Vinor almost choked from the surprise, many students stared at M’Rook like they were seeing a magical beast for the first time in their lives. "Yeah, he can." Ironhelm corrected Vinor. "Minus two hundred points for lying to a teacher." The rest of Vinor’s rings turned grey. "How can you believe to stupid beast instead of a student? Are you even human? What side are you on?" Vinor whined, jumping away after hearing a snarl right beside his head. "Who are you calling stupid?" M’Rook was so close that Vinor could smell his pungent breath. His lips were curled up, revealing fangs the size of a small dagger. "Minus five hundred points for offending our protectors." Vinor’s uniform turned from white to grey, losing all of its magical properties. "Listen up, you idiots." Professor Ironhelm’s voice roared. "For the next three days, we are guests in this forest. Magical beasts are our landlords, protectors, and first line of defense. Whoever dares to attack another student or disrespects them will have all of their points null and void. "It’s time for you to learn that if a magical beast lives long enough, it develops mystical wisdom. They can talk, reason, and read, just like us humans. Before opening your stuck up mouths, remember where you are if you want to live. "If they refuse to protect us because of your behavior, I’ll gladly sacrifice an idiot or two to save everyone else. Is it clear?" The students from the fourth and fifth year looked around, finally seeing that the town had no blind spots. Magical beasts could be seen soaring the skies, patrolling the streets, and even felt while tunneling underground. Unlike inside the academy, every single move they made was watched, every word heard. Now they also knew that magical beast could talk, making them a living security system with heightened senses. Lith walked away after giving M’Rook a polite bow, starting to look out for Phloria and the rest of the group. - "If they live long enough. That’s a good joke." Lith inwardly laughed at the charade magical beasts had put up for humans. "Yeah, even Nok could talk and he was just a Byk cub." Solus smiled remembering their little friend. - Meanwhile, Professor Ironhelm’s curiosity had been piqued. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦 "Why didn’t you intervene? If I hadn’t stopped that icicle..." "Nothing would have happened." M’Rook cut him short. "The oaf was a threat only to himself. I would kill him if I were you. He’s a bad apple. He will bring only harm to your pack." The Ry’s words made another question arise. "Why are you calling the big one ’oaf’ and the other one ’young wolf’?" "The big one is one of you, the small one is one of us." M’Rook snorted like someone had asked him if the water was wet. "One of us?" Ironhelm was getting more confused by the second. "The oaf is a human. Sees food, wants food. Sees female, wants female. Sees things, wants things. No matter if he needs them, he takes them with violence. That is human nature. We don’t eat unless hungry, we have a mate for life, we don’t need useless trinkets. He is one of us." Professor Ironhelm felt slightly offended by M’Rook’s words. They sounded a lot like racism. His problem was that he couldn’t argue with them. Without law and order, the world of men would take days at most to plunge into chaos, while magical beasts lived according to unwritten rules that every one of them adhered to. *** Lith was amazed by the total number of people the White Griffon hosted. The first three years were composed of at least one thousand students, making him doubt that the mining town could accommodate them all. - "Damn, I’m here for less than five minutes and I am already lost. I hate crowded places. They give me a headache." Lith thought. "We need to find a Professor and fast!" "Or you could call them and ask them where they are." Solus suggested, making Lith sneer. "My sweet, innocent Solus. If after carrying out this monumental work Linjos has left the communications open, he would be too much of an idiot to be the Headmaster."– As Lith predicted, the communication amulet was as dead as a doornail. "Lith, nice to meet you again. I wish our circumstances were better." Lith turned around, meeting the eyes of Colonel Varegrave. "Colonel, this is an unexpected surprise. Is the army involved too?" Lith replied, giving him a small bow. "Yes, of course. We cannot take any chances. I assume you already know everything." Lith nodded, asking him for help in finding his teammates. "Not a problem." The Colonel touched his communication earpiece, requesting information. While waiting for the reply, he and Lith talked about the situation at hand. "Can the Small World be used here?" "Sadly, no." Varegrave sighed. "It works with principles similar to the academy’s arrays, it’s just more powerful. Those creatures would barely be slowed down, while we would be powerless. Follow me, the show is about to begin." Varegrave lead Lith to the town’s outskirts where students and Professors were still waiting. Suddenly, the earth started to tremble and a rock plateau four meters (14 feet) high emerged from the ground. Linjos had chosen a spot that allowed all those present to have a clear view and listen to his magically amplified voice. "My dear students, this will be our home for the following days. The rules here are the same as the academy, but without lessons. At least for the fourth and fifth year students." At those words, most of the crowd erupted into groans, which Linjos ignored. "You need to keep your hands and minds busy to avoid the stress from our current situation to eating you up from the inside. For this reason, fourth and fifth year students have two choices: help the Professors teaching their juniors the basics of magic, or mine magic crystals. Both the endeavors will be awarded with magic crystals or points according to your contributions. I have assigned you your housing based on your social status and age, but don’t misunderstand. I did it only to prevent the seniors from harassing the younger students. All houses are identical and have the same comforts." More groans filled the air, many students spit on the ground, disgusted by Linjos’s words. They had hoped to get some fun at the expenses of the commoners. "As Professor Ironhelm already pointed out, remember we are guests here. Allow me to introduce you to our Lord." Scarlett the Scorpicore plunged from the skies, right beside Linjos, its landing as soft as a plume. "I’ll be brief, humans." Its voice was harsh but feminine, allowing the students to understand she was a female. "Respect my rules and you won’t even notice our presence. My rules are simple. One: do as Linjos says. Two: never harm a cub, human or otherwise, in my presence." One of the reasons the Scorpicore had decided to help the academy was that, having lost many of her offspring before turning into a Scorpicore, Scarlett had a soft spot for children. The other was that, according to Linjos’s words, the undead had too many abilities that reminded her of Abominations. She wanted to use that opportunity to check if the so-called god of death and her mysterious enemy were somehow related. "Third: respect my underlings. They are risking their lives for you, those who do not appreciate their sacrifice can as well as die for what I care. If any of you needs help, whatever the reason, you can go to any of the magical beasts surrounding the city or my seconds in command." Another monster descended from the skies on Scarlett’s left side. It was a giant wolf with two curved horns coming out of its forehead, right in front of the ears. Eagle-like feathered wings came out from his back and the tail seemed to be made out of dancing flames. - "Ryman?"