Chapter 14: Defend His Honor!
Lilia and Silver act fast and eject all the Magicam Monsters away from the dorm and to the front gates of the campus. Of course, they're able to be discreet about using their magic so no one is aware of what goes on around them. Once all the visiting people are gone, everything seems to be in order.
"Phew. The humans have all been 'escorted' to somewhere safer," Lilia says, holding Malleus.
However, Malleus is still pretty upset with the Magicam Monsters, "Unhand me, Lilia. They need to be turned to charcoal!"
"Oh, settle down, Malleus. I have a little saying for times like this: 'Anger begets danger.'" Lilia says.
"You expect me to settle down?" Malleus questions with a frown on his face. "They ignored my warning and acted rudely - to say nothing of the way they treated me. And you expect me to let them off unscathed?"
"When you list it all out, I admit, it DOES sound bad," Silver says, as much as he hates to admit.
"The Magicam Monsters like taking pictures of all things rare, beautiful, and valuable. That said…" Lilia says. He crosses his arms, "I wasn't expecting them to treat Malleus Draconia, Prince of Briar Valley, as another subject to photograph. That's beyond reckless!" and show concern.
Then Sebek says, "Lilia, sir, there is no need for you to concern yourself with those humans' accounts."
Then one of the Diasomnia students speak up, "I agree with Sebek!"
Then another student says, "They didn't simply offend our housewarden. They ignored all our warnings and just did whatever they pleased."
Then the third student says,"Those miscreants deserve a wake-up call. We should teach them what happens to people who slight Diasomnia!"
Lilia is surprised by the students' reaction, "Goodness gracious me. You'e all positively trembling with anger."
Then turns to Silver, "Silver, what happened before Malleus and I arrived?"
"The humans were… trying to enter Ramshackle Dorm," Silver answers.
"Were they now?" Lilia asks, a little surprised. Silver nods his head in reply.
"Well, we can't have that," Lilia adds. "We're using their garden for decorations, but Briar, and her roommates: Grim, Trinket, Sereia, and the twins, Tanzanite and Jasper live there. Of course they wouldn't take kindly to anyone barging into their home. Were the Magicam Monsters aware of this?"
"I put up a sign to make sure of that. It said, 'DO NOT ENTER - PRIVATE RESIDENCE.' Unfortunately, they paid it no heed.'There's no way people live in a run-down building like this,' they said. In fact…" Silver explains.
Suddenly, they hear a familiar, "MYAAH!" scream. It sounds like Grim's voice.
Silver places his hand on his head, "Ah. There it is again."
"Hm? I heard a scream. Did that come from inside?" Lilia asks.
Inside the Ramshackle Dorm, Briar and the others are having their hands full. The Magicam Monsters are trying to barge into the door to take their pictures. Briar, Grim, the others, including the ghosts, are doing their best to hold the door.
And soon, they hear Grim screams, "QUIT! BARGIN'T INTO! OUR! DORM!"
Patrick panics, "OooOOOooooh! Please, no more pictures!"
"Even ghosts like a little privacy!" Albert screams.
"Stop trying to break in!" Jasper screams.
"This is trespassing!" Briar shouts.
"Please go away!" Sereia screams in fear.
One of the men shouts, "Wait! I've just gotta get a snap of this!"
"This is private property! You're not allowed to be in here!" Briar says.
Soon enough, the Magicam monsters burst through the doors and run inside. Briar has fallen to the floor with Trinket as the ghosts, Grim, and Sereia run away in fear, becoming the targets of the phones and cameras. Tanantie and Jasper are also trampled after the door bursts open.
Briar sits up and rubs the back of her head, "Ow… my head…?"
"That hurt," Taznantie says, adjusting his glasses.
"What is with these people?" Jasper questions.
Briar continues to rub her hand in pain.
Suddenly, Briar hears a familiar voice as he reaches his hand, "Are you alright?"
Briar looks up to see Malleus, reaching his hand out to Briar. Briar blushes a bit, and gently places her hand onto his. Then Malleus helps her up.
"Um I'm okay, just a bit startled and sore on the head," Briar says.
Now then, it's best you grab 'em and kick 'em out. There's no time to waste," Malleus says.
"Um sure. But how?" Briar asks.
"It will be best to use some wind magic. It's best we be discreet about it," Malleus says.
"But I thought we're not allowed to use magic to cause harm to them, and I'm still learning how to use magic, so I don't want to risk hurting anyone," Brari says.
Malleus simply places his hand on her shoulder and cally says, "It will be best to use the wind magic to simply eject them out of the dorm and to the front gate of the school. So, follow my lead."
"Um right," Briar says.
Malleus and Briar then bring out their magepens as the others run out of the hall and into the lobby and to the entryway of the dorm. Briar follows Malleus' lead and uses the magic to eject the students out of the Ramshackle Dorm and to the front gate unharmed.
Grim growls in anger as he walks out of the door., "Grr… Get out of our dorm, and STAY OUT!"
Then Grim walks back inside and the others are relieved to see that they're gone.
Briar turns to Malleus, "Thank you for helping us, Tsunotaro."
Then sadly says, "And I'm sorry for what's happening. I heard that there's been these um 'Magicam Monsters' causing all kinds of trouble."
Malleus simply gives her a somewhat gentle smile, "Indeed, young child of man." Then says with a frown, "You don't need to apologize or thank me. I'm simply helping fix the mess that's been causing her. I apologize to you and your dormmates for being involved in the chaos.
"It's not your fault. Those people were out of control. You have no control over it. From what I hear, it's happening all over the campus," Briar says.
"Yes. It has. I must get back to the others," Mallues says.
"Okay," Briar says.
Malleus takes his leave and closes the door behind him. Briar does feel sad because Malleus feels bad for what happened. However, she knows it wasn't his fault.
Meanwhile at the front gate of the Ramshackle Dorm.
Silver says to Lilia, "Ramshackle Dorm is currently trending on Maficam as a hotspot for finding ghosts. It's a constant flood of visitors claiming that if they don't take a ghost picture, their whole Night Raven College trip will be for nothing. We keep shooing them off, but they are relentless."
This has Lilia very surprised, "My goodness. I never knew people could be so lacking in manners that they'd walk into a person's private abode without permission. I've met a great many impertinent humans in my day, but this takes the cake!"
Lilia turns his head to notice Malleus has a frown on his face and has been silent as he walks down from the stairs.
"It was I who selected Ramshackle Dorm to be Diasomnia's stamp tour station. The responsibility for this lies squarely with me. I had hoped to give my Ramshackle-dwelling acquaintance an enjoyable Halloween…" Malleus explains.
He soon saddens and says, "...And yet I've dragged them into a terrible mess instead."
"Malleus…" Lilia says, showing deep concern.
Silver and the other students notice the sad expression on Malleus' face, even Sebek witnessed it. Lilia can understand why Malleus feels this way: he is responsible for Briar and the others getting caught with the Magicam Monster problem.
Sebek is really shocked, "They made Malleus Sad?! THOSE MAGICAM MONSTERS MUST PAY."
Sebek turns to the students, "Everyone! Are you going to stand by idly while our housewarden endures this embarrassment!"
One of the students answers, "Absolutely not! We will defend his honor!"
"If we don't do something, it will be a disgrace to Diasomnia - no, all of Night Raven College!" Another student answers.
Then Sebek announces, "Purge the Magicam Monsters!"
The students shout in union, "PURGE!"
"I didn't ask you to do anything that drastic…" Malleus replies.
Then Silver says, "I'm afraid matters are only getting worse."
"Dear me. This is certainly no laughing matter," Lilia replies.
