Chương 104: Do I Get A Say?

"I started school when I was only six years old. I was a bit of a handful for my parents. Read through all the books in the house and was eager to learn more. My parents were able to convince our local school to let me start early," Damion began recounting.

"The same year I started school, we had a beast wave. This was about twelve years ago. Being just a child and the first time I had heard the alarms, I did not know what to do and ended up at a local police station waiting for my mother to come pick me up. There I met Dean Thorn of Silver Spire Magic Academy by chance, apparently he had been heading to Saung to start testing of our local students when the beast wave broke out."

Out of the corner of Damion's eye, he could see Dean Thorn sinking in his chair with the man next to him giving him strange looks. A few other people around the table were also starting to look to Dean Thorn for confirmation of Damion's story.

"Seeing this as the opportunity I had always wanted, I asked him to test me to find out if I could be a mage. Dean Thorn brought out a testing crystal, but when it tried to test me, it… well… disintegrated. When Dean Thorn saw that, he became very angry and told me I would never be able to become a mage no matter what my magic talent was."

"Did you do anything to make the testing crystal collapse?" Mage Bianco asked.

"No. I just held it in my hand."

"What about when the tests happened at your school? Did the same thing happen?" Chairman Hathaway asked.

"I was afraid the result would be the same and didn't want to be embarrassed in front of my classmates, so I skipped the testing."

"Dean Thorn, what do you and Silver Spire Academy have to say about this?" Chairman Hathaway asked, turning everyone's attention to them.

"Chairman Hathaway, this is the first I have heard of this," the man beside Dean Thorn answered.

"Be that as it may Headmaster Sorin. This happened on your watch. Who knows how many other potential mages Dean Thorn has suppressed over the years?"

"I assure you that is not the case. This boy's story doesn't make sense," Headmaster Sorin said defensively.

"If he was a mage all this time why didn't he use magic before now?" The question caused all the people seated at the table to turn their attention back to Damion. This put Damion in a difficult position. If he was going to answer the question it meant giving the council even more questions. But he had already revealed his seal to several people in the past. Anyone that did any sort of investigation could probably find that information out.

"Not being able to use magic goes back to being a baby," Damion started retelling his story.

"When I was born I was able to absorb mana, and I inadvertently damaged my mana pathways."

"I seem to recall that occurrence," Chairman Hathaway.

"It caused quite the stir at the time. That was you? Your mana pathways were thought to be unhealable."

"Well, my magic core was sealed related to what happened as a baby," Damion continued, he had to be careful not to lie.

"When I was reading in the library, I met Ms. Teft and she could sense the magic in me and tried showing me many different magic seals to try and figure out my affinity, but we never found any that seemed to be a match. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Instead of continuing to try different tier 1 magic seals to find out my affinity, Ms. Teft trained me to be a knight so I could learn to control my mana and strengthen my body. I had a feeling that the magic seal on me would eventually lift, and it did yesterday while I was fighting the Deinosuchus."

"See, it isn't my fault that he has gone unnoticed. Teft should have alerted the magic academies to his talent long ago," Dean Thorn shouted as he stood up feeling vindicated.

"Not your fault?" Chairman Hathaway asked looking at the man.

"If you had properly tested him you would have discovered his talent, even if it was sealed. The destruction of your testing crystal should have alerted you to his talent. But instead, you got angry and figured no one would ever notice the boy."

"No, that isn't true," Dean Thorn said defensively.

"Then why did you falsify the test results?" Ms. Teft asked as she took out a folder with the test results from Damion's class and passed the papers around the table. The council members and various representatives looked over the test results. When they saw Damion's name with the result listed as no magic talent they could hardly believe their eyes. Students that missed the test were supposed to be put down as not tested and would then be tested by the Adventurer Association in a few days.

When Dean Thorn saw everyone's reaction to the test results, he knew it was over for him. If he was lucky, he might be allowed to join a guild, but at the minimum he was going to be facing fines and be restricted from entering Breaches, effectively stunting his growth, just as he had done to Ms. Teft years ago.

"This is all a ploy," Dean Thorn sneered.

"Mage Teft is just trying to get back at me for when I advocated her retirement after she was injured in the Silver Serpent Dungeon."

"That has certainly motivated me to make Damion as strong as possible," Ms. Teft admitted.

"My injury was never as severe as you led other people to believe. Within a year of the incident, I was fully recovered. There was never any need to force me to step down, but I must thank you. If I had not been forced to leave Silver Spire Magic Academy I never would have met young Damion, who I believe is the most talented mage of this generation."

"Mage Teft, why did you not come forward right away with what you suspected of the boy's talent?" Chairman Hathaway asked.

"And be accused of making up the boy's talent to get my position back?" The council members murmured to themselves as they considered Ms. Teft's words. It was quite likely that if she had gone to Headmaster Sorin that he would have said exactly that.

"Headmaster Sorin, Dean Thorn's position is within the jurisdiction of Silver Spire Magic Academy and Argentum's Ruling Council, but considering his deceit directly affected a citizen of Saung, I think our council should have a say in his punishment." Chairman Hathaway said.

"I will be happy to listen to your recommendation once this meeting is over," Headmaster Sorin answered.

"For the time being we need to decide Mr. Wells' future. Mage Teft, would you be so kind as to fill us in on the status of Mr. Wells' education."

"I focused on teaching him combat and practical applications of mana. Without knowing Damion's affinity or him being able to learn magic seals, teaching him anything more would have been difficult."

"That is both good and bad." Headmaster Sorin said while scratching his chin.

"At eighteen years old, he should be starting his third and final year of magic schooling. But he is lacking the foundations built in magical theory classes."

"A special program could easily be arranged for him," Ms. Teft said looking at Headmaster Sorin expectingly.

"But that is even assuming he wants to attend Silver Spire Magic Academy. I believe we have representatives here from Erythraean Academy and Beryl School of the Mystic Arts in Viridis. Neither of those schools have a dean that will have it out for him." Damion looked back and forth between Ms. Teft and Headmaster Sorin. The two were obviously negotiating for Damion's future, but he was being left out of the conversation and he was not sure how he felt about that.

"Do I get a say in my future?"