Hello again! i'll cut this little arc in two parts because otherwise it would make for a far too long chapter. And i think shorter chapters would work just as well.

Don't hesitate to tell me what you think :)

Anyway, enjoy!

Marx Francois, the close aide to Julius Novachrono, did not take on half of the Wizard King's duties alone. Several people supported him. But Marx was the only one who reported directly to the Wizard King. Some acted as imperial guards or advisers in times of emergency, but Marx generally served as the Wizard King's sole support, his arms and legs, and he spent his days on the move.

And yet, today, his movements were more subdued. Waking up, he had a foreboding feeling that this day would be memorable, and for all the wrong reasons. The last time he felt it, the Wizard king somehow managed to outdo himself and simply told him. "I've heard of some awesome magic in Heart! I'll be back right away!" and came back nearly four months later.

To that day, that memory and the big smile of the oblivious Wizard King still haunt him.

It was the first of many times Marx wanted to bash Julius's head repeatedly. And today, Julius left him in charge of organizing the little dinner to promote the trial introduction of the subject of their last discussion, the Experience Enrollment.

Of course, there was the King, a problematic person who tried to pin the responsibility for the attack on the Magic Knights. But it failed simply because Julius Novachrono was overwhelmingly popular amongst the people, contrary to the King. But because political diplomacy wasn't Julius's preference, he wanted to genuinely create bonds amongst the captains that way...

Yes. Julius Novachrono was the kind of man who acted on his words. No matter what. And the man was worthy of all Marx's devotion and admiration.

But that didn't prevent Marx Francois from sometimes wishing to bash his skull and inspect what was clearly between his liege's two ears.

"Just like today… And I foolishly thought that everything would be fine…."

Five days earlier

"Why a dinner party, though?" Marx asked now that there were alone in the room. Julius turned to look at him. "For the reasons, I explained before. Did you see how they interacted? It's simply how the Magic Knights interact in general: they are fragmented, the lot of them. However, we need them to be as united as possible. If the captains can't lead, who will follow them?

"I agree, but I don't think one or two dinners will change their relationship a lot…."

"Right, but we have to start somewhere… And at least, this should be reason enough for the King. This guy always tries to use the slightest thing against me."

"Julius-sama… You were thinking about such things."

"I'm not only a magic nerd, you know." Julius's smile widened at seeing Marx's face. "Boring as it is, I need to prepare for every consequence, political or not. That's why I put you on the spot like that and said I'd like you to take care of the preparations."

"I see." When put like that, Marx was honored to do this for Julius. "That shouldn't be much. So what dishes should be served?"

"Hmmm… How about hot pot dishes? I heard it from Yami; the people of his homeland gather around a pot, strengthening their bonds with each other."

"I'll see to it, then."

"Thank you, Marx-kun. There are so many things to do. Sometimes, I wish there were more than one of me. Haha!" Julius added with a laugh.

"Please don't joke about that… Speaking of which, why did you ask your daughter to come the same day?" Marx asked, curious."You specifically told her to come back in five days."

"Ahhh, you caught that. Well, what if I told you I had a vision?" Julius said to a dumbfounded Marx. "Yes. If I were to see her that day, it would certainly be a good omen!... Or something like that, anyway."

"... And I suppose you don't want to tell me the truth?" Marx sighed at his master.

"It's the truth! I had a vision where she and I were conquering a dungeon while you desperately tried to converse with the Captains."

"How is that a good omen?!... No, wait." Marx looked suspiciously at the Wizard King. "It makes no sense. Why would you tell me the truth for the first time only now?! And besides, why tell me the truth in the first place?! Please stop messing with me." Marx pleaded. "Usually, it's all about crappy excuses with you!"

"I told Aurora I wouldn't lie anymore and be a good example for her," Julius said proudly.

"... And would a good example would skip work?" Marx deadpanned, looking at Julius, who flinched. "Besides, she wouldn't let you do that. So it looks like she wants you to do your job even more than I do," he added with a smirk.

"I guess you have a point," Julius answered, still smiling.

"To be honest with you, I'm glad she's reasonable. When I met her for the first time, I thought she'd be as nerdy as you! "

"Guilty as charged." Julius raised his hands. "I'll admit I was kinda taken aback… Well, anyway, don't worry, Marx-kun. I'll be fine this time. As you said, Aurora will be there."

