When he next regained his conscious, his head felt heavy and a little hazy.

“What happened…”

His legs were in front of him, but his arms were behind him. Was he sleeping in such an awkward position?

Gathering whatever conscious he had, Cadeus tried to get up only to find that he can’t.

As he tried again, he soon realized that his hands and legs were bound together by something.

“Huh?”

With a few more movements, the sound of chain clutters could be heard. Hands and legs were properly chained together.

“Ah great… this is just great…”

Feeling a slight tingle of pain at his right arm, Cadeus turned his head down at an angle to see that his right sleeve was folded up. A small bandage was wrapped around his elbow.

With that small patch of red, Cadeus assumed that he was drugged via a syringe.

Now then… the first few questions, where was he, and how did he end up here?

Cadeus pulled his head back, trying to recall the latest set of memories edged in his brain.

He remembered Nadav and Sing, Fremin, and then the tea.

Did they collapse?

Cadeus could not remember.

Looking around, he saw that he’s in a place that greatly resembled some dark cellar.

There is not a lot of light.

Cadeus sighed. In considering his current situation, he needed to free himself first without making a ruckus. Casting a [Point Spell] was out of the question. A fire spell or lighting spell would definitely put his own flesh at risk, especially when Cadeus could not see his own arms. Besides, even if he could, the sounds generated through the spell would definitely attract sentry attention, assuming of course that there were some sentries outside his cell door.

With these thoughts, there’s only one way out of these chains.

Folding his wrists, Cadeus clasped the palm of his left hand on the chains around his wrists and prepared himself to use ‘that’ again. He had always been reluctant to use this gift, but this time, he needed it. ‘That’ would definitely get him out of these chains without raising any alarms.

Closing his eyes to focus, Cadeus took a deep breath first to slowly gather his mind. When he was ready, he casted ‘that’, and before long, he can hear the familiar sizzling sounds of corrosion at work.

Clang!

Cadeus felt the weight of the chains leave his wrist.

Bringing his hands in front, Cadeus took a moment to dust the powdered rusts off his arms before he did the same thing to his legs.

Looking at the feet of the door, Cadeus could see some degree of light. There were no shadows moving, which thoroughly indicates that there would be no one outside.

Getting up, Cadeus spent a few moments to think about escape.

First, he had to find out where he was, get his belongings, and what happened to his friends. Finding out who exactly were his enemies would only be secondary only until he found his friends.

That ought to be the game plan for now.

Now then, let’s get out of here.

Feeling the door, Cadeus found that it is made of solid wood with a metal doorknob.

Casting a [Fire Ball] to blast the door open would be too flashy. Lighting spells won’t help either, and Cadeus did not know any useful enchantments. If Sing were here, she would have immediately thought of something good. Unfortunately, she’s not around right now.

No choice then…

Cadeus pressed his left hand against the locked doorknob.

Casting ‘that’ again, it did not take long for a rusted block of metal to drop from loose wooden chips.

Opening the door silently, Cadeus exited only to find himself at the edge of a corridor. Whoever imprisoned him must have really wanted to isolate him. The funny thing was that there were no sentries, but Cadeus knew, that fact would change in the long run.

TOA

After a few more turns, Cadeus found himself stumbling on a group of two individuals guarding another cellar door.

Pausing his actions, Cadeus soon saw that the two of them were too engrossed in their current conversation to take note of any discrete movements. On a closer observation, they wore pre-sixteenth century leather armour with an addition of several pieces of layered metal plate. In addition, Cadeus can see that they were carrying swords.

With such a dress code, a single word appeared in Cadeus’s head.

“Untouched?”

Untouched, human beings who were born on Zeffernon without the gift to use magic. The lowest of the lowest among Magi society, to the point where their social class could not even be considered a class. Shunned, ignored and mostly looked down upon, the Untouched humans faced the bulk of social discrimination and could only struggle with petty job occupations like cleaners, guards and clerks.

At this point, Cadeus was not sure if he should be happy or disappointed.

Under official circumstances, prisons in Otium would be under the charge of full fledge Mages who had completed their training in one of the Magic Academies on Zeffernon. Though it’s common to have golems and other artificial constructs to act as sentries, the actual personals in charge would still be the mages. Most of these Mages would have already attained the rank of Specialist, and like the Enforcers, they would be extremely difficult threat to deal with as an enemy.

Or at least, that was the impression Cadeus had gotten after meeting the likes of Mr. Morrison.

Well, at the very least, Cadeus was glad that his current enemies could not cast spells. If he were to fight against a full fledge Mage, measurement of success would amount to only 27%. It would be a huge bother to come up with an appropriate plan to deal with a superior foe, especially when he could not fully grasp the fluidity of spells a full fledge Mage could cast.

Thinking about this now, Cadeus had to ask himself.

Why were these Untouched doing here?

Given their current circumstances, were they actually kidnapped by this particular group of Untouched?

“Why are we here?” One of them said.

“Well I heard the Master caught a few young ones.”

“Yes I know that, but why do we have to stay at this area and stand guard? These corridors all lead back to the lounge. He usually does not care if we are at this corridor or at the other.”

“Well not for this case. I hear that one of the new prisoners is some high born Pure Blood.”

“Seriously? How high?”

“Very high. In fact, the Master seems to be acting as if he was from the very top.”

“… No way.”

“I’m serious. I stole a peek inside. He had this unusual white hair, and his skin is unusually pale.”

“Which family is he from?”

“How would I know? Besides, He’s not wearing any family insignia of the sort.”

“No family insignia? Is he disowned?”

“Who cares? Maybe the Master got something to deal with him.”

Just from the word ‘Master’, Cadeus could already identify that their employer would be a Mage. It’s hardly any surprise considering their place in society. The main problem at present would be, the exact rank of their Master, and number of Untouched being employed by this mage.

From what Cadeus had seen so far, the Untouched usually refer their employers as ‘Sir’ or ‘Master’. Discerning the rank of their employer would be difficult, a fair shame, for Cadeus hoped to estimate their opponent’s capacity at least before they try to resist. But in considering the question of who would be rich enough to employ a large group of armed Untouched, the answer would be someone who was at least of the rank of Master.

Now then… how exactly is he going to get out of this?

Attacking them head on would be very stupid. Even though they were Untouched, Cadeus had to keep in mind that their physical build was much stronger and tougher than the average mage. Also, the Untouched did not have to worry about something as troublesome as hitting the Cast Limit.

Even if Cadeus did managed to overwhelm them with a spell or two, there are other sentries to think about. If they raised the alarm, it would be a challenge to deal with every single sentry with the limited number of spells he can cast at the very moment.

Cadeus eventually decided that he would have to leave them alone. From what he had seen, these two sentries were highly reluctant to roam about. So as long as they were stationary, Cadeus would not have to worry about security alert.

Just as Cadeus was about to move to the opposite direction, a familiar voice cut itself into the air.

“Let me get this straight, you guys are locked down here with me just for the sake of keeping an eye on me? How boring can that get?”

“Damn it, he’s talking again! This guy won’t shut up.”

“You two are stuck here until your Master, or whoever the heck he is, returns. That's a lot of time between here and now.”

“Well, our time here isn’t going to be as boring if we get to kick your ass. So shut up!”

“Ah but you see, you are not kicking my ass so I presume you are not allowed to.”

“Someone please shut him up.”

“I mean, what are you guys going to do with all this time? Are you just going to sit there? Sing songs? Read a book? Solve riddles? Oh I know! How about a crossword puzzle? Let’s see… A seven word pattern, one has three letters, one has seven and another has – ”

“That’s it. I’m going in to gag him.”

“Wait. No one enters. Master’s orders.”

“The Master is not going to be here to listen to him wail for the next couple of hours! Do me a favour and open that door so I can shut his yap!”

…

…

…

Nadav, that idiot.

Now Cadeus could not leave things as it was. His friend was confined and could be subjected to torture. Although stealth was a key thing in this situation, Cadeus was not going to abandon his friend just like that.

Cadeus watched as one of the Untouched unlocked the door while the other got himself a rather big piece of cloth. Cadeus froze there for a second to ponder about his next course of actions. The two Untouched were now distracted, perhaps he could catch them off guard.

Moving slightly closer, Cadeus formulated a plan. Discretion is the key element, so Cadeus decided to utilize an element he rarely used, Darkness.

Those born with Pure Dark Magic only had access to three of the seven elements – Fire, Lightning, and Darkness. Fire and Lightning spells were mostly authentic in their offensive and wild nature, but Darkness was a unique element. Many would recognize Darkness for its covertness, but covertness would be an underestimation, for it would be accurate to say that covertness was one of the many properties of the element Darkness.

Cadeus did not want to thing too much on the matter. Darkness was a complex element, it would be foolish to dismiss it just what you see on the surface. It was the reason why even Educator Garth refused to instruct them about the third element until they had progress to the next level, but that’s a story for another time.

Current Cast Limit estimation – about 19 [Point Spells]

Nineteen… that was his current maximum limit…

If there was one thing Cadeus was grateful for this supposed kidnapping, whatever was used to drug him did a fine job of rejuvenating his energy to it’s fullest boundary.

Spreading his fingers, Cadeus made sure his palm captured their image.

“[Sunset].”

Just one word, and the level of brightness around them dimmed at a gradual pace. Cadeus did not swarm them with Darkness, it’s stupid to do so as it would only alert them. All he needed was to dim their surroundings so that they would not sense him coming.

Holding the spell [Sunset] in his head, Cadeus sprang into action. All ten Fingers glittering with lightning sparks, Cadeus made quick soft steps and crept up behind his first target. Before the first Untouched could turn around, Cadeus reached for the one spot in the human body where an electric stun would be highly effective and also extremely deadly, the neck. Clasping one hand on his neck, and the other at his mouth, Cadeus gave his all in that one [Point Spell]. There was no sound, the Untouched’s body shook and jiggled like a squid flushing out its tentacles at a desperate attempt to escape. It only took a couple of seconds before Cadeus felt the weight drop, and that was the cue that he was finally unconscious.

Looking up, Cadeus can still see the second Untouched busy with silencing Nadav’s mouth. Laying the body down gently, Cadeus realized that he made a mistake. Whilst laying the body down, he indirectly allowed [Sunset] to resolve completely. The corridor’s brightness suddenly increased in a drastic flash. Finally realizing that something was out of place, the second Untouched ceased continuing gagging Nadav and made a turn. When he saw Cadeus over his fallen friend, his eyes widened in surprise, but Cadeus was not going to give him another chance.

Dropping the first Untouched, Cadeus jumped at the second Untouched and used his weight to pin him down. One hand went to his throat, the other went to restrain the Untouched’s right wrist. Before Cadeus could quickly cast a spell, the Untouched quickly clasped Cadeus’s lower face with his other free hand.

Wiggling with his grip, the Untouched struggled to get Cadeus off him. In order to avoid falling off to his disadvantage, Cadeus quickly used his right knee to pin the second Untouched down and moved the hand from the Untouched’s throat, to his forehead.

“Sorry, but I am going to have you sleep for a while. [Lightning Caste].”

With a faint flash of bright bluish light, the second Untouched ceased moving. Getting up, Cadeus took five deep breaths to bring his exhilarated mind under control. Nadav, in seeing one of the two faces he’d expected to bust him out, rustled in excitement.

“Yes, yes. I got it.”

First, the mouth.

“Stop moving like that. Do you want to keep chewing on this gag?”

With Nadav’s restless rustling, it took a while before Cadeus managed to pry the gag of cloth out off his mouth.

“Cadeus! You’re here!”

“Obviously?”

“Wait, where’s Sing?”

“I don’t know yet. Do you recall anything?”

“Huh? No. I just woke up in this state.”

Cadeus noted that Nadav’s sleeves were unfolded.

“Excuse me for a second.”

“Huh? What are you – ”

Moving to the back, Cadeus rolled up Nadav’s sleeves, only to see that there were no bandages of the kind.

“They didn’t drug you with a syringe?”

“Hm… no I don’t think so. Why?”

“That because I think they did so to me.”

“Not surprising. You’re a Dark Mage after all, wouldn’t hurt to take that extra precaution.”

“Thank you for pointing out the painful.”

Cadeus was just about to unbind Nadav straight on the dot when he realized that he should not go about casting ‘that’ in front of his friends. Besides, there were keyholes on his chains.

“… Where would your keys be?”

“I don’t know? Check those two.”

Cadeus searched the two Untouched until he found a key ring filled with multiple keys.

“Which ones are for your chains I wonder?”

“Who cares? How long are you going to stand there? Aren’t you going to get me out?”

Cadeus gave a thought.

“Hm… no.”

“… Come again?”

“Nope, I’m not going to free you yet.”

Nadav blinked his eyes, as if he thought he misheard something.

“… What?”

“Sorry Nadav, you are going to stay silent here for a couple more seconds.”

“Huh? What are you – ”

Before Nadav can utter a few more words, Cadeus forced that gag of cloth again into his mouth.

“MMMM! Wwww aaaaaa eeeee uuuu? (Hey! What are you doing?)”

“Sorry. I’ll be back later.”

Cadeus quickly dragged the unconscious sentries in and closed the cellar door.

The key thing in this situation, was stealth. That was a quality that Nadav seriously lacked. Having him around would definitely cause more problems than solving them. If there was a time to free him, Cadeus rather have Sing around first, rather than having to proceed with things the other way round.

Looking around, Cadeus deduced that there should be a couple more cellars around this level.

“Now then… where is Sing?”

TOA

It was not long before he encountered another group of sentries. Towards the end of the corridor, Cadeus encountered what seemed to be a… well, Cadeus was going to say the word lodge, but perhaps the word barracks would suit the place better. The room had a few beds and a small armoury. There were a total of five sentries armed similarly with steel swords and leather armour. At a closer look, they all seem to be leisurly playing a game of dice.

Moving stealthily, Cadeus paused at a hidden corner and gave a thought.

“Five of them, they can't use magic, but that does not mean that they are not a threat.”

Tapping his right knee with his right index finger, Cadeus first thought about his current Cast Limit.

Current Cast Limit estimation – about 19 [Point Spells]

Like the previous encounter, he was outnumbered, serverly outnumbered. But unlike the previous encounter, there was no one to distract the Untouched for Cadeus. There might be a chance that he would be forced to confront all of them in order to resolve this.

But before he could do so, the main situation called for a few things that Cadeus needed to take note of.

Given the lack of concrete information about his location, Cadeus did not know which level he currently was. Should he make a massive scene out of this engagement, the alarm would go off, and every sentry in this building would soon be looking for him.

“Hm… now then, with this in mind, how am I going to go about doing this?”

Cadeus laid out all his cards before him.

First, he had to deal with these sentries quickly, and second, it’s a must to minimize the number of spells he needed to cast. Checking his spell choices, Cadeus instantly knew that the offensive spells he had in mind are all elemental spells. They were efficient enough to render the sentires unconscious, but Cadeus worry about the showiness of such an approach. The usual [Point Spells] would deal the desired damage, but the continuous casting of such noisy spells would compromise discretion. If there were other sentries nearby, they would definitely respond.

