Cloud house Patrol – a few weeks ago

“So a kid who matched that description exchanged horses here?”

“Yes, he offered me his own horse in exchange for one here about 2 months ago. From what I could tell it was just as good as mine. Maybe even a little younger. They were pushing the poor beast hard and wore him out. It was a full day until he was any good to me. He claimed he was just in a big hurry and wanted fresh legs. I had no reason to doubt him. At least by the looks of his horse he was in a big hurry.”

The Cloud house members looked at each other and handed the man 3 bronze coins for the information. The story fit with another they had picked up. Using the other location and this one they now could figure out the general direction they were heading.

“We need to send a bird back to the Cloud house and tell them what we've learned. If we hurry we might be able to find them before reinforcements even get here.”

They were happy to finally have things going their way. The search had not been going well and the trail had gone cold. This was just the break they needed to show the main house that they could be of use. Hopefully they would be greatly rewarded.

They rode through the woods back to their camp to write the message and release a bird. A spell of lightning came from the forest and pieced one of the men through the heart. His comrade looked around to try to find the origin of the magic but a wind spell hit him from behind and blood gushed from the side of his neck. He fell off his horse onto the ground in a heap.

Two wizards stepped out of the woods from the Sky house. “It seems they finally were able to find out some useful information. We need to send a bird immediately to the Sky house. As for these two we need to drag them deep into the forest where they won't be seen.” The two wizards tied the horses to a tree and started to drag the bodies deep into the woods.

***** Present time

Lee was happy to finally be back in province zero.. If he moved at a good pace he'd be able to make it to the old man's house before nightfall. He'd cut it pretty close but was sure there was enough time to do what needed to be done and then make it back for the school tournament.

He touched the pouch again that held the black roses. He had done everything he could to keep them fresh and alive. As of right now they looked almost no different from the day he'd picked them. That was probably a good sign. He still had hopes a few could be replanted in the old man's garden. Who knows when they may need some again.

*****

The old man's house

The old wizard looked over the students. Even he was surprised by the progress they managed to make in a mere 2 months. It wouldn't have been possible if not for what Lee had taught them up to this point. It also wouldn't have been possible if they weren't highly driven. It was a relief to know that Lee has managed to find such dependable friends. Alura was busy with her father today but everyone else was lively in their training.

He walked to them one by one to give them instruction on what was best to do to wrap up the last days of their training. They all were quick to agree and tried to implement his ideas as best they could. It was only Mary who was on alter and concerned when he approach. That concern was soon changed to relief when he informed here there would be no one on one training matches with him today.

She was of the opinion he didn't hold back enough and for the first time started to feel bad for Lee. Even after all their matches she still couldn't be sure just how strong he was. but he was clearly above A rank at the least. Maybe even above S is such a thing was even possible. It was tricky because he never showed more than he had to.

The main concern on all their minds was when Lee would get back. The old wizard was still giving Peter treatments and at this point he couldn't stop them. If the treatments stopped it would likely destroy his mana system which had become unstable due to the prolonged treatment. To try to change a mana system that was almost stuck in it's way was proving trickier than even the old man believed.

Even if Lee came right now he still had not done enough to set Peter's mana system the way it needed to be. If he tried to force it then it may become entirely unstable. The last week it had become stubbornly stuck. It gave the old wizard cause for concern. He knew trying to do this to someone as old as Peter would carry risk but he didn't know such a thing could even happen.

“Peter, shall we start today's treatment?”

“What about the kids? Don't they need more instruction?”

“No, they'll be fine I’m sure. We should really get started.”

Peter was no fool. The old man had not shared his concerns but Peter noticed the treatments had started to go longer and longer and the old man could not entirely hide his uneasiness. He laid down as the old wizards puts his hands above him. He pushed his mana into Peter's mana system and slowly tried to nudge and reroute his mana system.

Peter had gotten use to the pain to a degree. Something he didn't believe would be possible.

“Something's wrong, isn't it?” Peter managed to get out through gritted teeth.

“It'll be fine. We're just going through a rough patch right now. Soon we'll be on the other side of it and ready for Lee to bring the black rose so we can finish up.”

“I can see this is taking more effort for you then it use to. Tell me what's going.”

