"Alright, time to report. Rein, you go first." Villin said as he took a seat at the head of the table.
Rein nodded as he also took a seat, "The enchanters have been working extremely well this last while, they've finished the creation of all the spearguns we may have a need for and are back to enchanting weapons and armor. The two Atlantian enchanters Keith and Hazel have also been getting integrated into the guild properly. There have been no signs of discrimination, possibly due to the fact they are extremely skilled enchanters. I've been teaching them our runic alphabet and they've been growing rapidly as a result. In a few months they should both be at my level, especially Hazel, she is incredibly talented." Rein finished as he spoke of the matters he had been occupied with the last two weeks.
"Amelia?" Villin asked as he gestured for her to begin her report.
Amelia paused for a few minutes while thinking before beginning her report. "Our defenses have been steadily increasing in the last period of time. We found a few people sneaking in with disguising spells but thanks to the signature system we began using we've been able to catch them thus far," she said as she complimented a new system they'd began using in the meantime.
Ruby's specialty as a runemaster was surveillance, she had been improving steadily and had gotten an idea to stop any people from pretending to be Athena's Forge's members when they weren't.
The key to this was the same wall enchantment she had made in the second grade, this allowed her to see all the signs of life and magic of people within Athena's Forge's territory and a section outside of it. If they used an invisibility spell to get in, they should emit enough magical radiation to appear on the 'map'. As for those just producing life signs, Ruby had been looking for a way to differentiate members from Athena's Forge and those outside of it.
Eventually, she made a bunch of small devices that sent out a unique type of magical wave, easily detected by the enchanted wall she set up. They didn't actually give these small devices to anyone and tell them the use, they sneaked them onto their robes. Once it was clear this system worked, those belonging to the guilds that had to enter Athena Tower's territory to complete their jobs.
Whenever someone entered the territory without a tracker, someone would be sent to have a look, this way a number of people had been caught in the last two weeks.
Soon Amelia continued, "Amongst those that were caught, there was nothing to suggest some sort of conspiracy, they seem to be acting alone for various purposes. The combat ability of our men has also been increasing. Overall everyone's confidence has increased greatly, in some cases this turns out to be extremely useful as people are finally showing their full ability while others got a little too cocky, these quickly got whipped back into shape though." she explained as she finished her report.
Villin nodded upon hearing this and turned to Ruby for her report.
"The Black Swans have gotten back in shape. Two traitors within the guild were found working for various information guilds, they have been captured and ransomed since they hadn't made any negative moves. Overall people seem loyal, we haven't found anything being sabotaged either so the surveillance system seems effective."
Ruby's report was the shortest but that was expected and so Villin turned to the last member of the upper echelon, "Kayley?"
Kayley nodded and began her report. "The guilds we contracted have been holding up to their part of the deal, some delays did happen but nothing too major. Many individuals have come to request to join Athena's Forge and as you asked, those that had notable achievements were sent to Ruby for questioning. This way, a dozen more people joined all together. People seem to have a positive expression of the upper echelon overall. Even though 'The Black Swans' are still seen in a negative light, since we cleared the others of suspicion a bit ago, the hostility is mostly gone. Some people are starting to create derivatory spells and have gotten a few useful ones. As for our plan concerning The Academy, I am about to finish the 'spell' and a rumor has begun circulating that Athena's Forge is creating an entirely novel version of a transfiguration spell."
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Hearing this Villin nodded with a faint smile, he did want to get back to The Academy for giving a fake teleportation spell and this would be a good way to do so, the bait had been set.
After a short pause, Kayley continued, "Max also had a request for us, I asked him to wait outside of the room."
One of Villin's eyebrows arched upwards as he got curious about what Max wanted to ask them, "Let him in." he said casually and so Kayley got up and opened the door, letting in a nervous boy.
Seeing the upper echelon of the guild all looking at him, Max nearly felt like fainting but he walked up wonkily until he stood properly within the room where he could be seen by everyone.
"So, Max, why is it you wanted to see us?" Villin asked as he looked at the cowering boy, recalling how he was the first to take action against an entire guild.
"Eh-well, ehm-" Max stammered for a while, he took in a deep breath before asking his request, "Well, I wanted to have your assistance. I think I know where I can find the knowledge on how to make a passive golem and I wanted to steal it instead of creating the technique from scratch, which would take a lot of time."
When Max finished talking he was barely audible anymore since he became quieter and quieter, Villin ignored this though as he asked, "Then why did you come to us? If you wish to steal from a guild you simply have to inform one of us, you are even allowed to make a team to do it even though it won't count as completing the requirement to become a core member for the others."
Hearing Villin's response, Max quietly responded, "Well, I'm not really meaning to steal the technique from a guild."
Barely hearing the response, Villin was stunned silent for a moment as he realized what he meant. This boy seemed like such a coward when he talked to people he sees as above him but dared to do the ballsiest things, it was somewhat admirable really.
"So, a teacher. You do know it could have serious consequences right?" Villin asked.
Max immediately nodded as his expression turned grave, "I know. But if you can keep him away from the classroom for thirty minutes I am sure I can get through his alarms and defenses and steal the techniques he holds." Max said, his cowardice suddenly gone.
Villin's eyes squinted slightly as he looked at Max, "And why would we do that?"
"Anything inside, other than the technique to create a passive golem will go to you, as well as this," he said as he took out an item from his robe, it was the crystal maker he got from his first raid, an extremely valuable device that Villin immediately recognized due to descriptions he had read in certain books.
After being asked to do so, Max quickly began explaining the plan and Villin had to admit, it was extraordinarily simple. Three members of the upper echelon would be required, they would have to be masked and attack the classroom from a distance with relatively weak spells just strong enough to destroy a few basic enchantments. The teacher would get annoyed thinking they were some of the hooligans that liked to mess with teachers and go after them.
The three of them would stay just out of reach while leading the teacher away from his classroom, if the teacher tried to head back before the required time had passed, they had to forcefully stop him.
They had to be careful though, if they put enough pressure on the teacher that he swallowed his pride and asked for reinforcements to deal with them, a second teacher would appear about ten minutes later.
It was a simple plan but it depended on the teacher first being patient and follow the students for a good while before trying to turn back as well as prideful so that he wouldn't call for reinforcements when his path back would be blocked.
Then again, if the teacher was one of these two to the extreme, he didn't have to be the other one at all for them to be successful, alerting Max of their failure also shouldn't be a problem using an enchanted object.
After thinking for a bit, Villin decided to agree, but he changed what was offered.
"I agree but only two of us will be coming, myself and Amelia, we'll be enough to delay a teacher."
He didn't change this for no reason, neither did he do it because nobody else could be missed for a couple of hours. He did it because he was confident that his strength was nearing that of a new teacher already and he wanted to put pressure on Amelia so that she could improve her strength.
"Ruby will also be coming with you, there might be traps you don't spot but she will, we can't have you being caught." Villin finished.
When Max agreed to the conditions, they decided to do it in six days. At that point it would only be ten days to the auction so for now, Max was also asked to help clear tiles to find the mission Villin needed. In six days, they would be attacking a teacher.