Magic's Return: I Can See The Spirits

"And you."

Suddenly, Astra called out as she glanced at her pupil.

"T-Teacher!"

Elara stuttered, jolting awake from her thoughts and the instant she realized what she was thinking about and how she was caught red-handed by her teacher, her face turned red from embarrassment.

"Don't lose your focus," Astra spoke with a strict look on her face.

"It is good that you seem to be enjoying your time in the Academy, seeing you smile more often melts my heart, however, do not forget that at the end of the day, you are my, Astra Elysia Vesta's pupil, you represent my name, therefore, you are not allowed to slack off.

Don't be this brat's shadow, show the world that you, my pupil, are better than him."

Astra spoke and Vaan just stared at his mother with a deadpan look on his face. He had no clue why when it came to Elara, his mother seemed to forget that he was her child, her own blood!

Astra, however, completely ignored Vaan's expression, she simply stared at her pupil and,

"Is that clear?" She questioned.

"Y-Yes."

She was still embarrassed but she quickly suppressed her emotions and nodded with a serious look on her face.

Astra's eyes then fell on the little pup that was sleeping and,

"Put this thing to work as well."

"Au?"

Sensing that something bad was about to happen, Furr momentarily opened his eyes, however, the moment he saw the demon mother pointing at him, he shivered, all his laziness disappeared in an instant as he became aware of his surroundings.

Soon, however, Furr received a blow that he never expected in his life,

"Of course, Furr will be participating in the tournament as well. We plan to start his combat training soon."

Elara nodded and Furr looked at her with a shocked look on his face. He couldn't believe that he was betrayed.

To seek support, he turned towards Vaan, but…

"Mhm, he has been living an easy life for a while now, it is time to put him to work so that he doesn't become lazy." Vaan nodded. "Now that the bond is successfully formed, it is time for Furr to work hard."

"…"

Furr couldn't say anything.

It was the ultimate betrayal where both his mother and father had turned against him.

"Good."

Astra nodded. Furr turned towards the woman responsible for his future misery and,

"Auu!"

He growled at her.

He wouldn't back down without a fight! He won't let the demon mother corrupt his mother and father anymore!

Seeing the little thing act like that, Astra's smile widened.

"He is quite a brave one, I give you that."

She spoke and for some reason, Furr could tell that the decision of growling at this woman was not his brightest one. No, it might be the worst decision he had ever taken but…

There was no use regretting it now.

"Magic Beasts grow faster when they are surrounded by stronger Magic Beasts, how about you bring this little guy to meet my Ria? I am sure he will learn quite a lot while the two play around."

Astra suggested.

"Ria…?"

Vaan raised his eyebrow.

Both Astra and Elara stared at Vaan with strange looks on their faces, soon however, Astra realized it,

"Right, I sometimes forget that you only started showing interest in magic a few months ago…"

Elara realized it as well and started nodding.

Vaan on the other hand, frowned even more.

"Ria, or Aetheria is Magic Beast I have formed a bond with."

"You have a Magic Beast…?"

Vaan blinked in surprise.

He searched through previous Vaan's memory and couldn't recall his mother ever mentioning her Magic Beast, making him frown in confusion. He glanced at Elara, and seeing her acting normal, he knew he was the problem here however, before he could think more about it,

"It is not like I had a chance to introduce you to her, you barely talked to me, let alone talking to my Magic Beast."

Astra snorted.

"Mother…"

Vaan called out, not knowing how to react.

He still hadn't forgotten how the previous Vaan tried to avoid his mother because the coward was scared of her, the only time the two met was in the Vesta Family's Hall when Vaan was caught doing something wrong and people of the family wanted him to be punished.

'Tsk, what a pathetic individual.'

Vaan couldn't help but curse in his mind.

"It doesn't matter anymore, you changed, you are not the same as you were in the past, and we both are glad about it," Astra spoke, not wanting Vaan to waste his time thinking about something so useless.

Vaan glanced at the two women smiling at him and a smile automatically appeared on his face.

"I guess I have missed out a lot, huh? How about I meet Ria first?" He questioned. Since even Elara seemed to know the beast, he didn't want to miss out.

"Are you sure? She doesn't exactly have a high opinion of you." Astra replied and Vaan couldn't help but frown,

"Why is that?"

"How do you think Furr would act in front of a person who is the source of Elara's sadness?" Astra questioned with a playful smile on her face and Vaan understood.

"I gave you quite a lot of trouble huh…"

"You sure were a handful."

"I will make up for that."

"You better." Astra smiled.

Vaan nodded, "It doesn't matter, even if she doesn't like the past me, I am different now, I am sure I can get close to her."

Hearing those words, Astra smiled wryly,

"Don't think it would be that easy, Vaan. Ria is a Celestial Gryphon."

"And…?" Vaan tilted his head in confusion and seeing him acting like that, Astra turned towards Elara,

"Was he dozing off in the class?"

"W-Well, w-we didn't get to a-attend l-lots of classes because things keep coming up."

Elara, as always, did her best to defend her fiancé.

However, in front of Astra, who was already familiar with Elara's methods, it didn't work.

She just stared at her son and with a strict look on her face,

"For the time you are here, you will attend 4-hour long lectures on beast taming. I will personally prepare teachers for you."