"There is still so much to do..." The morning after a long passionate night with Kinsey, Willem reminds himself of all the things that have yet to fall into place.

He has yet to meet his inscriptionists, which can only mean that the Academy is having a hard time finding qualified students who meet the criteria. Now that Willem is considered a Grand Mage, of course they would only seek the best students for him to order. In this regards, it may be best for him to go and choose the inscriptionists for himself.

Also he has yet to find a scout of the magical beings that he can dissect to see what makes them different from humans. If this continues, the humans may be at a disadvantage when it comes to the first wave of attacks from the enemies. The only reason Willem has stuck around the Magic Academy to this point is because there is still a wealth of knowledge he has not gone through. To that end he will fight in this war and survive so he can absorb all the information the Magic Academy has to offer.

"Now we can go get me a little sister..." Kinsey absentmindedly said after she had just finished shining Willem's shoes. They both made their way to the teleportation array and shifted to the entrance of the Magic Academy. The normal hustle of the students died down considerably when the Grand Mage appeared before them. Ever since the incident with the fake Grand Mage, and the first hand reports coming from the students who saw Archus and Willem together speaking in the library, the student body now understood who the Grand Mage was. This revelation came as quite a shock to all those whom had assumed the person was from the older generation of students, and also to those whom had crossed paths with Willem before. Many students would offer gifts of magical cores and herbs to Willem for favor with the Grand Mage. Though he had no interest in accepting bribes, Kinsey graciously took them all for use in her potion brewing.

Willem and Kinsey headed to the Grand Library in preparation for the events that were about to unfold. The crowd that had gathered around Willem slowly dissipated when they noticed an aura of malice due to the lack of quiet in the Library. The crowd dispersed quickly and only a few of the gathered students stayed behind to actually read. Willem quietly placed himself close to the young freckled girl whom had already been in the Grand Library since the beginning. Without saying a word, he opened a book and poured over it while Kinsey stood by his side. After five minutes, he had finished the book he was reading and snapped his fingers. Kinsey went and fetched another book from the shelf, handing it to him without saying a word. Instead of saying anything, she wore an expression of confusion and regret, like she had something to say that would get her in quite a bit of trouble.

Kinsey spoke evenly but carried a hint of regret in her tone. "Master... Would it not be better to attend your lectures? I know you are a Grand Mage, but there are still more personal experiences to learn that you will not find in the Grand Library." She quietly finished her sentence, but all eyes were now focused on Willem. Included in those gazes was the young freckled girl whom had previously had her nose in a book. The book was quietly placed down, and she stared intently at the young boy who looked to be the same age as her. Despite the well known fact that he was a Grand Mage, she did not know of the rumors since she secluded herself in the Grand Library and had no friends to gossip with. She tried to measure the depths of his magical power with her own magical sense, but instead of power it was more like looking into a deep void. She retracted her magical sense and watched as events unfolded. The other students fully expected a show of force from the Grand Mage toward the attendant who clearly did not know her place. Instead, Willem nodded and closed the book he had been handed.

"Perhaps you are right." Willem stood from his seat and headed for the door. The other students looked on in awe at both Willem and Kinsey. This was the first time they had seen someone so powerful with such humility, and the first time they had seen an attendant with such a brave disposition. They looked on as the figures of the two slowly disappeared toward the classrooms.

The young freckled girl ducked away from her seat quickly and followed the Grand Mage. If she could somehow convince him to take revenge for her, perhaps things will go back to the way they were before. Before she could reach out to call to the Grand Mage, her heart began to beat rapidly, as if it was pulling all her veins towards the center of her body. Sweat dropped from her brow and her teeth clenched as if she was going to rip off a piece of tough meat. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as her body fell to the floor and began to shake uncontrollably.

When she awoke, she was lying on a small cot with minimal blankets covering her. There were two shadows to her left, one standing and one sitting. The one that was sitting had a wet cloth that was currently being placed on the girls forehead while the other watched on. Before she was completely coherent, the standing shadow began to remove her clothes. She resisted to the best of her ability, but the lingering effects of the seizure left her weak and tired. Thinking she was going to be raped again, she began to cry softly while begging to be left alone.

