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"Frey, you've been kind of quiet." Thomas said as he walked up to the giant's side.

Frey turned to face the young noble. "I just don't have anything to talk about."

Thomas raised an eyebrow, seemingly caught off guard by a normal response. "Oh." He exchanged a look with Elero who was trailing behind with the students. "Nevermind. It was just that you were also… back in the swamp," he hesitated. "Nevermind. The students said to take the next left. That's where they came from." He pat Frey on the shoulder and walked back into the formation. Frey followed with a lingering gaze.

The students' directions led them to a mound of rubble connecting the first floor to a hole in the ceiling. Since the stairway had been destroyed, it was the next best thing. "Meet you guys at the top," Thomas said as he casually walked up the mound as if it were a staircase.

"Show off," Elero muttered as she tested a few handholds and clambered up after him.

  Frey sighed, dug the bottom of his poleax into the base of the unstable mound, and pushed off like a pole vaulter. The loose rock knocked his balance to the left as they tumbled away and his fingertips grazed the bottom of the ceiling. "Shit," he announced as the ground rose up to meet him. Two sets of hands caught him and hoisted him up to the second floor.

"You're welcome," Thomas teased. He puffed his chest out and a broad grin spread across his face. "So useless." Frey narrowed his eyes and grumbled out words of thanks.

"How does it look up there?" Lance called from below.

Frey scanned the hallway and clicked his tongue: "Empty." Not a single corpse lay along the narrow hallway that stretched onwards. Behind the three was a flat, featureless wall - a dead end. The only indication of damage were slight cracks in the stone. He kept his poleax at the ready and his gaze trained at the doors lining the left wall. Even though defensive enchantments held them shut, he was never a person to trust easily. "Lance, are you sure we are in the right place?"

The instructor in question stepped in front of the waiting crowd and was pulled up. Lance then looked out the windows along the right wall and nodded. "We're at the end of the southern hallway. We can loop around the entire floor if we follow the bend." He gestured down the hallway. "Before we do anything however, we need to help the rest." He stared at Frey.

"You people really do rely on magic for everything, don't you?" Frey said as he helped the students up with the shaft of his shiny new weapon acting as a rope.

Lance chuckled. "There's a saying: a mage without mana is a dead man. That's why whenever mages fight they stay out of arm's reach."

Frey raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

Lance paused: "Technically War Monks are an exception but the common consensus is that elemental magic is the strongest form of magic."

"Is that so?" Frey questioned again.

"It's what we've been taught," a student chimed in, followed by concurring nods.

"Is there a false rumor you believe?" Lance asked, more curious than anything else.

"No," Frey averted their gazes, realizing that he had almost tried to tell mages about magic. "If Doevm didn't say anything, then it must be true."

The smile on Lance's face froze before it could take shape. "I taught him about magic, not the other way around. I don't care what sort of dark practices he conducted before this." He stole a glance at Thomas. "He was put on a better path. I know where his old one leads."

Frey opened his mouth yet it was Elero who stepped forward on her legs reinforced by blue life essence. Something bubbled under her skin but she took a long, slow exhale and it subsided. "So do I," she said. "I know where it can lead a person but it's not up to you to decide." Her hand twitched, and Frey could have sworn that he saw a black leather book vanish from view.

"Let's save the lecture until the battle's over, kid," Lance said.

Frey shrugged, still staring down the vacant hallway. "So the demon king and the Head Mage are supposedly both here yet it's this quiet. I don't like this. We need to be extremely careful from here on out-" he paused as Lance casually strolled past him, opened the door to his left, and shut it behind him. The enchantments vanished as soon as he had grabbed the door handle.

"Instructor Lance, here with reinforcements," the three heard Lance's voice.

"Lance?" Another voice called from inside. "Thank the goddess. Come on in. Hurry!"

Lance opened the door again to see three confused faces. "What?"

Frey pointed over Lance's shoulder. "How did you know it would be safe?"

Lance shrugged: "Every door along this hallway all leads to classrooms, at the center of which is the Mess Hall. In the Mess Hall is the vault. It'd make sense that master Ostroch...the Head Mage would hold up there." He held the door open as dozens of students pushed past the leading trio.

When everyone was gone, Lance reached up and ruffled Frey's blood-soaked hair. "Don't worry big guy. You'll be a hero someday, but not after you stole my moment in the limelight." He flashed a smile reminiscent of Doevm's and shut the door in his face.

"Wow," Thomas chuckled before he stepped into the classroom. "What an ass."

"Kind of a let down to be honest," Elero said as she trailed behind. "I was ready to do or die."

Frey sighed. 'Doevm,' he thought. 'I don't know if you can hear me through whatever crazy magic you can use. Please show up Lance.' As he stepped through the doorway, his eyes went wide. Two transparent, golden domes blocked the doorway to the Mess Hall, the last stand.