---------------------

The morning came and Riou woke by the sounds of bells in the distance.

The sound came from all corners of the city. Riou stood up and saw the commotion on the streets. People agitated and in a hurry to get somewhere.

On top of the far walls he saw the bells swinging.

“Damn, I was hoping to have some time before they got here” He put on his shirt, pants and cape that were still drying on the chairs. Dressed, he put the cloth to hide his face.

Riou jumped down the window and went towards the north wall, the direction from which the most people were coming from.

------------------------------------ Same morning Bhalrom, Lilly and Serena’s view

At the war room in the Brigantium castle there was a table with a rough leather map showing the city and its surrounding terrain.

5 squared black pieces symbolized the enemy forces and were put down on the north side of the map, between the city and the forest.

Bhalrom and Copperford were looking at it and pondering on the enemy's possible movements. On the side, Lilly and Serena discussed spells to protect the city.

“They can certainly surround the exits of the city with five thousand. We’d be trapped inside” Said Copperfield concerned.

“How many are ready to defend the city?” Asked Bhalrom

“1000 soldiers under my banner, 1000 from the first Army and 500 mercenaries… then the town militia as last resort, about 400 inexperienced and untrained people.” Answered the knight

“So, it’s a 2 to 1 margin. We should stand our ground, use the walls to our advantage.” Said Bhalrom pointing at strategic positions near the north gate.

Copperford frowned “But that way the goblin fire will set the whole city ablaze, they will destroy everything before the battle even begins”

“What do you suggest? That we go heads on into an unknown enemy with at least twice our numbers?”

“At least that way we will have a chance!” said the red knight loudly.

“You have to put more faith in the mages, they will hold most of the incoming fire with their barriers. We will keep the damage and losses to a minimum.” Said Bhalrom

The red knight shook his head “We don’t have nearly enough of them, the enemy will breach through and the whole city will become a stove with us inside. We have to engage them on the field before they position themselves and besiege us.”

Serena hearing their concerns barged in representing the mages “Bhalrom, he might be right, we only have a handful of mages, most of them are still students of the academy spending some time home, we don’t have nearly enough to sustain a good defense against the goblin fire on the north wall alone, imagine doing it throughout the whole city.”

“It will have to do! We can’t go head first in the open field with these few men. The orcs are twice as strong as a man, they will overrun us in no time if we don’t use the walls to contain them! Our mages will have to hold or we won’t have a chance anyway” Said Bhalrom looking at Lilly. They were all concerned with the odds of the impending battle.

Before Bhalrom could say anything else a guard suddenly appeared by the door pulling everyone’s attention to himself.

Copperford waved for him to proceed.

“The scouts are back with news my lord.” Said the guard signaling for the ones behind him to enter.

3 men in green cloaks entered the room.

“Report!” Said the knight to his men.

“Enemy forces are ready and on the move, not too far behind us… they are coming from the hill to the north.” The scout paused, very concerned before continuing.

“Captain, we saw a full contingent of goblin mages and orc shamans… And sir, we saw many high Orcs amongst them as well” Said the scout with a fearful tone “We estimate a force of over 8000 enemies to attack the city.

*Bang*

The red knight fist hit the table with great force.

Bhalrom didn’t even look at the knight and issue an order “Ring the bells, dispatch the main force to the north wall, set the secondary forces to the flanks and close by. Send the militia to the east and west wall, I want eyes on every direction! Go!” commanded the knight captain. The scouts and the guards left in a hurry to prepare.

Lilly approached the table “I’ve heard of them before… but why are high orcs so feared?” Asked the young mage.

Bhalrom sighed “They are extremely strong, even stronger than most Beastmen warriors, when talking about raw strength. Luckily they are not as skillful. But compared to normal orcs, they are larger, smarter and much more vicious. When it comes to battle they are fierce opponents, a normal soldier has no chance against them.” Said Bhalrom concerned with the news. They were in a far worse situation than estimated

Time to discuss was over, the siege had begun and they all went to the north walls to help and command the city’s defense.

---------------------------------------------- Riou’s View at the Morning of the Battle

Riou rushed through the streets amidst the chaotic population when something caught his attention in the skies.

A large fireball was incoming towards a house nearby. Without thinking he pointed his arm towards it and clenched his fist, the fireball imploded leaving no trace of fire behind.

He continued advancing to the walls stopping the occasional fireballs that came at his path.

Approaching the wall he noticed a translucent barrier of a yellow shade on top of the walls. A barrier that was protecting the city against the incoming barrage of fireballs.

