The scholars are a weird bunch. In some things, they have such a breadth of knowledge. Ask them about our history and they will have detailed records of that event. hell, They would know about the thousand events that led to that event. Ask them about anything a bit more recent and they would not know about it. It is a serious lack of knowledge.

They are not so bad to talk to as long as you don't mention any historical event to them. This time I have three scholars to deal with. There are two apprentices and one master scholar called Justin. Justin is one of the more normal scholars out there. my contact with him is relatively little outside of work. He seeks out the formation corps' help on some matters, which is our extent of communication. Well, They say that a scholar will keep working even if you were to keep torturing him.

Even now when all of us are stuck in the same room. the scholars are sitting in what is their bubble. They are surely discussing some problem that I will not be able to make head or tail out of. There is a reason that these guys need guards.

That is expected when dealing with scholars. They are very careful around the soldiers. Well, they cannot be sure whether we are spies trying to steal important information. This might certainly be true in their perspective. After all the scholars and their research are part of the reason that the black mountain is powerful. What they study is not only the history of the continent but also the ancient paths of magic. Taking these ancient spells as the base and then working on it, is the reason our magical knowledge is so strong.

While all of that is true, I have to admit that it still feels a bit insulting. Regardless, it is not my duty to make the scholars respect me but to protect them. They can consider me an idiotic fool if it means that I will get my rewards at the end of the mission.

Yet it is the part of protecting them that is worrying me so. Ask me anything about formations or fighting and I will be able to give you quite a bit of information. ask me about diplomacy and the art of making people do what you want to do. That is something that I have no idea about. I have been sitting in this confusion for the last couple of days, waiting to be summoned by the commander.

The person who was supposed to help me in all of this was Trevor. He had completely shut me down even before I could ask him anything. Every time I go near him, before I can open my mouth I am scolded by him as if I am interrupting something important. While getting scolded is still fine. it is the looks that Andrew and Jacob give me that make all of this embarrassing. That is not an emotional satisfaction that I am giving those idiots.

Nobody knows what exactly he has been doing the last couple of days. he has been roaming around the room, looking for something. While I don't know what it is that he has lost it has certainly been grating on my nerves. I certainly have no desire to enquire what exactly is he doing. Asking for stuff from Trevor is the best way to get lectured by him.

What is truly annoying is that over the last two or three days other than the two soldiers who have brought us here. They are also acting as our guards boxing us in. We are not allowed out of our rooms and whenever I try to get out, we have nearly ended up to blows with the two soldiers outside. Thankfully I had removed my armour just before I decided to talk to them or we might have ended up fighting. Maybe I should have, whatever would have happened is better than this situation. I don't know what this isolation might even mean.

I honestly am starting to lose my mind here, but I have no idea of what we are supposed to do here. I am honestly wondering why the fuck did I even pick a mission to the north. It honestly would have been a better option for me to go to the South. There is so much scope for a formation mage there. at least there I would not be in so much confusion. Outright War tends to make things simpler.

"You really should learn to mask your emotions, kid.", I hear a voice to my side, breaking me from my present thoughts. It is Trevor who is suddenly standing next to me. From where did this man even appear?

"what do you mean, Trevor", I reply.

"Well, you have been following me the last couple of days. I know what you want to ask.", Trevor spoke, his voice taking on a tone that reminded me of my combat instructors from before. "You want me to be honest, I have no idea why the head office has sent you here. You are good, almost amazing with formations. I have never seen a person bring us to this place in record time. Honestly, you would do much better in the south, at the bone pits. Why you were sent here I won't be able to tell."

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"Well, I was something of a last minute recruit, if I am to be honest.", I speak, trying to hide my nervousness. That is a question I don't know the answer to.

"Well, if that is the case you have been sent here as a sacrificial pawn, young kid. Every once in a while they send either an arrogant fool or an overly capable idiot to this place as a sacrifice. They end up doing something that offends these guys and end up executed. The bloodlust of the Snowwind empire is sated. The black mountain is rid of future problems. You can decide what you are." Trevor speaks.

