After spending most of the day out, Tom and Fleur finally returned home after night had fallen.
They were carrying quite a few bags between them, most of them filled with things Fleur had bought.
Tom had only gotten a few sets of clothes himself, and even those had been picked out by Fleur. She had simply told the shop assistant to wrap them up, leaving him no chance to refuse.
They could have easily stored everything in the pocket space, but Fleur insisted that doing so would ruin the whole experience of shopping. So Tom had no choice but to indulge her and carry everything around the old-fashioned way.
Over dinner, Fleur told the Delacour couple about the amusing interview they had run into earlier that day. By the time she finished, the two of them were laughing their heads off.
"Tom is right. Muggles really shouldn't be worrying about whether wizards exist. We're not going to do anything to them, and likewise they have no effect on us. If everyone were as clear-headed as you, things would be much easier. The Ministry wouldn't be running around like headless chickens right now."
Tom merely smiled and said nothing.
After all, idiots made up the vast majority of the population. Otherwise, those people who manipulated public opinion and those unscrupulous media outlets wouldn't have such a comfortable place in society. They certainly wouldn't be spreading like weeds the way they were now.
He'd seen plenty of that in his previous life, especially those shameless clickbait accounts. Their content was often so stupid it was laughable, yet they still managed to make money and attract enormous amounts of traffic.
That was simply the nature of the world.
Besides, having too many genuinely intelligent people wasn't necessarily a good thing for society either.
...
After dinner, Fleur gave her little sister a death glare. Gabrielle, however, completely failed to understand what it meant.
Her mother nevertheless whisked her away before she could cause any trouble.
The two of them were already in a long-distance relationship between different countries, and with Tom's unusual circumstances on top of that, they rarely had much time alone together. There was no reason to let the family's little princess interrupt them tonight.
Tom didn't enter the study space that evening either. Instead, he accompanied Fleur up to the rooftop, where they quietly watched the stars.
There weren't all that many stars visible above Paris. The city's lights washed the night sky in a faint gray haze. Fortunately, the rooftop was peaceful and quiet.
Fleur leaned against Tom's shoulder and occasionally pointed out a star for him to look at, without caring in the slightest what any of them were actually called.
The two of them simply stayed there together until very late before returning to their room and falling asleep in each other's arms.
Meanwhile, inside the study space, Mystryl had invited the other members to a tea party.
She had chosen a spot beside a newly formed lake. Lush grass covered the shore, carrying the fresh scent of earth.
A long table had been set with tea, pastries, and other refreshments. The surrounding grass swayed gently in the night breeze, while several floating magical lamps hung overhead, stretching everyone's shadows long across the ground.
"You managed to read every book in the library in a single day?"
At Mystryl's words, everyone stared at her in astonishment. Ravenclaw, in particular, looked as though her entire understanding of reality had just been shattered.
No one knew exactly how many books were in the library better than she did.
The more modern ones had been collected by Tom, while others had been brought back by Andros.
There were also various books that she and Morgan had recreated from memory. Although those books were extremely high quality, they accounted for only a small fraction of the collection.
Altogether, the library contained more than thirty thousand books.
It wasn't limited to magical knowledge, either. There were books on all kinds of history, as well as records of local customs, strange happenings, and fascinating tales from all over the world.
And Mystryl was claiming that she'd read every single one of them in a day.
Even for a god, that was ridiculous.
A faint smile curled across Mystryl's lips. She pointed to her head and answered in fluent English. "Speed-reading. It was a very useful technique developed by the Arcanists back in my world."
"For an ordinary Arcanist, it can increase reading speed tenfold. But I made a few minor modifications. It can now be enhanced without limit according to the wizard's mental strength and speed of thought. Combined with a few other spells, it further increases the efficiency with which I can process books. Naturally, that makes it possible for me to get through the entire library very quickly."
"..."
"Lady Mystryl, could you teach me this spell?" Ravenclaw didn't even bother hiding her eagerness.
Books were practically her second life. Aside from the time she spent researching magic every day, she could easily spend eight hours in the library.
The habit was as fixed as going to work.
"I'd be delighted to," Mystryl spoke cheerfully, but a hint of apology soon appeared on her face. "However, Rowena, I'm afraid I have to disappoint you. After a full day of research, I've discovered that the wizarding system of this world isn't the same as the magic system in my world."
"You're more like a combination of mages and sorcerers. Oh, and by 'sorcerer,' I mean a profession in which people can wield all sorts of strange spells through the power of their bloodline."
