Disclaimer: Mahou Sensei Negima, Dungeons & Dragons, Forgotten Realms, Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha, Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple, Mass Effect (Technology), and (possible) miscellaneous cameo characters are created and owned by their respective creators, not me. I write this for entertainment for the masses and to improve myself.

Part 3: Getting acquainted, Sparring matches, Unrumble!, A date (date-peepers included)

There is a saying. 'You're only as good at fighting as you can stand up upright.' For those who don't know it, it means that you are only considered a dangerous opponent while you can still stand. Everyone needs to rest at some point in a battle.

That was when you were truly at your weakest. Not while you were bleeding, not while your back is turned, but when you are resting and not expecting anyone to show up with hostile intent.

For that purpose, when you did stop to rest, you only did so at highly defensible positions where attacking you meant certain death for a very good number of opponents. Armies coveted these locations with a passion.

So did small squads of soldiers. Or a party of adventurers.

"Really, author," said Deadpool, "you've already decided to rewrite this and you decide to go through with that intro?"

"Is he ever gonna stop jabbering about this author guy?" Asuna murmured and was shushed by Saber.

"I know it's been years, but come on, you pick things up again, now? We've only been holding this location down for that long."

"It hasn't been years, it's been three hours at most," Saber pointed out. "For one, Asuna hasn't grown bigger nor have you changed your attitude."

Now Deadpool turned his attention to his companions. "Ah, but we are fictional. We are immortal. Plus, time froze for us while we looked for this spot. No doubt those Tyranids are wondering where we are. And… man, now I'm bored."

"Then go," Shakuras growled, as best a Protoss could, "Fight these Tyranids elsewhere, draw them away from us. Let us recover our strength in secret."

"Oh, that I can do, you lazy fellows who can't regenerate as I can," Deadpool said smugly. "Wait, why did I say that?"

"Here, let me help you." Saber snapped her fingers and Deadpool disappeared in a blink of light. Somewhere else, there was a sudden roar of Tyranid activity.

Asuna chuckled. "You know, for being a straight-up warrior, you can be very sneaky, Saber-san."

"Straight up warrior is how everyone perceives me," Saber replied, "it gets to the point where no one expects the not so straight up part of me."

"Squeak."

"Thank you, Boo, for that comment."

"Is it weird that we are preferring little Boo's comments to Deadpool?"

"Personally, no," Saber told Asuna, "At least Boo only squeaks when he feels like he has to."

"Squeak."

"Whereas Deadpool could be like that all the time," said Asuna. She sighed heavily. "I honestly can't recall being this exhausted in a fight before. There was that thing with Lingshen back home, but that was her knocking the wind out of me."

"Doesn't count, then," Saber commented, "Me, the fights were always quick and clean. I have a whole new level of respect for the mortals."

"Mortals?" Aerie inquired while she was meditating for her new spells.

"I'm a Summon."

"Ah."

"Minsc and Boo have always had exhausting fights," Minsc explained, "We fought with our intent on ensuring victory and vanquishing evil. But evil is everywhere and its minions are everywhere as well. So it's more work for Boo and I. And Minsc also has to protect his witch."

"Me," Aerie explained. "We bonded together over a friend and he lost his first witch."

"Are you two…?" Asuna asked and made a few gestures.

"No," Minsc told them, "Aerie is more into the… intellectual men. Minsc knows I am not the smartest in the room, and I am respectful of her choice in men."

"You are so not meeting Negi, lady. You'd hardly stop thinking about him," Asuna commented. "Besides, he's got enough attention back home."

"Thank you for warning me, but I do have someone else in mind," Aerie said with a smile that radiated happiness. She must be thinking about him.

Asuna nodded and turned to their final member. "What about you, Shakuras? Are you used to these battles?"

"A long battle? Yes," Shakuras answered, "but back then, I was with my fellow Templar and we always took turns fighting while others retreated to recover their strength. Now I find myself without them and cut off from my people's medical technology. It is… more challenging."

"Well, so long as we stick together, we should be alright," Asuna told him and Shakuras nodded. "Saber, you're good at planning, what do we do?"

"I'm assuming that the leader of this whole thing is at the top of this tower, so we keep pushing. We'll do a 1-3-1 formation, I'll be in front, Minsc and Asuna will switch in the middle rank with Aerie in the middle and Shakuras take to the rear. We head up the stairs and steer clear of hostile hotspots."

"Hotspots?"

"Where they gather as many of them as possible."

"Oh."

"Once we reach them and I think we'll know when we do, Asuna takes point, Shakuras and I swap places and Minsc will protect his witch. From there…" Saber sighed, "luck be with us."

"Luck?"

"Even with a good battle plan, it's still uncertain that it will succeed in the end, so we may have to rely on luck."

Asuna blinked. "I just don't want us to survive simply because we were lucky."

"We won't. We'll survive because we're good at what we do because we work together because we all have reasons to go home safe and sound and because we don't want to die in Tyranid bellies," Saber reassured her. "That's at least not how I intend to die."

"Me neither," Asuna said after a second and the others gave murmurs of assent to that.

"Okay. And knowing him, Deadpool will turn up as well for the final battle."

"So… we move in as a coherent group, and at the final stretch, Deadpool swoops in as the unexpected?" Minsc asked and Saber nodded. "That takes me back."

"Yes, me too," Aerie sniggered, "When?"

"Once you finish meditating."

Now how is Nodoka doing?

"So, how's the new sight?"

Nodoka had heard that several times by now and it was only now starting to get a little annoying. "Just fantastic," she replied before hearing that it was Shakti who asked. The bookworm girl reformed her answer more clearly. "It's a lot better in fact than I think it used to be. I can't see as good as elves or the like from what I've read in books back home, but I get the feeling it's a lot better compared to normal people."

Shakti forced down a laugh at that. She herself once had bad eyesight, yet managed to live with it so far until an unscheduled trip to the Abyss and from there, managed to get home via the cowardice of an incubus coming on too stupidly. "Well, I could almost say I know the feeling of seeing far, myself. Anything you have seen before that comes up?"

"No, no, I don't see anything like that. I always stuck to the coastline and all the big cities are there in the northwest. Oh wait, hang on. I see something in the woods over there," Nodoka replied and Shakti's ears perked. "I see... two wizards, an archer, some sort of knight, and a gnome... I think it's a gnome, but it could be a halfling... about some 300 meters in that direction, among the trees."

"Really?" A githyanki sniper of the group overheard and checked with his rifle scope. "I don't see anything. Must have been imagination, I reckon."

"No, I'm pretty certain I saw them," Nodoka protested.

"Tell you what, princess, you turn out right and I'll owe you a bottle of Cormyr Firedrake wine," the sniper told her off jokingly.

"You're on." The bookworm wasn't going to back down on this one.

Others heard this bet and some whistled to her courage. "No way either of you can pay upfront just like that on it," said another.

"Yes I can," Nodoka defended herself, "I got a big allowance from Dad. And I'm pretty sure that the sniper there is certain he can afford it, too."

"Cormyr Firedrake..." Shakti mused to herself for a brief moment. "Sounds good. We'll share that one someday, won't we?"

"Maybe." Nodoka had honestly never drunk Firedrake wine before. Alcohol was not a complete stranger thanks to supper where her master insisted that she'd have the imported Manycherries wine from Waterdeep. It had gotten to the point that she just had some without him insisting. But the Firedrake sounded intriguing. It would probably be different from the Manycherries.

Then again it could also be like having a slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick.

"Come on... come on... almost," he whispered as he had the one he was directing his mind control spell at walking carefully out of the camp, holding one of those weird little boxes for a closer examination later. "Whoa, watch it." He was nervous whilst doing this; it's not every day you have to sneak someone out of a hostile camp.

His intended target had been going along with them for so long now – as if hypnotized that nothing was wrong with what was going on. These... foul creatures were stringing her along as if she was one of them, they shared food with her and they had laughter like the cruelest of tyrants. At least the dark ones weren't armed to the teeth with strange weapons. Speaking of which, those would probably make a fortune on the market, but if found out how they work... you'd make enough profit to last forever.

He eventually got her out of there, seeing as she walked enchanted away from their last outpost, put to sleep via another spell. As soon as she was some twenty paces from that one, one of his friends picked her up and hoisted the girl over his shoulder.

"Okay, let's move," he told his fellow wizard.

"Right." the other one spoke the words and opened up a lesser portal for them to go through. The big friend carrying their freed hostage went in first, then the first wizard. He was followed by the other two and finally by the wizard who opened it up. The portal closed behind them.

"Okay, how much away are we?" The big guy asked.

"Just about a few hundred meters away," answered the second wizard. "It should be enough to mark us off from any of their trackers. But I recommend we move as fast as we can."

They kept going for a good while in the direction they originally came from and stopped about an hour later for a break. They put the girl down carefully.

"So... who is this girl we came all the way out here for, anyway?" The big guy in heavy armor asked as he inspected her. The girl had those cold, almost dead eyes just looking straight forward.

"Yeah..." their archer asked as he took a closer look himself. "She doesn't seem like anyone special."

The first wizard sighed and then turned to his fellow. "Jeriel, don't you remember her? We were in the same class as her."

The second wizard had a closer look, then recoiled in surprise. "Whoa. I must say, she still hasn't aged a single day since she first enrolled with us."

"Can we get a name on the mystery girl, please?" The knight asked the two.

"Her name is Nodoka Miyazaki," answered the first wizard.

"Hello," she said softly to them.

"Whoa, she was awake?" The archer asked. He didn't sound very pleased about it. "Seriously, I don't think taking someone away from the drow is such a good idea."

"She is safer with us than with them," the first wizard argued. "You know how they like to torture their victims first before..." he stopped there because he didn't want to think about it.

"Yeah..." the second said at first. "Are you sure that this isn't about... that?"

"No! It's not about that," the first defended. "Never was. I just..." he groaned at having no proper argument prepared. "I just don't want an old classmate to fall into the hands of monsters. You know what, I'll take first watch if that's fine with you lot." He proceeded to sit down next to the girl. "Besides, her family's rich. We could get plenty of money for her safe return." He just put that in to have them stop staring at him.

The others went to get out their bedrolls before the gnome turned on their second wizard who had teleported them out of there. "Okay, what's the story between those two? Were they lovers or something during your time in school?"

The conjurer wasn't going to enjoy betraying his friend's trust. "No, they weren't," he first said in reply. "You see, technically..."

Then they all heard the good old fashioned sound of a face being introduced to a fist.

Next thing they knew, the first watch was decked out on the ground and the girl was holding up her arm to show she had punched him. "You know, I would have played along a little longer just to have fun with you, but I drew the line the moment he started to touch me," she spoke with a much more confident tone.

"What?" The gnome asked briefly before the wizard stepped in front of him.

"I honestly wasn't expecting that you'd be awake so early, Miyazaki," he said in a hopeful defense.

"Everyone's who under a mind-control spell is awake, Siregar," she informed him. "Or was it that you had the Enchantment weeks as your holidays at Greenwood's?"

The first wizard groaned from being punched.

"Was that necessary?" Siregar asked her.

"I have personal space issues nowadays," Nodoka replied. "Plus, he touched my butt. How many girls do you know who likes being touched on the butt without being asked?"

The others were being a bit stumped at seeing the audacity of this girl. "She doesn't sound like some nobleman's daughter at all," the archer spoke up first.

"No," the knight said, "she sounds like one of mine."

"Very funny, ser," Nodoka told him as the first wizard got up finally. "But really, if you wanted me to show up for a class reunion, all you had to do was send a letter to the school and they could have sent a Sending to me. Not sure if I'd even make it, but it would be nicer at least than just, oh I don't know, kidnap me in the middle of the night."

"Kidnap?" Siregar echoed. "Brocca told me that this was a-"

"Rescue mission?" she finished for him and he nodded. "Oh I'm terribly sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not really in need of a rescue."

Brocca, the apparent first wizard, spoke up. "Wha?" he moaned out of himself. "You didn't need a rescue?"

"If anything, I could use one now," she replied flatly. "Speaking of which, here's the rescue team."

She snapped her fingers and all of a sudden, the drow and the soldiers from before arose from the bushes around them brandishing their ranged weapons straight at them.

"Now, boys, please don't kill them. I like it when people are left alive and able to walk after a fight."

"...Oh, sod." Guess who said that.

Ding!

The elevator door opened and out stepped the drow and the githyanki general.

Gromph Baenre had settled for the look of a young handsome man with black hair and striking brown eyes. He wore essentially a suit of fine silk with a tie to blend in. He had studied the local fashion for men and tried his best to blend in.

His sister, Quenthel, was his counterpart, now a raven-haired, ivory-skinned beauty with an athletic build, still wearing her white dress with flair and made it look good on her. Her own blue eyes were more sharp than striking.

Young Ela Wysiwyg came out after them, looking rather petrified from having spent time with two terrifying figures. She came out looking more cute than sexy, with blond hair and blue eyes, looking in somewhat casual denim jeans and a flannel shirt underneath a thin jacket.

Her friend Devlian came out without his armor, in jeans and a white t-shirt. A simple illusion of casual clothes that they had to cast on his regular clothes, and one that they had to instill special runes to make sure they lasted longer. He still had his large warhammer slung over his shoulder, making him look less like your average working man and more like the guy who says his hobbies include but are not limited to; workout, hiking, and thrashing tractors.

General Osyrimon was a bit more conserved, wearing a light coat and a flannel shirt underneath with jeans. The chilly wind didn't seem to bother him.

Kimmuriel was still bald, but he wore a black leather trench coat over his clothes, specifically for the purpose of not being bothered with changing clothes.

They found themselves on an island, in a small coven hidden from sight of the bridge. And it was dawn, so the only people seen were official staff of the facility, marking their location as Library Island.

Gromph summoned a map of the academy and was (silently) astounded by the sheer scale. Half of Menzoberranzan alone could be fit inside the premises and all its inhabitants could, as well.

"This is all one school?" Wysiwyg asked in awe of the place.

"Yes," Gromph answered and showed them the layout, "we are currently here, on Library Island." Remembering that Wysiwyg was roommate to Miyazaki back at Greenwood's, he didn't reveal the source of his knowledge. "According to the traveler between worlds, that is. Right now, we are looking for a small cottage on the outskirts."

"Why a small cottage?"

"Because that's where we need to be," Quenthel said with a scowl, "so don't ponder."

"Don't let the outward appearance fool you. This academy is one giant mage's fortress, where wizards and practitioners from around the world gather to study and cooperate with one another. They find us, everything is undone," Gromph explained, "So to start, we will assume new identities. Our real names would raise suspicion."

"Question: How are we to pose as guests here if we are from another world?" Wysiwyg asked, "Even with wizards from around the world coming here, how are we to fit in with our various backgrounds?"

"Simple," Gromph replied, "From what we can scry so far, the wizards are gathering an army for defense. An invading force is heading their way and they are recruiting left and right from their… limited resources. What are a few mercenaries to them, but extra manpower?"

"All we have to do is find whoever is in command, say our interest in joining their defense, and with a bit of luck and the gods on our side, they will accept us with open arms," Quenthel elaborated.

"And we'll be given full access to the place." Kimmuriel finished for them. "Shall I fetch the rest of Bregan D'aerthe for this?"

"No," Quenthel ordered, "disperse them across the city. In the event that we are discovered, their mission will be to cause as much chaos and confusion within the city, their own ranks, that we will take the opportunity to escape. We are not here for conquest nor raiding."

"We're here for information gathering, period." The tone in Gromph's voice compelled there to be no argument about it. Everyone nodded, even Devlian, who was unusually quiet.

"One last thing," he added, "the culture here is substantially different from what the Sword Coast is, so no mention of home where we usually live."

