90 Chapter 90 - Return Preparations

[Arthur Leywin POV]

After leaving that strange Elixir Store, we walked a little along the street behind other stores to buy more equipment. Tessia seemed to be unwilling to do all that, she really was only with us because of me, and because she wanted to be hugging Sylvie all the time... What a cute scene.

'Of course it's a cute scene! I'm with Mama!' Sylvie mentally spoke to me, and all I could do was give a light little giggle.

It was great and cozy those thoughts. I finally got up the courage and made a marriage proposal to the person I love, apparently everyone in her family and my family accepted it as if it were the most obvious thing to do. And besides, Sylvie might just be my bond, but I treat her like my own daughter... which makes Tess considered a "mother" after our marriage is performed... See "mother" and "daughter" together and happy like that... it made me unable to stop smiling.

However, slowly with all those happy things, I ended up remembering a small detail... "How will they react to knowing my secret?" I thought about that phrase for a while.

I really wanted to tell them before this wedding was completely official, I would feel dirty hiding something like that... Their choice wouldn't be using the whole situation, just the looks... If I'm to see who would be most affected by that... obviously would be my parents. While within the Eralith family, Alduin will possibly have a resistance, Merial will likely force Aya or Alea -after she being fully able to work- to run tests on me to find out whether or not I'm lying about wanting to keep their daughter safe, Virion would clearly go into shock, but being a former king, someone wise, and who trained me for so long, maybe he would recover from the situation faster than everyone and understand my motivations...

But in the case of Tess and Ellie... Maybe they understand and don't care because they are still quite childish and just wish my safety... or possibly go into shock and just observe my complete age from the past life with this one?

'Papa! Stop thinking about it! Hunf!' I heard Sylvie pounting mentally and took a deep breath, deciding to at least try to follow my dear daughter's wish.

We arrived at a kind of weapons store that the old man from the elixir store had indicated. It looked like a super common and simple store, but it had several items on display. There didn't seem to be any customers at the moment, the only people there were a boy, a little older than me, polishing armor, and a man counting coins. The man soon noticed our existence and approached.

"Oh! Hello kids. This isn't a place to be playing around, so would you please go outside?" He didn't seem to say it with any malice, but his slightly husky voice made anyone not paying attention think he was being rude.

"We understand the concern, but we came looking for some things to use. Me and my friends here are students at Xyrus Academy and we just returned from a school trip to Beast Glades. We noticed that our equipment was not as good as we had hoped, so we were looking for some something in case we need to take a school trip there again." My brother said that calling the man's curiosity, while the boy ended up looking at us, his gaze seemed scared with a slightly open mouth.

"Hm... I understand the situation now, but I don't think I can allow people like you here anyway... do you even have money to pay for equipment? I only accept Xyrus Academy students over 15 years old as customers who can come here without any responsable adult around." The man said crossing his arms.

"D-Dad... I don't think they have any problem buying things here..." The boy stopped what he was doing and walked closer, while Sylvie seemed to be looking around agitatedly, as if analyzing the sample items from far.

"What do you mean by that?" The man asked confused as his son came closer and seemed to bow.

"I'm really honored to see the student council president and two of the disciplinary committee vice-captains! I-I can't really believe I'm seeing you three in person, especially after the accident!"

"Accident...? How did you find out?" Tess asked.

As I watched the man's confusion increase a bit, the boy in front of us began to explain. Apparently he was a sixth year student and was only here to help his father while we were on school break, he was commenting on how the entire Academy seemed to go into a state of high alert over the incident that had transpired. Even though Vanesy asked no one to comment on the school trip until we were found, several students, both in her class and in Luz's class, ended up spreading the news. There was even a bizarre rumor being created that they would prepare a kind of meeting for mourning in case our bodies were found lifeless. This made everyone's eyes wide open, especially the eyes of the boy's father, who heard the whole situation without knowing anything beforehand.

"So... you are people considered important and powerful by Cynthia Goodsky herself... And you want to buy new equipment, because you weren't so prepared for a subtle and completely abnormal attack... is that it?" The man asked after trying to understand the situation.

"Eh... basically this..." I said scratching the back of my neck. "We came here because an old man recommended it, saying that there are great items here, with quality and at an affordable price if we are going to take into account what we have. My brother has several weapons, so he kind of just needs some light armor that can be put on by under the clothes. I'd like the same, with some additional swords... I already have my main sword, but it's always good to have a spare sword... I even had a spare one, but it ended up breaking..."

