Chapter 163: VOL 3 - 1: You’re really a monster.
In a spacious Victorian-style hall, with a vaulted ceiling, towering bookshelves filled with books that reached all the way up, and wide windows letting in the light, Erik was seated behind a beautiful black wooden desk adorned with golden details. All around him, a large number of holographic screens displayed all kinds of information, which he glanced at from time to time before returning to scribble rapidly in the notebook on the desk.
On Erik's shoulders were Ebonique, a jet black serpent-dragon spirit, and Ignis, a phoenix spirit made of blue fire, both measuring a bit more than 30 centimeters in length. They watched with focused expressions as Erik wrote in his notebook, occasionally offering a piece of advice or an opinion, prompting Erik to make quick corrections.
Meanwhile, to one side of Erik's desk, behind another black desk, sat a beautiful young woman who appeared to be about 18 years old. She had long, wavy hair of a lovely chocolate color and hypnotically deep blue eyes and seemed lost in thought, reflecting deeply as she read a beautiful black-covered notebook on her desk.
At the same time she was reflecting, the beautiful young woman would sporadically attempt to create a magic circle with her mana. Without fail, it would always end in failure; yet, she was not too discouraged by this and would simply pick up a crystal card from her desk and take some notes.
After a while, Erik looked up and stretched comfortably, while Ebonique and Ignis landed on the desk. At that moment, the star-haired young man let out a comfortable sigh before adjusting his posture and turning to look at the girl at the nearby desk, speaking calmly as he picked up the notebook on the desk.
"Well, Liliana, the corrections you asked for are ready."
Upon hearing her 'younger brother's' voice, Liliana turned to him, somewhat surprised at first, but her expression quickly shifted to acceptance, with faint traces of a strange feeling of defeat—though well concealed—before responding as she took the notebook.
"You're really a monster. How do you manage to redesign a spell in just a couple of days?"
"Is it that strange? The spell itself didn't change much; I just had to adjust a few things and recalculate a couple of parameters. Besides, Ebonique and Ignis helped me a lot..."
Erik remarked somewhat incredulously while looking at Liliana with an innocent expression, causing her to roll her eyes in exasperation. She could feel the urge to punch someone in the face surge within her, but after a few moments, the beautiful chocolate-haired girl simply sighed and took the notebook, then focused on reading the large amount of information in it, completely ignoring her irritating 'younger brother.'
Seeing Liliana's response, Erik simply let her be and sat comfortably in his cushy chair, his hands behind his head and his feet on the desk, ready for a moment of rest and relaxation. Ignis and Ebonique landed on his chest, ready to claim their well-deserved payment for all the effort they had put in. After all, 'employees' like them would never let their 'miserly boss' get away with not paying them.