Moonlight Ball - Chapter 3

The Magic Tower was never wrong. It was a famous quote known to everyone across the land. It was no exaggeration to say that those words represented the Magic Tower. The Count couldn’t argue; he had nothing further to say. 

Iris remembered that day vividly; a crystal clear, blue cloudless sky and the arms of an adult man she’d hugged for the first time in her life, with big hands that comforted her. In his arms, she’d climbed straight into the carriage. She never protested for a moment, and she didn’t want to say no. She didn’t know where she was going, but it didn’t matter. She just wanted to get away from the half-brothers who hit her, half-brothers who bullied her, and the repeated harsh beatings every day. Iris had held Elaine tightly and not once bothered to ask where he was taking her.

Even in the carriage, Elaine held Iris the entire time. He patted her as if he knew the hardships she had suffered. When they entered a village in the evening, Iris reluctantly left the comfort of his arms. Elaine grinned and lifted Iris’s chin. “That’s a good impression. You have a face that will be loved by Rusna.”

“Rusna?” asked Iris.

“She is the goddess of mana and guardian of the Magic Tower.” Elaine put importance on impressions. He later reportedly decided to accept Iris as a disciple after seeing her face. No matter how good the quality of mana is, no matter how much mana you have, you need to look good.

Elaine became like a father to Iris. He was a teacher, and he was also her best friend; he was everything to her.

At the sound of the chime at the front door, Iris escaped the flashback. Her house was on the third floor. The third floor consisted of warehouses and workshops; the second floor consisted of bedrooms, and the kitchen, living room, and study were on the first floor. People who came to her house, like the milkman, the food man, and the postman, arrived at an appointed time, and now was not the time for anyone to come. 

Leiden sighed, still sitting on Iris’s shoulder. He’d predicted this would happen, that a bad visitor would arrive.

“It’s not what you think, Leiden,” Iris smirked as she went down to the first floor.

Leiden flapped his wings and circled in the air a few times, waiting to see who the visitor was.

Surely that can’t be true. Will there be any unpleasant guests because I cleaned up a little? Until then, she hadn’t been paying attention to the house elf’s hunch.

Iris casually opened the door and was confronted by a woman of dazzling beauty! The woman was more beautiful than anyone she has ever seen. She was tall and had thin arms like a willow tree, and her fingers were elegant and long. Her chest was very voluptuous, and her waist was so narrow that it looked like she had a hard time breathing. The woman, who appeared in a riding suit, had half-braided thick wavy blonde hair. She was wearing a short-brimmed hat, and the face below it was splendid. God seemed to have put in a lot of effort to create her.

Her eyebrows looked like they’d been carefully drawn on her round forehead. The tip of her nose lifted into a smooth curve and both her eyes were a mixture of many different kinds of blue, dazzling blue eyes that she’d never seen the likes of, as well as perfect-sized thick lips set on a sharp jawline. Her neckline stretched out like a deer; she was extraordinary looking. According to Elaine’s standards, she was a perfect ‘Impression Classification’.

“What brings you…” Before she could say ‘here’, the woman interrupted her in a beautiful voice that Iris had never heard before.

“Who is Iris Elaine? I’m here to make a request.”

At that moment, the wind suddenly picked up; it was ominous.

Iris learned her whole life experience from Elaine. She was a true believer of Elaine’s ‘Impression Classification’. She glanced up at the magnificent face of the woman who was taller than her with a perplexed look, reaffirming the beauty of her. Leiden was right, today was the day when a bad visitor had come knocking.

Iris said something she always said when such a guest came. “My teacher is not here.”

Iris had a pretty young-looking face, and Iris Elaine was a renowned wizard and disciple of the great wizard Elaine. There were many times when people looked at her gentle appearance and didn’t realize that she was Iris Elaine. So when she said this, most of the guests went away.

“I’ll wait,” said the beautiful woman as she pushed past Iris into the room and then raised her eyebrows and commented bluntly, “What a pigsty!” She was more polite in other people’s houses she’d been in.

Iris bumped into the door frame and rubbed her tingling shoulder as she looked at the woman from behind. She was in great shape. Her hips were close to her slender waist and her legs were perfectly shaped. She was amazed that she had such a sensational figure and looked so elegant. Who the hell is she? she wondered.

“Would you like some tea?” Iris kindly offered.

“Do you think I’d want to drink tea inside of a pigsty? Why don’t you  clean up this place first?” she rudely replied.

Iris wished she would go away, but she couldn’t even tell her to leave because she was just a disciple. Iris looked at her and pretended to dust the sofa roughly. She frowned as if she didn’t like Iris’s attitude, but she sat down, apparently unwilling to stand.