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Smith-Knight
Side Quest Arc, Nathan, Chapter 68: Sigil Sect Summons Part 1

Side Quest Arc, Nathan, Chapter 68: Sigil Sect Summons Part 1

Le Fay School Of Magic

The activity levels at the school were at an all-time high as the day of the Sigil Sect's recruitment summons had come at last. From all around the kingdom spellcasters came in hordes; some young, some old, some human, some monsters, both commoner and noble alike.

They all gathered for one reason and one reason only; a chance at getting into the Sigil Sect and stand above all other magic users within the kingdom of Laudonia and even some of the other kingdoms for that matter. Truly an honor of the highest order that should not be taken lightly by anyone.

"Man, look all these bookworms running around!?" Blake babbled out uncaring of the looks he was getting from the spellcasters walking by him on the way to the school's main building where the resignation for the recruitment trials was taking place.

"Could you be any more of an idiot!?" Nathan snapped at the Smith-Knight walking alongside him. "This is one of if not the most important day for us spellcasters in Laudonia!" He went back to his 3 spellbooks, which were floating in front of him.

"Seriously! You're still stuffing your face in books!?" Gwyn suddenly pulled the mage out of his last-minute studying session. "Get your game face on man!" She slapped the sides of his arms, sending a ripple of power through him.

"Stop that, you brute!" Nathan snapped at her and flicked a ball of mana at Gwyn's forehead.

"OW! That hurt, jerk!" The knight roared in Nathan's face and got into a wild argument with him.

While nearly everyone but those who knew them gave the knight and mage some needed space.

"Oh, dear? They're at it again." Natula hummed, walking alongside Risabeel, Mari with Os, and oddly enough Mordecai was there too after Blake finally caught him doing nothing.

"That's the 5th time for today..." Mordecai muttered while oddly looking around at the people walking around them, granted a bit further than before with all the yelling Gwyn and Nathan were doing. "You better not try anything stupid today..."

"But, I believe it comes from a good place, yes?" Risabeel asked, since every time the two fought when they were done Nathan seemed all the more set on his goal of coming out as a member of the Sigil Sect.

"Of course, it is! Love works in odd ways!" Natula agreed with Risabeel and made a heart with her hands that she framed Nathan and Gwyn in.

"It's not love!" The two agreed on something only for a moment before they went back at eachother.

"I agree..." Until Nathalie appeared before them after coming out of a portal in front of the group. Her eyes went over the others, mainly Blake and Risabeel. "If I am correct shouldn't there be more of you?" She asked, turning to Nathan with Gwyn standing right behind him. "Hmph, unless he asks for it I am not going to hurt him, Knight."

"Good. Cause, I wasn't planning on letting you, Witch!" Gwyn shot back, having an intense staredown with Nathalie that put off the people trying to get closer since not only did a member of the Sigil Sect show up, but it was the 2nd in command of all people.

"Well, to answer your question, sister, the rest of my guildmates did not feel the need to come," Nathan answered Nathalie's question, causing her to pull her gaze from Gwyn and onto him.

"Actually, they all pretty much said that they didn't care." Blake pointed out, stepping right into the middle of the 3 way staredown, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

"They did not care to see you fail? I might respect them a bit for that." Nathalie stated with a slight smile coming to her face. "What is it, Smith-Knight?" Then set her eyes on Blake having a smile of his own. "Do you agree with me?"

"Nah, I don't, and neither do the ones that aren't here..." Blake kept his smile going while Nathalie's went away. "...in fact, they don't care about coming because they all think Nathan has an easy win on his hands. No point in watching something if you know how it ends, right?"

"We will see about that in time..." Nathalie said with a bit of a mocking tone to her voice as she went back to Nathan. "I do hope you brought a well-written report in, brother?" After that and saying hello to her mother, she opened another portal and disappeared.

"Damn, she's worse than I thought," Blake muttered after Nathalie left the group with some people gathering around the spot the witch once stood. "Geez, she's popular..." He moaned as everyone got back to walking and the gathered crowd got bigger.

"'But fans only get in the way' as she says..." Nathan's eyes were back on his spellbooks. "...and would the rest of you stop following us..." He stopped to stare back at some random people following them. "...My mother and I will not be answering any questions you have for us." His eyes went into a glare as the group disappeared quickly with only two members left.

"Uh, we were following them to the main building..." Came from Fran, the freshman from back when Blake came to recruit Nathan into his guild. She no longer wore that dull white student robe, now sporting brown boots, a dark green skirt, and a white dress shirt with a green capelet over her shoulders. "Oh, it's you guys! It's me! Fran! Hi!" She waved with a forest green book held in her hands.

"And you are?" Blake asked, slowly waving back to the bluenette. "Same goes for him?" Then pointed at the man standing next to Fran.