"They rely almost entirely on the instincts and inherent abilities of their bloodline. Their focus is on controlling that power and inheriting it from within. As a result, they have access to far fewer types of magic than ordinary mages, but they're much better at specializing in the abilities granted by their bloodline. That part is quite similar to wizards. Many people have a particular talent for certain kinds of magic. Even after learning other, more advanced spells, they still can't use them nearly as effectively as the magic they're naturally gifted at."
"I'll need some time to adapt these spells to the magical system of this world. So, Ravenclaw, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a little longer."
Ravenclaw smiled faintly and shook her head. "Thank you, Lady Mystryl. It's only a matter of time. I'm not actually in that much of a hurry."
Morgan shot her a teasing glance, an amused smile playing at the corners of her lips.
As Ravenclaw's closest friend in the study space, how could Morgan not know just how tempting a speed-reading spell was to her?
As Mystryl explained all this, a certain person immediately came to mind for Grindelwald.
Harry Potter.
As the next young boy Dumbledore had chosen after Newt Scamander, Grindelwald had naturally taken a particular interest in Harry.
He remembered Tom complaining to him about Harry Potter before. The boy was practically a living embodiment of the Disarming Charm. His actual combat ability was barely up to the level of an ordinary graduate wizard, but as long as he used Expelliarmus, even Aurors would fall victim to it.
Now that he thought about it, wasn't that exactly the sort of inherent magical talent Mystryl had been talking about?
"What about Tom? What's his inherent magic?" Grindelwald couldn't resist asking Mystryl out of curiosity.
"His situation is different." Mystryl smiled. "To be honest, I still haven't figured him out completely. The reason I invited everyone here today was partly so we could get to know each other better."
"If I'm going to properly fulfill my responsibilities as a teacher, I naturally need to understand my student inside and out. Things you learn from books are ultimately rigid and impersonal. If I really want to understand what this world is like, I'd rather hear your perspectives."
"I'll tell you!" Ariana happily raised her hand. "Just ask."
Mystryl tilted her head. "Anything, really. This is a tea party, so it's not exactly the right setting for serious discussions. Let's just relax and chat."
Ariana thought for a moment before starting with the time she had first appeared in the study space. She treated it like telling everyone a story.
Andros and Grindelwald occasionally chimed in with a few additions, their comments more like casual banter and good-natured complaints.
Before long, the conversation wandered off in a rather strange direction.
Everyone began sharing stories and complaining about Tom's occasional mischief.
Everyone except the little angel Jeanne, of course.
Neither Jalter nor Jeanne would ever say anything bad about Tom.
Mystryl simply listened with a smile, occasionally waving her hand and conjuring another tray of exquisite desserts.
They talked all the way up to the recent events taking place outside before finally stopping, still feeling like they hadn't had quite enough.
Throughout the entire conversation, the smile never left Mystryl's face.
The power level of this world was certainly nowhere near that of the Forgotten Realms from her previous life, but Mystryl actually found this world much more interesting than Faerûn.
The mages and Arcanists there had little in their hearts besides their obsession with magic, while the other professions were influenced, to varying degrees, by their gods. The struggle for faith was the central theme, and the wars across the continent had never truly stopped.
There was no shortage of passion or legendary figures, and countless extraordinary events happened one after another. But after watching it for long enough, even that became tiresome.
After all, wasn't her current situation the result of one moment of carelessness? She had failed to realize that Karsus had actually developed such a dangerous form of arcane magic.
Still, things weren't so bad now. Perhaps she could even call it a blessing in disguise.
Mystryl deliberately cleared her throat. It wasn't particularly loud, but everyone immediately turned their attention toward her. "I have a general understanding of the current situation now, so there are two main objectives."
She held up two fingers. "First, we find all the conspirators hiding in the shadows and deal with them one by one."
"Second, we satisfy Tom's needs and help him grow stronger while continuing to uncover his inherent talents. If we do that, there will be even more unexpected discoveries."
Grindelwald nodded without hesitation.
Morgan nodded as well.
Jeanne spoke hesitantly. "But neither of those things sounds easy. I want to help Tom too, but I don't even know where to begin."
"That part is actually very simple." A faint smile appeared on Mystryl's face. "My advice is to do nothing. Let our enemies make whatever moves they want. Sometimes a crisis can turn into an opportunity. What looks like a disaster can end up becoming a good thing."
Everyone froze at her words.
They had expected Mystryl to come up with some elaborate plan. Instead, the Goddess of Magic had advised them to simply sit back and do nothing for the time being.
"Lady Mystryl, if we have no idea what our enemies are planning, wouldn't that mean we'd have to live in constant fear every day?" Jeanne couldn't help asking.
.
.
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