6: The Council of the Archmagi

"Hold up," gabriel said, stepping back and losing what little dignity he had left in the eyes of the crowd. "The Unnamed?"

"That's what the letter says, your excellency." Cleo was now deeply confused. Was the knight masquerading as someone else, or was he really someone that would startle an archmagi like that.

"Where is he?" the wizard demanded. "I need to know where he is."

Suddenly, an orb covered the four people at the base of the tower. Gabriel ordered the two guards to leave or he would make them leave. "Don't worry about what you say here, this is a soundproof space." the archmagi said, sitting down on a chair he conjured up. "Now, tell me, where is he?"

She paused for a second, wondering what to say, then after a minute of thinking, decided it was best to tell him the truth.

"I really don't know if the unnamed who wrote this letter and the unnamed you're thinking of are the same person, but he is currently fighting for his life trying to protect my village from a Cerberus. If nobody helps him, he will be dead. I doubt you'll want to see him dead."

The wizard took the letter from Cleo's hands, then turned around and walked back into the tower. Before the door closed behind him, he said one last thing to Cleo; "We will deliberate what to do with the Cerberus. However, if they don't think we should help you, I will go there on my own and take care of it. Godspeed, young one."

The steel gray viel was taken down, allowing Cleo to leave. People started swarming to her, asking what had happened, but she ignored them all. There were more important things to do than to gossip. Forcing her way through the crowd she went back towards the west gate, eager to meet up with the knight and tell him the good news.

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When she returned to the gates, she was let out without question. The knight was leaning against a shack, about 30 meters away from the gatehouse. She ran over to him, hoping what the wizard had told her would lighten his mood.

However, as she drew close, the knight stood up straight, turned around, and said two words, "Let's go."

She realized the knight didn't care either way. After all, the village wasn't his place to protect.

The walk back to the village was silent, neither of them said a single thing. At some point, Cleo gave up on trying to talk to the knight, and continued training her self-enhancement abilities.

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It was about mid-day when they made it back to the settlement. As Cleo began to turn into her house, she looked at the knight.

"Where are you going?"

"Isn't it obvious? Someone needs to kill the Cerberus. I doubt this village will last until the knights get here."

She was speechless. There was no way he could kill the beast as he was. The knight would die. Why would he go to fight it knowing what the outcome would be? It was faster and stronger than he was, he wouldn't be able to defend against the elemental attacks either.

"You're going to die! Why would you do this?" She shouted after him.

The knight turned around and looked straight into her eyes. I don't need a reason to help people out. Plus, I don't know why, but I'm feeling a little confident today." He turned back and continued to walk away.

'Confident, huh?' he thought to himself. The knight hadn't felt confident about a challenge in a long time.

As he was stuck in his own mind, he failed to notice Cleo trailing him from a good distance. She was determined to find out who this knight really was.

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Back in the capital, the council of archmagi was ablaze.

"Gabriel! You should have brought her to us, not let her go! She had important information. If this person is who he says he is, then Augustus is alive." The first mage was nearly screaming at Gabriel.

"If he is alive, he won't be much longer. He's forsaken his name! We have to go there and save him. We can't spend our time blaming Gabriel when Augustus is being assaulted by a demon-tier beast." The third mage had come to Gabriel's defense.

Nodding in agreement, Gabriel added "Also, if we don't take care of the beast soon, it will level the settlements in the west, killing countless innocent people. We can't sit around and argue while this happens. You guys can assault me with insults later, but we need to stop the beast first."

The First mage sighed and looked around the room, evaluating the faces of all the mages. He knew what would happen before he called the vote. "All in favor of defeating the Cerberus and taking back Augustus, raise your hand."

Five of the eight mages raised their hands. The only exceptions being the third, fourth and seventh mages.

Seeing this result, Gabriel jumped out of his chair and pumped his fist, letting out a shout of excitement. Then he looked around, and saw the rest of the council was staring at him, not in disbelief of his actions, but in disappointment. His ears grew slightly pink in embarrassment. "Sorry…" he said meekly, before sulking back to his chair and sitting in silence.

After the scene was over, the first spoke up once more. "Who shall we send to quell this threat?"

"I nominate the eighth for that position," spoke the seventh. "After all, the eighth was the one who summoned us, and the eighth seems to be set on defending the settlements in the west."

The fifth, seeing her logic, added "We just need to make sure the eighth refrains from letting Augustus escape... again."

Gabriel, now excited that he might be allowed to leave the tower for the first time in a year and a half made a suggestion. "What if we send an armed detail with me. If I run off with the kid or return without the kid, the armed detail can report what happened, and if I let him run off, you can call me an enemy of the kingdom and you'll all finally be allowed to kill me!"

"None of us have ever had even the slightest notion of murdering a fellow archmage. We do not have any serious qualms against you, the eighth, however, we feel your attitude is… unbecoming of an archmage. Please do not misunderstand our intentions." The first responded to Gabriel's last remark through gritted teeth, then continued on the main motion. "Very well, I shall allow you to quell the beast with an armed guard, to make sure you come back with Augustus."

Gabriel, hearing this answer, almost jumped out of his chair. He really wanted to dance, but instead just stuck to pumping his fist a couple times. The other archmagi sighed almost in unison. They wondered how someone like this was allowed to become a member of the archmagi. He would have been beheaded by the king for his insolence long before the king would have acknowledged his skills as a mage and appointed him as the eighth. However, that didn't matter, what mattered is the first seven had yet to find a way to fix the eighth's attitude. Maybe this trip with the knights would help him out.

Gabriel stood up, announcing that he was going to assemble the armed detail. He wanted to make sure the ten knights he chose would be useful against a cerberus, in case push came to shove. He swiftly left the meeting room, summoning a spatial staff and teleporting to the knight's sector of the capital.

"Meeting… adjourned." The first said, once again cursing inwardly at the eighth's lack of professionality. The council members all went their separate ways into different sections of the tower.

"Just you wait…" muttered the first, still in his chair. "We'll make sure to bring you back alive. After all, we need you to reclaim your name now more than ever."