The day ended quickly, with no time for Kinsey or Anna. Willem had drowned himself in his own thoughts, while also chiding the demoness in his body to give up more information about what he saw in his dreams.

The demoness was largely unhelpful in this regards.

The morning came quickly and mail was left for Willem at the Magic Academy.

Willem was the first to receive an invitation from The One True King. Secondly it was the Grand Mage Archus and lastly it was the commander of the king's army, Iniro Recor.

Iniro, at a very young age, was promoted for acts of valor in defending the outer walls from multiple attacks. His platoon of twenty men held the outer wall from centaur arrows and elven magic for two hours while not being able to cast magic themselves.

Under normal circumstances, a non-magical human would be dead within the blink of an eye against a mage, but the elements were on their side. A massive storm brewed, and while it did provide cover for the magical beings, it gave the humans a wall of wind to block ranged attacks.

This forced the magical beings into melee combat, and Iniro used guerrilla tactics to delay and confuse the enemy while stalling for magical reinforcements. He used the natural terrain he knew the best to ambush small scouts trying to find a way in, and after too many casualties the magical beings were forced to back off until the storm had passed.

After the successful defense, Iniro was given command of a hundred men and ordered to gather ingredients from the monsters of the region. With nothing but the basic of magical weapons, he led a campaign that would scale from the Romungan Desert to the Sea of Trials. The journey took a full year, and when he returned, the armor and weaponry they obtained was unparalleled compared to what they started out with.

Iniro returned with only fifty six men, but they were all wise beyond their years and battle hardened. Every single fighter under him could fight ten against one and win.

Iniro was given command of the royal army at the tender age of twenty five, as the previous commander was removed disgracefully from his position. From then on, the Bastion of Hope had a fresh new face to rely on for their protection.

Iniro boasted an incredible record of ninety six wins against magical beasts and the like, and only one loss. Under his command, a group of thirty rank three soldiers attempted to fight a level four magical beast and they all died horribly.

The leader of the group that died was Willem's father.

Now Archus, Iniro and Willem stood waiting on the summons from the King. Iniro was dressed in decorated plate mail, polished and giving off an aura of frost. The two Grand Mages were dressed in black robes with their hoods over their face, obscuring them from view.

Iniro knew not who the two waiting with him were, but every instinct in his body was telling him to run. Just being in their presence was terrifying enough, without them even looking at him or talking to him.

While his blood ran cold, he locked his legs firmly in place so as to not fall over from the pressure.

Archus and Willem eyed each other, nodded, but said nothing.

Twenty minutes passed and The One True King emerged from the throne room, decorated in royal robes with gaudy jewelry.

Iniro saluted the King with a strange amount of grace for a man of his stature, and both the Grand Mages bowed to the King slightly. Iniro frowned at the lack of respect for the King but said nothing as all three entered the throne room together.

"I presume you know why I have called you here, Grand Mage Grandia." The King sat down on his throne, beside his sick wife.

"I have heard the rumors you captured a spy." Willem bowed to the Queen and spoke softly.

Iniro looked at the cloaked black figure quizzically. The voice that spoke sounded no older than eighteen years of age. For such a young man to have such power is preposterous.

Willem sensed the faint hostility from Iniro and removed his hood for all to see. Grand Mage Archus did the same.

"You are correct, commander Iniro had captured an elven spy just outside our outer wall." The King looked at Iniro fondly, as if he was complimenting his own son.

"You are too kind, my King. I was only doing as instructed." Iniro bowed excessively, as he was accustomed to.

A scowl quickly crossed the faces of the two Grand Mages but disappeared quickly. The King noticed but said nothing.

"Then, as per our agreement, once you have finished with him, I can run my tests?" Willem attempted to steer the conversation back on track.

"Of course. Grand Mage Archus will supervise and report to me on all findings, just to ensure there are no conflicts of interest." The King stood from his seat and took his wife's hand in his.

Willem cleared his throat a couple times. When he had gotten the attention of the King once more, he produced a vial of black liquid from his spatial spell.

"What is this?" The King looked at the peculiar vial.

"I had noticed your wife's health is failing, so I concocted a potion that may restore her to her youthful vigor." Willem quickly handed the funny looking vial over to the King.

