"Ah crap, I am here again," Allen mumbled, as he rubbed his eyes, waking up.
"Lily, he's waking up!," a familiar voice came from the side of him.
"Good. I was wondering how he was managing to sleep through all of this commotion," another familiar voice piped in.
"Tom? Lily?," Allen asked, as he sat up. He finally saw his two friends sitting in the chairs next to him.
"Hey! Sleep well?," Thomas grinned.
"About what you could expect," Allen groaned as he took in the scene around him.
Allen quickly noticed he was inside the academy's infirmary, but instead of it being quiet the several times he has been here, it was instead stocked with many students taking up the normally empty beds.
Many of the nurses went around and were treating the injured, while some of the students were with their friends to make sure they were okay. Luckily, no one looked like they were injured too badly, but it was still rather loud in the room.
"What happened while I was unconscious? Is Rose okay?," Allen asked, as he missed what happened after.
"She's fine," Thomas reassured him. "Last I heard, she was with her other student council members, filling in the magical knights and triumvirate members what happened. Luckily no one really got hurt, and not many students ran into the fire mages."
"Glad to hear no one was majorly hurt, but Triumvirate members?," Allen asked, confused. "What are they doing here?"
"Well to be fair, I don't think a major fire mage attack has happened in awhile," Thomas brought up. "I have no idea what their plans are, but quite honestly it doesn't seem good"
"You're getting that feeling too, huh?," Cecily looked at Thomas. "I know they are here to help us, but something about this situation is off putting"
So, even they have their own suspicions about it, Allen thought to himself. Just what goes on in the Triumvirate, with William's brother Solomon in charge?
Everything about the Triumvirate seemed wrong to Allen, especially since he was a fire mage himself. The way they conducted themselves, the way the magical knights fell into line, something didn't add up.
Allen thought back to his first encounter with Solomon, back when they had the magical knights training program with Philip Lycott. He had seen Solomon, only briefly, after Allen's encounter with that fire mage. Allen could never forget that encounter, the strange fear he felt as he passed by Solomon.
Wait, could that fire mage be connected to today?, Allen thought. No, he didn't seem the type to do something like this. He was cautious of me, and didn't immediately attack me. Just what is going on?
"Anyways back on topic," Thomas' voice brought Allen back to reality. "Apparently they are removing classes temporarily, as they investigate what happened, and make sure everyone is okay"
"Makes sense of course, but it sucks that we won't have studying time," Cecily sighed.
"Well, I don't really see an issue with it," Thomas grinned.
"Oh? Really?," Cecily gave him a smile, but with murderous intent.
"Wait, Lily we can talk about this!," Thomas immediately started to say, as he almost fell out of his chair.
"Oh, do tell," Cecily said, as she kept the same look on her face.
While Thomas and Cecily were having their own scuffle, Allen thought back to what had happened before he blacked out.
He remembered fighting against the fire mages with Rose and her student council members, and then using his newly discovered ability, which he calls "Magical Release". He had Rose cast her magic at him, so then he could use the water magic against the fire mages, which water magic is their weakness.
Shortly after, one of his previous classmates, the 2nd year water mage, arrived on the scene with a few magical knights. As it turned out, his name was Nicholas, and he was with the magical knights. Nicholas had asked for everyone's cooperation, before Allen had finally blacked out.
"Nicholas…," Allen said out loud, as he gave the whole thing a thought.
"Huh? Who's Nicholas?," Thomas asked, after he managed to get Cecily to calm down.
"Ah, I need to tell you guys about that," Allen realized.
Allen did his best to explain the situation that had happened before he passed out from exhaustion. While explaining, the entire time Thomas and Cecily just seemed to stare at him in disbelief.
"Wait what?!?," Thomas raised his voice, before Cecily shushed him. "That dude in our class? No way, you have to be pulling my leg!"
"No, I am serious," Allen assured him. "I was in disbelief just as you are now"
"But, what was he doing in our classroom then?," Thomas brought up. "If he's with the magical knights, why our classroom out of any classroom?"
"That, I do not know," Allen admitted. "There was only so much I could learn before I passed out"
"I also do find that rather strange," Cecily spoke up. "I'm with Thomas on this one. Why the F ranked classroom?"
Yeah why would he be in our old class?, Allen thought to himself. It makes no sense.
"Wow, this whole time he was in our class, right under our noses…," Thomas shook his head.
Come to think of it, who was that other girl, the first year earth mage who always wore that hoodie?, Allen thought to himself.
He recalled that she always seemed to be watching him during class, which Allen always thought was rather odd, but never confronted her about it. There was also that time, back during the training program, where she had been watching him, and then mysteriously vanished for a short time.
Wait, could that also be potentially connected?, Allen thought. No, I must be overthinking things. Plus, I decided already I would let that go.
"Regardless, at least we know now," Cecily pointed out. "I am sure we can find out later. But for right now, I think Allen needs more rest"
"No, I am fine, see?," Allen said, as he got up, stretching. "My ability makes me exhausted, but only for a short time"
"Hmm, are you sure?," Cecily asked, concerned for her friend.
"Yeah, I promise. I didn't take much damage from the fight anyways," Allen pointed out, as he was already strapping his sheath that held his sword to his hip.
"Well, alright then. But just what do we do now?," Cecily asked.
"Hmm, guess we could train, but I doubt they'd let us in the training rooms at this time," Thomas brought up.
