Thanks to the simpleton Garen, Lux temporarily forgot her little troubles and finally got a good night's sleep.
The next day, as Sona Buvelle visited Crownguard Manor as a return visit, Klein's illicit little class finally recommenced—because Sona Buvelle served as a cover, their lessons no longer needed to be disguised as etiquette or history lessons, but instead took the form of musical exchange.
Lux's lessons still proceeded as planned.
Sona Buvelle's lessons, however, required combining playing with spellcasting.
Therefore, Klein needed to first teach Sona Buvelle music theory, guiding her in playing the etwahl like a music teacher, and then imparting magical knowledge to her.
In this situation, the two of them somewhat interfered with each other—even if Klein could barely manage to multitask, the teaching effect would still be significantly reduced.
Fortunately, as an experienced teacher, Klein had a wealth of experience in this area; although the magical knowledge and skills they each needed to master were not uniform, the magical knowledge they needed to understand others was consistent.
Klein used this method to divide his teaching content into large classes that could be taught together, and small classes for each individual. The performance parts of the small classes could be conducted in the garden when Lux went to exercise.
Thus, Klein's "shepherd's life" finally officially began.
...
After an excited night, finally becoming a student of Master Klein, Sona Buvelle was astonished to find that he seemed completely different from what she had imagined.
Klein's musical literacy was extremely high. Through the etwahl, he could easily answer almost all of Sona Buvelle's questions and even proactively taught Sona Buvelle many special etwahl playing techniques—everything seemed perfectly normal.
However, beyond knowledge, were Master Klein's choice of words not a bit too unconventional?
At first, the kind and gentle Sona Buvelle tried to console herself with the thought that "Master Klein is truly exceptionally talented, so his demands are higher."
But as the large class began, upon realizing that Klein spoke in this tone about everything, Sona Buvelle felt the master's image begin to crumble in her heart.
"Some people foolishly believe that magic is occultism, that magic should be unfathomable. That kind of thinking and behavior is as dogmatic and ignorant as seeing something yellow and assuming it's gold. Such people would even hug a pile of shit and refuse to let go."
The terrible metaphor left Sona Buvelle's eyes vacant.
"Mysticism does indeed have its unique aspects in certain areas, especially for those rats who like to use curses. They often exhaust themselves weaving curses to achieve a goal originally beyond their capabilities, but due to their own lack of ability, they have to leave a weak loophole in this special curse magic. In such cases, mysticism can patch up these ridiculous loopholes."
The terrible example made Sona Buvelle lose her spark.
"However, who uses curses among decent people? If you ever see mysterious, secretive mages in the future, you can all consider them rats, yes, I said so—and if you truly get entangled in such a curse due to your own foolishness and carelessness, then I can only consider it as you being bitten by a rat. Tsk tsk tsk, that would be too embarrassing."
For the first time in her life, Sona Buvelle wanted to roll her eyes.
"Of course, I think those who have received proper mage education shouldn't be bitten by rats, right?"
Hearing "rats" again, Sona Buvelle finally sighed helplessly—she suddenly felt a bit regretful.
She was indeed too naive. Could a person like this truly be called a master?
...
...
As noon arrived, Sona Buvelle was invited to have lunch with Lux in the Crownguard Manor's dining room. Then, she secretly held Lux's hand and asked a question that almost made Lux burst out laughing on the spot.
"Is Master Klein always so irritable?"
"No, the current Klein is not irritable," Lux quickly released her sword hilt and replied, "You will understand what irritability is when you can't answer his questions during evening self-study."
Hearing this, Sona Buvelle was suddenly very glad that she needed to go home tonight and would not stay for evening self-study.
In reality, Klein was not as irritable as Sona Buvelle thought.
When he was still an Ascended, Klein was actually very gentle and refined—although behind that gentleness was an unbearable deviousness, at least to his students, Professor Klein was always a polite person.
However, after becoming a Darkin, everything changed.
After Klein gained a body, his body would be eroded by Void energy, which would then feed back into his mental state; and even without a body, as long as Klein's mind was awake, he would still face immense pressure.