"And just where are we supposed to be from, when they do ask?" Devlian finally spoke up. "You wouldn't trust anyone who wouldn't say where they're from, would you?"

"I don't trust anyone anyway," Gromph simply said in response, "but you raise a valid point. One that I already thought of."

Now, how are the people in the lounge doing?

The lounge was a mess. It wasn't as filled as a popular night hangout should have been. Chairs were in pieces, at least two tables were broken, a window had been smashed wide open, a pole by which the girls were using had been bent by something big and heavy. The drinks shelf behind the bar was a shamble of broken wood and glass. Many people who were still there sported injuries unattended to, and at least one of the dancers had bruising along her side. And that was just the obvious stuff.

Thorgar had a bruised eye, a bad back, and cracked ribs. Gorim had a bad back himself and Nailbrain was missing a tooth. Huelun seemed to have a sprained ankle. The only one who seemed okay was Fashtar. But that was not the odd thing. The odd thing was that they hadn't been in a fight since getting there. Not since that Girallion.

"You know, I've realized something," Nailbrain told the others as they sat down around a big table with their servings.

"What's that?"

"Everything's backward." They all looked around. People were walking backward, the noises were backward, even the eating and drinking were backward. Instead of consuming the food, they'd regurgitate it, for lack of a better word, and the drinks would just come flowing out of their mouths into the pints.

"I was wondering why they gave Gorim an empty salad… bowl…" Fashtar said as he looked over to their dwarf, only to see that the salad bowl was full now. "I… don't want to know."

"Is there a problem?" Gorim asked. The plated dwarf didn't seem bothered by the time-flow.

"You couldn't have mentioned something earlier before Mr Nailbrain said it?"

"I assumed you already knew."

"Um… where's Jarlaxle?" Nailbrain asked.

"Over at the bar. Something about getting a drink. Along with donating to charity."

Soon afterward, Huelun went for a trip to the ladies' room, after working out how the lavatories worked. She walked stiffly and in pain. Everyone stared at her.

"Ask instead why the place is a bloody mess."

Jarlaxle hadn't returned yet when a man came up to them backward and stared at them in a hostile manner. He said… something that came out garbled.

"What?" Thorgar asked.

"What did he say?" Gorim asked.

Fashtar hummed for a second. "Something about having uneaten a pie he's taken money for."

Thorgar tried to say something to the man. "Hey, listen, we want no-" Then the man punched him in the face. "Ah!"

"Thorgar!"

"Wait-" Thorgar stopped them with a raised hand and checked his face. "My black eye. He just sucked it right off me." And when he rose up, he got a punch in the chest and there was an audible crack. "Now he just uncracked my ribs."

"He uncra-" Fashtar started but then he stopped. "Oh my gods, I just worked it out."

"What?" Huelun asked him.

"See all this mess? All this debris. This is a fight the lounge got wrecked for. This is a fight we're about to have."

"About to have?" Nailbrain, Gorim and Huelun repeated. "We're gonna be caught in a barroom brawl?"

"It's not a barroom brawl," Thorgar corrected them. "It's a barroom tidy." He picked up his flagon. "UNRUMBLE!" And then he splashed his drink onto the man's face. Or more like, the drink was sucked into his tankard from the man's face.

What happened next was very much a barroom brawl but in reverse. Someone flew up into the drinks shelf at the bar and then flew into a thrower's arms. A big man put a tooth back into Nailbrain's mouth. Gorim flew off from a big brawl that was in the open area of the lounge and smashed into the girls' pole while streaking past the bruised girl's side, sucking the bruise right off her. The same brawl untangled to reveal a Thorgar who flew upwards from the door with battlecry. Then he turned for the door.

"Where are you going?" Fashtar asked after putting a chair together from some git who was going to hug Nailbrain from behind.

"I worked out what happened to my back." Then Thorgar left.

"Find Jarlaxle while you're at it!" Huelun sent a kick onto someone's chin and all of a sudden, her ankle pain was gone. That guy must have a very strong neck. Then the window was heard being put together from a thousand little pieces and Thorgar was back in a couple of thugs' arms, and putting a table together with his face.

Gorim was also repairing a chair and handed it back to Fashtar who put it back in its place. More and more people were getting back in their seats and then they spotted Jarlaxle, being dragged along the bar, putting back glasses and bottles together before being put back on his feet.

"Thank you, now have your tooth back." Jarlaxle put a tooth back in a man's mouth and he went back to his seat. At some point, the debris stopped being there and in its place were more tables and customers who had fled the place prior to the barroom tidy.

"Jarlaxle, where were you?" Fashtar asked, walking up to the drow mercenary. "When the tidy started, I was getting worried."

"Really?"

"Can't have my best man get lost along this road, now can I?"

"Hmm, fair enough," Jarlaxle shrugged. "As to where I was…" he held up a handful of money. "For charity."

Fashtar looked between Jarlaxle's hand and Jarlaxle's face a few times before getting a deadpanned look on his own face. "You knew."

"To be fair, I was here the longest and I picked it up immediately," Jarlaxle replied. "And here, it's for a good cause."

Fashtar sighed. "Alright, let's get out of here."

Before anyone knew it, they were back on the Road of Random Accidents.

"Well, that happened," Huelun said. "Now where are w- oh no." Everyone looked the same way she did and there was the sign. "Warning: Random Accidents Ahead."

"We're back where we started?" Thorgar exclaimed. There was a brief moment of silence.

And then Fashtar spoke up. "That's it." He opened up his Omni-tool and pressed it repeatedly with his finger. "I'm calling in a favor. I wanted to use this at a later time, but time is of the essence right now."

About six seconds later he was finished and they could hear him mutter "Three… two… one…" Then he yanked off Jarlaxle's splendid hat and reached in to pull something out.

What he pulled out could be best described as a pony, only it was wearing a hat and a poncho. There was a boneless chicken made of an odd material on its back. The pony's coat shone orange and it had brown hair that looked like a big poof. "Hey there, Fashy-Bashy!"

"HE CAN TALK!?" Huelun screamed in shock.

"Hi, Cheese Sandwich," said Fashtar in an exhausted tone.

"Hey. I take it you're here regarding that favor I owe you?"

"Yes. Would I have called you here for any other reason?"

"Hmmm, I must admit that's a good question. What do you think, Boneless?" He addressed the chicken on his back.

"A-"

"Don't you dare," Fashtar interrupted whoever was trying to say something. "Okay, here's the thing. I and my companions here are trying to reach the other end of this road…" He then pointed to the sign. "...without any incidents, accidents, or whatever anomalies there might be on this road. Is there any way you could do that?"

Cheese Sandwich pondered for a bit. "Sure thing. Just follow me." Then he got walking on the road, humming something being frightening in the dark. And the rest of them followed. Jarlaxle walked up to their cunning leader.

"Fashy-Bashy?"

"I do not want to talk about it."

Expedition Mahora is a go

The hard part of this expedition was to be identified as a friend. Fortunately, Robert Lucaenus and his sister Melissa could convince the headmaster of the middle school academy, the local wizard lord, to let them meet with the Commander-in-Chief and his base of operations. Unfortunately, they could only do so in the afternoon.

Which meant that they had time to kill. In town, they stood out like sore thumbs, but being fluent in the language led to them not being stared at too much. Money was next to no trouble either. All it took was to simply 'acquire' some from these lowlife criminals who found their little niece Sarah too cute to ignore despite her pleas to leave her alone. Melissa and their hired helper Daniel just had to have a few words with them, and that's the story they're sticking to.

And what they found in the stores was a world drowning in luxuries. A fair number was expensive, but it was certainly a sign of quality. Sarah admits she had never seen such fine cotton in her life and in such fashion, too. Though she admits the skirts were too short for her to be comfortable.

Robert, though, had to contend with Melissa buying herself a new bikini to display her assets, both physical and psychological, for others to see. For the first time ever, he had to shield her from the other men out there who were ogling her. Melissa didn't care. She used her body language to tell the men that there was no way they could ever have her. She could do so much better.

Daniel was better at looking after Sarah, though.

But Robert did have other things on his mind. He was secretly watching the Springfield boy.

So far, there was nothing extraordinary about the young Negi Springfield that his apprentice was crazy about. The boy was a good teacher in English, although whether that was up to skill, or the fact that indeed all the girls in there had an affection for him themselves, was up for debate within Robert's mind. Negi wasn't looking out to be the great warrior that Nodoka sometimes envisioned him, but he was containing a considerable amount of magic energy. Perhaps he didn't want to be a great warrior or a hero. Perhaps he simply… wished to be kind and gentle.

Robert was aware of such traits. They were nonexistent within the world of Drow. Anyone who helped another did so out of personal gain and oftentimes political. Man was a little different. Then again, he had seen his apprentice be kind to her own kobold slave by teaching him to read and personally protect him from harassment by the guards of their household. And in return, Gracknir served only her because he wished it so.

How often has he been treating slaves and servants with such kindness?

…

Never, was the answer. Gromph wasn't concerned with the lives of others besides his own family. And even then, he only saw what he could use them for. And honestly, he was only keeping Nodoka out of curiosity to learn her world's magic and because if she came to permanent harm, Menzoberranzan would be destroyed.

...wait, was that githyanki Fashtar forcing them to learn kindness?

The Drow wizard was feeling perplexed. He would need to figure out what to do with the girl once he was finished here.

"My lord," came Kimmuriel's telepathic message. Gromph had dispatched him to keep tabs on the Mahora staff, for when it was time to go meet Springfield officially. "Word just came. We can go meet the Commander-in-Chief during their lunch training session. Shall I fetch Wysiwyg's scout along?"

Originally, 'Sylbie', the elven scout of the trio of surface adventurers they had dragged along on this expedition, was with the rest of Bregan D'aerthe to help find obscure locations to hide the back-up plan and she was a friend of Devlian. But the warrior-priest would have objections if she was left out to not see the objective of all of this.

"Do so. I would not have infighting in our group to this. Besides, Wysiwyg needs another friendly face amongst us."

Gromph Baenre, Quenthel Baenre, Delvian, Elaciel Wysiwyg, Sylbiavari Highroc, General Osyrimon, and Kimmuriel Oblodra stood outside the cabin. If the information was correct, this was the main training grounds of the Ala Alba, the adventurer party Miyazaki was a member of. Gromph was unaware of how much Wysiwyg knew of Nodoka's past life before coming to Toril, but it made little difference right now. She knew that if she told them, it would all be for naught.

They had prepared for this meeting. Everything relied upon this meeting. If things went south here, they wouldn't be able to recuperate.

Robert knocked on the door.

The silence in between the knocking and the door opening was agonizing. And the person who opened it was the robot girl. In her servant's outfit. Robert collected himself.

"Hello. We had a meeting at lunch, I believe?"

"And the name is…?" the servant asked.

"Robert and Melissa Lucaenus." When she looked to see the others they had gathered with them, he added, "With associates."

There was a beat before the robot nodded and gestured for them to come inside. She simply moved to the basement and Robert and Melissa went first. Everyone else followed.

The two siblings had expected the dolls lining the way. Not the others. Sarah was a bit freaked out oftentimes at the sight. As if the dolls were seeing right through them. Robert simply assured her that if they did, they wouldn't be allowed this far.

The final room revealed their destination. A massive collection of spheres connected with narrow sphincters, contained in perfect glass, atop pedestals. The three adventurers' eyes bulge out at the sight, as do Kimmuriel's, though only Robert and Melissa didn't show it. They were, however, most impressed at the sight.

Then they enter the sphere and all jaws drop.

Gromph and Quenthel knew about the place already, it was a damn different thing altogether to see it in person. The castle was huge. Gromph made a rough estimate that you could house two thousand people comfortably inside. Maybe more, but they didn't have the full layout of the castle.

"This way, please," said the robot girl and they follow.

"Holy shit…" They hear Sarah whisper. "I wasn't expecting anything like this… this is like a first-class- no, god-class artifact to house something of this size… who designed this?"

"Someone nearly as old as me and much more powerful," Robert whispers back as they approach the main square which seemed to be the main practice area. "Do not tell them I said that."

Up ahead were a bunch of young human teens working together on forming a schedule for the day. Gromph could see a majority of the class girls he recognized, but there were also a bunch of other, older children, already grown adults if they so wished. Nearly all of them were muscular to a large degree and they wore combat-like attire.

This was new and troubling. Gromph knew they were expecting an invasion, but anyone not part of the original group was a complete unknown and Gromph hated the unknown with a passion.

Worse still, the one instructing them on the training schedule was someone he had never seen before. Short, but muscular build. Old, but that suggested war experience. It probably had to be the Commander-in-Chief of the world's defense. He was wearing just the bare essential; trousers and a shirt with simple shoes. He caught a glimpse of the newcomers and decided to wrap it up no doubt.

"Okay, everyone, you know where to be, you know what to do. And please, nothing too life-threatening, our best healer isn't here and we're running low on potions." As the youngsters broke up, he walked up to them. "Lucaenus, was it?"

"Yes?" Robert answered hesitantly and he received an extended hand. Ah yes, this is how they greet one another.

"Aristodemus Tou Lakédaemon." The two of them shook hands and that was it. "I got word just before. Enjoying the Old World as it is?"

"It's a bit… more luxurious than I expected," Robert admitted. "My sister insisted on getting some swimwear before we came here and I had to fend off men with a stick."

"Ahh, women," The Commander sighed. "They seem to have this thing about shoes as well. Who knows how seriously they take shoes."

"We're right here, you know," Sarah snapped.

"Oop, sorry. Anyway, you wanted to sign up?"

"Not sure how we could do it, so we figured we better go straight to the source," Melissa added. "Also, we had been planning an excursion to the Old World anyway, so this was a good opportunity."

"Thank the gods for conveniences," Aristodemus muttered. "You came at an unusual time. Most of the people I've met have already been sent back home and I just got the local team from around here plus some youngsters who are nearly done with their little special training before I send them off as well. Who do you bring?"

"Melissa and I," Robert started. "Melissa is a healer with summoning and control focus. I'm a long-range wizard with summoning and foresight."

"Ahh, you're a traditional mage? Not many of those in our ranks so far."

"Can't have too many, anyway. With us are our young niece Sarah-"

"You have a second sibling?"

"Multiple siblings. She is the daughter of our vagrant brother. Anyway, Sarah is trying to be like me, but we're not there yet."

"Have you been to school?" Aristodemus asked her and they all froze.

"...Yes, sir," Sarah answered with some hesitance. "I was second best in my class a couple of years back."

"That's great, but you really should aim to be number 1," The Commander replied with a smile. "Who else?"

"We got Kevin, the bald one here," he was referring to Kimmuriel, who nodded at his introduction, "he's mainly telepathy and telekinesis."

"Teep and Teek?" Aristodemus asked for verification and 'Kevin' nodded. "Basics are good. Basics are always good."

"There's also Sylvia Highrock. She's the archer and expert tracker in our group. That there's her boyfriend Daniel. Combat and healing."

"Just Daniel?"

"Just Daniel," Daniel answered curtly.

"I won't question."

"And lastly, there's-"

"Ozzy," Osyrimon interrupted. "Strictly combat with shielding. Also tactical."

"Alright," The Commander replied. "I can work with this but I need to redo the schedule. Are you familiar with a place like this?"

"Uh, I'm not," Sarah spoke up, even raising a hand. "I haven't heard of anything like this before."

"Right then. Short and simple. We can't leave for twenty-four hours, but twenty-four hours in here is just an hour out there. We age while in here so a prolonged stay isn't recommended unless you don't age at all. Clear?"

"...Yes." The implied tone that Sarah used was "No."