"Name's Caspar." Caspar was a dark-skinned young man around his mid-20s, with brown eyes, short black hair, and a bit of a goatee. He dressed in yellow boots, blue pants, and a red vest to show off the tattoos that went from his shoulders to the tips of his fingers. Most of the tattoos on him seemed like magical writing straight out of a spellbook as they glowed when Caspar waved an arm around. "Caspar, The Enchanter to be exact!" With a snap of a finger, some of his tattoos came off his arms and turned into a glowing pair of wings above Fran's head.

"Kah! Stop! Caspar!" The young druid screamed as she was lifted off her feet with her hands clasped over her skirt.

"Sorry, Babe." Caspar let Fran down into his open arms. "But you know I can not show off in front of a crowd!" He did another bow to the group.

"That still doesn't tell me who the heck you two are," Blake muttered, still having no idea who these two were.

"Uhm? Sir Blake, I believe she is the young student we encountered on our first coming here to find Sir Nathan..." Thankfully Risabeel remembered Fran at the very least. "...As for this one, he is?" But when it came to Caspar, she drew a blank.

"Caspar, The Enchanter? The rising star of this year's freshmen," Nathan spoke up currently eyeing Caspar like he was a rare magical artifact. "Who uses a rare form of Enchantment Magic and has broken a few test records, some set by myself, hmm, hmm, hmm!" He brushed a hand through his hair at that statement, somehow making it seem like that was a good thing for him. "By my guess, I would say that you are well on your way to skipping a few years."

"Why thank you, coming from one Loved By Mana and the top student at the school those words are most reassuring," Caspar smirked at the words Nathan gave him. "But instead of sizing me up shouldn't you be worried about the report submission?"

"Hmph! Me? Worry about doing some writing? Hah!" Nathan held a hand to his chest as if an arrow had struck him. "I have my work right here!" With a wave of his hand, out of his Advanced Mana Control book came a set of three books all wrapped in white cloth. "These books right here are currently the most detailed set of information done on a living Smith-Knight!"

"Wait? What!?" Blake was zooming out of Nathan's big talk until the words Smith-Knight came out of him. "Come again? What do I have to do with your little test, useless mage?" He jabbed a finger at Nathan's chest a few times, pushing the mage back with each one.

"Ugh, well? You see, this mourning I checked the summons message that was sent out and it appears that the first trial was a surprise. It stated that everyone looking to join the Sigil Sect must bring along a report on a magical finding that will be judged by them. The reason for this is to see whether or not they are capable of furthering magical studies." Nathan explained, brushing another hand through his hair again. "Ugh!" But soon backed away from the look Blake was giving him. "Is that problem?" He meekly asked with his spellbooks held in front of him.

"Hmm?" Blake was staring hard at Nathan along with Mari joining in. "Not really you were always writing up a storm when something happened with me, but I would have just liked it if you ran it by me first, you know? Since I'm your friend and your guild leader." He let it slid, at some point, he was going to get studied by someone for being a Smith-Knight at least the first was Nathan. "You didn't use my name in there, did you?" Blake asked, pointing at the books floating next to Nathan.

"Of course not! That would bring all manner of people with ill-intentions down about you, and I know the feeling of that..." Nathan assured with crossed arms.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Yes, remember the time Nathalie sent someone to a desert when they tried to take some of your blood?" Natula lightly groaned, and that was one of the simpler acts.

"Wait? He's a Smith-Knight?" Fran asked, looking at Blake, and couldn't find anything that interesting about him other than the odd makeup of his mana after using Mana Sense, but it didn't seem like he was a spellcaster. "What's a Smith-knight?" She asked next since this was the first time she heard the term.

"I would show you, but I might steal the show, and that's his job today." Blake pointed a thumb at Nathan and brought even more confusion to Fran's face. "Just read his report once he gets into the S.S."

"Dang, even someone who's not on the up and up in the magical world thinks you got this, Nathan!" Caspar beamed, ever since the summons went out the only thing on the minds of the students at Le Fay was how they were going to get a chance to see the top student show his skills off against masters from around the kingdom. "Better not jinx it, right?" He held a hand up to get a Hi-five from the other mage.

"Yes...indeed..." Nathan looked at Caspar's hands, not expecting the forwardness from the man, and only broke into an awkward smile at the raised hand.

"Okay! Why don't we get a move on, huh?!" Mordecai came up to break the awkwardness by slapping his hand into Caspar's. "You're welcome to follow us if you want?!" He offered, going into an over-the-shoulder hug with Caspar. "Hold the fuck back!" He snapped at the mage in a whisper.

"Nah! That's fine! No classes today, so that means me and Fran get some 'us' time! If you know what I mean?" Caspar was unfazed by the warning Mordecai gave him and got out of the sudden hug to wrap an arm around Fran.