"Well, that would certainly make sense in my present case. While they have no particular reason to want me dead, they will certainly be happy about it.", I reply, with a sigh." That still does not answer my question though, what am I supposed to be doing here."

"Well, If I am to tell you the truth, you do not have much basic knowledge.", Trevor spoke "For example, do you know what I have been doing the last couple of days."

"Well, I would like to say that I have had guesses, but somehow each seems more implausible than the rest. I will let you explain that to me", I reply.

"Remember this lesson well. If you are in enemy territory, then it is always wise to assume that your enemy has some form of method to spy on you. I have just spent the last couple of days ensuring that these guys do not have any method of spying on us.", Trevor spoke, "What did you think I was doing."

"Ok, I did consider it to be something like that. I was more along the lines of poison formations though. It is supposed to be one of the few formations that they are good at", I speak.

"nope, it is too risky to be that violent. Anyone finds out and the black mountain will go to war, no matter how much they don't like you. Well, now that it is clear, I will need you to focus now. Those of the snowwind empire are very particular folk. They are very sensitive to any damage to their perceived honor. Thankfully the folks here are still commoners. It is the nobles you should beware.", Trevor began "Thankfully, the commander of this fort is still around. He is a commoner and is supposed to be reasonable. I honestly do not know the last time we had reached before the hunting party left. He always leaves for the hunt."

"Shouldn't it be the opposite? how am I supposed to do diplomacy with him if he is so strong?" I speak, with an edge of worry that even I can recognize.

"Well, let me tell you what can be considered to be one of the basic tenets of diplomacy. you are supposed to be of equal strength for diplomacy to occur. That is especially true for these guys.", Trevor spoke "Any hour now, the commander is going to be summoning you to his office. No matter what you attempt to do in there, try to be polite and agree with him. Do not even have the thought of trying to bargain with him. He might not kill you, but he will make your life quite hard. Given your present skill in formations, I have a feeling that your work is going to be hard. It is after all the season for the snowlords to attack."

"the act of creation of formations is not something that can be done in a day or two.", I replied, looking at the chest to the side, " I think that we cannot wait that long. Those scholars look as if they want to strangle us in our sleep. You want me to be honest, I have never seen a bunch as dedicated as these guys."

"Well, then we can do that. Me and the boys will accompany the scholars to the ruin if the need comes to it. With the snowlords coming, you won't be finding anyone other than the Snowwind army in the area so our safety is essentially guaranteed. I am sure that you do not need us to protect you. That way we can complete both of these tasks at the same time. At the same time, you can look for the materials for the propulsion formation. Honestly, the way that we are going on about this task we will be completing this mission in record time", Trevor spoke as he quieted down.

"Well, how long do the scholars take to complete their research.", I ask, looking at the scholars.

"Well, you want me to be honest. I have never seen a scholar leave the ruin that we are going to unless they have been forced to. In our case that would be the end of winter. So for quite a while.", Trevor replied.

"Well, that's long.", I ask.

"Blame the scholars if you wish, but they do get such rare opportunity to come here that I cannot blame them. It's just bad luck for us", Trevor speaks. "One good thing is that this place is so desolate and other than the ice beasts, it is rare to find any other enemies. I am sure that you will be given a task to keep you busy. The snowwinders rarely get access to a formation master. They will make sure to keep you busy. let's hope that we don't need to spend too long here or you might just end up fixing every broken pot and chamber pot."

"do they have such a weak foundation for formation magic.", I ask. "Their poison formations are quite legendary too."

"Well, it is more of a case that they are being suppressed than that of a weak foundation. Everybody knows the expansionist tendencies of the snowwind empire. Nobody would be idiotic enough to give them any kind of knowledge related to formations. That would be giving them another weapon and God knows the Snowwind Empire has enough of those already. Their poison formations is a good example of such a weapon.", Trevor replies, as we continue this discussion on and on, going to topics that I shall not bore you with by putting it here.