"And I wouldn't like anything, sir... I'm just here keeping them company." Tess said hugging my left arm while Sylv jumped up and was using my hair as a nest, as usual.

"Okay, vice captains, you can come with me. The items we have here in the front area are actually old or even just for attention. My real 'gold mine' is in the back room." The man said walking to a door and we followed him. "And Stuart! Stay here at the front and serve any customers that come up, if they have the special password or want an item in the sample area worth more than 20 silver coins, you let me know!"

Entering that area at the back of the store, the owner of the place started showing us some items and even let us test the weight and cut of some blades on a dummy that was back there. After what I think was 30 to 45 minutes, we had tested a lot of things and were already leaving the store, we had spent around 4 gold coins and 50 silver coins on everything.

The items we bought were: 3 sets of light armor, which were thin enough to wear under clothes, but quite durable and tough; 2 classic swords for me, which would serve as a backup, but had blades with a lot of resistance, thus allowing me to augment them; and finally, a small, round shield coupled with a gauntlet. The last item was Luz's idea, because that way there would be different ways for me to defend myself against attacks if Dawn's Ballad or my reserve swords left my hand.

We went through a few more stores to see if we could find a few more things that were of interest to us. I didn't buy anything else from that point on, meanwhile Luz bought some extra potions and items, and Tessia finally decided to buy something, but it was just a super cute ornate sword.

The blade of the sword she bought wasn't even sharp, and that had a very interesting ulterior motive. The blade part could be held, thus being able to turn it upside down and use the jewel on the hilt as if it were a strange staff, and when held on the common sword hilt, the mage's mana would be slightly sucked to create a layer on top of the blade, making it really sharp.

It still didn't seem to be very late, by the color of the sky above us, so we went to where we said we would meet our family, the Bakery GreenyBook. But on our way there, Tess caught my eye, squeezing tightly onto my arm as she hugged him.

"Art! Are we going to that place first?" She pointed to a jewelry store that was in our way, from the items that were on display, it was obvious that it was a type of jewelry store focused on mana gems for adventurers. As we were buying equipment, something that we could use on a daily basis as a basic accessory would be a great idea, so we went there together.

"Hm... the place seems too fancy for me... I'll go with Sylv to the place. Enjoy your time." Luz commented, leaving the area taking my bond, which kept moving all the time.

'Nooooo, I want to stay with papa and mama!!' Since her mental screams didn't seem to reach Luz, he just took her away while I pretended I wasn't listening either.

Left alone with Tess, I watched her walk to a glass drawer, looking at several rings, while a woman in fancy clothes approached me. "Oh, youngsters! What are kids doing here? Wanting to buy something for your mothers?" Her voice could be summed up in one word... smug.

"No big deal, my girlfriend wanted to observe some things, I'm just following her." Even if there was no "dating" period within elven culture, in theory we were officially in one, after all it was the period in the middle of friendship and marriage, the situation we are.

Tess blushed violently and hid her face as she seemed to focus now on the necklaces that were hanging down. The shop assistant smirked as she led me to an area full of earrings. "Oh! What a cutest thing! Anyway, I saw that maybe an earring would be great for her, I envy elves, they have so much room to put lots of them without looking strange." The saleswoman said so that only I could hear, while pointing to some. "Which one would you like to buy her?"

"Hm...." I thought a little, with a hand on my chin, it would be really good to buy accessories for her, after all so far I've only given her the bracelet, which can't even be considered an accessory for the meaning it has.

"Well, we are mages specialized in battles and things like that... Do you have any earrings that come with a mana gem? If it's wind, that would be even better." I asked, carefully observing the greenish colored earrings.

"I see, well... we have a model of what you're looking for, but it's quite expensive... we also have necklaces with wind gems." She said smiling and picking up an earring that was a little behind the others, there was a small tag pasted on the item, that pair of earrings cost 50 Silver coins.

"Okay, I'll get that, but I'd also like to see those necklaces you mentioned." I was soon guided to an area near the payment counter.

