Alaric Ravencrest was a one of the most powerful individuals in the world, both politically and magically, and with seven mana rings humming with catastrophic amounts of mana orbiting his wizened soul, nothing much fazed him anymore.

Or that's what he thought, until Kira came along and summoned a monstrosity in his beloved school.

And so for the first time in centuries, another being was able to force him, Alaric Ravencrest, head of House Ravencrest and Headmaster of Elderglow, to stumble, just by its pressure alone.

It was exhilarating.

It was a fun challenge to once again dance around the politics of those just as powerful, if not even more powerful, than he was. Alaric used to despise the pesky politics of noble houses, which was why he had founded the school in the first place.

To cut the corruption at its roots, and raise better people which would eventually replace their corrupt predecessors. Perhaps even a bit of pruning here and little weeding out there, but only in the rare event in which Alaric had to admit the child was too rotten for him to fix. Bonus points for also seeding high connections within the noble houses.

Although it made him quite popular and well-respected within the kingdoms, Alaric had become supremely bored due to the lack of challenges the world used to throw at his school, which had died down in recent centuries: Alaric probably did too much of a good job crushing competition and making peace. Ah well, the things you sacrifice to monopolize the education of the kingdom.

The thought of his precious school and its students, all his hardwork and dedication spent on it, reduced to rubble and corpses, had angered Alaric greatly. He had put centuries of care into founding the school, and even sacrificed his noble house, pooling all the funds and connections in his long life into creating a paradise for bright young souls.

All of that teetered on the brink of destruction that day, and while the looming threat was a great motivator for him to wake his old bones up, Alaric was determined to prevent that scenario from actually happening. What use was all this ridiculous power if not to protect his weak students and aid their growth?

He had encountered numerous old monsters such as himself, few had managed to walk away and fewer yet had he ever been on good terms with. But this powerful creature managed to keep Alaric on his toes, a rival he could look forward to challenging.

It seems the creature had also viewed him the same way, it might have been dismissive and arrogant in front of the council, but in its eyes, beneath all the confidence, he saw genuine wariness. As if they were rivals in both power and intellect.

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But Alaric knew it not to be true, he was but a fly in the face of a titan, as its presence had been painfully proven it, right from the start, but he’d be damned if that stopped this stubborn old fart from rising to the challenge as he had done so countless times before.

Alaric had faced many who were more powerful than he in his conquest for strength, and he had prevailed for this long. He would be fine, afterall, his cunning and charisma had never failed him before.

…

Alaric Ravencrest opted to silently observe Valendor, as Theodric had named, while the council poked their toes in manashark-infested waters, testing the creature’s temperament for him unknowingly.

His mannerisms, personality, character and subconscious ticks, Alaric burned them all into his brain. He looked for signs of any emotional connections between Valendor and Theodric, then Valendor and Kira, anything that he could exploit.

He was surprised when Valendor had copied both Theodric’s and Kira’s words, it was a blatant challenge and mockery of the council, an obvious move to establish his position. Though their relationship was interesting, what could have inspired the creature so much about them?

Then Valendor both shadow phased the armchairs and incinerated the handkerchief in a display of power - nothing big but it showed that he would not hesitate to use mana: a power move well-known to strong mages as a single drop of mana could be instrumental in a fight, and using mana in such a callous display boasts their confidence in their immense amounts of mana.

Although Valendor had a hard glint in his eyes, his posture and body language were relaxed and open: however disgruntled he was about being summoned, in which Alaric simply could not imagine living down the indignity if it were himself, he was not looking for a fight.

Alaric was a little relieved at the high chance of avoiding a fight, though a small reckless part of his younger self was mildly disappointed. Hmm, actually a fight of his caliber would probably have not been a good idea within the school. But he would not make any assumptions before getting more information from the creature itself.

Which begs the question. “Mister Valendor, if you don’t mind me asking,” Alaric asked politely after the creature gave him the perfect prompt to begin his questioning, afterall, calling it “the creature” in his head was getting tiresome. “Would you tell us what you are? As we greatly wish to be able to accommodate you well, and would hate to offend you in any way,”

“I’ll inform Theodric here if I need anything, thank you kindly headmaster,” Valendor shadow phased a cup of steaming tea into his hands, probably from the school kitchen, it’d be funny if it were right in the hands of some poor bloke though. Alaric was getting distracted. “And no, I don’t mind,”

“As I’ve told Theodric, I am what you would call a Night Warden,” Valendor sipped his tea. Alaric was less surprised than the rest of the council at the creature’s revealed species than at Valendor mentioning Theodric by name in a sentence twice in a row. Very intriguing, those two. And the banter when they came in was already quite casual too, Alaric noted.

A Night Warden huh? Alaric didn’t believe that for one second.