The Magic District Of Gorz Near Mt. Gylch,
"Seriously, you sure he's a dude?" Asked Mordecai to Blake, looking back at Lutwig and couldn't get over the fact that he was a guy.
"Yes, he is," Blake muttered back at him, right now Blake and the others were spending their time looking around the Magic District of Gorz.
As the name would have told you everything around had a literal bit of magic to it; from the fish swimming through the air to the random magical item put on display at some of the stores. The further one got into the district higher they got as everything was built on Mt. Gylch with the centerpiece near the top being the coveted Le Fay School Of Magic, carved out of the mountain with an enormous transparent dome cast over the towering buildings of the school.
"Hey? Are there any weird stuff like that in there?" Blake asked, pointing at someone transforming into a three-headed peacock.
"I dunno? I've never been in there. You know? Non-magic user and all that." Mordecai shrugged in answer then pointed at Risabeel looking at a self-watering tree along with Lu and Rena. "Aren't you just a little bit worried about bringing her along?"
"No, why?" Blake asked after waving for the 3 of them to keep up.
"Uhm, Demon? Most spellcasters can sense mana, hmm..." Mordecai moved his hands up and down to weight the options. "...and I'm pretty sure there's someone in there that can banish her back to the Underworld on sight."
"And you think I'm gonna let that happen?" Blake shot back with a fist held up to Mordecai's face.
"If you're a toad maybe not." Mordecai joked, stepping away from Blake a little as he was rubbing his fist against Mordecai's head. "You've got a really simple mind, don't you?"
"And somehow this very simple mind has you leading it around?" Blake tapped the side of his head with his held fist, making Mordecai give up and walk away. "Huh? Did I miss something?"
"He was calling you stupid, stupid," Rena answered, flying in to land on Blake's shoulder and moved around a little to get comfy. "Are you all muscle? Lu's so much softer."
"Well? If you're not liking the ride, then get off..." Blake told Rena off, rocking the shoulder she was on almost knocking the Fairy off but she hung on tight. "...alright, why are you here?"
"Just wanted to you tell something about that elk you and Lu fought earlier." She looked up at Blake, smirking at his confused face. "Hehe! Got your attention now, huh? Well, the thing about it was that its a breed of elk not native to Laudonia ~in fact,~ if Lu knows his animals then it's from the kingdom of Albion."
"Albion? Isn't that to the west of Laudonia?" Blake was working things through his head on the new bit of info he got from Rena making her smile even more. "And?"
"..." And like that the Fairy's smile went away in one word and she flew into Blake's face making him double back into Gram. "...it means that someone brought a fully grown elk from another kingdom into this one. Cursed it into a walking crystal nightmare. And let it loose in a forest inside the capital city. Don't you think that sounds a little bit too weird?"
"Uh, well, yea? But what does that have to do with me? That's Gorz's problem, not mine." Blake brought a hand to his chest. "I've got better things to worry about than something like that, such as the guild we're forming, and you know her...?" He motioned over to Risabeel.
"Hmm? You're right...and that's annoying..." Rena nagged, hovering upside down to mull things over until she came right side up. "...just keep what I said to heart, will you?"
"No promise," Blake muttered, crossing his fingers over his heart with Rena rolling her eyes at him then went to Lu's side.
"HEY! Come on! We're almost there!" Mordecai yelled from up ahead and waited for them to catch up. "What was with the holdup? Saw something you like?"
"Nah, just catching up is all," Blake answered with a shrug, no need to tell Mordecai about what Rena was holding him up with.
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Entrance to Le Fay School of Magic
"Oh, that's going to be a problem." Blake groaned with his face set in a slight grimace at the sight before him.
"Yes, quite the issue indeed, Sir Blake." Risabeel agreed with him, standing a few feet away from one of the many gateless and doorless entrances to Le Fay placed within a seemingly useless wall.
This was because many of those who were entering or leaving the area went by air via magic or some flying creature but what was upsetting both Blake and Risabeel was the fact that each time someone entered the school a small ripple appeared where they entered. This meant that the school was surrounded by a barrier likely working like if not better than the one at Nenil's Library, meaning that a certain someone was likely not allowed inside with some help.
