"It sounded better in the song, even if I couldn't understand a thing," grumbled Venet.
"Well, be thankful that I translated it for you!" Johan snapped.
"It was beautiful..." sighed Xander. "It's the love story of the first Alcione King back in the Black Lands..."
"What makes you so sure?" asked Matt. "Prince Rock might be from a branch family or not a Fire mage at all, he gives life to rocks, so he's probably a terra or even an arcane magus who speciallizes on golems."
"Well, it so happens that we have a book of genealogy back home, and it trails way back to the first Alcione King – King Nicolai Alcione, who was married to Camille Heilig of the Thunder Gods, I bet she was the weakened Small True Flame in the ballad!"
"And that Golden Prince and Silver Deity, I wonder who they are?" said Lilith who looked dreamily up in the sky. "I bet they have ballads of their own..."
"Probably what Dorin mentioned in the 'Song of Aerials', that gold kid?" said Lilith.
"From what they say in the archives, the Golden Prince was most probably a sourceror," Mordecai explained. "They are said to be a 'source' of unlimited power who could control all the elements since they seep thaum through their pores and can even amplify the magic of magi who choose to be bound to them."
"Woah, that sounds like an unlimited magic cell charger!" Margarette said with a laugh. "The empire would surely be happy to get their hands on someone like that!"
"A Silver deity, on the other hand, are what we now call as Silver Tongues," continued Xander, ignoring Margarette's remark. "They are known to be very powerful enchanters and are only born from the direct descendants of the Ravante family blood line. According to legend, the two bonded together and opened a doorway into our world since their motherland was destroyed due to a bloody war for power."
"Hmph, nothing new there..." mumbled Matt as he nibbled some chips.
"They were known as the strongest magi in the history of all creation!" Xander added. "Sadly, there has never been any record of a known sourcerer in existance, aside from the Golden Prince of legend, and the last known Ravante, Lady Chantrell Ravante, just passed away last week."
The room fell quiet as they paid their respects to the deceased head registrar. It was only broken by a soft chime. Margarette took out her cellphone and looked at Dorin after reading the message on the screen.
"Hey, your aunt just sent a message," said Margarette. "She said you should have gone to her room by now?"
"Ah! That's right!" Dorin gasped, standing so fast that be dropped the plate of chips he was eating. "I was supposed to meet her this evening!" Good thing it was mostly finished.
"And look at the time!" said Mordecai, "It's past 9, and we have a curfew at 10."
"Time to leave then," said Matt, straightening his shirt.
"We'll see you on Wednesday!" Dorin said with a grin. "I hope we could all be in the same class again."
"Doubt it," said Matt. Lilith just smiled at Dorin. "But just in case..." Matt took his sack, pulled out his bastard sword, and handed it to Johan!
"What?" asked the fire mage, his brows, once again, furrowed.
"It's yours."
"W-What?!" Xander whined.
"You said it yourself, 'it would be better if an actual mage uses it at its full potential', so I'm giving it to Johan Ignacius," said Matt. "Besides, in my grandfather's will, he told me to give the weapons to people who I feel fit to take them."
Xander did not object anymore. He held his hand when Venet tried to say something to Sgt. Owen and simply smiled as Johan took the blade.
"What am I supposed to do with this, then? We have gas in the kitchen, we don't need to chop firewood..."
"Don't you dare make me regret doing this!" Matt hissed.
"Just accept it, Johan," said Mordecai. "It is a wonderful weapon, fit for royalty. It might come in handy someday. Especially now that you have subjects in the Military Division."
"Well, yeah... you've got a point there..." said Johan, "I could never get enough metal to build a sword out of scratch during emergencies..."
"You can create swords out of scratch during emergencies?" Xander asked, trying to keep his composure.
"Well, yeah, it's a handy trick I learned in the mines, there's free ore there anyways," he looked at Dorin. "What about you?"
"Yup, as long as there's metal around," the other replied.
Xander suddenly handed a spoon to Dorin and a knife to Johan.
"Can you turn these into something else?" he hurriedly said.
"Your highness, the time..." said Boulvar behind him.
"Anything!" Xander begged. "Please?"
Johan shrugged and took the knife while Dorin took the spoon and passed his hand once over it. Johan twisted the blade of his knife, dividing it into thin red slivers of molten metal and creating thin fragile petals to form a metal rose.
"Oh, it's beautiful!" gasped Lilith. Johan gave her the rose, his face turning red.
Dorin, on the other hand, molded an image on the flattened head of the spoon. It had wavy hair and a small face with sharp looking eyes.
"And who might that be?" Xander asked while Margarette held back a gasp at the sight of the tiny bust.
"This is my mother," he said proudly.
"Ohh... so you can manipulate metals as well?" Xander asked, looking flushed.
"Nahh, I just molded it to come up with the shape," Dorin replied. "Air pressure can be very useful to manipulate things, you know," he tried to explain, but the young prince was too busy fussing over the little bust.
"What exquisite craftsmanship! And the metal rose is still glowing red! As if it just got out of the ambers!"
"C-can I keep the bust, Dorin?" Margarette asked, her eyes still fixed at the small metal trinket in Xander's grasp.
"Sure, I can always make some more," the other said with a grin.
"Then do you mind making me one as well?" Xander asked of him. "A dragon! Can you make me a dragon?" he handed him a big silver steak knife, much to the consternation of a serving staff standing by their table.
"Okay, but not right now," Dorin replied. "I bet my Aunt's gonna scold me for losing track of time."
"That's right, it is getting pretty late," Mordecai piped in. "We can always meet tomorrow."
"Tomorrow then!" Xander gave a slight bow. "I shall look forward to our next tomorrow."