So far you only cared about what both Erik and Alice were doing in some unnamed forest. It is about time you also learn a bit on what was transpiring elsewhere in that kingdom. Even if you ever think they should not care about religion and politics, some well organized groups there would clearly disagree with your opinion.

One of the opposing factions was a religion that had a strong influence in the political circles. That power was formally called the Ancient Rosacean Order of the Imperial Wisdom, or Rosacean for short. As you might have noticed by now, they are Imperialists by nature. Conquest was never out of the question. You better never forget about that!

Their headquarters were located in the region of Idruscia, the center of all archaic festivities and magical events. Some people even dared to say that they claimed to monopolize all of the alleged signs and miracles that could ever transpire in this nation.

It is possible that one day they would love to move the royal capital to their beloved city of Lumnia. Why am I saying this? That is because they often refused to attend to the actual capital to discuss important matters. The last few monarchs were cowards that always complained about this, yet, they wound up complying to the Pontifex Lumino’s demands no matter what.

Some rumors also accused the order of just acknowledging minor miracles in other parts of the kingdom. They would do so under certain circumstances. Their main condition usually was that some nobleman or rich merchant had previously made a generous donation to their order. How convenient indeed.

And that certainly was the basic 101 lesson of religious history of Erik’s world. Now comes that part where you will finally connect the dots between the Rosacean and a student of his academy. To your dismay, I may add here.

There was a small group among the priests that wanted to knight the young Erik Seidel in a month or two at the latest. Normally, it would depend mainly on his availability and disposition to serve the order. However, they were too eager to control, err, persuade him to follow their sacred path of justice and dewitchification. And honestly, I do not even know if that term even exist.

Two religious members of the Rosacean order were walking down a large hallway surrounded by many stone classrooms and a lush garden to the left. In the middle of it, you could also find some fountain that sported some ancient pagan goddess, now renamed as the saint Aquatia, the matron of all water sources.

“Just in case he refuses to join our prestigious organization”, the water priest Pozza suggested. “You may use any available means to convince him of doing so, like worrying about the safety of his poor siblings.”

“Especially because we have been their legal guardians ever since that sorrowful event”, a minor priest promptly added.

“That is the spirit, my dear disciple!”, his former teacher approved of his excellent reply. “I knew for sure that you would not disappoint me.”

“I just wonder what would happen if he finds out anything about his siblings’ true identities”, the young priest mentioned.

“Make sure that day never comes, my dear student!”, Pozza sternly warned him. “Every one of us should always follow the path that we have envisioned through the inspiration of saint Aquatia. There are no exceptions to this rule!”

“Yes, your excellency! I will keep your words of wisdom in my mind and close to my heart”, the youngster replied.

The White Light Guards

A couple of meters or feet away from the priests, there was a pair of guards that had been appointed by the king himself. Well, it was the captain of the White Light Guards the one responsible for this assignment. This was part of a long standing tradition. As you might have suspected by now, they were loyal to His Majesty instead of the religious guys.

“After working for several years for this dudes clad with white robes, I can’t stop feeling they’re still worshiping a pagan goddess in disguise”, a middle aged guard commented to his colleague.

“What if you’re right ‘bout that?”, the other guard voiced. “They’d be nuttin’ but a bunch of hypocrites pretending to attend very important religious matters while they’re just craving for money and power. The other day one of the water priests took a slut home and who knows what he did to her there…”

“Seriously, Rafelo?” The first guard got startled. “How’d ya learn ‘bout that?”

“Oh come on, Gallo!”, guard Rafelo exclaimed. “It ain’t hard at all! Just take a night shift and ya’ll see for yourself. Guaranteed.”

“Shouldn’t we report this to the king?”, Gallo inquired of him.

“In due to time, Rafelo”, his fellow guard answered. “In due time. First we gotta make sure they don’t suspect we’re extremely loyal to His Majesty.”

“Crap! That’s gonna take us a whole decade or so if the captain never cares to recall us back to the barracks”, Gallo the guard expressed in disappointment.

Lady Stigia

Let us focus on the events taking place in the Stigia region now. Deep in the mountainous forest, the headquarters of the other mysterious group was located close to the mythical river Styx and they had shown some serious interest in our beloved academy in the last couple of weeks.

Inside an eerie room lit by several torches and adorned with terrorific heads of animals, their supreme leader was sitting on sort of throne made out of animal bones. Then someone had arrived there. The boss was growing impatient and her second in command knew it very well.

“How’s our mission going so far, Stella Nera?”, the high breasted leader of the secret organization questioned.

“You mean that mission, my lady? Well, the latest reports indicated our men have reached the nearby town earlier this evening”, her plain chested assistant informed her nervously.

