Clever only managed to truly relax her tense shoulders after listening to the guard's quiet reassurance.
At that exact moment, within the pristine, quiet confines of his private university office, Professor Fremont was currently dragging a fountain pen across a sheet of administrative parchment. The moment he inscribed the final stroke of the concluding line, the ancient grandmaster stood up from his desk and walked out of the room, never once casting a single backward glance at the desk.
Barely a minute after his physical departure from the room, a shadowy figure clad in dark, black-gold armor, their facial features completely obscured beneath a stylized, curved sheep mask, quietly slipped into the chamber. The silent operative swiftly gathered the damp stack of written papers from the desk and turned to vanish from the scene without a trace.
Ten minutes later, the cleanly re-transcribed contents of that academic report were delivered directly onto the desk of the Twin Empresses.
Within the lines of the official document, Fremont explicitly stated that the newly arrived visitors were simply a handful of remarkably talented arcane juniors whom he personally valued with immense professional regard. He had initially expressed a strong desire to formally induct them as his personal disciples within the department, but their primary household tutor had flatly refused to grant permission for the enrollment. Consequently, the group had traveled to the university in person to formally deliver their academic decline.
The two parties had briefly engaged in a standard debate regarding the foundational nature of advanced arcane theories, but since neither master could successfully convince the other of their respective positions, the matter was ultimately left completely unsettled.
After systematically reading through the lines of the report, the White Empress, Lieselotte, raised her cool eyes to look directly at the kneeling operative standing before her throne.
"Where are those specific individuals stationed at this current hour?"
"Reporting directly to Your Majesty," the armored subordinate replied without a moment's hesitation, his voice muffled slightly by the thick mask. "Immediately upon exiting Fremont's office, the travelers proceeded directly into the primary university archives. Furthermore, Fremont actively granted their party unrestricted reading access to the library's catalog."
Hearing that the mysterious group had chosen to remain within the perimeter of the campus, opting to openly spend their time lounging inside the public school library rather than fleeing the area, a distinct flash of genuine surprise manifested across Lieselotte's refined features.
Based on the initial security alerts, she had naturally assumed these strangers were either covert political operatives traveling out of the fractured wastes of Kazdel or radical remnants of the old regime attempting to extract the highly classified methodology of the Witch King's resurrection from that stubborn old scholar. Whichever faction they belonged to, common strategic logic dictated that they would have chosen to flee the university grounds immediately after their secret meeting with Fremont to avoid drawing the active scrutiny of the imperial authorities.
Yet this eccentric group had actually remained inside the facility, walking right into the archives as if they fully intended to waste away the rest of their afternoon skimming through common volumes.
She fixed a cold, assessing gaze upon her subordinate. Before she could voice her next administrative command, the operative proactively stepped forward to present a detailed document.
If Flandre or any other member of the mansion had been present to glance at the parchment, they would have recognized it instantly as the comprehensive, real-time logging of their borrowing records since crossing the library threshold.
Lieselotte's brow furrowed slightly as her eyes scanned down the bizarre contents of the list.
The record did indeed include a handful of highly technical, professional texts regarding the complex manipulation of Magic and structural Incantation theory. However, jammed right alongside those advanced documents were several utterly nonsensical titles, such as 100 Ways to Cook Leithanien Home-style Dishes and The Definitive Guide to Properly Slacking Off.
It was glaringly obvious that each of the six individuals who had entered the facility was simply browsing through literature that aligned with their own chaotic, highly personal whims.
From an intelligence standpoint, this behavior suggested two distinct possibilities: either the party was entirely unafraid of triggering an official government investigation, or they were simply so fundamentally detached from the political realities of the capital that the concept of an imperial inquiry had never even crossed their minds.
After tossing the document back into her subordinate's hands, Lieselotte slowly closed her eyes. Although she refrained from uttering a formal verbal decree, it was perfectly clear that Her Majesty the Empress had lost all strategic interest in these suddenly appearing outsiders.
While her clandestine networks would technically continue to maintain a baseline watch over the group's movements, the agents would no longer expend valuable imperial resources to investigate their backgrounds with such exhaustive, exhausting detail.
Down within the vast archives of the Ludwigs-Universität, Flandre and the rest of the mansion's household remained nestled among the tall shelves until the summer sun had nearly dipped below the horizon, only choosing to exit the facility when the dinner hour drew close.
The moment they stepped out into the open air of the courtyard, Hong Meiling immediately reached out, playfully gripping Clever's shoulders and shaking her back and forth with a bright grin.
"See? What did I tell you earlier? We stayed nestled inside that big building for an entire afternoon, and absolutely nothing out of the ordinary occurred, did it? You simply let your own imagination run away with you far too much. However..."
Hong Meiling's physical aura suddenly surged with an intense, powerful weight, the abrupt shift causing Clever to jump slightly as she instinctively looked for a place to hide behind the martial artist's back.
"However what?" Clever asked, her eyes darting vigilantly across the open courtyard. Yet apart from the warm, fragrant summer evening breeze brushing softly across her cheeks, she failed to detect the slightest trace of an incoming threat.
"However... I am completely starving!" Hong Meiling whined, rubbing her flat stomach as her dramatic martial aura instantly deflated like a balloon pricked by a needle.
"You're... you're just hungry?!" Clever let out a frustrated sigh, realizing she had been completely teased by the dense gatekeeper once again.
