Life of Magic With a Talkative Heart-Chapter 131: Progress and Celebration

Cedric with an awkward smile helped Bonzo get off the ground.
He waved goodbye to Cyril and left, taking the loser of the duel with him. Bonzo kept muttering something to himself, his gaze distant.
With that the crowd soon began dissolving. Most didn't care too much about what happened, but a few did look at Cyril with different eyes now.
The change was quick, almost instantaneous. Just this morning everyone still sent him wary glances, but now suddenly a few did a complete turnaround.
"This is what I was talking about!"
Rhamn raised a fist with a smug smile.
"Human opinion is fickle! As long as the narrative is entertaining for them, they'll eat up everything! A handsome man whose rough past led him to becoming colder but who deep inside is still caring! That's a classic!"
Cyril went to put the spear back in its rack, feeling somewhat exasperated. When he tried to improve his reputation on his own, it didn't work and even backfired, but now, by accident, he suddenly became a character in people's eyes.
"That's just what it is. Fate chose us today, but we need to be careful. As I've said, humans are fickle. They can just as quickly change their opinion back."
The professor presiding over the duel went away, clearly not caring too much about this. A few students remained, curiously peeking at Cyril.
Some pretended to train in the field, while some left under his urging gaze.
Not giving them too much attention, Cyril went to Myra, taking back his magic creatures.
Tigris, Atheris, and Morpho all cheered for his victory, treating it as if it were their own.
Cyril nodded, accepting their feeling, and turned to Myra.
"Let's begin."
Myra's face quickly changed from excited to stunned, then to reluctant.
"Okay..."
...
They've spent a few hours training, all of them.
Tigris and Atheris were kindly asked to practice as well. Morpho, with eagerness, flew around them explaining what to do.
Cyril dealt with the human. He sat in front of Myra, guiding her process as best he could.
The progress was slow, but the spirits burned bright. The auburn-haired girl clearly tried her hardest, sweat forming on her forehead.
Eventually, after a few hours more, when the sun went down, replaced by a round moon, someone succeeded.
"Hiss!"
Atheris suddenly slithered towards Cyril, climbing up to his neck. In a show-off fashion she presented her tail in front of his blue eyes, her golden eyes narrowing with palpable smugness.
Cyril carefully focused on the blue scaly tail in front of him. It looked the same as ever.
"Atheris succeeded! She slightly enhanced the scales on her tail!"
Rhamn energetically clapped with a proud smile.
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Cyril nodded, petting the snake's head with satisfaction.
"Good job."
At this moment Morpho landed on his shoulder, peeking at the tail as well. Soon she twitched her antennae, earnestly happy with the results. As expected of her rival!
Even Tigris deigned to walk closer, congratulating her a few times with a meow.
Atheris twisted left and right on Cyril's neck, eagerly accepting the praise. It felt as if the happiness bounced between them, multiplying many times more.
The atmosphere around them grew jovial and warm, with one single exception.
Myra silently stared at the snake succeeding where she failed after numerous tries. She slowly moved her gaze away, observing her hands as if trying to find if there's anything wrong with them.
Her black eyes held no sadness, nor was there any spark in them.
Then, she tiredly sighed.
It was a quiet sigh that no ordinary human should have been able to hear, but Cyril was no human.
Cyril looked at Myra, the auburn-haired girl immediately changing her expression to something brighter.
"We still have a lot of time. I am certain you'll succeed."
"...Maybe Morpho is just a better teacher?" Compelled by something, Cyril offered a rare joke.
Myra gave a dry laugh but remained silent otherwise. Slowly her smile disappeared, her face strangely calm.
At this moment a red butterfly flew over to her shoulder, lightly tapping her in support.
"Why is the atmosphere changing? This should be Atheris's time to shine! She worked hard. Why should a loser's moping prevent her from enjoying the fruits of her labor?"
The snake stuck out a forked tongue, her golden eyes staring at Myra with not a drop of pity in them.
Quiet. We can celebrate later.
...
They celebrated later back in the dorm.
In the end, Myra slapped herself on the face, saying she'll try extra hard, and left.
With that episode done, Cyril went back to his dorm, the magic creatures in a good mood. Even though he was somewhat concerned with Myra, their mood affected him as well.
Atheris succeeded in learning a difficult spell in only a few tries. It was a worthy thing to celebrate.
"We also got the ball rolling with our reputation! That's a good thing as well!"
Cyril cooked Atheris a meal and told her she no longer had to stay on Tigris's neck when outside. On account of her efforts, Cyril didn't even mention how she interfered in the duel.
Atheris's mood was on an unprecedented high, coiled around his neck while radiating a warm, happy feeling.
Seeing her success, Tigris lethargically lay on the bed, in his eyes a seed of jealousy. He too wanted to have a special meal cooked for him.
"Hehe, Tigris, you'll have to practice hard then!"
The white tiger cub nodded with determination, though how long that determination would last was up in the air. Perhaps until next morning.
While Cyril was happy for Atheris, the thoughts about Myra and Alvin didn't leave his head even until sleep.
...
The next morning, when the tiger was blissfully sleeping on the bed, refusing to get up, Cyril sat near his window with today's newspaper on his knees.
"Master, I have some results!" Ophelia leaned on the wall near the window, whispering as if delivering some secret information.
"I wrote down everything I managed to learn so far." She gave him a file through the window.
"The orphanage he visited is called Sunflower. We haven't discovered anything unusual about it yet. I set a few people to monitor both him and the orphanage in case of any developments."
"I see. Good work, Ophelia."
Cyril briefly glanced over the file. Not a single thing stuck out as suspicious. It was just a on the daily life of a regular, kind-natured healer in the city.
"Tsk."
Cyril put the file aside and sighed. Thinking of something, he glanced at Ophelia standing at attention by the window.
"What about you personally? What do you think of Alvin?"
The demon maid answered immediately. "An irregularity among humans. Such selflessness is commendable, but people like him usually don't end well."
So she doesn't see him as suspicious?
"...You think highly of him. What if he's just pretending?"
Ophelia tilted her head for a moment. Suddenly, her pitch-black eyes were lit up with realization.
"I see, you are right, Master. That would fit his human nature. I was almost deceived by him."
She bowed to him with genuine gratitude.
"Thank you for enlightening me. Humans will be humans after all."
"..."
Should I be happy or sad?
"Happy."
Cyril shook his head, feeling helpless.
"You did well. Keep me updated."
Ophelia bowed and immediately got to work, walking away with her back straight. By her feet lazily strolled a black cat, trying to keep up.
Let's hope she'll find something... or rather hope she won't.
"I bet she will. As you've correctly implied, humans are vile creatures."
Rhamn nodded in complete agreement.
I did not imply that.
Cyril glared at her before once again feeling helpless.
...It's time I go assist Alvin. I'll see for myself how he is.
Taking only the essentials, he went out of his dorm.