"And the mage that got her in the last time is in there, huh?" Gram added to the despair sniffing at some of the random students. They all wore simple colored robes with the insignia of a golden apple held by a pair of hands on the back of their robes.
"Wait? You can smell him from here Gram?" Mari got into Gram's face with Os swirling around its jar at everything around it.
"Heh! Easy this place reeks of him it's like he doesn't go anywhere." Gram chuckled, picking up on Nathan's scent from just about anywhere around the school.
"That doesn't help you know..." Blake muttered, trying to think up a way to get Risabeel in without her going through that barrier if not then he'd have to leave her here with someone, but that was a problem too. "Not after that, Basilisks showed up when I was gone."
"Hmm? You all seem to be in prickle? Am I right by that?" A man's voice asked from behind, making the group turn to find a tall man somewhere in his earlier forties.
He looked back at them with a head short black hair, combed up nicely and parted slightly to the right. His outfit was made up by a perfectly wore white dress shirt and an ugly blue tie combined with a gray suspenders from his black pants and a pair of brown shoes. Off his shoulders was a lime green trenchcoat marked with Le Fay's insignia on it and a silver pin made up by two 'S's' on the right breast of the trenchcoat.
"If you would, I can help you..." The man offered with his misty gray eyes passing over each of the group's members stopping on Blake and Risabeel a bit longer than the others then raised a brow. "...hmm?"
"Sir Blake..." Risabeel moved to Blake's back at the feeling of eyes all over her from the simple glance of this one man.
"..." Blake shared a look with Mordecai and Lu with both of them nodding back to him. "...Yea, we could, Sir...?" He trailed off, leaving the man to answer.
"Ah, yes! I am sorry...there are few times where others do not know me. I am Magnus, Magnus, The Lightning Blink, head professor of wind magic at Le Fay." Magnus held up a hand and twirled it around with wind and lightning dancing/sparking. "And no need to tell me you who all are, Nathan as told me much about you."
"Even me!" Mordecai pointed at himself being the newest member of Blake's group.
"...And you are?" Magnus asked, coming up to Mordecai to look at him more closely and made some of the thief's hair stand on ends from the sparks jumping off of Magnus. "...Wait? You're not that thief who's been causing trouble, aren't you?"
"What?! No! Do I even look like a thief!" Mordecai threw out his arms and out of his cloak came a lockpick, grappling hook and some coin pouches that weren't his. "Uhm?"
"Yes, yes you do, and a very good at that," Magnus dryly answered and waved his hand to send a gust of wind that picked up the coin pouches. "I'll forget I saw that as long as these get returned to their rightful owners..." He shot Mordecai a look with the Thief nodding slowly. "...now then what are you all doing here?"
"Well, long story short we came to get Nathan to join a guild this guy and I are trying to put together," Blake answered with a thumb pointed at a distort Mordecai after picking up his tools.
"Oh? That's interesting? This is the first I've heard of someone actually wanting to see that boy, hmm?" Magnus sounded quite surprised by Blake's goal in coming to Le Fay with a hand drawn to his chin then snapped some of his fingers at Risabeel. "However, I did notice your concerns about her?"
"Ugh, Yea?" Blake muttered not too sure if talking about the Demon with him out in the open was okay.
"Not to worry, there are many who are of a questionable race here at Le Fay," Magnus saw Blake's reluctance in speaking then he reached around inside his trenchcoat to pull out a small locket. "Hmm?" And with a bit of mana running through his hand, it popped open to show a very basic watch looking device. "But, back to your goal in coming here, Nathan is currently here at the moment, mind if I take you to him?"
"...That would be nice? but what about getting her inside?" Blake was all for it since it meant getting at Nathan but still had the issue of Risabeel not being able to walk through the barrier around Le Fay.
"Oh? Please! That's a simple task, come here, miss..." Magnus waved Risabeel over, and after some coaxing from him and Blake, she stepped into his reach. "...now, you'll feel a sightly tingle but not to worry I've done this for a few others of your kind." He pressed his thumb to Risabeel's forehead.
"Ah!" The Demon felt a burning sensation coming to her forehead that left as quickly as it came but left not even the smallest of marks once Magnus pulled his hand away.