"Tough. Anyway, I need to redo the schedule, which means you have-"

"Can I make a suggestion?" Melissa requested. "Rather than just get into it, why don't we just get acquainted with the others you have here? We need to learn who is who, what each person can do and we can formulate better our training time together."

Aristodemus pondered for a while and then he smiled. "I really need to be more aware of things like this. Alright, you got time to kill today. But I wanna see you ready tomorrow, got it?"

"I think we can cope with that," Melissa smiled at him.

Internally Gromph couldn't have been happier. Time was essential. If they had to do a sparring duel right now, they were done for. He may have had the intelligence to explain why they could not do it at this time, he simply wasn't social enough. Quenthel was, so she could persuade the Commander to push off any duel until tomorrow. While he wasn't glad that his sister did the deed, what mattered was the end goal of a successful expedition. They reached that agreement before heading out.

"Alright, get out of here," Aristodemus told them all. "The kids should be up on the western cliffs over there. Introduce yourselves and observe for today."

"Uh, one last thing," Robert had to interrupt. "It's just that word is that Mahora is the main staying place for…"

"Negi Springfield?" At a nod, the Commander continued. "He should be up there too. We're taking it slow with him. And no autographs. He doesn't do them."

"Noted." Robert gestured for everyone to follow and they left the Commander alone to figure out the new schedule for tomorrow.

Once they were sure they were out of sight and hearing of anyone else around, Sylbie walked up and confronted Gromph. "Boyfriend?"

"How else could one describe the two of you working alongside one another without making it weird?" He responded. "You may not be together like that, but you won't be under pressure from the young men here if they accept the idea that you are unavailable."

"Are there young men here that would really go for me if they knew my real age?"

"I got young women all over me and I'm over eight hundred."

Sylbie stopped talking and fell back in line with Delvian. Gromph wasn't really in the mood to know what their relationship was. Either colleagues or lovers, it made no difference to him. So long as they stayed in line, they could do whatever they pleased.

It took some twenty minutes but they reached the area where the youngsters were training and sparring. It was fast-paced, intense, and mind-boggling to a degree he would have trouble comprehending without his own intelligence.

One noticed them, a young redheaded boy, and he switched his sparring match to someone else to walk up to them.

This was it. This was the boy. This was the one Nodoka was going crazy over.

"Oh hey, I noticed you earlier. Are you new here?" The boy asked.

"Yes. We just came here for a quick training session for a couple of days, if you don't mind," Gromph replied.

"I'm Negi Springfield. Nice to meet you." Negi extended his hand. Gromph was unfamiliar at first, but then remembered that it was a handshake. Nodoka had shown him one earlier, only she was first showing her whole hand to show she wasn't hiding poisoned needles in the palm and joked about it being a thing. He could tell it was a joke from the fact that she was failing to hide a grin, but he had let it go then.

And here he was, mimicking the young girl's handshake before clasping hands with this young boy- no, this young man.

"I'm Robert Lucaenus. Nice to meet you, Master Springfield."

Nodoka's group is resting

"...and that's when you decided 'rescue me', was it?"

It was that same night, back at their camp and they had patched up their guests' bruises and wounds from the ambush. If one could call it even that. It was a good thing the guns had practice rounds installed on them so no one would get seriously hurt. Although those bruises were going to last a while.

Nodoka, while glad to see a couple of her old schoolmates from college again, wasn't glad that they effectively mind-controlled her and took her someplace else without her consent. That could easily be classified as kidnapping. She stood in front of them all sitting together tied separately and the two wizards had their thumbs tied up.

"...yeah," said Siregar after a while, hanging his head in shame. "That was then…"

Nodoka groaned. This whole situation was a disaster. "I know, I haven't been the most sociable person lately, but that's because my mentor doesn't let me out much. I only get like, one day off per year. He's been pushing me really hard and I get focused on my studies, too… But if you just made a request at college to Send me a message, I might have been able to come and see you. Or at least let you know I'm still alive.

"But no, you just-" She stopped talking there because she didn't want to accuse. "Brocca, was this about that crush you have on me, or something?"

"No, it was-" Brocca stopped because "You knew about that?!"

"No, I always wondered who it was who would try to scry on me when I was changing my clothes or getting ready for the baths- Of course I knew!" Nodoka retorted. "I noticed you on the first night. You were a bleeding idiot. Then again, Divination wasn't your strong suit."

"Hey!"

"It's the truth. The least you could have done was set up some wards so I wouldn't be able to scry back at you. And before you say that's hard to do, it's not. You just need three stones in a triangle with the elven rune for hiding on them. They're easy to make."

The others were a bit shocked at hearing all this. "You said this wasn't about that!" Siregar snarled at Brocca.

"It was not!"

"Well, what was it, then?" Nodoka asked with anger in her voice. One thing good about her current living accommodations - if you could call it good, to begin with - was that she was learning more to use her own anger at times. She didn't really consider herself an angry person, but things have been getting more and more depressing lately, even with her eyes restored.

Brocca recoiled from her tone. Nodoka flinched internally. She hadn't been angry a lot back in college (what a miracle) so when she showed her anger here, it was showing subtly and it seemed to scare him. And he didn't answer, so she decided to continue.

"It's a lot easier to say that it was because of your crush and when you say it is not, then things get a lot shadier. No wait, it's shady no matter what, because you tried to mind control me and take me someplace without my consent. That is not okay, Brocca. Not okay. I can buy that it's you looking out for a friend, but you couldn't have tried any other method? Just…" She gave up on her rant and walked away from them. She didn't want to say something she would regret and they'd end up not being friends anymore.

She plonked herself down by the campfire, sitting next to her main two companions, namely Shakti Hunzrin and that wizard who's covering his face all the time, known as the Spider Mage. What was his name again? Jalyfeyn?

"I caught the end of that," said Shakti as a githyanki soldier handed Nodoka her meal for the night. "It had to be said."

"I didn't want to go too far," Nodoka muttered weakly.

"Nonetheless, you can't afford to be kind to everyone. Take it for granted that they'll be kind in turn and you will be disappointed." Nodoka would never admit it openly, but Shakti had a point. She merely decided to dig into her meal. Eating would help her feel better. At least that was the hope.

"Kindness is a weakness," the Spider Mage said. "An exploitation for the enemy. You pet a dog too much and it will become slothful."

"Kick a dog too much and it will bite back," Nodoka retorted between chews. "And I don't think kindness is a weakness at all."

"What else would you consider it as?" The Mage asked. "A strength?"

"...Yes," Nodoka said as if it was the only correct answer. "Once you are strong enough to survive by your own feet, hands, and wit, you can afford to show kindness toward others. And once they are strong, they show kindness in turn. That's how it goes. Nothing more to it."

The two drow exchanged looks. "How is it that your own race has survived this long?"

Nodoka didn't answer because she knew that the drow's own race couldn't have survived this long themselves without divine intervention. Her master was keen on instructing her on the shortcomings of the priestesses and their politics. He also admitted that he was a player in these politics and he had made the odd move, but the difference he had was that he was playing for long-term gains. Meanwhile, most of the drow was doing short term games that yielded more consequences than benefits.

"You tell me," she simply replied in the end.

"By the by, that young Brocca… what did you mean by 'crush?'" The Mage asked in the end.

"It means that he had romantic feelings towards me," Nodoka answered. "I wasn't keen on responding to them in kind."

"Yet you didn't respond to them at all," Shakti accused. Nodoka flinched a bit. "Your kindness bit you back there."

"No. It was… confusion. I didn't know how I could-"

"Then it seems you have no full control of your kindness as you call it," Shakti shot back and Nodoka felt that she was right. "Sometimes, it doesn't help to be kind all the time. You want the two of you to move on or not? You don't want to go steady with him or break his heart? You're going to have to choose, girl. Don't come to someone else for your troubles."

Nodoka pondered for a while. Then she finished her meal, drank up the water, got up, and walked back to Brocca, sitting in front of him. She didn't say anything immediately, but it took a while before she could muster the courage to go through with it.

"Brocca… it was never going to happen." The words felt like lead in her mouth, but she kept going. "You may think you had good intentions and all, but I have had my eye on someone else for a good while. You might have hoped for something, but you really should have taken a hint that I didn't speak to you that way or when I was spending more time working on my exercises with that fighter instructor rather than join you in the library. I had a schedule to keep and I still do. You were just… not part of the equation. And what's more - and I can barely believe I'm saying this - college was not a place for finding someone to hook up with.

"We were there to learn magic and use that magic to make the world a better place. That's what matters. And I wanna commit to that. And I can't do it while being with someone I don't like back the same way."

Her old schoolmate reeled back for a bit then he went back to his old position. Nearly every moment Nodoka was waiting for his response was hurting. She could feel the eyes of her two companions staring at her from behind and the soldiers keeping sentry for anything else out there were straining to keep out of the conversation as much as possible. She could see Siregar and the others they brought along look at Brocca, waiting for his response, too. It was bad enough that she had to do this in front of just about everybody, but the sooner this was out of the way, the better.

Finally, he said something. "Guess I needed to hear that."

And all of a sudden, a weight got off Nodoka's shoulders. "Alright, let them up. Punishment time is over." The two closest soldiers immediately followed those orders and let the adventurers up for a meal by the fire. They weren't keen on letting them have the guns, though.

"So, what do you intend to do, now?" Siregar asked Nodoka in the midst of eating.

"For now?" Nodoka clarified and at his nod, she continued, "head back home, check in with my mentor. See how it goes from there. I might be a while."

"So… after all this time, you're gonna go back to the drow."

"Yes. I'm going back to the drow because I'm his apprentice and he is my mentor. And… I wouldn't admit this to anyone, but he's brilliant. I swear, half the masters back at college couldn't hold a candle to him. And the other half would have trouble keeping up with him."

"Really?"

The rest of the night, until dawn, because no way were they going to be able to sleep that night, they chatted away about their mentors and what their practice schedules were like compared to each other.

"Hang on, something just hit me," Brocca spoke up all of a sudden.

"What? What?" the others asked, thinking of something that might be hiding in the dark.

"No, not that. Back in college. Prom night, when you and Ela Wysiwyg were getting ready. What was that all about?"

Nodoka played the ignorance card, not intending to give him a definitive answer on that.

Expedition: Day 1

Not long after introductions had been made, everyone settled back into their schedule for the day while the new arrivals sat and watched. Daniel wanted to join in, but he found himself quite outmatched by the young men of this budding army, as well as a number of the girls.

Robert sat, watched, and studied. He studied each person's strengths, weaknesses and tactics, and combat style. Negi Springfield, who now addressed him in turn as Master Lucaenus, was very much a close-quarter mage, with an affinity for wind, lightning, and light. He was fast, faster than anyone else Robert had ever seen. And judging by that match against Jack Rakan, which Robert had seen through Nodoka's memories, he was as fast as Lightning itself.

But in exchange for that speed, he had neglected something: Endurance. Springfield liked to end his battles fast and he was not built for a long-term slugfest. He could work as a long-range wizard if he had to, but his variety of spells were too few to last long. His strength was tremendous and his own reserve of "mana" was impressive, but he lacked versability.

His current sparring partner was a more martial variant. Kenichi Shirahama, a young student of martial arts, but not a monk, practiced a very practical application of a combination composed of at least three different styles from what Robert could tell. Shirahama was a martial fighter that didn't believe in killing his opponent. That was his choice but that restraint was by far his greatest weak spot. He lacked the determination to do what's necessary.

What's more, he did lack the speed of Springfield. Shirahama had strength and endurance on his side, but he wasn't the kind of hero who could win a war with the strength of his arms alone. He would be more suited to protecting whatever mage he'd be assigned to.

As was the case with the rest of the… Shinpaku Alliance? Was that the name? That was so stupid. And what's more, their self-appointed leader, Niijima, was watching Robert like an owl in winter. Constantly assessing if he was a threat or a usable asset. Robert simply gave him a swift glare to tell him to stop it unless he wanted to be blind.

Everyone else was close by, always cheering each other on with new techniques they learned here and their cheerfulness almost irritated the two newcomer leaders that these kids were going to fight a war. That cheerfulness would be gone soon enough after their first contact.

Robert spotted Ozzy on his right, looking concerned as they saw the kids practice together and have fun. Ozzy was military. Ozzy knew the real horrors of the rage of bloodshed and battle.

And he was on the side of those coming to kill all these kids.

Robert thought that Ozzy shouldn't be concerned about the enemy.

And then he noticed Sarah. "Problem?"

"I can't do it," she muttered. "I can't do… what they can."

"Neither can I, but that's the idea, that we will learn all this."

"While appearing that we can do all this with the notion that we're already experienced. That's the part I can't do."

"Ah." Robert sighed. "I suppose that would pose a problem."

"That's all you have to say? It would pose a problem? It is a problem, now. I'm gonna have to spend my time in the library and reading every book I can get access to," she said. Then she got up and headed back to the castle. "I'm going for self-study."

"Take care," Robert called after her and she waved back to let him know she heard.

There was a brief silence amidst the newcomers, but Robert could tell that Kevin was looking with some disappointment at the young boy named Kotaro Inugami. Robert went over to sit next to Kevin. "I see you staring, Kevin, what's the problem?"

"He's too extravagant."

"Sorry?"

"Too flashy," said Kevin with enough volume for the boy in question to hear. "His quick blows work, but he relies too much on proving to his opponent it's painstakingly obvious who is going to lose. In fact, it's so obvious, it is painful to watch." The fact that Kevin was speaking in a fully calm and deadpan voice made it even more insulting to Kotaro's ears.

"Excuse me?" Kotaro demanded. "What do you mean?"

"You don't follow through with your attacks," Kevin explained, "once you knock them away, you want to seep in the idea that you're unbeatable. You want to win but you want to make it so unbearably obvious. Who taught you that?"

"Wha- you!" Kotaro stammered and they were drawing a crowd from all the others. "And how about you!? You don't look all that strong yourself! What right do you have to criticize me?!"

Robert remembered that Kotaro was strong-headed and very self-confident. The boy was a boy, after all, thinking he could take on the entire world and come out on top and hasn't had many defeats to teach him humility. In fact, a defeat was an insult to him, not a lesson that he needed to improve.

"You say that as if personal, physical strength is the only criteria for a man to be strong," Kevin countered. "When as a matter of fact, from what I've seen-"

"Oh no, I am not falling for that again," Kotaro snapped and then Robert saw something he would remember for a long time.

Kevin blinked.

"You philosopher guys all go on about how strength doesn't matter. And that physical strength is the only one that matters. I admit, I'm a musclehead compared to you guys, but I know what I talk about. You can't criticize someone for being stupid while you don't have good grades yourself. Anyone can talk. What really matters, in times like these, is what you can do compared to the other guy. So unless you can back up your words with action, you don't get to speak how badly I perform."

Kevin didn't seem to respond as quickly and calmly as he used to. Which meant that he had been beaten. Robert had delivered something similar once to the man and this was pretty much the same reaction he had when verbally defeated. But Kotaro had made an error in his little speech there.

"...So what you are saying is that instead of just talking, I should show you what you are doing wrong?" Kevin asked.

Kotaro didn't answer immediately like he used to, which in Robert's view, meant that he was considering what to say. A substantial change from the cocksure boy he was last time he and Nodoka saw each other. Maybe he could grow into something with true potential one day. "Well, I did say you should back your words up with action, didn't I?"

Ooh, clever. Robert's respect had just marginally grown for him. But let's see what he can do against a war veteran with psionic powers.

Kevin got up and everyone else cleared off space. This seemed to happen regularly among them with certain tensions running high or if they were keen to show everyone what they could do. At least, from what Robert could tell, they were working together as a unit, so it made some sense as they would learn what was safe to use in the unit and what was not.

He caught his sister making their sign language. Now what, she asked.

Now we see how much we compare to them, he signaled back.