That employee took them from inside a locked drawer, there seemed to be 5 different models of necklaces, all contained gems of mana of the wind element and glowed green, with the exception of one, which caught my attention the most. That necklace had several small moss green jewels, which were outlined and protected by metallic gold wires, the rest of the structure of the necklace seemed to be made of silver, making it a mostly white item.

She noticed the necklace I was staring at the most, and commented on the item. "This one is a sub-gem necklace. We call it that because the original mana gem was broken and each shard was shaped and put here, because it was shattered, the color became darker, but it still works as a single mana gem, because all parts of the original gem are connected to the same item."

"I'm a mage with wind affinity, could I test this?" I asked and she accepted, possibly she knew I was careful and didn't want to be deceived by such information.

I gently held the necklace and channeled my wind mana into the object, the color of the gems glowed a very vibrant green, symbolizing that it still worked. I soon stopped channeling mana and looked at the price tag. As it was made using a shattered gem, the value of the item was around 5 silver coins, taking into account the price of simple earrings that use the same type of jewel, only complete, it was easy to understand that this value was really fair. But not so much for me, the fact that someone was careful not to leave any of the shards of the original gem behind should have made this item more expensive, but apparently that care when producing items wasn't taken into account for the final price.

"Hm... okay, I would like to buy the earrings and necklace." I took out my dimensional ring and took out a gold coin.

"Okay! Want me to gift-wrap it?" I just denied her question, and soon paid for the items, receiving a change of 45 silver coins.

As I turned to leave the store, I saw Tess holding several items and walking up to the counter. "I would like to buy all of this here."

The employee was even scared, maybe that was all worth a fortune. But she changed her expression when Tessia put several gold coins in front of the items, and thus paid for everything and put almost everything in small bags, possibly for gifts, with the exception of one item, which remained in her hand as she approached me.

"Art, I got some stuff for our families, but here's something just for you." She said with a soft smile on her face, but quite red cheeks and ears.

"Hm... I also bought you some things..." I said handing her the necklace and earring, making her smile widen and her ears agitated a little on the tips, but in a frantic way.

As we were now at the store's entrance, she decided to keep the earrings in her dimensional ring, while I helped her put the necklace on. Soon she gave me the item she bought for me, it was a ring with a very contrasting red jewel and gold structure. I put it on one of my fingers and felt a large blast of fire mana run through my hand.

"Hm... a ring of fire? Thanks, Tess." I thanked her as we walked away from the jewelry store's entrance.

"I-I also thank you for... buying me a necklace and earrings... I even feel bad that I only bought one thing for you... while you bought me two..." She said with a little low voice as she hugged more my right arm and we walked together.

"Don't worry, you know I'm pretty simplistic, just one ring is fine with me." She was glad for my answer and placed a kiss on my cheek, making me feel warm in that area. It was interesting how she seemed to have forgotten that we were on a public street now, but I didn't tell her that, not wanting to ruin the moment.

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Finally we arrived at the place where we agreed to meet, it was a kind of simple barery, but with plenty of space for customers who decided to eat there. I ended up not seeing Tess's family, but at least I found Ellie waiting out in the front. When she noticed our presence, she waved at us.

"There you are! People are waiting inside, we got a VIP table!" She said happily.

"VIP? In a bakery?" I asked quite confused.

"You really don't know anything, do you? This place is quite busy, with most of the customers being passing merchants and nobles who live in near neighborhoods. So of course they have a VIP section for important customers!" She spoke waving her arms, as if I were ignorant of the matter... Well, I was ignorant of it, but it was a small detail because I had not connected things.

Tess and I were led by my sister into the bakery, where we went through a door and into an enclosed room where everyone was seated around a large round table. Looking at the ceiling, I noticed that there was a kind of magical hologram, which gave the impression that we were in a place in the middle of a magical forest. A great decoration idea, I would say.

"Art, great you're here, we ordered some sweet rolls and slices of cake that will be here any minute!" Virion said as he pulled up a chair next to him.

The table was set in such a way that the three members of the Eralith family who were here, Tess included, were together. I then sat down next to Tess, who sat right next to Virion, and on the other side of the table was Luz, sitting between Merial and our mother. In the seats that were left, there was Ellie and our father.

"We were going to buy some things for you guys, sorry for the delay." Tess said smiling as she placed the small gift bags on the table, placing them next to each person who was gifted, and everyone opened them to see what it was.