"This barrier here is far out of my capability to effect it, but I can trick it into thinking something that shouldn't go through can, heh!" Magnus chuckled to himself then stepped through the barrier. "So, if you would please allow me to show you my place of work."
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One hour later within the halls of Le Fay
With Magnus at the helm the group swiftly made their way throughout the school, all the while Magnus was a tour guide pointing out the different facilities that it had to offer. From a massive library with books from around the world on any magical or non-magical subject to a free boarding house for out of kingdom students.
As for students, after a bit of questioning from Risabeel, Magnus explained that the school is open to any of the Allied Races Of Laudonia, and anyone wishing to gain an understanding of the magical world even if they have little magical power or on special cases, those without but still want to learn about magic in great detail.
"Ah! It feels good to take a refresher on things once in a while! This reminds me of my time as a student here..." Magnus took a moment to think about the past with a grabbing at his chest tightly. "...Ah, but whatever we're here at last!" He pushed all of it back as they were coming up to a pair of black double doors with skulls lining up their edges.
"Final-" Blake muttered at first this whole listening to Magnus go on about Le Fay's school curriculum for the past hour left him brain-dead. "Huh!?" But the sight of a death door got his full attention.
"What's in there!?" Both Blake and some other young woman's voice asked at the same time.
"Oh? Hello, Professor Magnus." Came from an elderly woman leading a group of 10 students who all wore dull looking white robes.
"Ah, well are these the new young minds wanting to molded?" Magnus smiled at the group of students. Most were Elves and humans with an Orc and a Beastman. "...Hmm? Well, I see great things ahead of you all as long as you follow our school's teaching, eh?"
"Yes, sir!" Came from the woman's voice earlier as a hand belonging to a bouncing head of blue hair shot up from the group making all of the students break apart to give a clear view of the outcrier. "Uh...h-h-hello..." Her voice quickly went to a whisper being the center of attention as a petit looking blunette teenaged girl with warm green eyes.
"No need to be an afraid young one, speaking clearly and proudly is one of the foundations of a good spell..." Magnus came up to the young woman, putting a hand to her shoulder and her face lit up like a campfire. "Now please may I have your name?"
"Right!" She got her voice back and built up to courage to speak. "Hello! I am Fran! A druid from the town of a Randun! And I have come here to be one of our kingdom's greatest magic users!" Fran stuck out her chest and let off some of green-colored mana.
"Oh, you set quite the high bar for yourselves? I hope you do know that makes you my rival?" Magnus crossed his arms and let off his mana with bolts of lightning jumping off him, putting Fran's display to shame as he stared her down.
"A-a-a..." Fran, along with most of the other students backed away from Magnus both in fear and awe at his presence and words.
"There are people more powerful than that guy, yikes!" Rena whimpered from Lu's shoulder, watching and feeling the effect Magnus had on the students.
"Neat, but can we get a move on, please?" Blake held up a hand and motioned to the death doors before them. As cool as it was to see a guy pulse with lightning coming off him, he wasn't really getting the same feeling of power as Rena, those students and Risabeel was feeling? "Hey, are you good? I guess you can sense magic too, right?" He asked, seeing as Risabeel was latching on his back.
Risabeel nodded, but her eyes weren't on Magnus but the black doors. "Yes, I'm able to slightly from what Sir Nathan taught me, and I sense something ominous behind those doors..."
"Well, that's understandable seeing as who's behind there..." Magnus said, somehow hearing Blake and Risabeel speaking from where he was. "...but, best see what's going on inside there before it gets 'bad'..." He did air quotes at bad, making things about what's going behind these doors seem even worse. "Now, then in we go!" Magnus moved to the doors with Blake's group to his right while the new students were to his left and with a push of both of his hands, the doors began to open.
With that came a ghastly haze of black miasma as this horrid stench of rotting flesh that had been left out in the sun of a week and the light sicking sweetness of cheap perfume mixed in with a few gaps of stale air that was quickly filled by the smell of all sorts of chemicals.
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The room appeared to be some kind of lab with long glass pipes running from beakers to test tubes that were filled with strange colored liquids or gases that were mixed, heated, cooled, filtered then repeated all over again. All handled by a group of....moving...skeletons...in black robes...?
