Derek half-carried Caspian as the procession of sorceresses continued, following the group at a slow pace. Beside them, Erica walked with the sensual elegance befitting her title of Succubus.

Their destination was a mansion that was situated near the heart of Axium. Built with plain columns, flying buttresses and a red tiled roof, the mansion managed to look ostentatious without appearing overly gaudy.

The inside was every bit as nice as the outside. It wasn't lavish, but the limestone tiles gleamed with fresh polish, and the walls, a combination of brick and wood, gave off a warm glow within the yellow light of spirit crystals.

Sylvia noticed his presence, finally, as if just now realizing that he'd been with them this whole time.

"You should be getting back to the academy," she said.

Caspian shook his head. "I'm staying with Elincia."

"Your worry for your friend is understandable, but you must think objectively. No danger could befall Elincia while she is here. Five sorceresses plus all of our knights are currently taking residence here. I daresay that Elincia is more protected here than she is anywhere else."

Sylvia didn't understand. He needed to be here, with his friend. Even if this place was the most secure mansion in all of Terraria, he needed to be with Elincia.

"I'm still staying."

Sylvia's lips turned into a barely noticeable frown. He'd seen this look before. It was the one that she gave him and Elincia when they were younger—usually right after they'd done something that she thought was reckless. The last time he'd seen it, he and Elincia had been kidnapped by slave traders.

"Why not let the boy stay, Sylvie," Erica interrupted, her amused smile hidden behind her delicate fingers.

Sylvia frowned. "It's Sylvia, and he cannot stay. Caspian Ignis del Sol is still a member of Arcadia's Knight Academy. As such, it is imperative that he follow protocol and return to his dorm. He has already stayed up well past the allotted curfew."

"You see, that's the problem with you, Silvie. You're always talking about following protocol and how we all need to 'obey the rules' and such. Why must you be such a stick in the mud? You need to lighten up."

Caspian had lived with Sylvia for nearly five years before enrolling in the academy. In that time, he'd rarely ever seen her display as much emotion as she was now—or rather, he'd never seen her display such a complete lack of emotion. Sylvia rarely let what she felt show on her face, but the expression she had now could have frozen over Tartarus, it was so cold.

"You are one of the most difficult people I have ever met," Sylvia said.

"And you're one of the most annoying that I've ever met," Erica returned fire.

As the two sorceresses traded barbs back and forth, Caspian wondered about the relationship between these two. Was this a common occurrence, this almost childish arguing? They seemed to dislike each other with a fervent passion.

"Are they always like this?" Caspian wondered out loud.

"More or less," Derek said.

"Actually, I think they're acting pretty tame right now," one of the Nueva twins interjected. Caspian noticed that her hair was shorter than the other twin's, and it was done up in looping braids.

He raised an eyebrow. "You call this tame?"

"For them? Yes."

"I see." Caspian looked back at the two arguing sorceresses.

"I wonder if the reason you're such a stuck up bitch is because you've never been laid," Erica mused out loud.

"I don't want to hear that from someone who has killed at least two of her knights with her libidinous ways."

"At least my knights died with a smile on their faces. Yours have all died in agony."

After listening as several more insults were traded, each one more vitriolic than the last, he looked back at--he believed--Aakarshaka. "You and I have very different definitions of tame, I think."

"No, Lady Aakarshaka is correct," Derek amended. "This is much tamer than their normal conversations."

"If you say so."

Caspian still didn't know if he believed their words, but he decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. It would save him a headache later on down the road. Meanwhile, the sorceresses argument seemed to be winding to a close.

"For the last time, Caspian cannot stay here."

"Why not? Would you deny the boy his rightful place by Elincia's side?"

"His rightful place?" Sylvia raised an eyebrow. "While it is my hope that one day he becomes a strong knight, an exemplar of knighthood, it has not yet been decided whether he shall become Elincia's knight. At this moment, his rightful place is at school."

Erica rolled her eyes. "Come off it, you crotchety old bat. Everyone knows that the reason you enrolled Caspie into the academy was so he could become that girl's knight. Do not try to deny it. What's the harm in letting him stay with his friend?"

"That would be favoritism," Sylvia argued.

"You've already shown favoritism by allowing him into the academy," Erica shot back, her smile triumphant. "What's the harm in showing a little more?"

Sylvia opened her mouth to retort, but just then, a door to their left opened, and a woman strode out. Her red hair was a complete mess, and her lightly tanned, muscular body was covered by a pair of dirty coveralls. She held a wrench in one hand and had a disgruntled look on her face. Caspian recognized her—Karen Hildegard, the famous sorceress inventor from Helheim, the creator of magical technology.

"Can you people keep it down? I'm in the middle of a delicate operation."

