Chương 8: Chapter 9: I'm just asking questions!

Jim had never actually liked going to the academy. While some might have called it a privilege, an opportunity, perhaps even the chance of a lifetime. For him, whose future was already secured by a wealthy and prestigious family, it was nothing more than a tedious duty. It was because of this that he had mastered in his months of attendance the art of making the time pass by quickly. Thus, his drinking, reading of non-lecture material and philandering became a survival strategy, rather than a vice.

A result of this time acceleration was that the secretive meeting of the Black Ouroboros came quickly. He put on a cowl to hide his handsome face and went out into the city not for pleasure, but for networking. He glanced once again at his bed, underneath which were hiding his house ring and his pouch of money. Given the general thievery present in the city and the fact that he was going into an unknown part of town, he decided to leave his valuables behind.

Also, despite the meeting having been advertised as quite an informal little meet and greet between talented young people, he still felt like pulling up the cowl of his robe and acting mysterious. There was just something about being the handsome stranger hiding his face. Nodding at his mirror image, satisfied with how he looked, mysterious, powerful, and attractive, he turned around to leave the room. Then he froze, paused one last time with his hand over the door handle.

There was only one thing that he was not looking forward to in this meeting. The fact that Lebowski would also be there, presumably. The boy still hadn't apologised, and Jim had frankly given up on him. Not too much of a loss. He just didn't want the moron to mar his experience at the gathering, to come up to him and grovel for forgiveness when he was meeting new people. He didn't quite know why Lebowski of all people had been invited, but he assumed that if nothing else, the boy came from a wealthy family.

Also, even a woman as beautiful as Alice was occasionally allowed to make mistakes. He opened the door and left his abode, locking it behind him and leaving the key at the reception desk. The meeting was to take place in the eastern, Mitelosian part of Sredina. An unfortunate necessity if one wanted to keep things more hush-hush. In addition to being the bad part of town, the meeting would also occur in the cellar of an abandoned church. Not many still worshipped the god of transformation.

A completely harmless location, but still off-putting enough to create a nice little atmosphere fitting for a slightly secretive society. Not that Jim knew what attributes a secret society needed to be secretive, after all, due to his charisma and social massitude making the secrecy aspect difficult, he'd never been invited. It would simply be too difficult to hide his involvement in anything with how many eyes were on his every move. That was why he was glad for Alice's invitation.

She'd invited him not for his merit of being born a Savant, but for his merit of being an amazing mage. That's why she hadn't known that if she wanted her meeting to stay secret, she probably should not have invited him. Although he was, of course, still doing his best not to be discovered. As he walked the streets, the sun slowly set. He took to the side alleys. His showing in combat class had boosted his confidence.

His previous handling of various bandits and thieves had made him feel safer taking the less often used streets. Also, considering the context of what he was doing tonight, it seemed only fitting. It was after he'd gotten quite close to his goal that he noticed that he was not walking alone anymore. There was another figure, whom he guessed to be around his age, walking beside him, but far away enough so as not to trigger any thoughts of being followed specifically.

They were slightly shorter than him, but also walked with a similar confidence. However, their cloak was not black, but brown and definitely a hundred times less expensive. He demonstratively looked away from the person, refusing to associate even by sight with someone who was essentially dressed in rags…

However, his acknowledgement of the figure, as passive as it might have been, seemed encouragement enough for them to drift closer towards him on the cobblestone path, which unfortunately gave the implication that they reached the meeting place together. There was a man in front of the rundown building who looked them up and down as they approached. He bore a striking resemblance to one of the bandits who had tried to rob Jim on one of the days, but that couldn't be, so he put the possibility out of his mind.

"Are the two of you here for the meeting of the Black Ouroboros?" the man asked politely. Jim was almost about to give him a piece of his mind, presuming the two people had come together like this, especially when they were so obviously from different social classes. With that type of rudeness, the man might as well have just spat on his face. But his incoming tirade was interrupted by the fact that the brown cowled figure simply ran with the assumption and spoke over him.