As they continued their conversation the students of class 5 talked to each other as they took a break from training.

“Lee should be getting back soon right? We can only afford to wait another day at most.” Tom drank some water as he leaned against a tree.

“He knows the time as well as any of us. He'll be back before it's too late. I just hope he doesn't come back empty handed.” Derrick sat and calmly trained his mana in a light meditation.

“Don't worry about Lee. When has he ever let us down? He'll be back soon and then we'll all be off to the tournament. I can't wait to see the look on Vladimir's face when Lee beats him!” Amanda laid on the grass looking up to the sky.

“When he comes back, which one of us will sit out?” David hoped it wouldn't be him.

“Once we get a feel for Vladimir's teammates we'll decide then based on what the best match ups are. Remember, all we need to do is split the other 2 when Lee wins so don't take any unneeded risk.” Mary of course planned to be one of the 2 wins. She was sure no one they had to offer would be a match for her after Vladimir was dealt with.

*****

The Sky house's assassination squad listened to the conversation. They had found them yesterday and been observing the training for the past 24 hours. After a group of Sky house members killed and hide the body's of the men who finally picked up on the trail the Sky house narrowed their search. It took some time to find the exact location as they didn't expect them to head to such a small farming village that was just like a hundred others in the area.

Once they found the location they left and reported the information to the Sky House who sent word to the small covert team for 3 there right now. After careful examination they believed this group of students posed little threat. It was clear Mary Saint Cloud was the ace and she was not a match for Vladimir. The others while strong would not be able to make up the difference. They concluded at first it was wise not to act.

Even if they wanted to act they were unsure of what to do. Of course Peter Leaf was an A ranked wizard. All the treatments had happened in the old man's house and they had no way to tell he wasn't as strong as usual. They didn't recognize the old wizard but they could tell by his training with Mary he wasn't weak either. Probably A rank as well they assumed, but it was hard to tell from a distance. Avoiding detection was of the utmost importance to their mission unless there was no other choice.

Assuming the old wizard was A rank as well that would be 2 A ranks and a bunch of fairly strong kids. There was a chance they could wipe them all out but also there was a chance they could be wiped out too. In either case it would be too big and messy a fight. This should be done quietly so they would have time to clean up the mess and keep the Sky house name clean if they had to act.

Luckily there appeared to be no need. That was until they heard about this Lee. The way they spoke of him they were completely confident he would be able to beat Vladimir Sky. They hadn't heard of him until this moment but it appeared he was a secret weapon of some kind and would replace one of them. If Vladimir lost then who knows what may happen. Clearly this Lee had to be killed.

The listened to try to get an idea of which direction he would come from but there was no more news. They only knew he would probably come sometime today or tomorrow. For now they would wait until the time was right. They watched the students as they continued their break.

*****

Peter was worried that if something didn't change soon he may need to stay behind. The old man had told him the truth about his situation. Until his mana system was fixed there would be no good in leaving. At best he would become powerless and it might even be potentially deadly to stop.

“I hope this is solved before Lee comes back. Being a hindrance is among my dislikes.” The pain wasn't letting up even while nothing was being accomplished. Peter was resolute not to complain.

“Sooner or later we'll get past this. They aren't helpless babies and can find their own way back without you, you know.” The old man continued the careful methodical treatment.

“Well, in any case I bet Lee will have a few good stories to tell us when he....” Peters mouth froze He tried to move his hand and then the rest of his body. It was like stone. Suddenly everything unfroze. A wave of fiery pain unlike anything he had felt before washed over him. He screamed.

The old wizard felt Peter's mana system give. Suddenly it was loose. Not just loose and unstuck, it was loose entirely in his body. He had never heard of anything like this happening. It felt like it might collapse upon itself at any moment. He poured his mana into Peter and wrapped it around his mana system.

He tried to make it into the ideal shape and place it as he wanted. Nothing stuck. He tried again. As he let go it started to collapse and he was forced to hold it with his mana. Something had gone horribly wrong. If the old man let loose for a second Peter's mana system would be entirely destroyed and he would die. No matter how much the old man tried he couldn't fix it with his mana alone.

