Of all the people who could have knocked on his door, Cadmus never expected Arthur Pendragon to be the one to do so. They just didn’t know each other well enough to justify a visit like this, and especially not at this time of the night.
But still, here he was, with his neat blonde hair and piercing blue eyes easily identifying him as the aforementioned Arthur Pendragon. And, he’d gone ahead and asked the strangest question,
“May we talk for a bit?”
“Why?” Cadmus asked.
Arthur chuckled slightly, “You really don’t hold anything back, don’t you? I apologize for disturbing you this late, but there’s something that I have to talk to you about. It has to do with the upcoming tournament.”
Cadmus wasn’t particularly tired, so he supposed he was fine with hearing Arthur out. However, he glanced back at Alice, who was squirming, looking a little uncomfortable with the noise they were making.
“Okay, but we’ll have to talk outside. I don’t want to wake Alice.”
Arthur nodded, “Of course.”
Cadmus grabbed his keys and shut the door behind him as he exited the room. He thought that they would just speak out here, but Arthur must have wanted to speak to him in a more private location, because he began walking away and gestured for Cadmus to follow.
They ascended the stairs and found themselves on the roof of the dorms. It wasn’t too high up as there were only three storeys to this dorm building, but the view of other dorm buildings close by and the campus buildings in the distance were still pleasant. He leaned on the railing lining the edges of the roof, and looked down, noticing that the fountain and collection of benches right in front of his dorm building was still occupied by students. They were speaking animatedly with each other, the excitement of tomorrow’s upcoming qualifier round for the Twin Peaks Magical Tournament keeping them from sleep.
Arthur joined him in looking down at the students, and Cadmus wished now that he would hurry up in saying what he wanted to say. He had forgotten to bring to wear any warm clothing, and the chilly autumn air was making sure to taunt him for his mistake.
Thankfully, his thoughts seemed to have reached Arthur, as he finally spoke,
“I’m not one to listen to rumours, but I’ve heard an important one a few days ago. Is it true that you’ve decided to attend this Academy because you wish to find a way to revive the dead?”
Cadmus glanced at him, wondering why Arthur had only heard this rumour now. Oliver had heard this rumour before even orientation.
“Yes. To be specific, I wish to reach first place so that I can receive enough laurite to develop a spell that can revive the dead.”
Arthur paused for a moment, “…Is it because you’ve lost someone important?”
Cadmus nodded, “My sister. Why’re you asking?”
A troubled look came over Arthur’s face, “It is… upsetting to face someone with a goal like yours.”
Cadmus gave him a curious look, feeling a little hopeful, “Will you surrender then?”
Arthur chuckled, a slightly strained smile on his face, “I wish I could have. However, I have my own reasons to win. Just the same as you, I simply cannot afford to lose.”
“Your own reasons…?”
“I’ll keep it short, since I doubt that you care all that much,” Arthur said, and indeed he was right. Cadmus hadn’t asked for Arthur’s reasons because he cared, he had asked because he wanted to see if, on second thought, Arthur would perhaps come to realize that maybe his goals weren’t as important as Cadmus’,
“For some reason, you are perhaps one of the only people in the world not to know this, but there was a tournament held in Avalon two years ago, one resembling the one we are about to participate in now. Only young Avalonians from the ages of twelve to seventeen were allowed to attend, and the prize for the victor was the right to rule Avalon after my father dies.”
Cadmus instantly clamped down on the urge to point how stupid he believed a system like that was in deciding the heir to a kingdom, but he need not have bothered, because Arthur immediately said next,
“I know, a battle-based tournament is not a good method to choose the ideal ruler, however, there were a few circumstances that caused the tournament to be held, though I doubt you care much about them. More to the point, I won that tournament, cementing my status as next-in-line to the Avalonian throne, and earning me the title of the ‘Golden Prince of Victory’. That is why I must attend this tournament: in order to prove Avalon’s strength, and that is why, if I lose, I will be weakening Avalon’s position on the world stage, thereby putting my people in increased danger. To be honest, Regis and Lancelot are perhaps the only people I am permitted to lose to.”
Cadmus took a moment to digest all the information that had just been thrown at him, and his first thought was that Arthur’s story was doubtful in terms of plausibility. If this tournament had truly been held two years ago, then Arthur had only been thirteen years old at the time—in other words, he had only awakened to his magic for a single year. A child that young defeating seventeen-year-olds? That was a little hard to believe…
Although, Cadmus had no trouble believing that, if his story was true, then Arthur was permitted to at least lose to Ardea. Cadmus didn’t know much about combat, but the fact that Ardea was a ridiculous sort of anomaly was plain as day even to him. He wondered why Lancelot was included in that short list as well though…?