"Yes, I was invited by a certain Alice," a female voice said, stretching out a hand to give the man the invitation letter. While the simply dressed man inspected the letter, the girl pulled down her hood, revealing frazzled medium-length brown hair, which must have taken a lot of work just to be brought to a level that was disgusting rather than just completely unacceptable.

For a second, Jim thought that he recognised her, but decided that it was better not to associate with these people too much, even mentally, and dropped the train of thought. He thought he saw a shadow or two flit over the rooftops of the drab two-story houses surrounding the square as he looked away from the exchange, in which the girl introduced herself as Katniss, but quickly refocused on the entrance again after the girl was let in.

Jim similarly presented his note to the man, and rather than waiting for any sort of allowance to enter, he simply brushed past his protests and entered the building. That was the difference between him and Katniss. She needed to wait for permission, whereas Jim simply took it. That was one of the issues of the supposed prestige of the academy. No matter how much magic one taught a peasant, they would never gain the appropriate attitude to go along with their newfound status.

It was clearly revealed that the man he walked past had the appropriate upbringing, as he did not bother following Jim and simply let him be. Therefore, it was in that way in which he entered the church, that served as proof enough that he deserved to be there. The interior of the church, as run down as it looked from the outside with its decaying shingles and cracked stones, was surprisingly pleasant.

Several pews were directed towards a statue of a human-looking figure without a hand in the front, and unlit candles were strewn all around. However, the meeting did not seem to be taking place at this level of the building, which Jim was able to deduce by the lack of people. On the floor, in the middle of the pews, he saw a black hole in the ground illuminated by the moonlight seeping through the windows, just enough to reveal a pair of rickety old stairs.

Honestly, this place was maybe even trying a bit too hard for the atmosphere of a secret society. Although Jim did naturally approve and appreciate the effort to make the experience palatable for him. At the end of the day, had they met in a mansion, it would have just been less prestigious than his own family home, which would have made the whole thing slightly laughable.

He approached the stairs, seeing the figure that had to come in before him disappearing in the bottom, and started his descent, one hand to the side, touching the stone just so he could catch himself in case he fell. The stairs ended up being not so long, but did lead to a tight corridor, at the end of which he heard voices and saw a soft light that seemed to be coming from a circle of flickering torches.

It was after he walked through the rest of the corridor, his steps echoing oddly, that he arrived at the meeting spot. A white hall, much bigger than he would have expected, made out of what seemed to be new blocks of stone. They were oddly well maintained, which hinted perhaps at the weird possibility that this hall was newer than the church above it. There were several people already gathered here, a lot of them wearing cowls, but some of them also not.

Surprisingly enough, Jim recognised some students from the academy. Even if the ones he saw were mostly older and probably in their second and third years. He himself decided to keep his hood on. It made him look mysterious and dashing. He went to approach the organiser of this event, Alice. The black-haired beauty was standing next to a pair of older men whose hair was already graying. Jim felt an immediate dislike towards them for some reason.

He decided, then and there, that he would walk up to them and discuss with the organiser what the structure of the meeting would look like. They would appreciate his input. Walking over purposely, he just managed to catch the tail end of the conversation that group had been having, something about a gate.

"Hello, Alice," he greeted the woman who turned and smiled at him.

"You were the student who almost killed the bandits in the alley, aren't you?" she asked with a weird intonation to her voice, at which the two men listening in on the conversation pulled weird faces.

"Yes," Jim sniffed.

"They were quite lucky to have you, really." Alice gave a laugh.

"Yes, yes, they were. Well, as you can see, we have an interesting gathering here. Some students, some merchants and some nobles. Why don't you go and mingle? We will initiate the larger discussion in a few minutes when more people have arrived. Now, if you excuse me, I have something to do," she said and went to the back of the circular room where a small podium was set up next to what looked to be a table holding ritual candles and other assortment of magical tools in addition to some bottles of wine and water.

