A loud sound sounded as the front gate of the academy opened for the first time in days. The big iron gate seemed like it was screaming, attempting to expel those who dared to open it. The magic seals that had been placed to protect the fence and gate slowly deactivated one after another. The man this gate was opened for was a tall, black haired man in his thirties. He wore a white and blue uniform with many medals. On the left side of his chest was an embedded crest. The crest was made up of three parts. A silver edge, a blue background and the silver figure or what was supposedly a mage. The illustrated man was a great mage of the past who had helped the kingdom of Karvoc in its early years. The man smiled upon seeing the now fully opened gate. As he took a step towards the inside of the academy, ten people in similar uniforms followed him. The most notable difference between their uniforms would be the lack of medals his followers had. After all of them had stepped inside the school grounds, the gate slowly closed again. ‘So this is the famous academy of Prestillon… It is even bigger than what I have heard. A little bit too big if you ask me.’ He turned to his men. ‘Hiss, you studied here once, correct?’ One of the men took a step forward. ‘Yes sir. Before my time at the ministry of magic control, I studied at this academy.’ The ministry of magic control was an organization with a high reputation in the kingdom of Karvoc. It had been established half a century ago and had since hunted down a lot of illegal magic associations. They served directly under the minister of magic affairs. Every single of the men here were spotted geniuses. The fact that even one of them came from Prestillon was an achievement by itself. The man in lead continued. ‘In that case show me the way to the main building.’ The man who had been called ‘Hiss’ immediately started to lead the way. It wasn't a complicated way. Since they had entered through the main gate, all they had to do was follow the main road and they would arrive. That being said, it took them some time to do so. Since it was afternoon period, they encountered close to no students. The few ones they met quickly made space after recognising their uniforms. After several minutes of walking and passing many smaller parks, they finally arrived at the entrance to the main building. The man, who was supposedly the leader of the group, smiled. ‘This building looks even bigger from up close. They really did their best to create an impressive view for their visitors. If all that money had been invested in a more thoroughly dark mage hunt…’ His dissatisfaction was more than just visible. ‘I had hoped things would change when the new headmaster was elected as someone from the church, but it seems that guy also lost track of what's really important.’ His dissatisfaction had turned into obvious disgust. It was then when Hiss stepped up again. ‘Sir, this academy represents our country. A great optic is very important.’ Especially as someone who had studied here, he felt like it was his duty to protect this place. ‘Aesthetics, how nice. And where did that lead? They are calling us for help because they can't handle a few dark mages by themselves.’ His tone got darker. ‘This wouldn't have happened if we had more financial support from his highness.’ Hiss tried to say something again, but before he could even start, the door in front of them opened. ‘Huh, it seems they finally noticed us.’ He turned to Hiss again. ‘No one here to welcome us either. Lead the way to the headmasters office.’

A few minutes later, they arrived in front of a big wooden door. The name ‘Harms’ was written on it in golden letters. Hiss knocked. Instead of the door opening by itself like the last times, this time a ‘You can come in’ sounded from inside. Two of the men stepped in front in order to open the door for their leader. ‘Hiss, you come with me.’ The other nine men stood in a formation that blocked anyone from getting too close to the door. What was spoken inside the room shouldn't be heard by anyone else. The door closed again after the two of them had entered. Inside the rather big office with one window and perfect view of the schoolyard were three mages. One woman with long, red hair, one old man with completely white hair and one young man who sat behind the big headmasters desk. The latter one had a sly smile on his face. ‘And you are Mr. Hunt may I assume?’ The man with the many medals nodded silently. Hiss had to swallow. The presence of someone of Harms’ caliber was something new to him. Not even Mr. Hunt could compare to that. ‘Who is the man beside you?’ asked the older man - Stroff. ‘This is Hiss. My right hand and former student of this academy.’ The face of the female mage suddenly became brighter. She wasn't much older than Hiss, so Hunt assumed they probably knew each other from their time as students. Hiss also seemed a bit more comfortable after seeing her. Harms continued. ‘I thank you for traveling here. Were you already filled in with the details?’ This time Hiss spoke. ‘No. All we know is that a dark mage was sighted around here.’ Harms’ smile brightened upon hearing that. ‘Good. We made sure that no information leaked outside, but I am glad to see it worked.’ He turned towards Stroff. ‘May you be so nice?’ Stroff just nodded. ‘A few days ago, we discovered a hidden room, supposedly created by dark mages.’ ‘What makes you say that?’ Hunt didn't seem convinced. If anything, he seemed angry at the staff for not noticing any sooner. ‘The room was filled with books of the old languages.’ The expression of the two men suddenly got more serious. Not all old languages had something to do with the dark arts, but in combination with a hidden room… and even worse, if the room was really filled with those books, that would make the dark mages accordingly powerful. It was very hard to get these books after all. But Stroff continued. ‘We checked the room several times, but we couldn't find any traces of mana.’ Hiss grasped. He had to do with dark mages before, but this was different. ‘To that… They managed to sneak through our lockdown and killed a professor.’ Silence filled the room. Hunt didn't know what to say. He didn't like the way the academy wasted money, but he had always accepted the strength of its teachers. To think one of them was killed during a lockdown… The headmaster started to talk again. ‘You didn't think we would request support over anything smaller than this, did you?’ His arrogant grin burnt itself into Hunts eyes. ‘We will immediately start the hunt..’ Hunt said that, but it was obvious that he had no confidence in achieving anything. It was then that Harms looked at him. ‘Don’t misunderstand. We did not call you to hunt these people. We called you to guard the fence and keep them inside.’ Both Hunt and Hiss were seemingly surprised - and relieved. Although they tried to hide that. ‘Are you thinking about hunting them down by yourself? You don't even know where to start!’ Harms' expression didn't change a bit. ‘We will know.’ That answer didn't satisfy Hunt. ‘If anything bad happens, it will be your responsibility!’ ‘Oh, I am well aware of that.’ Hunt took a step back. He thought for a moment. In the end, his fear won over his sense of duty. He turned towards the door. ‘Do what you want.’ At that moment, the headmaster twitched. Hunt turned around, to see that Harms probably received a message right now. There were many different kinds of communication spells, but the most famous ones focused on telepathy. Harms’ expression changed from sly to self confident. He stood up. ‘Mr. Cloffing just contacted me - Vonstadt found something in the book from Stellox' room.’ The woman with the red hair - Velona, turned to him. ‘What did he say?’ Harms was seemingly satisfied. ‘The book contained information about the hidden room. Since Stellox' didn't give these information to us, it is safe to assume that he is one of the culprits.’ The air in the room was frozen. No one dared to say anything, or even breath loudly. It was Velona who broke that silence. ‘But why would he…’ She couldn't finish that sentence. Hunt took that opportunity. ‘Where is that Stellox right now?’ Stroff explained the situation. ‘He was the professor that was killed.’ Hiss was seemingly confused. But that didn't count for Hunt. He had too much experience with these kinds of people, he had seen such a scene too often. ‘They probably had a struggle for power. Or they got scared after you found their room and wanted to get rid of any witnesses.’ Harms got to speak again. ‘I suspect something similar. But this information is great!’ Hiss was even more confused now, and even Hunt seemed like he didn't quite understand the headmaster. ‘Let me explain what he thinks.’ Stroff suddenly stood up. 'Up until now, we only knew that the dark mage was in the same building as Stellox, since he managed to kill him although it was lockdown.’ The headmaster continued Stroffs explanation. ‘But now we knew that the other culprit most likely also had a lot of contact with Mr. Stellox.’ Hunt seemed unsatisfied. ‘If they really knew each other, I suspect they avoided open contact as much as possible.’ Harms just smiled, and this time even Stroff couldn't keep a serious expression. They were too amused by the fact that the trap they had laid beforehand profed to be that useful right now. ‘That, dear Mr. Hunt, is impossible.’ He looked at Ms. Velona, who was just as confused as the other two. Harms reached for a map from one of the nearby shelves. ‘This is a mana detector. It is able to pinpoint the location of anyone with a lot mana. I had taken notes about who was often together with who in the past. Sadly I didn't look at it when the murder happened…’ Velona was amazed. ‘As expected Mr. Harms! To think you planned that far ahead!’ Only Hunt seemed to understand the true meaning behind this. ‘So you… monitored your professors even before the news of the dark mages reached you?’ Harms didn't plan on answering that. ‘What matters right now is that there were three people who often visited Mr. Stellox. Those were Mr. Velvino, who was with you when it all happened, Mr. Braf and Ms. Lendrar.’ His expression changed into a bit less confident. ‘We originally suspected someone from the wind department to be the culprit. The wounds…’ ‘Which elements do those two control?’ It was Hunt who asked that question. ‘Mr. Braf is a water mage, and I think Ms. Lendrar was a fire mage.’ it was Velona who said that. ‘I see…’ Hunt though for a moment. ‘Maybe they can control two elements? It is not rare for dark mages to control different attributes while they use Dark magic.’ Hiss nodded in agreement. Harms sighted. ‘Maybe. Whatever it is, we need to start supervising both of them.’ Hunt agreed. He waved at Hiss. ‘Tell the men that we will keep an eye on those two.’ He hesitated for a moment. He then looked at Harms. ‘I would like one of our experts to take a look at the books you found. The headmaster nodded. ‘Mr. Vonstadt is still looking through them, so you will have to share.’ His sly smile was back. Hunt was relieved to see the headmaster confident again, but was just as annoyed by the smile already again. He sighted. ‘I will give further instructions to my men. Get someone who can give us more information about those two.’ He left the room. Stroff was as stubborn as before the incident. ‘Weren’t they supposed to keep watch on the gates?’ Harms just smiled. ‘Let them do the risky work.’ His expression got a bit darker. ‘I would hate to hold a second speech about a lost college.’ Stroff couldn't say anything against that. Now Velona opened her mouth again. ‘Mr. Harms… I would never doubt you, but… Why did you monitore us before any of this happened?’ He couldn't dodge the question this time. Luckily, a bad excuse would be enough to appease her. ‘I was merely cautious. And you never know when you may need information like these…’

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