"..." One of the skeletons working on a corpse of a two-headed snake looked up at the group then pointed at a large curtain covered part of the lab where a figure was seen working on something on a table then went right back to cutting up the snake and set some pieces of it aside from another one to take away.
"Wha?" Once again both Blake and Fran shared words, however, this time it was pretty much on the minds of everyone there, with the except for maybe Magnus and his fellow teacher since they held their faces in blank stares at all of the macabre and necrotic oddities around them.
"I think I'll stay outside." Gram didn't move an inch from the doors even before they opened he knew what was going on in there and his nose did not like any of it.
"Baby!" While Mari just jumped off Gram and ran after Blake with Os slushing around in its jar.
"Please, refrain from touching anything that seems interesting to you. these lab attendants are quite protective of their work," Magnus warned, taking over the role of the tour guide from the other teacher weaving them through the lab to make sure they were far away from any of the ongoing experiments until they came to that large curtain covered part of the lab. "Brace yourself..." Magnus waved his right arm out, and a gust of wind blew the curtain apart.
Once they came apart standing over what looked like a steel operating table was someone in one of the black robes worn by the skeletons. They also wore a surgical mask and a pair of glowing goggles that hid their face from view, but the head of wavy lavender hair and a bit of those dot eyebrows sticking out were tell-tale signs that it was Nathan.
"..." However, as good as that was everyone there was wounding why he was wrist-deep in the abdomen of a dark blue-skinned white-haired corpse of a woman with her body covered by a blanket with a section cut out at her abdomen.
"Uhhhh!" One of the students fainted when Nathan pulled out a random organ from inside the corpse.
"Hmm?" Which made Nathan looked up from his work and saw the 5 persons he didn't expect to see. These were; Blake, Risabeel, Mari, Lu, and Rena. "What are you all doing here?" He asked, pulling down his mask and pushed up his goggle with some magic as not to get his face covered in blood. "Ah, Professor Magnus, you are here as well?" He took notice of Magnus there with them as well.
"Yes, I am just touring these people around after I found them at the school's entrance. They appear to have come to find you," Mangus explained why he and Blake's group were here and held a hand to the new students. "Also, on our way here, we encountered the new blood care to explain what you are doing to them?"
"A-ah, yes...of course, why wouldn't I be able to hmm, hmm, hmm!" Nathan leaped at the chance to show off. "Currently, I'm conducting an autopsy on this corpse. It was prepared to mimic the effects of a curse placed on it while the corpse was alive. I must find out what type of curse, its caster, and a way to repel or remove it."
"And currently he's been taking his sweet time to probe my inners for the past hour or so." Came from the corpse whose blacken eyes snapped open and brought her arms behind her head to relax.
"Uhhh!" And like that, another student went down when the now undead corpse moved bits of her insides leaked out from the hole in her abdomen.
"Oh? There goes another one." The undead woman mused about to get up when Magnus held a hand to her. "~Hello~ Maggie darling, long time no see!"
"We had a chat this mourning and mind getting dressed before you come out from under there." Magnus brushed off the corpse's teasing and knew full what she was planning on doing if he did stop her.
"Fine, fine, I will go by your rules for today...Marrow, Joint, Calcium! To me!" She called out to a trio of idle skeletons, making them swiftly move to their master's side with Marrow and Joint holding up a black sheet while Calcium was helping her get dressed. "Now, is this to your liking, Maggie?"
The talking corpse appeared from behind the sheet wearing a black robe. It had wide open sleeves that covered her hands and tightened as they went up her arms. Off her shoulders was a white capelet adorned with black swirling markings that led to golden apple held by skeletal hands near her chest and the same double 'S' pin that Mangus wore was used to clip her hair in a top knot.
"Better than what we would have gotten," Magnus muttered, moving aside to give everyone a full view to the woman. "This here is Valdre, The Black Heart, head professor of dark arts."
"Greetings!" Valdre cheered to everyone, throwing her arms out as her skeletons clapped for her. "Thank you! Thank you! You can get back to work now." She waved them off, and they went back to standing idle at a wall. "Quite the hard workers for piles of bones, eh?"
"I guess, but I'm surprised you haven't named one of them bonehead yet." Magnus had to admit that having a never tiring and completely obedient workforce under one's command was useful despite Valdre's naming scheme.
