Chapter 25
Grim slapped Leona in the face with his paw. “Hey! Wake up!”
Leona opened his eyes. “...Huh?”
Grim grinned. “I did it! He's awake! I was starting to think you weren't ever gonna regain consciousness! Now, hurry up and confess.”
Leona looked confused. “Wh... What?”
Crowley looked at him. “Mr. Kingscholar. Your negative energies accelerated your blot accumulation, inducing an overblot episode. Do you not remember?”
Leona stood up with a bit of problem. “Wait, ME...? I overbloted? No way...”
“And more importantly, the Spelldrive tournament is about to begin.” Grim said. “I'm gonna need you to confess that you're the culprit, so I'm allowed to enter!”
“Heh. If this is a joke, I ain't laughing'.” Leona glared at the chimera.
“The headmage got Grim's group to investigate the accidents in exchange for letting them compete in the tournament.” Jack said.
“Whaaaaat? THAT'S what this has all been about?” Ruggie looked at Grim like he was stupid.
“You bet it has! And EXCUSE you?! You were the one pushing' people down stairs for the chance at a little fame and glory!” Grim said while pointing an accusing paw at Ruggie.
Ruggie was taken aback. “Urk... W-well... Fair point, I suppose.” He scratched the back of his neck looking awkward.
“To be honestly I am not the least interested into playing Spelldrive for now, I am still preparing for Quidditch” Roxana said.
“Oh yeah, I heard it’s a new club that will open once everything is done” Ruggie said, he looked at Roxana. “You’re the club founder ?”
“Yes”
Crowley gave Leona a hard look. “Is he correct? Were you responsible for the series of injuries sustained by competing players?”
Leona looked the other side. “...Yeah. That was me.”
Crowley narrowed his eyes. “Very well. Then to begin with, Savanaclaw Dorm will be disqualified from this year's tournament. The rest of your punishment will be decided after I discuss it with the victims. Are we clear?”
Leona looked down. “...Understood.”
Ruggie and Jack also didn’t say anything.
“Headmage, wait.” Riddle said.
The victims of the accidents were behind him, apparently they wanted revenge on Savanaclaw by winning a game of Spelldrive against them.
“Are you sure that that is wise ?” Roxana asked. “I think disqualification in itself isn’t that big of a punishment for them, they should have been expelled”
The Savanaclaw cringed including Leona.
“Now, now Roxana” Crowley started. “Let’s not go there”
“So let me get this straight, a chandelier gets destroyed by accident is worth expelling for, but students ending up in the infirmary one after the other with serious injuries is not worth expelling for, you need to get your priorities straight” Roxana gave him a blank look. “Not to mention it was Malleus Draconia the main target, so not only did they try injure students, but they were also on the verge of starting a war”
Everyone stopped for a moment.
Riddle looked at her. “A war…?”
“It wasn’t that severe !” Crowley said, oh he knew where she was going ! Who the fuck taught her politics ????
Roxana turned to look at Leona in the eyes.
“Leona Kingscholar, you’re the second prince of Afterglow Savanah, sure not the king, but still a prince, still someone from the royal family, if you succeeded into injuring Malleus his grandmother would have found out about it, and if she did, she would have started a deep investigation and she would have found the culprit by tracing the owner of the magic casted, and once she finds out that YOU ordered Ruggie to do what he did, the already not so good relationship between Afterglow Savanah and Briar Valley would have been completely broken which will result in a war, because all this was a direct attack at Malleus the future king of Briar Valley” Roxana said.
The heavy realization of the situation JUST hit everyone hard in the face.
A war with the fae ? Everyone could already see who’s the winner.
“I didn’t think…” Leona got cut off by Roxana.
“Yes, exactly, this is the problem with the men of this school, you don’t sit down and think, you just act out on your hubris, pride, greed, and foolishness, you are lucky that you did not succeed, almighty knows what would have happened if you did” Roxana said. “Now that being said and done, I will sit aside and watch the game, pardon me everyone”
People parted aside like the red sea to let Roxana pass through.
***
During the game, the players from other dorms ignored the disc completely and threw everything they had at Savanaclaw.
Savanaclaw members were dead on their feet by the time they faced Diasomnia, so Diasomnia ended up taking first place.
The way Malleus -who apparently Roxana found out was the mysterious man whom she nicknamed Ancalagon- played was amazing, he didn’t mess around while playing, he was amazing, and he made her do something that she never done before.
She swooned a bit, with the stupid sight and all that ! It was humiliating !
Roxana had to go to the infirmary to look after her boys.
Hmm my boys…well, I think it’s time to admit that they are mine now. Roxana smiled to herself.
“Boys I brough some food for you” Roxana said as she gave everyone their portion.
“Woohoo ! Food !” Ace quickly started to eat. “Did you see the Diasomnia Housewarden ?”
“I did” Roxana said while she cleaned Grim’s mouth from the left over food he had on his face.
“Now I get why everyone thinks he's invincible. I can't even imagine taking him down.” Ace said.
“And with that attitude, you never will. You've let him beat you before you even face him. I haven't, though. Next year, I'm taking Diasomnia down. And I'll win by giving' it everything I got.” Jack said.
“Does "everything" happen to include your capacity for evil?” Leona smirked.
“Oh please, the next time your do something like that, at least do it more subtly and against someone who doesn’t have that high of a statue” Roxana said.
“You’re talking like you didn’t have a problem with it this morning” Leona said.