“I see,” Cadmus decided to approach the problem from a different angle, “What about if I joined your guild then? Do you have any people using the laurite gifted to you all?”
Arthur responded with an apologetic smile, “I’m sorry, but yes, we already have a member in our guild who tends to use all of the laurite we receive. Besides, even if she weren’t in our guild, I wouldn’t be able to allow you to join our guild. Camelot accepts any requests for help, but only Avalonians are allowed to join. This is for political reasons as well, since graduating from the Academy with an all-Avalonian guild at the top will greatly strengthen Avalon’s image.”
Cadmus resisted the urge to click his tongue in annoyance. At least Arthur had a more viable reason to refuse his request than Ardea.
“Why are you here then?” Cadmus asked, “Have you thought of a way to allow me to win without damaging Avalon’s standing in some way?”
Arthur looked almost guilty as he kept his eyes fixed on the students below them, “…No. I… I came here because, as I said, I learned of your circumstances a few days ago. And, although I know it won’t be any consolation, I still felt that I owed you an explanation for why I will be defeating you with all my power.”
Cadmus glanced at Arthur, thinking the same thing that he had thought back during orientation. Arthur really was a kind person, but just the same as back then, it was in a pitying sort of way. He was imagining this situation to be one where a powerful person apologizes to the weak for crushing their dreams.
“I apologize then as well.”
Arthur raised an eyebrow, “For what?”
Cadmus turned to leave, sparing Arthur one last glance,
“Because there was no point in you coming here.”
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The next morning, Cadmus was awoken relatively early, at 9:00 AM, when a sharp knock rang out from behind his door. He blearily stumbled over to it, and only slightly cracked it open to stop the chilly outside air from flooding in. A member of the Academy staff awaited him on the other side, and he said formally,
“Good morning. Please be at the front gate and ready to leave in two hours. As a final reminder, you are only allowed to bring along school-approved magical items. Thank you.”
Two hours was a long time, so once the person left, Cadmus simply went back to sleep for an hour, and took only thirty minutes to get ready to leave after that. He and Alice made their way to the front gate with plenty of time to spare, and they found that only a few students had already arrived. Among them were Ardea, Elise, Candice, and that rather dependable looking student from the Institute, Ito.
Ardea and Elise were standing together as usual, though Elise seemed to have a strangely conflicted expression on her face, and Candice and Ito were both standing separate from everybody else. Cadmus automatically went towards Candice.
Candice noticed him approaching, and her face lit up,
“H-hello!”
Cadmus nodded back politely, “Hello.”
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Alice proceeded to strike up a conversation with Candice as Cadmus listened quietly.
“So, how are you feeling?”
Candice gave Alice a feeble smile, “I-I must admit, I am very nervous. I was not able to sleep very well last night either.”
Oh yeah, now that she mentioned it, Cadmus realized that her eyes seemed a little strained, and her complexion didn’t look too good.
Alice gave Candice a toothy grin, “I’m sure you’ll be fine! We’ve seen your skills first-hand in Lorem forest after all!”
“And even if your skills turn out to be subpar compared to the rest of the competitors, I believe that there are very few people you will lose to in terms of mana capacity. I’m sure you can think of something to use that to your advantage.”
“Wait, is that true?” Alice asked, giving Candice a surprised look.
Candice nodded shyly, and for once, she didn’t downplay her abilities,
“Y-yes. I’m not very good at magic, but I have rather large mana reserves. How did you know, Cadmus?”
“I suspected that Ardea had a high concentration of ancient elven blood when I heard about her near-inexhaustible supply of mana and her ability to create fully formed magic circles without drawing them out. And then, Gale Holland confirmed my suspicions last week.
However, it’s more than that, isn’t it? Only those with the greatest magical potential were known to have red eyes in ancient elven society. You may not possess the same ability to create fully formed magic circles as Ardea, but you still have the same red eyes. So, I figured you must have received at least some measure of high concentration of ancient elven blood as well, and some of the benefits that come along with it.”
“Oh yeah!” Alice seemed to remember something, “And you weren’t even slightly tired in Lorem forest, despite using your magic so many times!”
Well, [rock spike] was a very forgiving spell in terms of mana usage, so using that a bunch of times wasn’t really proof of someone possessing large mana reserves, but Alice looked so proud of herself right now, that Cadmus just let her have this one.
