Identity Arrangement

"Roland, wake up, Roland."

Amidst the calls, Roland slowly opened his eyes and saw a mysterious figure crouching beside him. The person was entirely enveloped in a black robe, with pitch-black darkness shrouding their hood. Only half a head was visible, and the space above the nose was completely empty.

Scared half to death, Roland nearly launched an attack.

"It's me." The mysterious figure stroked his beard and chuckled, "It's me, Wallace. My Lady has already left."

Wallace was in an exceptionally good mood today. Having survived a great calamity, he had even been blessed in the aftermath.

That morning, the Lady had distributed a portion of the abyss demon's flesh and blood to Wallace, though he had no immediate plans to use it.

Wallace said, "From now on, you must change how you address her; you can no longer call the Lady your mentor. We will be returning to the academy shortly, and as a high-level apprentice, the Lady is not qualified to be your mentor... She has made other arrangements regarding this matter."

Upon confirming that the person before him was Wallace, Roland breathed a sigh of relief. He internally berated himself for sleeping so deeply that he hadn't even noticed someone approaching.

Little did Roland know, Catherine had cast a stealthy sleep spell on him that morning.

Had Wallace not just crawled out of his dimensional pouch and bumped right into Catherine face-to-face, catching her red-handed as she sneakily rummaged through Roland's pockets...

After all these years, the Lady's habit of sheer curiosity hadn't changed at all.

When Wallace caught Catherine red-handed that morning, her expression turned extremely awkward. With a cold face, she defended herself, "Ahem, well, he recovered quite well last night... You dog, why are you looking at me like that? I was merely healing him!"

Naturally, Wallace wouldn't dare say another word.

Shortly after, Catherine gave Wallace some instructions and fled as if escaping, departing without seeing Roland.

Wallace felt that the Lady's attitude toward Roland had undergone a subtle change. He suspected that something had transpired between the two of them last night.

Roland asked, "Did Lord Catherine leave any instructions before she departed?"

Did Catherine merely give Wallace a few instructions? She and her staff officer had discussed quite a number of matters, and Wallace had even offered her some rather devious schemes.

Naturally, the Lady had given strict instructions that these matters were not to be disclosed to Roland.

Wallace replied, "The Lady gave no special instructions, only telling me to brief you on matters concerning the academy. Let's eat first."

Wallace had no need for food, but Roland and Catherine did. Therefore, this loyal old servant had prepared a lavish breakfast ever since emerging that morning.

Since they would be traveling soon, Wallace wanted to ensure Roland was well-fed.

A major incident had recently occurred at the academy.

The White Chess Wizard Council had officially issued a decree commanding the professors of the White Chess Academy to be stationed permanently at the Black Abyss Academy, responsible for teaching, protection, and other duties.

Calling it protection was merely a euphemism for surveillance.

Wallace said, "In truth, the White Chess wizards began garrisoning at the Black Abyss Academy many years ago."

The Black Abyss wizards originally belonged to the Twilight Council. However, a falling out had occurred between the two factions, leading the Black Abyss wizards to betray the Twilight Council and seek asylum under the White Chess Council. Following that, the White Chess families began stationing themselves at the Black Abyss Academy.

Compared to those Black Abyss wizards who styled themselves as arcanists, the White Chess wizards were true arcanists, as well as genuine white wizards. Their power was immense, and while they understood dark magic, they did not misuse it.

If the Twilight Council represented the demonic path, the White Chess Council was the orthodox sect.

Wallace stroked his beard and said, "Roland, the Black Abyss wizards were originally always concealing their strength. From the perspective of the White Chess wizards, our power had been severely depleted through our struggles with the Twilight wizards, leaving behind nothing more than a group of formal wizards. But in reality, we were hiding our true strength—the betrayal was a ruse, and our purpose in coming to the White Chess Council is to destroy it from within!"

"However, this time, the Lady has likely summoned all the hidden Black Abyss powerhouses... At present, we truly do not have a single Tier 2 wizard left. Given our current strength, returning to the Twilight Council would simply mean being swallowed whole... I'm afraid we are going to have to turn pretense into reality and genuinely join the White Chess Council."

Be that as it may, Catherine needed to adopt a much more covert identity.

Roland, too, required a more suitable persona.

Next, Wallace and Roland went over their fabricated "testimony."

"Roland, you must remember this: you are the last heir of the 'Ayleth' family. For all these years, your father lived like a wild wizard, completely detached from the world of wizards. Ten years ago, I came to Valeria and happened to encounter you, after which you finally regained contact with the true magical world. Therefore, I am your foundational mentor."

Wallace continued, "Everyone within the family knows my identity, so I have always served as the family steward. Ever since the Lady was born twenty years ago, I also shouldered the heavy responsibility of her magical enlightenment. Thus, both you and the Lady are, in essence, my students."

