The wooden face belonged to an old man, with somewhat wrinkled forehead. It had no mouth and only one eye with a monocle, while the other eye was hollow: It was the very Baron himself!
Adam was about to run out the door; seeing the Baron was extremely rare, and in over 7 years of studying at this school, he had only seen him once, and it was a real tragedy when it happened. But before the young hero could flee for his life, the headmaster rushed over and embraced him, preventing him from escaping. Adam understood all too well that the headmaster had done it deliberately, but he didn't know if this was a bad thing for him or a good one.
As the Baron observed the embrace, a mouth formed on his wooden face, and he said with joy:
—You've won this student's heart, Cesar. Clearly, you've done a great job!
—The boy is barely 17 years old and is about to reach the 100-page ceremony!— Cesar said, exaggerating his achievements shamelessly —It was quite challenging, actually. The poor lad lost his parents at a very young age, but I guided him with the values of the school as if he were one of my own.
The headmaster advanced even more enthusiastically toward Adam, shouting with excitement:
—Today, my boy, you'll become a true librarian!
The Baron looked Adam up and down with his monocle and asked with some suspicion:
—Is it true that Cesar guided you in your values, young man?
Stolen novel; please report.
Adam saw the headmaster signaling him with 10 different signs at once, telling him to respond positively. So, he ended up saying:
—Of course, I wouldn't be who I am today without Director Cesar. He's a great teacher of how to be a good person, no doubt.
—Oh, it's clear there's no doubt at all!!— the Baron exclaimed, delighted, losing his monocle from the excitement —Cesar, I don't know how you did it, but you've raised the finest hero I've seen grow in my domains in millennia. You certainly deserve a special reward!
The Baron seemed extremely happy for some reason. Adam didn't know if it was a whim or a condition of the bookshelf to obtain something, similar to how the eyeless old man used his cave to raise heroes and get magical books.
After shouting with excitement, a miniature mouth emerged from the Baron's hollow eye socket. Then, the mouth opened, and a card started to appear; the mouth seemed to be printing the card with considerable effort due to its slow pace.
With tears of joy, the headmaster approached the Baron's hollow eye and took the card from the mouth. Immediately, the Baron began to fade away into the wood without saying anything more.
Adam noticed the headmaster's euphoric state and looked at the card in his hand. It seemed to be a scratch-off card; it wasn't very big and was the same size as Adam's identification card. The card was made of gold, and the reward was hidden by a black strip that needed to be scratched to reveal the outcome. The black strip on the card was divided into a total of 5 black squares, covering the rewards.
The headmaster took out a button from one of his robe pockets and started scratching the card on the floor impatiently; he seemed quite nervous while doing it. Adam didn't know what reward the headmaster could win, but it really seemed like he was staking his life on this card.
With care and great excitement, the headmaster scratched the first square of the card, getting a result of 0. The headmaster didn't seem to mind this 0 much and continued scratching the next square, where another 0 appeared, which didn't affect the headmaster either.