Chương 183: Next Time?!

"You were responsible for this were you not?" Headmaster Sorin demanded as he glared at his grandson, Thomas Sorin, who was groveling on the floor of the Headmaster's office.

"Answer me!"

"Yes, alright. I convinced Theodore Bianco to hire Mage Blanche through the Fontane brothers to kill your precious prodigy."

"Why did you go to the Bianco family for this?"

"I'd heard Theodore had a grudge in the past with Mage Wells. Something about a girl he liked, and the girl went in the first labyrinth run with him."

"Reasonable. Using someone who already has a history of animosity with Mage Wells, was good. What about Mage Blanche? Why use him? He may have been B Rank, but users of the same element have difficulty harming one another. You know this."

"The Blanche family is a smaller family and Devon gained a lot of fame when they revealed he was their family's first S Rank Ice affinity user of the age. Then the opposing faction of his family revealed an S Rank Ice affinity user a few years later taking away from his fame and now Damion shows up pushing him further into the background. I thought he had a believable motive."

"Perhaps," Headmaster Sorin thought for a moment before he looked sternly at Thomas.

"Has Bianco revealed his involvement with Blanche to anyone?"

"How am I supposed to…"

"How can you not know? How many times have I told you? If you use pawns, be sure of everything they do. If you have to use a pawn for something that you can't do yourself, make sure nothing is traceable back to you. If Blanche can be traced to the Fontanes and them to Bianco and Bianco can be traced back to you, the Justiciar Order will find out."

"I know, Grandfather," Thomas said quietly.

"If you knew, then we wouldn't be having this conversation. And I wouldn't need to clean up your mess."

"I'm sorry Grandfather."

"Have no further communications with Bianco. I will trace his communications and find out who else he might have spoken to. And I will confirm if Mage Blanche discussed anything with anyone other than his fellow conspirators."

"Yes Grandfather."

"And stop antagonizing Wells. It doesn't paint you in a good light for the commoners. Our goal is to recruit as many new talents as possible, but recruits that join us out of fear are liable to betray you at the first opportunity. You are the future leader of the family. Act like it!"

"Yes Grandfather. It is just, I was…"

"You were thinking it is Elicia's task to get him to join our family and that I might even offer the head position to him to make that happen."

"Yes Grandfather."

"No need to worry over that. An outsider will never lead the Sorin family. His child one day might, but only if raised fully in the family ways." Headmaster Sorin paused as he turned away from his grandson to look out his office windows.

"Despite what Teft says, she will never let the boy join us. We still have hope to acquire his seed though. His bloodline added to our own could push our next few generations higher than any other family."

"Are you sure you want to mix his blood with Elicia's?" Thomas asked. He sensed his grandfather's ire towards him had faded.

"She's proven to have a weaker bloodline than others."

"And potentially waste a promising family prodigy? Whomever is assigned to the boy will always have the stigma of having been used. Who would you replace Elicia with? Your sister perhaps? Besides, Elicia is more capable than you think, her problem was always confidence. And she seems to have found that."

"What do you mean?"

"Can't you tell? Or are you so blinded by your preconceived notions that you can't see what is right in front of your face?" Thomas hung his head, not wanting to answer and get the full brunt of his grandfather's anger again.

"Elicia is on the cusp of breaking through to D Rank. Quite the accomplishment for someone who a year ago could barely be considered E Rank."

"How?" If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"She trains everyday with him. He has helped her find her drive. She is no longer as worthless as you believe. Still, if she doesn't hurry up and make progress with the boy I may yet have to replace her. Or use other means to get his seed."

"We need to discuss the fallout of the events from labyrinth," Mage Teft told Damion as she sat at the dining table in his dormitory. Mage Teft showed up not long after Damion and Elicia returned to the school, and she did not look pleased.

"Didn't the Justiciar clear me?" Damion asked from across the table.

"They did. However, you still killed several members of noble families. If you think those families are just going to sit back and ignore your actions because the Justiciar said you were justified, you need to step back and rethink the situation."

"You think they will come up with another plot to kill me? I mean, wouldn't suspicion automatically fall on them?"

"The noble families are generally more interested in control. This attack on you does not follow their usual pattern. From everything the Justiciar has been able to discern, this was not a sanctioned action of the Blanche family. However, if things now escalate, remember, suspicion and proof are two very different things. No matter how talented you are, if you are dead, people will move on and put their support behind a new talent."