Jim stood there, shaken to his core at the fact that his charisma had not worked in keeping Alice here, although as the host, she naturally had responsibilities. The other two gentlemen left without bothering to speak to Jim. He was thus left to stand there on his own, slowly joined by the brown cloaked figure that he'd arrived with. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Hey, I'm Katniss, are you also a student?" the girl asked awkwardly with an obviously Mitelosian accent. Jim crossed his arms and frowned. Well, talking to another girl would show Alice that he had options, no matter her unfortunate origins. He turned to Katniss.

"Yes, I am, I assume you are as well, thus the question?" Katniss nodded awkwardly.

"Yeah," she said.

"The exam was crazy, huh?" Jim rolled his eyes.

"Not really. I mean, who cares? Nowadays they started letting everyone in. The standards are atrocious." He tactfully left out that he considered the person he was talking to to be one of the beneficiaries of those atrocious standards.

"I mean, it's obvious why, no?" Katniss proposed. Jim just stared at her blankly.

"Well, as much as it pains me to say so. I do think that they are trying to elevate Mitelosian peasants into higher societal roles by letting more of them graduate than they would frankly deserve. Some sort of outreach program." Katniss tilted her head.

"I thought it was because they're expecting an invasion from Ezengerd?" Jim scoffed.

"An invasion from Ezengerd? That's ridiculous, they're completely reliant on us for trade and food, if they went to war with us, they'd starve in a week."

"Well, not if they're invading. They can just raid our farms. They have this whole problem of being an island and running out of space. With their culture, it's not that weird that they resort to taking the land of someone else to make space for their people."

"Yes, former culture," Jim stated.

"There haven't been any raids for a few hundred years now, which is the only reason why we put up with them, really."

"They didn't have to anymore, that's why they stopped. Their empress brought warmth to the land and let them create their own agriculture. But things change, especially with their recent population boom." Jim sighed and refrained from answering. The proposition in itself was absolutely ridiculous. His family had extensive ties to Ezengerd; if anyone would know that they were planning an invasion, then it would be him.

It seemed rather that they were depopulating their islands, having created an outpost in the sea between the two countries where they'd banished all their prisoners and made them fight to the death. Killing the criminals while extracting some entertainment value, now that was a solution to overpopulation that he could get behind.

Also, despite having a history of raiding coastlines across the continent, Ezengerd had not been doing so for too long and would hardly win any sort of armed conflict with the genius Richean Cavalry and their trusty Mitelosian Infantry. However, before he had the opportunity to retort that, Alice stepped up to the podium and addressed the audience of people who turned their heads towards her.

"We live in a time of turmoil!" Alice announced to the assembly when everyone had quieted down.

"Ezengerd is suffering an overpopulation crisis, the Hrust mountains are mumbling their old song, Shufu is legalising the prosecution of Mages to a level never before seen, and Maseh is preparing their troops for what is starting to look like more than just a border skirmish with Zhanzheng. What has Rotto done in all previous historical moments where the future of the continent seemed uncertain?" she asked rhetorically. People murmured amongst themselves but didn't answer.

"They let more people into the combat academies. They recruited in Mitelos and squeezed the money out of Riche. Are you happy with this development?" Mutters of disagreement went through the crowd.

"Riche has already paid enough, and Mitelos has already lost too many. However, if the Hrust mountains are to really erupt and if tension with Ezengerd increases, then what is the best course of action? Forget the regions, and the class divide, aren't we all Rottoan citizens in the end?"

"No, we're not! Down with the royals!" someone shouted from the crowd. Alice nodded so quickly that one could almost assume that the moment had been premeditated.

"The Royal Family has refused to integrate after almost a millenia of ruling over us. They like to recruit courtiers from outside the country. Diversity of thought, they say. Ridiculous!" she spat.