"Cas! Stop it!" Fran's face was as red as Blake's hair while digging her head into Caspar's chest. "Uhmm? We'll be rooting for you like everyone else, Nathan! Now, come on, Cas!" From there she pulled on Caspar's arm still overly flustered and disappeared into the crowd.

"Cute pair, I hope you two get like that someday." Natula teased while eyeing Nathan and Gwyn.

"It's not like that!" The mage and knight yelled at the playful woman as she giggled at them.

"Enough of this! Let's get down to the business at hand." Nathan declared making the first move to continue followed by Gwyn and Natula soon after.

"Hey! That's what I said earlier!" Mordecai happily followed behind the three. "Wah!" That is unless Blake didn't grab him by the collar and pulled him back. "What is it? Oh, great leader?" He asked with his hands clasped together like a servant awaiting an order.

"What was up with being all friendly with that one mage?" Blake questioned, eyeing the thief closely although he trusted Mordecai, for the most part, every time he did something new, Blake got suspicious. "Did you pickpocket him?" He padded around the thief's person, hoping to find a coin pouch that wasn't his. "What's this?" Which he did, but there were 3 of them, all with different designs.

"Uh, none of those are his, so that's something right?" Mordecai shrugged, trying to play off his bit of thievery as nothing. "Ugh! I was just being nice, that's all! Never know when or where you might find your next guildmate, right? Hehe-uh..." He tried his best to explain his actions to Blake, but the smith was giving him a chance. "Why are you copying him!?" Then there was Mari giving him the same look followed by Os.

"Blake's the leader, so he gets to say when people join! Got that, thief!?" Mari snapped like a little drill master then stared at Blake with the cutest face while Os kept glaring at Mordecai. "Right, Blake?"

"Yea," Blake only nodded to his little sister while keeping his eyes on Mordecai. "Huh? What is it?" Until some tugging at his arm got his attention.

"Sir Nathan and rest have left us..." It was Risabeel currently pointing at a sea of people where Nathan, Gwyn, and Natula once were.

"Shit! Come on! They couldn't get that far!" Blake yelled before dropping Mordecai, got Mari on his shoulders, held Risabeel close, and started going through the crowd as fast as he could without a second thought. "You better keep up, thief!" He called back to Mordecai who he left behind.

"Sure thing!" Called the thief as he sunk into the crowd and went the opposite way. "Time for a little 'me' time as well."

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Le Fay Magic School Main Building

"Thank you for taking on the call, Nathan." Came from a robed attendant inside a circular booth with other attendants working alongside them as they took in the reports from the spellcasters looking to join the Sigil Sect. "And uh..." They brought a hand to their mouth as they leaned forward. "I hope you get in!" They cheered Nathan on before sending his report off via a magic circle inside the booth.

"Hmph! I have no need for such words!" Nathan scoffed at the kind words given to him. "Now we wait for them to see my greatness, yes?" He turned to find only his mother and Gwyn there with him. "Where are the rest?"

"Huh? I guess they got lost?" Gwyn shrugged. At the moment, the only thing she was watching out for was Nathalie.

"Oh? There they are!" Natula looked around a bit and found Mari and Os above the heads of some other people. "Hey! Mari! Over here!" She called out to the little girl with the child looking down to talk to someone while Os waved back at Natula.

"Goddess dammit! Stop leaving us behind like that!" Blake stormed right through the crowd and got into Nathan's face. "Now what!?" He baked after noticing that Nathan handed off his report.

"We wait..." Nathan calmly answered despite Blake, Mari, and Os glaring at him. "By the by, where did the thief go?" He asked, finding the only other person there with Blake being Risabeel. "And I believe you're causing her some discomfort." He pointed out after noting the Demon was left dazed by Blake's rampaging.

"Huh? What do you mean? Mordecai's right behind m-!" Blake turned around to find Magnus, The Lightning Blink instead of his thief. "Sup, lightning dude, did you zap my thief out of here for stealing something?" He asked, letting go of Risabeel but held his arm out for her to recover on it.

"Hmm? That thief is on his own on a day when the officials of our school are busy handling other things?" Magnus questioned back, his eyes going sharp for a moment. "Do you have anything, Ruleek?" He asked to the open air on his right. "He's a human, jet black hair, about this tall, and looks like your common thief." Magnus gave a light description of Mordecai and waited.

"Wha?" Leaving Blake and Mari to stare at the lightning mage in confusion.

"He's currently chatty up a few female students and is doing a bad job at it." A serious man's voice came from Magnus's right.

"Hmm?" But when Blake turned to look the only person that could have said that was Risabeel. "Risabeel?"

"It was not I, Sir Blake but another..." Risabeel shook her head and then stared at a random sport next to them.

"Mr. Ruleek, would you show yourself already? I think the boy's getting a headache." Natula talked to the open air like Magnus did and held a hand to Blake still trying to find who the heck was talking.

