The man in the black gown returned to Rai and Sin after a few minutes.

“In this chapel we’re known to forgive. So I’ll look past the blades that you both aimed at my vitals.” The man said. He shot Rai a cautious glance. Then quickly, he returned back to his previous resting face. “Beyond that, how may I help you?”

Rai noticed the glance, but wasn’t sure what to think of it.

“I don’t see why you’d have to forgive us, when you’re the reason for us pulling out our weapons in the first place.” Sin said. “It’s not difficult to not sneak up on people, y’know?”

“Yep, that was on you, sir.” Rai added.

“... It’s in the past now. Pray, let us move on. I am known here as Father Tully. What was it you were here for again?”

“We wanted to know about what this chapel was used for, and what your view of the Life clan is. I’m Rai, and this is Sin, and we’re students from Aether Academy trying to learn about the Life clan from the people who actually live within it.”

“I see... you aren’t the first bunch of students to come from that place, so I suppose I’ll have to look forward to more of you.” He said with a sigh.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sin asked.

“Please take no offense, but Aether Academy is a failure in my eyes. I studied there once upon a time, but if you aren’t gifted with mana or have no physical prowess, then you are tossed to the wayside. It claims to break down the noble system, but it only manages to breed a whole different kind of inequality.”

“What?! That’s not true at all! The Academy has a whole section dedicated to studies that have nothing to do with magic or fighting or any of that!” Sin said, a bit louder than she needed to.

“Sin... relax a bit.” Rai whispered to her.

“You think that’s all there is to it? Just put everyone who doesn’t know magic off in their own little corner and hope that solves it? You’ve just proven my point, that the Academy would rather split the two groups apart and have them hardly interact than have them organically merge together and solve the problem through their interactions. It’s a shambolic attempt at ‘solving the problem’.”

“Wh-... H-...”

“You see? I’m right and you know it, but you refuse to believe it.”

“...”

“Sin... c’mon, let’s just leave.” Rai said quietly.

“Yes... I think you should leave. Good luck on your assignment, and please stay warm.” Father Tully said as he left to the side room once more. He glanced back at Rai again with a look of disdain. Rai didn’t notice though, since he was ushering Sin out of the chapel.

Sin’s mind was racing, trying to come up with some kind of counterargument, but she couldn’t find one. There was no real way to refute Father Tully’s points. As much as Sin didn’t want to admit it... Father Tully was probably right.

“Sin. We’re moving on, alright? Try not to think about what he said too much.”

“Rai that’s not... he’s not right, though... I think Aether Academy’s great. Yeah it’s a little rough around the edges, but it’s-”

“He is right, Sin.”

A pang of pain hit Sin’s heart.

“... Huh?”

Sin looked up at Rai. She saw nothing but conviction in his eyes.

“He’s right.” Rai said softly. “I noticed this pretty early on but... the Academy isn’t well structured or designed for people at the top or people at the bottom.”

“Rai... what are you saying?”

“What have you actually learned from the Academy, Sin? There’s a small handful of useful things like telekinesis, but alongside that came a lot of useless things as well! How many times have we just pissed about without really doing anything worth doing? Most of the teachers aren’t good, Rodrick is wholly unreliable for most things, and... well... whew.

I’m trying to say that the Academy doesn’t work for the people who are good at using magic or fighting, like me and you, and it doesn’t work for the people at the very bottom who can’t use magic or fight at all, like people like Father Tully.”

“But we made friends, and... and... the archaeology society! We’ll gain a lot from that! There has to be some kind of value in that, no?”

“Of course, but how much of that is because of the Academy? Couldn’t we just go and explore dungeons and ruins with adventure parties together outside of the Academy’s influence? Aren’t we strong enough to make our own party and get access to ruins ourselves?”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“That’s... true...”

“Look. I’m not saying that I don’t like the Academy, because I enjoy being there most of the time. It’s just... Father Tully’s right about the inequality there, and I saw that you were reacting emotionally and not really thinking about whether he might have had a point or not.”

“...”

“Take a breather, and we’ll try and convince him to talk to us again, alright?”

“... Alright.”

For the next few minutes, Sin calmed herself down. She thought back on her experiences at the Academy. She tried to view it through a critical lens, and to see what the main things that she learned actually were. From her understanding, Sin was at the top of their year group. And she felt like she wasn’t learning much.

“Rai...”

“Mhm?”

“I think there’s a little more that we gained other than that though...”

“Alright, tell me.”

“As the headmaster’s mentees, we got to access his private library. I got the invisibility tome from there which has already helped me out massively.

I also think the facilities the Academy offers students for their own personal training is a lot more than most students could ever afford on their own. Obviously, I can afford almost anything I want, but the Academy isn’t bad at offering those tools to all students, should they want to use them.”

“Yeah, that’s a little more that we’ve definitely benefited from. But at the same time, the problem with the Academy has less to do with what resources they offer. Rodrick says that the Academy works to combat the inequality between nobles and commoners, but how exactly do they do that? That’s the problem I’ve noticed.

