Gunmage-Chapter 271: Complicated magic, Complicated elves

"It extends to the arcane."

After saying that, she took a brief, deliberate pause, waiting—perhaps even daring—him to grasp the full ramifications of her words.

Lugh simply stared at her.

Seconds passed. Then more. And when nothing continued to happen, his patience began to visibly fray.

"And?"

He said flatly.

"What sort of reaction is that?"

Zhou snapped, her tone sharp and incredulous.

"I just dropped some major news and all you can say is ’and’? Selaphiel, I can’t deal with this kid, he’s an i—"

"Cut it out,"

Selaphiel interjected, her voice calm but steely, like an iron door swinging shut on the rising argument.

That was all it took to ignite another fresh wave of bickering between the two elves, their tones rising and overlapping.

Voices became noise.

Jahira, who had done little more than hover at the edges of the scene since her introduction, stepped up beside Lugh.

Without a word, she patted his shoulder and gave a small, weary shake of her head.

He glanced at her, then back at Zhou, a question forming, hovering near his lips.

"Are you two related?"

He asked, his tone flat but curious.

"Apparently,"

She muttered, sounding just a bit disgruntled.

Lugh nodded, already onto his next thought.

"And how old are you?"

Her eyes bore into his for a moment. There was no obvious malice in them, but there was definitely suspicion.

"Why would I tell you that?"

He tilted his head, then subtly gestured toward the arguing elves with a short nod.

"I was just wondering. Compared to those two, you seem a lot more reasonable."

"Reasonable?"

"You don’t act like you have mental issues,"

Lugh clarified, as if stating a mundane observation.

"Ah."

She nodded in mock understanding, her tone unreadable.

"I’m somewhere between a hundred and two hundred."

Lugh hummed softly in approval as the clamor behind him continued to rise in volume.

"I told you to stop bringing that up. The past is the past!"

"Easy for you to—"

He tuned it out.

His attention turned back to Jahira.

"On the higher or lesser side of 150?"

He pressed, tone casual but persistent.

"Seriously, why do you think I’ll tell you that?"

Jahira spat back. Her face was a mix of mild annoyance and something bordering on unwilling amusement.

Lugh sighed, expression unchanging.

"Look, it’s not like this info is worth a damn. Knowing or not knowing does nothing for me. I’m just curious, that’s all. Why do you elves always try to overcomplicate things?"

"Okay. One. We elves do not overcomplicate things."

Lugh raised a skeptical eyebrow. Even Jahira, it seemed, had trouble believing the words coming out of her own mouth. But he let her continue.

"And two. Yes, my age is lesser than one fifty."

Lugh stroked his chin in quiet thought.

"Quite young, then."

"That’s not for you to say. You are literally a baby."

"Not literally."

"From my perspective, yes. Literally."

Lugh let her have the last word. He switched topics without hesitation.

"Are you Selaphiel’s child?"

Jahira was already preparing to shoot back a response, but Lugh spoke again before she could.

"Or are you just gonna overcomplicate things again?"

Her teeth ground together.

"Yes. I am her daughter."

"Interesting."

Lugh responded with a rare smile—a twitch of his lips, no more than a crack in the otherwise cold wall of his face.

He spoke again.

"You’re the daughter of my grandmother. Does that make you my aunt?"

"I’m also older than your grandfather. It’s a lot more compli—"

She caught herself.

"It’s more complex than that."

Lugh hummed. His gray eyes flicked toward her.

"I guess it is. If I marry Selaphiel, that would make you my stepdaughter."

Jahira’s eyebrows twitched—visibly.

Lugh pressed.

"You’ll have to call me daddy."

She snapped.

"Listen here you little—"

"Okay."

Selaphiel’s voice cut through like a blade, clean and swift.

"I’ve finally managed to get her back on track."

She turned, expression tight with frustration, toward Zhou.

"Zhou, if you’d please."

The taller elf, for some reason looking entirely too pleased with herself, continued.

"Like I said, human innovation extends to the arcane. This means rapid discovery and advancements in the various branches of magic."

Lugh nodded slowly, though his expression remained as unreadable as ever. Zhou shot him a complicated look before continuing.

"It is one of the reasons why elves colonized a human nation in the first place."

"Really?"

Jahira asked, sounding oddly disenchanted.

"That’s the reason?"

Zhou corrected her.

"It is one of the reasons."

"I’m sorry,"

Lugh began,

"How does this relate to anything?"

"...Maybe if you’ll let me finish, you can figure it out."

She added tensely, her jaw tight.

Lugh inhaled silently, the sound faint, and settled in to listen.

"So, about some centuries ago, there was this research facility sponsored by—"

Selaphiel cut in, voice firm.

"Please, Zhou. We don’t need the details. Just tell us about the magic and move on."

The expression on her face suggested that she was already regretting her earlier decision to let Zhou explain.

The tall elf frowned, clearly displeased.

"I can’t just summarize it. You won’t understand it better afterwards. The history has to be properly examined before—"

"Zhou, please. Just summarise it. We don’t care if we understand it or not."

Zhou grumbled audibly but finally relented. Her face settled into a sour expression as she began to speak again.

"Basically, there are these intelligent humans who made a spell system, and due to some things or the other, some elves managed to take credit for it."

She crossed her arms.

"That spell is what you used."

Lugh blinked once.

"That explains nothing."

"See?! I told you!"

Zhou replied, visibly smug about being proven right.

Selaphiel exhaled through her nose, rubbing her temple before turning back to Lugh.

"I think I should just explain it to you."

She spoke with forced calm.

"So, we normally use incantations and magic circles to cast spells. Sometimes a combination of both."

Lugh interrupted.

"You use neither."

"Oh, that’s just because of the nature of my ability—and of course, the invention of wordless casting."

Zhou interjected again.

"Actually, you’re wrong. The nature of your ability has nothing to do with it. Also, wordless casting wasn’t so much invented as it was—"

"Shut up!"

Selaphiel snapped, all pretense of calm gone.

"If you refuse to explain, then you should keep your mouth shut. Stop distracting us."

Zhou looked genuinely offended.

"Just because I don’t want to explain doesn’t mean you can mix facts and half-ass things."

Selaphiel shot back with four cold words:

"Yes. Yes it does."

And just like that, she turned back to Lugh, her voice already calm again.

"As I was saying..."

Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om