The barrier was not perfect and not very high. Some of the fireballs passed above and through its weaker spots.

In the top of the walls, right below the barrier there were some mages that were desperately trying to sustain it.

The big barrier was being mercilessly attacked by those fireballs and already showing signs of weakening, it would certainly not hold for much longer.

Some of the rooftops of the houses nearby were already on fire.

“If this continues the city will burn completely in no time, this houses full of straws and wood will burn to the ground before the enemy sets a single foot inside”

He continued to approach the wall at greater speed while gathering his mana. Reinforcing his body he makes his way through the rooftops and up.

Reaching a tall building close to the wall he could look at it from above, he could finally see the soldiers in lines on the walls observing the enemy not too far away in the fields in front.

He noticed 2 knights in full armor on top of the north gateway. “Bhalrom and the red knight”

But before he could think on a plan, another commotion erupted amongst the soldiers nearby.

The fireball barrage suddenly stopped and the soldiers began to withdraw from the edges of the wall leaving space for the mages that desperately moved closer together to reinforce the barrier.

Outside the walls he could see a massive fireball being created by the enemy and slowly launched in an arc aimed directly towards the walls.

“It will not hold” the thought bolted through his head while observing the barrier. He rushed forward to the walls with a single jump, covering a massive distance.

But the giant fireball was too near and smashed against the barrier.

------------------------------------- Soldiers on the wall

*SWOOOSH* The loud sound echoed through the whole city. The impact caused the Fireball to explode with the barrier and sent its flames in all directions throughout the city.

The barrier didn’t survive the impact and shattered. The mages were exhausted, the barrier had consumed a lot of their mana and now it was gone they would have to recreate it from scratch with a mana they already spent. Nonetheless they quickly tried to redo it with the mana that they had left.

But before it could be done, another round of fireball barrage was already incoming towards the unprotected city.

Without the barrier the soldiers were completely exposed.

Despair filled the hearts of many on top of the walls, shouts asking for the barrier to be set up again could be heard coming from the officials everywhere.

But the mages needed more time, few stood their ground with their hands up trying with all their being to evoke another one, but they were far too few and far too inexperienced. Most of them were already completely spent and a few even unconscious on the ground.

A glint of hope surged, two mages on the north gate began to form the barrier once again and quickly spread it, unfortunately it was not increasing in size fast enough and was far too short to cover the entire wall.

The mercenary group that was away from the commanding zone was about to flee from the walls.

Their leader was about to shout the order when touched by his scout on the shoulder, he then pointed to a nearby figure that landed on top of the wall’s edge they were on, very close to them.

Slightly above them, the mercenary leader looked up.

Instinctively, both of them crossed eyes. The leader saw a short cloaked person with a white cloth covering its face, only hints of his dark blue eyes could be seen from beneath the hood.

The figure quickly changed focus and pointed a single hand forward towards the barrier. Instantly a complete new barrier formed, five times thicker than the first and big enough to cover the whole city.

It appeared in the nick of time as the fireballs began to hit it mercilessly. But this time, the barrier didn’t even flinch on the impacts. No sign of the slight damage could be noticed.

The mages thinking it was done by the court mages tried desperately to imbue it with more mana to sustain it, but they soon noticed that their effort had no influence on it.

All the support mages gradually stopped and became just observers of what was happening, glancing at the court mages to see if this was their doing.

On the north gateway the commanding mages looked to each other puzzled.

“Is this your barrier doing Serena?” but the other mage stopped and looked at her surprised as well.

The soldiers cheered in unison with renewed hope.

Slowly, everyone on the walls began to notice the strange figure that had appeared, the person was the only one standing on top of the wall defenses.

The figure then extended his right hand pointing up. A flash went from his hand to the skies, hitting a high cloud and splitting to all directions.

A thunder followed, strong enough to shake the walls and the very bones of everyone near him.

The few that were still unaware of the figure immediately noticed its presence after that.

Clouds began to form, thicker and thicker they grew, until the horizon was covered. The clouds turned into a dark gray and now covered the whole sky.

Sparks of Lightning and roars of thunders began to appear, sporadically running above the battlefield. A massive storm brewed as high winds began to cross the fields from every direction.

The figure ignited his hands with fire and prepared to jump down down the walls.

Feeling an intense gaze from his left he glanced, just to find the mercenary leader and his tracker very close to him, staring at him intently with suspicious expressions.