What about stealth? Cadeus considered utilizing the Element Darkness to mask his presence, but he soon thought that it would not be helpful either. Even if he got past every sentry to reach Sing, he still would have to return this way for Nadav. Cadeus was not a man who often counts on his luck. There will be a point in time where stealth alone will fail him. Cadeus may have some confidence in his stealth, but not enough to completely sneak past the entire compound.

Hm… no good…

Cadeus leaned back against the wall.

None of the options above would produce the desired result.

There was another option, but that would mean relying on ‘that’ again.

Cadeus paused and looked down at his right hand.

Should he resort to using ‘that’ again?

‘That’, would not make much noise.

‘That’, would not use up as much Cast Limit as the other elemental spells would.

However, if he were not careful, ‘that’ would definitely result in instant kills.

Since ending the lives of the Untouched did not fall under his calculations, Cadeus forsook the option to use ‘that’. Besides, Cadeus hated having to rely on ‘that’ on a continuous basis. He had used enough of ‘that’ for the time being.

Pondering further, Cadeus thought of one last option. It’s a good one suited to the current situation, but it was also an option Cadeus had low confidence in.

That would be, the sword.

Throughout his three months since enrollment, Cadeus had only experienced twelve lessons where he actually held a sword. The reason being was that the Educators wanted the students to experience what was it like to wield a sword against an Untouched.

It was a highly unusual lesson. The main arsenal of a Mage was spells. The idea of holding and using a sword was alien to all but a small minority of White Mages. Initially, the lesson managed to proceed well. Holding the sword was not the issue. Wielding it was where the problem starts. Hacking and slashing, the whole cohort of student mages appeared like an undisciplined mob that had no idea how to properly use a physical weapon.

Besides… was there even a need to know how to use a physical weapon to fight Untouched?

At first, many of his fellow students laughed and scoffed at the idea about taking the Untouched seriously. But when they were asked what would happen if they could not use any spells, well, the situation changed a little bit. It was only up to then were they told that the motive behind the scenario was to simulate what would happen if a Mage, exhausted by casting spells, could only use physical means to defeat Untouched opponents. Despite the logic, many students still neglected the sword, but not Cadeus. In fact, after several lessons, he soon expressed interest in it.

Back on Earth, there was really not much use for swords. With the existence of guns, swords had lost their purpose, resulting in a severe lack of serious treatement towards the blade. Although there were the various club activities of saber fencing, kenjutsu, and various others, Cadeus did not expressed any interest in them due to the lack of practicality in that world. Even if one wanted to pursue the path of the blade, there was not much he could take away for his actions are only limited to self-defense, and it was forbidden to carry real swords in public. Plus, if one would want to collect swords, a license was needed just to buy one. In addition, swords were expensive collectables.

On Zeffernon, there were no guns, and swords were an accepted assesory. Since there was a more practical need for the blade on Zeffernon, learning how to use it was an opportunity Cadeus felt that he should not let go to waste. Of course, he was clumsy at the beginning, extremely clumsy. But using the sword was a matter of adjusting to the right forms.

However, despite taking sword lessons, he was still an amateur when it comes to the blade. Using the sword against a group of professionally trained Untouched was definitely something that calls for the lack of confidence.

A total lack of confidence?

Maybe not so much.

That is, if Cadeus used the sword alone.

Perhaps some small magic could help him?

Hm…

His thoughts in deep consideration, Cadeus closed his eyes and gave a moment to relax his mind.

Pacing his breathing, he pictured himself surrounded by a sea of black.

Focusing his energy within, he felt his eyes narrow, and soon there was a stressful bulge forming in between his eyes. He felt his pulse pumping and soon the familiar sense of exhilaration kicking in. His mind and body felt clearer and lighter, and his mind entered into some sort of transcended state. Feeling the weight of the magic, Cadeus momentarily surrendered himself to the growing exhilaration within.

As he did so, Cadeus soon heard his own heartbeat pumping loudly like a continuous siren, and he could feel the faint magical presences within the five Untouched.

With his thoughts in the clear, Cadeus soon formulated several scenarios using different methods and different outcomes. When he finally opened his eyes. He soon knew what to do and how to go about achieving it.

He waited, for the opportune moment.

One of the five soon threw his hands into the air in anger and left the group while the others ridiculed his lack of winning rows. Moving towards Cadeus’s position, he stopped at a table to put his sword down and pour himself a pint of beer. That was when Cadeus acted. Springing from his hidden location, the Untouched only saw him at the very last minute. As his eyes widened, Cadeus clasped his hands onto his face, and gave him an electric shock. It was not a complete [Point Spell]. It’s just a simple application of the element Lightning, but it was more than enough to knock him out.

Without waiting for the body to fall, Cadeus grabbed the steel sword and quickly turned towards the other four. Although he was light footed, he was soon identified when one of the other Untouched saw him approaching.

By the time the rest were alerted, Cadeus had already unsheathed the steel sword he had taken and took the basic battle stance with his hands together. Although handling the sword was still something Cadeus was uncomfortable with, he was not entirely oblivious to the point of unfamiliarity.

When the Untouched were all on their feet, Cadeus quickly enhanced the blade with a thin layer of electricity. A few sparks and the blade was thourouhly coated. The coating element was not entirely visible to the eye, but some flickers of bluish white could be seen sparkling around the blade.

At first, the Untouched were wary of Cadeus. Student or not, he still appeared to be a mage, and it was within the Untouches’s natural instincts to regard mages with caution. However…

“Wait… This kid, he’s holding a sword?”

“Careful, he’s a mage.”

“Even if he was, why isn’t he casting any spells?”

“Maybe he could not cast any at the moment.”

With that thought blurted out, three of the four exchanged smirks of new founded confidence. They came at once, swords already drawn. Cadeus merely raised his sword in a slanted defensive stance. Although the Untouched identified the flickers of electricity around his blade, they still came at him with confidence.

The steel sword felt heavier than Cadeus expected, at least heavier than the practice swords that the Academy provided, but it’ll suffice.

The Untouched on his left gave a high swing with his sword. Moving his own sword up, steel soon clashed against steel. From the moment the blades collided, the electricity raced from Cadeus’s blade to the opposing steel. The Untouched staggered a little due to the small electric charges, but it was all that Cadeus needed.

Repositioning the sword, Cadeus immediately brought up his blade to his right shoulder and parried another strike. When the second Untouched staggered, Cadeus quickly stepped back to avoid another swing from the third Untouched. It was a dangerous swing, but Cadeus had long grown used to the sense of danger. Bringing his sword up once again, all Cadeus had to do was to deflect another blow to give the third Untouched the eletric shock. Once all all three opponents staggered struggling to regain proper control over their bodies, Cadeus quickly brought his hands out in front of him.

While one hand still held onto the sword, Cadeus brought the magical energies to his fingertips and casted one of his favourites.

“[Lightning Pulse]!”

Three bright hot arcs of lightning flew out of each set of fingertips and ensnared the first two Untouched. Redirecting the energy, Cadeus connected them together with the third. Before long, the three Untouhed found themselves being cacooned in eletricity. They were soon lifted off the ground and started spinning in all sorts of directions. After holding the spell for several more seconds, Cadeus allowed the spell to fully resolve resulting. Once the ensnaring eletricity dissapeared, their spinning captives were soon flung towards three different directions, crashing either into the wall or the ground.

Whichever part of the room they landed, they never got up again.

With one last person remaining, Cadeus’s attention went to the last man.

In seeing that he was the last one, the sole remaining Untouched soon dropped his weapon and quickly collapsed butt first onto the floor.

“Wait! Wait! I’m just a simple guard. I’m just doing my duty. Please, just spare me and walk away. I’ll pretend that I didn’t see you.”

Well, this saved Cadeus the effort to interrogate him.

“I need answers, and you are going to give them to me.”

“Sure! Sure! Anything.”

“First, who is your master?”

“How would I know? You mages are all the same!”

So he did not know his master’s identity after all, shame.

“Where am I?”

“The Master’s Mansion.”

“A mansion? Here? You could have thought of a better lie.”

“I did not! This is the underground level!”

Well that’s something good to know, now for the exact number of enemies.

“How many other guards are there?”

“The others? Currently there were only the seven of us. There were two others that were stationed at the corridor where you came from. Well, since they are not here, perhaps… they are dealt with…”

“How many of you Untouched did your master employ?”

“A-A couple dozen, but most of them had already left. The master took them when he left the mansion three hours ago.”

“So is there no other guards in our present location?”

“N-No!”

Three hours… they must have left either by foot or teleportation, but it did not matter.

What was important was that there were no other guards around.

Time for the last question.

“When your master imprisoned us, there was a girl dressed in white. Where is she?”

“Ah yes! I remember. She’s isolated in the other corridor on the right.”

As he pointed, Cadeus quickly made that mental note before deciding what to do next. Time was of the essence. Cadeus soon felt that he had to quickly wrap this up if he wants to move on. There could be other potent threat in this unknown environment.

Without further due, Cadeus grabbed the man’s throat and gave him an eletric shock.

The last Untouched jiggled like a squid. It did not take long for him to lose conscious.

With the room quiet, Cadeus took some time to pile up the unconscious bodies to a corner. Once he was done, he covered them slightly with a few bundles of fabric cloths before moving onwards to look for Sing.

TOA

After peeking in a few more cellars down the designated corridor, Cadeus noted that the rest seemed to be deserted. With his observations so far, Cadeus started making a deduction; a near empty prison, Untoucheds for sentries, with the three of them as the only prisoners. This must be a private jail, one that has no ties to the Enforcers or any legal government.

With a few more glances, it did not take Cadeus long enough to find the right one. Unlocking the door, Cadeus opened to find Sing on the floor bounded in the same manner just like he was just a couple of minutes ago.

She’s still unconscious.

Her clothes were still intact. Good, their captors did not give her any rough treatment.

Cadeus moved up to her and patted her shoulder.

“Sing? Wake up.”

After a few more attempts, Sing struggled and she eventually opened her eyes.

The look on her face when she identified his appearance reflects confusion and . It took her a moment before she finally realized that the boy in front of her was indeed her close childhood friend.

“Cadeus?”

Cadeus went behind her and started with her wrists, trying to figure out the right key in the process.

“You all right?”

“Just… woke up. What happened?”

“What do you remember?”

Cadeus rolled up Sing’s sleeves to get a better look, only to see that there was no syringe piercing on her elbows either.

“We were with Fremin… then the tea!”

“The tea?”

“Yes. I think we collapsed after drinking the tea. He must have placed some sort of sleeping concoction in our cups.”

Ah… now Cadeus fully remembered.

“If Nadav was here, he would say something like ‘Sounds familiar, wait. This is just like the police drama back on Earth’.”

“You mean Nadav is not with you?”

“No. At least not right now.”

“Do you know where Nadav is?”

“Yes. In a cell just at the other corridor.”

“You did not break him out?”

“Let’s just say he’s more likely to cause more trouble without his chains.”

“Cadeus…”

“Relax. I’m obviously not going to leave him behind. Just after I got to you first.”

Click!

With the switch of the right key, Cadeus finally got Sing’s arms free. Giving her room to feel her wrists, Cadeus passed her the key ring so that she could free her legs herself. While fiddling with the keys, Sing asked Cadeus a rhetorical question.

“How did you get out of your cell?”

“Hm?”

“These chains are not normal chains. They are made of Derithmodule Quartz. Should you attempt to cast any spells, the quartz will absorb the magic before you can use it to assume a spell form.”

“Derithmodule Quartz? Sounds like that Derithmodule statue guy at… what’s that street? Derithmodule’s Monument?”

“Same person. He made the quartz. You still have not answered my question.”

Hm… now how would Cadeus make this sound right?

Cadeus can’t tell Sing about ‘that’, as ‘that’ would be one of the last things he wanted his close friends to know.

“Let’s just say that I used something Dark.”

Sing gave him a frown, but with the awareness of Cadeus’s capabilities as a Dark Mage, she never pursued the issue.

Finding the right key, Sing made short work of her remaining chains. Helping her up, Cadeus turned and gave her a little room for her personal space.

“When you are ready, we better go back for Nadav.”

“Hold it.”

“Hm?”

“Turn around.”

“Is there something you need? …Eh?”

Before he knew it, Sing reached out to him, wrapped her arms around his abdomen and drew him close.

What the…

“Sing?”

“Just… let me do this for a second.”

“…”

Sing hugged Cadeus.

Was he dreaming?

Cadeus had never been this up close to Sing before.

Hold on, why is this even happening?

With so many questions bubbling in his head, Cadeus stood like a rock without a change in his cold face.

Silence resumed for the next couple of seconds. Cadeus could hear her deep, slow breaths and feel her heartbeat. Thanks to her tight grip around him, Cadeus could feel her slim body and her natural curves, not to mention a certain developing part above her abdomen, which was the primary cause for him to blush slightly.

For a second there, Cadeus gave a thought about wrapping his arms around her in return to give her some comfort. There was nothing wrong with that since that was what people do normally.

However, Cadeus could not do it. Or rather, he was not sure if he should. There was a saying that there was a time and place for everything. Cadeus was unsure if the action of hugging her was appropriate given the situation around them.

Should he comfort her?

Or should he respect her personal poace?

Ah screw it… what’s the harm? He thought.

Slowly and awkwardly, Cadeus rested his right hand on Sing’s head and slowly stroke her soft hair while the other hand went to her back.

This current experience… felt slightly awkward at first. But Cadeus knew that Sing had her own circumstances. Even the mightiest minds could have their own arcs of crisis. Cadeus would not be surprised if Sing was currently experiencing some sort of emotional breakdown.

Eventually, Sing decided to let him go. When she did, the two of them automatically kept a distance from each other. After Sing spent a moment gathering her usual self, she opened her mouth in apology.

“Sorry. It can be scary for a girl to wake up only to discover that she had been kidnapped. I’m used to being teleported out of nowhere, but I’m definitely not used to people drugging me and shutting me off for unknown motives.”

“… No problem. In fact, I’m quite surprised you could handle our first few dubious quests. Remember what happened during the Gordon’s Mirror Board Quest? I nearly chicken myself out after being teleported into that weird dimension. But you were so calm when we found each other.”

“Like I said, I’m used to being teleported out of nowhere.”

“Childhood training?”

“Yes. Something I can thank my father for.”

Before they knew it, the two of them then just stood there staring at each other.

Just for a brief second, Sing was the whole world to Cadeus. He found himself mesmerized by her brown eyes, her russet brown hair, her intelligence and her elegant character. There was always something in her that captivated him, something in her that existed ever since they both first worked together back when they were younger on Earth.

It definitely was not love on sight. Cadeus was not drooling over her when he first laid eyes on her, but it was certainly a feeling that slowly developed the more time he spent around her.

Cadeus did not know how Sing saw him as a person, perhaps he will never know. But at least…

No.

Cadeus inwardly shook his head.