This place was amazing.

Nearly everything she saw, Ela found this place to be nothing short of magnificent. The bottle thing itself was one thing, the time dilation was next to impossible from what she could remember from her studies at Greenwood's and now, this huge library filled with books from all over the world of magic. No place back in Faerun had this many books. Not even the man who fancied to hold the greatest collection of books in Faerun or even Toril for that matter would hold a candle to this castle and its vast library.

Elacia Belmere-Wysiwyg was in heaven.

What's more, her reading glasses allowed her to read the local language. A friend of hers had introduced a magnifying glass enchanted to read any language it was held over. So that got her thinking: Why not a pair of glasses?

Everyone here seemed friendly as well. This was no place of xenophobia or warfare. It was a powerhouse of learning and acceptance. This place, Mahora Academy, was certainly a place she would be proud to call home someday. Assuming she would ever find it again. Only next time, she'd be herself, instead of hiding under an illusion.

If only Nodoka was here to see all this. She would be ecstatic, over-the-moons happy. That would be a sight to see. The top student of the century going all giddy over a great collection of books. How was her best friend doing, anyway? She hasn't heard from her for a long time. Three years now. Not one letter. Not any sign of her anywhere. Could she have been killed?

…

...no. Nodoka was too good in the Art to ever be killed randomly. She was out there somewhere. Ela was just sure she was busy with her studies, is all.

And now, all Ela had to focus on was reading this book, which was about… gravity-affinity based spells? That was a thing?

"Seems a bit too advanced for you."

That voice came from everywhere yet nowhere. It didn't have a given source and Ela was fairly certain that she wasn't hallucinating. She did close the book after a brief silence.

"Well, if what I heard was correct, you were second-best at your school back in Mundus Magicus… which school was it?"

There the voice was again and this time, it was a hard question. Ela admitted that they hadn't thought that far ahead with their cover story. "Um… why do you ask?" She asked instead while drawing out her blasting rod.

"I'm just curious. You don't look Japanese, which is a bonus for you, but at the same time, your customs don't sound European, either," the voice said. It was female for one and it sounded young. That suggested something which didn't seem pleasant to the young wizard in disguise. "I'm trying to guess here. Which school did you go to? Ostia? Megalomesembria? Ariadne? Phasus? Oxford? Ecbatana? Granicus?"

"I think one of those was out of place," Ela retorted.

"Ah, you're good. I like that. Now, you deduced that one of the places I mentioned is out of place. Can you guess which one?"

…

"What were the choices again?" Ela asked.

POW!

The blast from the shadows knocked her clean off her feet and made her lose her blasting rod. It was confirmed by the sound of wood clattering on the stone floor. She landed roughly and slid into an aisle covered in shadow. Ela had been prepared for unknown assailants in her line of work before, but this was different. This person was fast, talented, smart, and skilled in magic.

Which would suggest an Immortal most of the time.

...Crap.

"I had you figured for someone not from around. I was all over the lands once," the voice said. "You may not be from around, but the least you could have done was do a little homework on this matter before coming here."

"Not me!" Ela defended herself while articulating with her hand to try a spell to summon light. "The others, they did the homework, not me. I'm just a hired help they-"

"Sent to raid the library for knowledge?" the defender of the library retorted. "Wow."

"No! I came here myself! Not on their orders. Never on their orders," Ela told her, though she might just have been telling herself that.

Something flew into her head as she was finishing her spell and it flummoxed. It fizzled out before it could be finished properly. Great, someone or something with good timing.

"So… in short, you're just some nobody they picked up on a whim and you have an interest in knowing about other places and other kinds of magic and you have no ill intentions to us?"

…

"Yeah…?" Ela answered after a brief moment of hesitation. "...which, uh… kinda makes you the bad guy here. I mean I was just browsing the library and here you come-"

Something slammed into her hard, sending her flying out to the main aisle of the library. "Yeah, see, that's what I'm talking about. You can't just-"

"Can't just what? Do away with uninvited intruders in my home?"

"...I was going to say interrupt someone when they're trying to make a reasonable point."

"Your reasonable point is a bit mellowed by the fact that you're an uninvited guest hiding her real face and consorting with others to steal knowledge from my home."

Ela did not have an argument against that, but she didn't want to come with the Drow here anyway and they were the ones who wanted to steal knowledge, not her.

She had to stall for time. No doubt her opponent was thinking just the same thing that she had to stall. She looked around and found her blasting rod a small distance from her. "Look… I admit I may not be a guest. I might not be here with the best kind of companions, but I did come here with the simple and pure intention to obtain knowledge. But I am no thief, so… is there some sort of way that we can compromise on?"

The unknown person hummed. "Well, that did sound like something I could listen to." And they emerged.

Ela certainly wasn't expecting a little girl with hair going down to her ankles and wearing risque clothes with a lot of frills in black. She looked like a nobleman's daughter or she was just messing with her. There were some creatures out there that preyed on people like so. But all Ela had was just hypothetical and possibilities. This one could be completely different from them. She didn't know what this little girl was.

"Didn't expect me to look like this, did we?" The girl asked.

"Frankly, no," Ela replied. And then her illusion went away, revealing her real half-drow form. "What the-!?"

"Oh, so that's what you really look like. Kind of exotic." The girl looked her over a few times, then took her right hand. "You wanted a compromise? Here it is. You pay."

Ela blinked. "...What, simple as that? I pay you money to have a look?"

The girl smiled, baring a pair of fangs that weren't there before and Ela's mind snapped from one mental state to another almost instantaneously. "No."

The bite was on her forearm and Ela thought her world on fire just from it. She couldn't think of how this girl was a vampire. She couldn't think of what the hell forces of good were doing with a vampire like this. Nor could she think of how a vampire was able to walk about in daylight.

What she could think about was how much the vampire was going to take from her. She wanted to scream loudly, but a blade that came out of nowhere was on her throat and a tiny hand kept her mouth shut. Where the hell was the second assailant hiding all this time?

"Don't worry, Master doesn't kill anymore. This is just a nibble that most of the other kids who learn magic here pay." The voice was right by her ear and it sounded… wrong. Like it wasn't a human talking. It felt artificial, like a puppet or a doll. Wait… how could the other kids here learning magic pay this creature in their blood?

The vampire let go and Ela was quick to grasp her arm to try and cover the bite marks still leaking blood. "Oh, don't worry, just tell your employers that you had a rough time in the library. You won't die from that, and no, you won't be turned into a vampire by it, either. I don't do that vampire offspring crap."

Books started flying from the shelves and onto the vampire's held out hands and piled up into a set of twelve books. Which she then plopped down on Ela's chest. "Oof!"

"Study these, start with the top. That should give you the basics of our world's magic. Do you know Latin? That's another book, right here," and she added another book on top, "and I'll arrange for you to stay here after lunch to keep studying and practice. Just bear in mind that you'll age the longer you stay here. You need as much practice as you can for the time that you are here. And you're probably asking yourself why I'm so generous right now, it's because you're cute and I wanna throw a big wrench into whatever plan your employers are making. Imagine the surprise when they learn that the little scrawny kid they picked up along the way is suddenly the one most knowledgeable about magic from this place."

And with that, the vampire walked away, leaving Ela on the floor with a bleeding arm and a pile of books on her chest to study. But she did call out one last thing. "You know, I think Nodoka would have liked you. The two of you are quite like each other."

"Okay, thanks," Ela called back at her, while collecting her breath.

So… Ela had just run into a vampire. A daylight walking vampire. And the other kids learning magic here were paying her in their blood to study here and she wasn't keen on having an undead monster have he-

Ela raised herself up, sprawling the books on the floor. "How the hell did she know about Nodoka?"

Kimmuriel Oblodra has faced many opponents and he has crushed everyone in his way. How many exactly he never bothered to keep count. There were too many to recall every detail about them.

Yet for all of his centuries of combat and psionic training, he admitted to himself that this time, this battle was one to remember.

Granted, he could not utilize any lethal methods against the boy Kotaro. Kotaro was fast, faster than anyone else the drow psionicist had ever fought, and with speed came force, which meant that Kotaro hit harder than ogres or even giants. It was by speed of thought that Kimmuriel was able to block all of the boy's attacks. That was his saving grace, though it was pretty close at times. Kimmuriel had an itching feeling in the back of his head that Kotaro was holding back as well.

"How's that?" Kotaro asked, holding up his guard and staying on the defensive after a swift and brutal assault on the psionicist's defenses. "I took your advice and improved my assault."

"I noticed," Kimmuriel responded in his same calm tone. Everyone had gathered round to witness this bout. And most were cheering them on. And the fighters were cheering on Kotaro mostly, while the drow and their allies cheered on their man, Kevin. Kimmuriel noticed, though, that Negi Springfield and Gromph Baenre were on the sidewalks talking away like a storm. A quick telepathic peek told him that the two were discussing magic theory and ideas for improvements to the overall system. Heh, leave it to the Archmage to be focused on the actual task at hand.

And then Kotaro slammed into his shield again, and this time with a lot more force than expected, sending Kimmuriel flying back. Quick psionic boosts to his own body enabled the disguised drow back on his feet on landing. The attack had been faster than the other moves before.

"You forgot to mind your surroundings, Ji-san," Kotaro told him. "Guess you need to take your own advice."

Kimmuriel narrowed his eyes. "If that's how you want to play it…" Now, he decided to use his more serious creativity. He started with a bit of intimidation, which was using flashy energy to show he was being serious, along with his eyes glowing. "Then we shall play."

"Oooh, now we're talking." Kotaro grinned. No doubt he liked a strong opponent, so long as he won, that is. "LET'S SEE HOW YOU MEASURE UP!"

Kimmuriel held his ground right until the last second when Kotaro was committed into his attack, which seemed to be a simple kick right to the face, and then… he dodged, his telekinesis made him move faster than he would be able to, and then he forced his palm into the boy's stomach, slamming him into the ground. The impact caused shockwaves to form.

"Oof," Kotaro choked out and then he backflipped from the ground to his feet. "Okay, I guess you were holding-" And then Kimmuriel flicked his fingers. "ba-AAAAAAAACK!" Kotarou had been snared by Kimmuriel's telekinesis and was being sent flying like a ragdoll across the landscape, scraping himself against the hard rock. "OWOWOWOWOW! I FEEL LIKE WE'RE NOT ON THE SAME WAVELENGTH!"

Kimmuriel allowed himself some amusement from this. He brought the boy close to him so he could give an answer. "That's not inaccurate." And then he sent him flying high into the air, expecting him to figure out a landing by himself.

About four seconds later, the boy managed to stick the landing about ten feet away from Kimmuriel, amazingly. And he was covered in bruising and torn clothing. And he still had that Lolth-damned smile on his face. "Hey, ever heard of Updog?"

Oh, great, a bad one-liner before launching his attack and- yes, it was a giant hound summon. Kimmuriel didn't hesitate to strike it down with a lethal psychic blow. He could not kill the boy, but a summon was different. "Not much," he replied, "how about you?"

Only, Kotaro wasn't there. Then he heard him from behind. "First you kill my dog, then you anti my joke?"

Kimmuriel didn't hesitate to lash out, but he got blocked. Now he was in Kotaro's clutches and that smile/snarl was well earned this time. "Gotcha."

Kotaro didn't hesitate to lay into him. Each attack was swift and brutal in its aim and intent. Kotaro struck to hurt and break and yet not to kill, a combination that Kimmuriel noted only seasoned veterans of combat could pull off. Gromph should have mentioned that he was aware of what the boy could do.

But Kimmuriel had one last trick to play and the boy was falling right for it.

Roughly thirty seconds later after a relentless assault, Kotaro pulled back with the intent of sending a powerful blast attack at his opponent. Kimmuriel didn't allow himself a smile. In fact, though, he was curious to see what the young warrior could accomplish now.

Lightning Fang! Seriously, that was the name of his attack? Still, the blast was very potent. Perhaps enough to… no, the boy wouldn't go that far. He had a code, after all.

The blast was certainly effective, but against what Kimmuriel had planned, it was as effective as a lamb trying to kick away a lion. Still, the drow psionicist played along and dropped to his knees in the ensuing smoke.

He could hear Kotaro panting just a few feet away and getting closer to the smoke. Guess the boy was just as naive as the Springfield child, then. "See?" he heard Kotaro ask. "I told you you should back up your words with action."

Some small cheers and some negative comments from the other children around arose.

Then Kevin rose up again, looking completely unharmed from Kotaro's attack, and the noise stopped instantly. "And as I said, young man…" He started before Kotaro lashed at him, but Kimmuriel simply moved aside and managed to put a hand on the boy's chest.

That was when the trap had come full circle.

Kimmuriel didn't know what kind of psionic abilities were forming around here, but the ones in Faerun had many abilities. A rare skill that he mastered long ago, was the ability to absorb the kinetic energy of an enemy's strikes and attack laid against him or someone he personally shielded and then return it onto another person of their choosing. Kimmuriel had prided himself on this often lethal self-defense blow that he had used with frequency, but he did know that Kotaro was much harder than himself and so, given the severity of blows Kotaro had doled out, he would survive, given proper healing magic and time to recover.

The kinetic energy did its job on the boy and amazingly, he was still standing. But now he was covered in more than scrapes, bruises, and torn clothing. Those blows had drawn blood.

"...too flashy." Kimmuriel finished weakly, but there were no cheers, nor negative comments. No matter, he had won and Kotaro had lost. In an unfair fight, the effects would have been the same. Only one of them would have been drawing breath.

Kotaro fell to his knees and then fell over and that was when the girls covered him in concern. Even the Springfield boy looked concerned, but Kimmuriel could really care less. So long as he was alive and unharmed, anyone else really didn't matter as far as the psionicist was troubled.

And then Quenthel rose up, strode past him towards the boy, stopping only to slap Kevin on the cheek, hard. "That was for nearly killing the boy."

"Yet I did not," Kevin countered. The glare he received in turn made him back off from that argument. "Did I do too badly there?" He asked the archmage, who was looking on in disapproval.

"Not too badly, but you should exercise some restraint, Oblodra. It would only harm us if someone here were to die," the archmage replied in kind.

"You, telling me to restrain myself? Has that girl of yours made you go soft?"

"Question me again and I'll show you how soft I really am."

Still, at least the healer girls were learning their chosen talents now on the fallen man, with Melissa giving them pointers. Although how Melissa managed to hide her obvious source of magic and her heritage through the language she spoke was beyond the sharp mind of Kimmuriel Oblodra then and there.

Guess the children around here were more naive than perceived. That or they cared that much about Kotaro to be willing to overlook minor discrepancies as long as it was beneficial.

No matter.

It was approaching the end of the day, and that meant it was due time for supper and relaxation. This training regime was not all that bad.

Daniel and Sylvia had also entered the training sessions after Kevin and Kotaro's sparring match and they had been thoroughly trounced. Sylvia was specialized in ranged combat and especially with the bow, but she was unprepared for close quarters, and with many of the combatants capable of such high speeds and teleportation in certain cases (Sylvia refused to believe that they weren't teleporting, just using their feet) rendered her caught off-guard more than once in the sessions.

Daniel had a bit more luck but he was certainly an underdog against these young children who already showed strength beyond imagination. Boys weren't supposed to lift boulders at their age, yet here they were. Even the young Springfield was stronger than he was. Daniel was a bit more fortunate in combat sparring, if only for his big hammer. Then the young man named Kenichi trounced him in the most humiliating way. He may as well have been cloth to the boy's steel.

Ozzy had not partaken as he planned to do so tomorrow, along with Melissa and Robert. Sarah had been given leave by the vampire girl to keep on studying.

