Zodiac Circle

Chapter 14: The Magister of Rose Cruce

Days passed. Tamie enjoyed her time in the Order. She became friends with Tiger and her 'sisters' and soon joined their sisterhood group, so now they referred to her as a 'sister' too, just as she referred to them. Tamie finally felt she was in a good company of true friends. However, she got especially close with Tiger and Riza, whom now she counted not just her 'sisters', but closest, dearest friends. She told everything to them and listened to their tales too. She finally felt free - before, she was fearful to reveal too much about herself to anyone, so people would describe her as a 'cold and reserved individual', but now, acquiring so many friends and these two wonderful companions, Tamie instead became a 'noisy, funny, crazy writer' in their eyes, while she too perceived Tiger as an 'awesome little pet-loving autistic' and Riza as an 'amazing, educated siren maiden'. They often laughed together and had a lot of fun. Nick couldn't miss how close Tamie had gotten to these five girls, and it made him joyful - he was happy to see his sister in such a good mood all days.

Tamie also continued working on her Writer Crafts and soon managed to raise five levels. She hadn't talked with Erik after their last call back in her room, but she still took his advice on one thing - she didn't go on jobs before she would raise more levels. Her brother Nick and her friends too advised her to take jobs when she was at least on Rank Two, so she aimed for that - to raise five more levels and achieve Rank Two on level ten as was the rule. On Rank One Scribbler, level five, she could already summon big items as well as little ones. Her maximum amount limit of summoned items was five (generally, it increased by one item at each level, but Tamie had achieved level one by summoning three items the other day, so now she had been able to summon five items until she reached level five, and hadn't progressed further since then). 

One day, Tamie, Tiger, and Riza were sitting in the hall as usual and were talking and drinking tea and coffee. 

"Back from another job, huh, Riza?" Tamie smiled at her newly-returned friend.

"It was a pain. I had to wipe out a whole base of enemies, and as it was a Grandmaster job, I had to do it all alone".

"Well, nearly alone," Tiger winked, drinking tea and caressing Astra sitting on her lap. Christo was napping under her chair while Blizzard was crazily running through the hall. "Didn't you say Magister came too? He said it was an Infiltration Mission to gather information on the enemies".

"Ugh, he was only a problem," Riza frowned, her cheeks flushing as she looked away. "He is quite clumsy. He fell on the floor when we were silently sneaking through corridors and pushed a table, causing such noise that he woke the whole enemy base, and then, as he is only a Keeper - one of the weakest Classes in battles - he left me to the whole dirty work. We barely made it out alive!"

"But you rose to level sixty-four, didn't you?" Tamie smiled, "because of such a tense fight... And the Keeper Class isn't weak at all - Nick is Keeper Class and he's one of the best fighters, even a Moon Lord!"

"Ugh, Lord Nick is a whole different level! Edmund can't even see straight. I bet that is why he tripped unto that table. Haven't you noticed how he wears glasses all the time?"

"But I've heard he's actually quite a good fighter..." Tamie was confused - Nick always said Edmund's powers were really high, and Erik too had told her not to underestimate him.

"Ugh, whatever... I'm glad I'm back from that job. Well, at least I got enough money from it," Riza chuckled and sipped her coffee.

Then suddenly, one of the Builder Class boys approached them and asked Riza somewhat timidly, scratching the back of his head:

"Hey, Riza, won't you perform on the stage? We've been long waiting for when our siren came back!"

Riza giggled at such shyness of his.

"Okay, Matthew. I'd gladly do it".

"Go Riza!" Tiger cheered for her, clapping already.

"Yeah! I love your songs!" Tamie got excited too. 

Riza smiled at them and followed Matthew. She went up on the stage in the hall and took the microphone. All of the people hushed and lent an ear to her.

"Woohoo, it is Riza! Go girl!" some boys cheered for her, glad to finally hear their 'siren' sing.

"I will sing you one of my newest songs I wrote myself, 'Spy'!"

She gave a sign to Matthew and his group of musicians. They immediately began playing a wonderful upbeat tune. Riza started singing with her melodic, truly siren-like voice:

"Here we are, not even a month has passed

Hurt by a fight even worse than the last

How has this all come about?

We both firmly stand our ground.

We have had enough time to adjust

To me, love should always be built on trust

I fear for you it's not the same

Must you always have someone to blame?"

(The song is 'SPY' by Lisa Schettner (see the video above), available on the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SS7SQMetTE )  

She was going to start with the tag lyrics when a sweet, deep, melodic manly voice continued her song from the spectators' seats in the hall. Riza blinked, but didn't get confused and continued with the song, and only then she noticed it was actually Edmund, the Overlord, himself, who had accompanied her! He smilingly approached the stage, easily walked upstairs, stood beside Riza and both of them continued singing together. The crowd was astounded - Magister could sing?! When finally the song finished, all of the people whooped and applauded furiously - such a wonderful duet! Riza herself was completely dumbfounded - who would have thought? A Keeper Class guy, an Overlord of a powerful order, himself a clumsy boy with glasses, and he could sing in such a melodic voice that even Siren rank Singer Class masters didn't have!

"Um, Magister_" she wanted to ask him how he came to sing so well when they descended the stage, but Edmund smilingly cut her speech:

"Wonderful voice as always, Riza Wagner, thanks for the show. Oh, and one thing - I tripped on that table on purpose. I needed this item from their base," he showed her a special Star-gadget that could send information to many people's gadgets at once. "There's some good information stored here, so Lord Nick and I needed it to steal all the data. You, my dear, were just a part of our plan. While you were singing in the base and hypnotizing the guards, they couldn't notice how I stole their Radio-gadget info for myself. So thank you for being my pawn! Oh, and thanks - I enjoyed singing with you," he smirked and walked off, waving a hand from behind. "Nothing is said in this mansion either, that I cannot hear, so please don't get freaked out I heard your whole conversation. I am an Overlord, after all, I cannot let you, members, loosen your tongues as you please," he ascended the second floor.

Riza was completely reddened from both embarrassment and rage:

"Ugh, that filthy nerd..."

That guy was just unbearable!