Chương 203: History Lesson

"You don't know your own teacher's story?" Elicia said shocked that Damion had never asked Dean Teft about her past and why she distrusted nobles so much.

"I know she was hurt in the Silver Serpent dungeon, and they used that as an excuse to dismiss her from her position," Damion countered, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized he did not know. There had to be more to the story than just getting Mage Teft out of her position as dean. Why did the Thorn family want her out of the way? Was it just to make way for Richard Thorn to be dean or was it because she was causing problems for the noble families. Teft was not a noble family name.

Had she once been in his situation, controlled by the school or forced to join one of the noble families?

"I should make you go find this all out on your own, but since most of this you could just look up in her file with the Adventurer Association, I'll fill you in. I do know a few more particulars than are in the file, it could be just old gossip and rumors though. You'd have to ask her yourself if you want to know for sure."

"I get it. I've been too obsessed with myself to care about anyone else. Just tell me already."

"Dean Teft was born to a wealthy commoner family. Her family had a number of knights and mages, but none with strong magic talent or affinities. When she was discovered to have an A Rank Water affinity the Teft family placed their hopes on her to be able to lift them to the position of a noble family. As long as she reached A Rank, the family would theoretically be recognized as a noble family."

"She reached A Rank, now S Rank. Isn't her family proud of her accomplishments, hasn't she propelled them to noble status?"

"Just listen," Elicia told him.

"As a young woman, Dean Teft formed close bonds with a number of other talented young commoners. They formed a tight group and often went into dungeons and labyrinths together."

"I met some of her old companions in Saung. Demetri Leland and Thelma Gerrad. They opened artificer shops after retiring as adventurers."

"There were other members to her group and one of them was supposedly romantically involved with Teft. However, the Caplan family, since they specialize in Water affinities, wanted her to join their house since despite her average magic talent, she showed a fast growth rate and was quickly surpassing her teammates."

"So, they sent her an attendant, like the Sorin family did me," guessed Damion.

"No. Not like they did you. For you, since you are young, and having just lost your family, I was selected to empathize with you and gain your trust and either get you to fall in love with me or… well… you know." Damion nodded and Elicia continued.

"For Teft, she was already in her third year as a student and had reached mid D Rank and was already involved with one of her companions. The Caplan family had to change their approach or change the dynamics of the situation."

"What did they do?" Damion asked, anger seeping into his voice.

"This is where things become more speculative than certain, but by all accounts, Teft's chosen companion died under suspicious circumstances. However, since he was only a C Rank talent and affinity holder, not much effort was put into discovering what happened. The death splintered Teft's group, each going their own way when they graduated. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Dean Teft, however, stayed on at Silver Spire, as an attendant to a young Caplan family member for one year, and then disappeared for several years."

"Did she… did she have a kid with him?"

"If she did, only Dean Teft knows for sure, I think the Caplan family suspected though. What is known, is that for those couple of years that are unaccounted for in her Adventurer Association records, her prominent family, that had a number of D and C Rank knights and mages, on the cusp of becoming nobles, fell into misfortune."

"Misfortune? You mean the noble families started targeting them and their businesses."

"Yes. Many of the Teft family businesses were forced to close or taken over by noble families large and small. To anyone unaware of Helga's story, it just looked like nobles had started playing hardball with a small family that got too big. The story still gets used as an example towards people like Amos Flannery, to make sure they don't try and get too big."

"What happened to them? Mage Teft's family, I mean, they didn't get killed off or anything did they?"

"The ruling councils of White Zones might be made up of nobles, but they know if commoner families, even formerly prominent ones, start dying off, they would have an uprising on their hands and forever lose the peoples' trust. So, no they didn't kill them off. They are still here in Argentum, but they are not as rich as they used to be, and they have yet to produce another person as talented as Helga."

"But she's A… S Rank now, shouldn't they be happy they are a noble family at last?"

"When they went through their hard times, they expected their glorious daughter that they spared no expense on to be there, helping them through it. To hold off the advances of the noble families through her potential. But she was missing and did not show up until they were near rock bottom. When she did return, the nobles stopped their hostility, but her family never forgave her. They disowned her."

"What? Why would they do that?"

"My guess would be they were given a choice, by the Caplan family. Disown her and they'd stop."

"I think that if Teft did have a baby with the Caplan guy, she took the kid far away and hid him somewhere safe, before coming back here."

"Possibly, but there are no birth records, or records to even show if she was pregnant. After she was disowned, she took up a teaching position at Silver Spire and slowly continued to advance her power. I heard that once she reached A Rank, she tried to reconcile with her family, but they pretended like she did not exist."

"Now that she is S Rank, do you think she will stay here? At Silver Spire?"

"You think, that now that she has the power, she will go back to wherever she was? It took her nearly thirty years after coming back to reach A Rank and she worked for the school as a teacher and as Dean for another thirty. Then she spent something like twenty years in Saung. How old do you think her kid is now? She may have several children, grandchildren, heck she could have great grandchildren."

"I'm sure they are important to her," Damion said. He had learned a lot about his mentor in a short time, but he had never considered she had a family out there before and now he was learning that family had likely been abandoned by her.

"Ever since she returned, she has been carefully watched by the Caplan family. Even when she was injured and the Thorns got her pushed out of her position. She's never been out of their sights. She hasn't seen her family in almost a hundred years."

"There has to be more to the story. Maybe she came back to help her family when she heard about their plight and knew she'd never be able to safely go back to where she hid her kid."

"You are assuming she had a kid," Elicia told him.

"Isn't everyone? Otherwise, why keep watch on her for all these years?"

"To make sure she doesn't cause problems for the noble families of course. Dean Teft, first as Professor Teft, had a tendency to look out for the young commoners attending Silver Spire. It was not a popular decision to make her the Dean before and if not for you, she certainly would not have been welcomed back to that position."

"So where do you think she was for those couple of years?"

"Out in the wild. Getting stronger. Exactly where you should go when you graduate."

"You think I should disappear?"

"You don't need to completely disappear, but there are some job opportunities that will take you off the beaten path and help the noble families forget about you for a while."

"What, you want me to join the Sentinel Order? Patrol the Zones for a few years?"

"Once the new term starts, since you will technically be in your final term, you will participate in a career day. You'll learn about all sorts of options out there and what further training and testing you need to do in order to qualify. But since you have said you want to explore the world; I think you should join the Crimson Order."