Roxana gave him a blank look. “Talk to me when you have blood on your hands”
Leona kept his mouth shut.
“What is that supposed to mean ?” Ace asked.
“Whatever, I'm giving next year's tournament all I got, too. And I am gonna do whatever it takes to win.” Leona said.
“Shyeheehee! There's the Leona I remember.” Ruggie said with a grin.
“I can already tell this isn't gonna end well.” Jack sighed.
“Next year, I wanna be in the tournament for real!” Grim said.
Deuce smiled. “We need to practice so we can make the cut too.”
Ace nodded. “Yeah, no kidding. No way do I wanna embarrass myself in Grim's kiddie league again.”
Suddenly the door opened and a child with red head entered.
“Unca! There you are! I finally found you!” He screamed.
Grim looked at him. “Myah? What's a kid doin' here?”
“Unca Leona!”
Leona groaned. “Baaah. The screech box found me.”
“"Unca" Leona...?” Jack blinked.
“That furball's my brother's son, Cheka. You know...my nephew.” Leona said annoyed.
“Your nephew?!”
Ruggie pointed at the kid. “So this is who's next in line for the throne...?”
“I saw you play, Unca! You were so cool! Next time I visit, teach me how to play!” Cheka said amazed, while sitting beside Leona on the bed.
“Fine, fine. Just stop screaming' in my ear.” Leona groaned. “Where're all your attendants? They gotta be tearing' their hair out looking' for you!”
Cheka grinned. “I couldn't wait to see you, Unca, so I left them all behind! Heehee!”
“So...the source of all Leona's anguish...” Jack started.
“Is this kid ?” Ruggie finished.
“The kid sure seems to love everything about him.” Grim deadpanned.
Leona glared at them. “Shut up, all of you! And stop gawking' at us!”
“So when are you coming home to see us, Unca? Next week? And when's the next time after that? Did you read all the letters I sent you?” Cheka fired question after question.
Leona sighed. “Look, I told you, I'll be back for the holidays— Ow! That hurts! Get off my stomach!”
Jack blinked in surprise. “He's riding Housewarden Leona like a horse...?!”
“Pffft... Ah hahaha! This is priceless!” Ruggie couldn’t stop laughing. “So THIS is why you never want to go home to visit your family!”
Cheka turned to look at them. “Are you all Unca Leona's friends?”
Ace was about to say something but stopped when he saw Roxana making her way to Cheka, she grabbed the child and lifted him put before hugging him.
“Hi cutie !” Roxana said in a baby voice. “Am Roxana, and you are ?”
“Cheka !” He smiled.
Everyone looked at her. What kind of 180 personality change is this ???
“Oh Cheka ! That’s a beautiful name ! Yes ! A strong name for a strong little cub” Roxana said while playfully pinching his nose.
Cheka giggled.
“You will grow strong, and smart, and handsome !” Roxana smiled at the lion cub beastman.
“Strong enough to protect Unca ?”
“Oh yes ! Yes ! Strong enough to protect your uncle !”
“S-Strong enough to protect U-Unca Leona...! Ahaha—OWWWWW! Argh, it hurts so much when I laugh...” Ruggie said while putting his hand on his stomach, but he couldn’t stop laughing.
“Go ahead, laugh it up. I'm gonna remember this!” Leona glared at him.
*Night*
*Slytherin Dorm – Roxana’s Room*
Another black rock to the collection.
The magic inside those rocks are worrying… Roxana frowned.
She did not know what they did, or their purpose or why they are there, but she knew they felt wrong, so they put those rocks behind strong protection wards.
*Octavinelle Dorm – Lounge*
“Sales at this year's Spelldrive tournament were up 12% compared to last year. Not a bad haul.” Azul said.
“Yeah, but this year we ended up closer to the bottom of the tournament rankings than the top.” Floyd said.
Azul crossed his arms. “Just so long as we weren't at the very bottom. Let's not forget that Spelldrive is nothing more than a game in which students run around chasing a disc like dogs in a yard. Now, a school event more worthy of the full attention of Octavinelle House might be, say... Final exams.”
Jade smirked. “Azul! We received an urgent message from a client. They wish to speak tonight at the lounge, in person.”
Azul smirked back. “Urgent, you say? Well, we'll have to prepare a proper welcome. I do look forward to learning more very soon. Heheheh.”
*Slytherin Dorm – Garden*
Roxana smiled as she sipped her tea, the familiar presence of the dragon fae made her put her cup of tea before she turned to look at Malleus.
“I was waiting for you” Roxana said. “Cake ? This one is made out of ice-cream”
“Oh ? You can make ice-cream cake ?” Malleus smiled as he sat down and took a place of the cake.
“Of course !” Roxana said. “The best kind too”
The fae chuckled and he took a bite out of the cake.
“So Ancalagon … no Malleus Draconia” Roxana said.
“Oh ? You found out ?”
“Of course I was watching the Spelldrive match, I have to admit the way you were playing was…” Roxana looked at her cup of tea.
Malleus raised an eyebrow. “Terrifying ?”
Roxana looked at him and smiled. “Fascinating”
Malleus’s eyes widened before he laughed. “You’re interesting Roxana Lestrange”
“And you are mysterious as the night Malleus Draconia and I intend to unravel the mystery that is you” Roxana said with a smile.
*A bit far away in the bushes*
A little guy with black, mid-length hair with angled, straight-cut bangs and magenta “peekaboo” highlights was spying on the two with a binoculars.
“Hehe, so this is why Malleus seemed happier last time”