My father had received a red jeweled ring, identical to mine, except that the frame was silver. My mother and sister received silver earings with small pale yellow gems. Merial received a very thin bracelet with several bright green and blue stones, and finally, Luz and Virion received a ring each, being super simple and silver, without jewelry.

"Thanks dear, didn't need that." My mom said a little embarrassed.

"It was nothing, we had gone into a jewelry store to look at things anyway, when I saw each of these items I thought they would look great on you." Tess replied, smiling softly.

"And I see that you also bought things for yourselves." Virion smirked, making everyone notice Tess's new necklace and the gold ring on my hand.

"This? Well... I bought it because it suited her, and because it has mana gems." When I said that, all the men laughed while the women stared at me and let out a big sigh.

"You never change, do you?" mom and dad said at the same time, he spoke in a funny tone while mom simply said in a way that she was worried about my ways.

"I actually got some earrings for Tess too, she just said she doesn't want to wear them right now." I said making her blush and nod her head, drawing another laugh from Virion and dad.

Soon the food arrived and we enjoyed it a lot, first there were several breads stuffed with chocolate and strawberries, then there were small cakes that seemed to have red fruit topping, because I could feel the texture. Finally, we asked for something savory and what was delivered to us was a family-sized pie made with cheese and strips of meat. Clearly Sylv really wanted the strips of meat, so I had to get two slices of the pie for myself and one of them I separated the meat from the rest so she could eat.

We talked a little about the things we bought in addition to accessories for everyone, mom's expression seemed to calm down when she saw the amount of defensive items I bought, it made her realize that I wasn't just a madman who swings a sword without worrying with life itself... Although I hated this view she had about me, she wasn't wrong... at least not completely wrong... But as we got into this subject, I remembered what that boy had told us before, and I looked into everyone's eyes.

"Hm... we weren't planning this, but... Mom... Dad... instead of returning home with you, I'd like to go to Xyrus Academy... at least to let the others know that I'm fine... and with 'the others', I'm clearly referring to Cynthia and the group I'm partly responsible for..." I spoke calmly, feeding Sylv one last bite of meat.

"It really is better that you do this sooner rather than later... People's concern may cause some kind of panic... Taking into account that you two are teachers, while my dear is the leader of the group, carrying out the inspection bureaucracy of the rules, within the Academy." Merial said, putting a slight smile on her face.

"If they are going there, I will too, I need to sort out some things there... That and the girls must be having a panic attack with the news of my school trip, especially Kathyln and Lilia... since Claire was there at the moment, I think that at least she calmed down." When Luz said that, Tess shivered a little.

"I-I agree… K-Kathyln really can get out of hand." When she said that, we all looked at her with confused eyes, even my brother.

"What are you talking about, Tess? At most she just keeps hugging me tight…" When he said that, her face flushed absurdly.

Tess tried to say more, but her voice was shaky with… fear? "Y-you didn't know... W-Well, I was the only witness to that... but... do you remember when you were still hospitalized?"

"Yeah… all that craziness with Curtis and your Beast will giving you pain in your mana channels. What's up with that?"

"Tessia... what happened?" Virion asked, it was clear as a giant lamp in the middle of the night, that Tess was ultra uncomfortable with that... but I never imagined that she would say something like...

"Claire came to visit you when you were passed out... it was in the morning... the day I woke up... I met her and later she told me that Kathyln was still in the room with you... then I waited thinking it was better to leave her alone... because she has difficulty expressing herself... but she took so long that I went inside and..." She gave a slight cough "She was literally sitting on top of you... kissing you, even when you were unconscious. "

Everyone's eyes, including mine, widened, while Luz sighed, but was clearly trying to control his reactions… I think… "Are you telling me you're acting strange like that because Kathyln wanted to kiss me?"

"Yes… b-but I think she would try something else if I didn't arrive on time…" She replied slowly, returning to her calm state.

"So... the princess is seeing my son as some kind of toy that she can do anything with?" My dad commented and I sighed, wondering the same thing myself.

"Blaine is the type who thinks everything human related is something he can have or command… unfortunately, I bet she got that from him." Virion commented a little embarrassed, after all he was seen by many as the person with the most power within The Council of Dicathen, so, in theory, most of the things the other councilmen do would be his responsibility as well.