Viktor squinted his eyes and suddenly widened in surprise, glints of realization mixed with doubt could be seen in his face as he continued to look at the mysterious short man with unusual dark blue eyes.

The figure immediately jumped forward with a powerful leap. He landed far away from the walls right between the enemy army and the city.

“It couldn’t be” thought immediately the mercenary leader while watching the figure landing on the ground. He immediately turned to his tracker that looked very suspiciously at the figure as well.

Both glanced at each other obviously thinking the same thing.

------------------------------------ Riou’s View

“What Viktor was doing there? Dammit, did he notice? Nah, he couldn’t possibly… could he?” thought the boy with flaming hands standing up between the enemy army and the city’s wall.

The clouds in the skies were getting darker at every passing moment, lightning and thunder rushed the skies more frequently and 3 humongous cloud swirls began to take form in the skies.

The goblin mages were in front of the enemy army hurling the fireballs towards the city while the remaining force waited behind them.

They didn’t move or showed any response after Riou appeared in front of them.

“Interesting, no change at all”

They were occupying the whole area in front of him, their numbers were quite impressive, a sea of endless greenish monsters looking and waiting, lines of monsters that covered Riou’s field of vision to the north.

From within the enemy ranks a commotion began to surge, something big was coming towards the front rows.

A big orc appeared from the enemy ranks. Twice as big and muscular than any other orc there..

As he reached the front and looked towards Riou and growled menacingly, so loud that it could be heard at the city.

He stomped the ground a couple of times and began to charge towards Riou.

The army behind it shouted and growled, following behind it.

“Here goes nothing” Riou opened his burning palms elevating his hands upwards as if pulling something from the ground.

Two massive pillars of swirling fire emerged from nothing, so high that they almost touched the clouds above.

Most of the enemies ceased their advances in face of such danger.

With his hands, Riou made a subtle movement forward and the two massive pillars collapsed on top of each other in the direction of the army. And as they fell, the fire became a massive wave that gained size and power as it raged forward, consuming all on its path.

The fire seemed alive and crawled forward like a wave washed ashore by a high tide, turning and twisting, relentlessly forward growing in height and width without any signs of losing power.

The fire wave covered the enemy army, killing the majority of their forces in one go.

The soldiers on the walls cheered as the tide of war had turned completely in their favor.

The sound of the fire twirling soon mixed with thousands of screams and growls of the enemies that could not escape their fate.

Bodies burnt to a crisp, barely resembled a humanoid figure given the sheer heat they were exposed to.

Amidst the corpses after the wave passed and distanced itself on the distance. Something began to move, emerging from a pile of crisps orcs. It was the big one once again, the massive Orc was burned and disfigured by the fire, but uncaring to his damage he was still able to stand up and continued to rush towards the boy without a second thought in his mind.

The skies were completely black at that point and the light of day was having trouble to pass through the thick clouds.

The lighting intensified and the thunder roared in the distance without stop.

As the monstrous orc approached, the air on the battlefield was completely still, no wind or breeze passed through it.

The anticipation before the storm could be felt on everyone’s skin that watched that one sided battle from above the walls.

---------------------------------------- Gilliath’s View

“It’s time” said the dark mage from the twilight council touching a rune engraved on a red stone.

He watched enough from the sidelines.

Instantly everything became shades of gray and stopped moving.

He watched in anticipation until the spell reached the mysterious mage that was about to fight the great Orc he had created.

The moment the spell reached him and he also became greyed out, the dark one sighed in a mixture of relief and disappointment.

He quickly left the shadows of the sidelines of the battlefield and approached the strange mage that was about to fight his monstrosity.

The dark mage knew, after seeing such a fire spell that he had to intervene or the orc would perish to the mage. And for that, he used his most powerful rune to cast a time spell.

Minimizing the chances of any counter a time spell from him.

As he got near to the mysterious fire mage he began to walk around it trying to identify who that was.

“A small male... Is he from the house of Eilidh? Perhaps the Fernis? By that demonstration it is safe to say he will be the next head in line for any of the families… But why is he so small?” he removed the cloth from his face “Hmm so young and this powerful? He doesn’t fit in any of the Allard main family’s heirs or their sons. So who are you?” Thought the dark mage observing the stopped, grayed out young mage.

Gillitah noticed the young man’s eyes were focused on the incoming enemy and by his stance, he was about to retaliate the attack with some strange spell. The dark mage could see no fear in his eyes despite being this close to his creation.