"Ugh, you non-magical types bore me to no end." The voice groaned and following after it was the sound of breaking glass as cracks appeared in the air in the shape of a person until it all shattered, revealing the owner of the once disembodied voice.

"Greetings all." It turned out to be a short male Elf, with dull brown eyes, long blonde hair tied into a ponytail going down to the floor, and was without a nose, that plus his sucked-in cheeks gave his face a bit of skull-like look. As for clothing, he was more or less a palette swap of Magnus; a green dress shirt, an ugly red tie with the Sigil Sect's pin at his neck, black suspenders coming from his dark blue pants and a pair of brown sandals. Over his shoulders was a trenchcoat in the same make as Mangus' but silver in color.

"Ruleek, The Reflection, head professor of earth magic at Le Fay." Ruleek introduced himself with a bow as the glass shades around him started to piece themselves back together into small mirrors that floated around him. Each one showed a different part of the school. "Your friend is here..." He moved one of them into Blake's face and sure enough, Mordecai was trying to get friendly with a few girls. "...as long as he doesn't try anything on someone from the black arts classes he should be fine."

"Yeah, sure..." Blake muttered, and although he really didn't want to, he couldn't stop himself from staring at Ruleek's lack of a nose. "...you get this a lot don't you, but how?" He asked while waving a hand to his face.

"I earned my place in the Sigil Sect," Ruleek answered, keeping a dull look in his eyes, showing no signs of offense from Blake's question nor the stares he was getting from the others minus Nathan, Natula, and Magnus. "This one has one of his own, don't you brother?" He tapped a knuckle to Magnus' chest.

"That I do..." Magnus held a hand to where Ruleek tapped then turned to Nathan. "...it is good to see that you took the call, Nathan, granted I would have liked it if you at least graduated first."

"Heh, oh please, what would that change at this point?" Ruleek smirked at Magnus' comment. "However, I do hope you did not do a rush job on your report? You have a way of doing that when it comes to my lessons and I would like to not deduct marks from you." His eyes and mirrors went to Nathan.

"Hmm, hmm, hmm! I can assure you of this, Master Ruleek! That you and the rest of the Sigil Sect will be wholly impressed by my work!" Nathan didn't falter under Ruleek's gaze and the gazes from the glaring copies of himself cast by the mirrors.

"Hmph, I still stand by Nathalie's view on your goal...give up..." Ruleek stated in a similar tone to Nathalie. "...yes, brother..." Until Magnus put a hand to his shoulder and he took his eyes off Nathan. "...what is it? Do you not like me being mean to your favorite?"

"Considering you were following him the moment he stepped foot in the Magic District, I'd say he's your favorite..." Mangus smirked as Ruleek clicked his tongue and went invisible soon after. "Ah, sorry about him, he was planning on wishing you luck, but didn't want to show any bad manners to the other competitors..." He looked around a bit at the other spellcaster around them. "...I would be careful; some may even team up against you depending on the trial..." He said out loud to anyone in earshot then surged with some of his mana. "...of course, such actions would be met with dire punishment if found out."

A collective silence swiped across the area at Magnus' words with those looking at the group turning away.

"And if not, I would take care of them with ease! Hmm, hmm, hmm!" Nathan merely laughed at the warning any threat that could come at him today, would have to match the horrors he faced when being trained by Gwyn for the past week.

"As confident as ever but another warning from your teacher; 'there are those who think just the same as you.'" Magnus gave one more warning with a finger pointed at Nathan. "Good luck my student, from me and my dear brother," With that and a quick bow Magnus left the group to themselves. "Oh, dear? He's gotten very far..." He muttered after he realized Ruleek wasn't anywhere nearby.

"Huh? You're one special boy, mage, with everyone but your sister rooting for you." Gwyn said, looking at Nathan, but he didn't answer. "Seriously?" And found him back in his spellbooks. "Hey, so what now?" She got in his face or got his into hers as the knight picked the mage off his feet.

"We wait until they have reviewed all the reports and call on those who passed..." Nathan answered, looking away from Gwyn as their faces were too close for his liking. "...until then, care for a tour of my school?"

"Again?" Blake and Mari muttered having gotten one of those the first time around as they had grimaces on their faces with Os coping them.

"It is not that bad Sir Blake; there may come a time when you are called upon to...say repair something within the school, yes?" Risabeel tried to ease the boredom felt by Blake and Mari.

"And it does make for a good 2nd date or 1st?" Natula pointed out playfully. "Oh?" And was then picked up by Gwyn with both her and Nathan looking at her with shadows over their eyes. "A 3rd?" The woman asked with a finger on her chin.

"Let's just go..." Gwyn and Nathan said as one, no matter what they could think of they had a feeling Natula would put her own spin on it and not give a damn if she was right or not.

Chapter End