The Royal Family Mourns

Within weeks of each other, the Royal Family learned of two tragic deaths. The first Princess and the Second Prince. They were told that the first Princess was killed by assassins from El Pais De Lotharios and the Second Prince was killed by assassins from Wütendes Menschenreich. The Council of Magic had acted upon each of the capital cities destroying the major leadership of each nation and the majority of their fighting forces. The King felt proud of his son, one of the Council of Magic himself for acting with swift retribution and mercilessness. Other nations would not wish to cross swords with Pays Des Abrutis knowing there was a good chance the Council of Magic would decimate them in return.

The funeral to be held would cover both of the Royal Family members and all of the valiant soldiers lost in the war including Count Rouvroy, his men, Sir Charles de Évreux, his men and many more. Even though Pays Des Abrutis lost a lot of good people in the war, they still came out better than any of the countries who attacked them. Which was why they treated all of the dead as war heroes even when the circumstances of their death were not completely related to wartime activities. The King commissioned a sculpture of one of the heroes of the war, Sir Charles de Évreux, the Baron of Évreux. The tale of his fight to end had been told by those who found the aftermath of the battle. The bodies of dead enemy soldiers were double that of the men Sir Évreux had lost.

The Council of Magic and all of the surviving members of the Order of the Rose came to the funeral to mourn the passing of friends and loved ones. The faculty of the Academy de L'échec, the Royal Family and representatives from every Noble house were also in attendance. Even thousands of commoners came to pay their respects. When the statue was unveiled, Doreen Leon couldn't hold back her tears, it wasn't that she was in love with Sir Évreux, it was that she felt guilty for not being able to return his feelings before he passed away. Doreen suddenly felt like she had to do more, be more than she ever was, not for Sir Évreux, but for herself. She was tired of feeling powerless. She looked over and saw Alicia, Madeline and her other friends in their black formal mage uniforms and silently came to the decision she would fight for a spot to be with them.

*****

Five days later Doreen came to Olivier and formally asked to join the Council of Magic. Olivier gave her his normal goofy smile and said, "Alright, you're in, go ask Diggory for the exam."

Doreen looked surprised, "There is an exam? How did you join them?"

Olivier said without blinking, "I'm the King's son."

Doreen looked at him and then smirked, "If the first mage asks me to wear a see-through outfit, I might just wear it to get out of the exam."

Olivier laughed and then said, "Alright I'll take you over there myself, the exam is only to see if you have what it takes to cast a spell. It's something not many can do. You're in as long as you can do that much."

Doreen thought about it and said, "That's fair, thank you."

First mage Diggory was leaning out one of the upper Tower windows looking through a long telescope when Olivier said, "What are you up to Diggory?"

The first mage laughed, "Oho Olivier my boy you got here just in time, that girl in the west wing is changing her shirt, you remember, the one with the.."

Olivier quickly clamped hand down over Diggory's mouth and said, "Yes, yes thank you Diggory for brushing me up on the research project, but Lady Leon is here to take the exam."

Diggory raises his bushy eyebrows and said, "Oh yes, Lady Leon, I remember you. I have a special outfit here..."

Olivier coughed and said, "Just the spell."

Diggory frowned at Olivier and said, "You're missing out boy, but very well." He opened a tome of magic and selected one of the spells, "Here you go, we just need you to cast the spell."

Doreen nodded, she read the spell over and then took a deep breath, "Darkness." her voice had a strange echo and then the room went pitch black. She waited for a count of twenty and then said, "Light." causing the room to return to normal.

Olivier clapped and said, "Congratulations Sixth Mage Leon. Welcome to the greater world of magic."

Doreen began to study and make notes, thinking of ways to make it easier for herself. She realized it would be impossible to memorize all of the formulas for all of the spells. So she started to research ways to permanently increase your memory with magic. Even Diggory hadn't put in half the effort that Doreen was using. Madeline had never considered looking for the spell and Alicia had been too busy helping Claude. Possibly Guy de Montfort had, but he had his hand in so many things at once, people wondered if he even slept.

After a weak of serious study, Doreen found the solution. A spell called intelligence. it only worked once, but it increased your intelligence. It was a very complex spell but she cast it on herself and found that it gave her an eidetic memory. She could just flip through the spell books now and commit them to memory. Doreen passed the spell on to the rest of them greatly increasing their overall power.

*****

Guy de Montfort worked out with Claude daily, raising his level of physical fitness back up. Thanks to the Spell Doreen found they all found that they were naturally much more efficient even at things like swordplay. Claude was outraged that Guy had increased his swordplay by so much yet again, he cried out, "How am I supposed to be the swordmaster when I can't even withstand two of the six mages!"

Guy laughed and then said, "If you keep sparring with Madeline and I, you'll just keep feeling that life is unfair. You can't measure yourself against unusual people like us."

"Oh, it's a measuring contest now, Lord Molester?" Claude smirked.

Guy frowned at Claude and said, "It's the size of man's sword that matters!"

Claude laughed and said, "Just keep on kidding yourself, tiny." Claude walked away secure in the knowledge he wouldn't be able to be outdone.

Guy called out, "Well, my costume looked better!" Claude laughed again and waved.