The group had expanded from six to eight people. In addition to Aletta, Philippa, Ben, William, Edward, and Cale, Yusuf and his student had joined them - involuntarily. As promised, they had left right after the fight and made their way back to the Magistrat. Aletta had healed Ben's cut, but Yusuf's pupil refused to be touched by her. Aletta, who was visibly offended by that reaction, chatted with the others about the fight while Cale walked alongside the new appendage.

"How many times have I told you not to underestimate your opponent?", could be heard from Yusuf's sides, but his student ignored him completely. "You may be comparatively strong for your peers, but you are very, very weak compared to real mages. Your basic knowledge has as many gaps as your brain, your mana control is a disaster, and to give orders to others in battle you have too little experience. If those three had used their true power, you would have been dead within 1 minute."

"Ten seconds if it had been an arrow. She wouldn't be able to block that at that speed", Cale threw in on top, causing the student to instantly become angry.

"What are you butting in for, old man? It's none of your business at all. And by the way, I've been holding back too. If I didn't, the whole arena would probably be in...", she tried to make her superiority clear, but Yusuf interrupted the shouting with a blow to the head.

"How dare you! Do they even realize who's in front of you?"

"I don't care", she retorted in a huff, looking off to the side. Stung by her defeat, she folded her arms in front of her chest and responded with silence until she cast a quick, scrutinizing glance at Cale. She didn't understand who this man was, but from his teacher's demeanor, this was a high-ranking mage.

"If you don't care so much, I'll be happy to report this to the Elder later. Let's see, you get expelled for disrespecting your teacher, what do you think happens for disrespecting a High-Magician, little miss?" interjected Cale threateningly. "I think I can expel you you from Exarion with that. But, since you don't care so much, I'd rather expel you from all of Altona right now."

"You can't!", the girl retorted in horror.

"Do you really want to take the risk? Nothing would be easier for me than to expel ungrateful, useless people from my beloved country. That would rather be a pleasure for me", Cale replied coldly, even if his statement was partly serious. In the days of war, he had often witnessed people getting rich off others and not lifting a finger themselves.

"Caleb, that's a bit much, don't you think?", Yusuf spoke up now, feeling queasy at the threat himself. He had grown up with Cale, so he could well appreciate how much truth there was in that statement. Cale stopped, took down his hood and clearly revealed his uniform. The girl stared at him with wide eyes before she properly realized who was standing in front of her. Cale put on his best fake smile as he looked at the girl urgently.

"So, little miss? This is your last chance. If you allow yourself one more misstep, you'll be kicked out, I guarante you that", the High-Magician announced clearly, ignoring Yusuf comment. Uncertain, the young girl stared at the ground and clasped her hand before swallowing her pride.

"I'll behave, High-Magician Leuen."

"That's what I wanted to hear", Cale replied deadpan, turning away from Yusuf with a wave. His friends had already gone ahead, and he had no intention of distancing them any further.

"That's your new best. To piss off a High-Mage and make it onto his blacklist, respect. Of all the High-Magicians, Caleb is probably still the nicest, so wa..."

That was all Cale got to hear as he joined his group. With a blunt nod, he said goodbye to his friend and together with the group, he walked through the hallways of the Magistrat towards Cale's room, visibly relieving Cale. As much as he enjoyed walking around the city with his friends, today was definitely too eventful. He needed some peace and quiet, that much was certain.

Tired, everyone flopped down on the soft couch, including Prince Edward. Cale leaned against the door and watched all five with a smile. William and Edward were both lying almost in the same exhausted position on the couch, Philippa even had her head hanging over the backrest and Aletta seemed to be half asleep on the cushion already. Only Ben sat upright, watching Edward for a moment and then glancing at Cale.

"I should get changed again", Edward admitted, turning his gaze to Cale. "It's getting late. My father will be worried."

Cale just nodded mutely. He was aware that it was time. Edward went up one floor and changed, accompanied by Cale. There had probably been trouble yesterday because Edward had returned in the middle of the night, without anyone being able to tell exactly where he had remained. Picking fights with the King of Sylve was never a particularly good idea, even if Cale had rarely had such a heated conversation with the man.

"Thank you for today", the crown prince gave after a while, causing Cale to lean against the wall and close his eyes.

"You're welcome. Prince William had recently told me that he missed you and Prince Marion. So I figured that today would make him happy, and I was under the impression that you enjoyed it a bit as well."

"It was a really nice day. I wish I could do something like this more often."

