In front of the gates of the Saint-Clair Ducal Manor.
"Mr. Erik, this is a package addressed to Miss Inanna."
The speaker was a neatly dressed, polite young man.
Erik knew this young man—he was the new minor supervisor who had only arrived at the local Guild's postal service this year. Whenever there was mail for the ducal manor, he would personally deliver it.
Behind him stood two guards, and from the sword-and-shield emblems on their shoulder patches, it was clear they were all official Guild personnel.
The young man held a sealed small box with both hands, with a red seal affixed to one corner—this was the highest grade of correspondence available publicly at Guild stations.
"For the young miss?" Erik confirmed with slight puzzlement.
"Yes, a package for Miss Inanna." The young man's face bore a smile, his hands holding the box remaining perfectly still without a trace of impatience.
How strange. At this time, who would be sending something to Miss Inanna?
And with a red seal, no less.
The young miss's social circle wasn't particularly wide, mostly limited to the kingdom's noble circles, and over the past year she'd had even less contact with the outside world.
If it were formal correspondence between nobles, they would use the distinctive sky-blue seals.
So this should be something sent privately by children from other noble families.
Could it be from that child of Count Roland's family?
Though Erik pondered quite a bit, his actions didn't keep the young man waiting long.
He reached out and accepted the box: "Thank you for your trouble, Josh."
Seeing that Erik actually remembered his name, Josh was visibly excited.
But it was only for an instant before he regained his composure, and he didn't linger a moment longer.
"It is my honor to serve the Saint-Clair family. Now that the package has been delivered, please allow me to take my leave."
With that, he departed with the two guards.
Bringing the package inside, Erik didn't directly hand it over to Inanna.
Instead, he returned to his own room and retrieved some magical tools.
First, he tore open the red seal, causing a small ripple of magical energy to dissipate.
Erik wasn't surprised by this—the seal was originally a small enchanted device designed to ensure the package hadn't been opened during transit.
Opening the box, he found it divided into two compartments.
One compartment contained a letter, the other held a magic crystal the size of a ring.
Erik immediately recognized its quality—S-grade.
This made him even more puzzled, and he dismissed his earlier speculation that this was correspondence from other noble children.
No noble child would be so extravagant as to send an S-grade magic crystal to a friend.
Curious as he was, Erik wouldn't deliberately investigate the answers to these questions, nor did he look at the contents of the letter.
What he needed to do was simply ensure the young miss's safety.
After testing with several types of magical tools, he confirmed that neither item posed any danger.
What he was doing wasn't presumptuous—before his arrival, His Grace the Duke had already granted him these authorities.
Having completed everything, Erik packed the items back up, placing both the letter and magic crystal back in the box.
Then he took the box and headed straight for the training grounds.
————
Within the training grounds paved with obsidian and reinforced through enchantment.
Waves of magical energy from combat rippled outward.
On the field, two young people were engaged in a magical duel.
Inanna's magic instructor, Julian, stood at the edge of the field, observing their battle.
Noticing footsteps approaching from behind, Julian turned to look.
"Butler, good day."
Erik nodded in response: "Good day, Scholar."
Scholar was Julian's rank within the Relic Association.
"Butler, what brings you to observe Inanna's lessons today?"
From Julian's own observations, this butler was quite the busy man, though he wasn't clear what exactly kept him so occupied.
Of course, this question was purely conversational in nature—Julian had no interest in prying into the ducal manor's secrets.
The only thing that interested him was that library.
Erik didn't hide anything: "There's a package for the young miss."
Julian also noticed what Erik was holding: "Then I'll call her over right away."
"No need, let them finish their match." Erik shook his head in refusal.
Seeing this, Julian once again focused his attention on the training ground.
Several magic missiles were flung by Calvin, arcing through the air toward Inanna on the other side.
But Inanna simply stood in place, using Water Mirror Refraction to condense a rippling water mirror in front of her.
Then she paid no more attention to the incoming attacks, instead concentrating on casting her next spell.
Facing the flying magic missiles, the water mirror moved nimbly around Inanna, intercepting these attacks at just the right moments each time.
Two of the magic missiles were even reflected back by the water mirror, which had found the perfect angles.
To dodge the attacks bouncing back at him, Calvin had to interrupt the next spell in his hands and run two steps to the left.
Having just steadied himself, Inanna's Water Serpent spell came flying over.
Calvin wanted to retreat beyond the Water Serpent's attack range, but didn't expect this Water Serpent to be far more concentrated than he had anticipated.
Left with no choice, he used Magic Shield to neutralize the Water Serpent spell.
However, this delay meant Inanna's next magic was already prepared.
The scene in the training ground was almost entirely Inanna standing in place concentrating on casting spells while Calvin scrambled about on the other side, dealing with the constantly incoming attacks.
Occasionally when he tried to counterattack, it would be reflected back by the water mirror that had never dissipated, leaving him even more disheveled.
By the end, Calvin was nearly in tears.
After Inanna finally remembered to use Marsh spell to restrict Calvin's movement, Julian called an end to this duel.
Looking at his eldest disciple who, after struggling out of the marsh, collapsed on the ground like a dead dog from exhaustion, Julian didn't think his performance had been particularly poor.
In fact, due to constant interference, his successful spellcasting frequency was far inferior to Inanna's, and Julian had expected Calvin to be defeated much earlier.
He hadn't expected his eldest disciple to persist until now through monkey-like agility, scrambling about in a very un-mage-like ugly manner.
He didn't know whether to be pleased or helpless about this.
As for Inanna...
All he could say was that [Elemental Spirits' Favor] was a talent that even he would envy.
Sometimes heaven just favors a person this much—not only giving her the best birth, but also top-tier talent.
Calvin's defeat wasn't unfair in the slightest.
"Alright, that's enough for today. Everyone go rest."
Calvin seemed still somewhat unconvinced, muttering quietly: "If I could use rings and magic potions, I wouldn't have lost so easily!"
Julian glanced at him and asked: "Then shouldn't Inanna also use her staff?"
Calvin immediately fell silent.
Indeed, both of them had dueled without using equipment.
If Inanna had brought out that staff embedded with a large A-grade magic crystal, Calvin knew he would only have been defeated even faster...
No longer paying attention to his thoroughly demoralized disciple, Julian said to Inanna:
"Inanna, Erik has a package for you."
Unlike the dead-dog-like Calvin, Inanna was now only slightly out of breath, as if she had just completed a warm-up routine.
Hearing Julian's words, she looked toward the edge of the field and immediately spotted Erik holding the box.
She asked with puzzlement: "My package?"
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