As the first few weeks passed, Sen and the others settled slowly into a routine. During the day they’d attend classes, and at night they’d research magic. As first-years, they only had access to the first-year archives, which were limited at best. He’d had access to better stone tablets during the entrance exam than he did now. But weaker spells often proved to be foundations for higher ones, and so Sen soaked up all the knowledge he could. At night, Sen worked with Ilm, helping her develop a greater understanding of her own magic. Though he hadn’t intended to have two replicas running around, he did now, so it made sense to invest some time training her.

  He was in the middle of teaching her when a sheet of paper slid under their dorm room door. The door rippled as the guardian inside awoke to check for danger. Satisfied it was nothing, the door settled back into place. Mori jumped off his bed in the opposite corner of the room and hurried to inspect it. He skimmed it before looking up at Sen and Ilm. “It says classes will be cancelled later this week because of the festival.”

  Sen held a hand out, and Mori passed it to him.

  …students may choose to attend the festival or take a questing assignment from the school for extra credit. These assignments are subject to availability, and failure will result in disciplinary action. Professionalism is mandatory while operating under the banner of Bright Sail Academy; those who represent us poorly will answer to me.

  —Dean Withershade

  Sen smiled. “Well, looks like we just might have an opportunity to stretch our legs a bit then. Perhaps you can try out some of your new magic as well, Ilm.” He was grateful for the distraction. He’d stayed as busy as he could lately to avoid thinking about the vision of Ragmár dying. Those emotions weren’t something he really wanted to deal with now.

  Ilm perked up. She was excited, but he could tell the prospect was nerve-wracking as well.

  “Should we go and ask about a quest now? I’m sure plenty of other students will want to sign up as well. If we don’t grab one early, we might miss out,” Mori said.

  Sen was already grabbing his coat. “Couldn’t have said it better myself.”

  They found Professor Ladia, the one in charge of external academy assignments, fairly easily. She’d set up in the entrance hall of the building, undoubtedly waiting for interested parties to file in after getting the note earlier. Unfortunately, they weren’t the first to find her. A long line had already formed. She worked at a small table, manually reviewing a long list of assignments she still had to fill. At first, Sen was hopeful an assignment would be left, but by the time they’d reached the front, the number of papers and available jobs were shrinking rapidly.

  Ladia perked up when she saw him. “Sen! How are you? I haven’t seen you since the entry exams. I hope you’re doing well?”

  Sen offered a polite smile. He wasn’t in the mood for small talk, but being rude wouldn’t get them a choice assignment. “I’m doing well, thank you. My friends and I were hoping for an assignment. The festival sounds interesting, but any opportunity for training would be invaluable.”

  Ladia took a deep breath and looked at the papers before her. “Well, we have a missing cat, a request for students to patrol the town on the day of the festival, and…are you familiar with cleaning spells? We have a request for assistance with the town’s sewage maintenance.”

  [Looks like all the good jobs are taken.]

  “What exactly does patrolling the festival entail?” he asked.

  Ladia smiled and picked up the paper with the job description on it. “Well, there are several teams; a few have already taken the quest. Your job would be to patrol and keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Some upperclassmen have taken on damage control quest. So, you’ll report anything strange to them, and they’ll investigate. It would reflect poorly on us if we allowed our first years to get into dangerous situations, despite how talented you might be, Sen.”

  Sen sighed. He’d hoped there might be something more interesting, but a chance to see the town wouldn’t be the worst thing. “And the reward?”

  “Well, besides extra credit, you’ll get academic points for a job well done and a special reward for exceptional service. It doesn’t say what that might be, but this is a job from the mayor, and he’s known for being a generous man. This might be a good opportunity for you, Sen. Impress him, and maybe he’d consider taking you on as a town mage after graduation. The current one is nearing retirement any day now.” Ladia was as bubbly as ever.

  “Thanks for the advice; we’ll take the quest.”

  Ilm looked a bit disappointed. “I kind of wanted to find the cat. I like cats.”

  Though he’d hoped to raid a dungeon or hunt down a strong opponent, Sen found himself surprisingly looking forward to the quest they’d taken out. It was something to get his mind off Ragmár and the devastation that had taken place in his absence. The guilt made for sleepless nights, and it muted the fun of exploring a new world. Maybe getting out of the dorm and spending some time among cheerful festivities would improve his mood, even if just for a while.

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  The festival was packed, and it was clear it had drawn a crowd from all over. Sen spotted people who looked as if they’d traveled from deserts and coastal towns, and the vendors served local delicacies and exotic goods alike. People shuffled through crowds in pursuit of the sweet aroma of food stalls and the lure of wonderful music from wandering bands. Shopkeepers and customers haggled, families and friends conversed, and the people of Bright Sail reveled in the amazing atmosphere of the year’s biggest festival.

  Sen, Mori, and Ilm enjoyed it from the rooftops. They walked atop the roofs and kept an eye out for danger. Whenever Ilm smelled or spotted something that caught her eye, Sen would descend and purchase it, or Mori would escort her down to check it out. Sure, they were working, but Ilm could still have her fun too. The bag of treats and jewelry she’d wanted was growing by the minute. Sen now waited on Mori and Ilm to finish perusing a stall that caught her eye. He enjoyed another bite of the cinnamon roll he’d purchased for himself and scanned the street for anything of consequence. As far as he could see, there weren’t any problems so far. At least not on this stretch. Other students were patrolling some of the side roads, and of course the enforcer team was on standby somewhere close. If Sen found danger, he was supposed to report it instead of engaging himself. But he’d most likely do whatever he felt like in the moment. Especially since that Snake guy was on the enforcement team.