"You're always in the middle of a delicate operation," Erica shot back. "Even when you're not."

Karen's face turned as red as her hair. Caspian sighed when, quite expectedly, the famous inventor retorted harshly. "Nobody asked for your opinion, Jerico!"

Erica's smile twitched. "Ufufufu, my apologies, but it seems you have me mixed up with someone else—not that I'm surprised by this. You wouldn't know your own name if it weren't for that foolish midget behind you."

Caspian looked behind Karen. He didn't see anyone at first, but then, he looked down. There was someone hiding behind her legs. It was...

A dwarf?

Indeed, it was a dwarf, and a rather young one, at that. Caspian could tell because he didn't have a beard, or maybe he just shaved. It wasn't like he could claim to be an expert on dwarf anatomy. Either way, this dwarf was smaller than most, and skinnier. He wore a pair of dirty coveralls, much like Karen, and his shoes appeared to be several sizes too large.

Maybe he just has big feet?

"Don't insult my knight, you overgrown cow," Karen snapped. Caspian felt like he'd swallowed a sour grape.

K-knight?! Karen's knight is a dwarf?

He'd never heard of such a thing happening before. Was this why no one knew who Karen's knight was? Everybody claimed that it was because she shut herself in her home and made magical technology, but what if it was really because her knight was a dwarf?

"I'm not insulting anyone. I'm being quite honest. Now, then, why don't you go back to your room and play with your machines," Erica said, gesturing dismissively to Karen.

The redhead looked ready to argue, but a tug on her sleeves from the dwarf apparently made her rethink that decision. Without even looking at the others, she re-entered the room she'd come from, slamming the door behind her.

"Well, that could have gone better," Erica said at last.

Caspian just sighed.

***

In the end, Sylvia let Caspian stay. There wasn't much that she could do to stop him, and both the Nueva twins had sided with Erica on this.

He found it odd that they would, especially when they had students from their school, Asura Academy, competing in the tournament. Then again, maybe they simply felt sympathy for him, or perhaps they were amused. He didn't care to know their reasons. He was simply grateful that they had sided with Erica.

"I swear, I'll never understand that woman," Caspian said to Elincia, who didn't answer.

His friend remained insensate on the bed. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing was even. According to Cleopatra Alias, who was world-renowned for her powerful healing spirits, Elincia was merely suffering from mana exhaustion.

Caspian understood, theoretically, what happened to Elincia. Mana was a supplemental energy found within women, elves, and several other creatures. Human men didn't have it, and dwarves didn't have it either. By using mana, elves could perform spells; spellcasting, alchemy, and nature manipulation.

From his history lessons, Caspian knew that several other species could also use magic. Human women were the only ones who couldn't. It had something to do with their mana pathways being underdeveloped and their reserves being too small to cast even the simplest of spells.

However, humans had overcome that weakness. A human female who underwent a tragic or potentially life changing experience, could become a sorceress. They gained the power to summon spirits.

Known as Spiritual Evocation, the idea was that a sorceress used her mana to summon a spirit, and then harnessed that spirit's power by taking it inside of themselves. What this meant was that a sorceress did not use their own power, but the power of a spirit, which was infinitely more powerful than anything an elf could conjure on their own.

Only humans were supposed to be capable of summoning spirits. Elincia was not human. She was an elf. Ergo, she should not have been able to summon spirits.

And yet she could. However, she did so in a way that was fundamentally different from humans. Rather than taking in and harnessing a spirit's power, she called them to this physical plane of existence.

Spirits were beings who lived on another plane, a world that moved out of phase with this one, but was still connected. To summon one of them like she could took massive amounts of mana. It took even more mana to keep them on this plane. The more spells a spirit used while here, the more mana it drained from the one who summoned it.

What Elincia did was the inverse of what a normal sorceress did. Instead of taking a spirit's power, she provided the spirit with her own power. This sort of summoning had it's advantages, but it was clearly a double-edged sword.

"I wonder if she's knows the truth about you," Caspian pondered out loud. His hands were clasped around one of Elincia's as he spoke. "I mean, she sort of has to know that you're, well, you know. But wasn't this supposed to be some big secret?"

Elincia being an elf was supposedly a secret that none but a few knew. Caspian knew, because he'd lived with her for five years. Sylvia knew because she raised them both. The maids and butlers also knew, as did D'artagnan, but he didn't think anyone else knew. At least, they shouldn't have known.

"I guess... if Sylvia thinks it's okay, then perhaps I shouldn't worry about it."

Caspian wondered if he was going mad—or perhaps he already was mad. Here he was, sitting in a chair, next to a bed, with his friend lying unconscious, and he was talking to himself. Only someone truly insane would talk to themselves like this, wouldn't they?

