Chapter 159: Director Trief

After seeing Harold off, Louis began tutoring Helen with her homework in the study. Helen would much rather have been outside playing, and Louis soon agreed that it was about time to take her out for some fresh air.

"When are we going out, Louis?" Helen pouted, thoroughly bored with being cooped up indoors for days.

"In a couple of days," Louis said, glancing at the calendar. "This afternoon, I'll take you to the Mages' Association. Our Mysterious Nursing Home has relocated there, and I'll be the director from now on. Let me think about what title to give you later."

Hearing this, Helen's eyes lit up—following Louis really did lead to quick promotions. "I want to be a director too!"

"Ahem. You're still too young for that," Louis deflected, changing the subject. "When is your sister coming back?"

The fires of gossip instantly ignited in Helen's eyes. "I contacted Sister yesterday, and she said she'd be back today."

Louis nodded.

Before long, Occlis and the others returned.

The young ladies seemed to have had a wonderful time at Holy Oak. The Black Dragon Princess had not accompanied them to the study, reportedly having gone to discuss business with her brother.

"Oh, by the way, Louis," Occlis said. "The headmaster's office notified me that your name is on the list for this year's University Scholar nominations. They want you to prepare a few academic papers. Regardless of anything else, the honor of being a Holy Oak University Scholar is a lifelong distinction. You should take this matter seriously."

Ever since Louis's "confession" last time, Occlis had rediscovered her sense of self as both a princess and a teacher. When lecturing her student, her posture was brimming with authority.

Having finished with Louis, Occlis cast a stern glance at Helen. "Even though you and Louis have officially joined the Ministry of Magic, neither of you has passed the Academy's wizardry examination yet. I've submitted an application to the headmaster's office allowing you two to fulfill your evaluation requirements at the Mages' Association by undertaking external assignments and dealing with mysterious incidents."

"You and Louis should go to the Mages' Association today. By the way, Louis, it seems a new director has recently been appointed there, and he should be the one arranging your evaluations. Be polite to that lord; he will be your superior from now on, so don't go around acting arrogant just because you have a bit of ability."

"Oh," Louis replied indifferently. He happened to be heading to the Mages' Association today to assume his new post and pick up his credentials anyway. The director Occlis mentioned was undoubtedly himself.

As for Occlis's current arrogance... during tomorrow's courtly etiquette class, she would find out exactly who her new teacher was.

"By the way, did you pick up our luggage from the hotel?"

Louis suddenly remembered he had completely forgotten about it. With that, he took Helen and headed out the door.

After Louis left, Occlis noticed that Yingling was still sitting there in lively conversation with Kate. She feigned a look of puzzlement, the unspoken implication being: why didn't you go with Louis?

Yingling gave Occlis a knowing, half-mocking smile before sauntering out to follow them.

This immediately soured Occlis's mood once again.

Meanwhile, just as Helen climbed into the carriage with Louis and saw Yingling hop in with a bright smile, casually wrapping her arm around Louis's, her jaw dropped.

What on earth is going on?
Isn't Louis my brother-in-law?

Highly suspicious, Helen immediately grabbed Louis's other arm, deliberately acting spoiled as she called him "brother-in-law" while casting a provocative look at Yingling.

Yingling narrowed her eyes slightly. *You little brat, trying to copy your sister? Grow up a bit first before you try playing these games.*

"You're such a good girl, Helen," Yingling said with a beaming smile. "Your Sister Yingling and your brother-in-law will buy you some lollipops later."

Helen puckered her lips—no matter which way she calculated the relations, everyone seemed to be calling him brother-in-law.

How could the bookish Louis end up mixed up with this wicked woman? He must have been tricked!

As the two began bickering, Louis instructed the driver to head to the Mages' Association. He then had Helen use her crystal ball to contact Bach and the others, ordering each of the mages to draft a few research papers for him.

Though confused, Helen dutifully made the calls, but Yingling's jaw dropped in astonishment.

Surely Louis wasn't planning to have the mages publish those papers under his name and submit them to Holy Oak, was he?

Her boss truly dared to pull off anything. If those mages successfully passed the University Scholar evaluations for him, things were going to get deeply entertaining.

Along the way, Yingling shared some news she had recently picked up.

Matters between Solondo and the Ministry of Magic had largely settled down, prompting the Magic Council to pass several brand-new motions.

Following Archie's persuasion, the King had agreed to compromise, dropping his demand to allow nobility to study inside the various academies. Instead, he and the wizards reached an agreement permitting approved nobles to visit the campuses as observers.

At the same time, convinced by Archie, the wizards decided it was indeed necessary to establish a branch in London—a full branch, not merely a local sub-office.

