been attacked from all sides. It has long been in a state of decline and cannot hold out for much longer."

"I brought the Turafa family with me, they are so happy, how dare they chase me away?"

Helia raised her eyebrows. "I can't believe you really hate your family and the association so much that you're so eager to send them both into the pit?"

"If you had heard what Drummond said, you would have known what the name Turafa meant." Alfie sighed helplessly and continued:

"I'm not as capable as Brahili, and ever since he taught me this lesson, the elders in the clan have become even stricter with us, to the point of being abnormal."

"I can't escape, so I'll take them with me to die. I can't stand them anyway, and I don't want them to harm other young people anymore."

"Is the Tanasha family involved as well?" Helia asked again.

Alfie gave a cunning smile, looking sly, and it was obvious that he had no good intentions.

"Almost all the magic families on the continent have joined the game. No one can escape," he said.

"If you need my help, just let me know. I will definitely help if I can." Helia promised.

"Of course I can. Without your support, I wouldn't dare to cause any trouble!" Alfie said.

"..."

"How is Evelina doing?" Helia asked.

"It's fine. I have three meals a day, five bowls of rice each time. I have so much energy that I jump up and down every day. I'm very wild!"

Although Alfie was complaining, his face showed a satisfied smile like an old father.

Helia suddenly became serious and said solemnly, "I want to tell you one thing. Don't let Evelina get close to anything related to the gods."

“I suspect that those soulless bodies of gods might be their backup bodies.”

The more Alfie listened, the tighter his brows frowned. "Why do you say that?"

"I had a chat with Father God not long ago, and He told me that some gods have blood relatives, such as Adalassi and the Feathered People."

"As long as Adalesi's soul remains, he can be resurrected through the body of any feathered person."

"So I suspect that Fengze and Wisdom created such a batch of gods' bodies in preparation for their future resurrection."

Alfie gasped. He had never expected that there was such a special relationship between the gods and their followers. After being shocked, he felt relieved.

Fortunately, out of caution, I did not let Evelina come into contact with these things.

But he still felt a little scared.

"Okay, I'll keep her away from anything related to gods."

The two were silent for a moment and neither spoke again.

Alfie gathered his thoughts, fished a letter out of his pocket, and handed it to Helia.

"By the way, the Knights' open selection will begin next week, and we have invited a senior from the association's Imperial Capital branch to serve as a referee."

"His name is Dorado, he's an eighth-rank magic swordsman, his temper is worse than a stone in a shithole, and he especially looks down on women."

"If you run into him, be careful. He is very dirty and can do anything despicable. He also likes to torture people."

Helia's brows tightened, showing both disdain and doubt: "Your association also wants this kind of person?"

Alfie spread his hands and said helplessly: "There is no way. He has the support of the Morabi magic family and cannot be easily offended. The association can only turn a blind eye to what he does."

"The royal family sent an invitation to the association. He took the initiative to ask for it. I don't know what he wants to do. Anyway, you just need to be careful."

Helia nodded, "I see."

Seeing that Helia was rubbing her head in worry, Alfie comforted her out of concern: "Don't worry too much, I will investigate your sister's matter as soon as possible, and I will take good care of Evelina."

"I will also write to inform you of any movement from the association."

Helia smiled at him and raised her hand to give him a fist bump. "Thank you, Alfie."

"You're welcome. We are mutually beneficial. I'm afraid I'll have a lot of trouble with you in the future." Alfie said.

After seeing Alfie off, Ronnie handed over the invitation to the selection meeting. She would attend as one of the four main referees.

There are twelve referees in total, four chief referees and eight assistant referees. The assistant referees are responsible for considering and scoring, and conveying their opinions to the chief referee, who ultimately makes the decision.

The referee has a veto power, but the assistant referee does not.

In fact, it is a bit like the association's level assessment. The chief examiner decides the final score. Other examiners can also give scores, but they account for a very small proportion, and the bulk of the score still goes to the chief examiner.

Helia represented the royal family and served as one of the referees.

Dorado holds a seat representing the Magic Association.

According to Ronishi's inquiries, of the remaining two seats, one was given to Grand Duke Mossen Leighton, who represented the aristocratic family, and the other was given to the brave Gisever, who represented the common people.