He should not.

How could he dare reach out to such a girl when he could not even bring himself to tell her about ‘that’?

If he ever dare make a mention about ‘that’ to her, she would definitely view him differently. Cadeus was highly confident of that. A moralistic person like Sing who already despised the working ethics of Dark Mutators would definitely not overlook this dreadful ability he possessed.

No, no, no…

Wanting desperately to break out of this extremely uncomfortable silence, Cadeus looked away and abruptly changed the subject.

“We better head back to Nadav.”

“… Agreed.”

Cadeus about turned and was just about to move out to the corridor when Sing called for him again.

“Cadeus…”

“Yes?”

“Thank you. For finding me.”

“Sure.”

TOA

“MMMMM!!!!! WWWWWWWW!!!!! MMMMMMM!!!!! (Strongly muted muffled sounds)”

“Sigh… I got it. I got it.”

Cadeus slowly pried that piece of gag off Nadav’s mouth.

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR? LEAVING ME BEHIND!”

“Relax, at least you are now more comfortable than before.”

“MORE COMFORTABLE? ARE YOU NUTS?”

Cadeus walked behind Nadav.

“Quit moving so wildly. Do you want these chains off or not?”

“OH! Now you decided to free me? Seriously? Can you believe this guy Sing?”

“Well he did saved you from those Untouched. You can’t argue against that.”

“Geh! That may be true, but that still does not give him the excuse to just leave me bounded when he should have freed me!”

“Stealth was never your strong suit Nadav. If I were to let you out of the bag, where’s the guarantee that you won’t blow out our secret escape.”

“But… But still!”

“Enough!”

As usual, Sing cut herself in before things got out of hand.

“Less in-fighting, more brain storming. We still don’t know where we are.”

Cadeus freed Nadav’s wrists and passed him the keys to let him do the rest.

Walking out, Cadeus gave Sing his own set of deductions.

“If you want my guess, we are most likely in a private jail. Given how there is absolutely no window and sunlight, we are most likely in the basement.”

“And our culprit is most likely our commissioner.”

“Well, we’ll find out about that soon enough. Next question, how long were we unconscious?”

“What’s the time?”

Cadeus waved his palms out in an ‘I don’t know’ fashion.

“No belongings, no watch.”

“Then I guess we have to recover them first.”

Nadav finally freed his legs and tossed the chains aside.

“So? What’s the game plan?”

“We find our belongings, bust ourselves out, and then… we decided how to continue.”

“Right! Belongings!”

Nadav puffed his chest out and gave it a slam of confidence.

“Leave that to me.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“What? Why are you two looking at me with those ‘I doubt this person can do it’ eyes?”

“Well… Let’s just say that Sing and I are very doubtful about your capabilities to contribute anything useful at this point of time.”

“Oi! That’s mean! Even I got my own aces up my sleeves.”

“I’m sorry to say this too Nadav, but in most cases, your aces usually do not make a lot of difference.”

“Not Sing too!!!! Is my awesome Nadav screen time going to be cut flat just like this?!”

“Screen time? What do you think this is? A movie?”

“If this was a movie, I would be surprised that Nadav got that much screen time.”

Getting arrowed by his two close friends, Nadav dropped down to his hands and knees.

“This is the end… this is the end of the line. Am I just going to be a simple footnote in this life?”

Sing gave Cadeus the ‘Oh dear, it looks like we went too far…’ look.

Well, perhaps having a plan is still better than having no plan…

Cadeus folded his arms.

“What do you have in mind Nadav?”

Nadav instantly got up with a chalk in his hand.

“This!”

Oh! He came back to life.

“… How exactly can a chalk help us?”

Nadav reached for his pocket and took out a piece of crumpled paper. Using the chalk, he drew a circle with the four points of North, South, East and West.

“… Please don’t tell me that’s a compass.”

“Relax. It’s a trick I picked up from my grandmother.”

“Let me guess. This piece of paper is going to show us where your belongings are going to be.”

“Yes… wait, how did you know about this?”

“By observation.”

Cadeus rubbed his temple to get rid of the mild headache that started developing in his forehead, for good reason. This is going to be a bad idea.

“Well, well, it’s not as bad as it looks. Remember the game Call of Duty?”

“This is not the time to get gaming inspirations Nadav.” Sing said.

“Wait, wait. This is the trick. You see, there is a homing stone emblem in my sling bag. All I need to do, is to cast the spell, and then…”

Nadav worked his own magic, and then, a bright yellow dot can be seen at the edge of the circle inidicating the direction of east.

“There we go. All we have to do then is just proceed until we get our stuff!”

“…”

“…”

“What? Are you two impressed? You are both impressed right?”

Contrary to Nadav’s belief, his two friends are far from impressed.

“… This is just a simple form of tracing magic, a child’s play.”

“Yeah, I have to agree with Sing. It’s nothing amazing.”

“Oi! If that’s the case, then why is it that you two failed to come up with something like this?”

“That’s because I have a better idea.” Sing said.

“Oh? Let’s hear it then!”

Behaving like a kid, Nadav folded his arms and dared Sing to prove his idea wrong.

Sing reached out her palm for the chalk in Nadav’s hand.

“May I?”

“…”

Though reluctantly, Nadav passed the chalk over. Sing reached for her hair and took off her hairclip. Flipping the hairclip upside down, Sing revealed a rune mark. It’s a strange rune not from a culture that was familiar to Cadeus. It’s a rather simple rune; three curl lines formed the borders while there was a marked symbol at the centre. Since it was not from a distinguished culture from Earth, Cadeus assumed that it could be one of Zeffernon’s many arcane runes, but that’s another topic for another day.

Bending her knee, she copied the rune and traced it on the floor. It looks like she was not going to use the rune that was on her hairclip. Well, it makes sense. Once used, the rune will disappear. If you can't memorize the rune, it would definitely be more efficient to create and utilize another copy.

Once she was done, Sing placed her fingers on the edge of the rune she marked on the floor, and applied a small amount of magic.

“[Locate and Retrieve].” She uttered.

With her White Magic, the rune that she marked on the floor glowed in bright white and soon, there was a sudden flash of white.

Cadeus and Nadav had to cover their eyes to minimize the blindness.

When they opened their eyes again, the white light was gone, and so was the rune on the floor. But what was in place of the rune Sing marked on the floor, were all their belongings.

Satisfied, Sing returned the chalk to a mystified looking Nadav and made a gesture towards her proud handiwork.

“There we go. Isn’t this much simpler?” Sing asked.

“Well, it definitely saves more time as compared to Nadav’s idea.” Cadeus followed.

“Ah! Damn it! Why is it that you two always look down on my capabilities? Are you two freaking Cassandra?”

Suddenly viewing his friends as his presumed, oppressive non-blood related sibling, Nadav could only look at Sing with a slightly cold expression and ask her his next question.

“So? How exactly did you pull that one off?”

To answer Nadav’s question, Cadeus went up to his sling bag and noticed a glowing rune similar to the one he saw on Sing’s hairclip.

“She marked our bags with the same rune on her hair clip.”

“Geh! Are you serious?”

“See it for yourself.”

Nadav went up and took his own sling bag.

“You’re right. The rune is there.”

Nadav flashed that part of the bag towards Sing.

“When did this happen?”

“Since Gordan’s Mirror.”

“Ah! …Crap I hated that Board Quest.” Nadav said.

“So Cadeus, what's the time?” Sing asked.

Cadeus went to his sling bag and spent several seconds searching. Thankfully, whoever confiscated their belongings decided to just leave everything in their bags. Cadeus’s pocket watch was left untouched and untempered.

Cadeus was glad. That pocket watch had been one of his mother’s farewell presents; he’d really hated it if he lost it.

“Time now is… 5:13 am?”

“Geh! It’s morning already? OH NO! We did not make it for curfew!!”

“Calm down Nadav. It’s not the end of the world.”

“We need to get back to the Aademy!!! We need to get back to the Academy!!!”

“And how exactly are we going to do that? Where exactly are we going to get a carriage, this early, in this area?” Cadeus said.

“Gh!”

In seeing that that managed to shut him up, Cadeus sighed and quickly brought the three of them back into focus. Since they had their belongings, their priority should be getting out. Other than those two sentries, Cadeus doubt that there were anyone else at present on this current level. All they got to do now is discretely find their way out. Well, since there were in the basement, there can only be one direction, up.

TOA

After a rough count of twenty minutes, the trio ascended from a series of stairs only to find themselves in a familiar hall.

“This is… Fremin’s Mansion right?”

“Yup, it looks like Sing right on the dot. Fremin was our abductor.”

Stepping into the hall, the three of them saw that they were back on the ground level in Fremin’s mansion. Looking back, Cadeus saw that they came out what seemed like a carefully constructed sealed door. Since the door opened outwards from a concealed stone structure, Cadeus assumed that other than a concealed switch, the door could be easily unlocked and revealed from the inside.

Moving around, the mansion appears to be deserted. There were no lights, no signs of activity. There were no maidservants, no other Untouched and clearly not even the master of the house was present.

Perhaps that guard was speaking truth when he said that their master took everybody else.

In this situation, the next ideal route would be to find a way to escape and secure their own personal safety. The three of them were still in enemy territory. If they do not find somewhere safe, they would be captured again. However, if there were really no one present at the moment, perhaps they could investigate why they were in cellars.

Thinking about this option, Cadeus turned to Sing.

“Sing, could you find out if there is anyone else in this mansion?”

Sing gave a thought.

“If I use that same spell during the Mystical Box Quest, sure. But let me confirm this, you just want me to find out if there are no other humans in this mansion right?”

“Yes.”

“Ok. Give me a minute.”

Sing knelt down on the floor folding her legs underneath her thighs. She brought her hands up, spread her fingers, and invert her hands so that both her index and middle fingers faced each other. Closing her eyes, she pictured the spell form in her head. When she was ready, she opened her eyes and stared hard ahead.

“[Far Sight]!”

Just for a short moment, Sing’s pupils changed from her usual brown, to a bright glittering dawn blue. Nothing happened after that, but Cadeus knew that Sing was steadily processing the information they need.

[Far Sight] is a White Clairvoyance spell. It grants the user a brief glimpse scanning past physical objects around a full 180-degree angle. While scanning, the spell would also allow the user to pick up certain life signs within a specified radius, whose size was determined by the caster’s own estimations. The only downside to this spell is that the scan only works on humans. If there were other magical presences such as familiars or sentry golems, the spell will not pick them up.

After scanning for a couple of minutes, Sing’s pupils returned to normal, hinting that she was done.

“So how did it go?” Cadeus asked.

Sing gave them a thumbs up.

“All clear.”

It was clear that other than the basement dungeon, the mansion was clearly deserted.

Nadav rested his hands behind his back.

“So… since there is no one here, what do we do now?”

“We just got abducted. I believe we should find out why.” Sing said.

“… Isn't that a little dangerous Sing? We just barely got out with all our limbs intact… How about this? We’ll quickly find a way to get out of this mansion, quickly find a way to get back to the Academy and we can just forget about all of this…”

As usual, the two friends had other plans in mind.

“No. I agree with Sing. We stay and find out why we were in that state.”

“You too Cadeus? What’s going on with all of you? Am I the only one at present who is worried about our damn curfew? What if the Academy suspends us?”

Funny… he always had different priorities… perhaps one of these days I ought to cut open his brain for analysis… could end up being useful in the long run… Cadeus thought to himself.

“We won’t get suspended Nadav. We’ll only get punished. The Educators will probably make us to cleaning jobs for the next few days at most.”

“Isn't that worse than being suspended?”

“Don’t worry Nadav, if curfew is the main concern, not all is lost. Breakfast commences at 7:30. We have three hours at most to return to the Academy. If we made it back in time, the Educators would just mark us off as having spent the night in the capital. Plus, we can get Felkor to vouch for our stay in the capital if we ask him to.” Sing said.

Unconvinced, Nadav threw an accusing gaze at Sing.

“Impossible. That’s not going to happen.”

“Actually, it is possible. Given that our carriage ride here is at least 35 minutes, it should take us roughly at least an hour and a half of walking to reach the capital outskirts. After that, all we have to do is to get a carriage to Felkor’s, ask him to help us write and sign a letter of witness, and then get a carriage back again into the Academy.” Cadeus interjected.

With absolutely nothing to counter their combined prowess of deduction, Nadav sighed in frustration and gave up.

“All right. Fine. Since you two have the plan, I’ll leave things to you.”

Cadeus gave another rough scan to the empty mansion.

“Let’s head back up to the second level. Perhaps we can find out how and why he kidnapped us.”

TOA

Within minutes, the trio found themselves staring at the exact same spot they previously were before the knock out. Even with the dim lighted room, Cadeus can see tilted and broken teacups all around the table floor with dried tea spills that gave a heavy dark stain.

It appears that Fremin did not have the luxury of time to clean up this mess.

Why indeed?

If he was indeed involved in some dubious plot as Miss Allis suspected, was he in a rush for it?

Moving up, Sing went up to the teapot, opened the lid and sniffed the scent within.

“Tea still smells normal despite the cold. I’ll see if there is anything that might have caused us to lose our conscious. If not, he might have casted a sleeping spell on us, a powerful one at that.”

Sing soon got herself busy, taking out a small pouch, she unzipped it and took out all sorts of apparatus.

“Oh! He forgot to take the payment! Lucky~!”

Perhaps the only one who was rather dense about the severity of their current situation, Nadav leisurely quickly went to the table and snatched the coin purse that was obviously left behind.

“I’ll keep this for safekeeping.”

Yes, yes, whatever.

After glancing around, Cadeus ended up dismissing the rest of the room. There was nothing else worthy of interest, and he could not sense any other magical presences. If there were any sort of enchantments or concealed traps, he would have at least felt some degree of danger. Since there was nothing, this room was roughly safe. Moving up, Cadeus could only lean his elbow against the wall while waiting for Sing to complete her analysis.

“Hm… reaction to Arturis Powder… Fortuvite? No… Jurdesfur?” Sing uttered.

Again, more unfamiliar terms.

Cadeus closed his eyes and tried to ignore the words that were coming out of Sing’s mouth. The more he hears and digests her words, the more confused he would get.

Turning around, Cadeus exited the room and his gaze went to the corridor that would eventually lead to that mysterious room right next to the library.

Sing was to first to notice this change. Seeing Cadeus staring into space, she called out to him.

“Cadeus?”

Cadeus did not reply. His mind was in deep thought. After thinking about what should be done, Cadeus eventually decided to pay that room another visit.

“Guys, I’ll be looking ahead.”

“Eh?” Sing turned in surprise.

“Where are you going?”

“There was a room I came across yesterday that seems outwardly suspicious. I’m going to have a look.”

“Are you sure? Isn’t it much safer if we move as a group?”

“You look like you’ll take some time. Don’t forget, if we intend to return to the academy by 7:30 am, we got to leave soon.”

“But Cadeus…”

“Relax. There is no one else present in this building right?”

