Arcanum

He looked moth open unable to utter a word as I quickly scuttled away. "What was I thinking....!!! I can"t possibly do such a thing to grace and Paul....." Quickly making my way down to the entrance, I quickly checked myself straightening my cloths and hair.

"Hey Emilia!!! How comes you"re so late????" Jay said noticing me.

"Hey yeah.... I was training with Scarlet." I replied greeting everyone good morning hiding what just happened to me.

"No way!!!!!!!!!! You got to train with Scarlet personally??????" Grace gasped in shock.

"Yeah... today was our first morning training day. It was mean to be with Paul but he"s preoccupied." I explained.

"Ohhhhh I see...." Helen replied.

"Ohhh Ohhh can we join????" Daisy requested in pure utter excitement.

"Daisy… maybe Scarlet wouldn"t mind… but With Paul I think it wouldn"t be a three player thing." Grace chuckled.

I rolled my eyes at Grace"s joke.... "Guys….. There"s nothing going on." I insisted.

"Sure….." They all replied still totally not believing me.

"Let"s talk about it while we make our way to the dining hall." Jay instructed making his way to the dinning hall.

"Ohh is ben not joining us???..." I asked curiously noticing he wasn"t here.

"Nah he went back to his dorm last night but he should be at the dining hall. Jay replied.

"Ummm by the way I didn"t get any time to take a shower..... Sorry if I"m a little smelly." I apologised to everyone.

Jay looked back quickly pulling out his wand mumbling something causing blue sparkles to be released from his wand and began encircling me. "What the h.e.l.l????" I asked looking at myself.

"You"re welcome." Jay replied still leading the way.

"Wow...." I replied in shock noticing my clothes was miraculously dried up and cleaned, smelling fresh with a hint of lavender.

"It was just a simple spell." Jay shrugged proceeding to lead the way.

"So what was it like???? What did you do with Scarlet???" Daisy asked extremely excited hanging on my arm.

"Nothing special....some physical exercise and weapon stuff and I managed to cast many level 1 spells." I answered her but trying to not make a big deal out if it but deep down extremely excited that my childhood dreams to use magic came true.

"Ohhh I wonder if Ashley managed to do anything to help us on our duels....." Helen looking up into the sky.

"In sure he will let Emilia know when or if he does." Grace replied.

"Hey friends." Morgana"s voice greeted us from nowhere causing us all just jump a little in surprise.

"Heyyyy...." Helen replied nervously.

"What you guys talking about?.." Morgana asked.

"Ohhh just wondering about our upcoming duels and my training." I answered her with a smile trying to sound more welcoming then everyone else.

"Ohhhh... need some help?...." Morgana offered.

"What sort of help can you provide?.." Grace asked jokingly.

"Hmmm curse your opponents..... Poison them nothing lethal... maybe make them nauseous and queasy..... Hmm what else..... Ohhh maybe a voodoo effigy." Morgana suggested.

"That sounds so shady..... And super against the rules" Jay said hearing what she can do.

"Well the offer is on the table." Morgana shrugged.

Grace gave Helen a look, "No!!" Helen replied to her.

"Why not?...They would clearly deserve it!" Grace argued.

"Because that"s cheating and we aren"t gonna stoop down to that level." Helen argued back.

"Ohhhhh we should go shopping again sometime soon..... Buy some coats early winter is arriving soon." Daisy mentioned.

"Yeah that would be a good idea....." Jay replied. "Someone remember on our free day to get some winter robes commissioned." Jay added.

"Ohh yeah..... A nice fur coat or shawl would be nice." Grace mentioned.

"Fur?..." I asked.

"Yeah like bear of wolf pelts..." Grace answered.

I straightened in shock for some reason I was oblivious to how different this world was expecting some sort of faux fur...

"Huh?... you haven"t worn a fur coat before?.." Helen asked noticing my reaction.

"What do you wear.... being a Druid?.." Jay asked Helen.

"Same stuff... Thick leathers and furs..." Helen replied.

"Sorry for being so.... uneducated but isn"t it abit weird to use animal fur being a Druid?.." Jay asked.

"We do love Animals... but we embrace nature understanding there is a natural cycle of nature... so we still eat Meat and use what we harvest off animals... it"s how nature intended." Helen explained.

"Ohhh I see... thank you for educating me." Jay replied with a smile.

"Yeah.... I a.s.sume most people think us elves are nature and tree lovers....." Helen joked chuckling.

"Yeah sorry for my naivety..." Jay apologized.