“That sounds decent to say the least”, the evil lady remarked. “I won’t accept any failure lest they’re feeling desperate as to get consumed by the dark waters as their due punishment.”

“I wish I’d tell her they’ll capable men and women and won’t ever fail her. Even so that’d put me in an awkward position if they ever come back empty handed”, Stella Nera thought.

As a matter of fact, two or three of their special teams had been lurking around the town located near the academy that we all love and hate. Usually their teams were composed of alleged assassins, spies and infiltrators. They were all dressed in black suits but some of them wore light iron armor. For obvious reasons, they had to paint them black.

Curiously, they kept their killer agents away from the populace. They would only come forward in case their comrades had been publicly exposed. At that moment they would take proper care of their fallen agents and any witnesses found in the vicinity as well.

Some additional team went straight to the academy. In fact, twenty agents were already on top of the outer stone walls and nobody had spotted them so far. Five of them belonged to the all female squad called Rose Nere or black roses in Italian. They all had a clear goal in mind.

“Remember what we’ve learned about Alice Raven and her roommate Sienna Balducci”, their leader asserted.

“Yeah, we know!”, an underling responded. “Both are supposed to be proficient in magic arts, meaning they’re quite dangerous.”

“Bah! I’m not afraid of some hocus pocus!”, a thirty year old guy claimed.

“Underestimate these wannabe wizards at your own risk”, an older agent adverted.

“Hey boss! Let me get rid of the male students, especially that bastard named Erik Seidel”, a young agent nicknamed Piccino demanded.

“Denied!”, the team leader replied. “Let the females handle Mister Seidel instead.”

“Understood!”, the leader of the Rose Nere affirmed. “We’ll take care of him, swiftly.”

“That’s totally unfair… but I guess I’ve got no choice here”, Piccino grudgingly accepted his leader’s untimely decision.

“But first, cast the fluffy pillow spell, girls”, the leader ordered.

“As you command, boss!”, the Rose Nere shouted in unison.

Even if the leader had never prevented Piccino from killing any stubborn male students, the latter was not satisfied with that. He had been holding a deep grudge against our friend Erik for many years and had even thought that the day for exacting his revenge had finally come.

Anyway, the girls were busy taking their places in very specific spots like defense towers or even the academy’s famous clock tower. They soon started casting their sleeping spells.

An Unexpected Alliance

While the infiltrators and assassins were running around, looking for their prey, they did not notice that some of the teachers had not fallen asleep at all. Actually, Miss Morrigan had been paying attention to her crystal ball ever since the holidays had started.

Some invisible spell placed on the outer walls acted as a silent alarm that triggered a hidden mechanism in the library. It seemed to be some sort of archaic version of the Tesla coil and it was named the thunderstorm generator. Its intense electric activity would change the usual color of the crystal ball to light blue as a side effect.

Jane quickly noticed the color change and run as fast as she could. Once she had reached the teachers’ office building, Miss Morrigan slipped in with ease. There she started looking for the biology teacher. Soon the middle aged woman was knocking heavily on Mister Jäger’s office door.

“Stop making so much noise, Miss Morrigan!”, the biology professor yelled. “It’s always been open, you know.”

“Oops! Sorry ‘bout that but I was worried you might have fell under their spell”, the librarian said.

“I guess you’re here to tell me they’ve finally arrived, haven’t they?”, the teacher queried.

“That’s right! They’ve brought some spellcasters along, Mister Jäger”, Jane Morrigan told him.

“Well, since you supervised the installation of the thunderstorm generator, some of my colleagues and students are getting a nice power boost by now. I guess we’d ask all of those thunder wizards to face them in battle”, the teacher assessed.

“Yeah, that might sound quite great indeed but don’t forget the fact that we’ve got less than twenty of them in the academy right now”, she alerted him.

“We’ll be fine!”, he stated. “By the way, were your minions able to find Mister Seidel or the ladies inside the campus?”

“Now that you’re asking ‘bout them, it seems they haven’t found them as of yet”, Jane recognized.

“You know, those are some darn good news under our current circumstances, miss Morrigan”, Mister Jäger asserted. “Therefore, I can now focus on cutting some bastards’ throats.”

Jane Morrigan felt uneasy after learning about his plan. His blood thirst was one of the several reasons she never accepted to marry him, even after Erik’s grandfather had ordered her to do so back in the days of the Seidels’ partial dominion of the kingdom.

As a side note, you might want to know that our tender friend Sienna Balducci, also known as Erik’s new bride, had left the nearby town several hours ago. The original excuse was that she needed to buy some ingredients for her potions at the local shops.

Two female guards that worked for her had been living there the whole time. Once they had figured out their mistress was leaving, they caught up with her to escort her. The three girls were headed to the northern town of Asina, hoping to stop our hero from entering the dangerous Foresta Daghe.