Marx nodded. "Well, I suppose I should start the preparations then. By your leave." He saluted Julius before turning around and leaving the meeting room.

Marx felt really great. If Julius-sama was present, then indeed, the captains would behave themselves. Now he was sure that everything would turn out alright!

"Everything is not fine. Not at all. That old bastard isn't hereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Marx thought desperately. "I'm really going to kill him!" That and so many more national treason-worthy thoughts crossed his mind.

The captains had been here for around ten minutes already, and the atmosphere was already terrible. No one answered his attempt at a toast.

Ten minutes before their arrival, Marx went to warn Julius, who was supposed to be in his office with his daughter, only to find a note which read, "Be right back; something important came up."

That's why Marx had thought back to their discussion of that day. "Impossible… He didn't brazenly tell me the truth?! That means that Aurora-san… I was right! She's this man's daughter, after all! Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhh!"

While Marx was battling his inner bloodlust against the Novachrono family, the other captains were... themselves.

"…S-shut your mouth, Rill. I'm merely teaching you how you should speak to your seniors!"

"Uh, no! I mean! It feels like you're trying to kill me… ow, ouch! One of your thorns cut me!"

Sitting beside them were the Captains of the Green Mantis and the Black Bulls, Jack the Ripper, and Yami Sukehiro. A turbulent aura surrounded them as they began to quarrel.

"Hey, Prickly Queen. Stop scaring the deer, kid. Look, he's shivering like a newborn baby."

"Kah Kah! Yami, you're the one who started this mess!"

"No way, isn't this happening because a certain skin-and-bone-head decided to say something that would push her buttons? I bet your brain is as emaciated as your face. You poor thing."

"HUUH!?"

Sitting across from them was the Captain of the Golden Dawn, William Vangeance. Rather than do anything to stop the quarrel, he simply sat there and smiled as he usually does.

"Fu fu. Everyone is getting along as well as ever, I see… Even so, the Wizard King certainly is late."

Sitting beside him was the Captain of the Silver Eagles, Nozel Silva. He hasn't uttered a single word since the beginning of the party. Instead, a sullen aura of displeasure radiated out from him.

"Well, the food looks good… Don't mind if I do." At his side was the new Captain of the Purple Orca, Kaiser Granvorka. Perhaps the most normal of all.

"…zzz"

And finally, beside Nozel sat the Captain of the Coral Peacocks, Dorothy Unsworth.

"…zzz…zzz…..zzz…..nom, chew chew…zzz" She was able to eat while sleeping. And yet Marx knew she wasn't the weirdest of the bunch. Certainly in the top three, anyway.

"Kah Kah, come to think of it, I've never seen ya eat or drink before, Nozel!"

"Oh, he's eating! Somehow, I feel kinda moved by seeing this. It's like watching a feral cat who doesn't let you pet it finally eat the food you put out for it for the first time… I feel like I'm gonna tear up."

"Kah Kah, a cat!? But now that ya mention it, he's totally like a cat! A very prideful cat!"

"Yeah. When you think of Nozel like that, he starts looking kinda cute."

Nozel's forehead muscles twitched, but the two pushed even further.

"Cute? With that sour look on his face? Kah Kah! What the hell are you lookin' at?"

"Nah, he's cute. It's the braid, y'know? He does that every morning cuz' he wants to look cute."

And, of course, things began to turn for the worse when both Yami and Jack started to mock Nozel's braid.

"Stop, you two! Nozel-san thinks his braid is cool! Seeing him get made fun of for that is just too pitiful… Eeek!"

Then Rill made things worse when he indirectly insulted the Silver Eagle captain too. And was rewarded by a spear of mercury thrust one millimeter in front of his throat.

"Not my problem, not my problem…." Marx repeated these words like a mantra, praying that his spell would find purchase. Then he was quickly reminded that he was only trying to contact the Wizard King, not his daughter.

Force of habit. He canceled his spell and tried again with the younger Novachrono, praying it would somehow work, just as Charlotte Roselei attempted to serve Yami food.

… Come to think of it, she has been acting strange since the beginning of the feast. As Marx was entertaining pointless thoughts like that, his spell connected and was met with the face of Aurora.