“I’ll come as well. There’s nothing else for me to do here actually.” Nadav volunteered.

Sing looked at her two friends with strong reluctance in her eyes, but in the end, she sighed and gave up.

“Be careful the two of you. Even though there are no more people in this building, the same could not be said of other magical presences. Don’t go wandering into a magical trap now.”

“No worries, no worries! I Nadav! Can smell traps from a mile away!”

“Again with the exaggerations… please keep an eye on him Cadeus.”

“I definitely will.”

Leaving Sing to her own devises, Cadeus and Nadav left her and proceed to the mysterious room.

TOA

As soon as they entered the mysterious room, the first thing Nadav did, was to dust the dirt off his uniform, rub his hands together and went “bababababababababababababa”. Looking at this ridiculous display, Cadeus could not help but ask.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Can't you see? I’m warding!”

“Warding what?”

“Warding curses away from me.”

Cadeus was this close to giving himself a face palm. The term ‘warding off curses’ stems of ignorance on the part of those who were not familiar with how curses exactly work. Magic was indeed a superstitious subject, but Nadav’s currently actions went beyond what would normally be accepted as magically superstitious.

In short, pure nonsense.

You can curb, or lift the curse. But there is no such thing as warding off curses.

“… Even if there is such a thing as ‘warding off curses’, I do not think that is how you do it.”

“Shut up! I have my own way of doing things!”

“You better stop it. Besides, there is nothing wrong with being in this room.”

“Nothing wrong? Can't you see how dark this place is?”

“Yes I can feel that. There is definitely Dark Magic at work here, but the magic aura in this place is not that dangerous.”

“Not dangerous? Are you mad? Don’t you feel the heat of it in the air?”

“That’s just a natural trait of Dark Magic. It’s the same back when we are at the swamp. Don’t you remember?”

“Nope, I don't, and I don’t even want to remember. That place is as horrible as it is here right now. In fact, all Dark places are horrible.”

“Apologize. Apologize to all the Dark Mages out there right now.”

“What would you do if I don’t?”

“I’ll beat you.”

“Bababababababababababababa.”

In seeing his idiotic friend stubbornly sticking to his nonsensical way of warding off curses, Cadeus could only shake his head and return his attention to the contents of this room.

So far, the contents of this room greatly resembled to what Cadeus saw in the Dark Laboratory in Tenebris Vacuum. Jars full of questionable organs, research notes aligned with magic circles, were all radiating the familiar sensation of Dark Magic. The more Cadeus observed the various objects in this room, the more this Fremin character deemed dubious.

What caught the most of his attention was a huge manuscript that was hung on the side of the wall. What was drawn on the paper was a huge magic circle crossed with many symmetrical patterns accompanied by various symbols and runic inscriptions. With the singular colour of deep red, the symbols all looked gothic in nature, but Cadeus suspected a more sophisticated origin.

Moving up, Cadeus reached out his fingers and felt the thick lines.

At first, he thought it was paint, or ink. However, when he felt a strong presence of magic within the red strokes and lines, blood felt more like a convincing material. Whether it was animal blood or human blood, it remains to be seen.

At the bottom of the circle, Cadeus eyes went to a small handwritten note. If he was not paying a full 100% alert, he would definitely have missed it and dismiss the shade as an outlying shadow.

“… Must further develop Corruption research?”

That was what was written.

Cadeus, unable to comprehend this small note, came to a consensus.

Was Fremin really a Grey?

That was what Cadeus wanted to ask.

Whatever this Fremin was researching, it was too Dark.

Besides… Corruption research.

Was that a reference to corruptive nature of Dark Magic?

Cadeus did come across that term once or twice. But he was not fully aware of that that term represents.

After several more minutes, Sing entered the room.

When she saw Nadav’s superstitious behaviour, she looked to Cadeus for an explanation. Cadeus merely shrugged his shoulders helplessly, and the two soon left their clownish friend to his own devices.

“Wow… this is quite a room.” Sing said after taking an over glance at the state of this room.

“Any results Sing?” Cadeus asked.

“I can’t tell if it was Fringustuv or Jurdesfur.”

“I see…”

Not knowing what the heck Fringustuv or Jurdesfur was, Cadeus decided to ignore those terms and allowed Sing some space to observe her surroundings.

She stared at the organs in the jars, and then the ambiguous runic circles.

“This… is quite the research. Even I don’t dare to know what Fremin was attempting to study.”

“It seems odd doesn’t it? Fremin is a Grey Mage, and yet he is studying a lot of things related to Dark Magic.”

“He couldn’t. His blood concentration would not allow him to dwell into something this deep. There must be an accomplice. It’s either that, or Fremin is lying about his identity.”

“Well, that is not for us to find out.”

Sing turned to Cadeus with concern in her eyes.

“Whatever it is, this is clearly beyond what we can comprehend. I think we might have stumbled upon something we are not supposed to see. If we get dragged deeper into this, I fear we may bite more than we can chew.”

“What’s the surprise? We have been through a lot that was similar.” Cadeus made a side reference to the dubious quests they had taken up of late.

Sing gave a soft laugh, but her expression soon became serious.

“We got lucky, really lucky to made it out in the past few Board Quests. But, I think we better not get further involved in this, least… we get the attention of the Enforcers.”

With the simple word ‘Enforcers’, a bulb flashed itself in Cadeus’s head.

“Sing, you are amazing.”

Sing raised her eyebrows in amazement.

“Eh? Am I?”

“Yes you absolutely are. You just reminded me that we have a way out of all of this.”

“And that is?”

Cadeus wasted no further time. He brought his sling bag in front of him and started searching. Curious, Sing moved forward slightly to get a closer look. After several more searches with the hand, Cadeus took out the Caller that was recently passed to him.

When Nadav saw the Caller in his hands, he soon stopped his nonsensical actions and gave a huge cry.

“OOOHHHH!!!! Is that what I think it is?!”

“Quit making such a fuss Nadav.”

“You are going to call her?”

“What else?”

“……………Call her?”

Unaware of what exactly was going on, Sing found herself being left out.

“Guys? What exactly is going on? Cadeus, who are you calling? How did you get that Caller?”

“Wait… how on earth do I work this out?”

“Huh? You are saying you don’t know how to operate that thing?”

“It’s my first time holding one.”

“Aw man, you suck!”

“Quit being useless and help me do this call.”

“Ok, ok.”

Nadav quickly walked over to Cadeus’s side. While they both busy themselves over the Caller, both made the terrible mistake of leaving Sing out of the loop.

“So? How exactly do you work this thing? There are no buttons to dial. Is this a one-sided thing?”

Nadav took the Caller from Cadeus’s hands and held it up with both his hands at each of the device’s side.

“You are supposed to apply magic into it, and just imagine the person’s face while you do so.”

“Is that it? Just apply magic and imagine anyone?”

“Yup… that’s just basically about it.”

“Are you kidding me? It’s that simple? You mean to tell me that you can call anyone on the planet with just one of these devices?”

“So as long as they have the same group link. Group links have certain runic signatures that can be copied or written with magic within the Caller. Once you got a link, you can call anyone who shares that same link. That is, assuming that you know anyone within the group link. If not, you can always create a new link with a new rune.”

“Heh… so they are not so universal as compared to Earth’s smart phones.”

“Well… I heard that the Caller is still a work in progress.”

“And if others call you, how would you answer it?”

“Just press this button at the centre. Hold on, I think I got it.”

The Caller finally reacted, and soon an image appeared right in front of their eyes.

“HELLO~! Miss your big sister already?”

“… How many times do I have to say not to force the image of an older sister to people you have just met.”

“Ahaha~ it’s ok! Even if you don’t want it, your big sister here will still treat you like her own little brother.”

“… I’m not sure what to make of this.”

“It’s ok~ just count yourself lucky you have a big sister to watch over you.”

What appeared in front of the trio was a small 3d image of Miss Allis. Unlike the casual civilian get up from the last time they met her, this time, Miss Allis was dressed in what looks like the Enforcer’s working uniform. Though it was a relatively small image, it was clear that she is currently in a sitting position. She had a desk in front of her, and she was sitting whilst leaning forward against her left elbow. Although her left hand casually went to a ‘V’ pose next to her eyes, with that desk and her uniform, it was rather clear where she was at this moment in time.

“What the… it’s only 5 am in the morning and you are already at office?”

“Yeah! I know right? This is what happens when we do not have enough manpower for all the work we have to do. Even right now I am drowned in paper work… Sigh… this is what happens when we don’t have a lot of Dark Mages in office.”

“I see…”

Seeing Miss Allis’s state currently before him, Cadeus was suddenly reminded about a certain lone Dark Mage who had to handle all the complain and damage reports in the Academy’s Student Council.

“Hey Cadeus… hurry up and graduate so that you can join the Enforcers. Don’t worry. Your big sister here will be very nice to you~.”

“… Graduation is a long way. Even if I were to join the Enforcers, there is still no guarantee that I will be assigned to your squad.”

“Tch! So boring. At least try to be more optimistic.”

“… I am not so sure if being in your squad counts as optimistic… wait, why are we even talking so casually like this?”

Reminded of the sense of danger he and his friends are currently in, Cadeus quickly changed the topic.

“Miss Allis, we – ”

“Come to think of it, it’s still 5 am, why are you guys calling me so early in the morning?”

“… It took you this long to ask something as obvious as that?”

Cadeus gave a sigh.

“Miss Allis, We are currently at Fremin’s place. When we handed the powder over to him yesterday, we were drugged and locked up in a basement dungeon.”

When she head that, Miss Allis went into silence. Though it was an after image of the real person, Cadeus can clearly see the fire that was slowly developing in her eyes.

“Cadeus. What did you just said?”

“I said, we are currently at Fremin’s place. When we handed the powder over to him yesterday, we were drugged and locked up in a basement dung – ”

“YYYYYAAAAAHHHHHOOOOOO!!!!!!!!”

Miss Allis suddenly gave a huge cry.

“W…What?”

“A LEAD!!!!!!!!! I have been stuck in a deadlock for three days straight because of the lack of any activities. But finally! I can act!”

“… You aren’t in the least concerned that something crucial might have happened to us?”

“All right. You big sister is all fired up. Buckle up boys, your cute older sister will instantly be at your present location.”

“Oh good, help is on the way… wait… did you just said instantly?”

Miss Allis then exited from the image frame. Though Cadeus could not see her, her voice could still be heard from a distance.

“Let me finalize the stuff I need to bring… oh! I better inform the others too…”

It took several more seconds until she reappeared into the Caller’s image screen.

“Ok I’m good.”

“Is it me or are you really going to just show yourself up over at our side within the next few seconds? Do you know that physically that is impossible?”

“Ok, here goes… Hold on~.”

“Huh?”

Before the three of them knew it, a magic circle began to form itself in front of them. All it took was a flash of light, and the three of them found themselves staring at three Enforcers. One of them was half obese. Though he still had a broad figure, some areas around his cheeks and waist swelled with body fat. The other is lean and skinny. He had a stoic look, cold eyes and his blonde hair is cut on a high slope. Of course, Miss Allis was in the center, in the flesh. Based on the black emblem on their uniform, they are all Dark Mages.

“What the…”

“Hello~. Did you miss me?” Miss Allis waved.

Cadeus turned his head to Nadav.

“She can teleport with the Caller? You didn’t tell me that the Caller had this special feature.”

“Hey don’t look at me, I didn’t know either.”

One of Miss Allis’s colleagues gave a look around.

Satisfied with their current location, the half-obese Enforcer gave Cadeus a word of thanks.

“You are the one with the Caller? Thanks a lot, you saved us. It has been a pain trying to find a way into his Mansion, not when there are so many enchantments and defences outside. This Fremin is too cautious to invite us in, so we could not get a chance to inscript a separate teleportation circle from the inside. Who would have thought that giving a potential witness a Caller would be this effective?”

The other lean Enforcer quickly gave a deductive analysis.

“Strange to see that this room is full of Dark energies… and here we thought that Fremin was indeed a Grey.”

“Calm down now guys, didn’t we just came up with the possibility that he could have had an accomplice?” Miss Allis interjected.

“Hm… true. Well, now that we are here, we might as well search this place for evidence.”

As the two began their work, Miss Allis turned her head again to the confused trio.

“Cadeus! My dear boy, did anything happen to you?”

“You chose this moment to ask this question?”

“Just saying in case you thought I did not ask.”

“You never asked.”

Miss Allis ignored him.

“Anyways, in case you are wondering, the fat guy is Enforcer Gezath, and the scary looking one is Enforcer Kutsurov.”

“Miss Allis! I heard that!”

“Oh come on Gezath! Everyone can tell that you are fat from a mile away!”

Enforcer Kutsurov went up to Miss Allis. Now that he was closer, Cadeus gave him his full attention. That name Kutsurov, is he a Russian?

“Allis, something has to be done about the children. Even thought they may be important witnesses, this is not the best place for them.”

“Hm… Then shall I bring them back to the office?”

“The office is not a good place for them either. Send them back to the Academy. Since they are the Academy’s students, it will be easy to find them when we need them. Did you take down their names for the report?”

“Done.”

“Then be quick with them, I doubt we have much time here.”

Seeing this exchange between colleagues, Cadeus had gotten the impression that the timing of the situation might actually be a lot more crucial than what he had previously thought.

Without much left to be said, Miss Allis quickly left Enforcer Kutsurov and returned her attention to the three friends.

“All right, long story short. With this, you three are officially my witnesses. You will be placed under close observation for the time being until the closure of this case. Since it would not be nice for you to remain here, I will have to ask you to leave.”

“… If we can help you as official witnesses, why wouldn’t it be nice for us to be here?”

“Because as witnesses, you can be a hazard when it comes to tampering with evidence. Don't worry. Your big sister here will ensure that things do not get out of hand, both for you and for us. So this is the current game plan. You leave the investigation to your reliable big sister here, I’ll make sure you get back to the Academy in one piece.”

Cadeus was not that entirely sure about the ‘reliable’ part. But still, as an Enforcer, she could really be of help to their current situation.

“Um… Miss Allis?”

“Yes my dear?”

She already started referring to me as ‘my dear’. Who does she think she is? My mother? Cadeus thought.

“Um… if it is about returning to the Academy, we are wondering if you could help us. With our abduction, we missed the Academy’s curfew and currently we do not think we can reach back in time – ”

“Of course my dear. I’ll write in a letter of cooperation for you, it’s all paper work anyway. I’ll just leave someone back in base to do it. Should there be anything, just ask them to refer to me. Your big sister here will definitely vouch for you.”

“Right…”

From this conversational exchange, Cadeus deduced, rather accurately at that, that Miss Allis was a person who definitely preferred physical action rather than be confined to the office desk.

Miss Allis clapped her hands.

“Now then! Now the professionals are here, you three can just head back to the Academy.”

“Um… how do we go about doing that? We can't get a carriage.”

“Oh don't worry. Your big sister here will solve everything.”

She said she would handle everything like it was nothing.