Candice blushed, “Y-yes you’re right, Cadmus. It’s just as you said, our family has a high concentration of ancient elven blood, and we’re descended from the red-eyed ancient elves, so almost every single member of our family has large mana reserves. B-but Ardea was even more amazing: she also ended up activating the ability to create fully formed magic circles. Sh-she’s probably the first human in the history of the world to do so!"
Cadmus glanced at Ardea and frowned. Yeah, he’d seen up close multiple times just how amazing she was. His gaze drifted down to the steel arming sword hanging from his waist. There were no fanciful designs engraved on it like most swords he had seen in books, instead, it merely had a leather grip, a basic cross-guard, and a simple steel blade that stopped just short of his ankle.
He wondered if the spell he had developed for this tournament would allow him to defeat her. As it stood, Cadmus figured that Ardea was probably the greatest obstacle in his way to victory.
Twenty or so minutes passed, and a fleet of horse-drawn carriages pulled up to the street outside the front gate. Even from inside the campus, Cadmus could see through the main entrance the giant mass of chattering people crowding around the carriages. Thankfully though, they were being held at bay by the Academy staff.
With only ten minutes to go until it was time to leave, it seemed that most people had decided that now was the ideal time to show up. More students arrived now than the total number of people had arrived in the past thirty minutes, and among them were Mark Tempor and Oliver.
Oliver spotted Candice, Alice, and him, and jogged toward them. But for some reason, Mark decided to walk their way as well.
Oliver greeted the three, and then, when he noticed the sword hanging from Cadmus’ waist, he asked,
“Where’d you get a sword?”
“Professor Mackenzie recommended a store to me. I—”
“The more important question is ‘why’?” Mark said, smirking as he eyed the sword in amusement, “Mages don’t need physical swords. The formula for creating one is ridiculously simple, it takes barely any mana, and we can even add elemental affinities to it by just adding a symbol or two to the formula. Besides, does a research-focused mage like you even know how to use it properly?”
Cadmus said politely, “I’ve been practicing.”
Mark didn’t seem to appreciate that answer, and his face twisted in annoyance. He opened his mouth to say something, but Professor Mackenzie chose this moment to arrive and announce,
“HELLO EVERYONE!”
She waved, directing everyone’s attention to her, and once everyone was quiet, she said,
“OKAY! I WANT YOU ALL TO LINE UP, AND GET IN THE CARRIAGES ONE BY ONE! WE WANT TO HAVE AN ACCURATE COUNT OF HOW MANY PEOPLE WE NEED TO LOOK OUT FOR.”
A student from the Institute (judging by the maroon robe she had on), raised her hand and asked,
“What about the people who aren’t here yet?”
“Those people will be disqualified,” Professor Mackenzie said, “We gave you all plenty of time to get ready; we’re not going to keep giving you guys more leeway.”
The girl put her hand down, and Professor Mackenzie looked around to see if anyone had any more questions. When she saw that there was no one, she directed them all to line up and slowly and steadily filled up the carriages with students.
It was four people to a carriage, and Mark went to sit with Gale Holland and his brothers, Conner and Elis. Candice, Alice, and Oliver seemed rather relieved to see that, and to be honest, Cadmus sympathized a little as well.
It seemed that it was going to be just Cadmus, Candice, and Oliver in their carriage (Alice didn’t count as she didn’t take up a seat), when Gelida Olvo, a blonde-haired, tan-skinned, sturdily-built woman who had rode with them in their trip to Lorem forest arrived just in the nick of time. She joined their carriage again, and Cadmus felt that it was a really weird coincidence that their carriage group ended up being the exact same as last time.
Still, it wasn’t really a problem, so the thought didn’t linger.
As their enormous group of carriages exited the city proper and rode through the scenic vistas of the countryside, Oliver asked,
“Hey… are you allowed to bring Alice with you?”
Cadmus nodded, “Alice is the first ever homunculus in the world, so she doesn’t have an official designation yet. She was created by magic though, so for now, she technically counts as a ‘magical item’, and I was able to register her as such.”
Alice pulled a complicated face, as though she wasn’t sure what to feel after hearing that.
“Oh man! I can’t wait for this tournament to start!” Gelida said, changing the subject, “There’re so many talented people to test our skills against this year! I especially want to see how I fare against the Dragon Princess!”
“Against Ardea?” Cadmus asked, tilting his head curiously, “I haven’t seen you on the ranking board. Are you powerful?”
Was Gelida another person he had to watch out for during this tournament? He knew that she was a scholarship student, and he knew she had fought off many of the enemies during Everett’s attack in Lorem forest, but he still hadn’t seen too much of her skill to really count her as a viable threat.
