With her resolution, the plan was set.
"Your parents have undoubtedly learned of your extended visit to my office," Headmistress Lenolia remarked. "It's quite likely that they will be extremely furious and, from what you have told me, they will likely blame you."
Her expression grew grave.
"You will likely be subject to more pain."
Melia grew more determined to see this through to the end as her black eyes intensified with willpower.
"I can take it. One last time."
Headmistress Lenolia's expression grew melancholic. "I'm sorry that I am unable to protect you this one time. But this will give me the power to protect you from your own family. However, if we are to go through with this, then there's something that you need to know."
She gazed at Melia with a clear expression.
"I seek to benefit from this as well."
She revealed the truth earnestly. "The truth is that I can use this to protect not just you but also myself by leveraging the evidence to get the Nelnmont Family to back off from their lawsuit against me."
Melia's expression grew complicated.
It was clear that she understood this implicitly, but it was uncomfortable to be told so openly that the Headmistress sought to benefit from her abuse to get her family to back off from the civil lawsuit.
"Initially, when Mr. Cæ brought the idea to me, I was planning to go on ahead with it as long as your story corroborated with what he told me," she continued. "I was planning to use it as a form of bonus, if you will, in addition to exercising my duty as educator and Headmistress of this institute. However…"
Her expression softened.
"…If you do not wish for me to use your pain and suffering like this to my own benefit, then I swear to you as the Heart Seer, that I will not do so, I understand that this is extremely sensitive to you and that you will surely be unwilling to—"
"I don't mind."
Melia's tone was firm.
"…You are willing to go this far to help me," Melia continued with a determined expression. "I think you deserve to help yourself if you can. Besides…"
Her expression darkened. "I don't like what they are doing to you."
Headmistress Lenolia smiled warmly at the teenage girl.
"You are a kind, strong, and brave girl."
The mood in the room brightened alongside the rising Morning Sun's bright light, for the first time in a while, Melia felt hopeful for the future. That she would get to escape her family's grips with the protection of the Elendir Institute of Magic, and forge a different path for the future of her life.
"Now then, if we are going to do this, then I will have to explain to you how this works," Headmistress Lenolia explained. "I will cast a divination charm on you, one that will permeate across your entire being."
She tilted her head with a hint of confusion. "Charm? What is that?"
"Ah, I recall that you have only completed one year in your Apprentice Program," Headmistress Lenolia remarked. "Well, to put it simply, a charm is an enchantment upon a human. An enchantment itself is a form of spell that uses the Fundamental Forms of Infusion and Automation, both of which you have also not studied. Essentially, I will imbue and infuse my magical energy into your very being and automate it to autonomously record and gather information of your surroundings, creating a real-time feed that will be stored in the imbued enchant until I access it."
She nodded seriously, following along with what the Headmistress was telling her.
"If you suffer any violence or abuse, then it will record and document everything," Headmistress Lenolia continued with a knowing tone. "However, there is also the fact that the Nelnmont Estate undoubtedly has powerful anti-divination security measures. I'm sure that you pass through a scanning gate yourself every time you return home, don't you?"
She nodded with a worried expression. "Won't that catch you?"
Headmistress Lenolia smiled with a hint of amusement. "It is indeed true that the Nelnmonts have dedicated a lot towards beefing up their anti-divination security. After all, as lawyers, they have privileged access to a lot of their clients' classified information, and they can't afford to have that be leaked from their estate, where they undoubtedly spend a good portion of their day working. However…"
Her smile grew confident. "That doesn't mean it is impossible to spy on them, far from it. Although covert espionage is not my specialty, I can still create extremely subtle and highly imperceptible charms that will pass through the various security measures of the Nelnmont Family."
Melia's eyes lit up with a hint of genuine hope.
"However," the Headmistress grew serious. "There are caveats. The stronger a charm is, the more perceivable it is. The weaker it is, the less perceivable it is. In your case, it will have to be extremely weak, and thus its resolution and clarity will be on the low side. Which can obfuscate more subtle forms of abuse. What that means is…"
Her expression grew severe.
"You will have to… endure much for it to be foolproof."
Melia's heart sank at the Headmistress' words.
Her expression darkened with fear.
Her hands quivered as her deep, black eyes reflected the terror that she felt.
And yet, she balled her hands into fists forcibly.
"I…" her voice shook. "I can do this."
Headmistress Lenolia, sitting beside her, patted her back and her head with a hint of affection. "You are truly brave, young girl. Many at your age in your shoes would not have the courage, understandably, to do what they will have to do to earn their freedom, and yet you have resolved yourself to go through with it."
The older woman's voice grew more serious.
"Do this and I will protect you for as long as you need it," she promised with a serious tone. "Until you are strong enough to stand to protect yourself from your family."
Melia nodded with a determined expression and grateful eyes.
"Thank you, Headmistress. Cæ… he was right. I should have come to you a long time ago. I should have sought your protection the very moment I joined this magicademy. But I…"
She hesitated.
"…I didn't trust you."