Setting Elincia's hand down, Caspian leaned forward and tenderly brushed Elincia's bangs away from her face. Thanks to her exhausting her supply of mana, her ears were visible. The long, pointed ears of an elf caused her hair to part around them.

She's like this because of me.

"I'm sorry," Caspian said, his voice a soft whisper. His hand strayed from her forehead to her cheek, where he gently brushed his thumb against her soft skin. "I'm so sorry, Ele. The only reason you ended up like this is because of me. It's because I wasn't strong enough to protect you."

"That is an awfully defeatist attitude to take, young man," a voice said behind him. Caspian almost fell out of his chair. He hadn't heard anyone enter the room!

Craning his neck, Caspian studied the person standing behind him. Her long black hair was artfully braided, sitting on her head like a crown. Several strands fell down her face and contrasted wonderfully with her porcelain skin and doe-like brown eyes. She wore a strange outfit that he'd never seen before, a red and pink robe with floral patterns that was tied at the waist. It was a kimono. He'd read about them in his history books. Standing slightly behind her, a hand on the hilt of his katana, was a young man with black hair and steel gray eyes.

"You are... Lady Akane, right?" Caspian asked hesitantly.

"Indeed I am." Akane placed a hand on her chest and offered a polite bow. "And thou art the one known as Caspian Ignis del Sol, yes? My, thou hast grown so much since the last time I saw you."

Caspian frowned. "I'm sorry, but do we know each other?"

"Oh, no," Akane giggled. "We have never been formally introduced. However, we have met in passing, back when thee lived with Sylvia, and I was one of the people who voted to let you attend thee academy. 'Tis an honor to finally meet you in person."

"Um, the honor is all mine."

"My, thou art a polite young man."

Caspian blushed a bit when Akane giggled some more. He turned back around to face Elincia, and his thoughts once more went down the path they'd been following before the sorceress arrived.

"Thou art troubled," Akane observed. "Thou feels as though you hath failed the one you love."

He twitched. "Failed? Yes, I suppose you could say that. Elincia is only lying in this bed because I wasn't strong enough to protect her. If I had been stronger, this never would have happened."

"Perhaps. Yet I have heard tell that you were able to destroy seven of those strange machines. That is an impressive feat."

Caspian clenched his hands into fists. No one seemed to know what really happened. They didn't know the truth, that Caspian had only slain three of those automatons. The rest had been demolished by Baldur, not him.

"I see there is no stopping your self-recriminations," Akane said with a delicate sigh. Caspian thought she sounded very ladylike. "In which case, allow me to impart some advice to you."

"Advice?" Caspian turned around and gave the woman his undivided attention.

"Indeed. If thou feels that you are not strong enough, then you must simply become stronger."

Caspian felt a jolt run through him like a bolt of lightning. The words echoed in his mind. Become stronger. It was easier said than done. He'd been training for years now. Ever since he turned ten, he'd trained in the art of swordplay, studied tactics from ancient tomes written by military geniuses, and broke his body to exceed his physical limitations.

All those years of toil had amounted to nothing in the face of those machines. They demolished me. Without Baldur's help, I would have been killed, and Elincia...

Elincia would have died.

"Art thou truly going to weep over what has happened?" Akane asked. Caspian looked up. "Depression does not suit thee. Thou art a man, correct? True men do not weep over what has already come to pass. They look forever to the future, with their back straight and their shoulders strong. If thou art truly wishes to become Elincia's knight, then taketh the lesson you have learned during this ordeal to heart and use it to improve thyself physically, mentally, and spiritually."

Caspian wondered if it could really be that simple. He'd been trying for years to become stronger, to become better, to become someone that Elincia could proudly call her knight. Last night had shown him that all of his training meant nothing in the face of such overwhelming opposition.

But I can't really give up, can I?

He'd promised Elincia that he would become her knight. That promise had been his purpose for the past seven years. There was no way he could just give up now.

Besides...

He looked back at Elincia. Her chest rose and fell at a slow, steady pace. She looked so small on that large bed. He took her hand once more, holding it as if afraid she'd disappear the moment he let go.

... there's no way I could let anyone but me be Ele's knight.

"It seems thou has come to a resolution," Akane observed.

"Yeah, I have. Thank you."

Akane's smile was gentle and pure. "There is no need. I was more than happy to help. Now, then, if you'll excuse me. Toya and I must be on our way."

"W-wait!" Caspian called out, making Akane stop and turn back around. "Before you go, I have a question. Why are you helping me? I'm a competitor for the students at your school, so why give me this advice?"

Akane's smile somehow seemed both demure and devious. "Let us just say that I believe thou art best suited for being Ms. Elincia's knight."

With those words, Akane and her knight left.

The room became silent once more.