But now that the topic had been explicitly raised, she realized their party had arrived at the campus directly after breakfast that morning, skipping lunch entirely while absorbed in their respective books. Her own stomach let out a soft rumble, confirming that she was indeed quite hungry.
"Shall we wander out into the commercial districts to track down a proper restaurant?" Hong Meiling inquired with immense interest, her eyes shining at the prospect of a massive meal.
Hearing the gatekeeper's loud suggestion, Flandre immediately crossed her small arms firmly over her chest, letting out a soft huff to signal her absolute refusal.
"Ah, my dear Second Young Miss, you cannot expect the horse to gallop across the field if you refuse to let it graze on the grass! If we don't put some food into our bellies, we won't possess a single shred of physical strength, and without strength, how are we supposed to protect your safety...?" Hong Meiling muttered playfully, draping her long arms over Flandre's shoulders to loosely wrap around the girl's neck.
"It's not that I'm saying we shouldn't eat," Flandre clarified, her small wings fluttering slightly as she gestured toward the massive academic buildings surrounding them. "We are currently inside a proper school, aren't we? Since we've already traveled all this way, why don't we try the food served inside the student cafeteria!"
Within Flandre's personal conceptual memory, a standard school cafeteria was always entirely synonymous with massive, towering portions designed to keep a person full for hours. Although the baseline culinary execution might be a few steps lower than a dedicated restaurant, the financial cost was also significantly cheaper than anything found out on the public streets.
To summarize the reality in a single phrase: given the incredibly low price point and the absolute mountain of food provided, demanding the refined execution of a five-star professional chef would be entirely unreasonable.
Upon hearing Flandre's unique proposal, the other members of the household immediately found their curiosity piqued. After all, tracking down a lavish, high-end meal in the commercial districts was something they could accomplish on any given evening, but sitting down to dine inside a proper Leithanien student cafeteria was an entirely novel experience.
It didn't take long for the group to navigate their way through the stone paths and arrive at the bustling dining hall. Since the university hour had firmly transitioned into the prime dinner slot, a significant crowd of young students filled the benches, chatting loudly over their trays.
Flandre's group first drifted toward the massive menu boards to evaluate the listed prices, confirming that the cost of the food was indeed roughly a full quarter cheaper than the standard commercial rates outside the gates. Once they had selected various dishes that aligned with their personal cravings, they swiftly settled the balance using cash and carried their loaded trays back to a vacant table.
Among the six individuals seated at the long bench, the food arranged upon four of the trays looked entirely conventional.
However, the remaining two trays were stacked dangerously high with an absolute mountain of assorted sweets, pastries, and rich desserts. As for the explicit identities of those two particular diners, out of respect for the absolute dignity of a certain high-ranking mansion authority, their specific names shall remain entirely unrevealed.
Flandre happily picked up a golden, flaky egg tart, popping the entire pastry into her mouth with absolute bliss before turning her bright gaze toward Remilia, who was currently savoring a delicate slice of mousse cake a short distance down the table.
She held up another warm egg tart toward her older sister, her eyes wide with an eager desire for validation. "Sister, Sister... you have to try one of these! It's incredibly delicious!"
Remilia offered a warm, indulgent smile as she reached out to accept the tart Flandre was offering. In return, she cleanly sliced off a portion of the rich mousse cake from her own tray, sliding it onto her younger sister's plate. "Here, Flandre, sample a bit of this one in exchange."
"Thank you, Sister!" Flandre cheered happily, snatching up the cake and taking a massive, enthusiastic bite that instantly left a smear of white cream right across her cheek.
"Eat with a bit more care, no one is going to swoop down and steal it off your plate," Remilia chided gently, watching the girl wolf down the sweets with a fond, protective look as she reached out to slow her down.
"Mm, mm!" Flandre mumbled back around another mouthful, already reaching for the next pastry on her tray without a care in the world.
Once their casual dinner had finally concluded, the group gathered their things and strolled out through the main gates of the university together, stepping into the cool evening air.
Naturally, this final, entirely mundane itinerary was swiftly recorded by the hidden watchers and added directly to the imperial observation file.
Later that evening, inside the high spire, Lieselotte was suddenly struck by a passing whim to review the final security updates regarding the mysterious travelers. Upon skimming the official page and seeing that the group had merely loitered inside the university archives for the entire afternoon before running off to stuff themselves with cheap food at the student cafeteria, she completely lost every remaining ounce of interest in their presence.
It appeared that these individuals were truly nothing more than a few eccentric, highly talented magical seeds that old grandmaster Fremont had discovered wandering the outer wilderness during his travels.
If one were to question why a powerful ruler would completely cease paying attention to a group of certified geniuses, the explanation was remarkably simple: the Empress herself was a peerless genius among geniuses.
In fact, within the rigid hierarchy of Leithanien, practically every single high-ranking noble or master caster who earned the distinct privilege of ascending the high tower to stand before her throne was an absolute prodigy in their own right. Consequently, she didn't harbor the slightest shred of personal curiosity toward a handful of unrefined talents suddenly appearing on her campus.
Unless those individuals explicitly demonstrated a level of practical value that directly aligned with her own strategic interests, they simply weren't worth her time.
Flandre and the others had absolutely no idea that due to a single, spontaneous whim of the younger sister to sample cheap school cooking, their party had completely managed to shake off the active surveillance of the White Empress.
And by the time the night sky had fully settled over the capital, the group had already returned safely to the quiet comfort of their hotel rooms.