I didn’t want to meet my Handler’s eye when he entered the office. The Signore Barducci cover was one I didn’t particularly like. From what I gathered from Al, and what I knew from my own studies, it was very Abbaion high-society. As corrupt as the mob that ran the country, but more secretive in their criminal dealings. Even knowing that, Al liked the Signore Barducci character.
My Handler entered the room, took one look at me before zeroing in on the dean. “Dean Weber, you requested my presence?” he asked, his Abbaion accent as thick as ever.
The dean nodded and smiled knowingly.
My Handler chanced a glance in my direction again and I stared at the floor before our eyes could meet. He growled and grumbled, “Rotten Mindmancers.”
The dean snickered. “Oh, don’t worry, your apprentice told me nothing. I knew he was an Apprentice Shadow Agent from the first time we met, and I’ll admit, I could have taken the information right out of his head. I chose not to because he was honest with me about his mission. I assume your mission is similar, but where he was a rival, you were to be a mentor, yes?”
My Handler sighed and nodded, “What gave me away?”
The dean smirked, “There are only so many new teachers here at Mancer, that made the pool small. You were quick to volunteer to help Mister Romano’s Lair Team. Your arrival when Miss Brightwood was attacked was a little too fast as was your dispatching of most of her attackers. Thank you for that by the way. I know it wasn’t part of your mission but it is appreciated.”
My Handler nodded, “I am sorry I wasn’t able to prevent her injury. It took me longer than I would have liked to assess the situation. That Lair team . . . they are . . . impressive at times, foolish at others. I can appreciate they acted as they were trained to do. I only wish I’d acted sooner.”
I felt an ounce of pride at hearing that. We had done as we were trained to do. I too was sorry that in the end, we failed.
The dean bobbed her head side to side, “Maybe your earlier intervention would have prevented Miss Brightwood's injury, maybe it wouldn’t have. That’s the thing, no one can see the future, well, unless you’re a Seer, in which case you would have seen them coming and prevented it from ever happening. You would also then know why I have called you here.”
That got my Handler’s attention, or was it curiosity? Either way, he glanced between me and the dean, “Am I right to assume you are not firing me and expelling him?”
The dean nodded, “You would be correct making that assumption.”
My Handler hummed, “Did my student uncover some threat to the Hero? No, if he’d done that, he would have come to me. If the Hero isn’t in danger, then perhaps my apprentice is. No, again, if he was, he would have come to me.”
I did my best not to react to that last accusation but I must have given something away. He narrowed his eyes and I felt a flash of fear from that look. The feeling was so unfamiliar but I couldn’t think it was anything else. “Why did you go to an outsider instead of me?”
“He tried, you dolt,” Dean Weber stated with a little fury of her own. I hadn’t told her that. How had she known? Or was she guessing?
My Handler shifted his gaze from me to the dean. He seemed to be thinking over what he wanted to say next. Eventually, he said, “I admit, I have been busy with my duties. Our mission takes precedence over our master and apprentice relationship, which my apprentice should know. If he went to you, he must have been truly desperate. So, why am I here?”
Dean Weber looked at me and smirked. The look made me uncomfortable. I knew what was coming now. She was going to tell my Handler about my achievement. Everything was going to change and I was certain I was going to be whisked away from Mancer and sequestered somewhere to train for the next several years until I could change my Job. And once I did that, I would be made to train more until I caught up to or surpassed Al, if such a thing was even possible at that point.
The dean shifted her gaze from me to my Handler, “Things are changing. The Lair Team your apprentice is part of has been decimated by losses. For the most part, the members of your apprentice’s Lair Team have all advanced in their Jobs. Your apprentice has not. In fact, his growth has begun to stagnate, primarily because he has not been able to train the skills that gave him the Job. Sure, most of his Shadow skills are growing, albeit slowly. But his other skill, his primary skills, Lockpicking, Espionage, Pickpocketing, and Shadow Cloak have not grown even a little.”
I was confused. Why hadn’t she said anything about my Heroic Achievement? Wasn’t she going to tell him everything?
“The fact is, if he is going to remain alongside mister Romano, he is going to need to advance in his class,” the dean finished, her blunt statement hurt a little more than I thought it would.
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Signore Barducci hummed in thought, “I see. Then it is probably time my apprentice moves on from Mancer. I have . . . associates that can take over his training.”
The dean frowned at my Handler, “And take away a perfectly good rival from the Hero? Nonsense. Not to mention the resources a student of Mancer has access to. No, I have a better idea.”
“Oh, do tell.”
The dean smirked and I saw a glint of mischief in her eyes when she asked, “How much do you know about the origins of your organisation?”
My Handler furrowed his brow and paused for a moment before responding, “Not much. We don't generally get a detailed history lesson - that stuff doesn't have much to do with the job.”