What a rather bold claim indeed…

Miss Allis took out a chalk and started drawing a large circle on the floor. Listening to the strikes made by the white chalk, Cadeus posed a question.

“What are you doing?”

“Is it not obvious? I am drawing a teleportation circle.”

“Teleport? You mean to teleport us back to the Academy? But I thought you need a starting point and an end point to teleport from one end to another?”

“That’s correct. But as long as the end circle is already drawn, you can still draw the start circle anywhere and just teleport to the other side.”

“But that would require the teleportation inscription… You know the teleportation inscription to return to the Academy?”

“Of course? Did you forget I’m a graduate? By the time you become an Apprentice you should definitely learn about teleportation inscription. Plus, when you become an Apprentice, you will be doing a lot of traveling. Obviously you will need to know the teleportation inscription to the Academy if you want to return there instantly.”

“I see…”

“Since you three are still students, it would be better if I teleport you back to Converse Hall… Quick! Converse Hall or Coral Hall? Make a pick.”

“Um… Coral Hall then.”

“Ok! This rune goes here… inscription over there… Ok! Done!”

Miss Allis got up, clapped her hands to emphasize a job well done and made a final gesture to the teleportation circle she completed.

“All right you three, hurry up, chop chop! I haven’t got all day to collect all the evidence I need.”

“Right…”

Cadeus and his two friends quickly stepped into the teleportation circle and waited for Miss Allis to activate her magic.

TOA

After getting breakfast, the hunger finally sets in. Cadeus then realized that he had not eaten dinner yesterday. Joining his friends in the usual seating arrangement, the three of them ate like hungry lions engulfing a rather large catch. One breakfast set was not enough, they got up for a second serving, even a third.

Throughout the next frothy minutes, they never spoke a word. All efforst were spent purely to satisfy their hunger. It was only until they finished their third serving that the three gave pause to let their stomachs do the rest of the job.

While patting his bursting stomach, Nadav turned to Cadeus and opened the first conversation during breakfast.

“Hey Cadeus, why is Miss Allis like that?”

“… What do you mean, like that?”

Nadav waved his arms in a gesture to say everything.

“All of it! Why does she speak like she does, why does she do things on a whim without giving us room to breath?”

“Why are you asking me? It is not like I know her personally.”

“But she gets along with you surprisingly well. Did you notice that she never looked at me or Sing when she opens her mouth?”

“Isn’t that because she’s only talking to me?”

“You see! That’s precisely what I am talking about.”

“… I don’t see the problem.”

“She is only comfortable talking to you!”

“How is that even possible?”

“Because you are both Dark!”

“Nadav, I like you. Please do not make me punch you. Besides, if it’s just the talking, why didn't you say something then?”

“Well… I got the feeling that if I interrupt…”

“Isn't that just you hesitating? What does that got to do with me?”

“Boys…”

““…!””

Sing had remained silent ever since Miss Allis showed up. However, Cadeus and Nadav could feel an increasing amount of pressure from their female friend. From the looks of it, a hard, honest explanation better be in due, or else...

Cadeus made a quick check of the time with his pocket watch.

The time now is 6:23 am.

First period today starts at 8:00 am.

Before they knew it, the whole next hour was spent solely on appeasing Sing’s anger and frustration for being left out of recent events.

TOA

Lessons resumed as per normal, there was relatively nothing new at present. It’s the same repetitive process altogether; attend lectures, note taking, and practical sessions. Four periods passed in a flash, and the whole morning was finally over. Since Cadeus had ‘officially’ finished his Procona Board Quest, the afternoon that was supposed to be used for such said Board Quests ended up becoming a free period. Although the trio could always take up another assignment, Cadeus had already voiced out that he needed some time of his own during lunch.

With this newly acquired free time, Cadeus decided to seek some sanctuary in the Academy’s Library. It had been some time since he visited his favourite section, the reference archives.

Reaching his designated destination, Cadeus double-checked the time before moving down to the basement level. He went to an isolated section towards the far right. Now this section is slightly special, as Cadeus went closer he soon saw the barricading bars separating the reference section away from the rest of the level. The purpose of the bars are quite simple, to keep people out least they end up reading about something they shouldn't. This was the infamous D-reference section, the reference section that only Pure Blooded Dark Mages were allowed access.

Before he approached the entrance, Cadeus went to a table just a few paces away. There was a box on the table, containing a few packed sterile syringes. Unpacking one of them, Cadeus pierced the metal tip of the syringe onto his elbow and drew out a small quantity of his own blood. With that done, he slowly approached the section door. Stopping just directly a few feet away, Cadeus’s gaze went down to a magical circle before the entrance door. The magical circle was a Seal Circle that was directly linked to the door, and there was only one way of unlocking it. Raising the syringe, he pressed and drained the blood, allowing deep red droplets to fall onto the magic circle. When the blood was fully drained, Cadeus paused and waited for his blood to unlock the door.

The Seal Circle reacted by unlocking a switch. Some turning of gears could be heard, and the entrance door finally opened. Cadeus walked in and slowly took his time to appreciate the sound of the gate closing behind him.

Despite this painful procedure, Cadeus frequently came down here to find solitude. One positive fact about the D-reference section was that it was usually empty. There were only so few Pure Blood Dark Mages present in the Academy who could come down to this section, and fewer even bothered coming down here unless they really needed to. From the moment Cadeus entered, he could tell. Currently, he was the only person present.

Passing by a few rolls of bookshelves, he finally came across that which he was looking for. A small, customized bookshelf specially isolated from the rest with its own special space.

AL R Index P003 – P014

The books labeled as such on this bookshelf were all bound in black leather, cover words ornamented in rare expensive roman silver. They all look very luxurious, old and extremely priceless. Oddly enough, there existed only one copy of each book.

‘AL’ represents Academia Library. ‘R’ was a clear indication that the book labeled was strictly meant for reference and not for borrowing. ‘Index’ grades the book as a very valuable copy, which meant that the publication press ceased producing copies ages ago; coming across another copy of the graded book outside of the Academy would be an extremely rare find. ‘P’ on the other hand, meant Progenitor.

These books that were so carefully preserved on this customized bookshelf, were none other than the infamous Black Books, written by the long deceased Progenitor family – Pride ve Lu.

Ever since he first arrived to this academy, Cadeus felt drawn to these books. He felt that the books had some sort of aura around them that seeks to lure him in. It was only natural for him to feel so. The knowledge within the Black Books were all said to be highly valuable. After all, they were written by the long lost Progenitors.

However, Cadeus always had the awareness that the Black Books were highly dangerous and must be treated with extreme precaution. During the first few visits, he was able to ignore the Black Books. But the more frequent his visits, the more he was tempted. Tempted to just stretch out his hand, take down a copy, sit down, and open the cover page.

No matter how hard he tried to resist, by his fifth visit, Cadeus eventually ended up giving in into his desire to learn.

But, when he opened one of the Black Books for the first time, what hit him was not a series of the rumoured terrible enchanted curses, but an endless wave of promising knowledge. Despite what many had said about the heavy coding within the text, Cadeus felt that he understood every word in every page. Ever since that experience, Cadeus never failed to read at least one of the Black Books whenever he dropped by the Library. Over time, these books soon offered him a great number of guidance, guidance that Educator Garth would have provided if he were not so engrossed in his conjuration thesis.

But that despite this guidance, Cadeus still had a long way to go. For the knowledge he had attained so far was still not comparable to Sing’s academic achievements.

Grabbing the few that he currently needs, Cadeus sat down and started flipping. Out of pure curiosity, Cadeus decided to see if he could find the term ‘Corruption research’. Cadeus knew that he should leave Fremin’s case to Miss Allis and the other Enforcers. However, he still could not help but be curious about that blood red circle. He did come across the subject in one of these books, but Cadeus chose not to indulge himself due to the term’s complexity. But since he currently had some interest, perhaps now was a good time for some deep reading.

Flipping through the deep brown parchments, Cadeus’s eyes glanced through symbols, magic circles and sentences written in a coded language unknown to the human eye. After glancing and putting two books at the side, it was only until the third book that Cadeus finally found it.

“Which book is this again? Ah… Void Densities, by Reliana Pride ve Lu.”

Perhaps one of the most heavily in-depth amongst the Black Books currently in the Library, ‘Void Densities’ was one book Cadeus could not understand on a whim. Prior advanced knowledge was definitely needed if one wanted to understand the contents within. Even though Cadeus could decode the sentences on sight, his lack of knowledge on magical matters annulled this special advantage.

But still, regardless of the inability to understand the text on a whim, Cadeus still continued reading. Bracing himself, Cadeus immediately started from the top. While he read, the coded language glowed in dim silver.

'As the nature of Vita conflicts with Occassus, it is only natural for Occassus to have the ‘Bou’ energy. Though the term ‘corruption’ would be a more general term, it is only but a poor means to categorize the ‘Bou’. Despite the similarities of both planes, the subject ‘Corruption Research’ stems purely to link the energy between planes and draw the ‘Bou’ together from the two sides (see diagram for reference). However, as it is the nature of the ‘Bou’ to be highly destructive, the attempt to link two volatile forces would only escalate the opposition. Hence, the vassal would but all disintegrate no matter how high the endurance.'

Here, Cadeus stopped reading and messaged his eyes. As usual, he could not make much out of that paragraph. Although some words are recognizable, the unfamiliar terminologies all but made him more confused than ever. Flipping through the next few pages, Cadeus could see two or three more references to the term ‘Corruption Research’ before hitting another dead end.

Looking back and forth, Cadeus still could not make anything new of this.

Hm… should he ask a Master?

This seemed to be a highly educated topic. Would the Master even give him the right answer? If so, would Cadeus understand, or would he get more confused?

“I knew it. You are indeed engrossed with the Black Books. How shamelessly low can you get?”

That very voice cut itself deeply into Cadeus private thoughts. In a library where silence was extremely golden, a single utter of sound would be considered a grave sin. Shutting the Black Book, snapping his head up, he immediately shot a hostile glare to the source that so daringly disturbed his personal sanctuary.

When he first registered her identity, not only did he not greet her, but he also clicked his tongue rather loudly in annoyance. With such a look and response unbefitting of a gentleman, Claire could not help but widen her eyes in amazement.

“So, you basically degraded yourself from a rude imposter, to a total degenerative barbarian.”

“The true barbarian at present broke the most important rule in a Library.”

“Interrupting the true barbarian’s wild thoughts is definitely not a rule in a Library.”

Needless to say, the sudden intruder was none other than Claire Rrogust ve Chroma.

“Why are you here?”

Claire folded her arms with disapproval in her eyes.

“You… are you saying that I, a Pure Blood, am not welcomed here?”

“Leave.”

Cadeus absolutely did not want to exchange insults with her right now. He was not in the right mood for it. Shifting his gaze back down to resume reading the book, Cadeus soon felt something hard land on his head. Since it did not hurt, Cadeus chose to ignore it. However, as time passed, he eventually could not ignore the sharp beak’s continuous pecking.

“Did you forget who was it who owe someone favours? Did you also forget that by owing favours to that gracious person, a certain barbarian is still left alone, not persecuted by his more intelligent peers?”

With his eyebrows full of ire, Cadeus closed the Black Book once again, sat up straight, and looked back at Claire. Her crystal bird still latched itself on his head, clenching his white hair with its small crystal claws, but Cadeus ignored it gave his full attention to this bitch of a Greater Noble.

“What exactly do you want?”

To answer his question, Claire flashed a black book in front of Cadeus. As she swayed it from side to side with her right hand, Cadeus instantly recognized it.

It’s that black book that Cadeus bought and lost.

“You… where did you – ”

“That's the question I ought to be asking, not you.”

“You stole it.”

Claire rolled her eyes to ward off the accusation tone. When he saw her reaction, a small spark of rage ignited itself in Cadeus causing him to frown. It was good that he got to know who was the thief, but the fact that she could coldly act so naturally without even bother denying his accusation sets him off greatly.

“Where did you get this?”

“Why would I want to answer a thief?”

“So rude.”

Claire rested the book on her left elbow and stroke it’s leather cover with her right hand.

“Do you realize how dangerous this book can be?”

“Dangerous? The curses within are curbed.”

“They are not.”

They are not?

Impossible.

That shopkeeper told him that it was safe to read it. Was Claire trying to mess with him? Or, did she really used some means to determine the safety of reading the book? Reading her face, Cadeus then tried to pry more information.

“… Did you actually try to read it?”

“You are indeed, a dimwit. Do you honestly think I would do something so careless?”

“… Then how did you know the curses inside aren’t curbed?”

“I got someone else to read it.”

That means that Claire got someone to be her guinea pig. The questions were, who, and what degree of damage was inflicted?

“Who exactly?”

As if to state something that was commonly natural, Claire brushed her hair to the side with her left hand.

“One of the Untouched maidservants who happened to be cleaning right next to me.”

“…”

Cadeus had somehow attained a new impression of the Greater Noble called Claire Rrogust ve Chroma.

Noticing the change of the look in his eyes, Claire posed a question.

“What?”

“I never thought you would be someone to sacrifice a person’s life just like that.”

Claire hugged the book and rested it on her chest.

“So rude. Would you have done the same?”

“Of course not?”

“Then what would you have done? Besides, the girl’s life is not that heavily threatened. She’s now in the infirmary, and the cause of her misfortune was registered under accidental contact.”

“You are not in the least concerned of her well being?”

“Why should I?”

The tone of her voice, and the look in her eyes completely made it clear to Cadeus. From the very beginning, the life of an Untouched was equivalent to a life of an annoying insect. That was how Claire saw the Untouched, an exact duplicated image of how medieval highborn nobles harshly look down upon the life of insignificant peasants.

Although Cadeus do not share the same sentiments, such thoughts were not uncommon amongst the magi. After all, in the world of magic, the inability to use magic was a serious handicap.

In seeing Cadeus deep in thought, Claire was able to attain a rough gauge of what he’s thinking.

“Please don’t tell me you are actually concern over that Untouched’s well being?”

“She’s human, just like you and me.”

“A rather insignificant and incapable human.”

“Ah… A rather insightful statement, and what does that make you? A rather significant and capable human, who just happened to be born with the right blood.”

Claire rolled her eyes again. It was clear to Cadeus that she refused to debate further.

“You sounded shocked when I mentioned that the curses within were not curbed. Have you actually read the first few pages?”

“No.”

“Then?”

Cadeus refused to answer her.

With the lack of new words coming out of Cadeus’s mouth, Claire decided to throw in another question.

“You could not have gotten this from a quest reward. Who sold you this? How much did he charge you?”

Not only did she discern that he bought it from a source, she was also convinced Cadeus probably paid a fortune for it. As expected of Claire, this Greater Noble was not someone Cadeus could take lightly.

“Why are you interested?”

“Because whoever did sell this to you could have inflicted you a serious injury if you attempted to read the book.”

Was she looking out for me? Cadeus thought

Now that threw him into a slight state of confusion.

“Why would you care?”

“You forget, you owe me three favours. I would prefer you remained whole until you paid your debts.”

