CHAPTER XI

The first-year trio looked at the small cottage in front of them. Dahlia was holding Grim in her arms while scanning the area. The place was giving her some weird presence, she didn't like it but before she can say anything Ace opened the door.

"Hello? Is anybody home?" Deuce questioned before ducking his head to enter the cottage. "Must be empty. It looks like it's been abandoned," he thought out loud before stepping to the side to let Dahlia in. He saw how she scrunched up her face when she saw how the dust build-up from the years it was abandoned.

Grim jumped down from Dahlia's arms before falling onto his butt when he felt something on his face. "Bwah! I got a spider web on my face!"

his face. "Bwah! I got a spider web on my face!" he panicked making Dahlia sigh before wiping his face with the handkerchief she had.

"Look how tiny these desks and chairs are! Even princess can fit on these chairs," Ace pointed out seeing chairs in the room. Dahlia took notice of how small the furniture around them was. "Seven! It's like a clown car in here."

"When the mine was flourishing, this house must have been a lively place."

Dahlia looked at Ace. "Well, this isn't getting us anywhere. If we're gonna find a magestone, it'll be inside the mine," Ace stated. "Let's head inside and take a look."

The four headed to the back of the cottage seeing the entrance of the mines were out to the woods. They stared at the rocky entrance of the mines. It was dark and menacing. "You wanna go inside THERE?!" Grim panicked before hiding behind Dahlia. "It's pitch black!"

"What, are you scared of the dark? Pathetic," Ace taunted before receiving a pointed look from the girl next to him

"Myah?! I'm not scared of anything!" Grim exclaimed before getting out of his hiding spot. "I'm taking the lead. You all follow me!"

Dahlia chuckled before all four of them walked in the mines. She was hit by a menacing presence of magic, making her alert. She brought out her hand before making her palm emit a golden glow from magic. The glow lit up their way.

Dahlia was so engrossed in observing each crystal in the mine to notice the ghosts that the other three were fearing. It wasn't her job to disperse the ghosts, her job was to make sure they get the magestone back to the campus to avoid getting a bad mark on their records.

Before she can touch one of the crystals, Ace grabbed her wrist before they all ran away from the ghosts. Dahlia looked at the hostile ghosts chasing them before raising her pointer finger to her mouth before whispering a quiet "Solara Lumos"

The tip of her fingertip emits a small ball of light before she mocked a gun finger and shot it at the three ghosts. The small ball expanded before dealing with the hostile ghosts.

The three stopped and looked at her with wide eyes and awe. They knew that most women with magic were respected and feared because of their potential, they just didn't know they would see it this early in their life.

The whole mine was so quiet, you can hear a pin drop. With how silent it was, Dahlia can hear the rumbling of the cave, like something huge, was heading toward them.

Without a doubt, she stood in front of the three

before her markings start to glow up. "Hey, what's wrong?" Deuce asked surprised at her sudden action. He took out his pen just in case, and Ace followed in pursuit. Grim jumped onto her shoulder, shaking in fear but prepared to blast out a fire.

"...iiivvv... ...oooouuu..."

"Wh-where's that comin' from?" Ace looked behind him to look for the source of the sudden noise, but no luck.

"...neeevvvaaa... ...iiivvv... ...oooouuu..."

"Sounds like...it's getting closer..." Deuce mumbled to them, squinting his eyes to look ahead. He sees a large silhouette in the darker part of the cave.

"Stoooonesss... Stoooonesss aaare miiiiine!"

All four of them look in front of them seeing the large creature. With the clothes of a normal dwarf, it had a broken glass bottle as a head filled with thick black liquid. In fact, Dahlia was sure that this creature was made out of the same substance that was leaking out of its broken glass head.

"What is that?!" Deuce's eyes widen in fear as he raised his pen.

"Myaaah! No one said there'd be monsters!" Grim hid behind Dahlia's head. "Let's get outta here!"

the thing's super creepy!" Ace scrunched up his face before remembering something. "But, didn't it just say something about—"

"Stones. It said something about stones," Dahlia intervened as she rolled her sleeves up. thing might lead us to what we need." "This

"Stoooonesss...nevvva give stooonesss...!"

"So, there ARE still magestones here!" Deuce hope flickered. He might not get expelled at all.

Dahlia can feel Grim shivering behind her head, trying to untangle her hair from her bun. "Even as a master sorcerer, I... I don't think I can take that thing down!" he whimpered.

"But we need a magestone or we'll get expelled!" Deuce exclaimed. Before he can say something else, he was handed a shivering Grim covered in her sweater.

"Take Grim and yourselves out, I'll buy some time for all of you to get out."

Her sudden coldness made the two boys shiver, the way she stood in front of them with her back facing them. The two can see how her markings were spread to her back due to seeing it glow through her button-up.

"We'll retreat for now and plan later, right now. My main objective is your safety, now go!"

ROUND ONE, START