I haven’t seen anything from them that actually works to bridge that gap. All they do is say they don’t care about one’s family name, but that doesn’t do much.

I will say though, that I think Lillia and Joey are two great teachers from the small amount of time we’ve had with them. Both of them actually do try their best to help everyone in their classes in some way.”

“You’re right about that last part. Miss Lillia and Joey are awesome, and I want to see more of them.”

“Woah woah woah, Miss Lillia hates me, so I definitely don’t want to see more of her.”

“You don’t? Well, I think she’s hot so I wanna see more of her for sure.”

“Hey!”

“What? I can’t appreciate a good lookin’ woman?”

“Well... I suppose you can.”

“Good, because your mother falls under that category. I mean... just wow.”

“Sin...”

“I know I know.”

“Alright. Think you’re ready to go back in and try again?”

“Yeah. Let’s give it a go.”

Rai and Sin opened the door again, to see Father Tully sat on one of the benches, alone.

“Don’t bother.” He said. “I eavesdropped the whole time. I choose to pre-emptively accept your apology and would be happy to talk to you.”

Rai and Sin looked at each other with a smile on their faces.

“While I don’t appreciate you eavesdropping, thank you for talking to us.” Rai said.

They went over and sat on the bench opposite Father Tully.

“Then, let’s start with what this chapel is actually set up for. What would you say is the main thing that the chapel offers to the clan?” Rai asked.

“Well, first and foremost, we’re an orphanage.” Father Tully replied.

Sin took out her parchment pad and quill, and began writing notes from what Father Tully said.

“A lot of the kids that don’t have parents, or have parents that can’t afford to raise them, get sent here for us to help them find a home. Now... some of them may not end up finding a home, in which case they can live here for as long as it takes.”

“That’s amazing. Even in Acies, there’s not an orphanage or anything of the sort.” Rai said.

“Acies... now, Acies is a different beast entirely. That town feels more like a capital than Draconis, even with its lack of an orphanage.”

“Oh? Could you elaborate on that a bit?” Rai asked.

“Acies feels more like a close-knit community than anywhere in Draconis. Even up in Highborn Keep there’s little in the way of cohesion between families, groups, or individuals.”

“That’s... interesting. Do you have observations about other places within Udra that compare to Draconis in a similar way?”

Father Tully was about to answer, but Sin interrupted.

“Rai, we need to learn about the clan as a whole, not about the worst parts of Draconis...”

“Ah, right. Sorry. I’ll ask another question then.”

Father Tully patiently waited while Rai tried to think of something. He stared at the boy with both caution and curiosity, which Rai couldn’t quite understand.

Still, Rai pushed through Father Tully’s strange curiosity about him and asked the new question he came up with.

“Oh! Actually... what do you, as the person who runs this chapel, think the goal of the Life clan is? Every other clan seems to have a purpose, but people in the Life clan currently feel like there’s no united purpose that brings people together like in other clans.”

“Ooo. That’s a good one. I agree with those people, really. There’s no real purpose anymore... at least since the previous Warden was still a Warden.”

Sin glanced knowingly at Rai.

Father Tully was talking about Rai’s father. He stared at Rai, waiting for some kind of reaction.

“You knew him? The first Warden?” Rai asked. The excitement in his voice wasn’t hidden in any way.

Father Tully seemed to pause for a second, before his attitude shifted entirely.

“Knew him? I was one of his advisors! Of course I knew him!” He said excitedly.

Rai’s eyes widened. Butterflies made themselves known within his stomach.

“Please, tell me more about him!”

“... What would you like to know?”

“What kind of person was he?”

Sin would’ve stopped Rai, but this was an opportunity for him to learn about his father, which wasn’t something that happened every day.

“He was... many things.” Father Tully said. “But the first and foremost amongst them was his seeming dedication to mortal races. Varon wasn’t anything like any of the current Aspects who are mostly selfish and look out for their own interests. He cared about his clan. He cared about everyone in it. He treated them all like his family.”

“Then... why’d he leave?”

Sin noticed an expression flutter across Father Tully’s face. It was one of satisfaction, like a hunter had finally caught his prey.

“He wouldn’t say. Unus.

I remember the night he left very clearly. We were convening as a group to discuss a measure he wanted to introduce the following week for the whole clan... and then he got a letter via hawk. Duo.

I don’t know what the letter said, but he read it and... instantly his face changed. He looked like he’d seen a ghost. Tribus.

After that, Varon quickly gathered everything he deemed essential and told us he had to leave... forever. Without any explanation other than that, we all obviously thought he was pranking us again or messing with us in some way. Quattor.

When we learned that he wasn’t joking... we all tried to stop him, first by talking it out. I remember arguing very loudly about that. But when that failed... his right and left hands tried to subdue him. Quinque.

But Varon... his cabinet weren’t fighters. So he was able to avoid them easily, and escape. Sextus.

Until now, I still don’t know what that letter said... Septem.”

Rai and Sin collapsed in their seats.