But the first order of business for them apparently was to get inducted in the paperwork and that meant meeting with someone who knew computers. Good thing too as the only one in their group who knew computers were Ozzy and he wasn't keen on showing them.

The girl they met was sitting at a desk with two chairs, typing away at a speed that seemed quite impressive. She wore glasses and had her hair in a simple ponytail and wore simple casual clothing as if she wasn't part of the whole magic business.

Which would have been more convincing if there weren't flying mice around her. It only confirmed her to be Chisame Hasegawa, the class's computer expert.

"Come on. We got a brief window before the baths, so who's first?" She asked.

"Me," said Melissa and she took a seat opposite the computer girl.

The questions were simple enough to answer. Just a survey, really, to be entered into their 'digital' system of documentation. Melissa's name, her skills, her gear, whether or not she had a Pactio with someone. The questions were direct and easily fooled. And the mice were quite helpful, performing minor administrative tasks around the two.

Finally, seeing a window, Melissa made a move. "So what is it like here?"

Chisame stopped typing for about five seconds. "It's fine, really. Fresh air, tropical climate, luxury service, the odd barbeque at sunset… but that's not really what you're asking, is it?"

"What?"

"I believe the actual question you have for me is… what is a girl like you doing here with all these people?"

The question caught Melissa off-guard for a brief second and she played with it. "I-I didn't m-mean…" but a glance at Chisame's deadpan glare at her wilted away a vocal defense. "...That obvious?"

"It's okay, I get it a lot," Chisame told her and adjusted her glasses a bit. "I like to think I'm only part of Ala Alba by association. But I'm not. I know that. I just don't like the whole fantasy trope thing. That I have to dress up fantasy-like like LARPers for roleplaying missions. I just run computers for us. That's what I do. The rest of us can type as well, but I got a knack for it."

Melissa gestured "fair enough" and went with another question. "So why do you stay with them when you could just be working from home?"

Chisame smiled. "I got bored. Staying indoors with an air-con and sipping chilled soda ain't exactly thrilling."

Melissa didn't know what an air-con was, but she didn't buy that excuse. "...You like that boy, don't you?" She didn't have to specify what she meant to get a reaction out of Chisame. "You can't deny it, I've seen him. He is quite cute for his age. Bit older than I expected, but given the amount of time he's spent here, it is quite obvious how he got so big. A lot of girls must be after him, aren't there?"

Chisame gritted her teeth, sniveled, and then resumed her typing. "You're talking nonsense. Besides, he's married now and his wife only lets us near him via the Lottery these days, which I do not take part in. Next," She called for someone else from the new arrivals.

Melissa got up but she only made a few steps before stepping back and leaning on the table towering over Chisame. "What do you mean, his wife?"

Chisame merely blinked, removed her glasses, and looked Melissa straight in the eye. "If you ever decide to go to Arcadia in the Magic World, a word of advice: Don't get drunk."

Melissa blinked and then stepped back and walked back over to her brother while Kevin passed her to take his seat opposite Chisame. "Apparently Springfield is married."

Robert merely looked at her with an expression that said, "I know it's been some time since Nodoka left the Earth, but how did that happen?"

Melissa merely shrugged.

"And you're sure he's gonna be okay?" Natsumi asked, yet again.

Ako sighed quietly and looked Natsumi in the eye. "For the fourth time, Natsumi, Kotaro-kun is going to be okay. He's winded and bruised, but he's been that before. He was just caught off-guard with that technique the other guy used. Now please, stop worrying and scrub my back, okay?"

"...okay," said the actress and started scrubbing.

After a hard day's work of training, be it physical, magical, or academic, the girls of Mahora Academy and the Shinpaku Alliance, along with Fate Averruncus' group of girls and mercenaries - whom he had brought along following their encounter with the aliens - were enjoying a communal bathtime. After all, spending time apart meant they only got to see one another during this time.

This was a mixed decision. Bad blood still flowed between the veterans of Ala Alba and Kosmo Entelecheia, and any merc that sided with them weren't to be fully trusted. Mercs were mercs in the end, working only for the highest bidder, and whatever contract suited them.

Here in the girls' baths, they had at least come to know Hannah, the precognitionist who worked with that vampire gunslinger and Laura, one of the two demon hunters Fate had brought with them. The two merc women were not as bad as they thought at first. Laura was a very good healer who spent her days teaching all the girls learning magic how to perform healing spells and a few first aid tricks she had learned over the years. Most of it was the basics, but Laura hammered on how invaluable it was to know first aid.

Hannah was not much of a teacher, on the other hand. She was more an abstract person, keeping somewhat to herself and pouring over books and tarot cards to find some kind of advantageous angle over the incoming aliens which was sure to come. She was friendly, though and while not the most socially active, she kept up appearances.

Lately though, Hannah had been having dreams lately. It was always in three: The first was of a bonfire and while warming, it was also painful to sit by it. The second was of a goblet made from gold and filled with rich smelling wine. But every time she drank the wine - for in the dream she could not stop herself - Hannah swore it tasted like blood.

The third was of an eclipse and shadows moving about in tents on the streets, followed by a blizzard. Hannah was not a crazy person, but precognition had never been considered the best choice of magic specializations to begin with. She simply had the fortune of having a natural knack for it.

The Ala Alba and the Shinpaku Alliance got to know each other, as well. Miu Furinji and Kisaki were good friends with Chachamaru over their love of kittens, because everyone's gotta love kittens. Freya, one of the Alliance main fighters and a staff expert, along with her squadron of Valkyries were enjoying their sessions with Ala Alba. in particular, Tatsumiya and Freya developed a mutual comradeship in combat. Back and forth, the two had exchanged weapon blows, Mana with her ranged combat skills and Freya with her quarterstaff.

Kenichi, on the other hand, was more popular over his policies of not liking violence. Which was a little awkward, because their training outpost had essentially become a military headquarters as long as the Commander-in-Chief was there, but hey, why let a little pacifism philosophy get in the way of good martial arts training? He was also somewhat good-looking, but Negi had gotten to the girls of 3-A long before he ever showed up.

The one they didn't get along with, most of the time, was Nijima. The self-proclaimed leader of the Shinpaku Alliance and strategist was not so interested in helping to secure the safety of the world because it was under threat as he was interested in helping to secure its safety because he wanted to dominate the world. Still, they would cross that bridge when they got there.

Nijima was, however, a very good strategist. More than once had he managed to beat several of the others in strategy games like Risk, chess, backgammon, etc. He had practiced since childhood at these games and he was an ardent student of the strategies and military leaders of old. The only two so far he hadn't beaten was the Commander, who literally had centuries of warfare and strategy behind him, and Evangeline, because nobody really beats Evangeline.

"So what do you think of the newcomers?" Someone amidst them asked the crowd of naked women and most went a bit quiet.

"I don't really know," said Madoka after a pause. "There's something off about them. Visitors come and go, I know that, but I got a gut feeling about these guys."

"Me, I like them. They have been quite polite and they are very good at what they do. Not many of those who come here have been this polite."

"I haven't made up my mind yet," said Yuuna. "I want to trust them, but we have been burned before and I'm not up for another disappointment, like with those guys from Parthia."

Then they saw the newcomers enter. The men had gone to their bath hall so these were just the women. And there were certainly differences between them.

Melissa was a tall, classic raven-haired beauty with unblemished ivory skin in a body form that spoke of a lifetime of fitness, exercise, and a rich diet. She had seemed among the least social among the newcomers which came from growing up privileged in an almost archaic society that prided itself on the hierarchy between nobles and commoners, one of the more flawed things with the society of the Magic World. Still, she was courteous and showed decent respect when the situation called for it.

By contrast, her niece Sarah wasn't a great beauty. She was average in height but maintained the body of what you would expect of a young girl staying indoors studying rather than someone exercising. Sarah did have a lovely skin tone, a soft white with her gold hair and her blue eyes made her look a lot like a princess from a fairy tale or a Disney film, but as far as measurements go, some of the others felt she was a bit wanting in that department.

And Sylbie had the body of the adventurer. Lithe, yet fit with scars to prove it. She wasn't overly muscular nor had the largest pair of the trio of female newcomers but she was carrying herself with grace. Every step she took was calculated and precise. She was also more social than the others and she was certainly not bashful nor arrogant. She was like them and she behaved much like them.

The three of them stood out a bit like a deer in headlights, but only Melissa seemed used to it being a public bath area. Calmly and gently, she walked up to Ayaka and took up a sponge.

"May I?" She asked before doing anything. Ayaka figured Melissa was aware she was being suspected, and seeing this as a way of gaining trust, she obliged by exposing her back to her.

"Go ahead."

Ayaka found Melissa's hands a lot more softer and gentle than first expected of her. Unlike the cold appearance of her, Melissa proved herself ample in washing someone's back and taking care of long hair. "You're very good, Melissa-san," Ayaka said while feeling the knuckles kneed her back dimples.

"Thank you," Melissa replied softly, "I was only ever able to control my daughter this way. She'd come home all muddy and hair covered with branches and gravel, and I could only impose myself over her like this."

"Sounds like a real pain," Ayaka commented. "What's her name?"

Melissa didn't answer straight away. Ayaka noted this, but she got her answer. "...Miranda. Sorry, it took me a while to remember her name."

Ayaka noted the delay, but she let it slide. "I see. And what of your niece there, who's standing there like a deer in the headlights?"

Melissa had a look at Sarah, who was approached by Kaede offering to wash her back as a friendly gesture, only to turn it down out of embarassment. "My younger brother was never one to settle at any one place, nor to love one single woman. Sarah was the result of a dalliance he had when younger and she came to us when her mother died. Jack took pity and called in a favor on this."

"And you didn't turn your back on family?"

"Who does that?" Melissa asked as if she had heard the most idiotic question ever. "Sarah may not be a proper girl nor a highly talented one, but she is family and I treat her accordingly."

Ayaka had to admit, that did sound very much believable. "I can tell from her behavior that you aren't doing the best of jobs there," she pointed out and Melissa stopped her washing for a brief second. "Sarah-san is all skittish, and you aren't there for her when she needs comfort. You treat her as family, but to what extent? She is a girl born out of wedlock with no mother and her father is no doubt irresponsible, hoisting her onto you while taking off himself. But you? You are the bedrock of her new life and you don't seem to do a good job of being a decent role model for her. You may have taken her in, given her clothes, and fed her, but that's not being a family caretaker. That's looking out for someone you want to get rid of as soon as possible." And Ayaka hadn't even turned around to look Melissa in the eye.

And then, for a brief second, if even that, she felt it. It wasn't active for very long, but she felt an urge to kill rising behind her. If she had turned around, chances were that she could have sworn she saw red glowing fires in place of eyes.

But then she felt the sponge and brush move again, and Melissa let out a sigh. "What I do with people living under my roof is up to me. As much as you raise concern for her, it's up to me." Then she rinsed Ayaka's back with water and stood up. "I'll go elsewhere now."

Ayaka thought then it was a good thing she had gone to the toilet prior to the bathroom. That urge to kill had been intense for its short duration and Melissa had impressive self-control. Still, maybe she had hit a little bit too close to home.

Again, Ela found herself embarrassed. It wasn't for the attention, it wasn't for her own looks - she had always believed herself to be a pretty girl (although she knew that that was biased) - but because of the openness here.

Admittedly, it was a bathhouse, but Ela had grown up a bit more conservatively. Her mother, a drow herself, had been labeled a term that didn't seem very friendly by their neighbors for her less-than-socially acceptable clothing, and as a result, had had to inflict certain standards to make her own daughter appear acceptable to the public.

Still, what can you do with family?

Ela couldn't help but notice also the bodies of all the naked girls here. While some were small, skinny, and petite, the majority of women in there were of the busty, well endowed, and curved variety that spoke of a rich diet, plenty of exercises, and the luxury of wealth to afford both. Ela could not help but be jealous. Her father had earned himself enough coin with which to feed his family in his younger days. But even so, there were lean times and it wasn't every week that he could get a chicken.

Some of them really stood out. In particular, the blonde girl whom the scary Matron had just talked to, a cheerful and energetic girl, black of hair, with breast the size of cantaloupe melons, and a dark-skinned beauty who had such striking eyes and even larger breasts than the previous one.

By contrast to them, Ela, or Sarah as they knew her, was just homely or maybe a bit plain. Her breasts were not large by many standards, her waist was a bit pudgy, thanks to a love for lemoncakes, and her hips weren't wide enough for childbirth (according to a matchmaker who lived in her hometown) and on top of that, she was half-drow. To be half-blooded meant… not belonging to either race. And being half-drow was worse for drow were the masters of the Underdark. They have inflicted so much pain on people, raiding the surface world for slaves, gold and for the pleasure of it.

Just her luck to be stuck serving a party of the most dangerous of the black skinned elves on an excursion to a place she did not belong in.

"Oh hi there," a new voice cut in. Ela turned around to see who it was… and she was mentally floored by this new and stunning beauty.

A tall, dark, and blonde goddess wrapped in a towel stood in front of her with breasts that outdid the others, and a figure that could only belong to a goddess or a demi-god. Slim waist, wide hips, and a face that could only belong to a member of royalty or high-ranked nobility. The tattoos she had only enhanced her breasts and by the gods of beauty, they were magnificent. And she had horns. Literal horns that were short and curved around her head, but only just let the hair come through. All in all, she was a goddess, she had to be, there was no other explanation for that.

"You must be one of the new arrivals," she said and bent over to let Ela have a closer look at those magnificent breasts. "Pleased to meet you. I am Theodora but you can call me Theo."

Ela almost forgot she was undercover for a moment before she recalled her false name was Sarah.

"Er, hi, my n-name is Sarah and I'd like to know your diet."

And she apparently forgot everything else to say.

Theo blinked at her. "My what?"

And then Ela's mind caught up with what was said. Before she could say anything else, she covered her mouth, gestured to this goddess that it was nothing, and then scampered off to someplace where Theodora could not hold her down for such blasphemy.

And then she was caught by someone. "Good grief, girl, what did you say to her?"

Mel- Quenthel.

Ela couldn't say a word to her. After a brief silence, Quenthel merely led her to a stool, made her sit down, and began scrubbing her gently. "Don't allow yourself to be caught in a bind like that. You're too obvious with your eyes."

Ela didn't say a word because she figured that anything she replied in kind, Quenthel would just shoot it down with her cold logic.

"Nothing wrong with liking women of voluptuous shapes and forms. I have always found males to be… inferior to our gender, myself."

What?

"When it comes to pleasures of the flesh, we women don't result in the tangle of unnecessary luggage of the interactions we get from men," Quenthel went on. "If you want to try your luck with one, maybe-"

"Auntie," Ela interrupted her, going with the 'upset niece route' of this conversation in case anyone was listening in on them. "You inadvertently spoke ill of my father." Then she looked at the matron with determined eyes. Or at least what she hoped to be determined. "You yourself have children, don't you? What would they say if they heard you say that their father was useless? My own dad may be a vagrant, and he's not around half the time… but if he was really useless, he wouldn't have bothered arranging for me to live with you."

Quenthel, as Melissa, looked a bit shocked at the response Ela had given, but that was just a facial expression. Her eyes told a different expression: Rage. A quiet and focused rage for being spoken back to as Ela had just. The young wizard was suddenly regretting her decision. But before Quenthel could say anything, hand-clapping caught their attention.

"Okay, everyone, gather round," Theodora called to all the girls in the bath, who came as rehearsed, save the newcomers. "You know what time it is."

"Yes!" A general cry was heard, but not one of admitting the announcement, but instead one of determined of what is to come.

"What's going on?" Ela asked as Sylbie came over to them with an equally confused expression.

"Don't know," Quenthel responded and then approached a slim, pink-haired girl. Ela had to stop and think for a moment about that. The girl had pink hair. Pink was an expensive color and she could just afford to have it dyed every day? Was she a noble who could afford that, or was it more readily accessible? "Excuse me, what is going on?"