"Eh? Marx-san? What is it? I'm kinda busy over here! But I'm glad you see you, in fact!" She said, and judging by the state of her disheveled hair or the black dust peppering her face, she really looked busy.

Hearing her voice, the people inside the room with him stopped whatever they were doing and turned to look at the new voice.

"Oh, it's Boss Junior," Yami commented carelessly. The others captain looked at her with interest. For the Wizard's King's daughter to be in communication with the man's aide, it must be a vital problem.

"Oh, and the Captains are all here! Even Captain Vangeance! Great!" She said with enthusiasm. Her Captain didn't look that surprised to see her here either.

"Wait, wait, wait, Aurora-san. Where are you right now? And is the Wizard King with you?"

The sheepish look on the young girl's face was all he needed to infer her following words. "I'm in a dungeon that appeared today. I went with Father to take a look, but before we knew it, we went inside and we kind of conquered it-"

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS MORON DOING?!" Marx shouted, interrupting Aurora's explanation, surprising her and the others with his shout. "Er, sorry about that. So, he's with you? Did he not tell you he was supposed to take part in something else and not go gallivanting god knows where?!" his brow was twitching, he may be sweating, and his face was perhaps all red, but he didn't care.

Marx Francois was a man on a mission.

"Eh? But he told me he warned you about that! And also, because you were responsible for this event, it was up to you to deal with unforeseen circumstances and - Woah, I've never seen someone frothing at the mouth before!" She commented, smiling obliviously.

Smiling the smile of his nightmare.

Marx was trying hard not to explode and scare the poor girl who had the misfortune to look too much like his master.

"He didn't lie! And what's up with this taking responsibility crap?! I'm gonna-"

"Wait, Boss junior." His thoughts were cut off by Yami, who spoke to Aurora. "How come your dad isn't with you?"

"Ah, well," she scratched the back of her head, "the thing is, we conquered the dungeon, and there were many awesome things! Check this out!" She showed them a sort of lamp whose flame looked purple. "It's a purple flame! It doesn't stop burning! And guess what! It doesn't burn the standard way!" Her eyes started to shine. "We tried several things, but then he didn't work, so Dad started to think-" she began to drone on and on, changing her way of addressing her Father to something more familiar, and wow, wasn't that kind of monologue familiar?

"Ohh, as expected, a relic from a dungeon looked very advanced… D'you think I could use it as a lighter for my cigs?" Yami answered, and Aurora nodded quickly. "Yes! I think we could try to transfer the flame, but then-"

"Wait, Aurora." Vengeance raised his hand and stopped her babble, and Marx could have kissed the man. "Julius-sama did accompany you, right? What happened?"

"Ah! Dad!" Aurora jolted as if she remembered something. "Well, the short story is, I triggered a trap, and Dad took the heat for me…." She showed them a strange brown jar, which had seen better days. "Yes, Dad! Marx-san is contacting me!" She spoke to the pot, and Marx facepalmed. Yami and the other captains looked dumbfounded.

Aurora blushed with shame. "Yeah… He's inside, and he's the one who holds the mechanism to get out of the room… But, unfortunately, I can't get him by myself, and there's another trap, and even though Ga-chan is with me, dad just told me to stay put… So, uh… Could you come and help us, please…?"

At that moment, Marx didn't feel any anger anymore. Nothing. Not even pity. Just pure nothingness.

"Oh, so I guess that's why he couldn't answer my call." he said blankly, slapping his fist on his other palm."

"Where are we supposed to go? This dungeon could be anywhere." Vengeance asked his young knight, cutting to the chase yet again.

"Before leaving, Father talked to a kind mage who had teleport magic! His name was... Cob Portaport-san, I think. His magic cannot reach me, but I think he should be able to teleport you - we're near Tiulyu!"

"It's in the Common realm, I think. Quite a good thing the Wizard King talked to Cob-dono before leaving." Kaiser said, rising from his chair.

"Cob… All right, we're coming your way, Aurora."

"Be careful! It's very possible the traps were reset! Some were really nasty, and even my Father needed my help with some of them!"

"Hey, Boss junior. You're really stuck in a room? Couldn't you use your magic to demolish a wall or two? The same way you vaporized the guy's teeth back at the entrance exam."

"I could, but then I'd be face-to-face with annoying golems. And I can't defeat them alone. At least not anymore because of their annoying gimmicks. It's safer here."

