EVENING CAME, THE GUARDIAN MAGES has gathered once again at the Central Shrine to report back to Lanaya.

“Where’s Mirana?” asked Lanaya.

The present Guardian Mages looked at each other and shrugged.

“We didn’t see her when we went here,” said Lewis.

The doors of Lanaya’s office opened. Lisa came in and handed the reports to Lanaya.

“Sorry, Mirana couldn’t come in today,” said Lisa.

“Hmmm. And where is your Guardian Mage, Lisa?” asked Lanaya.

“Umm, she’s with Jacob, patrolling the Northwest Shrine area.”

Lanaya looked at her sharply. “Lisa. We may have not been talking for some time because of work, but I still do remember that you are bad at lying."

Lisa gulped. “Wha—Huh? What? I’m not lying, Ms. Lanaya.”

Lanaya then stood up. “Between you and Jacob hiding behind over there, you should have just let him give the reports. He's pretty good at lying after all.”

Jacob flinched who was just outside. And yes, he admits that he is pretty good at lying.

“Ms. Lanaya, I can explain. I, umm…”

Lanaya read the report given by Lisa. “Tsk. Just how stubborn can she get? Meeting's adjourned!” Lanaya then turned into ice and broke into tiny pieces. The pieces then floated away and went outside through the window.

“This is not good,” Lisa ran outside. “Come on, Jacob!”

“Hey, w-wait up!”

* * * * *

It has been hours and Mirana was still waiting near the camp, but still, no one has shown up. She was hiding on a tree that had a good view of the hunters’ camp. From time to time, she would gaze at the clear night sky and be amazed by the shape of the moon and the twinkling stars.

From her location, she also has a good view of the towering Arcane Fountain Castle. Even at night, the castle glimmered and looked lively as ever.

The cold wind blew. A fresh cold wind would normally chill anyone. But Mirana, being an ice mage, has grown accustomed to the coldness. Still, she felt like freezing, which she never felt, unless...“Lanaya”

The tree branch Mirana was sitting on instantly froze, but Mirana jumped out just in time. As she landed, she saw that everything was quickly being encased in ice. Soon, the whole area turned white, solid frozen.

In front of Mirana, floating ice suddenly came down and merged until it turned into Lanaya.

“I gave you one order! One order and still, you cannot do it!” Lanaya furiously scolded.

“Look, anyone can come here anytime. Why turn everything into ice? Now they’ll know we’re after them!”

“If you followed my order, they will come here as the hunter said. They will not be here until tomorrow evening. What are you going to do, wait all day, all night?”

“Can’t you just step out of my way just for once?! I told you I can do this!”

“Enough!” Lanaya then stretches her arm out. An ice statue levitates towards her.

“Lanaya. Is that, a real person?”

“This man saw you sitting on the tree and tried to escape. I managed to freeze the whole area and caught him.”

Mirana was stunned. She didn’t see or felt anyone near the camp. “But I---”

“No, Mirana. You were right. Anyone can come here anytime. But their plan was not until tomorrow. Because of your stubbornness, we’re two steps behind again.”

“Lanaya, I’m…I didn’t…”

“As the second-in-command of the Arcane Magus, I hereby demote you, Mirana Yue, from the Guardian Mage of the Northwest Shrine to a Battle Mage of Central Shrine.”

“No. No… NOOOO!!!”

Mirana unleashed a powerful surge of mana, shattering all the ice in the area. Lanaya used her magic to protect the frozen hunter that she caught.

Lisa and Jacob were already near the hunters’ camp but were blown away by the force from Mirana. Luckily, Jacob managed to use his magic to create a barrier to protect Lisa.

“Are you okay?” asked Jacob.

“Yeah. But we’re too late.”

Mirana’s staff, the Everfrost, started to glow, giving her even more power.

“You think you’re great just because you’re the second-in-command of the Arcane Magus? I’ll beat you up and show you real Ice Magic!” Mirana aimed the staff towards Lanaya. “Glaceo Aeon!”

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Hundreds of icicle spears formed above Lanaya then rained down at high speed. As one fell to the ground, another icicle spear formed at the sky again.

From where Lanaya was standing, the winds circulated and expanded, destroying the icicle spears. As the dust subsided, Lanaya and the frozen hunter both appeared to be unharmed.

Mirana pointed her staff towards Lanaya. “Glacio Lux!!”

From the staff’s orb, a powerful beam of ice was released, but Lanaya simply stretched her arms out and deflected the beam even before it hits her as if an invisible barrier protected her.

“Come on, Mirana. I’m sure you can do better than that.” Lanaya mocked.

“Shut up!!!!” Mirana screamed. She then levitated as she incants another magic spell. “Glacio Meteoro!!!”

Dark clouds formed above them. The clouds spun, and from the eye, a huge block of ice dropped like a meteor. More blocks of ice formed as it fell towards Lanaya.

Fairy wings manifested behind Lanaya, much to Mirana's surprise. Lanaya stretched both her hands up in the sky. All of the falling ice merged, compressed, and shrunk in size.

Lanaya continuously compressed the ice and as it reached her, it is now the size of a pebble. brightly glowing with a bluish-white light.

Mirana, overwhelmed, fell to her knees. “H-How?”