They had realized they were utterly ignorant about Muggles and ought to have at least a modicum of communication with them, if only to stay informed of Muggle affairs in real time.

The Muggles were initially reluctant, but the King made concessions while setting a strict condition: the branch would be supervised by the Solondo Royal Magic General Association and would not interfere in Muggle government affairs. Furthermore, the London branch of the Ministry of Magic was required to submit regular reports to the Royal General Association.

The Ministry of Magic compromised on this point. To satisfy the King's demand for "wizards to help handle mysterious affairs," the Ministry decided to upgrade the Mysterious Nursing Office into the "Mysterious Nursing Bureau," stationed inside the London Mages' Association as requested.

Additionally, Yingling mentioned that Harold had been sprung from custody.

The tug-of-war between the Ministry of Magic and the Kingdom of Solondo over Harold had dragged on for a long time, only ending when the Ministry caught wind that Harold had broken out of the Magic Prison, forcing them to swallow the bitter pill.

The reformist faction had exerted considerable effort during these negotiations and reaped the rewards, securing permission to join the Mages' Sub-Association.

Meanwhile, the "Magic Law Enforcement Sub-bureau" had become the stronghold of the conservative faction. Its director was Eagle, whom the Red Queen had dispatched to secretly cultivate power and infiltrate the Mages Association. To counter Harold, the Red Queen had also assigned several heavy hitters to assist Eagle. Seizing the opportunity, Eagle had also pulled several of his former underground cronies into the sub-bureau.

In the eyes of the Ministry of Magic, Harold and Eagle were equally formidable engines of destruction—one possessed S-rank personal combat strength, while the other possessed S-rank administrative and command capabilities. Both were masters of chaos.

Thus, the personnel sent by the Red Queen were essentially there to babysit Eagle, preventing him from getting himself killed by Harold.

"Who is the head of the branch?" Louis asked.

"My little aunt-in-law," Yingling said with a cheeky grin, blowing a puff of smoke toward Helen and making the girl fan her nose in disgust. "It stinks, Sister Yingling stinks!"

Yingling lightly pinched Helen's back as she continued detailing the situation at the branch. Unlike the sharply polarized Law Enforcement Bureau and the Mages' Association, the personnel structure of the branch was extraordinarily complex, drawing from every faction imaginable. It included members of the Twelve Noble Families, agents of the Witch Queen, affiliates of the Francesco family, and numerous non-human races—including the Nephillim.

In short, every faction had a stake in it.

London was currently a churning vortex of wind and clouds.

Yet Louis had lost interest in paying it close attention. The political infighting was primarily the business of the London Magic Branch. With Francesco and the Witch Queen managing things over there, Francesco could do whatever she pleased; whenever she encountered something inconvenient to handle herself, she would simply rope him in to do the dirty work.

As for the operational execution level—mainly the affairs between the Magic Law Enforcement Sub-bureau and the Mages' Association—the key figures heading both the righteous and villainous sides were all his own people.

So, he would just let London play its own game; everyone would put on a splendid double act anyway. Whoever won made no difference.

Eagle would cultivate his faction and carry out his "infiltration" duties smoothly.

Once Eagle's power base was established, that grand spy would presumably be exposed. By that time, it would be appropriate for him to finally meet the Red Queen.

As for the present, his primary duty as the new director involved the "Silent Port" in the "Rainbow Kingdom." That essentially amounted to acting as an old wizard-doctor for Francesco, treating her chronic heartache.

The matter seemingly involved international diplomacy as well. Before long, Francesco would likely seek out the deputy director of the "Special Mysterious Affairs Processing Bureau"—himself—to have a chat.

As for the titular director, that position belonged to the master filmmaker, Director Trive.

...

At this year's film festival, Sir Trive, the master director, had scooped up another "Aria" statuette—the Moon Goddess Trophy, the highest honor in the cinematic world.

For many, winning this award just once in a lifetime made the entire journey worthwhile.

Even having participated in a film that won such an award was enough for someone to boast about for the rest of their days!

Yet the legendary Director Trive had seen nearly every one of his films nominated at least once, while Best Visual Effects, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, and Best Makeup awards were already too numerous for him to count.

He had even won Best Director three times.

As for nominations for leading and supporting actors and actresses, they occurred almost every single time. Any star who was previously just on the verge of superstardom was guaranteed an award the moment they stepped into one of his films.

The "White Fox" lady, Yuna, whom Director Trive had championed this year, had taken home the Best Actress award.

Today, they were the undisputed stars, the focus of all attention. After the ceremony concluded, numerous A-list celebrities in the hotel lobby spotted the director alongside Miss Yuna and swarmed toward them, eager to strike up a conversation and establish a connection, whether acquainted or not.

Word had it that he was already preparing his next film: *Silent Port*.