"Could you tell us a rundown of what you encountered?" Nozel asked her in an icy tone.

"Well, what you can expect from a dungeon, I guess? Magical traps, magical enemies, magical enigmas… Hehe, so much interesting magic…." Her eyes started to shine once more as she remembered.

"Aurora." Vengeance said, accentuating her name when he saw Nozel quickly losing patience.

"Wah! Sorry, Captain Vangeance!" She returned to her senses, blushing heavily at being reprimanded in front of them.

"You don't have to worry about most of them, except for some basic traps and perhaps others who were reset, as I said before. No, the most annoying things are those numbered golems guarding the treasure room who appeared out of nowhere. They can't be destroyed. Otherwise, they keep appearing. They also reappear if you leave the room. So, to enter the treasure room where I am now, you have to actually destroy them at the same time." She explained smoothly without a moment's pause. "And you can't destroy the same golem twice with the same magic. So, if you miss your timing, you have no choice but to switch targets.… And when they reappear, it seems like they can use the type of magic used to destroy them…."

"I see. So basically, if we were to encounter the same ones you destroyed, they would be able to use Time Magic, at the very least. And how many golems were there?"

"Actually, I'm not sure… We think there are twice as many golems as they are humans in the dungeon - my Father did theorize that, but we have no way of knowing that for now."

"Well, that works for me," Yami said, heading for the exit. "Let's go; we've got two idiots to save."

"It's the Wizard King you're talking about, you brutish man!" Charlotte lectured him, although, for some reason, her face was all red.

The rest of the captains followed them out to head toward Cob. "Aurora-san, I'm going to cut the communication. I'll try to reach you once more after we've arrived."

"Oh, you're coming with them, Marx-san?"

"Of course, I need to have a word with the Wizard King. He messed with me one time too much…!" Aurora looked at him dubiously after his declaration before suddenly smiling.

"What is it?" he asked her. "Nothing, Marx-san, nothing. But please, hurry up and come."

When the communication cut, Aurora turned towards the jar. "You sure this will work, dad? I could take you out of this… But I'm sure you don't need my help, either. I'm really sorry, I should have known it was a trap..."

"You said sorry enough. Don't be, Aurora. Making mistakes is part of life. Don't be sorry, be better." Julius retorted, and Aurora could hear the compassion in his voice. "And you're right, I'm sure we could do something by ourselves, but I'd like to profit from this occasion as much as possible. I didn't predict this situation, but you should always try turning the most unplanned events into an opportunity. That's also part of being the Wizard King."

"A Wizard King shouldn't go and explore a dungeon though… Or that's what Marx-san will definitely tell you, amongst many things; he didn't look happy…."

"Eh, don't worry. Marx complains, so I work, then I mess with him, then he complains, then I work some more… It's yet another cycle. He makes it easy, you know."

She laughed at that. "You're terrible, dad!" She put the jar next to her after sitting down, back on a wall, before absently reaching for Gaius on her head, taking him in her hands, and putting him on her belly before petting him. "I still don't know what you're aiming to do, but I suppose it's related to what Captain Vangeance told us earlier this week? About that experience enrollment thing."

"Yes. The Magic Knights aren't as united as I wish, so I'd like to remedy that, even if I have to take drastic measures." Julius explained, and Aurora figured out his aim. "Ahhhh, and the golem work that way too! Wow, either that's a coincidence, or you really predicted everything!" She exclaimed, excitation and admiration in her tone.

"Well, you know… All in a day's work for me! One day, soon, you will be able to do that. I can guarantee it."

"You're so cool!" She said without an hint of irony.

"I'd say yes; I would be arrogant, but I'd be a liar if I said no." He said jokingly, and Aurora laughed again.

Julius really loved his daughter's laughter.

Reaching into his pocket, he clasped the reason he ended up inside this magical jar, a small artifact that was supposed to have disappeared centuries ago and was inside his palm. He only saw it in books before.

A little disk, bright brown in color, whose energy had all but nearly disappeared in time.

The Key of Gnome.

Julius channeling his inner Kratos. Next time, little flashback to tell the duo's adventure, then a little fight captains against golem.

Will Marx commit treason at long last? We'll see next chapter! Stay tuned!