The pebble-sized ice was then sent to the sky by Lanaya. The ice then exploded and after a few seconds, snow began to fall. Lanaya's fairy wings disappeared. She turned around as she walked away from Mirana with the hunter she encased in ice. “If you're done with your tantrum, then I’ll see you tomorrow at the Central Shrine. Don’t be late.”

* * * * *

The unusual snow became the talk of the people that happened last night. It appears that the snow only happened in the western part of the kingdom though and didn't last for too long.

“Care to explain?” asked Leon who was at Lanaya’s office.

“Mirana disobeyed a direct order, which caused us a potential development in catching the treasure hunters. I demoted her myself and assigned Lisa as the interim Guardian Mage until the Mage King decides who’ll take the place.” Lanaya responded as she prepared some documents, going from one bookshelf to another.

“And the snow?” Leon followed her.

“She tried to show me a real Ice Magic. I think that was it.”

“Come on, Lanaya. When will you two get along?”

Lanaya stopped and looked at Leon. “Leon, we’re dealing with much more important matters right now.”

“There is nothing more important than family, Lanaya,” Leon said, holding Lanaya's hands.

“Look, I’d love to spend time with you, or with my sister, for that matter. But now we have to do extra work thanks to her. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Lanaya touched Leon's face. “Take care, alright?” Lanaya left her office to meet the hunter she caught last night.

* * * * *

The Cirque du Magique has now finished erecting its famous Grande Tent at the central plaza. It’s a huge circular tent but doesn't seem to be huge enough to accommodate thousands of people.

Leon's mother, Queen Leia, and his younger sister, Princess Leora, together with dozens of castle mages and griffin riders that escorted them, were strolling around the area and watching the performers practice.

The Mage King, King Fuegora, Prince Leon, and the members of Magic Assembly have left earlier to have a meeting with the Supreme Council at the Aeternas Kingdom, unable to watch the show.

The people outside were eagerly waiting for the show. Several shops were around the area, selling foods and souvenirs.

Daisuke and his friends were also near the Grande Tent. Since they have nothing better to do, they decided to watch the circus performance later tonight. They met up with Jack and the Seekers.

“Guys!” greeted Daisuke.

“Great! You’re all here!” said Lanatte.

“The show will not start for at least eight hours,” said Raijin. “What are we supposed to do to kill time?”

The group agreed to go all over the kingdom to spend time.

They saw the Northern Shrine getting fixed by mages using a very exhaustive restoration spell. Then they went to the Northwest Shrine to visit Mirana. There they learned from Lisa about Mirana’s demotion.

They went to the Central Shrine with Lisa and tried to look for Mirana, but she was nowhere to be found. The group decided to just continue their sightseeing while Lisa stayed for an interrogation.

The group reached the Southwest Shrine. They even went to the area where last night’s battle left a mark.

Noontime and the group ate lunch which they bought back at the food stalls at the Grande Tent area. They were at a park overseeing most of the Arcanas Kingdom. After eating, the group went to the Southeast Shrine. The area was filled with magical beasts which most can only be found in the Arcanas Kingdom.

Soon, they reached the Northeast Shrine which is near the Arcane Fountain Castle. Unlike in any other area in the kingdom, the place was abundant in fairies.

“I guess from here we could go back to the circus,” Said Daisuke.

“Yeah. Should we head back now?” asked Siegfried.

“There’s still a couple of hours before the show starts. I guess we can go back and just rest near the area.” Brunnhilde suggested.

As the sky turned to dusk, the group noticed the abundance of fairies in the area. The colorful fairies were dancing in the sky that making it livelier.

“Wow! So many fairies!” said Musaoi.

“Yeah. They look so beautiful,” Riku added.

“Guys!!” Mirana yelled.

The group was surprised by the arrival of Mirana out of nowhere.

“Mirana! We heard what happened. Is everything okay?” asked Riku.

“We went to the Central Shrine to visit you, but you weren’t there,” said Raijin.

“I’m fine. I’m actually looking for you guys. I need your help. All of you.”

“Why? What’s going on?” asked Daisuke.

Mirana filled in the group on what happened earlier. She wasn’t allowed inside the interrogation room, so she hid somewhere she could eavesdrop to the conversation.

The hunter spilled about the mastermind behind the stealing of the fragments of the Star of Arianna. They, the Strongmen Hunters, were working with one person and only follow the mastermind's order. Only their leader, Eduardo, gets to talk with the mastermind and only relays the information to them. The hunter also said that they posed as the circus’ laborers to enter the kingdom without a hitch. The hunter also revealed that they already know about the whereabouts of the remaining four fragments.

“Turns out that there were more than six people involved.”

“Do we know who the mastermind is?” asked Jack.

“No, we don’t. And now that I am no longer a Guardian Mage, I can no longer help out. I am ordered to stay at the Central Shrine for the rest of the day.”

“How can we help then?” asked Marcactas.

“We go to the circus and find out who are the other people involved. That could lead us to the mastermind. Lanaya already ordered all the Guardian Mages to defend the castle’s magic vault. Lisa also said that they are not going to the circus since it could cause alarm.”

“But since we are not part of the mages, we could avoid causing alarm,” Riku figures.

“How about you then? People will notice you.”

“I’m on it.”

The group continued towards the Grande Tent.

“Mirana, there’s something you should know,” said Daisuke.

“What is it?”

Daisuke then told her about the fairies and his hunch.