With the sun floating smack in the middle of the sky, signaling the arrival of noon, the time for lunch. Sylvester was with the usual suspects but now they had one person recently added to their merry band; Rossa.

“Man that test was a piece of cake! I don’t even remember why I was nervous about it!” Artian started bragging as he ate his food.

Just like Sylvester, Artian managed to pass his own practical tests with flying colors, thanks of course to the tough guidance of a certain someone, and he was immediately reminded of it.

“Whatever you say, Artian. If Rossa didn’t help us out you’d get kicked out.” Estelle rudely reminded him.

“Can’t you just let me have this moment? Please?” Artian replied in a defeated tone.

“No.” Estelle smiled as she greedily scooped a large portion of food, with her back arched making her look like she was slouching. She suddenly stopped when she felt shivers run down her spine and saw Rossa glaring at her.

“Miss Estelle-”

“Yes, I’m sorry teacher!” Estelle quickly adjusted herself. She straightened her back and even fixed the way she used her utensils. In the blink of an eye she (tried her best) suddenly exuded an aura of elegance and grace.

“Pfft.” Artian smirked at the sight of Estelle suddenly shifting into “elegant princess” mode. Noting that at the very least, Estelle made one other friend at the academy. Relieved to see that she seemed to be enjoying herself despite the strictness of Rossa’s teachings.

While all of this was happening, Sylvester was silently contemplating as he ate and it was obvious from the outside that he was in deep thought, something Artian and Estelle easily noticed.

“What’s up with you dude? Why are you so quiet?” Artian asked.

“No it’s nothing. I just realized that I probably should have used more spell combinations during the test to make a flashier show, and now I’m kind of regretting it.” Sylvester explained in a depressed and disappointed tone.

Artian raised his eyebrow and for a second didn’t really know what to say. While he highly respects his new friend, he sometimes thinks that the man has a really odd sense of priorities.

“Are you for real? Who gives a shit, you already passed.” Artian joked.

“No!” Sylvester immediately retorted. “You don’t understand! My pride as a magician can’t accept it. I could have done better! So much better! But I failed to deliver the best that could be!” Sylvester explained in a passionate voice.

“There you go again with that magician bullshit of yours.” Artian replied as he let out a loud sigh, something that elicited a weird reaction from Sylvester.

“Listen here you, uninformed plebeian!” Sylvester suddenly exclaimed with a passionate fire burning in his eyes.

“To a magician the performance is everything, I tell you, EVERYTHING! One must not pull punches and give it their all!” he continued on his regret filled rant.

“Okay okay fine dude, calm down.” Artian raised his hands in front of him.

“You passed though, so no need to go crazy about it. I’m sure there will be more opportunities for you to perform. Who knows, maybe you’ll get another chance but on a much, much bigger stage instead.” Estelle gave her two cents, and it seems to have struck a nerve within Sylvester.

He then sat back and crossed his legs while placing his left hand underneath his chin.

“Hmm, I guess you’re right. There’s not much sense in mulling over what’s done.” Sylvester agreed with Estelle and ceased his train of thought. Instead he wanted to look forward into the future this time around.

“Oh yeah, Rossa.” Sylvester then shifted the conversation to Rossa, who in turn paused from eating to entertain Sylvester’s query.

“Yes? What is it?” She replied.

“We, but mostly just me, have been answering your questions about local fairy tales and legends for a while now, so how about this time you let us hear about a few stories from you kingdom Van-Vanika-”

“Vanicares.”

“Uh yes, Vanicares. How about you tell us tales and myths from your home this time around and let’s try and put it under the lens and dissect it?” Sylvester requested.

“After all, there is always a small grain of truth tuckered somewhere deep inside such stories.” He continued.

“Oooooh, that sounds interesting. I wanna know some as well!” Artian butted in.

“Me too! Me too!” As expected, Estelle didn’t want to miss out.

“I see. Well it seems fair that I tell you some in exchange, let’s see. What kind of tale would you want to hear about? Horror? Or legends about gods etc?” Rossa then asked for specifics.

“I want to say horror but, I’d like to just tell us the first story that comes into your mind?” Sylvester replied while smiling.

“Huh? Are you sure?” Rossa asked as she was a little taken aback by the request.

“Yeah, that sounds great!” Artian agreed.

“Gives a little suspense and surprise since we won’t know what to expect. Go Rossa, tell us the first thing that comes to your mind.” Estelle also agreed, giving Rossa the final push.

“I understand then let me think for a bit.” Rossa then closed her eyes and within seconds made a rather complicated expression before smiling again.

“How about this then. It’s not really some kind of great legend but more of a tale used to scare children, to be more specific, to scare the daughters of nobility.” She explained.

“Would you like to hear about this one or should I think of something else?” Rossa asked before she continued.

“No, no, that sounds great! After all, tall tales made to scare children are always fun to listen to.” Sylvester declared, acting rather excited.

