"I'm really sorry, Headmaster." Lith gave him a small bow. "It's been a crazy year for me. So many things have happened that I could barely focus on my survival."

Marth was about to give him a snarky reply when Ryssa clutched his hand, sharing with him some of her Dryad mystical senses. Suddenly, the Headmaster of the White Griffon could feel the gloom that Lith hid behind his poker face.

There was no attraction between him and his date, only friendship. On top of that, Marth could sense that Lith's existence had become more majestic and yet more detached.

He was there yet he wasn't.

"Don't worry, kid. I'll forgive you as long as you help me to keep Manohar away from my child." Marth chuckled.

"Don't listen to him, junior. You and I will make a great team." The mad professor patted Ryssa's belly as if it was the shoulder of a friend.

"Say that again and I'll kill you." She said in anger. "People are starting to think that I've been unfaithful and that I bear your child!"

"Nonsense. Junior is not mine. We'll name them like that only to avoid confusion when we are both in the same room." While Vastor needed all of his considerable strength to hold Marth, Lith walked away with Faluel to check the room for potential allies.

Now that Mirim was dead, he needed to make sure that his relationship with the Mage Association and the Army wouldn't change.

"Oh, gods! White, is that really you?" Someone grabbed Lith's shoulder, forcing him to turn around.

The man in front of him was 22 years old, about 1.73 meters (5'8") tall with blond hair and deep green eyes. He had the build of a soldier rather than that of a noble and wore a uniform identical to Lith's but deep green, identifying him as a Great Mage.

He was accompanied by a stunning redhead that made Faluel pale in comparison and who looked at him with loving eyes.

"I beg your pardon?" Lith asked.

"It's me, Red! I can't believe we are meeting again like this."

"Who?" Lith racked his brain, but the only image that the word red conjured in his head was that of wine.

'For my Mom's sake! He's the student of the Fire Griffon who participated in the mission against Gadorf the Wyvern.' Solus said. Then after noticing that Lith still had no idea who she was talking about, she added:

'The guy who taught us about the importance of array detecting spells.' She also projected a flashback in his mind, just to stay on the safe side.

"Gods, you inspired me to the point that I worked my ass off to match your achievements whereas I was so insignificant to your eyes that you don't even remember me." Red sighed.

"Red, of course. You were the second saddle of Captain Yerna's team. Do I have to keep calling you Red or do you have an actual name?" Lith tried to make it sound like a joke, but not knowing a Great Mage's name was actually quite rude of him.

"Great Mage Linden Gorth, at your service." Red said while giving him a small bow. "This is Phrenna Gorth, my wife."

She gave Lith a curtsy to which he replied with a bow.

"Spellbreaker Archmage Lith Verhen, at your family's service and yours." Lith replied. "This is Faluel Metina Riseta Nyxdra, my date."

After exchanging greetings, Linden bored Lith to death with his many achievements that had led him to become a Great Mage at a young age.

"Seeing you fight with that Wyvern was an eye-opener for me. Until that day, I always thought that a mage's place was the backline, supporting the others from a safe position." Red said.

"Gods, please, you tell this story every time you meet someone new. Can you please spare me the speech so that we can have some fun instead?" Phrenna rolled her eyes as she could almost feel her ears bleeding.

"Yet after seeing someone younger than me fearlessly fight an adult Emperor Beast-" Linden threw a reproachful look at his wife for her words and another for cutting him short.

"He enrolled in the army as soon as he finished the academy, learned the Battle Mage specialization, and fought his way to his current position in the Association in the attempt to match his hero, the great Lith Verhen. You." Phrenna abridged the chronicles of her husband's life, hoping to put an end to that torture.

"Yes." Red stayed true to his name and turned to a bright shade of purple. "Yet you always remained several steps ahead of me. Look at you. Archmage and Spellbreaker before even becoming twenty."

The honest admiration with which Linden looked at him made Lith feel like crap.

'I have influenced so many lives and yet I barely remember what I had for breakfast. Is my mind turning into that of a Lich?' He thought.

'Depends. What's Red's wife's name?' Solus asked with a sneer.

'Finna.'

'40% Lich confirmed.' Solus laughed her ass off.

"I'm sorry for your break up with Captain Yehval. I was looking forward to meeting her." Linden's words just threw Lith from the pan into the fire and earned him a heavy nudge from his wife.

"I mean, Lady Nyxdra looks like a wonderful woman. You two make a great couple and your kids will be-"

"I apologize on his behalf." Phrenna covered Linden's mouth with her hand. "My husband means well, but the excitement for meeting you got the better of him. I'll make sure that he calms down before he says things that he would regret forever."

Red looked at her in anger until his brain caught up with his mouth, turning him pale as a ghost.

"He has a point." Faluel had a hard time not laughing at Lith's expense and embarrass Linden even more. "Our children would look great. Can you imagine creatures with four wings like a Tiamat and with seven heads like a Hydra?"

"Are you serious?" Lith suddenly regretted not having brought a regular woman as his date.

"No, but I can tease you more if you'd like." She said with a giggle, dragging him to one of the banquet tables for a drink.

"Gods, now I remember why Mom didn't want to have anything to do with the Royal Court after founding the Griffon Kingdom." Faluel referred to her mother, Fyrwal the Hydra, one of the members of the first King's Guard.

"This place smells so much of rage, hatred, envy, and lust that it's making me nauseous."

"Those things have a smell?" To Lith's young nose, the scents of the many perfumes that men and women alike wore filled the air like a blinding mist.

"They do, and it's most unpleasant." The Hydra sighed.

Lith took a glass of strong whiskey for himself and another for Faluel. They both needed help to stand a second round with Manohar or anyone as annoying as him. While he offered the drink to his mentor, Lith's eyes fell on a familiar-looking woman.

She was a beautiful woman in her late thirties, about 1.67 meters (5'6") tall. She had bronze skin, light brown shoulder-length wavy hair, and hazel eyes.