When the old wizard he had fixed his own mana system he had changed it and been able to lay it firmly down. He used the medicine made by the black rose to keep it locked in place but at least it stuck as he wanted it to while the medicine did it's work. Perhaps it was because Peter was older and his mana system was more set in it's way? He should have foreseen such a complication.

The students ran in after hearing Peter's scream. By this point he had passed out from the pain. His heart rate was high and he was sweating everywhere. “What happened to him?” The group was scared to see their teacher in such a state.

“We need River to get back here as soon as possible. I can hold his mana system together for the time being but as some point I will run out of mana myself. When that happens if his mana system isn't set firmly in place he'll die. We need the black rose so we can set it while I hold it in place.”

“What should we do?” Amanda was at a loss. They needed to get River here faster but how?

“We need to send out some kind of signal.” Derrick looked to David. “Your lightning magic is our best option. Lets go outside. You'll need to shoot it into the sky as high as you can. We'll see if we can get his attention if it's close by. If big enough it can be seen for over very long distances.” They rushed outside as the other 3 stayed with the old man and peter.

Now outside David gathered a large amount of Lightning magic. Derrick told him to gather more and more until it was at the limit of what he could control. Derrick back away as David shot the lightning magic straight up into the sky. It wasn't powerful but it reached thousands of feet high and was clearly visible even in the day time.

*****

Lee was in the walking along a path when he saw the lightning. If he was right that was about where the old man's house was. It was still a good distance away. Why were they doing that? It wasn't an offensive nor defensive spell. Maybe training? No. That wasn't it either. Something was wrong. He didn't know what was wrong but it was clear he'd better hurry and find out.

He gathered a whirl wind in his hand and made it larger and larger before flinging the tornado into the sky. He made sure it sucked up plenty of dirt so that it would be visible. He wanted to let them know he was close and on his way. They just needed to hang on. If he went all out he could make it in 2 hours. Maybe less. He gathered wind magic and used it to vastly increase his speed.

*****

“Did you see that Derrick! That tornado! That must be Lee! He isn't that far away.”

“Let's go and tell the others quickly!” Derrick ran back inside the old man's house with David following close behind.

The old man continued to hold Peter's mana system in place. Why was it was already this difficult? At this rate he wouldn't even make it a quarter of the day. Derrick and David ran in with excited looks on their faces.

“I signaled Lee with my lightning and he signaled us back. He's not far. If I had to guess he will be here in only a few hours.” Relief washed over all their faces. The old man's face then went rigid as he turned his head facing the left wall in his house.

“Which way is Lee coming from?” The old wizard looked at David. David pointed in the direction the old man had just looked. The old man shook his head.

“I should have known. I let my guard down it seems.” He turned to the students who were gathered around him.

“I just felt a magical presence. Three of them. They used magic to go towards the direction that Lee signaled you from. They are moving further away from us and closer to him as I speak. They're strong but also sneaky. I don't know how long they've been here but I would guess their intentions aren't good.”

The old man looked down at Peter and then towards where he felt the 3 wizards going. He couldn't just let his student die. But if he left, Peter would die. Would Lee be able to forgive him for that?

“We'll go and give Lee a hand!” Mary stood before the wizard. “We didn't train all this time for nothing. Personally I;m curious to see just how strong I've gotten!” All of the students looked at each other and nodded.

“Lee saved our lives before. If we don't help him we're nothing but cowards.” Tom wasn't about to let his friend fight alone.

“An attack on one of us is the same as an attack on all of us.” Amanda wasn't about to be left out.

“I won't let anyone lay kill Lee until I am able to pay him back for all the beatings he's given me!” David still hadn't even beaten Alura yet either. This time if he got the chance he would save Amanda too.

“Don't be too rash.” The old wizard warned them. “I could tell that each of those 3 are almost as strong as Peter. Are you still so sure you want to go?”

“I think we'll be okay. There are some strategies I want to try against strong opponents anyway.”

The old man pondered for a moment what would be the best choice.

“Very well then. Be careful and bring my student and those black roses back as quickly as you can!” Perhaps the correct move was to let Peter die. But in the end he couldn't do it. Partly because he knew one couldn't measure life so simply and part because he had watched over this group for the past 2 months and knew they had grown stronger. He hoped he wasn't being a fool again.