After the meeting was dismissed, Alois approached me to give me the exact date and time of the discussion. Being late would ruin our chances, but being too early would make us suspicious. It also made me nervous that the trickster headmaster was going to be the one completely in charge of the discussion. He definitely had a scheme or two hidden in this contest of territories. 

My unsettled feeling got worse when I found out that the factions had narrowed themselves down to eight, including our own. Eight factions. Ten territories. That left two, but what would happen to the leftovers?

I came across a king candidate from a different faction when I went to the meeting room for the territory debate. He gave me a short greeting and opened the door to reveal we were the last ones there, and everyone else was a headmaster candidate.

It seemed strange for a headmaster candidate to lead a faction, but it was probably more of a bonus in this case since they knew the headmaster best. Still, the strange feeling remained and I couldn’t help but remember my conversation with Princess Rosalind. It was probably nothing. Not everything was a sign of the headmaster taking over the nation. Right now, I needed to focus on getting a decent territory.

As we took our seats, the headmaster candidates watched us closely, and I thought I saw the faintest smile on one of their faces. Had seating orientation been part of this? If so, I had already messed up. I ran through my head all the common seating arrangements I had been taught, but most of the classics, which involved the host sitting at the head of the table, were impossible since there were no chairs on the ends. The remaining seats had been two corners diagonal from each other, which crossed out proximity since the headmaster candidates on the other two corners seemed relaxed.

My thoughts were cut short by the door opening. The Headmaster stepped in and looked down the table. “Interesting.”

His gaze had definitely rested longer on the king candidate and I. We were toast. Hopefully whatever he had in store would not nullify my negotiation rights. I just hoped he wouldn’t use this as another opportunity to convince me to change to being a headmaster candidate instead.

Headmaster Osmond produced a map with ten territories marked on it, as well as a list of their specialties, strengths, and weaknesses. What immediately caught Cassandra’s eye was the large trade territory near the border of Tethia and Beraud that seemed to deal in whatever merchandise they could. Their weakness was a lack of safety and occasional merchant disputes and high tolls from the neighboring kingdom. 

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The other trading territories were more normal. Two of them were partnered with farming or crafting territories, and the last crafted its own trade item, dye. However, that one was in the red. The dye was beautiful and high quality, but expensive. No one in the area could afford to buy it and transportation was either difficult or far too expensive. That was one to avoid for sure.

There was one to avoid in every category. A mining territory with dried out mines wedged in an isolated mountain range, or the farming territory whose river had changed course and no longer supplied them with water, not to mention the pest problems. It was just like the information Alois has supplied.

“Have you all had enough time to look at your options?” the Headmaster asked, “I am sure you each have your eye on at least one territory, so begin when you see fit. I will not be leading this discussion. Work it out among yourselves.”

There was a pause of silence. “Why don’t we all start by saying which territory we want and only the repeats have to fight it out?” one of the headmaster candidates suggested.

No one disagreed, so they started with the king candidate on the end. He wanted a farming town, but he chose the stable middle rather than the booming one or the one with pests. Next went a headmaster candidate and so on. It was looking good so far. None of them overlapped. Then the headmaster candidate right before Cassandra startled everyone.

“We want the rock mine territory,”

“The one that is already dried up?” one of the others asked in surprise.

The headmaster candidate smirked. “My faction has a plan.”

Everyone looked to Cassandra. “The border trading territory,” she told them. No one really reacted and it continued like that.

Two of the headmaster candidates had a dispute over which territory they wanted, but it was easily settled. Suspiciously easy. With that being the only overlap, the territories were easily settled and recorded by the Headmaster.

“Now, if you would please take a look under your seats,” Headmaster Osmond requested.

Cassandra realized at that moment why seating arrangement was important. She got off of her seat and reached underneath. Sure enough there was an envelope there. The king candidate also had one. 

“Congratulations to our two winners,” the Headmaster said with a grin, “You have each won an extra territory. Since the remaining territories are so close to your original choices, why don’t you just go with the nearest?”

The two remaining territories were the dye territory and the pest infested territory. The pest infested territory was not too far from the king candidate’s selected farming land, which meant… Had the dye territory been that close to the border? Perhaps she hadn’t noticed because she had been focused one the trading hub.

“Wait-” the king candidate tried to say something but the Headmaster held up his hand. 

“I have already recorded the results of this discussion. Good luck.”

There was a sharp silence after the door closed behind him with a soft click. Managing two territories was not going to be easy.