In one of the several chambers at the peak of Elder's Respite, several important looking guests arrived at the same time. Among them were Minerva, Darius and many other magi from other elemental institutions.
Standing already in the room was a skinny old man attending to the browned-skin, face filled with white stripes was Magus Erica. She was wrapped from neck to toe with a cloth that seemed to glow ever so slightly, leaving her head still visible.
It didn't take long for more people to come in but this entourage had a different aura surrounding them. As they entered the room and stood on the side, they were as still as a rock and seemed ready to welcome a person of great importance. When the last person walked in, all the sitting magi stood up and bowed along with the magi on the side.
He was wearing a slightly different uniform from the rest that had entered and a monocle on the left eye. He brushed his mustache as the magi in the room stood up in attention. The thin old man attending to Magus Erica still had his back facing the respected individual, which the other party didn't mind.
The man with the monocle bowed and politely said to the thin old man, "Grand Magus Yvere, we have just finished our investigation."
"I see, we appreciate your help, Magister Leon. Let us wait a few moments more for Headmaster Altus Dreyden to arrive."
"Thank you, Grand Magus Yvere," said Leon before heading back to the side.
The skinny old man was the Plant Institute's Chief Instructor of this Magus Academy named Yvere, while the man with the monocle was a Magister named Leon sent from this world's government to investigate last night's events. The magus academy normally had their own people to do such things, but matters involving the elves, mankind's mortal enemy, this world's government tended to get involved.
A few moments had passed and the tapping of a stick against the wooden floor entered people's ear sitting in the room. That only meant one thing, the Headmaster had arrived. He was a wrinkled old man with a white beard, spanning beneath his chest, and held a wooden stick as he walked with it. Everyone bowed deeply as soon as Altus Dreyden, Headmaster of the Magus Academy, entered the room except for Yvere.
The aura inside the chamber instantly became serious. Altus Dreyden said with a calm voice, "You may take your seat, everyone."
He went toward Yvere and observed Magus Erica for a moment. "It looks like she'll recover soon. Your plant magic has always been a wonder, Yvere."
"Ahh, it's just a simple new spell," said Yvere while continuously channeling plant healing magic through the cloth.
Altus laughed. He turned his head to the monocle man and said, "Magister Leon, what has your investigation resulted in?"
Leon stepped forward and replied, "We have examined the place of battle and found some evidence of a chase. Based on the number of elves and orcs that had snuck here, we can safely assume that this is not a full-on attack but an off-the-book operation. We also have found a couple of orc corpses nearby as well as a still unidentified elf."
Altus looked thoughtful before responding, "It seems too much for the elves to come into one of our magus institutes deep in human territory just to chase an unidentified elf, right?"
"We agree, Headmaster Altus. We suspect the elf who had been chased must be a person of importance since the entity that came after was Agis, the Red Demon," answered, Magister Leon.
"Hmm... Interesting... Is Agis the one who fought our instructing magi?" said Altus, looking at Minerva, Darius, as well as others, who appeared to be still injured based on how they had glowing bandages wrapped around on some parts of their bodies like Magus Erica. They appeared embarrassed because they unconsciously couldn't look straight into the Headmaster's eyes, but Altus waved it off by saying, "Well, no need to feel ashamed. Fighting with the Red Demon with no casualty is already a feat by itself."
"About that, Altus, we do have some casualties. A few acolytes had died during the quest Master Grom issues every year," said Yvere, finally stopping his plant healing spell on Magus Erica. He took a seat afterwards.
"Aaahh, poor children."
Magister Leon spoke once more. "We also have a report that one of the surviving acolytes mentioned the elves had taken captive on one of our acolytes."
Altus' brows furrowed and asked, "And why did they do that?"
"We don't have information on that yet. The surviving girl acolyte who had shared this information didn't mention anything else other than finding the elf's corpse and escaping with one of our acolytes, hence, we are dubious of the whole event."
Altus stooped silence for a while seemingly thinking of possibilities. After trying to make sense of things, he sighed and said, "Magister Leon, please update me if you find new information."
Magister Leon bowed and said, "Understood, Headmaster Altus. We will inform you of any updates we find."
After Magister Leon said his piece, his group of men in uniform walked out of the room and left. Headmaster Altus then turned to the magi left and said, "The war has arrived at the academy's front doors even though we are so far behind the warzone. I hope everyone can always remember to be cautious, but remember our main role is to instruct these new young acolytes. They are the future protectors of humankind."
Headmaster Altus thought for a little while and continued "Tomorrow morning, I'd like to see those who are most talented among the first years."
"Yes, Headmaster Altus," they all replied at the same time before leaving Altus and Yvere.
Altus stepped closer to Yvere and said, "We rarely see these days, Yvere. How's your cultivation? Have you had any improvement?"
Yvere laughed to himself and replied, "Not really, Altus."
"That's too bad. We need you on the frontline and if you have gone to the war like the others, you would have improved much faster," said Altus with a low voice.
Yvere simply smiled and replied, "You know everyone has their own purpose, Altus. Mine is here, in Elder's Respite. I've heard that Zenoia has been enlightened today. Is that true?"
Altus nodded and said, "I hope she manages to breakthrough as a Supreme Magus. That'll turn out to be the best for the sake of humanity."