"Being the crown prince must be pretty exhausting, right?" gave out Cale, followed by an oppressive voice. "Please don't misunderstand. I just meant that it must be quite an act to always live up to the demands of others. The one or other break probably comes in quite handy there."

Edward stepped out from behind the curtain and laid the borrowed clothes on the table before putting on his noble jacket. For a few moments he didn't reply anything, but his expression was eerily sad.

"Yes. Sometimes I wish I wasn't the firstborn", he announced softly before realizing what he had just uttered. Immediately, Edward looked up in horror and noticed Cale's sympathetic eyes. He remained silent, not quite seeming to know how to explain his thoughts, which was why he had stopped as if frozen.

"It's all right. I'll keep this to myself", Cale meekly stated and stood up. He walked over to Prince Edward and began to put the slightly twisted uniform back in place. Without complaining, the crown prince watched Cale as he almost practiced correcting his clothes.

"Caleb...", Crown Prince Edward began , causing the High-Magician to pause briefly and look his counterpart in the eye. "Does William know about what you did for Sylve?"

Surprised, Cale winced and didn't answer. What exactly was he talking about? His work with the soldiers, the relationship between Sylve and Altona, or was it about Kutam? How did he even know that Cale had indirectly helped Sylve, after all, the High-Magician had always tried to go unnoticed?

"No", Cale merely replied. He had rarely told William anything about his work, and certainly never mentioned Sylve. Carefully, Cale straightened the royal crest on the uniform before letting go of it and stepping aside. With a wave of his hand, he led the prince out of the dressing room through back to his room. Cale sensed that Edward had some questions burning on his soul, but he did not ask them. Silently they strode down the stairs back to the entrance hall where his brother and the rest of the group were waiting. Politely, the three said goodbye to them, while William hugged his brother and wished him a safe journey home. He would not appear tomorrow to officially bid him farewell, for then he would inevitably have to face his father, and William wanted to avoid that. He had not come a step closer to his task in the last two years.

Cale accompanied the crown prince back to his room, meeting some mages on the way, who bowed politely to them. Silently, the two men strode outside and followed the path to the other building, while letting his gaze slide over the rooftops of the city.

"Can I ask you a question, Caleb?", Edward finally spoke up, but Cale could hear how nervous he was.

"Anytime", he replied.

"Will Altona survive another attack by the creatures?"

"Yes, she will, after all we are High-Magicians for a reason", Cale replied calmly, even if that was only part of the truth. Cale recalled the work they had done over the past few years.

They had made sure that the surrounding villages were more protected and then assisted them in planting their fields. Without this preparation, they couldn't be able to feed the masses of people coming to Exarion. In addition, the Magistrat put a lot of emphasis on the safety of the city and strengthened the walls many times over. Even if the creatures made it to the wall, they would not be able to enter. The Elder had built several shelters underground, in addition to the large storage warehouses, so that not only the noble visitors, but also the normal residents of the city have a place to retreat. Many of Grischa's inventions have greatly improved the life of the city, one of his masterpieces being the storage of food using an ice crystal - which was based on his own Igrikum. The city continued to flourish in recent years, not knowing what to expect.

"Hearing that out of your mouth is reassuring", Crown Prince Edward gave. She had reached the building by now and Cale followed Edward back to his apartment. The two soldiers duly received the high visitor, while Edward turned to Cale and, to his surprise, took his leave with a bow. Of course, Cale did likewise and watched for a moment as the prince entered the bright room before turning away and walking back the way he came.

A feeling of inner peace spread through Cale. So far, everything was going according to plan, with a positive surprise or two. Philippa, Ben, William, and Aletta were safe in the city and quite capable of defending themselves as a group, the countries more or less working together against the creatures and thanks to the city's measures, they were well prepared for the attack. Once this attack was over, he would try to win Miguel over and have him, along with the group, complete missions. After that, he would begin to seek out the rest of his targets, but that could well take some time. As far as that, however, they would definitely survive the next three years. Assuming the city's survival didn't change anything grave about the future that Cale knew.

But as if fate had noticed that Cale was relaxing for the first time in a long time, his communication crystal contacted him. With amazement, he allowed it to appear in his hand. He expected Grischa to contact him, but it was neither Grischa nor any of the other High-Magicians with whom Cale was in contact. It was a single message and that from Aaron. Aaron Thopas, the 3rd seat of the Magistrat and the High-Magician, with whom Cale got along the worst.

The Elder had a vision of the future.