After a moment of hesitation, Janice finally voiced her request.
"Um… I heard that you previously accepted the daughter of Admiral Daelin Proudmoore of Kul Tiras as your student… It might be a bit presumptuous, but I'd still like to ask, could you… could you take Ilucia as your student and teach her magic?"
Clearly, Janice understood the benefits of letting her daughter study under someone like Alaric, a young mage of great renown and accomplishment, with only a handful of disciples.
Even with the deepening intimacy between them, she didn't use that as leverage, making her request purely and respectfully.
In fact, this request played right into Alaric's plans. In the original lore, there were very few female mages who rose to prominence.
Now, with just two suitable candidates around, it was the perfect time to take them in as disciples.
"Of course it's not a problem. With the relationship between us, how could I possibly say no?"
As he spoke, he gave Janice a suggestive wink.
Janice's face flushed red at his words. Just what kind of "relationship" was he referring to?
Ilucia, on the other hand, was beaming with joy. She cheered loudly, "Wonderful! Big brother is going to teach me magic!"
Then, to everyone's surprise, she dashed to Alaric's side and planted a kiss on his cheek.
Perhaps the act was too bold for her, Ilucia instantly darted into her room like a startled fawn and didn't dare come out again.
All in all, with this back-and-forth, Alaric's relationship with the Barov family, or rather, with the mother-daughter pair Janice and Ilucia, had grown significantly closer.
With the master-disciple bond established, plus that "something else," they were practically a family now.
Now that the formal discipleship was confirmed, Alaric's usual temperament meant that Ilucia would immediately begin learning the basics of magic.
While he didn't expect her to catch up to her "senior sister" Jaina any time soon, at the very least, she had to be fast-tracked into the basics.
In addition, the "Draconic Transformation" ritual would need to take place soon.
But first things first, he had to thoroughly understand Ilucia's current level of academic knowledge.
At the very least, he needed to know her grasp of subjects like language and mathematics.
When this topic came up, Janice introduced someone to Alaric.
Marishia.
Marishia wasn't human. She was a high elf priestess, and of course, as a high elf, she also possessed arcane abilities.
She had a good relationship with Janice.
At Janice's request, Marishia had become the Barov family's private tutor, responsible for teaching the children basic literacy, math, history, natural sciences, and other foundational subjects.
High elves lived long lives and had a wealth of knowledge.
Many among them had personally witnessed the rise and fall of kingdoms over time spans that would equate to dozens of generations in human terms.
As a result, high elf scholars often possessed profound wisdom.
Coupled with their elegance and traditions, it was no surprise that many human nobles were eager to hire high elves to educate their children.
However, hiring a high elf was no simple task. They were famously proud, and money alone couldn't persuade them. Human power and influence held little weight in their eyes.
Janice had only managed to hire Marishia due to their friendship in Dalaran, or perhaps, in Marishia's mind, she was merely visiting as a guest and tutoring the children as a favor.
She had provided the foundational education for both Alex and Wilton in their youth, and now she was doing the same for Ilucia.
Naturally, if Alaric wanted to understand Ilucia better, he had to speak with Marishia.
When Alaric finally met the high elf priestess, he was momentarily stunned.
This golden-haired, blue-eyed high elf was no less beautiful than Janice, but her long lifespan gave her a distinctly younger appearance.
In the original lore, this high elf was assimilated into the Scourge along with the Barov family and later became an instructor at Scholomance.
She was one of the three great beauties of Scholomance, frequently mentioned and admired by players.
Despite her status as the Barovs' tutor and honored guest, Alaric had not had the chance to meet her until now due to prior circumstances. This was their first encounter.
As soon as they met, Marishia sized up Alaric with curiosity.
After a long moment, she finally spoke.
"I didn't expect Janice's choice to be so young… you're what, seventeen or eighteen?"
"That's right," Alaric answered with a calm, practiced air. "But I do believe I'm capable of teaching Ilucia."
But Marishia shook her head.
"I'm not talking about Ilucia," she said, a sly smile playing on her lips, as if she'd just caught him red-handed. "I'm talking about you and Janice!"
"Me… and Janice?" Being confronted so directly by a woman caught Alaric off guard. "She… she even told you about that?"
"Heh, surprised?" Marishia looked quite pleased at catching him off balance. "Janice and I are close, otherwise I wouldn't be helping her take care of the child. Though, it's a pity…"
At this point, her expression grew melancholic.
"It's a pity I didn't do a better job teaching those two brothers back then. I didn't tell Janice soon enough about their darker sides… If I'd been stricter, maybe things wouldn't have ended up this way."
Noticing Alaric's curious gaze, Marishia continued explaining, "Actually, those two brothers already showed signs of selfish and extreme behavior early on… maybe they picked it up from their father.
Mr. Alex often set poor examples when dealing with other nobles. I warned Janice long ago not to marry such a filthy human noble, but she was too blinded at the time. Sigh."
It seemed Marishia truly was close with Janice and knew the Barov family quite well.
Then, she shifted the topic back to Alaric.
"Actually, you're about the same age as those two boys, maybe even younger. But your character is much better. So, I'm rooting for you!"
As she spoke, she gave Alaric an encouraging pat on the shoulder.
Receiving such a peculiar kind of encouragement from Janice's best friend made Alaric feel awkward. After a brief pause, he asked bluntly, "Um… about me and her… you don't object?"
"Why would I?" Marishia looked utterly confused, as if Alaric had said something completely incomprehensible.
Then, adopting a seasoned, worldly tone, she lectured, "You humans are so strange, sometimes without principle, other times stubborn to a fault. To us high elves, this kind of age gap is nothing.
Just a decade or so, right? If that's considered weird or awkward, then what about those who fall in love with humans?
Wouldn't that be like falling in love with someone as young as their great-great-great-grandchild?"
Indeed, this was what the love perspective of a long-lived race looked like.
Alaric finally nodded in satisfaction.
It seemed he and this Lady Marishia might get along surprisingly well.
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