“Oh well, I guess I’ll go with this. The story I'm about to share has many names but is most commonly referred to as the tale of Regina Fortuna: The Evil queen.” Rossa then fixed her figure and placed her hands on her lap.

“Once upon a time there was a queen with peerless beauty that lived in a kingdom by the sea. There was no one far and wide that could compare, and as such, there was no man that she deemed worthy.” Rossa began her tale.

“Then one day a young prince from a faraway land ended up stranded in her kingdom due to a raging storm that dragged his ship away from his intended journey.”

“The queen, upon seeing the stranded visitor, fell in love at first sight. His crystal like eyes shone like the rays of the sun bouncing off the waves.”

“I guess that’s one way of describing eye-” Artian whispered only to be instantly stopped by Estelle who pinched his arm.

“But alas, her beauty and charm were not enough, for the prince fell in love with a girl who picked shells and trinkets off the white and pristine sands of the beach.”

“The queen, in her fury, tried everything in her power to tear the two lovers apart, brought forth her armies and called down the wrath of the sun and moon, with even the waves seemingly obeying her command. Such was the power of her beauty that the world itself seemed to do what it can to please her.”

“And yet in the end, true love prevailed and she soon fell into ruin, struck down by the gods themselves as they took pity over the two pained hearts.” Rossa then paused for a short while before continuing.

“And as a final act of punishment for her evil deeds, an evil spirit came and took away the evil queen, never to be seen ever again. In the end, the prince and girl lived happily ever after.”

“Yet the cries and pleas of the queen are said to be heard over the waves, warning others of her fate, and to never try and come between true love, lest the evil spirit arrives to take them to their doom.” With that Rossa ended her tale.

“So what do you think?” Rossa asked the three who sat there with their mouths agape.

“Huh? I guess that’s a good way of scaring little girls. Though admittedly it’s kind of cliche?” Sylvester gave his thoughts.

“No Sylvester you dummy, It can’t be called cliche if it pre-dates the concept of a cliche! But you do have a point.” Estelle trailed off as she placed her index finger in front of her lips.

“Isn’t that story a little too hardcore?” Artian declared.

“Yeah, I mean sure the queen was kind of a bi-” Estelle then glared at Artian. “big meanie, but I expected a generic ending like, imprisoned or something. Not kidnapped by a malevolent force and locked up god knows where.” Artian explained.

“It’s like saying Santa will take you away for being naughty and then force you to do manual labor in his mines or something!” He continued with his two cents.

“Santa?” Rossa asked as her interest was piqued.

“We’ll tell you later.” Sylvester immediately re-assured Rossa and soon their attention went back to conversation at hand.

“Artian, she literally brought chaos and disaster because she didn’t get what she wanted. I say she got her just deserts.” Estelle explained her side.

“Okay I concede, but why the hell was that thing at the end even called an evil spirit? It swooped in and delivered justice!” Artian continued.

“Well firstly, it’s a tale. An old one at that, pre-dates most of the kingdoms in Acqua actually.” Estelle explained.

“A very old story huh?” Sylvester reacted.

“And, just as I said, it’s a story made to scare children, I do think that there is something more to this story.” Rossa continued.

“Still though, what a ride! I’m really curious about that evil spirit more than the queen though. What the heck is its deal anyway?” Artian commented.

“Why? You wanna fight it or something?” Estelle jokingly asked.

“Nah nah, I just want to know its reasons. It’s still an evil spirit after all.” Artian explained.

“I’m with Artian on this one.” Sylvester suddenly spoke.

“It literally just appeared out of nowhere and took the queen away. It’s like it didn’t even belong in the story and got shoved in there last minute.” Sylvester continued.

“Yeah now that you mentioned it. Even the earliest, at least the one I read, version of that tale still had that evil spirit present and it did exactly the same thing. Show up at the end and take the queen away. And it was always described as an evil spirit.” Rossa gave her thoughts.

“Huh, that’s a strangely consistent detail.” Estelle exclaimed when suddenly their discussion came to a halt when a group of people suddenly approached their seats.

The group was led by a tall young man with long brown hair that was shining under the light. He walked up to them with a smile and an aura of great expectation.

Sylvester and Rossa immediately recognized him. It was the same guy, the same man who disturbed their chat at the library a few days back and he’s back to do it one more.

“Ugh, not again.” Sylvester groaned underneath his breath as Rossa simply rolled her eyes in annoyance.

“Who are these bozzos?” Artian said as he tensed up, eyeing the people that approached them.

“Greetings neophytes!” The man suddenly exclaimed

“It is I the great Clarence V Tourmo’D Clarent here to extend another hand of invitation! An Invitation to the Clarentum Inquisitors!” Clarence declared, just as annoying and loud as Sylvester and Rossa remembered.

“Just as we were getting excited over something too!” Sylvester complained inwardly as prepared to tune out whatever Clarence was gonna say.