“I don’t know who you are… and at this point I don’t think it matters anymore, the moment you got caught by my spell you were done for. Young and powerful but vastly inexperienced. But I will admit that for someone so young it was an impressive fire spell and weather manipulation. To think that there were still such powerful mages in this region, truly commendable.” He said completing another lap around the mysterious mage.

“I was hoping for a bit more resistance after such a display of yours… it was truly a shame that you were so easily caught in my time rift”

He stopped in front of the mysterious young mage, right between him and the orc.

“This level of power and not carrying a time rune, what a letdown.” He said calmly almost in a mocking tone while pulling a dagger from his belt.

“I know you are unable to hear me… but even so I always enjoyed a good talk with my victims. The only regret I have is that I can’t hear your suffering while I stab you with this dagger” He said approaching the young mage from the front.

Gilliath then noticed something that seemed odd. The young mage’s eyes were of a darker shade of gray, almost blue and seemed to be looking straight to him.

The dark mage looked behind him and saw the orc standing still. But something didn't feel right, those eyes seemed to be looking at him, not the orc.

Gilliath could swear that amidst the grey eyes were glints of a dark blue color were appearing, more and more as he looked at it.

“Were his eyes like this before?” he questioned himself.

Looking again he could swear that those eyes seemed to be smiling at him now.

Deep concern surged within Gilliath as he quickly abandoned his talkative mood and rushed to cut his enemy’s throat.

------------------------------------------------------ Riou’s View.

The monstrous Orc suddenly stopped and everything turned into gray shades. Riou couldn’t move normally anymore but a strangely familiar sensation could be felt upon his body.

By forcing his perception, he noticed that time had not stopped completely, it had only been greatly slowed down.

He watched the orc completely still just a few steps away from him.

Time was slowed down to a great degree. But his mind seemed well adapted to it and the sensation on his body was all too familiar for him to feel uncomfortable by it.

“This is the same sensation from when I was walking in that damn forest, right before starting to climb that endless hill. But this is nothing compared to that torture… I can easily move if I wanted to” as he began to force his way out, he suddenly stopped.

“Wait, someone must have casted this, let’s see if I can bait the enemy out”

Riou then relaxed as he decided to wait. Cautious but still curious to see if the plan would work out.

Didn’t take long for a mage wearing the twilight council’s robe to appear, he was an old man over his 60 years, very slim and with a similar eerie aura like Callas.

Riou smiled internally as the mage showed himself.

The dark mage began to talk to himself in a pompous tone. Riou could not help but find it funny.

He wondered if it was common for high mages to use these time runes to fight. Perhaps Max knows about it as well.

The dark mage's attitude suddenly changed and now he was approaching rather quickly with concerned eyes and a dagger in hands.

Riou smiled “Overconfidence is the most dangerous form of carelessness, or so it is said” Spoke Riou stepping out of his pose and moving normally, as if nothing had happened.

His colors were still grayed out, he was still under the spell but somehow was able not only to move but speak and that outrageous actions were shown in the Dark mage’s face.

The dark one was a mix of astonishment and raw fear as he witnessed something that was unprecedented.

He took a cautious step away from the boy.

“Well, let’s see how good your time rift spell is against something really fast” Said Riou pointing his finger below the dark Mage.

And before the mage could react or recover from the surprise of seeing someone moving inside a time rift. Beneath him and the monstrous orc right behind him, a blue light began to glow very strongly, quickly followed by blue and yellow sparks of electricity.

From the clouds above a massive lightning erupted in their direction, it was a wide lightning that consumed both of them entirely, obfuscating their silhouettes inside its bright light almost instantly, even with the time spell, it still wasn’t enough to avoid the lightning striking them almost instantly.

Nor The mage nor the Orc had any way of defending themselves.

It took but an instant, the gray shades that covered everything vanished and smoke oozed from their burnt dead bodies, completely charred and falling to the ground while sparking electricity all around them.

Thunder followed immediately, deafening, taking everyone by surprise.

It shook the very core of the city and could even be heard from very far away.

The people on Brigantium froze in fear as the sound rushed through shaking everything, the walls and houses threatened to fall down due to the sound’s pressure.

As the lifeless bodies of the enemies finally touched the ground, a torrential rain began to fall on the city and the battlefield, putting all the fires out.

“Lightning speed was still faster than your rift,” Said Riou, looking at the now defeated enemy.

The twirls on the skies dissipated and the barrier protecting the city vanished. The few orcs that survived scattered, fleeing aimlessly from the battlefield into the woods and in all directions.

It took awhile for the people on the walls to realize what had happen. Recovering from the frightening thunder, shouts of victory timidly began to be heard and slowly contagiating the others.