The dean hummed, “I see. Well, let me educate you then. I’m not sure which came first, Mancer or the Agency, but I do know they are associated. In our early history, the Kin were very tribal. Always at war with one another. Over time, we grew and developed, then came the first hero. He or she, the records aren’t clear and this is more legend than history, but that is a debate for another time. So, the first hero united the Kin under a single banner to fight against a great evil. When it was done, there was peace . . . for a time. Eventually, wars started again. Kin fought and killed each other and then the next hero came and the cycle repeated.”
She paused to take a sip of tea. “Eventually, another hero came along, but there was no great evil to fight against, just a world at war. They called her the Shadow Hero, I’m sure you’ve at least heard of her given your Job. Anyway, she made it her mission to stop the wars. She gathered a following of sorts and together, they began ending wars by any means necessary. Sound familiar?”
My Handler nodded.
“The problem was, no matter how many wars she ended, another was bound to start. She knew it would never end. Long after she died, she knew the Kin would still fight wars. She sought to solve the problem long term. As such, she founded the Agency to continue her legacy. She also founded Mancer as a place for learning and as a neutral ground, a place where peace could be forged. Again, we don’t know which came first, only that together, the Agency and Mancer together have managed to keep the world relatively peaceful,” the dean explained.
My Handler nodded again, “I see, but I still don’t understand what your point in telling me this is.”
The dean sighed. “My point is that Mancer needs the Agency as much as the Agency needs Mancer. More specifically, I have need of the Agency.”
The statement brought both my Handler and me to attention. Mancer was neutral. They didn’t get involved in the business of other nations and other nations didn’t dare mess with Mancer. It just wasn’t done. For Dean Weber to say she needed the Agency meant that something was very wrong.
“What’s happened?” my Handler asked, the slightest hint of worry in his voice.
The dean sagged in her chair, “The Brightwood incident is much worse than you can imagine. And now, they are blaming Mancer, if only peripherally. The problem is . . . Brightwood is extremely well connected. They have a great many allies due to their business relationships. They are using those relationships to bring pressure against Mancer to fix the problem we caused.”
I was slightly confused. What problem had we caused? I knew that Bella being hurt was bad. What did I know about Bella? She was kind and smart. She was studying business so that she could run a mercenary company. A mercenary company related to her betrothed. Oh.
Before I could voice my revelation, Dean Weber continued, “Miss Brightwood’s engagement has been terminated and the mercenary company has severed all ties and made it clear to all other mercenary companies that the Brightwood Group is kinsona non grata. The Brightwood Clan is not a combat focused clan. The nearby clans that could help them have refused as they do not want to be blacklisted by the mercenary companies they also depend on. Long story short, Brightwood is now all but defenceless.”
“Is another clan looking to move on to their territory?” my Handler asked.
The dean shook her head, “Not yet. However, they have several lairs within their territory. Lairs that previously earned them quite a bit of revenue from the various mercenary companies purchasing entry rights. Mercenary companies that are no longer purchasing those rights.”
My handler cursed, “They would risk lair breaks? It would only take three or four lair breaks to consume an entire country, and there are several lairs? Do we know how long before the first break?”
The dean shook her head. “We do not. But it seems inevitable. Which brings us back to Mancer and our involvement in Miss Brightwood’s condition. The Brightwood Clan, not having any military strength, has exercised the only muscle they have, political favours. They have demanded that Mancer take responsibility and send our students, a dozen or more lair teams, to deal with the problem. Of course, the politicians have made it sound more palatable. They are calling it a study abroad opportunity, never mind how many students will die in lairs we don’t know inside and out like we do here. Unfortunately, I have no choice but to acquiesce. If we don’t, Mancer might be destroyed when support of nations we considered staunch allies, gets pulled. You should be well aware of how bad it will get.”
My Handler growled, “What do you need us to do?”
The look of anger faded from the dean’s face and she smiled slightly. “I hoped you’d be interested. We are going to send in teams, mostly from later year terms. We’ll also be sending your team. With this trip abroad, I can fill your vacant slots with second- and third-year students who have, for one reason or another, lost their teams.”
“And the mission?” my Handler asked.
“Your mission will be two-fold. First, continue protecting Alphonse Romano and seeing to his growth as well as the growth of your apprentice. If his growth does not accelerate, he will no longer be able to rival Al and that could be a problem in the long term,” Dean Weber stated, pausing once again to take a sip of tea. “Second, find out who is responsible for the attack, then do whatever it takes to put an end to this situation. Preferably without starting a war with the mercenary companies.”
My Handler grinned and looked at me, “What do you think, my Apprentice? Are you up for the challenge?”
I matched his grin.
“I am!”