– Lith was shocked by his friend’s arrival. "He is Protector the Skoll. He will lead my troops in battle since I am forced to mantain all the protective arrays by myself." It was actually a lie. Many had contributed to securing the zone. Scarlett said that because she knew humans needed to be impressed to obtain their respect. Also, it would make it easier to find out traitors since she had just made herself a target, pretending that her energies were all directed at the arrays. A second creature appeared, this time slowly emerging from the ground. It was a huge mass of shadows as big as a small house, which kept shapeshifting until it resembled a bear. Its only distinctive features were the glowing red eyes and its massive skeleton that glimpses could be caught of from time to time underneath the ever-changing darkness composing its body. "This is Kalla the Wraith, our resident expert in the field of undead. She’ll secure the perimeter in case things go south. Goodbye." - "Kalla?" Her new appearance had shocked Lith, who was now fearing the worst. "Is that an evolution or has she turned into an undead?" "An evolution." Solus replied. "She now has a blue mana core, not a blood core. Yet judging from the red eyes and the black smoke exuding from her body, I’d say she’s somehow related to them."– The three Monsters disappeared as fast as they had arrived, leaving the center of the scene to Linjos again. With a clap of his hands, several boards materialized from thin air. Each one of them was a huge list of names in alphabetical order. Beside each name, there was a number associated with one of the houses indicated on the map. Much to his surprise, Lith discovered that his housing was marked as one of an old noble family. The Ernas couple had threatened the poor Headmaster, each one their own way, leaving him still pondering if to find Orion’s yells or Jirni’s subtle insinuations more menacing. Having faced and lost against both in the past, he had made no objection to their request to keep together the five youths despite their different social status. When Archmage Deirus had also pressed Linjos towards such accommodation, there was very little he could do. Putting together three members of an old noble family, albeit one in name only, one of a young noble family, and a commoner was something that he would never allow if not for their excellent relationship. The hours passed until evening arrived. Lith worked in the mines, preferring to avoid both nobles and kids. Quylla and Yurial chose to help the Professors to teach the basics of magic. Quylla was considering to pursuing an academic career. All the dangers she was going through were making her understand how much she loved her peaceful life inside the academy, away from bloodsheds and fights. Those things made her feel out of place. Yurial’s situation was different though. After having dined with his fiancé, his mind was a mess. - "Libea has grown even more arrogant and stuck up than I remembered her. Thank the gods I didn’t introduce her to Lith or Quylla, or we would have quarreled until her departure. I wish there was a way out of this engagement."– He thought. The idea of spending his life with a girl he could barely stand, forced to search for his happiness in the arms of a mistress that he would be forced to keep hidden from the rest of the world, made him feel miserable. Yurial had always known how caged his existence would be, but now that he could see its bars up close, he couldn’t avoid searching for a loophole. Between spending his day alone in a dark mine and nurturing youths, he chose the second option. - "I need to enjoy the sun as much as I can. Also, it will be a good practice for when I’ll have children of my own."– He sighed. Friya too went to the mines. Refining crystals required focus and isolation, allowing her to have a respite from the constant struggles with her inner demons. She was a noble, but didn’t feel like one. She had a family, but it wasn’t her own. Her life was changing too fast and for the first time in her life, her future was a blur. Abandoning house Ernas would be a despicable act after all the attentions Orion had poured into her, treating Friya like she was his own. It would also mean abandoning Quylla, the closest thing to a family she had left. Now, with the threat of the god of death, she didn’t know if to be more afraid of her future or of her present. Phloria followed Lith into the mines, spending most of her time watching him. Unlike the others, he didn’t seem scared. Not even Balkor’s shadow seemed capable of snuffing out the greed in his eyes whenever he met a high quality crystal. She found it shallow and insensitive of him, yet incredibly soothing for her heart. - "This is so stupid of me, but I don’t know what else to do. My hands tremble too much at the idea of what is going to happen two nights from now to handle a crystal. Teaching is also useless. I don’t want to grow fond of people that could die anytime soon. I just wanted to quietly spend the rest of my time at the academy trying not to think about death. Yet it comes looking for me instead." – Phloria felt on the verge of tears, so she sat right next to Lith, putting her head on his shoulder. His steady heartbeat was like a lullaby to her ears, her hands stopped shaking, the fear faded away. "Do you mind if I remain like this?" "No, be my guest." Lith managed to kiss the top of her head without needing to stop the cutting process, making her giggle. "At this point, you should put the crystal down and hold me, you jerk." Lith was about to joke about how he would have never expected her to be a high-maintenance girlfriend when his ears perceived something. "Do you hear that?" He asked, suddenly tensing up. Phloria tried to listen. They weren’t very deep in the mine but there were still a lot of echoes. "No, what?" "Screams."