On their way to the Grand Magic Tower, Evan continued chatting with Joanna, with Kayla occasionally interjecting in their conversation.
Soon enough, it became a two-way conversation between the lightning spirit and the vice-chief grand magus while Evan just trailed behind them while thinking about Joanna's back story he knew from the game.
Joanna Ritz was a half-human, half-dark elf who was originally from the Elven Kingdom situated in the northern part of the Alpha continent.
She was the daughter of a fairly high-ranked nobleman and his human lover, who showed exceptional talent with magic ever since she was young. Although she wasn't born with a unique skill, it didn't change the fact that she was the most talented out of all her father's children.
The magic attribute she displayed the greatest affinity with, was dark magic. Nevertheless, Joanna was a very lazy person who didn't want to train her affinity for dark magic at all, simply because she found it to be a hassle.
All she wanted to do was eat and sleep every day, something that the daughter of a nobleman definitely had no chance of doing as she had duties to deal with, along with the fact that her father pretty much made her train her magic even though she didn't want to.
During one of the national event celebrations in Erlan, the kingdom's capital city, a young Joanna snuck out of the outdoor party venue and wandered around in the nearby forest, chancing upon a 'fallen' spirit who was on the verge of turning into a mindless beast.
It was a high-ranked lightning spirit who was in a situation similar to Kayla, having a low level despite their status among the spirits.
Unfortunately, it had become corrupted and was on the verge of turning into a monster. This spirit was the original owner of the 'Breath of Lightning' series skill, and upon chancing upon the young Joanna, it begged her to end its life before it completely lost its way.
The then seventeen-year-old halfling ended up acquiescing to the spirit's request and after a short battle, she ended up killing the spirit.
Just before it passed on, the lightning spirit used a strange method and passed down its unique skill to the girl, granting her powerful lightning manipulation capabilities.
But not to forget, this was near a place where a party attended by various nobles was taking place, it was impossible for all of them to not notice the signs of battle.
When people gathered, they were met with the scene of the young Joanna trying to rein in the powerful lightning magic that had mixed with her dark magic and mutated, granting her dark lightning.
This was when the Chief Grand Magus, Gavin Josey, who was in attendance, swooped in and helped the young girl contain her newly acquired power.
Afterwards, he then offered to take her under his wing and make her his disciple, something the young Joanna instantly refused, much to the shock of everyone present.
In the end, the young girl begrudgingly went along with the Grand Magus after being forced by her father who wanted to build connections with the highest-ranking personage in Kasteblum.
By the time she had realised it, she had ended up spending more than ten years in Kasteblum and had somehow become the vice chief grand magus.
"For some reason, all those old fogeys (Other grand mages) who didn't want me to take the position because they wanted it for themselves miraculously shut up for some reason.
I wonder why?"
When she asked that question with a confused look on her face, Evan could barely hold his retort back in.
'Because you beat the heck out of all of them in your 'sparring' sessions, that's why!'
But Evan didn't voice that out or she might just go and attack Gavin for tricking her into unknowingly proving herself worthy of her current position and shutting up the opposition.
Of course, the person in question didn't realise this because Gavin always woke her up from sleep for each battle and the only thing in her head at the time was that she was fighting so she could go back to sleep.
By the time the trio had reached the Magic Tower, Evan had been joined by the usual group of spirits who always hung around him, with them noisily chattering as they flew around him.
'Just where were these guys all this while?'
The young hero wondered this as he placed his hand in his inventory to look for something, only to end up picking out something else that looked similar.
'Huh? Isn't this...?'
He was about to put it back when he discovered that it was the guild card he had gotten when he registered in the adventurer's guild in Merdin almost a year ago.
'I have Laurene registered on this thing, I could have just used it to contact her instead of sending Suzanne!
But Liz did say she was dropping adventuring so she might not have answered.'
He tossed the card back into the inventory and continued searching for his original target as the group entered the tower and went up the magic-tech lift straight to the top floor.
Upon arriving at Gavin's office, they were welcomed by a red-robed mage who Evan offered his condolences after patting his shoulder, much to his confusion.
However, the moment he saw Joanna staring at him for an extended period of time, he instantly understood why Evan had done that as a chill ran down his spine.
The young man promptly escaped after picking up the files he came for, even going as far as to use spatial magic to warp out of the room.
"...Just what did you do to him this time?"
"...?
You're talking to me?"
"Who else present would make the poor kid scared shitless?!"
Gavin snapped at Joanna who was looking around in confusion, with his annoyance reaching new levels when she pointed towards him as an answer to his question.
In the end, the old man ended up using mental magic on himself to forcefully quell his budding rage before turning to Evan.
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