"Oh! That's him!" Valdre pointed skyward, and the others looked up to find staring back down at them was a full-grown Dragon skeleton. "But enough about my children and I! I want to hear about this one!" Valdre brought her finger down on Risabeel looking whimsically up at the undead Dragon along with Mari and Os.
"Why?" Blake asked, moving in front of Risabeel protectively.
"Why wouldn't I be interested in a Demon walking into my lab, hmm?" Valdre answered, creeping up to Risabeel as if she was floating and came right up to Blake who was in her way. "Of course, there is ~you~"
"Demon!? Where!?" Fran gasped, whipping her head left and right until one of the skeletons pointed at Risabeel for her. "Hmm...?" She stared at Risabeel for a long hard while seemingly using Mana Sense. "SHE IS!"
"Fear not, I mean no harm to any of you!" Risabeel tried to look as harmless as possible, but everything she did made the students shuttered and whispered among themselves. "Oh, Sir Blake..." To which the Demon went to Blake's back.
"Yes? She is...my dear...good job...5 points?" Valdre made one of her skeletons give the young druid a thumbs up then went back to Reisabeel. "One with pitifully low magical power, I bet some haven't even batted an eye at her yet...then again the power you have is far more interesting?" She sent her gaze to Blake, who had been keeping his guard up this whole time. "Please, boy, I'm just as much of dark being as she is."
"How so?" Blake watched Valdre moved around him and Risabeel as if examining them with a shine to the black orbs that were her eyes.
"He's a Lich, an overly playful one at that," Magnus answered for Valdre, but his use of pronoun caused many of the ones not in the know to turn to him then Valdre.
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Legendary Monster, Lich: An Undead creature that has been borne by the binding of one's soul to their once-living body to achieve a form of immorality granted through the use of dark magic but leaves them in a state of seemingly constant decay. There are very few ways that one could deal with a Lich do to the fact that when they seem to be losing a battle or their bodies have reached their earthly limit they jump into another body to live on.
Liches often come with the power to command the dead as pawns from simple-minded Zombies to even bringing Vampire under their control with but a word and wield a vast arsenal of dark magic. Lastly, since they can keep their minds intact when being brought back from the dead, they can use any skill they once had as a living being.
Like other Legendary Monsters, items forged from this monster's Orb are of the highest tier with no real commonly made item to it. However, anything made from the Lich Orb grants one the power to lead the undead or rip the life from the living.
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"Damn you, Magnus! Is there not a rule where one does not tell of other's secrets?" Valdre made 'her' way over to an area of 'her' lab where a large glass cylindrical tank was set up filled with an odd green fluid.
For a moment everything seemed reasonable until floating into view was the dismembered body of a man somewhere in his late twenties. His left arm was gone laying at the bottom of the tank, his lower half was ripped off and unseen, his lips peeled off, and stab wounds marked his abdomen like swiss cheese.
"This is what's left of my body from about 20 years ago after I lost to a foul-mouthed fellow spellcaster who should have been a suit maker, but death was not for me, so I found a workaround as you all can ~see~" Valdre rubbed the sides of his 'body' with twisted smirk on his cold lips.
"A suit maker?" Lu thought out loud, sharing a look with Blake. The last time they heard something about two spellcasters fighting was back at Nenil's Library.
"Yes, he's the one who left master Nenil in the state he was in that painting," Nathan informed the two of them after coming back in his usual clothing. "But? I'm still curious as to why you all are here?"
"Hey, that's kind of hard to do when you were inside of that guy." Blake held an arm to Valdre who had taken over from Magnus, showing the students around his lab.
"That...was another part of my extra lessons here and quite the insightful one at that if you care to know," Nathan remarked with his arms crossed thanks to Valdre he had gotten to learn a few defensive measures against curses.
"Showing favoritism now, Valdre?" Magnus muttered under his breath.
"I could say the same about you, Maggie, hehe!" Giggled a hanging skull that used Valdre's voice right behind Magnus' head. "You handed him that very old, very powerful and very one of a kind lightning spellbook, no?"
"He passed all of the requirements to be given that honor and was not being spoiled by some others." Magnus picked up the skull and held it aloof in his hands. "By the by have you noticed?"