"Then we should go now..." Luz commented walking towards the door and giving a light laugh. "Whoever arrives last will pay for the dinner at the next group meeting!"

When he said that, he started to run at full speed out of the bakery. It took a few seconds for me to get out, with Sylv following me, while Tess was right behind me. To speed things up, we decided to use our main mobility spells.

"Soul Speed!" Luz exclaimed his spell, classic black mist erupting from behind his legs as he took a huge leap, heading towards the Academy.

"Accel Wind!" Tessia followed him, leaping, her feet surrounded by mini hurricanes, she glided through the air, sometimes needing to land to jump again.

"Thunderclap Impulse!" I activated my lightning spell, while Sylv jumped on my back and grabbed my shirt, I went by another route to get closer to them.

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[3rd Person POV]

"Where is he... where... where... my god this is a disaster... are all the people he was with incompetent or what?" Kathyln thought as she paced back and forth in the disciplinary committee's main room.

Due to the way the accidents happened and the fact that some people were not present on Sunday, the news reached the ears of all members of SC/DC only some minutes ago. Three important members of the two groups had suffered an accident, but they would only be reported as missing when a full day had passed after the incident, that is, from 5 pm today, the first Monday within the winter holiday.

In that same room were five more members of the disciplinary committee Curtis, Claire, Doradrae, Theodore and Feyrith, in addition to all the members of the student council, with the exception of their president. All they knew of the situation that happened to Luz came from what Kai and Emily told them, with Kai having to stay in the medical ward, having said that he had broken some bones and was in a lot of pain when moving in parts of his body.

As for Arthur and Tessia's situation, Glory didn't seem to want to talk about what happened, leaving only Claire, the student who had last left that Dungeon, but unfortunately she didn't know how to accurately report it, due to the fact that she wasn't present at the time both had fallen.

Yes, the word "fallen" was the only thing they managed to get out of important information with Professor Glory.

"Kathyln... pacing back and forth isn't going to help at all..." Curtis commented to his sister, trying to calm her down, or at least make her sit in one of the chairs near the central table.

Claire sighed. "I agree, this is not going to help at all... I know that many of you are in shock over what happened, even I am, but we still have duties to do... don't take it easy just because most of the students that are here during the holiday, are here for club's activities." She commented looking a little at a teapot that was on the table. She herself had prepared that tea so that anyone who was feeling stressed could drink some, but so far no one has touched it, not even her.

"I agree... there's no reason the princess is worried about a commoner, the serious situation is that Arthur took President Tessia down the same hole as him." When that comment was made, everyone was wide-eyed, and some were clearly irritated by it, obviously the person who commented on it was Clive.

"What did you say?" Kathyln commented, in a voice that no one could understand her real emotions.

"Yeah... what did you say?" Claire, Theodore and Lilia spoke at the same time, the three were irritated with the way the vice president spoke, but managed to control themselves a little, with the exception of Lilia, who ended up banging her fist on the table, in front of her, while asking.

"Seriously... I honestly don't understand what the hell you see in those two.. They're just hicks who were hanging out on farms and fores-" Before continuing, Clive was stopped by an onslaught of water hitting his head, making him fall off the chair and get his face and hair completely wet.

"Are you saying that living close to nature and trying to live a peaceful life... is a hick thing?" It was Feyrith who said that, some were even surprised by that, after all the only elf on the disciplinary committee never acted like that by himself, and his eyes... even without speaking loudly or in an irritated way, his eyes said with certainty that he was already out of patience for that.

Not only him, but absolutely everyone there, had no patience for Clive's provocations and prejudiced comments. Three people dear to everyone, three great friends, companions, leaders... Clive was badmouthing two of them, while also saying that one of them endangered the third person...

"Arthur?... putting Tessia in danger? How stupid are you thinking? Are you mentally retarded?" Not only the disciplinary committee members thought that, even the other student council members had that in mind. And even without speaking it, they knew all of them were in the same page.

"Are you guys crazy by any chance? That's pointless sentimentali-" Before he could complete the sentence again as he stood up, someone cast another spell.

"Ice Jaw..."

Sharp spikes of ice appeared around Clive and above him a cluster of more spikes floated, all connected to a rectangular piece of ice, the vice president was now in what looked like a cell, with the spikes deforming and taking on an appearance that more closely resembled the giant, sharp teeth of a mana beast. Across the room, Kathyln could be seen, with a black wand raised, she was the one who casted that spell.