A century ago, the Witch of the Black Abyss transmitted a message from hell to the family, informing them that she would send her servant from the nether realms.

Subsequently, a female vassal of the Alexandra family voluntarily offered her body and conceived a demon.

On the seventh day after its birth, the demon grew into adulthood. Thereafter, it remained in the mortal realm under the guise of an Alexandra family servant.

This demon was Wallace, and his purpose in coming to the mortal realm was to assist his master from hell in returning to the world of the living.

For this endeavor, he had prepared for eighty years.

Twenty years ago, the witch from hell finally reincarnated as a human. However, her memories remained dormant.

Throughout the period before her memories awakened, Wallace acted continuously as her Dark Arts Defense instructor, magical enlightenment tutor, and etiquette teacher.

Thus, Wallace could indeed be considered Catherine's foundational mentor.

Naturally, these matters touched upon many of Catherine's private affairs, which was why Wallace did not mention them to Roland.

He merely told Roland that he was Catherine's servant and steward, and that he had provided her with magical enlightenment during her early childhood.

Roland asked, "So, Senior Sister Catherine and I have never met before?"

Wallace shook his head. "No. Three months ago, your Senior Sister Catherine came here and assisted you in advancing to a low-level wizard apprentice."

Roland understood. Wallace had simply made a few minor adjustments to his past experiences—he had met Wallace ten years ago and encountered Catherine three months ago.

Wallace told Roland that the Tawny Fern Forest was simply a trial. As for the entire process of the trial, he only needed to recount the events leading up to their encounter with the Flesh Sacred Tree.

He said, "You lost your way in the trial and blundered right into a nest of blood moths, but Catherine had been secretly keeping an eye on you and rescued you. As for those other two fools... Heh, you knew nothing because you had passed out."

Roland etched this firmly into his memory.

After aligning their stories, the two prepared to set off.

"Roland, let's set off early. If we head west out of the fern forest, there is a Black Abyss Academy teleportation array. If we leave early, we can reach the wizard market near the academy by evening."

Wallace stroked his beard and remarked, "However, there is one matter we need to figure out. Upon enrollment, you will need to pay tuition and lodging fees, as well as purchase numerous entrance supplies—things like spellbooks, textbooks, and tools are major expenses. Originally, the Lady had prepared some magic stones for you, but they were all expended within the ruins. So we cannot rely on the Lady for these funds."

A slight pang of tension gripped Roland's heart, and he thought to himself, 'I almost forgot about this. I wonder how much the scraps I picked up can be sold for. Will it be enough for tuition and entrance supplies? If not, I'll have to sell the oddities or the demon stones.'

Roland had intended to keep those items, so parting with them pained him.

Seeing Roland's anxious expression, Wallace said, "Don't worry, I should still have some magic stones in my pouch. When we get home, I can fetch a bit more from my daughter and lend them to you—borrow 8, repay 13."

True to his exploitative nature, the profiteer was still plotting to levy high-interest usury.

Roland replied, "Wallace, I don't know how many magic stones you had left at home, but the ones in your pouch were eaten by the abyss demon."

Wallace's complexion turned immensely unsightly.

He stroked his beard and said, "Roland, as a newcomer to the academy, you certainly need some useful oddities in your possession, so it would be a pity to sell those functional ones. The items in my pouch are all demonic artifacts and difficult to offload. However, the damaged oddities you picked up should still fetch a decent sum... Shortly, we can take a look at the wizard market near the academy. As someone in charge of academy logistics, I still have a few channels."

Wallace frequently fenced illicit contraband. While this demon was useless in a fight, he was extremely reliable when handling tasks. Selling items through him was exceptionally safe.

"Very well, I'll leave this matter to you—your pouch, returned to you."

With that, Roland tossed Wallace's pouch back to him. Wallace knew that Roland's harvest this time around was exceedingly bountiful and that he wouldn't care for these meager items of his, so he accepted it gladly.

After a moment of hesitant thought, Wallace said, "Brother Roland, regarding the spoils from the ruins, I didn't betray you this time, but the Lady already knows everything... Don't ask, she simply knows what treasures you acquired."

Pausing briefly, Wallace added, "You slept far too deeply this morning."

Upon hearing this, Roland's expression instantly stiffened: 'No wonder I slept so soundly... That mentor of mine must have cast a spell on me and then ransacked my bag!'

Roland never imagined that a witch of such noble standing would stoop to such despicable behavior!

He hurriedly rummaged through his pack. Upon confirming that the Slumber Crucible and other items were completely accounted for, he let out a massive sigh of relief.

"If she didn't take my things, why did she go through my bag? Purely out of curiosity?"

"Why are you so incurious yet such a peeping tom?!"

"No way. Once we return to the academy, I must figure out a way to distance myself from her. I'll find some secluded woods on the mountain for bitter cultivation, and unless attending classes is mandatory, I'll visit the academy less often and avoid seeing Senior Sister."