I Reincarnated to Another World as a Woman-Chapter 157: The Council

"Good morning, Apprentice Collins. Thank you for being here today," Victor Langford says.

He is the unofficial leader of the Custodians. Though only in his early forties, he carries a presence that naturally calms those around him.

Since becoming a Custodian and replacing his old and frail Teacher, people have leaned on him more and more for guidance. It has not been a misplaced trust.

Victor Langford is as wise as a man can be. He also has a kind appearance that makes people instinctively like him upon first meeting. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

At the moment, he is smiling gently, clearly trying his best not to frighten Maeve.

He is seated in his office, far from the Solarys branch where Maeve is currently located.

His image appears as a hologram, set up in the same manner as the previous Council meeting held by Thomas Calder from the main office in Highcrest.

"Please don’t be nervous," Victor adds.

"You are not in any trouble. We asked you here because we are troubled by your report on the dungeon at Mt. Helene."

The rest of the Council looks equally unsettled.

Jonathan Ludwig, seated in the same room as Maeve, wears the same troubled expression.

Maeve smiles as best as she can. She knows she is not in any trouble, but she is hiding something, and to her, that already counts as trouble. She is not nervous because of what is in her report. She is nervous because of what is not in it.

She bows politely and greets them. "Good morning, Archivist Langford. Good morning, Teacher Ludwig. And good morning to all of the Archivists."

The others murmur their greetings in response.

"Please take a seat, Apprentice Collins."

Maeve does as she is asked.

"First of all, I want to express that it is a blessing you returned safely. And since you are the first among us to have actually stepped into a dungeon, we want you to know that this is no small achievement."

"And you can surely understand our curiosity, which is why we called this meeting. So please, be at ease," Victor concludes his opening remarks.

Maeve nods politely. "Thank you for the kind words, Archivist Langford. I am more than willing to answer any questions the Council may have."

Inside, Maeve feels slightly ridiculous speaking this way. She knows Archivist Langford does not usually speak like this outside the Council.

Maeve has met and chatted with him before, beyond these formal settings. He normally speaks like an ordinary person, not like this.

"Members of the Council, you may now proceed in questioning Apprentice Collins. I am aware that we have many questions. In order not to overwhelm her, please ask one question at a time. We will take turns, starting with Archivist Hale, then moving to his left, clockwise."

"Go ahead, Archivist Hale."

Edmund Hale clears his throat. "Thank you, Archivist Langford."

His gaze shifts to Maeve. "Ms. Collins, can you please describe the dungeon to us?"

Maeve nods and takes a deep breath before she begins. She describes the dungeon in detail. What it looked like. How the air felt. The way it smelled. What the haelions looked like. The horror she felt when she first encountered them.

None of the Council members interrupt her. They listen intently. At times, Maeve feels as if they can see the dungeon themselves. She describes it as thoroughly as she can. She wants to bring them there with her words.

When she finally finishes, silence falls.

Several members visibly swallow hard.

"It..." Jonathan speaks up. "It sounds... magical, but very dangerous."

Next, it is Catherine Rowen of the White faction’s turn.

"Maeve, according to your report, you stated that inside the dungeon, it was full of mana. Is that true? How full? I cannot imagine what that would mean, or how it would feel."

Maeve nods. "It is true. And it is difficult to describe. The only analogy I can think of is land and ocean. Out here is land. In there, it was like an ocean of mana. As if I were drowned in it."

Gasps ripple through the holograms.

Maeve continues. "When I first entered, the abundance of mana was the very first thing I noticed. It hit me like an explosion in my face. I was so overwhelmed that I failed to notice it was almost pitch black."

"Wait," another woman interjects. Margaret Ellis, seated beside Catherine, voices her shock. "Brightness or darkness is usually the first thing our sensors detect. But you are saying that was not the case. Because of how abundant the mana was?"

Maeve nods again. "Yes. That is how vast the difference is between out here and in there."

"Perhaps I can demonstrate, just a little," Maeve says after a moment of thought.

She calls forth fire using the incantation Jonathan taught her. She has never felt more ridiculous in her life, because now she can clearly feel how ineffective that spell truly is. The only reason she succeeds in summoning fire at all is because the word fyra is used in the incantation.

A fire no bigger than her thumb floats above her palm.

Jonathan looks very proud.

He had found Maeve when she was ten years old, digging through a dumpster outside his residence in Solarys.

He took her in, clothed her, and sent her to school, but he never truly adopted her, nor did he ever think of her as his daughter. She was, and always had been, his Apprentice.

He had not taken her in out of generosity or a desire to help a poor girl. Maeve had accidentally picked up an item that fell out of his pocket. Jonathan Ludwig was a clumsy man. He looked unkempt, but his mind was brilliant.

The item Maeve picked up happened to be a magical artifact Jonathan had managed to procure just a few hours earlier at the Solarys Auction House.

It was a mana meter. That was the name Jonathan gave the artifact. The name itself was self-explanatory. It was a tool used to measure mana resonance.

When Maeve picked it up, Jonathan noticed immediately that the artifact glowed. An idea sparked in his mind. He needed an Apprentice, and he had just found a young girl with the appropriate mana resonance.