When the student council president suddenly stood up and hastily said he just remembered an errand he needed to run, Maria thought nothing of it. After all, he wasn't like Lady Claes' harem, to shirk his duties. When the time of her next class arrived and he had still not yet returned, Maria was slightly concerned, wondering what sort of errand required he take so long.
She was halfway to class when a group rushed out of a side hallways, blocking her path. Instinctively, she readied herself to break arms.
"Maria!" the woman in the lead cried out in relief. "You're all right!"
Maria stared at a now-awake Katarina Claes, her hair a mess, her dress looking hastily donned, and a bandage at her elbow to cover where the intravenous infusion needle had been inserted, and sighed to herself. Well, she supposed these pleasant days couldn't have lasted forever. Such was her fate.
"Lady Claes," she said, bowing. "You are energetic as always, I see. I trust you had a pleasant nap?"
"Oh, uh, yes," she said, looking surprised, before smiling brightly. Doesn't that hurt your face? "Yes, it was a wonderful nap. I'm glad I had it, the dream I had was great! But ah, Maria, have you seen the president? We're looking for him."
"I prefer 'Miss Campbell'," Maria said blandly, aware of the open hallways behind her. "As to the president, he said he had to run an errand and left the student council room. It must have taken longer than expected, as he had not yet returned by the time I left. "
"Damn it, he must have somehow found out you managed to break the spell," Prince Alan snarled. The two princes had sword belted on their waists, Maria noticed. So did Lord Claes and Lord Ascart.
That… did not bode well.
"May I ask what this is about?" Maria said. "If something is about to happen that will deprive the student council of more manpower, I would rather know sooner than later."
"Miss Campbell, is student council paperwork really all you're concerned about?" Lady Hunt snapped.
"As a chosen member of the student council, yes," Maria said.
Lady Hunt stared at her like she'd grown as second head: with disgust, revulsion, and as if eldritch truths were being crammed into her brain.
Just in case, Maria patted her neck. Nope, only the one head, thankfully.
Surprisingly, Lady Claes smiled. "Maria is always so responsible. Well, it's all right. I know where we can find the president."
"From your dream?" Nicol said.
Lady Claes nodded confidently. "Yup. It's the only place he'd go where no one would find him. So he has to be there!"
This was all sounding very alarming.
"As a member of the student council, I must ask you to explain what's going on," Maria said, wanting to demand and very carefully stopping herself from doing so. She was still a commoner, after all. "It sounds like you're accusing the Lord President of something."
"Don't you mean Lord Head Clerk?" Lord Claes said sarcastically.
Lady Claes twitched, suddenly staring at Maria with an intensity like she wanted to crack open Maria's skull and check for internal eyes. That was… very concerning. Perhaps she should strategically run away very fast in retreat…
"Sirius Dieke was the one who attacked Lady Katarina and sent her into a coma," the Third Prince said, and suddenly Maria was very interested in what he had to say. "We suspect he used a forbidden form of magic to do so."
"I see," Maria said, nodding. "Those are serious claims. As a member of the student council, I wish to examine your evidence to ascertain its veracity."
"We have Lady Katarina's word," the Third Prince said, and something dark and ugly lingered in his eyes. "Is that not enough?"
"Respectfully your highness, those who accused Lady Claes in the dining hall at least attempted to present paperwork and witnesses, falsified as they were," Maria said. "But I'm sure you know the legal precedents of accusing the heir of a Marquis better than I." He wore no armor. His clothes were fine, soft cloth. His chest was completely unprotected, and he had not yet drawn his sword…
"Ah, let's not fight, let's not fight!" Lady Claes declared, stepping between the two of them. "Maria, why don't you come look for him with us? As an, um, impartial member of the student council!"
This was some sort of trick. It was definitely some kind of trick. Surely she didn't think Maria would fall for such a transparent ploy?
"Perhaps that would be best," Maria said. "Where did you say the Lord President is to be found, Lady Claes?"
How had she fallen for this ridiculous ploy?!
As they left they the academy buildings, heading into the woods to the rear, they explained their accusation against Sirius Dieke. Of how they suspected him of possessing Dark Magic, using it to put Lady Claes in her coma, and to manipulate those who had accused Lady Claes.
Maria was apparently not the only one hearing this for the first time.
"I can't believe the president has magic that can manipulate people," Lady Hunt said as they walked beneath the dappled leaves of the trees behind the school, some distance away from the Academy's main buildings. "But if Lady Katarina says that's what happened, then it must be so!"
"I thought he was such a kind person…" Lady Ascart said. "Why would he do this?"
"I'm honestly not sure either," Lady Claes said,
"Then why accuse him?" Maria said blandly. On trees and on the ground, black smoke sometimes waved. The president had slowly stopped putting them on his clothes over the past week as the fad seemed to have passed, but to find them here implied someone had passed through, which at least lent some credence to Lady Claes' claim that someone had gone to their destination, a storage room someone had incongruously built in the middle of these woods. Lord Ascart led the way, having been there with the president one before.
"Because he did it," Lady Claes said. "But I want to know why. Don't you?"
She turned to look at Katarina, her face devoid of its usual villainous sneer or lustful hunger. Instead, there was a determined focus in her eyes that seemed to bore into Maria like quicksilver bullets, an intensity of purpose she'd only seen on this woman's face one other time, in these very woods.
Maria looked away. "If what you say is true," Maria said. "I shall reserve judgement until I hear what the president has to say. If it is he we are following. This smoke could come from anyone. It was a popular fad, after all."
There was a brief pause.
"What smoke?" Lord Claes said, confused.
"Light mages can see a sort of dark smoke around people affected by dark magic or those who use dark magic," Lady Claes said, turning to Maria and for some reason patting her on the shoulder, giving her a sympathetic look. What? "But you need to be a very insightful person to see them, and that's hard. I hope it didn't hurt too much, Maria. But if you're seeing black smoke, then I guess this means we're on the right track!"
"Um… Lady Katarina, how do you know this?" Lady Ascart asked.
"I saw it in a dream!" Lady Claes said cheerfully.
For a moment, there was awkward silence.
"So…" Prince Alan drawled from behind Maria. "Black smoke, huh?"
"It proves nothing," Maria said. "I have never heard of this phenomenon before now."
"But you've seen black smoke, right?" The smugness was thick in his voice.
"It proves nothing as of yet," Maria repeated, staring ahead. She walked with head held high yet every muscle loose, as if her body were a puppet that hung from a string at her neck. She was conscious of the sort at Prince Alan's waist behind her, of his brother's sword at her front…
Her dagger lay hidden in her sleeve, but she was without her stick…
Ahead of them, the trees opened on a wide, sunlit clearing, where a long, stout brick building stood.
"That's it," Lord Ascart said. "The Dieke family built the storehouse years ago, but it's essentially unused now, since it's so far away from anywhere convenient. We use it to store old display armor and weapons."
In Maria's eyes, smoke rose from the latch of the large door.
"It proves nothing…" Maria whispered.
"Let's go, then," Lady Claes said, and pushed open the door.
So, how do you want this to go?
-Maria kills Sirius with a doki-doki visceral attack
-Maria kills Katarina and her harem and runs away with Sirius
-Maria Links the First Flame and the Age of Fire Continues
-Maria frees Sirius, and Sirius joins Katarina's harem
-Maria doesn't free Sirius but chooses to be together with him in darkness
-Maria begins the Age of Dark Maria leaves and never finds out how this is resolved
-Maria kills everyone and traps herself in the Book of Painted Aria forever
-Maria is done with this shit, ties everyone up and has everyone explain themselves.
Choose your ending!