"By 'noticed,' you mean the in the increasing use of magic outside of Le Fay's knowing and the odd happenings that have come with it? Then yes..." The skull answered losing all of Valdre's playfulness even his voice took on a more masculine tone. "...and it's not just that Demon chasing after the one here should we act on it yet?"
"The headmaster told us to wait...so we shall wait..." Magnus was rolling the skull around as he spoke whatever was going on was beginning to trouble him greatly. "...not only that, have you ever heard of a Demon coming out of the Underworld to bring another back?"
"First I've seen of it; usually they pop up to drag down a fool who made a deal with them as payment. But a Demon after another Demon? I would need time to do some more thinking..." Valdre answered, and now it was his turn to feel troubled.
"You wish to have me join a guild? How comical! Hmm, hmm, hmm! You came all this way for that!" While Magnus and Valdre were conversing, Blake was giving Nathan the ran down on why they came up here with the mage laughing about it. "But of course! You'd come to find the best!"
"Not really, you were just the only citizen of Gorz that we knew personally," Blake muttered, knocking Nathan off his high horse before he got any more annoying. "So, if you're not up for it then I guess we'll find someone else." He shrugged, looking up at the ceiling as if trying to think of someone else to ask.
"Hmph! I highly doubt you'd be able to find someone better than myself!" Nathan brought a hand to his chest then surged with mana. "If you have already forgotten, then let me remind you! That I am Loved By Mana! The mere fact you know me is a great thing! Hmm, hmm, hmm! I do believe that you should be begging me to join you!"
"Boastfull to no end are you, young Nathan?" Valdre mussed from the skull, making the others turn to find Magnus holding a talking skull. "After all, isn't there a 'mirror' drawback to being loved by all the mana in the world?"
"Master Valdre..." Nathan's face went into a grimace as he shut off the mana pouring out of him. "...that's enou-" As he was going to speak a hand came over his shoulder. "Uh?" And he turned to find Blake and oddly Rena sitting on the smith's shoulder smirking at him.
"Go on skull, let's hear it." Blake and Rena insisted on hearing Valdre out.
And so the skull did. "Oh, it's nothing too big other than the fact that Nathan here despite being able to use any type of magic he doesn't have the time to master it all."
"We don't get it?" Blake and Rena blinked a few times and tilted their heads to one side.
"Something like this." Magnus held out his free and conjured up a ball of lightning about the size of a pumpkin. "Nathan, a Quick Bolt, would you."
"Yes, Master..." Nathan did the same as Magnus making a Quick Bolt in his hand, but his was the size of an apple.
"As you can see, Nathan's Quick Bolt is smaller than my own. Now you may think that is because I have a larger pool of mana and/or more experience which is true but..." Magnus began explaining to the group with the only ones listening to him being Lu and Risabeel. "...compared to other mages who have the same amount training and mana he is still weaker...to put it simply; say that Nathan and a wind mage each practiced a wind spell for a week more than likely the wind mage would come out with more progress."
"Keeping with the simplicity say there was another spell, but this was a water spell meaning the wind mage would be unable to learn it. However, thanks to his status, Nathan is able to learn said spell, which would give him an edge over the spellcaster stuck with wind spell..." Valdre added with the skull starting to float away from Magnus' hand. "...in other words, being Loved By Mana in the world of magic is another way of saying...
"~He's a Jack Of All Trades..." Blake sang out with a toothy grin on his face. "...but a Master Of None!~" Rena finished as they both grinned after getting a drawback on that Loved By Mana thing Nathan has.
"Hmph! Grin as much as you like! But know that none in this kingdom are like me!" Nathan defended himself from the two's teasing. "I'll have you know that I'm still one of Le Fay's honor students!"
"Aww! That's too bad since you're not interested in joining my guild. I guess that means you'll never get a chance to show me up? Oh, well?" Blake shrugged off Nathan's words and acted like he was making a move to leave.
"And who said I didn't have my reasons for working with you? Studying a Smith-Knight, someone with a trait as rare as my own on a daily basis is more than enough reason to bear with you of all people..." Nathan fell for Blake's bluff.
"Great welcome to the team! Useless mage!" Blake whipped around and slapped Nathan on the back, nearly knocking him off balance. "Hah, still as weak as ever! And no take backs!"