"Did they happen to mention who was behind it?" Damion asked.

"The initial investigation indicates that the Fontane brothers hired Mage Blanche, who was happy to help remove a rival Ice mage. Given that all the attackers were killed, and that most were nobles, it is unlikely the Justiciar will continue the investigation."

"You're thinking someone else is behind the attack," Damion said.

"Yes, but I don't have any idea who. I will continue to look into it on my own, but without official support, it will take time. For now, you should worry more about the families you faced off against, they have their own motive now."

"I'll stick around school, everything will blow over eventually, right?"

"Perhaps."

"You really think it won't?"

"The Fontane family and the Thorn family are not the Falks Guild. They are more than willing to wait until you leave Silver Spire to enact whatever plan they concoct."

"What about the Sooter, Grier and Blanche families? Along with the others?"

"The Sooter and Grier families won't be an issue, their members were troublemakers, and they are probably glad to be rid of them. In fact, they have already distanced themselves from them and claim those sons had already been kicked out of the family. The Blanche family might be a little more difficult."

"Why is that?"

"Not only did they lose a B Rank mage, but also his B Rank armor," Mage Teft began explaining.

"Usually, in these situations you can ransom the armor back to the family."

"Ransom the armor back? You make it sound like they care more for the armor than the mage they lost."

"In some ways they do. B Rank armor is worth a dozen B Rank mages. Most noble families have plenty of B Rank mages. Devon Blanche was a promising member of the Blanche family, having just broken into B Rank not long ago, but my understanding is that there is a bit of a rift in their family and Devon was the main talent of one side. If you give the armor to the other faction, helping them gain the needed leverage to cement their place as the head of the family, they may just look the other way."

"This armor has the ability to let them lead their family?"

"The armor belonged to their family founder. It is more than just B Rank armor to them."

"Such an important family heirloom, don't you think the ability to lead a family is worth more than just not planning revenge? Afterall, that isn't really something of tangible value. Even if I don't return the armor and they plan revenge, there is no guarantee they will be successful. So, I'd be giving them something of immense value for merely a promise."

"You want to ask for more?" Mage Teft questioned.

"Can I?"

"Yes."

"Guess it is a good thing I didn't sell the armor then."

"You were going to sell it? Going to an artifact shop to sell something of this value can put a target on your back. The Association would have been a better choice."

"I'll keep that in mind for next time."

"Next time! You plan to get in more fights with noble families?" Mage Teft practically screamed.

"I wouldn't say I plan to. But isn't it pretty obvious the noble families will come after me again?"

"Fair enough," Mage Teft conceded.

"What do you have in mind for the ransom?"

"Magic seals. The Blanche family obviously has Ice magic seals. I think a couple of spells would be worth the return of their family heirloom."

"Magic seals?" Mage Teft thought for a moment. Headmaster Sorin was unlikely to grant him access to the tier 3 or higher Repository. This would potentially give Damion access to higher tier spells and help his growth. The question was, what tier spells could he demand and how many?

"Your idea has merit. I will try and find out what magic seals the Blanche family has and might be willing to use for this trade."

"I'd rather view their library and pick for myself," Damion said seriously, though Mage Teft took it as a joke.

"That isn't going to happen. Most likely they will offer spells that Silver Spire has in its Repository."

"Then, I guess I'll have to wait and see what their offer is."

"Good. Now, to the matter of the potion you used to save Mage Blythe's life. I've told the Headmaster it came from me. Something I picked up on my travels and gave to you to make sure you had a lifesaving item. He did not seem to overly care about the potion right now, probably thinks the Mage Bane Toxin was weak and the potion was able to flush it out so Mage Blythe could heal himself. But you witnessed firsthand how such a powerful potion is prized.

Justiciar Straus was put in his place by the council and the Headmaster. But don't think that potion is off his mind."

"Aren't you interested in where I got it?" Damion questioned.

"No. Any alchemist that can brew a potion like that would only give it to someone they thought deserved it. Don't take this the wrong way, I'm glad you saved Mage Blythe's life, having him as a witness saved you a more rigorous interrogation, but make sure you are cautious in your use of such items in the future."

"Yes ma'am," Damion responded. Neither of them mentioned much about the potion, but Damion had the feeling Mage Teft believed he had more of them.