"I asked... for you to repeat what you said before... not to give a stupid answer... You said 'there's no reason the princess is worried about a commoner'... That commoner saved my life... That commoner always protects everyone when they are in trouble... He is better than you will be in every way... He is better than you to lead, he is more responsible than you... and you will never be the man enough to get noticed when you're around him... even near him... you're the disgrace of a grain of sand, which I wouldn't be afraid to crush..."

Kathyln was saying this as she walked towards Clive, she didn't even walk around the table, she just climbed onto the table like it was nothing and walked in a straight line to him. Everyone was startled by the way she was acting, it was like a powerful aura was coming out of her body. The princess never took Clive out of her sights.

"K-Kathyln, please, I know we all think Clive is a complete asshole a lot of the time." Claire said, making Clive look confused, after all he really thinks he's right, but soon she continued talking. "But we don't want any more trouble between us, okay? Remember our duty as a disciplinary committee, we have to show grit and power, but only against those who deserve it."

"And you think he doesn't deserve to have his face rubbed in a stable?" Kathyln said in a powerful voice, still exuding that murderous and dominant aura, making some of the members of both groups stand up and move away a little, even Curtis had to move away, it was almost suffocating him.

Claire let out a sigh and approached Kathyln, gently touching her hand that was holding her wand. "If you want, we can make a formal complaint to Director Cynthia, you know that she also sees both Luz and Arthur as ideal people for our group, she will possibly understand what you are feeling..." With the words, the captain of the disciplinary committee managed calm Princess Glayder, at least for her to put down her wand and get down from the table.

Shortly after that, Curtis went towards Clive and began to melt the ice cell he was in, thus releasing him. "Don't do any more nonsense, understand, Clive? I'm not speaking as a colleague, but as a son of a Councilmen of Dicathen..." Curtis really hated using titles as a means of achieving goals, but maybe then Clive would understand the level of bullshit he was talking about.

The vice president got up without saying anything, just with a look of... angry?... yes, he was angry with how people were handling the whole situation.

He walked towards the door to get out of there, with most watching him and others being ashamed to see someone like him acting in such a childish and futile way. But it was at this moment that something rather improbable happened.

Before reaching the handle, the door opened by itself, and there was a girl with platinum hair and elongated ears. She was dressed very simply and casually as she watched everyone there. "Ah...you're here, I thought you were all in the main student council room as usual."

Everyone's eyes widened when they saw that girl, and right behind her there seemed to be 2 other boys, the one from auburn hair spoke first. "Oh.. ayo guys..." He nodded a little embarrassed.

Next to him, the dark haired one commented. "I hope the situation wasn't too troublesome for yo-"

Before he could continue, a dark silhouette appeared like a jet, flying from inside the room towards the dark haired boy, knocking him to the ground. It was Kathyln, she threw herself in hugging him with all the strength she could and face buried in his clothes. She started to cry madly, without letting go, while everyone else continued to be surprised by what happened, and even in that state, Clive watched Arthur with an angry look, it seemed like a vein was going to burst on his forehead.

"You!!!" he exclaimed, putting a finger in Arthur's face. "YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TROUBLE YOU CAUSED!?!"

Tessia got a neutral expression watching the scene in front of her, but her eyes looked dead, as if she didn't have the patience for something like this. Meanwhile, Luz tried to calm Kathyln, with light caresses on her hair, but he couldn't get up at any time.

"...." Arthur sighed and decided to ignore Clive, walking past him to the others. "Guys! Did something happen while we were gone?"

The vice president watched the boy ignore him, but before he could say anything, vines appeared and wrapped around his mouth, preventing him from speaking. "You...come with me...now...." Tessia spoke in a cold and incredibly terrifying voice, making Clive shiver with fear as she led him downstairs.

It took a while for everyone to calm down and get comfortable next to each other. Through the window, they could see the sky starting to turn orange, everyone was sitting around the table or sitting on the sofa there, talking and interacting, wanting to know about the news on both sides.