"Did you just trick me?" Nathan groaned with a hand rubbing his back while glaring at Blake's idiotic smiling face. "Of all the people I have known you are the 2nd most irritating by a small margin!"
"Only 2nd? I better step up my game then!" Blake roughly wrapped an arm around Nathan's neck and brought him in close.
"Well, this is a first, don't you think?" Magnus asked Valdre while watching Nathan try to wrestle out of Blake's hold with Lu coming into to help only to get grabbed in Blake's free arm.
"If you mean the fact that I'm able to talk while giving a tour of my lab? Then no, I do this once a month at best!" Valdre joked only for Magnus to send a jolt of lightning through the skull. "You know that does nothing, yes? But, it is a first to see that boy acting like this. He tries too hard to act like 'her' that sometimes I worry we might have another one on our hands."
"That would be both good and bad, that family has quite the mix of characters..." Magnus trailed off soon after forgetting about that fact for now. "Do you think 'she' going to approve of this?"
"Hahahaha! Never. The moment she learns of this that boy is getting trapped in a dark cell until 'she' thinks he's back to 'normal,' hahaha!" Valdre crackled like a manic shaking wildly in Magnus' hand until he stopped to think about something. "Wait? 'She's' going come after us for allowing this isn't 'she'?"
"Indeed, best prepare another body for both of us, because I doubt the headmaster would be willing to come to our aid on that matter." Magnus was quick to answer and left Valdre sweating through the skull he was using to speak.
"Ugh! Let me go!" Nathan yelled, making a bubble of mana that pushed Blake and Lu away. "*sigh* I hope that never happens again..." He groaned, looking right at Blake who only gave him grin in return. "...but, I must ask the cost of forming a guild is quite the expense, and I highly doubt that you have the wealth to embark on such an endeavor."
"Yea, you still haven't told this 'honest' way of making 10,000 gold in a day." Mordecai was with Nathan there although he was surprised Blake knew a citizen of Gorz despite only living here for less than a month not to mention a spellcaster with some weird ability that lets them use more than one type of magic.
"Don't worry about it! We've got a one-way ticket to a lot of gold here!" Blake wrapped around Lu. "Right, Lu!?"
"M-m-me!?" Lu stuttered, worried, confused, and somewhat happy about what Blake was going on about.
"The Elf?" While Mordecai and Nathan were confused by it.
"Haha! You tell 'em, Blake! Lu's got his ways!" Rena bashfully went along with Blake, overjoyed to hear that Lu was the key to them having a guild. However, she did fly over to his ear to whisper. "What the hell are you on about!? Lu doesn't have that kind of money! I should know he spreads it on me, not you! Back off already! You have three! Lu is mine!"
"I'm not telling any of you until we get there!" Blake turned his head away from them, keeping his plan to himself until it was time to whip it out. "Come on! It's on the other side of Gorz, and we need to move!" He declared, making a move to leave.
"Well, if that's the case then would you like it if I take you there?" Magnus offered, appearing in front of Blake like he was always there making the smith jump back pulling Lu along the way. "As you can see, transportation happens to be my forte."
"Master Magnus, I would not like to bother you with such a simple task." Nathan came up to Magnus, trying to get him to reconsider his offer.
"Nonsense! I simply wish to help you and your soon to be guildmates. Why would you even think that it would be a bother?" Magnus turned to Nathan with a hand going to his shoulder. "After all, I'm the fastest mage in Laudonia when it comes to movement."
"No more walking around for half a day! I'm all for it!" Blake cheered then came up to whisper something in Magnus's ear. "Think you can get there?"
"That is...? A unique destination..." Magnus stared at Blake wide-eyed for a moment after hearing the smith's choice of location. "...But, I was the one who offered, and I am not the type to go back on my choices, unlike some..." He held up the skull Valdre had been talking through, but it seemed to have gone dead, leaving Magnus to toss it to a random table. "Hmph, perfect timing as always. Now, come along all of you, this is no place for the size of spell I plan on using."
The group left Valdre's lab, but as they made their way through Le Fay's halls, they came across another group of new students being toured around. "..." With one of the students wearing a hooded robe taking the time to cast a gaze on Nathan and then at Magnus. "Lucky." They muttered, dropping a once held up hand to their side.
Chapter end