Soon a clamor came from the soldier’s voices on the walls and the city, the citizens began to come out to see what was going on.

With the victory, they quickly opened the gates to the north, wanting to meet their hero and go toward its encounter.

But as mysteriously the cloaked figure appeared, it was gone.

----------------------------------------- The Trio Arrival at the City.

The path was clear after the small ambush in the small grove and the three had finally arrived at the south gates of the city.

Strangely enough the city didn’t seem to be afraid of any imminent attack, the people seemed oddly busy bringing planks, clay and stones inside for repairs.

But there were many guards on top of the south gate with a watchful eye.

As they entered the gates, the guards looked with curiosity to the group watching their every step “The enemy army, how long until it reaches the city?” Therese asked loudly to the guards above the gates.

The soldier wore a light metallic armor with the red banner of the city and responded to her shaking his head from side to side “They arrived about a day ago, we are already repairing the city. We are just on the lookout for the orcs that scattered after it.”

Leona and Eileen widened their eyes and looked at Therese.

“This is disturbing news…” Said the lioness to her companions. “So those orcs were just survivors, not scouts,” added Leona.

Therese turned once again to the guard “I’ve heard that 5000 were marching against this city, a battle against such a force would take more than a single day to end.”

The guard nodded “They were over 10000 strong! Maybe more” said the guard exaggerating the numbers to show how great the danger was.

“With those numbers it would take even longer… what happened?” She asked with curiosity.

The guard made a confused face “I don’t know how to explain it, I was not on the north wall when it happened. But everyone is saying the elements themselves helped us and dealt a swift blow to the enemy army.” He said overly excited.

Eileen looked at Therese and Leona “Do you think Riou is still in the city? We should search the inns and taverns to be sure” The two nodded in agreement.

They went to the first tavern they found, the one named The Laughing Boar.

As they entered it, Eileen recognized many soldiers of the first army and they obviously recognized the princess as well. Every single soldier stood up in position showing their respect to her as she walked by.

Everyone but a small group in the corner table. They looked at the trio and seemed very surprised to see the princess there. Especially the big man with dark hair and yellow shirt.

He smiled brightly to himself as he noticed her in the tavern.

The trio’s attention was quickly caught by the strange behavior of the man. With him was a woman and 3 others.

“The mercenary!” Said Eileen to the other two while walking with purpose towards his table.

Noticing the blond approaching he turned to her with an even bigger smirk than usual, strangely happy by her presence.

“Look what the wind brought here… and judging by the soldier’s reaction, you are more than just a sword student at the castle, aren’t you?” He said, mockingly looking at the soldiers standing up and saluting her passage.

Leona and Therese just watched their interaction quietly from behind the princess.

“I’m looking for Riou, have you seen him?” Eileen asked politely without paying attention to his remarks.

Viktor's eyes gleamed for a moment as he finally ended up looking mischievously at her, choosing his words carefully.

“No… I have not” he said quite dismissively.

The man with a green cape and a bow to his side just kept quiet and focused on his mug.

Eileen began to feel bothered by his attitude and thought he might be lying.

“Is he still in the city?” She insisted, a bit altered but still maintaining her composure.

The mercenary just shrugged.

“I know he came here, so why don't you tell me what you know?” asked the princess, not pleased with him in the slightest.

Before Viktor could say anything the woman sitting at his table slapped his back and intervened.

“Stop teasing her Viktor” the woman looked very seriously and concerned as well “If he is here, we didn’t see him” she said with confidence and sincerity.

The princess was still not convinced despite her claimings, Eileen clearly felt that Viktor knew more than he was telling.

But before she could question once again, Therese seemed to want a word with him as well.

The lioness stepped in and looked at the mercenary leader from above “If you know anything, speak” she said calmly, and yet, her tone concealed a very menacing threat.

Viktor squinted his eyes “And what business does the lioness have with an ordinary boy?” he asked very cautiously, choosing carefully his words while watching the lioness.

Therese without delay showed the sword on her waist “I need to deliver this to him”

Viktor looked at her weapons and recognized the swords, it was indeed the one the boy was carrying the last time he saw him in the capital. But he smiled, delivery jobs did not fit with the lioness one bit.

He leaned back on the chair and took a sip from his mug.

“Do you know who he really is?” asked the mercenary very calmly, throwing the words at them as to judge their reaction.

But it was on Therese that his attention was fixed.

