The Villain's Retirement-Chapter 25: Apprentices

But Ard didn’t see the white-haired mage.

Two young women stood near the edge of the courtyard, half-hidden behind a building, staring wide-eyed. One had her hands clasped over her mouth. A second later, more figures emerged—four... six... nearly a dozen.

All of them seemed to be watching them. Ard straightened slowly, crimson eyes narrowing and walking over.

The moment he moved—

"—H-He’s coming this way!"

"Did we do something wrong!?"

"Wait—no—he’s really handsome up close..."

One girl turned sharply, grabbing her friend’s sleeve. "D-Don’t stare! You’ll be rude!"

"I-I’m not staring! I just—he knocked out the Sword Hero with one hit!"

Another swallowed hard. "He’s terrifying... but kind of cool..."

Their faces burned red. Some looked away. Others peeked between their fingers. One nearly tripped over herself trying to stand straight.

Ard stopped a few steps away and scanned them and not to his surprise, but all of them had mana signatures within themselves and not the average one has too. They may be considered fairly talented across the human realm. However, no matter how much probing, they do not seem to be martial talents.

Moreover, these people weren’t only humans. Some of them had long ears and some emit mana similar to dwarves.

Silence fell instantly.

"...Do you live here?" Ard asked calmly.

Several of them nodded way too fast. But no one answered the question verbally.

"S-Sorry!"

"We weren’t watching!"

"We just—happened to be passing by!"

Ard blinked once.

"...I see."

That single word made them freeze then whispers exploded behind him.

"Do you see his eyes, its like rubies!"

"He’s nothing like that sword hero. He talks so politely."

Before the murmurs could spiral further, a girl with long ears and supple fair skin and eyeglasses stepped forward.

Her expression was serious and composed, her sharp eyes hiding beneath her eyeglasses studying Ard with caution rather than awe. Her robes were neatly worn, marked with subtle runic stitching.

She bowed cleanly.

"Please forgive the disturbance," she said evenly. "We mean no harm."

The others stiffened behind her.

"I am Nimriel, we are apprentices of Archmage Sileus," the girl continued. "He is currently away on an urgent matter and will return soon."

’An elf, huh? Never seen one in ages. And she said they are apprentices of Sileues. So they’re the people I have been sensing. And there seemed to be more people in this mountain,’ Ard thought as his eyes flickered.

"So you do live here."

"Yes." She nodded. "Before leaving, Master Sileus instructed us to watch over this mountain... and to attend to your needs, should you require anything."

The girl paused.

"...Only some of us were assigned that duty," she added honestly and several girls flinched guiltily.

’Sileus isn’t around?’ Ard told himself.

"We saw you were sparring," Nimriel then admitted, meeting Ard’s gaze without wavering.

"If our presence offends you, we will withdraw immediately."

Ard studied her for a long moment. Then he glanced back at the unconscious Sword Hero.

"...It’s fine," he said at last. ’I have been meaning to talk to other people anyway.’

Hearing him, a relief swept through the group and their next actions shocked him as they went to their building.

"Yes!"

"Understood!"

"W-We’ll make tea...!"

"Forgive us. Not often do we have visitors." Nimriel said, but at the same discreetly noticing the normal looking ring on Ard’s finger. ’An artifact.’

Warm tea was brought out, along with light food. The tension melted quickly—too quickly.

Several girls sat a little too close, sneaking glances at Ard whenever they thought he wasn’t looking.

Nimriel, however, sat across from him with a thick tome open in her hands.

Even while speaking, her eyes never left the page.

Who initiated the conversation was Ard after asking them what were they being an apprentice for.

And apparently, they study a bunch of things solely about magic under that white-haired magic and has come to this place solely for that. Plants, earth, weather, rocks, air, every element, they were studying here and there.

"You study failure?" Ard asked after hearing her.

"Yes." Nimriel adjusted her glasses. "Spell collapse, backlash, resonance interference. Recently, we’ve been studying magical equipment as well—artifacts, catalysts, and long-term mana circulation."

Frankly, Ard had no idea what the hell she was saying nor does he care about it. But one trick he had learned in the world when he travelled as a human was to at least appear knowledgeable and interested on something to make conversation. That was the best way to obtain information. At least to him.

For this, he made sure his tone was right and even his facial expressions. Nonetheless, it wasn’t like he was faking it entirely as there was at least a slight fascination on his part.

Just that, studying magic never interested him as much as some people do.

One of the girls chimed in excitedly, "We almost blew up a workshop last month!"

"That was your fault," another whispered harshly.

Nimriel continued reading as if nothing happened.

"We’re researchers first," she said. "Combat comes second—if at all."

Ard hummed. His plan was working.

As the conversation lulled, Ard’s gaze drifted past the open doors—toward the courtyard. Towards the barrier and then to the massive dead tree looming over them in the courtyard, its silver-gray bark catching the light like old bone.

"...That tree," Ard said casually. "What is it?"

But he wasn’t met with answers. Instead, he saw reactions. Several of the apprentices stiffened. One girl nearly dropped her cup. Another’s fingers tightened around her robe.

Ard’s eyes narrowed a fraction.

Obviously, that damn mage hadn’t told them everything or maybe just him.

But Ard calmed himself down and organized his thoughts. What was clear was that everything about this place while it all seemed peaceful wasn’t a place he would want to stay for a long time.

And with the sword hero and that mysterious mage...for things that could kill him, it was best to stay away.

"You don’t need to answer me." Ard then said and smiled.

When he did, it was almost like everyone felt guilty. Then Nimriel’s voice was heard. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"If you wish to know," Nimriel continued, adjusting her glasses, "you should ask our master directly when he returns."

"Well, he did. But he only said it opens a dungeon when the attributes of light and shadow reacts which is why we have been sparring here. As to what kind of dungeon it is, he didn’t say."

Everyone exchanged glances for a long moment. Then as Ard had expected, that wasn’t the whole story or maybe it was a fake story. However, who cares?

"...I see."

Then Ard was curious about one more thing. On top of the fact that Sireus wasn’t here, he might also as well ask.

Ard said casually. "So do you just live here in the mountain? Don’t you not get out?"

The room went quiet. It was like they had been told what to say and not to say, and that they knew Ard was probing for information. Right now, they were looking at him as if thinking ’Do you take us for fools?’.

But then one spoke.

It was a girl name Elari, and a human, who looked to be in her late teens.

"That’s a hard question. We have everything here, including all basic necessities and we have magic. That’s all we need, right everyone?"

Then—

A sharp scoff came from behind.

"Give it up."

The Sword Hero stood there, arms crossed, eyes half-lidded but sharp. He seemed to have woken up pretty well from his slumber. Naturally, that as the case. Not only was he the sword hero himself, his constitution was obviously very high quality and he was even wearing the magic bracelet that heals pain, injuries, and even exhaustion!

"We’re not going anywhere," he said flatly. "The barrier won’t open unless Sileus opens it himself."