Upon my proclamation to duel the Empress, the throne room instantly broke out into chaos. People talked to each other, guards were unsure whether to strike me down where I stood and identification abilities rained on me. I smile through it all, relishing in the attention, until eventually the lich hit the floor with his heavy scepter to call for silence.

The empress leaned forward, slowly, deliberately, clearly buying time to think about how to answer. She decided to play it safe.

"And why would I grant you this opportunity?" Her voice was clear, not sultry or raspy as described in Enoria, just a normal woman's voice, despite her being part elemental.

"Many reasons. Because you will not back down from a challenge. For the glory of Harrak. Because you're bored sitting on that throne listening to petty requests and are itching to let off some steam."

Despite my expectations she frowned at that. Apparently I wasn't very convincing. Sadly I didn't have much to bargain with besides myself. Fortunately, that was plenty.

"And because it's a good deal. If I win, the prestige alone will be worth it, you will lose nothing of real value. And if you win I'll serve you for, let's say, a year."

She leaned back after that and for a moment I was afraid she would decline, but as always, nobody can deny the sheer power of a fourth step warcaster.

"Two years. One of them served in advance."

I wanted to haggle, but a sudden wave of intimidation made it clear she was already out of patience. It was not ideal, but I had no alternative. Steeling myself, I brushed off the intimidation as well as I could to get at least a little edge in.

"With appropriate compensation for my services, I accept."

She glared at me for a moment, then the lich behind her whispered something I couldn't make out. Finally she made her decision.

"Fine. Abenezigel will show you to your quarters and assign your duties. Next!"

I blinked, not expecting to be dismissed just like the peasant before me, but at the urging of a guard in heavy armor I moved to the side, meeting up with the lich. I was somewhat apprehensive what a lich sent by a pissed off witch would have me do, but decided to wait and see. After all, the places left I could flee to without getting attacked were limited.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

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It turned out that Abenezigel, or 'Abe', was a rather nice person. It was to be expected since Entikku somehow endorsed him despite being undead. The quarters were rather simple, a small room with a bed and a closet, no decoration, no maid, no library, no anything. I sighed when I saw it. I did provoke the empress into hiring me, but still, warcaster?

We didn't stay for long. Soon I was led to their school of magic, some knock-off of Helock's academy, and I was told my duties for now were to teach the next generation. Interestingly the head of the school was not the lich, but a man called Rakan, a Hallurian with a broken core and a fancy staff. I could hardly keep myself from scoffing, but I had to admit casting with a broken core was impressive and teaching was one of the few options still open to him, so I had to begrudgingly respect him. He showed me around and asked questions the whole way.

"What is your class?"

"[Phoenix Sorceress]"

"Interesting, what are your affinities?"

"Fire mostly, though I'm also fairly decent with life mana. I have a wide reportoir of spells in all sorts of affinities, but they pale compared to those two."

"That's great! You'll make a great teacher. Any specialties?"

Of course I wouldn't tell him everything, but I had to give him something.

"Mana control, mostly."

As he watched, I summoned a little dragon made of flames. It looked up at him, spewed a puff of flames towards him that dissolved half way before reaching him and then flapped its wings and flew out of the window. He seemed suitably impressed.

"Fascinating. Can you teach that spell?"

"Yes and no. It's not a spell, it's just mana control. Some elements are easier to get this to look good in than others, but with enough practice it is possible to finely control all of them. Anyone can do this, especially in their affine elements, though many don't care to learn."

He nodded at that.

"I'll put you down for mana control 1. This class didn't exist until just now, but I'm sure you'll manage it perfectly! Oh, and you'll need a disciple."

"I do? What for?"

"Ah, you see, there is a little rivalry going around among the teachers. Everyone gets one disciple and there will be a tournament at the end of the year."

I almost rolled my eyes at that, a Helock tradition. He continued unperturbed.

"All students participate and are graded, but the overall winner gets a favor such as having someone else teach their class or take some time off."

I looked at him, entirely unimpressed, so he quickly added, "this can be for the whole year, so I wouldn't take this lightly."

I nodded at that. Having him teach my mana control class for the second year would essentially nullify the debt towards the empress should I lose, so I was willing to put some effort into it. Dean Rakan looked rather smug at my resolve, whether because he manipulated me into actually making an effort to teach at least one student properly or he believed in his own disciple I was unsure.