Alexander enters the Iluminare Consortium, the club looking slightly different without the loud music and bright lights while also not being packed with people. With haste, Alexander makes his way up to the office area where he and Edward went several nights prior. Lying on one of the sofa's is a slightly more sickly pale than normal Vivienne who is holding a glowing blue runeic sphere which emits a gentle magical presence. Checking the girl over is a mature female wearing a white nurse outfit which looks more akin to a fantasy elf healer than a traditional nurse. The woman has white skin, sapphire blue eyes and faded pink hair while kneeling beside the sofa to tend her patient.

"Is she alright Nurse Redheart?" Alexander asks as he silently enters the room.

"Ah, Alexander. I was wondering if it was you Forte was going to get when she said she'd find help. Vivienne is fine, just a little magic deficiency." Nurse Redheart explains as she stands up.

"Magical deficiency? You know I find that hard to believe given who we're talking about. Vivienne is practically never out of magic even when performing her more complex show spells." Alexander states, crossing his arms.

At that moment Forte enters the room leaning over slightly to pant.

"Would it kill you to slow down..." Forte catches her breath and slows herself before going to Vivienne on the sofa.

"I thought you were right behind me if I'm honest." Alexander shrugs as he sighs deeply.

Nurse Redheart moves over to stand by Alexander before turning to face the two girls again.

"I've given her a magic sphere so she should start to feel better in a few hours, once her mana begins getting closer to normal levels. I can't quite explain her condition beyond being a result of extreme mana depletion, however, I have no theories as to how a girl like Vivienne got to this state. Although I can say it's not the first case I've seen this morning..." Nurse Redheart ponders with a worried expression.

"What do you mean 'not the first'?" Alexander asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Exactly what I said. Vivienne is not the first case of odd magical deficiency I've seen today... Which worries me as to how exactly the students are ending up like this. Either way, with this many suffering the same illness I'll need to submit a report to the chancellor and see what he recommends us to do." Nurse Redheart states before leaving the office.

"I can ask around and see if anyone has seen anything to do with these mysterious cases. I can't exactly do much being just a student and from Wyvern House, but I won't sit and do nothing." Alexander states as he begins to exit the office.

"Thank you, I suppose. Just don't go getting into anything too over your head. Heaven knows this dummy never listens to that advice and you've been a good friend to her." Forte states before Alexander waves bye and heads for the exit.

A few hours later in the middle of lunch, Edward and Twilight are playing chess with marble white pieces on one side and the opposite shaped from black onyx. Starlight is beside Twilight slowly eating a vegetarian sub roll as they sit in a spacious cafeteria with an extensive serving area which offers a wide variety of food for the students. Alexander walks into the cafeteria, stretching slightly as he sighs and heads over to the line where Jerry is the last in the queue.

"Hey... Wanna buy daylight saving device which uses no power source and can always tell the time when the sun is out?" Jerry asks, leaning towards Alexander.

"You're trying to sell me a sundial again, aren't you?" Alexander asks, raising an eyebrow at the business.

"What? No, I'd never try and pawn off the same item onto a customer twice... But while we're on that subject, how about a magical totem enchanted by the legendary magician known only as Nova Mortis? Rumours say it can summon a reaper with the magic contained within." Jerry states as he wiggles his eyebrow at Alexander.

"Providing this is a legit item, how much would something like that even cost me?" Alexander asks looking intrigued slightly.

"For you my old friend, a loyal and unwavering customer... I'll say around twenty gold? Was tempted to settle on fifteen gold, to be honest." Jerry states as he picks out some healthy fruit items with a bit of meat mixed with rice for his lunch.

"That has to be the lowest price you've ever offered me and it does sound interesting for sure." Alexander states in replying thinking for a moment before handing Jerry a gold coin with a twenty engraved on it.

For his lunch, Alexander picks out some chips with a double beef burger and a side bowl of rice with two chocolate with mint topped moose. After moving a little down the line, Jerry hands Alexander a totem carved into the iconic hooded shape of a reaper with small ruby jewels for eyes. Alexander places the totem in his messenger bag before they manage to get to the till to pay for their lunches. Jerry then leaves his side and the exhausted man walks over to the trio, sitting down opposite Starlight.

Edward uses magic to move one of his knights to take a bishop of Twilights which is within its movement range. The piece slides into position before coming to life and drawing its sword to decapitate the bishop and hold its head up by the pointy bit on their hat before throwing it back down beside the main body for Edward to collect.

"That's barbaric..." Twilight looks unamused, partly also because she is losing.

"That's Magicians Chess." Alexander states as he settles in, before adding a sachet of salt to his chips and burger. He then adds two sachets of ketchup to his burger.

"It's awesome~" Starlight sings as she starts a second well made generously filled out sub.

"I'll have to play it with you sometime, Starlight." Alexander states before taking a sizeable bite of his burger, making a sound very similar to an orgasm.

"You really love those don't you?" Twilight states raising her eyebrow.

"It's just sho good~" Alexander states happily.

"So, what happened when you went to see Vivienne?" Edward asks as he stares at the chess board.

"She was suffering from magical deficiency, as in a full depletion of mana." Alexander manages to reply through a break in his eating.

"This is Vivienne we're talking about right? I didn't think that was even possible for her." Edward looks at Alexander concerned.

"That's what I told Nurse Redheart and she said that Vivienne was not the first case she'd had this morning." Alexander states pointing a chip out to make a point only to have half of it eaten by Starlight.

"I take it this isn't a normal occurrence than for the Academy?" Twilight states trying to move a pawn up the board only to have it taken by a castle.

"That's my chip, if you wanted some you could have got your own." Alexander sighs and eats the half he was left with.

"Nah, I'd much rather sponge off your chips~" Starlight states happily.

"It's really not so common here. Yeah, students sometimes push themselves too hard or over exert themselves with complex spells, but nothing that'd leave so many with magical deficiency." Edward states as he moves his own pawn up the board having it taken by Twilight's queen, but follows up with a second bishop that was in wait to attack the queen.

"Is there anything we can do or are we hopeless in this situation?" Twilight asks sighing in defeat as she flips her king, tired of playing the game and clearly losing.

"Of course not Twilight, we must investigate!" Alexander states happily as he finishes his burger and shares his chips with Starlight.

"How are we going about this then?" Edward asks confused slightly.

"Well, I'll be Basil, you'll be Dawson, Twilight can be Mrs Hudson and..." Alexander thinks for a moment.

"What about me?" Starlight asks raising her eyebrow.

"Oh, you can be Toby." Alexander nods his head and smiles.

"Oh that doesn't sound so bad-" Starlight is cut off by Edward.

"Toby is a dog." Edward states bluntly as he packs away the chess set and the broken pieces repair themselves.

"You son of a bitch!" Starlight exclaims as she glares at Alexander who has already finished his rice bowl and left promptly as it still spins on the cafeteria tray.

Author's Notes:

Slow but sure development. It'll be a challenge to have this arc filled its projected time slot for the story, but with some luck and writing we can just about pull it off while progressing things between the characters. As always we look forward to constructive criticism from our readers and or things they enjoyed or might want to see later on. Till next time.