In the sunset, a pink-haired girl was pulling a purple-haired woman through the vast royal garden.
Even in the sunset, this enormous garden still radiated tremendous vitality, making the two who walked through it feel as refreshed as a spring breeze.
"How is it? This garden is huge, isn't it?"
Elashia spoke.
Erin nodded.
"We plan to renovate it into a massive academy."
"Oh?"
The Empress actually wants to transform her own garden into an academy?
Half of Erin's surprise was shock, and half was joy.
On the way from the prison, Elashia had explained the current situation in Elasia.
Mainly about the coup and reforms.
Combined with the warden's reaction earlier, she was certain that the pink-haired girl before her was indeed the current Empress of Elasia.
So the girl before her truly hadn't deceived her—this current Elasia Empress genuinely wanted to build a magic academy here.
Being able to teach in such a large academy naturally made her extremely happy.
But she also found it hard to believe that an emperor would turn her ancestral garden into a school.
Even more unbelievable was that an Elasia emperor would be willing to make all the magic spells—the foundation of Elasia—completely public.
Just as she was about to speak, Elashia was interrupted by the system's prompt.
[Task has been issued]
?
This frequently?
The system ignored Elashia's confusion and continued issuing tasks.
[Task One: Smile at Erin. "What's so surprising? I am the 'Philosopher King' after all." Task Reward: "Suk's Legacy Art" (Magic)]
[Task Two: Show an angry expression to Erin. "What, you don't believe me?" Task Reward: "Trust First, Then Trust Again" (Mind Control Magic)]
[Task Three: Smile at Erin, tell her you've only just completed the coup recently and haven't experienced the joy of being an Empress yet. Joke with her, "If you don't agree, I might rescind my order in the future." Task Reward: Mage level increased by one]
None of these seemed problematic, but the task rewards made Elashia cautious.
Suk was the greatest mage of the previous era; his magic must be incredibly valuable.
And the second reward was mind control magic, which was probably too precious.
Through previous tasks, Elashia had discovered that the system's rewards corresponded to the riskiness of the behavior.
The more dangerous the task, the better the reward.
Considering Erin's extreme caution, Elashia decided to reassure her first.
"I choose three."
[Understood]
"Is it hard to believe?"
The pink-haired girl gave Erin a bright smile, walked in front of her, and faced her.
"Actually, I am an Empress who came to power through a coup."
"Mm."
Erin wasn't surprised, as her many years of experience had shown her the darkness of royalty. A coup wasn't something that surprised her.
"But you know what? I'm only sixteen years old now~"
Elashia smiled as she looked at Erin.
"So, if you don't trust me, this school won't be built, and the royal garden will remain as it is."
Elashia pointed to the beautiful scene before them.
"Look, isn't this royal garden beautiful?"
"But think about it, adults are selfish, and I'll soon become an adult too. When I grow up, I might not be willing to transform this place into a magic academy anymore."
"Moreover, to enjoy stability and luxury, I might regret making magic spells public across the continent~"
Elashia gave Erin a half-joking smile.
"The one who decides all this can only be you, dear 'Sorceress.'"
"Or should I say—'Teacher of All Teachers.'"
Faced with Elashia's half-joking threat, Erin responded only with a smile.
"Alright, Your Majesty, I agree."
Even if Elashia hadn't threatened her, she would have been willing.
She didn't know why Elashia was willing to make magic public, but she didn't care about that.
Erin paused, then spoke again.
"But let me ask, does 'renovating this academy according to my wishes' mean exactly that?"
"Correct."
Erin smiled as she looked at Elashia.
"What this school will look like, who to recruit as teachers, how to arrange entrance exams—all these depend on me, right?"
Elashia smiled in response.
"Correct. Except for the requirement of a minimum enrollment of ten thousand people, you are the Empress here. Your orders are policy. And there will be an annual budget allocation of ten thousand gold coins, with a hundred thousand for the first year. How about that, satisfied?"
After Elashia finished speaking, she didn't hear Erin's response for a while.
Looking back, Erin had disappeared.
Through Erin's completely unconcealed magic trace, Elashia saw her in the sky.
Erin was in the air, looking down at the earth, her face showing uncontrollable joy.
This is it!
The place she had visited countless times in her dreams!
Strong support from the royal family, almost unlimited autonomy, a huge magic academy, substantial financial allocation, unrestricted enrollment range...
Her hundred-year dream, which had seemed so distant yesterday, now appeared right before her eyes.
Watching Erin survey the land from above, her face bearing irrepressible happiness, Elashia smiled contentedly.
In the original storyline, if "Elashia" never dealt with Erin, she would escape from prison during Elasia's fall and embark on a journey to teach magic and fight against the undead.
The end of this journey would be death.
She would burn herself using [Undead Killer] to annihilate the undead army when they approached the Iron Empire.
If "Elashia" chose the human side, she would receive a commission from her in the final stage of her life, helping her collect a large number of precious items.
These would ultimately be combined into the "Martyr's Cloak" and "Cursed Armor."
The Martyr's Cloak could exchange everything the user possessed for whatever they desired.
The Cursed Armor would greatly enhance the user's spell power at the cost of terrible debuffs after casting.
When seeing the beautiful CG of Erin turning into specks of light under the blue sky after annihilating the undead army, Elashia, sitting in front of the screen at that time, had tears in her eyes from the emotional music.
After completing the mission, Elashia would receive a magic book—"Erin's Wish."
It was a strange item; the more widely the spells recorded in it were spread, the stronger "Elashia" would be when using those spells.
It was hard to imagine this woman's dedication to making magic public for the benefit of humanity.
But now, her century-old dream was about to be realized in the current Elasia.
Watching Erin flying back and forth in the sky as excitedly as a child, Elashia smiled contentedly.
She also heard the system's voice in her ear.
[Human magic publicization process detected and initiated. One hundred thousand gold coins and one hundred thousand tons of grain have been stored in the system space, available for use at any time]
At this moment, Elashia couldn't yet imagine—what terrifying power these one hundred thousand tons of grain would exert.