The brave Giselwell once stepped forward to protect the people and fight against the monsters when the monsters invaded the Sad Forest. He also helped in the operation to hunt down the black magicians and cultists. He is a well-deserved civilian hero.

The reason why he was invited to be the referee was probably because Claude wanted to send a signal - he was going to reshuffle the cards.

Commoners can also gain power and status through their own abilities, but nobles will be kicked out of the power stage if they have no achievements.

As for the twelve deputy referees, Ronnie only found out about a few of them, but none of them were very important. After all, these people were only used to reflect the democracy and fairness of the judgment.

The four referees are the ones who truly hold the power to make decisions.

Of course, Claude's arrangement is also very interesting.

Grand Duke Mossen Leighton mindlessly sided with the royal family, which meant that half of the four referees were the royal family's mouthpieces, representing the royal family's will.

As for Gisever and Dorado, a commoner and an elder of the association, they probably would not have confronted the royal family if they had not had huge differences in interests.

To put it bluntly, the royal family is the one who truly holds the decision-making power in this selection.

Of course, this is reasonable. After all, the Royal Knights are used to protect the empire and the royal family. To put it bluntly, they are Claude's soldiers. Shouldn't it be his decision?

There's nothing wrong, buddy!

"Your Highness, do you need me to inquire further?" Seeing Helia looking at the invitation letter thoughtfully, Ronnie asked.

"No need, it doesn't matter. If you have that much time, you might as well go and find out who's participating in the selection and see if there's anyone worth noting." Helia arranged.

"Subordinates obey orders."

Luo Nixi said again: "However, Your Highness, I think you should be more careful next week."

Helia looked at him puzzledly, "Why do you say that?"

Why are everyone telling me to be careful? Didn't she use to be a referee? She wasn't going to fight, so how could being a referee be dangerous?

What a shame! I knew this wasn't going to be a good job! Would Claude, the old man, try to trick me again?

Ronishi replied: "When I came back from the Executive Hall, I saw someone protesting against your being the chief judge of this selection."

“And this is already the sixth group of people who have come to protest since the news got out.”

"I don't know why they are so opposed, but they didn't say anything when His Majesty awarded you the rank of Major General..."

Helia supported her head with one hand and tapped her face with her fingers. After hearing what Ronnie said, she curled her lips and smiled.

"What else could it be? They think I'm getting in their way. They're barking like a kicked dog."

"Who knows what they're going to do at this selection meeting, Ronnie, ask Lydia to go and keep a close eye on those people."

"Oh! They don't want me to go, but I insist on going. Not only do I want to go, I will veto everything they like!"

"You like to yell, right? I'll let them yell as much as they want! Even if they call me daddy or mommy, it's no use!"

Ronnie nodded in agreement. He didn't think there was anything wrong with his master's behavior. He even felt very happy about it.

Never mind it. It’s because Princess Helia got the script with a heroine as the main character. Never mind it!

Speaking of hiring a teacher, Helia remembered that little Philo had told her before that she wanted to learn magic, but she was so busy that she forgot about it.

"What is little Philo doing these days?" she asked.

"Still working beside Hegum." Ronnie replied.

"Isn't she learning anything else? I promised to hire a teacher for her, but I forgot about it because I was busy." Helia said.

"When Your Highness was out on a mission, I asked a magician to test her attributes in your name. Her elemental affinity is not high, and I'm afraid she won't be able to learn magic." Ronnie reported truthfully.

"Ah..." Helia looked regretful.

Ronnie continued, "But recently she seems to like the whip. Every night I can hear her whipping it in her yard. In the morning she will learn some boxing and kicking from me."

"Your Highness, do you see...?"

Whip? Helia paused for three seconds before she realized what was happening.

Um, this, this is an area she has not been exposed to much. This whipping people, it sounds like SM...

Could it be that little Philo was too depressed in the past, so he developed this hobby?

Or is it because I didn't pay enough attention to her that my child grew up in a wrong way? Is there something wrong with my parenting style?

Or was it because she had been asked to learn how to interrogate people from Ronnie, that she fell in love with the whip?

Helia's emotions were somewhat complicated.

"If she likes it, then let someone find the teacher." She smiled helplessly and ordered.

Forget it, let the child play whatever she likes. Just let her do whatever she wants.

Besides, if you use this whip well, it can protect you, right?

"okay!"