  He noticed the colors of Bright Sail Academy uniforms and turned his attention to see if he recognized them. He saw familiar pink hair. Milim, the girl from his history class. She walked beside a boy with a blonde bowl cut and circular-rimmed glasses. Sen couldn’t be sure, but he thought this boy was named Oliver. It was just the two of them, so it was unlikely this was a school patrol. Those groups were all between three and five people. But outside of official duties, they weren’t supposed to wear their uniforms. Maybe he was overthinking. He studied their faces.

  Oliver’s head hung low, and he wasn’t saying much. Milim’s head was on a swivel, and she scanned the crowd like she was looking for a lost puppy. Sen sighed and jumped down, landing deftly in the crowd. No one noticed his perfectly timed descent. He’d long learned to move through a crowd without drawing attention to himself. Sen slipped through the mass of people, assisted by Mana Encapsulation, and he caught up to Milim and Oliver quickly. He expanded the encapsulation effect so that it surrounded them as well. It wouldn’t enhance their speed, but it would allow them to hear each other over the crowd.

  Oliver looked up as the outside world became muted. Milim was more surprised to see Sen suddenly standing before her.

  “Is everything okay?” he asked them.

  Milim and Oliver exchanged a look. “We’re patrolling, but we can’t find Samara. She thought she saw something and ran off on her own. We haven’t seen her since,” Milim told him.

  Samara…she was in one of his classes too. She wore long, purple hair in a ponytail, and was headstrong from what he’d seen. A missing student certainly counted as suspicious, but was she really missing or was she just lying low to avoid work? She didn’t come across as that type of person, but you never knew.

  “When was the last time you saw her? And where?” he asked.

  Oliver looked up sheepishly. “It’s been half an hour. She was running in this direction, but we lost track of her in the crowd. She could be anywhere by now.”

  Sen nodded. He felt familiar presences approaching and looked over his shoulders to see Mori and Ilm. When he turned back, he noticed that uncomfortable expression on Milim’s face again. Was it Mori? Or was it the fact that they all looked alike? Something was bothering her, but Sen didn’t have time to worry about that right now. He felt his replica’s step into the encapsulation field. “Alright, a fellow student is missing and may need our help. Let’s split up and look for her. If anyone finds anything, alert the others, and we’ll regroup.”

  “Okay!” Milim said.

  “Shouldn’t we just go to the upperclassmen? It’s not like we’ll be able to do anything if she’s in danger…” Oliver said quietly.

  Mori laughed. “The master…I mean, Sen, can certainly deal with any problems. For now, let’s make sure our classmate is safe!” he said.

  [He’s not very subtle. Is he?]

  Sen nodded his unfortunate agreement.

  Milim, Oliver, and Ilm kept to the streets.

  Sen and Mori took to the rooftops. He ran, masking his presence from those below under the effects of Mana Encapsulation. When he felt himself growing winded, he made a note to work on his cardio in the future. He hadn’t needed to push himself physically for quite some time.

  [Mana Encapsulation has increased by one.]

  At least that brought a smile to his face. Progress. Sweet, sweet progress. He felt faster, if only by a margin, and his movements slightly more effortless. Maybe if he trained this hybrid stat more it would eventually replace the need for regular cardio. Unfortunately, he still had a lot of running to do in the meantime.

  The streets would be a blur as he ran past if not for the effects of Enhanced Cognition, Enhanced Eyesight, and Telescope, but the enhancements allowed him to see everything. He caught pickpockets, price-gouging merchants, and a group of thieves pulling a young man into an alleyway to take his coin purse, but nothing that explained where Samara was. He used simple spells to address each problem in turn. Returning money to the pockets of the robbed and swindled, and putting the bandits into a deep sleep with loosened bowels. They’d be a lot less inclined to rob festival-goers when they woke up to freshly filled pants. But as he finally reached the end of the long, main-road where the festival was taking place, and turned onto another, he still hadn’t spotted any sign of Samara or the other patrols. That was odd. There should be a few more patrols in the area.

  A plume of purple smoke rose into the air behind him, and he turned to look back. He knew that spell; he’d taught in to Ilm.

  He could feel Tutor frown through their shared mental link. [A distress call.]

  Sen whipped around and shot forward at three times his previous pace. Either Ilm had found Samara, or she was in trouble.

  When he arrived, Mori and the others had already made it. They were inside an alley, staring at the location the smoke had come from. A sewer hole. Sen stared as plumes of smoke rose out of it in wisps. “What’s going on, Mori?”

  Mori wore a grave look on her face. “Master, Ilm’s missing. I can’t feel her presence.”

  Sen felt for her as well and realized he couldn’t either. The three of them were linked as much as he and Tutor were. If he couldn’t sense Ilm’s presence, something was seriously wrong.

  “What do we do?” Milim asked.

  Oliver gripped the sides of his face. “This is bad. This is really bad. We need to let Snake know.”

  Sen sighed, and Mana Aggression activated. He stomped a hole in the ground where the access hole was and left a wide opening. “I’m going to find Ilm and Samara; the rest of you are free to do as you please.”

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