On the wall directly across from the staircase leading to the second floor, left of the entrance when walking in, an indented bar resides. Twenty barstools lines the counter, half of them hosting customers, a disheveled man among one of those present. One of the bartenders tends to the customers, the other sits idly by, noting the stock of beer and mugs.

He observes the diners still remaining after the food fight. The bartender nods to himself, then takes out a piece of parchment from one of the many drawers on his right. After quickly writing some things down, he hollers to the other bartender.

"Yo, I'm heading out."

"You sure? We get a bonus for staying until closing."

"Yeah... My wife needs me to help with the kids at night, got to be home as soon as possible. One of them is sick."

"Oh... Good luck. Don't forget to visit one of the priests to get them checked."

The bartender packs his things, taking off his apron and hanging it. "Mmhm. We've got an appointment scheduled later this week. See ya." He exits through the back door before the other bartender could give him an answer.

The dean empties his jug, slamming the cup on the table. "Anoder..." a gruff, drunken voice travels to the remaining bartender. The bartender sighs, staring at their once glorious dean. From his scruffy, unkempt beard to the bags on his eyes, his very being lacks the authority it once had.

"Fine... This is your last one though, you're not getting another for tonight." The bartender fills his jug then attends to his other customers. The dean stares at him absentmindedly then walks off after gulping down half of it.

He stumbles past Cain's table, attracting scornful gazes. Cain performs his play, Dresil swinging about with swift movements, interrupting the dean's melancholic mood, "Sir, it appears this fell out of your pocket."

The dean looks back to find a gold coin in Cain's hand. Astonishment flickers across his face, swiftly covered by a sly smile. "Oh, thanks young lad." After saying his part, the dean clumsily walks with haste to the receptionists desk.

"Alarick!" An enraged Maddison blocks off his path. "How many times are you going to do this!? All you've been doing is drinking and sleeping! When are you going to take responsibility for your duties as the dean?!" She continues to ramble off while the dean just zones out. 'If only you knew what I knew...' He thought to himself.

"...rick! Alarick!! ALARIIIICCKKKK!!!!!!" Maddison screams in his face, snapping him back into reality. "Were you even listening to me!?"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Yeah, yeah... do my duties this, take responsibility that..." The dean replies waving his arms around, almost spilling his beer on the forms laid about.

"You- sigh fine.. just go back up to your cave and don't come out for the rest of the night." Pissed, Maddison storms inside the office, the dean in tow. Upon entering, he rummages around the bookshelf on the right.

His hand catches on a scaled book, triggering a mechanism that slid the bookshelf out of the way. A staircase leading to the third floor reveals itself. Alarick climbs along sluggishly, eventually reaching the top. He knocks in seven different places then pushes the center.

Glyphs lit up on the large steel door, yes, steel. They activated several different mana powered mechanisms, heaving the chunk of metal to reveal an ingress. Alarick walked slowly forward, turned around once and took a step, turned around again with another step, and finally did a 360, punching the right wall of the pathway at the end of the turn.

Several hundred magic circles revealed themselves, flickering continuously. A spatial gateway appeared where the dean's hand punched, leading to his office. I can never get truly drunk because of this damn mechanism...

Alarick struts through the gateway, exiting in his office. He walks up to his desk and plops down on to his chair. Shoving some papers off his desk, he sets down his beer and pulls out the gold he got from Cain. Alarick twirls it between his fingers for a bit then sets it on his desk.

A hefty sigh leaves his chest as he leans back. 'Why am I even here... this place probably won't last long. Even if it does the cost will be too great. Ah, fuck it all... huh?' The coin flickers into a piece of paper then once again into a coin, yeeting the dean out of thoughts. He stares at it dubiously.

I am not crazy right? That coin just changed into--oh... Once again yeeting him out of thoughts, the coin flickered into a piece of paper. The dean slowly brings his hand to hit, then swiftly pokes it. The folded paper is moved a few centimeters then flickers open.

It read:

"I'll do one favor for you. This is repayment for letting me use your name to establish some debt"

At the end of the note was a bow and arrow, Cain's signature symbol. Next to it were numbers slowly counting down. Starting from 10, it etched closer and closer to 0. The supposed ink moved about fluidly to create the new numbers. The dean stared at it as if he was in a trance.

When the countdown hit 0, the paper burst into flames. Huh... I guess we're not doomed after all. He quickly pulls out a drawer, revealing a early 20th century telephone. Instead of a pulse dial, there was a magic circle with a needle in the center.

Alarick pricked his finger using the needle and pick up the phone. His blood flowed down the needle, coming into contact with the magic circle. The circle absorbed the blood and began to hum slightly.

A similar hum dragged Maddison out of her work. She opened a drawer on her desk revealing a similar telephone. She quickly picked it up and answered with great annoyance.

"Yes? Have you finally decide--"

"I'll go to Cain's duel tomorrow" Alarick quickly cut her off, speaking in a serious tone.

"You'll what...?"

"I'll go to Cain's duel tomorrow."

"You know I'm monitoring the duel right?"

"Yes, I'll just watch. We'll be having a meeting with Cain after the duel."

"Huh? ah.. ok, I guess?"

The dean hung up shortly after, leaving a befuddled Maddison staring blankly at her papers. What was that about...?