“Ah… I see.”

Absurdly practical, as always…

“Moreover, he also knew how unexpectedly stupid you were to just take his word that the book would be safe to read.”

Ok, that last one was an insult.

Cadeus knew all too well Claire was just being haughty. It’s nothing new, she’s just being herself.

Still having not received the answer she wants hear, the next words that came out of Claire’s mouth carried the unmistaken tone of a hostile threat.

“You still have not answered the main question.”

Cadeus sighed.

“Bought it off a random shop for 20 Duches.”

Though her eyes clearly reflected her disbelief, Claire nearly dropped her mouth in shock. It must have taken a lot of effort to maintain her cold compression. Deep in shock, Claire leaned back against the wall, rested her arms, and then pressed her left fingers against her eyes.

“Who… who would be so… irresponsible?”

Irresponsible?

Wow…

That was not a word Cadeus heard often from a highly brought up Claire.

Whatever it was that shopkeeper had in mind, selling such a valuable book easily on a cheap whim was clearly something Claire could not tolerate.

“What’s his name? Where’s his shop?”

“Hey… let’s not start prosecuting now.”

“Prosecuting? That shopkeeper deserved to be hanged!”

“All right, all right.”

Cadeus brought his hands up in an effort to calm her down.

“Whatever you think it was that happened, it’s not exactly so. That shopkeeper sold this copy three times for it’s standard price of over one million Duches. Three times it was bought, three times it was returned for a refund. He simply sold it to me because he did not want it collecting dust in his shop.”

“That is still no excuse to treat this book like some cheap commercial bargain!”

“He’s a merchant who only sees the book as a source of profit. What else could you expect? Besides… at least he sold it to the right person.”

“You? The right person? Ha!”

Claire snorted at that comment.

“A useless Pure Blood, not to mention an imposter, thinks that he is the right owner of this book?”

“At least I can read it…”

Though it was just a mere slip of the tongue, the air between them suddenly froze.

…

…

…

Oh crap… maybe I should not have said that. Cadeus thought.

“Just now… What did you say?”

With that menacing tone in her voice, it was clear that Claire had not misheard him. If Cadeus attempt to feign ignorance, he would just be digging his own grave. Sighing inwardly, Cadeus could not help but repeat the exact words he just said.

“I said, at least I can read it.”

…

…

…

“You… are you serious?”

“I am.”

“You are either the most terrible liar, or the worst idiot to have existed. Did you know that the books written by the Progenitors were all heavily coded and that they have protective curses?

“Or so I have heard.”

“And yet?”

Cadeus took a short moment to prepare the right words.

“And yet, it is as I have just said. I can read the Black Books with ease. I do not know the full details of the phenomenon, but it appears that I can read through the coding and not trigger the curses.”

“You lie.”

Cadeus reopened the book in front of him and returned his gaze to the pages.

“I am not asking you to believe me. If you want to affirm it, you can test me with a Black Book that you have already read.”

“Is that so?”

Claire moved herself to the seat right next to Cadeus. Laying the Black Book and her own sling bag down, she bent her body and started searching within. At this near distance, Cadeus caught wind of a certain scent radiating from the highborn princess.

Perfume? It must have been an expensive one… Cadeus thought.

Realizing that Cadeus was staring at her, Claire tilted her head to his side.

“What?”

“That’s a very alluring perfume.”

“… Is that an attempt to flirt? Please drop it. You are far from my match.”

“Not that I care, since I am not even a noble. But speaking of your match, who do you look up to? Acriscius? Davian?”

“Are you insulting me? Acriscius is a muscle blockhead. Davian would make a terrible husband.”

“… Ouch.”

Cadeus would not care for the likes of Acriscius, but he did felt sorry for Davian.

“Then… who exactly would you choose to be a husband.”

“A matter not of importance right now and one that you should not dig your dirty nose into.”

Without wasting any further time, Claire took out what seems to be a purple folder. Flipping through, she took out a folded piece of parchment.

“Here, have you read this?”

Cadeus took the parchment from her and gave a look. The parchment is old, and filled with the same coded language and symbols seen in the Black Books. The edges of the page was worn and torn, as if this piece of parchment had suffered being passed from hand to hand over the decades.

“… Please don’t tell me you tore this off a Black Book.”

Claire frowned.

“First off, do you think I would do something like that? Second, do you even think that I have the capacity to do such a thing?”

“… No and no.”

“Then stop asking questions when you already know the answer. It really makes you look stupid. I am sure you have at least one intelligent question.”

Cadeus ignored the obvious insults in her words.

“Is this authentic? Or is it a copy?”

“A copy, you can call it a physical evidence of past attempts to decode the book the extract came from. The intellectuals would, after curbing the curses within, copy the coded language and symbols by hand on a separate piece of paper for further study.”

“What book did this extract come from?”

“Unknown.”

“… You just don’t want to tell me do you?”

“If I tell you everything, how am I going to test you?”

“Hm… true enough.”

Cadeus flickered the parchment. Since this was a copy, it was not that important to him.

“Why would something like this be in your bag? Lucky charm?”

“I’m not that superstitious, if that is what you are asking. Read it out loud. I have already read the decoded version. You can’t fool me.”

“Right…”

He soon started reading. Since this was not an authentic page from the Black Books, the coded language did not glow in the usual dim silver, but Cadeus could still make up the words as per normal.

'In comparing the latest set of parameters, it appears that the template strands of Pure Bloods contain the same dual sequence of singularity. Although the Nucleotides still vary in accordance to ancestry, the three sets of parameters all contain three distinctive set of genetic code. The codon is sequenced in such a manner that – '

“Hold a moment!”

Claire quickly moved to his side and stared hard at the parchment.

To Cadeus, it all made sense. But to Claire, all she saw was nothing but the unfamiliar coded language. Not believing what she had just heard, Claire rushed back to her folder. Taking out what seems to be the decoded version of the paper, Claire compared what was written to what Cadeus just said.

The look in her eyes turned from shock, into further disbelieve.

It seems she was unable to believe what she had just heard.

Besides…

Cadeus looked back to the parchment in front of him.

What exactly was this about?

Parameters? Nucleotides?

This sounds too much like biology.

“Cadeus!”

“Yes?”

Not imposter, not barbarian, but Cadeus?

Cadeus raised an eyebrow. Claire rarely called him by his name. But whenever she did so, it was because of something very serious, and Cadeus would see nothing of her usual haughty character. Throughout the past three months since he known her, this was around the second or third time Claire referred to him by name.

Unwilling to comprehend what had just happened, Claire snapped her head high and gave Cadeus a hard look. Moving swiftly, Claire soon grabbed the Black Book she stole from Cadeus and thrust it into his hands.

“First page, now!”

“… Didn’t you just say that the curses inside are still not curbed?”

“First, Page, Now!”

Cadeus could only comply.

Cadeus laid the book on the table and stared at the cover page.

“… The Book of Spirits, by Zelnarius Pride ve Lu.”

His fingers at the edge of the book cover, although he was confident that the curses within would not activate, Cadeus still prepared for the worst and flipped the black leather cover to the side.

…

…

…

Nothing.

With nothing else to worry about, Cadeus flipped through the first empty page, the title page, the second title page with the Progenitor’s seal, the preface, the content page, and then the introduction. Like all the words in all Black Books, every word is coded.

“The introduction seems to be quite heavy. Will this do?”

Claire quickly nodded.

Thus, Cadeus started reading. As usual, the words in the book glowed in dim silver.

'The concept of spirits has been a source of debate for a very long time. Various kinds of spirits were encountered and very few had the knowledge to distinguish and separate them in accordance to their anatomy. In fact, the over usage of the term ‘spirit’, merely results in the generalization of the subject and prevents further understanding of the topic as a whole. This is mostly due to the fault of ignorance and the confusion as to what ‘spirit’ really means.

It is extremely important to be able to differentiate between the various kinds of ‘spirits’. First off, the definition of the term ‘spirit’ must be clear. ‘Spirit’ as we most commonly understand, would be a term either used to refer to the non-physical part of a person’s entity that determines that person’s character, attitude, and emotions, or the immaterial manifestation of a paranormal creature. Most individuals would use ‘spirit’ to identify the later, as they would find it very easy to just simply dismiss what they perceive as such and seek to exorcise the issue through a limited set of techniques, which in many cases may not have the desired effect.

Complete exorcism is very rare, whereby chances of such success comes once in every hundred cases. This is highly because the common exorcism techniques merely banish the paranormal existence, but it did not address the heart of the issue. That is why there are prolonged cases whereby one exorcism was not enough. If handled poorly, the phenomena may expand and inflict more damage than what was normally required.

Through decades of research, I have come to believe that the word ‘Spirit’ may mean more than what was commonly perceived. Though related to the general consensus of a paranormal manifestation, I believe that the term ‘Spirit’ is something more intermediate between the boundaries of the mental and the physical. Depending on the situation, there are several ways to approach this issue. For the mental, the word ‘spirit’ can be seen as the strength of mind, for a person’s mental state could affect the phenomena of the spiritual events around him. For the physical, it appeals more to the actions and implications exchanged between the paranormal and the physical body.'

As he read, Claire could not help but witness the scene unfolding before her.

He could read it.

He could read the coded text.

This was no illusion. Claire was certain of that. It also did not feel that he was lying. Claire knew that Cadeus was not academically adequate when it comes to matters of magical knowledge. If he was making stuff up, he would not have sound as academically as he would right now.

Not to mention, there was also the fact that the curses guarding the book failed to activate. Or rather, it did not activate. Cadeus had already flipped through at least six pages, and yet he was still unharmed. Plus, the written words in the book were all glowing in dim silver.

Claire had extreme difficulty taking this scene in, and there was a basis that prevents her from doing so.

The Rrogust ve Chroma family had possession of two such Black Books. Both of which were written by their founding ancestor Rrogustus Pride ve Lu. Of the two books, one had already been fully decoded several generations ago. Claire’s father had taken it upon himself to decode the second. Although an Archmage in his own right, he refused political participation in the High Council and chose the simple life of handling family matters.

When she was still a little girl, Claire had often witnessed her own father spending days trudging through the coded text page by page. Numerous hours were spent on attempts to decode the right words, and he had to be extremely careful when it comes to avoiding the unpredictable curses. He made little progression everyday, and whenever Claire saw him rub his forehead in frustration, she knew instantly that he had hit a dead end.

Honestly speaking, Claire was slightly grateful for it. For whenever her father would hit a dead end, he would temporary give up and spend time playing with her to prevent frustration from getting into him.

Her father, a highly skilled Pure Blood, had a lot of difficulty going through one single page.

And yet, this nobody in front of her could read the coded language with ease without any prior knowledge.

How could this be?

Cadeus, of course, was too engrossed in reading to see that Claire was regarding him in a new light. When he felt that he had read enough, he closed the book and returned his gaze to Claire. He had expected her to be quick to dismiss his reading on the presumption that he was making things up. However, the next words that came out of her mouth had hints of admiration.

“You truly can read the book without troubles…”

She actually believed it?

Cadeus raised an eyebrow out of confusion.

“You believe what I said?”

“You don’t sound like you are making things up. Further more…”

Claire made a gesture to his unscathed body.

“You are unharmed, surprisingly so.”

“Well… At least you now know I’m not lying.”

Claire spent the next few seconds in silence. Cadeus guessed that she probably needed time to fully comprehend what she had just witnessed.

“Do you know… the danger of having such a capability?” Claire asked.

“… I could imagine a little.”

“You better. You have the insane ability to decode the book on sight, and on top of that, avoid the curses that were so carefully meant to safeguard the book from privy eyes. Decades spent on decoding and curbing the terrible spells within, all effortlessly denied by you. Do you think people are just going to ignore that?”

With nothing to comment, Cadeus kept quiet.

“If word got out about this unique gift you possessed, you will attract unwanted attention. There will be many who will want to exploit this gift to conveniently gain knowledge from other Black Books. In addition, there will also be a number of mages who would want to study your abnormally. You will probably be experimented upon. Also, should you also die in suspicion circumstances, your corpse would still be used as precious study material.”

What Claire said was of no surprise to Cadeus. Since no one knew about his capability to read the Black Books, Cadeus had originally paid no heed to the possible dangers. But, if he had actually spent some effort to think about the implications of this abnormal gift, he definitely would have come up with the same possibilities that Claire had mentioned.

“Now then…” Claire said.

She moved slightly closer to Cadeus.

“Now that I know that you have this capability, what do you think I should do?”

The air around the two of them instantly became colder. Before he knew it, Claire acted first. Moving quickly, she bend her right elbow, pressed her right hand against his upper sternum and pushed him backwards. The chair immediately lost it’s center of gravity and the momentum of the fall gave Cadeus no time to think.

Claire’s Crystal bird released its grip on his hair and took to the air. With a loud ‘bump’, Cadeus could feel the impact of his back connecting to the fallen chair. Cadeus struggled to get up, but before he could even regain his own sense of balance, Claire was already above him.

Spreading her legs, Claire stood over Cadeus and bent her body down. One of her hand went to his neck, and the other went to his right eye. Spreading his eyelids open, Claire openly announced her own suspicions.

“Perhaps… it is just your eyes. Maybe you were born with a set of special eyes, or maybe, you found a way to enchant your eyes to see though the meddlesome coding.”

At this very close distance, Cadeus felt his pulse increasing. Not out of fear, but rather due to the unusual closeness he had with someone of the opposite sex. Claire had never been this up close before. Her face was literally just a few inches away from his. Although Cadeus knew that she was just observing his eyes, this sudden closeness with a girl was more than enough to make him feel extremely uncomfortable.

This experience was different to Sing’s. True, he never got along with Claire. In fact, Cadeus wished that he had little to do with her. Nevertheless, Claire was still a beautiful girl. Having this beautiful face up close, would definitely set a man’s heart racing.

“Perhaps I ought to take your eyes. It should not be a surprise to see if your eyes had something special.”

With this close distance, Cadeus can sense that her intentions are pure. In the next few seconds, he could be blinded. But despite this current situation, Cadeus still let out one daring comment.

“Casting spells in the Library is a grave offense punishable by suspension.”

Perhaps stunned, Claire gave him a look with eyes that judged him in a new light.

“You… can still say such a thing calmly considering your situation?”

“What else do you want me to say? If you are truly intent to act as you have said. Do you think I have the power to stop you? Even if my abnormally would raise questions, it still will not justify your actions. If you do take my eyes, you will be in for a huge explanation. Tell me, as a Greater Noble, do you think the Educators or even the Masters could ignore what you did?”

The words hit home. Without a counter statement, Claire sighed.

“Well, whatever.”

The cold atmosphere between them had returned to normal.

Claire released her grip and stood up straight. Moving to the side, she gave Cadeus room to breath, and put his chair back into place. While he did so, Claire can be seen sitting cross-legged on the table whilst feeling the corners of the opened Black Book. Once Cadeus finished placing the chair back to the original position, Claire posed another question.

