Once the decision was made, the quartet signed and filled up the application form/waiver and submitted it to miss Karmen who was surprised at their very quick decision.

She took a quick glance at the paper before placing her eyes back towards Sylvester and his friends. With one of her eyebrows rising she asked Sylvester a question.

“Is there any particular reason you chose this particular mission?” She said.

“Nothing really grand but-” Sylvester replied. “If I were being honest, this just feels like I’m finishing some unfinished business.” He continued.

“I see. Well that has nothing to do with me. Anyway thank you for reaching a quick decision. Now run along back to class or something I still have work to do.” She commanded.

The four then left her office quietly as she sat down on one of the sofas in her room. She placed down the document onto the coffee table and then let out an audible sigh as she remembered the man who handed over the documents; Leonardo Da Vinci.

The headmaster personally went to her office during the morning to deliver these quest options to her so that she can bring them to the Magician’s troupe. The fact that the headmaster of all people delivered that stack of papers himself was already strange, but the request he made after the fact was even stranger.

So much so that it lingered on her mind. She closed her eyes and pictured that meeting that took place earlier today.

“Please, make sure this particular mission stays on top of the pile.” He asked her with a gentle smile.

She opened her eyes once again and took one last look at the document sitting in front of her.

“Investigate strange ghoul activity, find clues, and search for missing people huh? I wonder why the headmaster wants this one particular case on their hands.” She said.

“Why am I overthinking this? I've got better things to do and this is a waste of braincells.” Karmen then got up and stretched. There was no need to pry into this issue any further is what she thought.

---

As the day progressed further into the afternoon and while Sylvester and his friends were attending their final class of the day. Leonardo and Mona Lisa were having a discussion inside his office over the opening of missions for the Neophytes.

Mona Lisa this time had something that looked like a modern tablet on her hands that was swiping through while reading. Her eyes darting up and down in a fast and unnatural mostion as she skimmed through the information being presented to her.

Leonardo then tapped his table to get her attention but it had no effect. He then decided to just proceed and ask her a question.

“So, my dear Mona Lisa. How are the neophytes? Have they all taken up a quest?” Leonardo asked. Mona Lisa then shifted her eyes from the tablet to Leonardo, ending the trance-like state.

“Not all of them, the Neophyte turn up rate for their first ever mission is only roughly 78%.” She said. “About 3% lower than what we had last year.”

“Still, that's close enough. We’re still at the median range it seems.” He let out a chuckle.

“But what about our problem children, did they take up a quest?” He asked with great interest.

“Let’s see, yes. Yes they did. The ghoul activity investigation to be exact.” She replied causing Leonard to smile.

“I see then.” He said. “When are they going to be deployed?” He asked.

“The day after tomorrow. We’re still preparing their accommodations and fixing some legal issues for Miss Rossa. Honestly our guest is the only real hiccup.” She explained.

“Oh that gives me plenty of time then. Please, tell the Magician's troupe to come into my office tomorrow afternoon.” He said.

Mona Lisa’s expression remained blank before deciding to respond.

“I see. It shall be done Headmaster.” She nodded as she went out of the office. Leonardo then stood up and looked prepared tea for himself.

“Now then. I might have to prepare an explanation for those two doting parents. It wouldn't be a stretch to say they would try to kill me once this all said and done.” He said to himself.

---

The next day arrived and Sylvester seemed to be increasingly excited over the fact that their mission will begin tomorrow. While it was rather strange to see him so serious all of a sudden, his friends were quite relieved to see that he has returned to his usual temperament.

As the four of them were dismissed from their afternoon class, they each received another message telling them to go to the express elevators again. They immediately knew this was probably for mission briefing purposes.

“Oh wow, it’s just one message after the other. I guess this is how we will be doing things from now on huh?” Artian joked.

“It also means we’ll be making a lot of trips to that elevator express thing from now on too.” Sylvester replied.

“Honestly, it feels kind of good-ish that even the very campus we are stepping on has a ton of mysteries tied to it.” He continued.

“Hmm. I suppose you are right.” Rossa replied.

As the four arrived at the express elevator station they were once again greeted by the twins. But before they were given the expected code to input on the elevator the twins had another thing to say.

“Good afternoon Magician’s troupe!” Nitri said in a loud voice. It seems now that they have gone official, the four of them are referred by their Organization name whenever they were together.

“Thank you for responding to your summons. But before you head out we have a gift, or rather we have a gift for miss Rossa.” Tinri said much to the surprise of the four.