Meanwhile, Luz was bringing out some food for everyone, it was cupcakes as usual. He soon sat down next to Claire, but in doing so, he made Kathyln use his lap as a seat for her to eat cupcakes and drink tea. Nobody decided to talk about it, as the Leywins had already found out what happened minutes before they arrived, it was best not to make the ice princess angry or irritated again.

"So... did you really survive a fall of that level? I can't believe it..." Dora commented, while eating some cookies and a cup of black coffee.

"Well... it was more of a 'hold on to the first thing you see' situation..." Arthur said, sighing.

He and Luz were talking only when necessary, leaving aside the whole situation involving Alea and the hybrid, Uto. For everyone present, what happened was just a fall into the dungeon, followed by a trip out of it without encountering so many dangers, that way everyone was more reassured about their well-being and Tessia's, who had not yet returned.

"Anyway, it's good to see everyone is safe...but where's Elijah? He had left Helstea Manor earlier than us to come see you." Luz raised a very important point, which even Arthur didn't notice.

"Well... if he's here at the academy, he didn't come in this building at all today, maybe he went straight to see Emily." Lilia said, after taking a big bite in a cupcake.

"Seeing his level of concern for her... it's really very likely that he went to visit her first and she's holding him back a bit so they can talk more.." Theo said his theory.

"Speaking of concern… did you guys hear anything regarding my students?" Luz asked, while taking a cupcake close to Claire's mouth, she accepted it, and in order not to create a jealous situation, he did the same with Kathyln.

"Well... Some students in Kai's class had problems..." Theodore replied, and Curtis could be seen watching the floor, a little tense.

"Almost no one arrived seriously injured, Kai said he had pain in some bone joints, and Batty had a broken leg... but... Alexyo... She arrived here at school badly burned... I visited her in the hospital wing this morning... She said she was okay, but the emitters are still worried about the way her arm burned... Tell me... what happened there?... I heard you were with these people a lot of the time..." Curtis spoke in a voice full of concern.

"Fire Mana Beasts appeared in an area with low humidity on the sixth floor of the dungeon... They seemed to release fireballs at such an intense speed that even I was startled... I would expect that from a B-rank dungeon. .. but Drowned Refuge is considered D-rank... All mana beasts were altered in some way... And since the Eralith family is in town, because of the situation with Tessia, when all this calms down, I'll ask them to at least send some groups to investigate what's going on... It's much better not to have incidents like that in the future..." Saying that, everyone agreed, Arthur took a while to also agree, after all, he knew that that was a lie, the Council of Dicathen was already sending powerful mages to these dungeons to investigate, and he already knows, a little at least, what caused it... but he has no reason to say... he has no reason to panic others...

"Well... are you staying here today?" Feyrith asked as he sipped from a cup of hot chocolate.

"I have to go home... my sister is dying to stay with me as much time as possible..." Arthur said, giving a light laugh and scratching the back of his head.

"And I still have some things to do with the Eraliths. But first I need to talk to Cynthia as soon as possible... so maybe I'll stay here until midnight and then return to the Helstea mansion, after all, I have an extra key." Luz gave a light laugh making Lilia and Arthur startled.

"Do you have an extra key?!" They both exclaimed, making everyone else look confused.

"After I asked Vincent so much, he handed me one. The pre-text for me to have it, is because that way I can always go there and have access to my study room, since my bedroom here is not that big , and I can't leave my stuff in my lab, since is also my classroom." He said as he took a silver key from the dimensional ring and played with it on his index finger.

"I see... anyway, Art... It would be good if you stayed here with us too if we need to... Maybe you could even bring your sister if the problem is her wanting to stay close." Claire had a warm smile.

"Hm...okay. Maybe I'll bring my parents too if they're not busy...and we'll probably stay in my practice room if that happens." Arthur spoke thoughtfully as he slowly got to his feet. "I'll go find Tessia and let her know I'm coming back to home... See you later." And so Arthur left the DC main room.

A few seconds passed until Luz spoke, with a smirk on his face "Do you want to know something absolutely incredible?"

"Eh?? I thought that was all said" Feyrith commented confused, while finishing his hot chocolate.

"Hm... it's something that is better dont say with Art around." He replied, the smirk still locked on his face.

"And that would be…?" Dora asked with a raised eyebrow.

Luz replied in a mischievous voice, hugging Kathyln, who was still in his lap. "Let's say that... we will have a new prince in Dicathen.~"