"It"s okay... we Elves don"t understand humans much either." Helen smiled.

"Well if there"s anything you want to ask feel free." Jay offered with a smile.

Making our way into the dining hall the seating seemed completely different now. Student"s sticking to similar houses like social groups in School. Naturally we were drawn to the Phoenix table finding a s.p.a.ce to seat all of us, "Hey Morgana?.. You gonna join us?" I asked causing everyone to shoot a look at me.

"Sure..." Morgana smiled which kinda looked a little weird... since she always seemed neutral and cold.

Even when Morgana sat with us chatter around the table increased and glances towards us noticing I guess thinking she was in the wrong table. "I wonder if it"s okay for you to sit here..." Daisy asked noticing everyone"s reaction.

"I"m sure its fine besides I"m not a fan of people in the Kraken table." Morgana replied.

"OHH what"s it like?.." Daisy asked as we all began to eat breakfast.

"Ahh a bunch of children competing on who is the strongest and who is stronger then who.." She answered.

"Ohh I see..." Daisy replied.

"And for some reason they don"t like The Black Dragon Slayer." She mentioned.

"What why?!" Daisy gasped finding what she said unbelievable.

"I dunno.... something to do with Travis being the true Rank One student of the school or something." She added uninterested in the gossip.

"Please Paul would cream Travis to a pulp." Daisy exclaimed disregarding the Kraken student"s opinion.

"Hey guys!!!" A familiar voice called out to us causing students to turn around to see who it was.

"Ohh hey Ashley!" Daisy yelled back to him seeing him walk towards us.

"Good morning guys." He greeted us squeezing between Daisy and Helen as they both edge over slightly to make room for him.

"What brings you to the commoners table?..." Jay joked.

"Ahhh you know.... it"s always good to see how the paupers are doing." He joked back issuing something to a robot.

"Pauper?.." I asked confused with the vocabulary.

"Another word for commoners." Jay replied with a smile.

"Ohhh I see..." I quietened in embarra.s.sment.

"So you have good news for us?..!!" Helen asked excited to hear why he came here.

"So I just wanted to keep you guys updated on what I"m trying to do, so you don"t feel I"m not trying to help." He smiled.

"Ohh Ohh what is it you got planned?.." Daisy asked in excitement.

"Well..... Once I"ve gathered enough data... I"ll then try and program some Simulation for you guys to try and have duels with to best prepare for their combat style and Spell preferences." Ashley explained.

"Ohh my, that would be so amazing! How long will that take?.." Daisy asked in shock.

"Hmm maybe one or two more days.... Luckily... I can get my robots to do most the programming." Ashley explained. "Ohh thank you." He thanked a robot that brought him food and a newspaper.

"May I?..." Jay asked pointing at the newspaper.

"Sure." Ashley smiled handing it to him.

Jay began reading the paper intently with Morgana peering over his shoulder.

"By the way..... Ashley do you know someone called Tim??" I asked.

"Hmm... you"re gonna need to be more specific than that." Ashley replied smiling.

"Hmmm I don"t really know his second name.....but he does work in the science department apparently." I replied.

"Hmmm do you know what year he"s in??..." Ashley asked.

"I think he"s a second year...." I answered Ashley.

"Hmm I don"t think I know any second years....."Ashley replied.

"Ohhh..... Never mind then" I replied.

"If I find him, I"ll pa.s.s on a message." Ashley offered.

"That"d be great thanks!!! Juts tell him Hi and I"m doing well" I replied thanking him.

"Shouldn"t he be around here???..." Morgana asked.

"Ummm... Science department students tend to stay in the science department...." Ashley answered.

"Ohhh okay." Morgana replied.

"This is interesting apparently Paul"s been spotted in Eshia...." Jay announced to us.

"Ohhh.... that"s weird what"s he doing there..." Daisy asked.

"Says here no one knows.... but speculations is that hes there for business and not for Atlantis." Jay read to us.

"Well..... He"s super rich..... So do you think he engages in slave trade??....." Grace asked in horror.

"Of course he doesn"t!!!" Daisy shouted offended at the accusation.

"But we all know slave trade thrives in Eshia." Helen added.

"We don"t engage in slave trade..." Ashley said ending the debate swiftly.

"Do you know why he"s there??...." I asked.

"Hmmmm he said he needed to help someone.... I can"t remember.... I"m always too busy to listen to him." Ashley recounted chuckling.

"Ohhh this is also interesting.... apparently Arcadia is trying to forge an alliance with an eastern kingdom to help on the Goblin invasion." Jay announced.