Therese didn’t even flinch, no doubt could be seen in her eyes, on the contrary, she seemed to doubt that Viktor himself knew the answer to that question.

Seeing that response from the great lioness, the mercenary smiled and laughed at himself.

“Truly impressive, it seems the story about the famous beast folk is true after all.” He said grabbing his mug once again and sighing before continuing in a more serious tone.

“Very well, I don’t know what happened between you and him, but if he went missing it is probably for a good reason. That boy sure knows how to stir trouble. And given that you know who he and his master is, then you know the kind of shit they are involved in... I mean, that boy is crazy good” said the mercenary finally opening up.

Eileen was lost, “Master? Does he have a master? He never mentioned one before…”

“Do you know where he is?” Asked Therese without losing time.

“No, I was not entirely certain he was even in this city until I saw her coming in just now” Said the mercenary pointing at Eileen.

Just the cloaked mercenary in the table was not surprised by that claim, the others looked at each other confused.

Therese nodded clearly having an idea of what happened “I have another question, have you participated in the battle?”

Viktor laughed “Battle?! Hah, that was no battle… before a single sword clashed it was already over.” The members of his table nodded in agreement, hints of awe could be seen in their eyes as they remembered the event.

Therese insisted “What happened?”

“A damn one man army happened, a mage… he appeared from nowhere and laid waste on the whole enemy army in an instant, all dead, just like that” He said plainly, a bit angered for some reason while snapping his fingers.

The eyes of the trio widened as they heard the story.

Eileen eagerly asked “Was it the great Magus?”

Viktor smiled from ear to ear “That’s what most are thinking, that the magus himself came to help… but nobody could find him afterwards, so his identity is actually a mystery. But if you ask me, I think it was someone else” he said, finding it strangely funny.

Therese just nodded slightly in appreciation for his cooperation. She turned around and began to walk away quickly followed by Eileen and Leona.

Viktor waved at them and shouted “If you find him, tell him Viktor send his regards… and next time he wishes to jump into action, he can count on me by his side, again… he will get it!”

Eileen glanced at the mercenary and quickly joined Therese and Leona that were moving away. After a few steps the lioness leaned slightly towards Eileen and whispered “Who is this master he spoke of?”

Eileen shook her head “Never heard of any master… he actually never told me how he learned the sword.”

Leona found it strange “You never asked him that?” she said in a judgmental tone.

“I asked, but he didn’t mention anyone specifically,” replied the princess.

Therese nodded and glanced at Leona “Did you find anything in there?”

The wolf shook her head “Too many people, too many scents to distinguish”

“I see…” Said Therese moving to the door “For now, I want to see for myself what happened at the north wall, let’s go there first.”

----------------

The trio moved out and followed the streets. They could see many houses changing roofs and walls and some burnt pieces of wood were being piled up everywhere.

When they finally reached the north wall they took the stairs to the top for a better look.

Their eyes widened and their breath stopped for a moment as they finally gazed upon the land beneath them.

It was a different place now. Black charred earth at a vast distance, starting at the middle of the fields and going all the way towards the hills on the north, increasing in width.

They could see the city townsfolk working on removing the burnt bodies, pilling them on carts pulled by horses. They were working for a long while and still there were hundreds more laying around the black land.

“What happened here? What could have done this?” Asked Eileen, unable to make sense of what happened.

“I don’t know, that man mentioned a mage, do you know someone from this land who could do something like this?” Asked Leona to the princess.

“Maybe someone from the house of Fernis, they are fire specialists… but to tell you the truth, the only one that comes to mind is Maximilian.” Answered the princess unable to take her eyes from the destruction.

Therese pondered for a moment “This is the same person that Riou is after right? What is his connection to this Magus?” asked the Lioness.

Eileen nodded “The magus was the one who found and brought him to the castle, they spent a month together traveling at that time… and after he disappeared Riou was trying to find him”

“I see, so it makes sense to assume this Magus could have taken care of the enemy? Syldis informed he was on his way to Thanes, Maybe he and Riou met here... given that the battle took place yesterday, chances are that Riou arrived after the event and found the Magus.”

Therese continued after a moment “the question now we must ask is if he is still in the city.”

Leona nodded while looking at the land below “But master, could he have done this?” She asked Therese who just looked at her with uncertainty.

The princess did not want to lose time “Should we try the castle? Or the taverns and inns?”

“You know him better, where do you think he is most likely to be?” Asked Therese looking at Eileen.

Realizing her mistake in thinking he could be elsewhere, she answered “Definitely in some tavern”