“I’m curious. What kind of knowledge do you seek within the Black Books?”

Standing up straight, Cadeus gave her an elusive answer.

“Hm… how about I don’t tell you?”

“Are you forgetting that you owe me?”

“If I were to tell you, would you strike off all my debts?”

“Do you think you are in any position to negotiate? You better not push your luck.”

Within those words, there was definitely an underlying reference to the fact that Claire now knows his secret ability to read the Black Books with ease. With this in mind, Cadeus did thought of the possibility that Claire might use that as a leverage in future conversations, but somehow, Cadeus doubt that she would give out this information freely. Claire may had the thought that she had the upper hand in this conversation, but Cadeus chose to go against her supposed threat and just gave her another elusive answer.

“Even if I were to tell you, you would not believe this barbarian anyway.”

“Oh?”

Claire suddenly gave a look of shock. Whether this was an act or not, Cadeus could not really say.

“You admitted to being a barbarian?! Did I unconsciously awaken a degree of intelligence? Oh no…”

Claire turned to the side with her hand to her mouth.

“Cadeus realized that he is a barbarian. With this newly acquired intelligence, would he further degrade himself into the level of a beast?”

Oh screw her, she’s definitely acting.

“You… really do love to piss me off don’t you?”

“Oh dear! The barbarian is getting violent. Should I flee? Shout for help before he jumps onto me?”

“Are you really so free that you can afford to waste time by just throwing insults at me?”

Feeling extremely irritated at her continuous presence, Cadeus finally committed his brain to work. Claire had never disturbed him when he was in the library before. The only times where they clash words against each other was only during Colours. Even if they were to bump onto each other outside of Tenebris Vacuum, they would always ignore each other and refrained from causing an open scene.

So, with this in mind, why would Claire show herself and instigate him in the Library?

Given her character and upbringing, she would not have done such a thing for it goes against her own code of conducts.

Thinking about this now, Cadeus paused himself and considered a broader picture.

The two of them were currently alone, in a place where even Educator Garth would be denied entry. This was an ideal place for the sharing of confident information. Perhaps the purchased Black Book was her intended topic all along. Well, it is not like Cadeus could blame her. Knowledge highly coded within the Black Books was extremely hard to come by, and their contents could easily instigate various kinds of issues. Recalling the past conversations, Cadeus noted that she implicated a lot of focus on the term ‘Black Books’.

“… Is my interest of the Black Books something so sensitive?”

“You think? An imposter such as yourself thinks he could read the sacred knowledge the Progenitor family left behind. If this is not sensitive, then what is it?”

Cadeus ignored her sarcasm.

“Aren’t you the one who’s oversensitive with the whole ‘Progenitor’ thing?”

“Oversensitive? Is that how you see it with your ignorant eyes?”

“All I see with my eyes, is that you nobles always make a big deal out of a family who died off four hundred years ago and you are all still treating this dead family as if they were still alive.”

“Is that so…”

That being said, Claire’s crystal bird landed itself on Cadeus’s head. Although it did not do it’s annoying pecking, Cadeus could feel the bird tightening its grip on his hair.

Cadeus knew that this time, he might have overstepped his boundaries. But his previous words were all honest thoughts devoid of underlying motives. Claire seemed to have sensed that as well. If she hadn’t, she would have felt insulted, and she would have retaliated using violence. That was why she did nothing.

A small, uncomfortable silence followed. Claire stared at Cadeus, Cadeus back to her. As far as Cadeus could tell, there was no hostility in Claire’s eyes. The current intent behind her eyes suggested that her thoughts aligned more of towards ‘what am I going to do with this person’.

She’s contemplating.

Contemplating what however, Cadeus could not say.

After several more seconds, Claire made up her mind and opened her mouth.

“Pride ve Lu. Do you know exactly what that name represents?”

Cadeus raised an eyebrow to that obvious question.

“The name of the Progenitor family of Dark Mages?”

Claire shook her head, it was clear that his answer was not she wanted to hear.

“That is what the name is. I am asking if you knew what it represents.”

“… Power?”

Claire looked up in consideration before giving him a nod of approval.

“Power is one thing. But there is something else, something more… supreme.”

Something that wields more supremacy to power?

Just what would it be?

Cadeus wanted to ask Claire a question in regards to that. However, he eventually decided to let her continue.

“With the exception of the other two Progenitor families, you could say that it was the very reason why the Pride ve Lu family is capable of excreting absolute authority over all the other noble houses.”

“Again with the present tense. The Pride ve Lu family is wiped out. Why are you still referring it, as if to say that there are surviving members?”

Claire kept quiet in response to the question.

Why is she hesitating? He thought.

It honestly felt as if the current topic of conversation was slowly steering towards a very dangerous direction. If Claire was hesitating, the subject matter she was about to bring up must be an issue that requires the confidence of disclosure. Meaning that this must had been a very sensitive topic if Claire had to be this careful about what she could say.

What exactly could be preventing her from being direct?

What exactly would be this sensitive?

Cadeus previously brought up the implication that there were surviving members of the lost family. Although he had said as such, it should not be so, for everyone Cadeus met and knew were all convinced that the Progenitor’s bloodline had long died out since the 1400s. If there were indeed survivors, people would have at least mentioned it, and the Progenitor family would not have the unchallenged impression that they were indeed extinct.

Looking around, Claire spread her hands open and Cadeus could feel her concentrating. He instantly knew that Claire was going to cast a spell. Bright purple light appeared at her hands, and they soon emitted waves of thin circles. Though Cadeus could not identify the spell, he could at least gauge its purpose. Claire was trying to detect something. It did not seem to be onlookers. If it were, she would have used her crystal birds instead like that last time they were in the swamps together. If Cadeus could make a guess, Claire was confirming to see if there were any magical devices that would be capable of listening to what she was about to say.

Once she was finished, Claire folded her arms together. Staring at him hard, Claire finally opened her mouth.

“Cadeus.”

Again, not imposter, but Cadeus.

Just what is wrong with her?

Despite waiting in anticipation, the next few words that Claire threw out of her mouth threw him into a greater state of bewilderment.

“Do you believe in immortality?”

…

…

…

What?

“… What is with the totally unrelated question?”

“Just answer me.”

“No.”

“Hm… not surprising. What have you learned about immortality?”

“Nothing much. So far, what I have read only points to immortality as a way of extending one’s lifespan. Various individuals from various cultures had made many attempts to gain the means to extend their lives, the elixir of life, the fountain of youth, the philosopher’s stone, et cetera, et cetera. They all seem to be folk stories to me.”

“And you think immortality cannot be achieved?”

“ ‘Immortality is a dream. We all have to die eventually’.”

Claire tilted her head slightly in curiosity.

“That quote, it belonged to Zhcemark.”

“You recognized the name?”

“How couldn’t I? He was one of the leading Dark Mages of his generation. How did you come across that name?”

“I once read a book about famous mages.”

“The Magus of the generations, by Iquiva Dermuvra.”

Cadeus was surprised yet again. Not only did she recognize the book he read, she even memorized the title and author?

“You read it?”

“All Pure Bloods are required to read it. As Pure Bloods, it is our duty to aspire to become the best Mage of our generation. By reading that book, we are able to draw examples, both good and bad.”

“I only skimmed through. All I knew is that Zchemark failed in his quest to attain immortality.”

“He did. That famous quote was uttered on his deathbed. How pathetic, he failed in the end.”

“Hey… he was ninety-four when he died.”

“So, you don’t think that attaining immortality is possible?”

“No one has succeeded in attaining immortality as of late. Even if there were successive reports, there ought to be some varying downsides.”

“Ah… you are referring to the experiments that managed to temporary extend one’s lifespan. Those can't be counted as immortality”

“Why is that so?”

“Because even if the lifespan was extended, there are still various complications and drawbacks, and the mages who succeeded in doing so still ended up dying in the end.”

This conversation was more than enough to give Cadeus a headache. First off, they drifted off topic. Cadeus was not sure how Claire saw this talk of immortality to be linked to the Black Books. Even if it was of some relevance, Cadeus did not come across any reference to the word ‘immorality’ when he was reading the Black Books. Why would Claire drift to such an ambiguous topic?

“What I am about to say, is highly confidential, even amongst the Greater Nobles.” Claire resumed their conversation.

“And why would you be telling me such a thing?”

“Because firstly, you are a Pure Blood. You may not know this, but being one of the highly rare Pure Blooded Dark Mages, you have a high value in society, regardless of your impersonating lineage.”

“Hey. How many times do you want me to say that my family name is pure coincidence?”

Claire ignored him.

“Secondly, as a Pure Blood, there are some… sensitive knowledge you need to know. Of course, such knowledge must be restricted to trustful personal. But since you are a Pure Blood, you need to know this for your own personal safety.”

“Wow, I did not know you placed such a high value on me.”

“That’s because you are a Pure Blood. I must take that into consideration, even though it is disgustingly low. Be grateful, an imposter like yourself rarely can enjoy this privilege.”

“Right, right… so, what is this sensitive information?”

Claire brought her voice low.

“The reason why the Progenitor house Pride ve Lu still commands the respect and absolute authority over the other noble families, was because of one man.”

“One man?”

Cadeus raised an eyebrow.

“If he is such an important person, why have I not come across any reference about such an individual in that ‘Magus of the generations’ book?”

“That’s because you will never find ‘his’ name anywhere. ‘He’ made it so.”

“He must have been a very important man. Who is he?”

Claire paused to gather herself. Leaning forward with her hands at the edge of the table, she finally whispered the answer.

“The Legendary Immortal, the Mage of End, Provinus Pride ve Lu.”

Cadeus stood there rooted for the next couple of seconds. Although he felt cynical about the ‘Immortal’ part, Cadeus also felt that the name ‘Provinus’ carried a heavy weight. He had never came across such a name, and yet, he could not help but feel that the name commanded a rare sense of authority and power.

As he slowly digested this piece of information, it did not take him long to interpret the word ‘Immortal’ as a form of a metaphoric epithet. Perhaps this Provinus must have been a very important mage. Though he had passed on from this world, his contributions to magi society must have been regarded in high esteem. Believing that to be the case, Cadeus opened his mouth again.

“Interesting… from what I hear from you, he must have been dead for over a thousand years.”

“… What?”

“To have actually achieved the epithet ‘Immortal’, he must have contributed a lot to magi society, contributions that must have been crucial to linger to this day. Hence the reference ‘Immortal’, but how strange that I have never come across such a name.”

Claire stared at him as if to question if he had gone bonkers, but it did not take her long to realize that Cadeus misinterpreted her words.

“You are mistaken.”

“Am I? In what way did I mistake your words?”

Claire kept silent.

Finding the lack of clarity in her silence, Cadeus posed another related question.

“The Pride ve Lu family is extinct isn’t it?”

Claire shook her head.

With doubt forming in his head, Cadeus could not help but take the literal interpretation of her words.

“Are you… actually saying that this Provinus managed to attain complete, flawless eternal life, on this earth?”

The crystal bird latching on his head took off and landed on Claire’s shoulder, as if to say that he is correct. Before Cadeus could ask more, Claire silenced him by placing her right index finger on her lip.

“This is knowledge very few possessed. Our parents even warned us not to speak of this before our enrollment.”

“You have got to be kidding.”

“Am I? Do you honestly think that I would bother wasting time coming down here to throw a joke at you?”

“Guess not.”

Cadeus sighed.

“Who else knew?”

“Presently in this Academy? Acriscius, Davian, four other Greater Nobles, the Archmage and possibly some of the Masters. The others would be our parents, and possibly even several members of the High Council. Of course, the nobles of the other colours might have heard of the Immortal, but they would not be as convinced compared to us.”

“I see…”

Since now was an opportunity to gain answers, Cadeus asked Claire another question.

"Have you seen this Immortal before?”

“Never. Even I am a little skeptical over the facts.”

“Then?”

Claire shook her head. Looking to the side, Claire spoke as if she were reminiscing something of the past.

“My parents have met him. They had to, since they were Greater Nobles. When they speak to me about him, they would have this tone of reverence in their voices. They say that he’s a very powerful mage, powerful, to the point of absolution.”

“He sure sounds like a living legend if you say it like that.”

“More like a living myth. Whether you choose to believe it or not, it is up to you. I’m telling you this so that you would not overstep your boundaries. Having an interest in the Black Books is something that is very common. But remember, the Black Books are all coded for a reason. The high level of censorship is meant to prevent such sensitive knowledge from falling into the wrong hands. If you keep digging into the Black Books without proper authorization, you will definitely attract unwanted attraction.”

“I see…”

Any further and he might garner the attention of the dangerous Immortal?

Sitting down, Cadeus took a deep breath. His situation had become slightly complicated.

Putting this heavy matter aside…

Cadeus soon thought that given her social status, Claire probably received the higher advantage when it comes to her education. Cadeus was not sure how deep her knowledge spans, but he was confident that she should at least know something about the term ‘Corruption Research’.

“Claire, can I ask you something?”

“I already helped you with [Distance Spells] yesterday. You’ll have to owe me another favour if you need my help.”

You didn't help me. That was just you showing off! Cadeus retorted in his head.

“… Why are you so calculative?”

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

“So, will you owe me another one? Or would you choose to rely on someone less capable.”

“You really have a high opinion of yourself, do you know that?”

“Of course? I am a Greater Noble after all.”

But that still does not give you the excuse to act like you are above everybody else… Cadeus thought.

Sighing inwardly, Cadeus decided to accumulate another loan with the purple princess.

“Fine. I’ll owe you another one.”

Claire smiled. It was a haughty smile, the kind that had the underlying message of ‘Now I have the perfect excuse to use you to do whatever I want’. It was also the kind of smile that always pissed Cadeus off.

“So, now you owe me four. Now, what do you need?”

Chewing his own displeasure deep into his throat, Cadeus spat out the question.

“Are you familiar with the term ‘Corruption Research’?”

When she heard that, Claire frowned.

“Where did you hear that?”

“I was involved with an Enforcer’s investigation until much recently.”

“An Enforcer’s investigation? What was the issue?”

“Procona.”

Being in the know of the latest issue regarding Procona fever, Claire was not entirely surprised.

“… What does Procona got to do with ‘Corruption Research’?”

“I don't know. But I happened to see a blood red circle with a note that said ‘Must further develop corruption research’.”

“A Blood red circle? Did the Enforcers say anything?”

Cadeus shook his head.

“I was forced to leave due to the concerns that I might have pampered with the evidence.”

“Good thing that you left then.”

Claire brought her right fingers to her lips in deep thought.

“‘Corruption Research’ is considered to be one of the deep researches aimed to discover the primal nature of Dark Magic. It involves a huge combination of Conjuration, Alchemy and Intellectual knowledge. The research used to be welcomed back in the early days of the High Council since it was a rather stimulating study. However, as time passed, there were an increasing number of casualties due to the huge risks involved tampering with Dark Magic on such a massive scale. Hence, it became a highly dangerous research topic.”