"Ah, it's time for the Lottery," the girl explained. "We started holding a lottery over who gets to wash Negi-kun. Since Asuna isn't here, we leave it up to chance among us, though the winner from last time sits out."

"Why do you even have that?" Sylbie asked.

"It's a bit complicated, but we found it the fair way. Those tickets are in short supply and we learned from last time. Hehee, that was a bit sporadic," the girl explained.

"Listen, Makie was it?" Melissa stepped forward. "Is this really a thing we have to sign up for? Not what I had in mind in women's baths, if I'm honest."

"It's okay, it's harmless fun and it's bonding time for us with Negi-kun. By the way, I took the liberty of signing you all up for it so you'd feel more welcome."

"You did what?" All three of the newcomers echoed. And then they huddled together.

"What do we do now? Who is Negikun to begin with?" Ela asked in a panic. "I'm not ready to go bathing with a boy!"

"I think it was that red-haired boy Baenre was talking with earlier," Sylbie explained. "But to go bathing with him, while other boys are there?"

"Quiet, both of you," Melissa hissed. "We don't know for sure there are other boys present there when Springfield is there at the boy's baths. But in any case, we stand no chance to win, the variable is too large for that to happen. So we'll be fine."

"And here's our lucky lady for the evening," Theodora called out, holding up a paper slip with a name on it. "And the lady is… Melissa Lucaenus!"

Melissa couldn't have looked more confounded if her daughter had announced she was transsexual and was pregnant with a half-orc/ half-gold dwarf male. "What."

"...we stand no chance to win, was it?" Sylbie echoed at the matron.

Melissa couldn't afford a reply before she was loaded with bathing supplies by the others, who had smiles that did not reach their eyes, including the blonde girl she had been talking to, earlier.

"Melissa-san," she said with a tone that was dissonant from her expression. "Remember our talk and nothing will go wrong between us." Then he leaned in and gave her true colors away. "Right?"

Melissa did not show any hint of fear if she had any. "Just point me in the right direction, if I must do this."

That girl with cantaloupe breasts and short hair gave directions. "It's that way, fourth door on the left, then third on the right. Be sure to get a swimsuit before you get in."

"Thanks." With that, Melissa left.

For a moment, Ela felt a bit sorry for the boy Negikun Springfield. The boy did not know who had been chosen by the lottery to give him a wash and Quenthel was certainly not a gentle soul. If the two of them were alone, the drow might take the chance to devour the boy alive.

Then a hand landed on her shoulder and she jumped. "Eep!"

"Hey there, Sarah." Theodora had tracked her down and had a big smile on her face. "Sorry we couldn't talk proper earlier, you just went off like a hare chased by greyhounds."

"Uh… um…" Sarah just didn't know how to talk to this per- goddess. Why would the goddess be addressing her, to begin with?

"Oh. Oh! I see." Theodora started to pat her head in an attempt to calm her down. "I get it, you're scared. But it's okay. You can just be yourself around me. I don't mind."

Sarah blinked and stopped to consider her words. Maybe she wasn't as bad as she had expected. Maybe Ela could have a chance to let her hair down a bit. "Um… well, I was just surprised, is all, miss… Theo, was it? I don't get to speak to people a lot. Certainly not with… someone of your stature."

"I know, I know, it's not exactly a cakewalk being a princess," Theo explained and that explained a lot about her, according to Ela. "especially not when people make expectations about you, along with placing you on a pedestal and think you're some perfect big shot hero, only to turn their backs on you when you prove to be not that." Then she sighed. "But enough about that. Let's get cleaned up. And while we're at it, I can tell you about my diet."

Oh good, Ela thought, maybe now I can relax a bit about this situation.

Negi tended to bathe after the other guys, due to the girls' proposed system. They weren't really backing down from using it and the other boys may complain, they were up against real powerhouses there, even with Asuna-san and Setsuna-san not present.

Ku Fei-san was more than capable of handling them all at once and that ended that matter. So Negi now had to wait for a lady companion to help him bathe.

At least they ensured the winner would not be picked twice in a row. Last time it was Furinji Miu-san and she was more than content to treat him like a little brother. And she was a patient listener and friend.

Misa-san previously had been a bit more… enthusiastic. He'd rather not think about that. Why did she want to try all those things?

By contrast, Theodora was handling the girls like a nanny, and she didn't participate in the lottery, she merely drew their names from the ballot. In exchange, she claimed him for the bed as his bedmate. Ever since their honeymoon (and the things that happened there) in Spain, Theo had been a bit more positive in her relation to him.

She had been more restrictive of the girls, restraining them from trying to hog Negi to themselves and stopping their bickering amongst each other. She wasn't going to stop them from showing their affection, but she drew the lines at activities and responded well to being one of their leaders in what Master had called his "harem".

Thank god she wasn't in the mood for sex, either, despite the two of them being married.

Maybe that night in Marbella had been a mistake.

If Ayaka-san were to find out about that…

Negi allowed himself a small shudder at the thought. And what would Asuna-san say about it? Especially with Nodoka-san still-

Negi stopped that thought.

Nodoka-san…

Someone coming stopped his line of thought. So he turned to the new arrival. "Ah. Oh, you're with Lucaenus-san, yes?"

"Yes, he's my brother," she said and Negi just stopped to see she was in a rather risque pink & white bikini with tiger stripes. She had even done her raven black hair in a simple side plait and she had a sharp, striking figure that didn't seem like someone who had had children before. "You must be… what was it, Nigi?"

"Er, it's Negi, actually. Negi Springfield," He introduced himself and extended his hand for a shake. One she took with some hesitation.

"I'm Melissa and I won the Lottery this time around." For some reason, that smile didn't fully reach her eyes.

Maybe she wasn't as enthusiastic… as Misa-san was. Although, Negi didn't feel like taking chances there.

"Well then, shall we get going, Melissa-san?"

Moments later, the two of them were in a small bathroom not meant for a lot of people. The guys kept it simple, and that worked for Negi. And if Melissa had any uneasiness about being in a men's bathroom with a young boy, she didn't show it.

"Good grief, how can a boy acquire so much grime in so little time?" She asked while scrubbing him with a firm but gentle touch, which to him signaled that she knew how to wash children. "You really should start to take it easier, little Springfield."

"Yeah, everyone keeps telling me that," he replied.

"If they are all saying it, maybe one should listen," she said.

Negi changed his mind. Melissa-san seemed a very nice person after all. "Hmm, maybe."

"Maybe?" she echoed. "What do you mean, maybe? Is there a goal in your life you want to achieve?"

Well, he's always had a goal in life. It was no big secret he had to keep. "Well, yes. You know about my father, yes?"

"The one they call the Thousand Master? That guy? Isn't he dead?"

"No," he snapped before he could stop himself. "No. He's not dead. I know he's alive. There's proof of it." He was passionate about his father, that was true. But it took a while before he could speak up about it again. "I just… I want to find him. I want him to acknowledge me as a mage and I want him back in my life. That is my goal."

"Back's done," Melissa announced and rinsed off his back with water. And then she leaned in on him and pulled his back into herself. "Now hold still."

"Eh!?" Negi was completely caught off guard there. "Er, no, I can handle myself down there!"

"Oh please, I'm only washing. When you have children one day, you'll look back on this and know what to do."

"But- that's a bit far off-"

"With all those young ladies pining for you?" She countered. "Could it be that you prefer a different kind of intimacy?"

"NO!"

"Really? Turning all these beautiful women down does suggest something else."

"Well, I'm their teacher. I can't just get into a relationship with any of them. It's improper and illegal."

"They don't seem to mind."

"Their consent is irrelevant in the eyes of the law. I can't just have one of them as a girlfriend. Besides…" He stopped for a moment to find the words. "I can't really focus on that with the way things are right now."

Melissa stopped for a brief moment. And then she hit the bulls-eye. "There's another one you want to see, isn't there? You talk a lot about your father, and it's natural to want to not just equal your father or even overcome him, but… that really can't be all there in your life, is there? What about your mother?"

"No, it's not-" Negi realized that Melissa-san wasn't to let this go. Theodora did tell him that having someone listen to problems was a good way to feel better. "You see my drawers over there?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you go collect the cards in there, and pick out the ones you didn't see with everyone else today?"

Melissa didn't object, she simply silently went to get the things he asked. This gave Negi some time to wash himself up discreetly on the front. Even if she wanted to do a thorough job, he wasn't comfortable with a woman touching his...

Well, it was just uncomfortable.

"Here," she said, having come back. "These are those I didn't see earlier."

As expected. Asuna-san, Setsuna-san, Konoka-san, Yue-san, Haruna-san, Akira-san, Chizuru-san and… Nodoka-san.

"Are these away somewhere?"

"Well, yes," he confirmed for her and took the cards. "You see… someone came. Someone who had an interest in us. I don't know why he had an interest, but he came in with his troops and soldiers…"

"Did he take one of those girls from you?" She asked with concern. Negi didn't say anything. "You know what, I'm going to guess." She took the cards back and shuffled through them looking for someone. "Let's see… These two look like fighters, so, no. This one… probably not. That one seems… no."

She eventually held out the cards of Konoka-san, Nodoka-san, and Chizuru-san. "Was it one of these three?"

That was a scary premonition, that she was able to pin it down to just three girls and that she got it right with her choices. Negi didn't answer her straight away and she took that as a cue to continue.

"Now then… if I had to guess which one…" She plucked out a card and held it out. "Was it her?"

Konoka?

"No, it's not her," Negi answered. "It's the one with the books."

"Huh?" She took that out and read it. "Miyazaci Nodoca… wait, that guy came and took this girl from you?"

"Yes, he…" Negi struggled a bit to find the words. "I can't really say how much it did hurt. Nodoka-san was a close friend and she… I appreciated her. I was a bit glad that someone like her was around. I could relax a bit. My life has been a bit of a hassle, but… my students could help me calm down and focus on things other than my goal. So I had to look after that. My job as a teacher meant that I had to ensure they graduated well and my duty as a mage meant I had to protect them as well."

"Sounds like this girl was a big part of your duties as a teacher and mage and him taking her away was a personal offense to you and her absence represents just how much you need to get better as a mage as well in addition to how much more empty your life is without her in it."

Negi was floored by that. He honestly didn't have a response to that beyond "That… that sounds quite right."

Melissa finally rinsed him off and put him in the water. "You know, I might be reading into this a bit, but it sounds like you like this cute girl."

"Eh!?"

And now she was teasing again. "What makes you say that?!"

"I say that on the grounds you said you were glad she was around," Melissa countered. "Subconsciously, I believe you are looking at the girls, as girls, not just as your students. They're more than that, aren't they? They're friends, allies, companions, and whatnot. If you were just seeing yourself as their teacher, you would not have formed Pactios with the whole class, now would you?"

"AH!"

"And then there's the matter of how you 'appreciate' Nodoka-chan, don't you?" She continued. "Do you really presume that should you get her back to your side after everything that's happened to get her back, you could just return to being a teacher and student?"

"Erk!"

"If you want my opinion, that would just be cruel to a girl who might just be looking at you from a perspective beyond what you consider and then some once she's rescued."

Bulls-eye!

Melissa rose up and turned to leave, but not before giving Negi one last piece of information.

"Negi-kun, when the time comes, I want you to think on what you can do, and what you can't do. You could for instance, turn her down, let her know that as her teacher you are unable to commit to a relationship with her. But you can't really expect things to stay the same after that, now can you?

"She could, of course, accept being dumped by the young man who's saved her and made her life so exciting and thrilling. But how would you know for sure if she could really be happy with that decision?"

"Ah," was all Negi could say in reply.

"So… I guess what I'm saying, can you really go back to the way things are between you two, or can you not?"

With that she left. And Negi would certainly have a hard time coming to a decision just like that.

Finally, nightfall.

Gromph Baenre could finally shed his hidden form and by the gods, it had been an exhausting day in the castle.

His sister had been complaining that she had never been as self-aware of what she had to say to the Springfield boy as she had been her entire life before. By adopting a persona as "Melissa", she had had to be careful with what she said and use her words in a manner she found utterly horrid.

How do the Good people do that shit?

Gromph was pleased to have been academical enough to reach an understanding with the boy, but he wasn't on the same level as him with his own local style of the magic powers. He needed a time stop to last for years.

And he had just that available.

Getting to know Springfield served a double purpose. Every wizard learning to scry knew that to scry on an individual, all you had to do was establish a connection with that person. Be it an item of their possession, a part of their body… or having met them in person.

In theory, Gromph could have used his apprentice's Pactio Card to find him, and he had previously in order to open a gate to Mahora, but this was for something else. He was planning something else in mind.

Scanning the bedrooms quickly revealed Springfield sleeping in a room separated from the others. They seemed to be gender separated, but if someone was going over to another's room to fool around, he wasn't going to tell everyone. Their problem, not his.

He entered Springfield's bedroom… and found him sleeping with his wife. That Theodora woman was embracing him as they slept, with a grin and the boy seemed… not like the smart genius he had found, but just a young child sleeping next to his big sister.

Just a reminder that the boy was still… just a boy.

But no time for that. Gromph came here with a specific task in mind. He was going to learn from Springfield.

A hand on his shoulder stopped him briefly. He turned to see his sister, also out of her disguise, staring at him with a disgruntled look. He rolled his eyes and gestured for her to stand beside him.

Fine. Guess he would not gain the upper hand over her this time either.

He cast the same spell he had cast on Nodoka days prior to the expedition…

… and they saw it all. The two siblings watched as Negi was born, what happened to his mother, where he was taken in after that, where he grew up…

Where he met his father…

When he enrolled in the Magic Academy…

And here is where Gromph began his real training. He had imitated young Springfield as he had been growing up alone in the village, but at the Academy, he attended the lessons like a proper student of the school.

He dedicated himself to learning the language of the Art, acquired his affinity in the elements, and practiced hard on the others so as to become a proper master. Quenthel was there alongside him, learning the basics of combat magic and then harnessing the power of healing magic and summoning as she stated she was trained in to that Commander-in-Chief.

They had both come prepared for this.

Still, it felt a bit embarrassing to be behaving like novices at their ages. But patience, they say, is a virtue of high caliber. And they didn't become who they were by being hasty.

When Negi had reached Mahora academy, the drow were already well versed in his craft of magic and spent much of their time in his life honing their own.

By the time Kyoto was over, they were already making mental notes of the use of delaying spells and the usage of paper talismans.

By the time they reached Ostia, Gromph and Quenthel had in their time become masters of their craft, having practiced against each other and creating dummies to use for target practice. Gromph had only bothered with the basic healing magic, while Quenthel had ignored the long-range war spells.

And they remembered it all. From the beginner's practice spells to the advanced spells of the masters of the Art.

By the time they exited the spell, they had spent the better part of nearly eleven years in young Springfield's head, having memorized the craft in mere seconds.

Theodora stirred in her sleep and by the time she woke to check the noise, there was no one there, so she went back to sleep.

The siblings went to the great library of the castle, in their disguises, collected the books they needed to get started with what they had, headed off to the small outcrop tower and began something they needed to do in order to fool everyone.

Gromph was focusing his mind on ensuring this victory not just for House Baenre, but also for his apprentice. Nodoka was going to need much of this in order to stand a chance against the real mages out there.

It was only… logical that he made sure she got a good education from him. Besides, he didn't want his hometown to be destroyed for fouling it up.

The next morning in the castle, breakfast had been a bit hectic. Gromph and Quenthel could watch in amusement how their 'niece' Sarah was given an interesting plate of food provided by Theodora and getting swamped by the other apprentice girls learning magic there at the same time.

