There seemed to be some friction between father and son. Todred wanted him to become his successor in the Academy, yet Epur apparently had a romanticized view about the adventuring and knights, and was willing to put in the effort to realize his ideals. Todred admitted that Epur was honorable, just, and treated people with dignity. Epur had settled down somewhere in Eastia in the last few years, though he regularly visited Centria. Todred's other children were far less notable; Alissa, Prisca, Kiva, and Idril, all of whom are women that Todred arranged Masters for— they all became the slave-wives of prominent wizards in the Mage's Guild.

They all had very average lives, as far as a witch could consider normal— the point of interest was Idril, who apparently became ill with some sort of mana related illness last year.

He explained that the mana illness was from a sort of rare magical curse, originating from magical corruption when she and her Master went to visit some family members in Westphalia, apparently having a run-in with some sort of corrupted monster. Thankfully the ailment was manageable, giving her only the symptoms of lesser mana-sickness.

"A curse? Heh." Herta chuckled haughtily. "You can just leave that to me! As the Godde- Ahem, as a holy Savant and slave-wife of John Doe, my holy magic is unmatched! Also the doctor said I had fairy power." Herta added that last part almost as an afterthought.

"Yeah, uh, fairy magic..." Mel repeated as she smiled awkwardly, your beguiler scratching the back of her own head.

"Hm." Todred squinted at Herta. "I don't know what you are, Mrs. Doe, but you don't have that same fae energy Melody over here has." He motioned to Mel.

Conversations of mana and fairy magic almost naturally led to him giving a rundown on what the best methods of learning spells were. All it required was you to give a little push, which Ruby and Mel were happy to assist you with.

At your insistence Todred explained the basics of magic and spellcasting. Though some of your wives didn't really care for it at first, they began to get invested when they all saw you ask questions and listen to intently to what the old wizard said.

Todred spoke about a few things concerning magic:

The way magic spells worked was something that was still under study, yet it was understood that all magic (except corruption and divine magic) revolved around using different lines of magical energy that were already present in the material universe and called using a chant, a prayer, or even a magic circle. Undeniably, as Herta would often remind you about, enchantments were the best way to use spells. Mana served as a sort of conduit that people could use— though it acted more like a muscle that could be improved and a sixth sense that could make magic easier to identify.

"Casting spells and magic circles may seem impressive to the layman, yet enchanting items is, and always will be, the king of all magic." Todred said.