In this situation, this irritable man's way of speaking was also a special form of catharsis, allowing Klein to slightly relieve pressure and ensure he could remain calm while thinking.
Fortunately, Lux and Sona Buvelle were both very good-natured young girls. Lux's talent showed it; she was incredibly bright. Sona Buvelle, on the other hand, was gentle and kind, always silently tolerating Klein's irritable remarks and then extracting useful information from them. So, after adapting to Klein's unique teaching style, their progress was incredibly rapid.
To outsiders, Lux and Sona Buvelle were good friends, reading together, practicing music together, and attending banquets together.
But the actual situation was that they were in a mage alliance, absorbing almost infinite knowledge from Klein, developing in multiple dimensions at an astonishing speed.
Besides spellcasting, Lux also made great progress in swordsmanship; and although Sona Buvelle did not learn swordsmanship, she learned a vast amount of music theory, noble etiquette, and even natural history from Klein.
Lux had Klein as her personal system, and her behavior perfectly conformed to the archetype of a Demacia noble.
Although Sona Buvelle did not have Klein as an etiquette guide, she herself did not need to speak, and she had diligently studied Demacia etiquette knowledge, so she was equally an elegant noble young lady.
Thus, these two young girls went from being initially praised for their "friendship" to becoming "someone else's children and companions," serving as a model that countless people gritted their teeth over.
However, besides their excellence, there was one other person who would also grit her teeth at Lux and Sona Buvelle, and what displeased her was not their perfect image, but their close relationship.
This person was Sona Buvelle's younger sister, the other daughter of the Buvelle Family—Kaxinna.
...
In fact, when Sona Buvelle was adopted by the Buvelle Family, besides political reasons and the Buvelle Family matriarch Lestara Buvelle's affection for Sona Buvelle, Kaxinna also played a very important role.
From the time she could remember, Kaxinna had longed for an older sister who could accompany her—because her father Barrett was Jarvan III's close friend and advisor, and her mother was a high-ranking Illuminati administrator, her life had been very lonely since childhood.
Although many people were willing to flatter her and praise her, what Kaxinna lacked was never that; what she lacked was genuine companionship and patient listening.
Therefore, when Sona Buvelle was adopted, the first person to raise her hand to vote was Kaxinna—she didn't care about her inheritance rights, but rather hoped for a companion.
Facts proved that Sona Buvelle was indeed the kind of sister Kaxinna wanted: she was gentle and kind, preparing hot water for Kaxinna after training, massaging her and offering advice when she grumbled about training not going well, actively covering for Kaxinna when she got into trouble, and eating with Kaxinna when their parents were busy with work...
But!
Why did her sister spend most of her time with Lux of the Crownguard Family?!
Originally, Kaxinna actually admired Lux quite a bit.
She herself wasn't very adept at etiquette. As the heir to the Buvelle Family, she needed to train her martial skills to inherit her father's position in the military in the future—so, like most people serving in the military, she wasn't particularly good at etiquette and social interaction.
Therefore, when Sona Buvelle first started to exchange music and learn etiquette with Lux, she was very supportive.
She would train her martial skills, and her sister would learn etiquette; they both had bright futures.
However, as Klein occasionally conducted surprise quizzes, sometimes including Sona Buvelle in evening self-study, Kaxinna finally felt something was amiss.
Upon closer calculation, why was her sister spending more time with Lux than with her?!
Was this reasonable?
This was clearly not reasonable!
Therefore, whenever someone praised the friendship between Lux and Sona Buvelle and referred to them together, Kaxinna would grit her teeth.
Damn it, that's my sister!
Lux, don't you have a brother of your own?!
The sensitive Sona Buvelle quickly noticed her sister's little emotions. She tried to focus more attention on Kaxinna and better fulfill her duties as a sister, but unfortunately, once Kaxinna regarded Lux as an "enemy," this instead stimulated the little girl.
It proved that an eight-year-old girl could also get jealous.
Although indignant, Kaxinna was not a mischievous child who would run to Crownguard Manor to cause trouble. After much thought, she decided to go trouble Garen—your sister stole my sister, so I'm here to deal with you, is that not allowed?