"I still don"t get why they don"t just ask us for help." Grace commented.

"Yup me too.... I think we could have easily dealt with it...." Ashley sighed. "Now to avoid asking us for help they decided instead to forge a diplomatic alliance and who knows whats on the table for this alliance." Ashley added.

"Is it that bad to seek alliances from another kingdom??" I asked.

"It all depends on the terms of the alliance... but the eastern kingdoms are larger and unlike here where its small skirmishes the eastern kingdoms have larger scale battles and wars. So if Arcadia agrees to send soldiers to help, then they will be sending alot of people to their graves. Ashley explained to us.

"Are Atlantis students really that valuable???..." I asked.

"Sadly every day soldiers are just cannon fodder if either of the three other schools decide to send a full scale attack." Ashley replied.

"Ohhhh that"s why that one soldier had some sort of hatred towards us....." Daisy replied.

"Ohhh yeah.... he called us special snowflakes ..... Even though we didn"t do anything....." I said remembering that one distasteful solider.

"Ignore people like them..... They don"t understand what would happen if we weren"t here." Ashley replied still focused on eating.

"So how does Paul and you guys make gold????" Jay asked.

"Bounties and a.s.signments..... Helping people and some businesses." Ashley answered.

"What sort of business?.." I asked wondering because back home he wasn"t the business type... he always preferred to do something he loved, defiantly didn"t seem like the entrepreneur type.....

"Ummm... we sell the magical coins you guys have.. But they only have 5 uses and don"t recharge.... so that is really popular and profitable." Ashley smiled.

"Can"t other people do the coin thing?.." Helen asked.

"Hmm..... maybe.. But Artificing is tricky and hard.... so it"s a bit like art..... But right now it"s something only I can do." Ashley replied with a smile.

"What else does he do?.." I questioned.

"Hmmmm he help build communities and business...so he takes a little from various locations that add up to quite a sum... Why you guys in need of gold?.." Ashley asked.

"I"m in need of gold..." Jay replied.

"Ohhhh we can give you guys some..... Honestly most of our gold is just sitting in a bank... we have way too much." Ashley offered.

"Ummmm... as much as I"d love to.. I"d prefer to earn the gold.... if that"s okay." Jay replied.

"Hmmmm well in that case.... I do have something I might need some freshman"s to help me with..... We"ll pay you guys weekly..." Ashley offered.

"What would you three need with freshmen??" Morgana asked looking very surprised.

"Just some information gathering....." Ashley smiled.

"Ummm.... what sort of information?..." I asked feeling slightly hesitant.

Ashley leaned forward issuing all of us to lean in as well, "So I believe that the attack on the school and the malfunction in the Freshman Demonstration was linked, so my hypothesis is that it was an inside job.... someone must have sabotaged the school from the inside...." He informed us and leaned back and started eating again.

"So..... I propose five gold a week for keeping your ears open.... and then another 20gold if you get Creditable information." Ashley offered.

"Done." Jay instantly accepted instantly.

"Sounds good to me....." Helen replied.

"I"d do anything for gold right now... mother didn"t have much gold to give me.... and I"d prefer not to scare people into giving me stuff." Morgana admitted.

"Sounds like easy gold..." Grace accepted.

"Sure..." Me and Daisy agreed.

"Then it"s agreed here is your gold for the week..... And just keep your ears open....." Ashley accepted handing out gold coins to us. "Remember.... only information gathering... no action!" He sternly reminded us.

"Okay....." we all replied pocketing the gold before anyone saw.

"Ohhhh... and if you can keep this a little hush hush form the other two I would be very grateful." He smiled... "They don"t want to put you guys in any danger.. But I think you guys can handle yourselves.... just remember only keep your ears open.... no need to sneak around trying to seek information." Ashley added.

"Thank you for this oppotunity." Jay thanked Ashley sounding sincerely grateful.

"Well.. I"m full.... see you guys around....." Ashley said taking his leave.

"Bye..." We all bid him farewell.

"So... what do you think is going on?..." Helen gasped the moment Ashley was out of earshot.

"No idea... but when was the school attacked?.." Grace asked.

"Ohhh so when there was an Amber alert on the first day... a weird girl attacked the school." I answered whispering to the group.

"No way...." Helen gasped.

"Free gold is nice." Morgana leaned back and smiled shooting a glare at two male students who were looking at her making them quickly look away.

The bells rang in our heads letting us know it was time to head to our first lesson. "Ohhhh time to start the day." Jay said standing up folding some more bits of food and pocketing it before leading the way.