Oliver said, “She’s actually just as famous as you, you know? They call her the ‘Mage of Frigid Winter’ because of the original ‘cold spell’ that she invented. I’m not sure how it works, but apparently that’s what they call it, and it was good enough for her to earn a scholarship.”
“I don’t really care about all the points stuff, so that’s why you haven’t seen me on the ranking board,” Gelida said waving her arms carelessly, “And to be honest, I just want to test my spells against the Dragon Princess’ fire rather than actually face her in combat. They say her fire spells are the closest to dragon fire after all.”
Cadmus nodded, mentally noting her down as someone to watch out for as well. She had also not revealed what this ‘cold spell’ was, so that was another thing he had to be careful of. She had said ‘against fire’ though, so maybe fire spells weren’t as effective against it as other elements?
“So, are you guys nervous?” Gelida asked, changing the subject again.
And thus, the carriage devolved into small-talk, with Cadmus choosing to let Alice answer for him as his mind continued orbiting the upcoming tournament. And the rest of the trip passed just like that.
----------------------------------------
When they finally reached their destination, Candice needed a little help in exiting the carriage on account of her trembling legs. Cadmus supposed that this was a different kind of fright than the one in Lorem forest. It was make or break there, and the threat had been sudden. But now, while the tournament wasn’t as dangerous, it was a looming threat that Candice actively had to walk towards.
Considering her disposition, Cadmus was surprised that she was even attempting this at all.
All the students gathered onto a vast field and took a look around at where they were. No villages or farmlands could be sighted from here, but there was this… large stone structure in front of them. It resembled the high walls that protected Anguis, and was wider on either side than the eye could see.
A few people tried approaching the structure, but Professor Mackenzie stopped them. She made them stand in place as some of the staff members finished counting them up, and Cadmus took this chance to examine at his competition.
There were all kinds of people here today. Some, like him, had come garbed in their normal school cloak over their usual clothes; some had brought along magical items, such as staffs or magical shields; and some had even come dressed up in heavy armour.
“Alright!” Professor Mackenzie called, drawing a voice-enhancement magic circle in front of her, “Hello, everyone! Welcome to the annual Twin Peaks Magical Tournament! For the next two rounds, you all will be competing against each other to see who gets to stand in Anguis’ grand coliseum and show off their skills to hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world!”
Somewhere from beside Cadmus, Candice whimpered slightly.
“But, that doesn’t mean you won’t have an audience today as well!”
Professor Mackenzie pointed up in the sky behind them with dramatic flair, and everyone turned to see.
It was the Carmenian Institute of Sorcery’s airship. It was still as magnificent as the first time Cadmus had seen it. The galleon-like wooden hull was still just as glossy, the maroon canvas sails adorned by the image of a white owl was still just as eye-catching, and the owl figurehead perched under the bow of the airship looked as elegant and sturdy as ever.
“That airship holds many of our students who wish to watch you all,” Professor Mackenzie said, calling attention back to her, “So make sure to give them a good show!”
Everyone seemed to take that differently. Some people seemed more focused at her words, some people seemed more nervous, some people seemed more excited, and many people fell somewhere in the spectrum of all those emotions.
“Now, I’m sure you’ve all noticed this huge thing behind me,” Professor Mackenzie said, “And I’m sure you can’t see behind it because of how large it is, but this thing behind me is a labyrinth. You will all be assigned an entrance, and you will all be tasked to find the exit by the time the sun completely sets. If you fail to do so, you will be disqualified.”
Of course, it’s not just a labyrinth though. This is a magical labyrinth, with magical obstacles. Not to mention, you may find other competitors within, and it’s your choice whether you decide to fight each other, team up, or simply leave each other alone. Keep in mind, during the finale of the tournament, if given the opportunity, we tend to change the tournament structure from individual-based, to school-based. This is a tournament to decide the best magical school after all.
Any questions?”
Cadmus raised his hand. He had a few, but only one mattered right now:
“How many points will we receive if we win?”
Professor Mackenzie looked taken aback for a second, and then she grinned,
“Oh yeah, due to all the chaos, I never got to tell you guys that, did I? I’m sure the Institute has their own prizes for winning the tournament, but for our Academy students, you will receive 100 points for getting past the first qualifier round, and 100 more points for getting past the second. And, if you win the tournament finale as well, you will receive 400 more points.”
Cadmus blinked. 600 points in total for winning the tournament then…
His finger twitched as he felt his heartbeat sped up. There was no way he could afford to lose now...