"They only do it to create a court not loyal to the country that it rules. During all of this, as they take away from us our rightful powers to decide over our own fate, it is we who are sent to the slaughterhouse. Be it now in defence against Ezengerd, and the potential subjugation of the Hrust mountains, or in sending troops into the conflict between Maseh and Zhanzhen, or as liberators to Shufu. It'll be us who will suffer, not them." More voices of agreement went through the crowd.

"It is during these turbulent times that you are gathered here today to discuss. The questions we face today are, do we want to be sent into battle, be levied with even more taxes and have our institutions dragged down in their level simply for the political convenience of a distant Royal family?" Alice asked him to come to the room.

"You are a group representing talented mages, rich merchants and children of powerful nobles. Perhaps it is time to consider how it is us who can start influencing the Kingdom's future?" Alice finished and stepped back from the podium, signaling to everyone that the discussion was set to start. Some clapping emerged from the crowd, and Jim joined more out of habit than anything.

He did agree that it was about time that the Royal Family was shown its place as the outsiders that they still were in this country, and that people like him -magical, and rich- started having a more active say in the running of the state. However, Alice was obviously misinformed on some aspects. The calamity had not happened in over 500 years, and he seriously doubted it would ever happen again.

Similarly, his family was perhaps one of the ones who had the most to say about Ezengerd`s attitude, and they hadn't noticed any war-like tendencies. They delivered enough food cheaply enough to the island country that they weren't starving, so what exactly was the problem?

"Calamity," he snorted.

"Fairy tales still count in the political discourse of today?" His neighbour, Katniss, seemingly took his rhetorical question seriously.

"Every time anyone has thought that the Calamity had truly been destroyed, it came back again, bigger and more horrible than ever before." Jim naturally couldn't hold his mouth at the provocation and engaged a girl in a debate, adding to the voices rising in the crowd as people began their own discussions on what they thought was happening in the kingdom and what should be done about it.

However, this state of affairs did not last long, as soon after Alice's speech, the hall quieted again; however, this was not because anyone had stepped onto the podium. But rather because rushed and very loud footsteps suddenly came from the corridor connecting to the church. People muttered amongst each other curiously and turned towards the only entrance and exit to the room. This was serious business. Who would be running here? It was slightly disgraceful considering the status of those present.

Jim, meanwhile, who had, through his various visions of death, acquired somewhat of a pronounced sense of danger, backed off slightly from the entrance towards Alice, who was also looking at the door cautiously. If anyone knew a way to quickly disappear, it would be the organiser of the event. And not wanting to be caught in a situation like this, properly rebellious in fact and decisively anti-establishment, Jim knew that if the new arrivals were not benign, he wanted to disappear.

He was sent to Sredina to make allies, but also not to make enemies. Considering that he knew that with his skills he could easily pass the graduation exam, this was now in fact becoming one of his main goals in the city. He felt his body untense as the person running came into light. It was just the guard who had been checking people's invitations at the front of the church earlier in the night. He looked frazzled, a bit sweaty, and his face was drawn in a rictus of agony.

It didn't mean much, however, as this was how peasants usually looked. The man really had to learn some decorum rather than just running into a gathering of his betters like this unannounced. The news he was bringing so urgently had better be good.

"What is the meaning of this, Alfred?" Alice asked. The aforementioned Alfred stopped in his tracks, stood there for a second, opened his mouth as if to speak, only to spit out a big blob of blood before collapsing face forward onto the floor, revealing a huge chunk of flesh missing from his back. Quiet figures suddenly peeled themselves out of the darkness of the corridor, clad in similarly dark clothes as the attendees. Only one man did not have his hood pulled up, and Jim unfortunately recognised him.

It was Headmaster Leigh. A shiver ran down Jim's spine.