As the three of them thought about what they could do to pass the time, another familiar face walked into the infirmary room, almost on queue.
"Yo," Stephen put his hand up to greet them.
"Stephen?!," the three of them said out loud.
"What, were you expecting a pretty female face?," he grinned. "Don't worry, I'd love to see one too"
"What are you doing here?," Allen asked. "I thought you would be-"
"Sorry to interrupt, but I was told to get you three," he brought up.
"Let me guess, William wants to see us?," Allen asked.
"Bingo," Stephen snapped his fingers as he pointed in Allen's direction. "My father called for us, but he said it was urgent and to make it quick"
"Well, I suppose let's get moving then," Thomas said, already out of his chair.
The three of them began making their way to William's office, on the other side of the academy. As they walked the halls of the academy, Allen noticed the damages that were made to the academy building, even if minimal.
"Just what happened while I was outside during all of this?," Allen asked out loud, as he turned his head to look all around him.
"Quite a bit, actually," Stephen said, as a matter of factly. "Luckily not many of them managed to get inside, but those that did were met with the teachers of our academy. Not many got hurt, as you probably already know"
"Yeah, I remember seeing the teachers running around the academy, as they tried to get all of us to safety," Thomas recalled. "Lily and I personally didn't run into any fire mages ourselves, though"
"That's good to hear. I may have seen a few, but I was too busy helping out the teachers get students to safety to encounter any of them," Stephen added.
"Just how many of them were there?," Thomas asked, curious. "Not everyday you see a fire mage"
"Hmm, I am not sure to be honest," Stephen shrugged. "Enough to cause this mess, as you can see"
"Rose, the student council members and I all encountered at least a dozen," Allen added.
"Oh yeah, I heard tidbits from Rose, but not a lot since she's been busy handling this whole situation," Stephen put a finger up. "Mind telling me what happened?"
Allen did his best to explain what happened yesterday, but decided to leave out the information about Nicholas. He would probably tell Stephen later, but found it easier than trying to explain everything to him.
"Wow, quite a bit happened on your end," Stephen laughed. "But, don't take my laughter like I wasn't worried. I'm honestly glad to see all of you safe"
"Wow, Steph caring about his friends? That's something new," Allen laughed.
"Hey! I'll have you know that I actually do care!," Stephen gave him a look. "After all, I would share with you the color of the girls' p-"
"On behalf of Rose, I will take care of you myself, Steph," Cecily immediately interrupted, glaring at him.
"You do not want to make her mad, take that from me, Stephen," Thomas quickly leaned in and whispered to Stephen.
"Alright, alright, I'll call it quits. For now…"
"Hmph, guess I'll accept that for now, until I report you to Rose," Cecily gave him a smile with murderous intent.
"Alright, well look, that's crazy, we're already here!," Stephen quickly changed the topic, putting his hands out to exaggerate the fact that they had made it to William's office.
"You can come in," William's voice immediately came from inside.
The four of them shuffled in, to find William sitting at his desk, with their vice director Martha Clark to the side of him.
Now that I think about it, we haven't seen Ms. Clark in person in awhile, have we?, Allen thought to himself.
"Please, take your seats," William motioned to the seats that sat in front of his desk.
As they took their seats, Allen noticed the usual, friendly smile William always had on him was missing. This made sense, after all he had just come back to the whole mess that was created while he was gone. In addition, the reason he was gone may have been part of the issue.
"So father, I hope your personal trip went well," Stephen nodded. "But what's going on? Care to explain why you wanted us here?"
"Unfortunately Rose, Alice and August could not make it here, for their own good reasons, so I will go ahead and proceed with the four of you," William began.
"Huh? What's going on?," Allen asked, suddenly getting very concerned.
William put his hand up, as if to tell him he will be getting to that.
"First of all, I need to issue out a warning to all of you. Concerning the circumstances of what's taken place during the time I was gone, I am concerned for what is to come…," William started to explain, lowering his head.
"Huh? What's to come? What are you talking about father?," Stephen asked, very confused.
"I'm also with Stephen on this. What's going on William? What does the fire mage attack have to do with-"
As if on queue, the door to his room had suddenly been pushed open very fast. While Rose would normally be the one to open the door like this, it was unfortunately not her, but instead a group of what appeared to be a few magical knights, and someone else in professional and fancy looking attire.
Wait a second, Allen thought to himself. I've seen clothes like this before.
Allen recalled once again his short encounter with Solomon Windblade, William's older brother, and his subordinate, Julian. Both of them had clothes on just like the person in front of them with the magical knights, but theirs were much more lavish. Could it be another Triumvirate member?
As if to answer his question, the man spoke.
"William Windblade, current Head Director of the Academy, I am Edmund, a Triumvirate official, and I am here on official Triumvirate business"
"Well, welcome in, Edmund. Tell me, what business do you have for me?," William asked, his posture suddenly becoming more composed.
"On order coming from Solomon Windblade himself, as well as rest of the voting members of the Triumvirate, you are hereby temporarily removed from your position as head director of this academy, and as well as being arrested under claims of your possible involvement with the recent fire mage attack at this academy"
Everyone in the room had suddenly felt a tight pressure, from the words that had just come out of the Triumvirate member's mouth.
Just what is going on?, Allen immediately thought to himself, as he started to become very concerned for what is to come, as he constantly looked back and forth between William, and the Triumvirate official who introduced himself as Edmund.
Volume 7 End