Springfield meanwhile was swarmed by the girls who were considered "the top girls for Negi's affections", including the blonde class representative that were presenting an elaborate feast for him to gorge on. Quite a lot for a ten year old boy to feast on.

Next to him sat a little blonde girl who was silently watching him with a smile while not eating. A small bundle wrapped in cloth was next to her. Who was that, Quenthel wondered. She wasn't part of the boy's original suitors.

The guys were viewing him with a small hint of envy of being surrounded by pretty girls. At least that Shirahama man had a well built woman who was chatting with him willingly.

Some of the men did try to make moves at the women, but most were turned down because they 'weren't Negi-kun'. That just made the men even more envious of the boy. What was his secret?

"Shouldn't you try and stop all that, mrs Springfield?" Melissa finally asked Theodora.

"I can only put my foot down so often," the princess replied. "They want to get closer, I can't stop them. You'd be better off trying to stop an avalanche in action."

"Negi-kun!" Makie cried with food in a pair of chopsticks for the boy. "Try some of this! Just made it!"

"No, no, try this, Negi-kun!"

"Negi-sensei!" Ayaka cried. "Please make your selection from my prepared feast for you!"

"Guys, I can't eat all this! It's generous, but it's a bit too much, I'm afraid!" Negi tried - in vain - to convey to the girls, but they insisted. Or they didn't listen.

"Good grief. He's supposed to be their teacher yet he can't get them to listen to what he says?" Kevin asked, looking on. "It's like watching a beginner trying to get veterans to follow orders."

"Now now," said Aristodemus. "They all respect and love him. He's just putting up with their personal antics. Helps that he's very precocious and loving for his age."

"I could tell." Gromph was a bit glad that his apprentice was one of the calmer ones in Springfield's class. She may not have been aggressive like them, but Nodoka was one of those closest to the boy, after all.

With breakfast done, it was almost time to leave the castle. Sarah got permission to stay behind from Eva herself so she couldn't be removed otherwise.

"Alright guys," Aristodemus called, "since we're about to get ready to leave for now, does anyone want to put in one last spar?"

This was it. This was Gromph's chance to test for himself the quality of his newfound power.

"Yes, I'd like to have a go." His announcement caught the others off-guard. "Master Springfield, would you care for a quick spar before we go about our business?"

Negi blinked once before smiling. "Of course, Master Lucaenus. I don't mind."

Gromph knew he was going to lose. He knew what Springfield was capable of. Even at the age of ten, the boy was far more powerful than the drow archmage who's had eight centuries of a vicious and bloody rise to power was. He didn't just call the boy Master because of his genius intellect, but also for the fact he had earned it through intense combat.

Even so, if he was going to lose, Gromph was silently getting excited. A spar, even non-lethal, against an opponent superior to his own power, stirred him up with a desire to prove his own superiority. He had little chance of winning outside an actual battle, but he was keen on testing his mettle.

The two wizards faced each other on the great terrace outside the castle and saluted each other; Negi with his Kenpo bow and Robert with his staff. Of course, outside the bow, Negi gestured for Robert to start the first attack. A chance the elder mage was going to take.

"BEGIN!"

"Tel'lida inorum tel'quiet!"

Well, at least he hadn't embarrassed himself.

How in the nine circles of Hell…?!

Robert Lucaenus had lasted a total of three minutes. Any mage would be pleased with that - having gone up against the son of the Thousand Master - but Robert had wanted more. He wanted to win, he wanted to establish his dominance as a wizard over the young boy. And he had fired off many new spells he had learned through his intense study and practice of the magic language and his chosen affinity. After that, it came naturally to him.

And then Negi had begun his counter attack.

The elder wizard wasn't aware of Negi pulling off a shundo until it was too late.

It went downhill from there.

"Geez, brother," he heard Melissa scold him, "you really don't know when to forfeit, do you?"

He could only groan from his prone form lying on the floor, in so much agony he could barely move.

"Every time you see someone skilled, you just have to try your luck. If you were anything like Jack, I'd have thrown you out the house years ago."

"I'm… the elder… between us…" he moaned out.

"Doesn't make you the one capable of looking after the house, now does it?"

"Are… you okay, Mr. Lucaenus?" Ako Izumi asked him, ready with her wand to heal him just in case.

"My pride needs salvaging, but beyond that, just slightly bruised," He replied. Melissa put a hand on him and flowed her healing magic into him.

"I keep saying that you need to be humble but every time, you ignore me."

He could hear someone clicking their tongue. "Well, if that's out of the way now, we can go about our business," the Commander-in-Chief said. "We'll pick this up later. Now, Negi-kun, I think you had a meeting today, was it, with… Alicia?"

"That's right, Daddy-"

Daddy!?

"Negi-san and I are going out for the afternoon. Just a simple picnic somewhere secluded. That's why we skipped breakfast just now," the little blonde girl from before explained while grabbing on to Springfield's arm, much to the shock of the other girls surrounding them, most of all Ayaka.

"Wait, that's why-?" Yuuna Akashi asked with a confounded look on her face. Many of the other girls were - shall we say - less than happy about that showing on their faces.

"Testa…rossa-san…" Ayaka was heard muttering with gritted teeth before grabbing the young blonde shoulders and staring into her eyes with… what was it, admiration, hatred, or just straight up jealousy? "You will not do anything untoward to our Negi-sensei, you hear me?!"

"Eh? Untoward?" Alicia asked. "What do you mean?"

"Chance!" Makie cried out. "Negi-kun, if something happens, blow on this!" It was a small whistle that was probably designed with the idea to signal potential… sexual assault. And the other girls who were enthusiastic about being close to Springfield were encouraging that.

"You blow it, Kaede will be there in a jiffy and-"

"HOLD IT!"

Everyone turned to see Theodora with a most unamused expression at everyone's actions. Her tattoos were on full display and her hair was bristling.

"We're addressing a pair of underage children that are going on a simple picnic at the park. There will be lunch, snacks, walking and talking, maybe sight-seeing. They are not a pair of hormonal-crazed teenagers keen to go smoochily-pooping at every opportunity presented to them."

Smoochily-pooping? What's wrong with just calling it sex?

"And you girls are going to stand back, let them be, and enjoy your own time rather than breaking our mutual agreement about not making moves while everyone interested in Negi is not present here. Is that clear?" That last part was not a question so much as it was a threat.

"Yes, ma'am!" The girls saluted the princess who lightened up.

"Good. So no handing Negi any rape whistles or keeping watch from the shadows."

"Is that what this is?!" Negi asked loudly, holding up the whistle in question. A girl with freckles removed the object in question.

Finally, Quenthel muttered under her breath. "Lolth's web, this is a train wreck to watch. How does he really do it, keeping those girls in line?"

"Hm, you say something?" The girl, Furinji Miu asked.

"No, it was nothing." Quenthel had doubts she would be dropping it, but it was enough for the moment.

"Okay, everyone," Theodora called again. "Time to drop it and let's go on break. See you back here." Everyone began heading back to the exit of this resort (save Sarah, who was staying behind in the resort), and then Theodora approached. "Negi, how do you feel today?"

"Oh, just fine, Theo," Negi replied. "Been having a good time."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"So, I can trust you to stay alone in the dorm room for tonight or should I ask Ayaka and Natsumi to accommodate you?"

"I'll be fine, Theo. No need to ask them. But, alone?"

"Yeah, I got a meeting to attend tonight," Theo explained. "People from Argentina are having doubts and they want some reassurance. I gotta get over there to put out fires."

The two children looked at each other before giving her each a thumbs up. "Theo, if you need help again, we're a phone call away."

"We'll look after you," Alicia confirmed.

Theodora smiled then patted them both on their heads. "Thanks. But I think I can handle a few pervy men drooling over me by myself. You two just enjoy yourselves, okay?"

The two drow in disguise trailed behind the two kids. "I intend to follow," said Gromph quietly, getting back up on his own feet. "You?"

"I was asked to accompany the girls for some clothes shopping at the baths," replied Quenthel. "A good opportunity to acquire more items. Might pick something up for Miyazaki. I'll just tell them it's for my daughter."

"She's fond of books."

"She needs more."

Quenthel took off by herself after them and then exited the castle with the two kids in tow. Gromph stayed behind a bit before heading to the castle one last time. He needed to see to something before he followed Springfield.

He went to visit Wysiwyg in the library. The little half-drow had been allowed access to the library after hours, which meant she had been impressing the owner of this place; the vampire Evangeline.

Gromph had never really seen the extent of her power and he was the most powerful mage in Faerun so he had nothing to fear from her. Springfield was the more impressive one between the two. Still, she did inspire a great deal of fear in the other mages of this world for some reason. And as the master of this resort, she did have a large power reserve…

Maybe he should not dismiss her abilities, after all…

He entered the library soon after. Wysiwyg was in here som-

Crick!

Something under his foot.

Root vines sprung up from the floor, ensnaring him fully, meaning his defenses were fully down. He was exposed. No preparation could be done.

"I'm not stupid," said Wysiwyg, coming out from around the corner, her illusion undone and she had an angry expression. "I may only be the 2nd highest graduate from Greenwood's of my year, but Greenwood's Academy is the best university to attend if you want to be a great wizard, and both me and my roommate had the highest grading scores of a century. And we spent hours together working on notes. On top of that, I was proclaimed the best Universal class.

"So take that in mind when I say that I know my way with spells and I got you at my mercy," she boasted.

He said nothing in response. That would be stooping to her level. She was merely enforcing herself to go through with whatever she was going to say.

"I got permission to stay here because the vampire found out about us already-" He mentally sighed, that was a stupid thing to let him know if she wanted to be his enemy, "- but also because she doesn't believe you are up to any good."

He closed his eyes, to indicate she was being stupid now.

"What's more, I couldn't help but notice that certain books around here are missing. Books that I haven't borrowed. Books that you didn't borrow." That caught his attention. "I can't read much here since I don't really know the language, but I can tell that this is more than a simple expedition. So I want to know one thing from you, Gromph Baenre;

"What are you really here for?"

He found this to be just a child inquiring about something insignificant. It didn't matter what he said, she wouldn't listen to his reason. She would get no answer from him.

Save one.

He sighed and the roots began to wither and die, freeing him in the process. This caught Wysiwyg off guard and, as expected, had shifted the balance of power to his favor. But he wouldn't stoop to her level with simply blasting her. No, she was in terror of standing before the strongest mage of Faerun, despite what that accursed Khelben Blackstaff might say.

He simply said "Power," and then he left the apprentice to go see what the boy was up to.

Following the two children

The simple use of a crystal ball small enough to fit in his pocket allowed the drow archmage to find Springfield with ease. And an intense review of Nodoka's memories allowed him to pinpoint the park where they'd be going for their picnic.

While still within the Academy grounds, the park in question was secluded from the Girls Academy area, but within walking distance of the elementary grade school, a different section from the middle-school building. A sensible place, though somewhat predictable for a little girl to select for an outing.

Gromph had to take care not to be spotted by others. Normally, an invisibility spell would suffice, but he couldn't afford to use his world's magic in the event someone might spot him. And all it would take would be just one person to spread the word. The mobile phone was a dangerous item in the hands of the common civilian and virtually everyone was using them here.

He had to be more careful than normal. Especially in dense foliage where he couldn't see anyone around him and not so close to the vampire's cabin.

It was a bit hard to believe it had only been an hour outside the resort. To see it was one thing, but to actually experience it… his mind was already swirling with how to make his own for research and hidden secrets stored away. The theme would have to be different from what McDowell had, of course. He couldn't stand the sun any more than what was absolutely necessary.

...hold on.

If time was of the essence, why didn't he just-

No. He couldn't afford to do that. It would be in an emergency only to teleport. He had a limited amount of his own spells to use and he couldn't simply waste those on something as frivolous as this.

No… he would just have to go on foot.

But he could do something about that. He had a simple spell for it, even Nodoka knew this one. And she had used it for when she was late to her lessons. And on occasion, for running away from Quenthel's temper.

And it wouldn't be a waste now.

He simply spoke the word he prepared for it, and now his speed was doubled. He should be able to catch up to the two children in no time, now.

Unfortunately for him, someone did watch. Someone, who had just gained a new interest in what was going on…

He caught sight of the two on the main street heading for the park. Young Alicia was already holding hands with Springfield and had a smile on her face. Negi looked a bit uncomfortable, but he was holding it together. Probably due to his self-proclaimed status as an 'English gentleman'.

He really should look at his women like a proper man should. With his gentlemanly ways, that boy would be celibate until the end of his days. Live a little, would you?

Then again, he was only ten. Ten years old, and he had achieved more with girls than males twice his age and had practically saved the world from destruction at the hands of that Averruncus golem. By comparison, Gromph was a little busy being plagued by his wretched mother to do chores and run from being tormented and/or experimented by his elder sisters when he was ten.

He sure took his revenge once he graduated from Sorcere before he left for the adventurer's life.

Hm?

He saw someone else tailing the children. A tall young blonde woman in black and a white hat on top. If his memories from Springfield's memories were right, that was the Goodman woman, the one who summoned shadow minions. And the one who was turned naked a lot from her many incidents with Springfield. She should be with her disciple Sakura Mei, shouldn't she?

Why would she-

He just noticed a little girl with brown hair further up ahead, also watching Springfield and Testarossa.

Now who was that?

How did she do it?

Nanoha Takamachi just had to wonder.

Alicia-chan, the new girl who was always so quiet, gentle and shy in class, was able to land a date with Negi-sensei? There they were, walking to the park, holding hands.

Sure, that was what most girls in school wanted to do - and in fact, by the time Nanoha got into middle-school, she and Negi-sensei would be of the same age so he'd be perfect to ask out if she ever got around to it, or if she needed practice - but somehow, Alicia-chan managed to pull it off, without having been an attendant at Mahora for so long. Just… how?

Was it an English thing? Did Negi-sensei just like English girls in general? Or was it the blonde hair? Wait - no no no no no no, don't think like that. That is bad thinking. Don't judge someone just for their homeland, or physical appearance.

Nanoha had to chastise herself. Papa taught her not to think mean of others. Their way was to leave the old thinking behind and embrace the ways of liking the outside world. Otherwise, Japan will be seen as a backwater. Whatever that was.

Though she had to admit… she was getting jealous of Alicia-chan. She too wanted to go on a date with Negi-sensei. It was okay. She could be jealous. Lots of girls have a crush on the Child Teacher. It was no sin about that. Thing is, Sensei was a gentleman, so he would have to have just one girlfriend and not go out with a lot of girls.

And what if it wasn't one of them? Dangit, it just stinked. Could he at least try to let other girls have a go at him? Girls need to be happy too, you know.

Alicia-chan looked back and Nanoha had to hide. Even if she wanted to follow, she didn't want to be seen. Her dad taught her neat ninja skills from his old job and she loved being a ninja, so she kept it up. Hiding skills was the best. Although whenever she played those arcade games, she always liked being a sniper.

Anyway, Alicia-chan seemed to move on rather than focus on her now. That was good. She didn't want to come off all-

"What are you doing?"

"Hii!"

Nanoha turned around to see who it was, and got a finger on her mouth to be kept quiet. It was a senpai, from the St. Ursula High School. And, she was blonde too. Oh no, please no…

"Please be quiet so they don't hear us," the senpai told her. She didn't seem upset, or concerned that Nanoha had been stalking- tailing? Following. That Nanoha had been following Negi-sensei and Alicia-chan. She had more of a… curious and indifferent look on her face. Like she wasn't in a place to-

Nanoha had to stop herself there. This senpai was following Negi-sensei, too? Well, he was a teacher at school, but he wasn't at St. Ursula's, he was at the middle school. Wait, didn't she look familiar? Wasn't she the one at the Mahora Festival Martial Arts Tournament? The one who wound up naked twice there?