"For conspiracy against the Kingdom of Rotto, you are all under arrest pending investigation. Put down your hoods and quietly come with us," the headmaster announced calmly. Jim naturally spun around and sprinted into the now open tunnel that hadn't been there before, in which Alice and her conspirators had already disappeared into. He might not have any idea where it led, but going with Alice and the others was definitely safer than staying in the large hall with the murderous headmaster and his goons.

The newly formed group of conspirators, plus Jim, ran down a dark, tight and uneven corridor. Jim, in haste, had forgotten that he could summon light, but thankfully, Alice had remembered, which meant there was a red ball of luminescence guiding their path and making sure nobody tripped. Jim thought for a second if the whole operation had been a honey-trap by the headmaster and Alice to lure rebellious intellectuals such as himself into a compromising position. Then he shook his head.

The bowed and grey figure of the headmaster, the murder beneath his bushy brows. In contrast, the beautiful, dark-haired and fair-skinned Alice. There was no world in which these two would ever work together. He trusted Alice. Even while they ran, the woman threw a concerned glance backwards at Jim to make sure that he was keeping up. It warmed his heart. Her hooded co-conspirators, meanwhile, were obviously made of weaker mettle and simply hurried along meekly.

After a minute or so of running, Jim was already starting to fall short of breath. Thankfully, the tunnel brightened up somewhat, indicating they were approaching a place where the moonlight could reach. A hole illuminated by the silver light of the night sky greeted the group, and they burst into a wide-open courtyard of a mansion.

Unfortunately, Jim didn't have time to admire the skillfully cut trees and the whimsical bird fountain, because by the time he'd reoriented himself, he already found himself, once again, facing the headmaster.

"You found our residence?" Alice bit out harshly as she glared at the man, who was slowly running a hand through his beard.

"You are not as hidden as you think," the old man replied solemnly.

"And you even put up a teleportation block all the way from the church to here. If you know so much, why not approach us sooner?" she asked curiously. Alice could teleport? Jim wondered. That meant she was at least a sixth circle mage!

"Just waiting to see how wide of a net you can cast," Headmaster Leigh replied in a bored tone of voice. This simply confirmed to Jim that Leigh must be a part of some sinister organisation. Why were they rounding up people who were just asking questions? What was happening?

"Well, you made a mistake meeting us here alone," Alice said darkly.

"They might call you the eleventh star, but here you're just an outnumbered old man holding up a dimensional anchor." She clapped her hands together, which created a booming sound much too loud for the action. She opened her hands, revealing a bright red star hovering in between. The entire courtyard was cast in sickly red light. Her co-conspirators, meanwhile, pulled out weapons from underneath their cloaks, revealing that they had been carrying daggers all along. The headmaster simply shook his head and tutted.

"Youth these days, never paying enough attention to shaping," he informed kindly.

"Let me show you what a proper supernova looks like." He, too, clapped his hands together, but the effect was vastly different. At the meeting point between the aged palms, a spark of green ignited, before it ruthlessly expanded outwards. The world disappeared in green light. Jim instinctively brought up his shield, but he didn't even feel it break, as much as it simply disappeared in contact with the green light. Blinking to recover his eyes, he found his vision tilted. A questioning 'huh?'

flashed across his mind but didn't exit his mouth. He saw a pair of legs standing on the grass, the world spinning. The feet were clad in a fashionable pair of pink leather boots. Another spin. Jim realised that the legs weren't attached to anything. Another spin, he saw that the other cowled figures had all disappeared, leaving behind nothing but their legs and their heads falling to the ground. Only Alice was still alive, crouching on the floor beneath a red shield and crossed arms.

In a circle around headmaster Leigh, everything at the height of his torso had disappeared. The fountain, the trees, the people. Just the house and the walls surrounding the courtyard were untouched. A white something was moving in the air towards Jim, an expanding circle. A disturbance in the air.

His last thought before the second shockwave exploded his disembodied head like an overripe grape was that the Headmaster's shaping must have been pretty impressive if he was able to localise such an explosive amount of force. Death took him.