“Me?” Rossa said as she pointed to herself.

“Yes.” Nitri replied. “Now please come closer Miss Rossa.” Said Tinri. The twins then produced a small cardboard box that had scratch marks on it, as if something was torn off. From where Sylvester was standing it looked like a brand logo was scratched off as only a blue “G” was left.

“Is this some kind of brand censorship thing?” Sylvester joked to himself as the twins opened the box for Rossa revealing a familiar device; a smartphone.

“OH.. I see how it is.” Sylvester said out loud.

“See what?” Estelle suddenly replied, catching Sylvester’s odd comment.

“Nothing, ignore me.” He declared to which Estelle only shrugged in return.

As Rossa inspected the curious flat device with child-like excited eyes, the twins began an explanation for what it was and why she was given one.

“As you probably know by now. This little thingamajig is what we call a Smartphone. It can be used to send or receive messages and even make long distance calls, it can also be used to browse something we call the internet but I think your peers already informed you about that. In fact the ID devices we use here at Inanis Orbis are based on the Smartphone!” Nitri paused as Tinri continued the conversation.

"Wow! You don't say?" Sylvester, Artian, and Estelle all thought simultaenously.

“I’m sure you are wondering why you would need this now that you have your ID with you, the simple answer is that the IDs have very limited functionality outside of Inanis Orbis. Basically it’s kind of useless.” Tinri explained.

For a moment Sylvester and the rest were a intrigued by this little triva. It seemed that the ID that they have started getting used to got added to a growing pile of questions surrounding Inanis Orbis. But for now, Sylvester, Artian, and Estelle had other more mundane things in mind.

“Well at least Smartphone companies won’t have to worry about going out of business. Rest assured, you will all still keep your jobs.” All three denizens of earth thought to themselves simultaneously as Nitri picked up where Tinri left off.

“Basically your ID only as two functions: one, as a normal identification card outside Inanis Orbis. This is most important for you Miss Rossa since you are our guest.” Nitri said with a smile.

“The other is to be a sort of distress beacon that can alert Inanis Orbis emergency staff and other affiliated mages who are close by. It will sound off automatically but you can also activate it manually. Once you are out of the campus the new option will appear at your ID display just for this.” Tinri explained.

"Emergency staff?" Sylvester's thoughts then went back to the waiver they just signed. "Oh yeah, they did say they will do everything in their power to prevent the worse possible outcome."

“I see. Thank you.” Rossa said as she hurriedly placed the smartphone back inside the box. She then carried the entire package close to her chest like a child who just received a toy, happily walking with an angelic smile on her face.

“Ahhh, what a beautiful scene.” Her three friends thought to themselves as continued with her small moment of innocent bliss.

The three earthlings could only smile at the rare and almost blinding sight of a smiling Rossa. They stood there just basking in the afterglow before Rossa realized what she had been doing.

Almost immediately she reverted back to her serious and elegant demeanor while still hugging the smartphone box. She then shot a glare at her friends while trying her best not to act flustered only to be betrayed by her ears that were now turning red.

“Ahem. Can we get going now?” Rossa said in a demanding voice.

“Ah yes of course. Miss Nitri, what do we have to input this time?” Sylvester asked.

“Oh yeah. Just press the number 1 three times.” She replied almost immediately.

“That’s it? No negative numbers or whatever?”

“Yep, now run along. The headmaster has a lot of stuff to do so be quick.” Tinri replied.

“The headmaster?” Sylvester asked inside his head and from the shocked look on his friend’s faces, It seems that they too were surprised by this.

“Oh I see. Thank you. Please excuse us then.” Sylvster then politely dismissed themselves and headed straight for the elevators. Once inside he pressed the 1 button three times and they were immediately greeted by a loud ping.

The doors then slowly opened revealing an empty but well lit corridor not longer than 10 meters. A plain wooden door could be seen at the far end with a plaque that says “Leo” printed on it.

The entire floor was silent, eerily silent. A huge contrast from the bustling environment of the student affairs department. As the group slowly walked forward, Sylvester had a few musings inside his head.

“So this is what it looks like from the outside huh?” Sylvester thought as they closed the distance in a few seconds.

But before they could knock, a voice from inside beat them to the punch.

“Come in!” A familiar voice said from within. Not thinking about it too much, Sylvester then opened the door and saw the headmaster pouring tea into four cups. Leonardo then faced the new arrivals and gave a warm friendly smile.

“Ah, just in time young ones!”