The brief moments of farewell passed in a flash.
Before his departure, Yennefer gave Asa a set of clothes, which she had reportedly designed herself.
It was a set featuring a dark brown velvet knee-length coat, lined with a cream-white turtleneck shirt, paired with black wool breeches, a dark brown cowhide belt, and black high-top boots. Along with a soft cap and black gloves, it made Asa look strikingly noble.
"This makes you look more like an elf."
But nowadays, "elf" was not a positive term; in this era, it was almost synonymous with "vagrant."
Tissaia noticed the star-shaped amulet on Asa wrist and was about to ask—
"Yennefer gave even this to you?"
Glancing at the necklace around Yennefer's neck, she immediately stopped herself:
"Oh, it's a replica."
In a mansion within the Kingdom of Aedirn, Tissaia used long-range teleportation magic; the other end was Thanedd Island, which spanned across the entire Northern Kingdoms continent.
As the portal opened, the view on the other side was blurred, but the salty smell of the sea in the air rushed toward them.
"Let's go."
Tissaia was the first to step into the light. Asa turned back to nod at Yennefer before turning around and stepping into the radiance.
"Whoosh!"
Asa and Tissaia appeared almost instantly on the second floor of a duplex attic. After stepping through the light gate, in less than a second, they had crossed nearly a thousand kilometers, traveling from the capital of the Kingdom of Aedirn to a small island northwest of Temeria.
A legendary mage; truly terrifying.
Before he could marvel at it, through the window, Asa saw the vast, boundless blue sea and the entire magic academy below.
"This is Aretuza Academy of Magic. I'll take you to the other side later,"
Tissaia introduced.
"You cannot stay here."
Because this was her private room; if he were to rummage around, he might find something.
Fortunately, Tissaia was past the age of bashfulness; nowadays, she only wanted to provide more talent for the Wizarding World.
"Come, I'll take you to the other side."
To be honest, as a magic academy in a fantasy world, Aretuza didn't offer Asa much of a novel experience.
Because he was being held in the air by Tissaia, only able to look down from above.
Overall, the academy below looked more like a Castle and manor built upon a reef.
The other end of the academy was connected by a bridge to an even smaller island. The scattered buildings there served as the headquarters for one of the most powerful organizations in the world: the Brotherhood of Sorcerers.
Moving away from Tissaia's office, they arrived at the black-haired Sorceress Dean's private residence on the island. Only then did Tissaia explain the layout of Thanedd Island and the future arrangements to Asa.
"First is Aretuza Academy of Magic. Although I am the Dean, you must never go there alone without my permission."
Tissaia's reasoning was that Asa appearance and temperament were too unique; she feared the young girls at the academy would become infatuated and lose focus on their studies.
Asa agreed. He came here to study magic, not magic students.
"Teacher, how will you be teaching me?"
"First, do you have money?"
Asa was taken aback; the topic had jumped quite abruptly.
"Yes, I do."
He pulled a coin pouch from his robes—a gift from the wealthy Yennefer—containing 300 krowns.
"This isn't enough."
Without even opening the pouch to look, Tissaia said with certainty:
"A beginner student's tuition is about 10,000 krowns. Since you don't have enough, sign this treaty and apply for a loan."
Asa mouth twitched. He hadn't expected the Wizarding World to have something like student loans.
If she had said she needed 10,000 krowns earlier, couldn't he have just forged them?
But since things had come to this and he'd already pulled out his money, Asa had no choice but to pick up the contract and look through it.
What?!
Borrow 13,000 krowns, receive 10,000, and repay a total of 16,000 krowns with interest within 16 years of graduation?
This was a student loan? Did they want students to work for the school for their entire lives?
In this medieval-like fantasy world, it might take a family a whole month to save up 10 krowns. After signing this contract, Asa was suddenly burdened with a debt of 16,000 krowns.
For a commoner, it would take hundreds of years to pay back!
No wonder Aretuza Academy continued to flourish despite aggressively recruiting commoners and fallen nobles. It turned out the costs were borne by the students themselves. Once they entered the school, weren't they at the school's mercy?
"This is very reasonable."
Tissaia felt it was normal.
This was exactly why the Sorceress academy consistently outperformed the Ban Ard Academy for boys in their long-standing competition.
Burdened with a massive debt before even starting school, wouldn't students have to study desperately?
In reality, if they could pay it back after graduation, they would; if a sorcerer was unable to pay, Tissaia would pay it out of her own pocket.
Although Aretuza Academy was also a subordinate institution of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers, they still had to balance the public accounts.
Fine then.
Asa signed his name decisively.
krowns were just made of an iron-aluminum alloy; he could print as many as he wanted. It seemed a bit strange for the Wizarding World to use this alloy currency as its universal tender.
"By the way,"
After he finished signing, Tissaia reminded him softly:
"You'd better not forge currency privately. Every krown has a magical imprint. As the currency recognized by the Northern Wizarding World, the consequences of private forging are very serious."
"Fine."
Asa indicated he understood. He'd worry about the "serious consequences" when the day came.
Just like that, after signing a contract, Asa was burdened with debt without even seeing the money. Yet, he had paid his tuition in full and even contributed to economic development, making the Northern Kingdoms even more prosperous.
After the payment was settled, Tissaia continued:
"Your talent is good, but it's impossible to finish all subjects."
"I will give you basic books for all magic disciplines. After you finish studying them, tell me which subject you like or are best at. During this time, you can ask me any questions; I will stay here for one day every weekend."
"Then where do I stay? Teacher, I'm out of money!"
Asa raised his hand to ask.
"Here. Therefore, you are in charge of cleaning this house. Additionally, if you want to buy alchemy materials, go to the market in the town."
"In this house, you may enter and leave any room except my bedroom. You'd better remember that."
Tissaia warned.
Asa nodded hurriedly:
"I've got it."
"Good, start reading then."
With that, Tissaia walked straight out of the room, leaving Asa alone inside.
Asa looked at the books before him: The Composition and Construction of Barriers, Astral Projection, The Source of Harm, Chaos Energy and Mental Spells, and so on. There were as many as eight basic-type books.
Although there were many books, Asa didn't feel any pressure. The path to the extraordinary was laid out clearly before him; who would complain about having too few books?
From now on, enter study mode!
Finding the first book, Asa opened the title page—The Source of Harm, author: Tissaia.
The Source of Harm: The Irreversible Damage of Magic to Fertility