“…A massive influx of Dark Magic swelled into one single spell. That definitely sounds like trouble.”

“Well… that is not the main problem. The main problem is, unless you had the proper clearances, ‘Corruption Research’ is currently banned by the High Council.”

“What? It’s banned?”

“Of course it is. Do you think the High Council would approve of such a dangerous research topic? Not to mention, the general population of Dark Mages had always been in the low count. If the High Council did not impose a ban, our population would have dropped down to a dangerous number.”

“If that is the case, then why would people still look into such a reckless research when they clearly know the risk? What would they gain?”

“The only thing they will gain, is either satisfaction to their curiosity, or the quick dangerous path to power. In which most cases, both outcomes always bring about disasters.”

“Disasters huh… no wonder the Enforcers are particularly keen on the investigation. I guess my commissioner is really looking for trouble researching something like that. Well, it’s no longer my problem to begin with.”

Closing the Black Book, Cadeus took that slip of paper and flashed it in front of her.

“By the way, this is no simple text. Where did this extract come from?”

Claire reached out and took the extract from him.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? How can you not know?”

“This came from an unknown source. The experts on the Black Books had already compared the extract to the other books that were available. There was not a successive match.”

“Meaning, it came from a book that was yet to be seen?”

“Probably. We do not have a complete list of all the Black Books. Many of them were lost around six hundred years ago.”

“Around the same period the family went extinct.”

“Well, if you are not counting the Immortal then yes. They all went extinct.”

Claire’s gaze went to ‘The Book of Spirits’.

“What are you going to do with that?”

“… Aren't you going to deny me the possession of this book?”

“Did you forget? I only took it from you because you might hurt yourself. Since you can somehow bypass the curses encrypted, I see no reason to deny you ownership.”

“Just like that?”

Cadeus refused to believe that statement.

“Claire, I know you too well. Please, what’s the catch?”

Claire smiled.

“The catch, is that I get to know who can read these Black Books effortlessly. Since you will eventually read the book entirely, I want a full uncoded translation from you once you are done.”

“So basically, I am to be your private Black Book translator.”

“Extremely private. Aren’t I generous? You want me to be discrete about your unique ability and I shall, since it is clear I will benefit from it. It is clearly mutual benefit.”

“… More like a one sided extortion.”

Claire chose to ignore him.

“You will be getting busy once summer break is over. I will definitely try to sneak out some of my father’s notes once I return to the manor. Oh what should I do? Maybe I will give him the translated version as a birthday present.”

“… You really must love your father.”

“Are you telling me you don't love yours?”

“I don’t have a father. It's just me and my mother.”

“Oh… I see.”

For some reason, that comment caught Claire off guard. Perhaps she was not expecting to hear such a thing. After several more seconds, Claire shook her head and restored her dignified noblewoman’s aura. Turning around, she signaled the end of the current conversation by walking away towards the reference section’s gate.

“In any case, I will come looking for you once I have the notes. So make yourself available when I want your eyes.”

“Please stop demanding things from others at your own bloody convenience.”

“Oh? I’m merely asking for your service, and since you wish me to be discrete you are under obligation to serve me.”

Cadeus soon gave up arguing with this haughty self-centered princess.

Claire gave a wave with the back of her palm.

“Until then.”

I seriously hope that ‘until then’ equates to a dozen months from now… Cadeus thought to himself.

TOA

Dinner, was styled French.

That could mean a great deal for most of the food lovers in the Academy, for French cusine was an extreme rarity that was placed out on the table only when the chef felt like it. Based on the previous reviews, French cusine in the Academy ranked amongst one of the top food choices. Plus, the extremely rare moments of servings only adds further to the positive remarks anyone can speculate regarding the taste of the French dishes that the chef would place out.

But after all that had happened, Cadeus did not have an appetite. The kidnapping, getting involved with the Enforcers, getting his Black Book back, and learning that there was possibly an Immortal was more than enough to drain hunger from his mind.

Even though Dinner was French.

But since dinner was the famously French, Cadeus did give a thought about forcing himself to consume the one-time specialty dishes.

However in the end, the lack of any stimulation from the thought of consuming the famous French only further anchored Cadeus to his seat.

“Dinner is French!”

Nadav dropped down right next to him and placed his plate before him.

“Eh? Are you not eating? We don't got this sort of menu often.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“What? Are you kidding me? This food is good!”

“I don’t have the appetite.”

“No, no, no. I am not going to hear something as depressing as that. Not when there is such good food today.”

“Before you do anything, please don’t get me a plate.”

“No screw you. I’ll get you a plate.”

Before Cadeus could say anything further, Nadav instantly left for the pantry and he soon came back and placed another plate before Cadeus.

“Come! Eat up! We should enjoy food while we can.”

Cadeus stared at his plate. Eight thick-sliced meat with a thin layer of fat, grilled sliced potatoes along with various herbal vegetables. So far, there was nothing unusual. Unless you want to count four pieces of snail shells arranged neatly around the edge of the plate.

“… What the heck is this?”

“Ah ha! Glad you asked!”

Nadav puff his chest out with pride and gave him the answer.

“Magret de Canard, combined with Escargot.”

“Your pronunciation is off. That’s not how the French say it.”

“Shut up! Do you know how hard it is for me to get the first word right?”

Comparing his dish to Nadav, there was no difference.

“Can you eat snails?”

“First time trying.”

“Don’t throw up.”

“I won’t. It will be disrespectful.”

Giving Cadeus a set of his own cutleries, Cadeus could only stare at his food. Despite the appealing presentation that confirms the food’s deliciousness, Cadeus still did not feel hungry.

“… I thought I said I’m not hungry?”

“Hungry or not, you better eat. Or else, your stomach suffers later.”

“I doubt I will get gastric.”

“Nadav is right Cadeus. If you do not eat, your stomach will experience gastric later. You know that all eateries in the Academy closes after 7 pm. If you are hungry by then, you won’t be getting any food, so you better eat now and satisfy your stomach.

“Am I allowed to fast Sing?”

Dropping to her usual seat opposite them, Sing gave Cadeus her usual smile that definitely had the word ‘no’ underlined within.

Looking at her plate, there was an oddly looking piece of meat surrounded with some sort of brownish sauce, accompanied by a spot of cubed salad, along with heart shaped green leaves. On a smaller second plate, one butter croissant bread with two colourful macarons.

“You meat looks so different from ours.”

“That’s because it’s Foie Gras.”

“Fog-what?”

“Goose liver.”

“Ah…”

Goose liver?

Cadeus had never experience eating goose liver before.

The French really had some interesting recipes…

Seeing his friends dig into their respective plates so leisurely, Cadeus could only use his utensils and slice a piece of meat. Once food came into contact with his tongue, he never stopped chewing. But in the midst of an intensive Procona issue, one rarely gets to enjoy peaceful moments like this, especially when one was so deeply involved. Just when Cadeus was enjoying himself, something vibrated in one of his many pockets. Putting his utensils down, Cadeus reached for underneath his uniform’s blazer and took out the Caller.

Looking at the vibrating object, it was clear who was the one giving him the call.

Catching the attention of his friends, Nadav soon opened his mouth, despite the tough meat still in his mouth.

“Miss Allis is calling?”

“Seems like it.”

“Good news? Or bad?”

“… Let’s hope it’s good.”

Without further due, Cadeus pressed the center button and allowed the small 3d image to flash itself.

“Hello~ if it isn’t my favourite little brother?”

As usual, she’s still insistent on playing the role of an self-imposed older sister.

“I don't mean to be frank, but seriously speaking, aren’t you a professional? Are you sure it’s ok to be this informal with a case witness?”

“Oh come on, it’s not like you are an adult. You are children who are wrongly framed! As an Enforcer, it’s my duty to make sure nothing bad befalls onto you!”

“That’s… a rather heroic view on things.”

“Anyways, back to business.”

“… Is there something wrong?”

“Yes bad! Bad! Very bad!”

“… Ok? What happened?”

“Can’t tell you right now. Come and meet me immediately in Tenebris Vacuum.”

“… You are already in the Academy?”

“Yes, be quick! Your big sister needs you!”

She’s still into that big sister thing?

“… Can my friends come too?”

“Yes they can, but they must know that this is going to be dangerous.”

“… If it is dangerous, why are you fine with just me going through it?”

“That’s because your big sister here is absolutely confident you will be fine.”

“… Why do I get this sort of special treatment?”

“Come! Quick! Before things get out of hand!”

And with that, Miss Allis terminated the call.

Looking up to his two friends, Cadeus could not help but sigh. Getting up, he could only use his head to make a gesture towards the hall’s exit.

“Let’s go. We are their case witnesses anyway.”

“Seriously? Do we have to?”

“Quit complaining Nadav.”

“She only wanted you, you brought us into the picture.”

“We are all in the picture the moment Fremin knocked us out. Even if I were to go alone, the Enforcers will still come back for you eventually. We might as well just clear everything in one go.”

“Tch! This Asshole and his sense of logic.”

“You can stay here if you want Nadav. I’m going as well.”

“… Now you both know that I am not going to sit here and do nothing!”

TOA

Fifteen minutes was all it took for Cadeus and his friends to arrive at Converse Hall. Stepping onto the platform of black marble, Cadeus stood at the edge of the teleportation circle that would lead them into Tenebris Vacuum.

“Beautiful…” Sing uttered.

“Come again?” he asked.

“The teleporation circle to your colour sector. It’s so beautiful.”

“Beautiful? Ha! Come on Sing, everybody knows that the teleportation circle of Baeto Caeli was the best looking circle amongst all of them.” Nadav added.

“It’s all just gold. It gets really boring after a while. I find marble to be a more attractive material.”

“Tch! Don’t let the beauty of the circle decieve you. What lies beyond is a whole nest of trouble. Weird chimeras, an extremely disgusting swamp, and weird bull like creatures that won’t hestiate to crush you with a stampede. Also, not to mention Dark Mage chicks who would even joke about using people as meat shields to survive!”

Whilst ignoring Nadav’s usual rants, Sing turned her head to Cadeus and asked a serious question.

“Is the experience going to be that bad?”

“Maybe for first timers. But once you become a frequent visitor, you’ll get use to the sense of danger.”

“… Has it always been like this for you?”

“I have gotten used to it to the point where it does not bother me anymore. Come to think of it…”

Cadeus paused and took a look at Sing.

“What? Is there something on my face?”

“No. Now that I think of it, this is the first time you are going to Tenebris Vaccum isn’t it Sing?”

Sing soon widen her eyes at the thought.

“Yes… I think so.”

When she said that, something hit Cadeus hard on the inside.

Ah… no good, this is not good at all. Cadeus thought.

Why didn’t he realize this sooner?

The realization itself hit Cadeus hard in the head. Moaning inwardly, Cadeus had to resist giving himself a face palm. When he brought Nadav into Tenebris Vacuum the other time, Cadeus was fully aware that for a Grey to visit Tenebris Vacuum, it was indeed something uncommon but not out of the ordinary.

But Sing?

Sing was a White. The idea of a White stepping into Tenebris Vacuum was something insanely absurd.

Staring at his face, Sing was soon able to gauge the issue after rewinding the current conversation in her head.

“Cadeus, you don’t have to worry about me. I’ll manage.”

“Sing, this is not like Demerith’s Street where we have to worry about random anti-White thugs. Tenebris Vacuum is the real deal of danger. You should be aware of the low survival rate.”

When he heard that, Nadav threw Cadeus a punch that was dodged rather easily.

“Low survival rate? You asshole, if you are that concerned for Sing, why the hell did you bring me in there the other day then?”

Cadeus ignored him.

Sing just looked at Cadeus, she soon gave him a warm smile.

“Cadeus, you know I am smarter than this. This is not just about whether I can protect myself. You are also concerned about what I will witness in Tenebris Vacuum. Am I right?”

“… Yes.”

As expected, Sing catches on very quickly.

“It’s true that I am aware of the stories about your colour sector, but I don't see why that should be a problem. Rumours are always exaggerated, and I don't plan to let that create a biased impression when I have not even seen the place.”

“… Are you still sure you want to go?”

“Why should it be a problem? We’ve both been into Demerith’s Street.”

“That may be true, but this is different.”

“How is it different? Is it because it’s Tenebris Vacuum?”

“Precisely because it’s Tenebris Vacuum.”

“Cadeus, for the past three months since enrollment you have been a frequent visitor of Tenebris Vacuum. If Tenebris Vacuum is truly as bad as what people have been saying, you would have been heavily influenced, and you would not be the same Cadeus I knew. But for all that you had seen in Tenebris Vacuum, you are still you. I don't think that the place would be that bad.”

Cadeus moaned inwardly.

“Are you seriously saying that? Even a six year old kid knows that Tenebris Vacuum is ten times more dangerous compared to Demerith’s Street.”

“All the more reason why I ought to come along. If I am not around, who is going to heal you when you get hurt?”

“Sing, there are things in there that even White Magic can’t save you.”

Sing laughed and widened the smile on her face, and the pressure on Cadeus increased three fold.

“Cadeus, if I let you two go knowing that you guys are going to be in danger, do you really think I would be sane enough to forgive myself if something does happen to you?”

“Well… that is true, but still…”

“True, I admit I had been a little forceful when it comes to my views regarding Dark Magic. But that does not affect us. We have been through various things together. I don’t see why I ought to be left out of the loop when it comes to Tenebris Vacuum.”

“Hear, hear. I vote for Sing’s admittance into Tenebris Vacuum.” Nadav raised his hand.

“Nadav you bloody traitor.”

“Cadeus, you better give up. You know Sing is not going to let the both of us go when she knows we can’t managed without her.” Nadav said.

“…”

“Well, are you just going to stand there or are you going to activate that circle? We haven't got all day.” He added.

With nothing left to back up his current stance, Cadeus could only sigh and gave up arguing.

Personally, Cadeus did not welcome the idea of Sing visiting Tenebris Vacuum. It may sound hyprocritical, but Cadeus did not want Sing to witness what he did.

This was not a question of safety. Cadeus did not doubt Sing’s capabilities as a mage. Even though she had not experienced the dangers of Tenebris Vacuum, Cadeus had all the confidence that she had the capacity to look after herself. If there were any encounters with anti-White thugs, she had Cadeus and Nadav for support.

The main issue at hand was how Sing would fair being in a place where various practices of Dark Magic exist. He may sound concerned for her due to their close friendship, but the bulk of the reasoning was something more abstract. There were quite a few things about Dark Magic that Sing strongly stood up against due to the ethical concerns behind them. It was not the first she had voiced out her displeasure, and neither will she cease stating her discomfort.

Cadeus feared that if she witnessed anything more that was ethnically wrong, it might further affect how she would view Dark Magic as a whole, and if worse, him as a person.

But it would appear that he lacked the power to prevent Sing from entering Tenebris Vacuum. Taking a deep breath, Cadeus could only cross his fingers and hope for the better. Activating the circle with his magic, the circle soon glowed in bright purple, and Cadeus soon felt the familiar sensation of his body being lifted again.