Thus, after a training session one day, Garen, returning home, encountered an unexpected challenge.
"Garen of the Crownguard Family!" Kaxinna, carrying a small round shield and a short sword, dressed in full armor, used the excuse of picking up her sister to arrive outside Crownguard Manor early, and successfully intercepted Garen as he returned to the manor. "I challenge you!"
"Oh?" Garen's eyes lit up instantly upon hearing this. "Who are you? Have you also heard of my title, 'The Might of Demacia of the Future'?"
"The Might of Demacia of the Future?" The originally aggressive Kaxinna was momentarily stunned upon hearing this title. "What is that?"
"I've already decided, I want to become 'The Might of Demacia' acknowledged by everyone!" Garen raised his greatsword high. "However, I haven't finished my training yet, so before that, I am 'The Might of Demacia of the Future'—wait, you haven't heard of my title? Then why are you challenging me?"
"I..."
Kaxinna blinked, and then, realizing she didn't seem to have a better reason for the challenge, she simply followed Garen's lead: "Hmph, I'm not convinced, what's wrong with that?"
"Aha, then I shall take the first step towards becoming 'The Might of Demacia'!" Garen struck a pose that highlighted his biceps. "Come, my first challenger, state your name!"
"The one who is about to defeat you is named Kaxinna!" The little girl tapped her round shield with the short sword in her left hand. "Did you remember?"
"Remembered!"
Garen excitedly threw away his scabbard and strode forward.
Although Kaxinna was four years younger than Garen, due to girls developing earlier, she was only half a head shorter than Garen. Plus, Garen had no idea about the members of the Buvelle Family, nor did he notice the subtle pronunciation difference between Kaxinna and Kaxinno—so, he had no idea that the challenger before him was actually a girl.
The guards from the Crownguard Family and Buvelle Family around them had no idea that Garen would actually attack, so by the time they realized Garen was starting to charge and wanted to intervene, it was already too late.
The next moment, with a roar of "Wicked villains, justice will prevail!", Garen's greatsword was raised high and brought down forcefully.
A teeth-grinding metallic clang struck their eardrums. Kaxinna, in a sword-and-shield defensive stance, was knocked down in one blow. Under the astonishing power difference, she could not only not hold her shield but also struggled to maintain her balance.
Fortunately, twelve-year-old Garen could not truly cleave through armor.
So when Kaxinna was helped up, she was actually fine—for her, who had started training at six, taking a direct blow from a slash beyond her capacity was at most a slight arm contusion, which was nothing to Kaxinna.
However, Kaxinna, who had never suffered such treatment, had no experience in taking a beating, so she was as disheveled as could be after being knocked down. Her shield flew from her grasp and hit the ground, and she herself rolled far away like a tumbling gourd.
Ultimately, not only did she lose her shield and her helmet fall off, but even one of her boots was pulled off when she tried to get up and got stuck in a drain grate.
Furious, embarrassed, and angry, Kaxinna could no longer hold back and finally burst into tears.
It was only upon hearing that broken cry and seeing her scattered long hair that Garen finally realized that the person he was "dueling" with was actually a little girl.
At this incredibly awkward moment, Lux, seeing Sona Buvelle out the door, stumbled upon this scene.
"Oh, isn't this my dear brother?" Watching Sona Buvelle try to comfort her crying sister, and seeing Kaxinna's uncontrollable sobs, Lux finally gritted her teeth. "What, pushing your bedwetting incidents onto your sister no longer satisfies your special penchant for bullying girls? Now you've started dueling girls four years younger than you to appease your restless fighting spirit?"
As Lux's words left her mouth, the noisy intersection outside the Crownguard Family's gate suddenly fell silent.
The guards all lowered their heads, Sona Buvelle almost dropped her etwahl, and even Kaxinna, whom Sona Buvelle couldn't console, stopped crying, blinking her tear-filled large eyes, examining Garen up and down as if seeing him for the first time.
And Garen...
Well, Garen was preparing to leave Demacia Capital overnight.
No, that's not enough—it would be best to leave Demacia altogether!