"Um…," she 'um-ed'. "Takane… Goodman-senpai?"

"Hm? Oh you know me?"

"I… kinda watched the tournament streams…" She said, and Takane-senpai instantly became annoyed.

"Uuuuurgh, look, why are you following Negi-sensei? Shouldn't you focus on your lunch break with your classmates?"

"Well, I am, technically," Nanoha defended herself and Takane-senpai stared at her. "No, really, I'm classmate to Alicia Testarossa-chan and she's over there with Negi-sensei. I'm just curious how she managed to get together with him."

"Is that so…"

"It is, senpai!"

Takane eyed her for so long, Nanoha thought she would lose track of Negi-sensei and Alicia-chan. "Well, okay. You're just looking out for a classmate. I'll accept that, for now."

"Speaking of which, why are you her- wait!" Nanoha turned to see if she had- she had lost sight of them. "Ah, we lost them!"

"What do you mean, we?" Takane-senpai asked, though Nanoha did notice a blush on her face. "Wh- where did they go?"

"It's okay, I know where they're headed," said Nanoha. "Come on, we can still catch them there." She began running for the park in question. She had done her homework on this. Plus, the park was a popular place for elementary students to hang out.

"Wha-" Takane followed suit. "What do you mean, we? You're just looking out for a classmate, right?"

"So why are you following me then, senpai?"

"Now you're being disrespectful!"

...

...is there any girl in this wretched academy city-state that doesn't like that boy?

Seriously, at this point, Gromph was seriously considered culling the number just to spite that boy's incredible charisma. It was getting ridiculous.

He was certain Nodoka wouldn't mind. If anything, it would make the competition a bit scarce for her.

Wait, what? Why did he think of her like that?

That girl better not have made him soft, as Kimmuriel said. He had a reputation to uphold. And his city to protect. That was his primary reason for doing this. Menzoberranzan could not be destroyed by outlanders and rival wizards to their might.

He had a home to protect. Unlike some vagrant who's lost their home and doesn't have anyone else to look after them and needs the goodwill of others to survive or even eat.

Then again, the fact that he had neglected her training had been what led to this predicament where he had to observe a ten year old boy in the first place.

Gromph wasn't ashamed. He was just… annoyed at the fact.

Okay, best catch up to them at the park.

It didn't take that long, not with his speed enhancement. The park had a few attendants, mostly children who were using their free time to play and a couple of college students who were enjoying the fresh air. Some high school students were present and he couldn't be bothered to see what they were doing. He was focused on one pair in particular.

Negi and Alicia were sitting down on a rug laid out on the grass, with a basket Alicia had brought along. It was only now he saw that she had bandages around her fingers and how she smiled when Negi tried a sandwich she had made and liked it.

Hard to believe she was piloting a giant combat suit shaped like a giant in full plate. Gromph was quite shocked when he saw that thing in Negi's memories. Also, that it was a little girl piloting it. Quenthel had approved and wanted something similar.

Maybe if he hollowed out a Shield Guardian…

They seemed to have a good conversation about something. He couldn't make it out. If he tried to scry to have a closer look, he might get caught, and he'd be seen if he got any closer. That boy did have some good instincts about himself. Even his own potent elf ears couldn't make out what they were saying, but they were clearly having a good time.

Springfield prided himself on being a 'gentleman'. What nonsense. He was certainly adhering to the human notions of 'chivalry' and 'kindness'. Gromph had to say that he was adhering too much. A boy his age should not be so focused on chivalry or being a gentleman. From a drow perspective, he was well enough on his way to be a most desirable mate for females and a wizard to have in one's service, with almost no political agenda of his own and enough power to conquer cities on his own.

But from a human perspective…

It was around the time that the Alicia girl put her head in his lap that Goodman woman and the Nanoha girl turned up. Goodman looked unhappy over that he was indulging free time with a student while Nanoha looked mollified and jealous that Alicia had her head in his lap. And she wouldn't get up, like a stubborn child. Negi looked shocked that the two had come over and asked why, which seemed his obvious move.

And all that imagery of him being a great warrior and master wizard flew out the window as the whole conversation went out of his control. I guess you can't beat your own age, after all.

It was then that he felt a surge of magic emanating from the park. And it was focused under the picnic rug.

The grass turned black around them at first. Then the shadows grew vines that sprung up and ensnared them.

Someone screamed. They'd been seen by someone. Gromph could only watch as Negi, Alicia, Goodman and Nanoha were trapped by the black vines and sucked into the ground. Negi tried his best to break free, but every time he got an arm loose, more vines were in place to entrap him further.

He didn't know when he moved. He had sprung out of his hiding place and ran straight for the quartet. A long scarf was available, he snatched it as he ran. Imbuing it with his own magic, he lashed it off to them, hoping someone would take it.

Goodman saw him and it and tried her best to catch his make-shift rope. But the vines just grabbed hold of her arm, pulling it away. With both her arms ensnared, she tried to lunge for the scarf with her teeth, but the snares were too strong.

A vine lashed out at Gromph and he had to step back. When he did and consequently fell over because the weight shift was too fast, the quartet of trapped kids were pulled further into the ground until they were completely gone from view. And the grass turned back to normal.

The whole thing had been witnessed by onlookers. The college students had their 'mobile phones' out, having taken pictures and someone could have recorded the whole thing. Gromph knew magic had to be a secret on this planet, yet here someone had just blatantly violated it. He hoped his own actions hadn't exposed him. Not for the sake of maintaining the secret of course, but because he needed to stay hidden as a 'human' for the sake of the mission.

"Hey, are you alright?" a young college woman asked him, giving him a helping hand.

"I'm fine," he responded and accepted it, getting pulled up.

"That was a brave thing you just did," she said with a small blush on her face. "But… what exactly just happened?"

"I'm not sure just how it happened," he replied cryptically, but he did know what had just happened.

He had just witnessed a kidnapping, in broad daylight.

How is Asuna doing on her end?

Holy crap, their formation was holding, and they were kicking butt!

Asuna had stopped using her shotgun and used her sword to an effect she wasn't aware she could pull off. The enemies moved so slow to her that it felt like time was at a standstill. They were virtually no threat to her. Saber-san was a brilliant tactician.

Their formation allowed them to play to their strengths.

At the front, Saber was bearing the brunt of their assault and cutting a path up to the top. Her speed was blinding, her blade soaked in blood and her armor was barely scratched. And her own psionic powers of her Githyanki legacy were top-notch.

Not that she had anyone else to compare it to, anyway.

Shakuras at the rear was a real team member, using his own keen senses to spot unseen enemies and ambushes, along with using his own psi-blades to slash anyone coming too close. His own psychic powers were more honed to aid his own combat skills, but that was impressive, too.

"Come taste my blade!"

Minsc was a berserker, smiling wildly as he hacked the foes apart and sometimes choking them with his bare hands. His sentient blade relished the chance of cutting apart foes, regardless of their composition, and Minsc was content. Asuna noted he was standing close to Aerie when he could. He was looking out for his mage like a proper Minister Magi would do for their Master. Maybe Asuna should show them how to do the Pactio when this is over.

Speaking of Aerie, the elf wizard was very accurate with her dart that came back to her when thrown. That thing was a little cheat item, but that's magic for you. As for her magic, she was very strategic with it. Yet powerful at the same time. She cast a total of four spells that Asuna couldn't get a word out of the language used, but the effects were there. They were faster than before, without the use of a Pactio, and with mere glimpses, Asuna's reflexes and reactions to the enemies were significantly faster than before. And then there was a poison gas cloud that emitted around them that made these 'Tyranids' move sluggish, get caught coughing, leaving them wide open for attacks and even die from exposure. The small ones died within moments, while the great warrior creatures were sluggish from the gas.

She had also cast a spell that allowed their wounds to close up fast, like that comic book character Asuna liked. Maybe that was why they had lasted so long. She didn't know Aerie-san had done it, but she was on par with Konoka in magical power and Negi in skill.

Boo was cleverly hiding inside Minsc's pocket. He was a little hamster, what could he do?

"Nearly there!" Saber cried out from the front, cleaving a warrior in two with one hand. "When we get there, Asuna switches with me! Hostile magic power is through the roof!"

"Right!" Asuna replied as they approached the final set of stairs. Strangely, it was empty. That was not good. A filled staircase was tactically advantageous for those who held it. For this one to be empty of foes so close to their final destination, was a sign that it was a trap.

"Clear, let's move!" Saber called and rushed up ahead of the others. Asuna was caught off guard by this. It was a mistake to simply rush up the stairs when there were no enemies there.

"Wait, no!" Asuna broke formation and ran after her. "Saber-san, wait! Why would this staircase be empty so close to the last goal?"

"They've run out, what else could it be?"

Oh crap, not everyone's perfect around here, too.

"No seriously, they wouldn't leave the last staircase unguarded just like that." Asuna noticed that the others were taking up a defensive position at the bottom of the staircase because the two of them had broken formation. At least Aerie-san had a good head on her shoulders. "If we're so close to them, then it must be-

Kraka-thoooooom!

The shockwave came first, then Saber. She slammed straight into the wall, its curvature making her body roll alongside, before falling down. Out of reflex, and maybe to shield against the next attack, Asuna dodged her. Saber crashed down on the stairs, her rolling momentum ongoing before she slid to a halt by the bottom.

Asuna couldn't tell if she was dead or alive, but that was no ordinary blast. She had magic cancel, making her the best defense against spell casters, but Saber didn't seem to have that kind of ability herself. Asuna had to scold herself for not switching earlier. Though Saber really had herself to blame for rushing on ahead.

She wanted to go check, but there was something prohibiting her from doing so.

The Last Great Enemy.

Asuna went up the stairs to see for herself. She couldn't stop herself, besides any magic power flung her way would be nullified so she could focus on any physical threat on her person. Though she was starting to get tired.

She found herself in one great round hall enclosed with walls save for a balcony opposite of the stairs. The room was of white pristine marble and the walls plated with gold and silver to formulate some kind of significant event that took place long ago. But that was the pretty part. Gibbets and cages filled with corpses hung from the domed roof, and they were so decayed Asuna couldn't make out any distinguishing features, save that some were human and others inhuman. A small part of her wanted to see that bastard Fashtar hanging in one of those gibbets. And then from the balcony, she saw movement as the final "Boss" revealed itself.

The Enemy was small in form, but Asuna could just feel the power of negative magic energy swirling around the whole room. Even with her magic cancel, it was overwhelming. The Enemy was wrapped in black robes, decorated with the bones of fallen warriors, and a skull in their left hand that had bells tied to its eye sockets.

Wait… those are my bells.

A black staff with a polished onyx gem at the top in their right hand, this mage was dangerous. Asuna got the vibes of their power being focused in necromancy. A kind of magic she hadn't faced before. But it was bad stuff all around.

"So, the mortal comes to challenge us," the Enemy spoke with a voice duplicating and echoing, like the Nazgul in the films, only more harrowing. It wasn't screaming in her head, nor did it send a shiver down her spine. But anyone else hearing them speak would have been shaken to their core. "Your hour has already passed. This is OUR time. Gaze upon us and-"

"Shut up."

Asuna hadn't realized she said that until she actually had said it. Now the Enemy was merely watching her. So what the hell, let's keep at it.

"I have faced things worse than you. They may not be stronger than you, but they could at least hurt me. I'm the worst foe you could have right now. I know you have something up your sleeve, but so do I. You don't know anything about me, and you don't have anything that can affect me. So how about you try it and we'll see who comes out on top?"

The Enemy revealed its eyes to gaze at her with a better view. Asuna couldn't place it, but those eyes were haunting. "So you come here to die again? I can arrange that."

Well, that explained the bell-skull.

The Enemy unleashed its power and a black field swept over the floor. Out of its tar-esque ooze rose skeletons, a classic foe, and minion of the necromancer type wizards, armed with swords and axes. But then came something else.

A hulk of flesh and skin hollowed out with its front chest and head torn open to reveal a lack of bones within. It was reminiscent of a zombie, yet it was not a zombie. That was the wrong word. The whole thing was deprived of its bones and sagged as it moved.

Asuna gave it some thought and realized that for every skeleton torn out of its body to make it a skeleton, there was also its skin and flesh to take into account. Though frankly, it creeped her out to no end that someone would make an undead out of someone's deboned husk. At least they had no eyes.

Hey, there's a name for it…

Multiple footsteps behind her signaled that the others were coming. And sure enough, Minsc was by her left and Shakuras on her right. Aerie was right behind her. And the fourth set told her that Saber was with them as well.

"See? I told you it was dangerous," Asuna scolded their team leader as they formed up.

"I'm sorry," Saber replied, "I was quite arrogant in my past life."

"Your numbers mean nothing," the Enemy boasted, surely confident of victory. "Your powers are obsolete and you have no hope of success."

The group of five prepared themselves for battle. Asuna for one had never really fought the undead before, so this would be one for the scrapbook.

"Chiimi…"

Huh?

"Hey, you guys hear that?"

"CHAAAAAANGA!"

The one and only, the legend, the man, the greatest hero of them a- BZZZT!

A-hem.

Deadpool came swinging in through an open window, sporting his pistols in one and re-fixing his grip as he let go of the rope he had acquired in his own time, and began shooting wildly at the foes closing in on his allies.

"I heard you earlier, Asuna," Aerie said softly as she stepped up, taking advantage of the changed tactical situation, "I'd like to make a correction. You're not the only worst foe he could face… but also me."

And then she unleashed her energy.

Asuna was filled with warm radiance, a bright light that made her feel safe and comfortable, that one could feel as if in the presence of someone they knew and loved. She had felt this way with Takahata-sensei. She had felt this way with Negi, though in a sibling sense.

The undead, however, reeled back as if they were in physical pain, trying to shield non-existent eyes. The skeletons' bones turned brittle, the husks' skin wrinkled and shriveled in the light. And the Enemy recoiled, hurling insults and howls of pain in some foreign language.

"Asuna!" Saber cried out and Asuna saw their leader point at the Enemy. "Go, go, go, go!"

That was the plan. Saber had planned it from the get-go. Deadpool was uncontrollable and that made him unpredictable. Aerie was more than a wizard, she was also a priest who had healing spells and even the power to force the undead back. And Asuna was the wedge, the killing blow to the Enemy's power base: She was anti-magic, in fact, she was selective anti-magic.

And here was her chance.

She, Minsc, and Shakuras rushed the undead lines, with only Asuna punching through. The Berseker and the Protoss were to simply lock the enemy in place, forcing them to focus on the current threat rather than something just passing through. Saber hanged back to protect Aerie-san. Deadpool was doing his own thing. So that left Asuna available to take on the bad guy.

And she was the perfect call.

"No!"

"Too late!" She cried, swinging her sword to neutralize any and all spells the Enemy had and tried to cast. But the sword would make it over too quickly.

No, Asuna wanted this bastard to suffer. She dropped her sword and punched the guy in the face.

Her assault was fueled by the rage over the deaths of so many people. She didn't know how many people were living on this planet before the Enemy came, but she wasn't caring about how many were alive right now. She was too angry over how many were dead because of him. She crippled his foot, then came the arm and then the Enemy…

...screamed like a girl?

Wait, what?

The Enemy was female the whole time? Asuna had no qualms, but she wasn't keen on this. But before she could continue, the Enemy had collapsed on the floor, cancelling her spell powering the undead, which fell into pieces and lifeless shapes on the floor. And then she held out her hand as a means to surrender.

Asuna grabbed hold of the hood and pulled it off. The face she saw was not one she expected to see.

"H-honya-chan!?"

"Dun-dun-dun!"

"Quiet, you!"