It was understandable, of course.
Headmistress Lenolia didn't have a good reputation in the affluent elite circle of the Democratic Republic of Elendir. Her known and public equitist leanings as well as her own half-blood heritage made her a pariah in this community.
They had done everything in their power to stop her from being appointed as Headmistress. However, the other stakeholders on the board of directors of the magicademy have unanimously supported her appointment, causing her to pass through anyway.
It made sense that Melia didn't have a good impression of the Headmistress.
"Now then," Headmistress Lenolia began. "If you are ready, we can commence the casting of the divination charm right away."
"Just like that?" Melia's black eyes lit up with amazement.
"Just like that," Headmistress Lenolia got up, stretching her arm out.
With a single gesture, a magic staff next to her table flew into her hand.
It was comprised of nothing short of enchanted mythril forming the foundation of the powerful artifact, with a giant purple crystal embedded at the very top of the artifact, supplying an extraordinary amount of power. Countless runes and magic circles were embedded across the entire continent, encrypted to protect the secrets of the magic applied to the artifact.
With it, Headmistress Lenolia appeared larger than life.
"Now then," Headmistress Lenolia continued. "Stand up"
Melia obediently adhered to her instructions, promptly standing before Headmistress Lenolia with a determined expression.
"You don't need to do anything other than absolutely casting a magic spell, understood?" Headmistress Lenolia informed. "Just stand still."
She nodded vigorously.
And then, it began.
Headmistress Lenolia closed her eyes as she began casting an incantation.
RUMBLE…
Melia's eyes widened with shock as she felt the truly astronomical amount of power that the Headmistress was mobilizing, sending mild tremors across the entire campus.
Chills crawled across her skin.
Goosebumps ran down her back.
The sheer magnitude of the elder master mage's mana-motive force was many orders of magnitude above her own nascent mana-motive force, still in training.
It was at that moment that she understood just how absurdly powerful a master mage was.
She was vaguely aware that they were very powerful, but she didn't quite understand just how powerful until she actually felt the Headmistress mobilize her power as she began chanting a powerful incantation.
Incantations were generally regarded as the most powerful forms of magic casting because they maximized the amount of mana poured into a spell with the mana-motive force by prolonging the duration, allowing spells to be pumped up with much more mana over much more time than magic circles and body-casting allowed.
The downsides, of course, were that they took a lot of time and were often useless in high-paced magic combat due to that very shortcoming.
They shined the most in non-combat situations like this.
Melia watched with amazement and wonder as Headmistress Lenolia cast a tremendously elaborate spell with many, many circles, each representing a single magical operation. Her aged tone was melodic and rhythmic, almost as if she was singing.
It reflected the roots of the incantation scripting, which was inspired by music notation.
Melia gazed at her with admiration as more magical power than she had ever sensed emerged from the Headmistress.
She wanted to become a mage who was just as powerful as the Headmistress.
Powerful enough to protect her from those who sought to impose their will upon her.
"...ᚨᚾᛞ ᚺᛁᛞᛖ ᚦᛁᛊ ᚲᚺᚨᚱᛗ ᚠᚱᛟᛗ ᚦᛖ ᛈᚱᛁᛁᛜ ᛖᛁᛖᛊ ᛟᚠ ᛗᛁ ᛖᚾᛖᛗᛁᛖᛊ ᚹᛁᚦ ᚨᛚᛚ ᚦᛖ ᛈᛟᚹᛖᚱ ᚦᚨᛏ ᛁ×ᛗ ᚨᛒᛚᛖ ᛏᛟ ᛊᚢᛈᛈᛚᛁ," Headmistress Lenolia concluded her power incantation, successfully creating an elaborate and complex eidos in her mind which she converged with a tremendous amount of mana.
RUMBLE…
The air danced, fraught with excitement and power, as a ball of white light emerged from Headmistress Lenolia's staff, hovering into Melia's chest and entering her body smoothly. Her expression lit up with awe as she felt a gush of power flowing through her body as it settled deep within her, all but ready to execute the Headmistress's will.
"It is done," Headmistress Lenolia remarked. "It will record everything for the next six hours, so make sure you return home soon."
Melia's expression grew nervous. "Are you sure that this will not be detected when I reach home?"
"Yes," Headmistress Lenolia calmly told her with certainty. "However, what is more important is that you mustn't give it away in your behavior and body language. You mustn't make it too obvious that something is up, or else the security team will detect it. I would strongly urge you to act with a certain degree of, shall we say, fluidity, as though you're casually thinking about something else. Above all, you must make sure that you get in time before the charm ends."
Melia nodded with a serious expression, before heaving a deep breath.
"I will be sure to do exactly as you have said, Headmistress Lenolia," she gazed at her with gratitude. "Thank you for doing this for me."
"Don't thank me yet, young Melia." Headmistress Lenolia's tone was serious and warm. "You have tribulations to overcome. And whether you overcome them will depend on your ability to persevere."
She nodded with a serious expression.
"I will not give up or back down. I will see this through to the very end!"