His eyes sparkled as if he was staring at diamond the size of his head. He quickly uncorked the vial and, after sniffing it, urged his wife to drink it.

The Queen slowly grasped the vial and drank from it. To her it tasted of blueberries and quisnic leaves, not unlike the pies that were made in the Bastion of Hope during summertime events.

Willem had garnished the concoction with blueberry juice and quisnic leaves to hide the rancid flavor of the liquid.

The Queen's face began to soften, her deep wrinkles disappearing and her frail arms regaining elasticity. Her eyes shined brightly once again as her body creaked from the metamorphosis.

Whatever had ailed her these long years had seemingly dissipated, along with her lackluster attitude and royal demeanor. She sprung from her chair with youthful exuberance, and danced along the stairs leading to the thrones.

The One True King looked at Willem gratefully, but his gaze was not shared. Willem was watching the Queen, his new test subject. The potion given to her had the intended effect, but he could not surmise how long that effect would last, nor what it's side effects could be.

Willem told the King as such, and the King sobered up from his elation. The four men watched as the Queen danced up and down the throne room until her heart beat so fast she could no longer stand it.

Her slippers had finally shown signs of use after ten years.

The One True King asked if Willem could brew more for her just in case. Willem obliged.

At the moment in time the One True King announced a celebration dinner in two days time for all nobles to attend. This of course meant the Grand Mages as well as the Commander and his equals.

Archus, Iniro and Willem bowed before leaving the King and Queen to their passionate embrace.

Archus and Willem returned to Archus' Private Sanctum, while Iniro went to speak with the other leaders of the Army about a curious young boy who will be the torturer of the spy.

Meanwhile, during the Summons.

Kinsey and Anna had at least a few hours off to themselves, and were contemplating what to do.

The day before, Kinsey had spent the whole day at school doing various activities, even going so far as to prepare a lecture for the beginning potions class.

Thanks to her connection to the teacher, whom she gave the pain suppression elixir formula to, she was allowed to teach the students the proper way to extract the usable parts of a flower or plant. This was ideal as there was a large influx of potions students who did not understand the proper way to take apart plants.

Initially her audience was only meant to be twenty students in a small lecture room in the beginners area. By the time word got out about who was performing the lecture and what her affiliations were, the class had blossomed to three hundred students and had to be moved to the auditorium. Even a couple Grand Mages attended the lecture, just to talk with Kinsey afterward about various things.

Naturally that meant talking about her Master and what he was up to, which Kinsey decided not to divulge too much about. Kinsey was all too familiar with the nobles talk of speaking without saying what they meant, so she could easily skirt the boundaries of the conversation without revealing too much.

Now, the day after, Kinsey found herself doing quite a bit of research into a disruption potion. According to her research, the disruption potion had enough potency to break any barrier spell up to a certain level simply by being tossed against it. This could prove useful if a barrier was erected during the fight with the magical beings.

There was only a few ingredients rare enough to be considered troublesome to retrieve, but mostly it was just a matter of the difficult process of refining them. Her previous connections afforded her a certain amount of leeway when it came to finding and acquiring precious herbs, but she had been leaning on them for a while now and the line was getting tenuous.

Both Kinsey and Anna asked Willem's permission to host a soirée in his Private Sanctum. They explained how it would go very far in the acquisition of various rare herbs. By showing a modicum of himself to the party he would be very desirable to acquaint with.

Willem thought on it for a while and wrote down a missive to be sent to The One True King, Grand Mage Archus, and Iniro Recor. If the King would allow it, the celebration dinner will be hosted by Willem himself. To him it was like killing two birds with one stone.

One; he would be able to gauge the Queen's health when she arrives.

Two, he would be able to mingle with the high society and possibly make connections he can use later on.

The King happily obliged in Willem's request to host the party, and it was only one more day from the celebration dinner where a rumor held that the Queen's health had taken a turn. No one knew whether it was for the best or the worst.

Thus, it was decided. Kinsey and Anna began to decorate the Private Sanctum while Willem changed the structure of the Sanctum just as Kinsey recommended. After a couple hours of work, the Private Sanctum looked exquisitely like a proper place of celebration.