When she was finally awake, and understood what the unknown figure was doing, she stopped fighting. The figure placed its soft fingers along the abdomen of the girl, tracing along the bruises on her flat stomach. It continued to trace along the bruise until the flesh became warm from being rubbed. The flesh became cold, then warm, and back to cold as the capillaries that had ruptured began to reform. The escaped blood returned to the capillaries and the bruise slowly dissipated from beneath the grip of the soft fingers. The young girl watched as the bruise and pain left her body as if it had never been there in the first place. One by one, the figure within the shadow mended bone and healed the wounds on the young girl's body. The pain that accompanied the injured body parts were quickly replaced with a warm tingling feeling.

Once the final injury had been healed, the figure pushed the cloth covering the window of the infirmary. The sun shined brightly as the figures were revealed. It was of course, the two people whom she had rushed after when she saw them this morning. Willem and Kinsey took a seat on opposite sides of the naked girl as she laid on the cot softly crying. She immediately recognized the two people whom had helped her, and wiped the tears away from her eyes to get a better look. She did not dare put her clothes back on, even though she was completely naked in front of a young boy the same age as her. The Grand Mage had personally removed her clothes to fix her wounds, putting them back on might accidentally be an insult to him.

Instead, when her teeth had slowly begun to unclench, she spent the first ten minutes profusely thanking the Grand Mage for personally helping her. Willem made several attempts to stop her from thanking him so much but there seemed to be no end in sight. Once it began to get annoying, he sent out a wave of darkness magic to stun her, shutting her up.

Her body slightly convulsed as her lungs seemed to deflate. In the back of her mind, a complete sense of dread washed over her as she found it hard to breathe. Looking into the Grand Mage's eyes was like watching a twisting nether of black. Soon, Willem's pleasant demeanor returned and Kinsey gently explained that excessive praise is not needed in this situation.

Willem raised his hand to silence Kinsey, and stood from the chair he had previously been sitting on. "What is the one thing in this world you desire the most, girl?"

The young girl slowly sat up on the cot but did not say a thing. Her head stared down at her naked body, which was now devoid of injuries. Her hands gently pressed upon where her bruises used to be, and she understood that the injury was completely healed. Even her magical power had slowed down in response to not having to circulate all the time to fix her body. She thought about everything she had recently been through, and how she was going to continue to suffer even when her rapists were gone.

An imperceptible anger washed over her body, quickly replaced with thoughts of revenge which she quickly tried to hide. No matter how much she fought against her own thoughts, the anger bubbled to the top and thoughts of murdering her rapists forced themselves into her mind. What she did not know was that Willem was constantly forcing her true feelings to come forth and reveal themselves. He watched as she struggled with trying to sort out her own dark feelings. When she finally accepted what she truly wanted, she looked Willem in the eyes.

"Enough strength to take revenge against my enemies."

Willem nodded to her and to Kinsey, and passed her clothes back to her. While she put them on, Kinsey talked to her. The deal was that if she willingly served 'Grandia' he would give her enough strength to take her revenge. She thought about it for a long time before finally agreeing. There were many rumors about Grand Mages, not the least of which was how hard Grand Mages were to indentured attendants. Before they all left, Willem asked her what her mage name was.

"Atla, M-Master...." She was still unfamiliar with the terminology, as she had never needed to say it before.

"What was your name before you entered the Magic Academy?" Willem asked.

"Hmmm... It has been a while since I have been called by my real name. It was... Anna. Anna Atlee." Anna pondered for a moment before suddenly remembering something. A memory of running through fields of potatoes, with her Mother yelling for her to return home and wash up.

Willem stared into Anna's eyes until she could no longer look at him. He took both his hands and placed them on the sides of her small face, forcing her to look at him as he talked. "Anna Atlee. Your life is now in my hands. Your enemies are my enemies. My will is your will. In exchange, you receive power the likes of which you have never felt before. I will give you the instruments to take your revenge upon those who have harmed you."

Anna gulped and nodded when Willem removed his hands from her face. Kinsey stayed three steps behind Willem as he went to collect the herbs from the girls of his class. By now, they should have collected the herbs he had requested. He apologized to the mentor for being unable to attend the class, received the herbs and left without too much inconvenience.

Anna watched as the mentor bowed to Willem even after he had barged in and interrupted the session. She watched as the boys of the class kept their heads down, while the girls took from their spatial spells the herbs they had collected. Willem nodded and left the class quietly after bowing to the teacher.

Closing the door behind him, Willem held out both his hands. Kinsey naturally grabbed one, while Anna hesitantly grabbed the other. Before she understood what was happening, she had been teleported to a Private Sanctum.