By the end of her story, Gertrude Collins could barely suppress the tremors in her body. Underneath her shirt, thick drops of sweat were trailing down her spine. The combination of using the Mana for the illusions and doing her best to imbue them with poignant images had completely depleted her Willpower. She was even a little bit dizzy.

As she let the final image fade, her smile was bitter. I can see why the Order Ducis insists that we train our bodies as well as working on the images… it’s not enough just to be able to conjure a clean image if you cannot wield it… Ooof, I need a chair...

Of course, she didn’t have the chance to sit down. The surrounding kids surged forward, bright-eyed and full of questions about the characters in the story. The bitterness in Gertrude’s expression vanished and she turned to each child in turn and tried to explain her own thoughts on the story. Secretly, Gertrude felt quite a bit of pride at their interest; to see the children so enthralled with a story that she had written herself was an amazing feeling. It was sufficient sustenance for her to endure her exhaustion. By the end of it, she probably had a little over two hundred kids of various ages gathered around to listen.

But as the groups of children started talking amongst themselves and conversations drifted into her ears, Gertrude’s eyes twitched.

“If I was the fire, I would have just stayed as a cold flame,” One girl insisted stubbornly. “So what if it made other people cold? I love the snow. Snowball fights are so much fun!”

“It was dumb to switch,” an older boy agreed. “Much better than being a fire made entirely of light like she ended up at the end. Even if the fire could then be with the candle without melting him as light, what’s the point of just being light?”

“My dad has light Skills and they are actually pretty powerful. Light can be cool.” A chubby boy cut into the conversation. But this action of speaking just seemed to draw a target on the boy’s back.

“Oh shut up, orphan.”

“We know he’s not your real dad.”

“Don’t try and act cool just cause you got lucky who adopted you.”

The boy in question reddened and looked toward the ground. There was a young girl with red pigtails next to Gertrude that was asking her a question, but most of Gertrude’s attention was focused out of the corner of her eye on that particular interaction amongst the kids. Her heart ached. They can’t just be let to run wild like this… for all of the good in Kharon, it doesn’t understand the travesty that is happening underneath its nose.

So many of them orphans. Maybe even most of them. Yet there is a part of them that hates themselves for that...

If they don’t step in, these children are going to develop into gangs. There are already rival factions that fight against each other. It’s all play fighting now, but as soon as one person gets seriously injured… this could escalate into something dangerous. Why would the Order Ducis allow this…?

After balling his hands into fists, the boy that was ridiculed for being an orphan turned around and fled from the crowd of children. With the laughter of his peers at his back, he pushed his way out of the gathering. Some part of Gertrude wished she could help him, but another part of her knew that a teacher’s comfort was exactly not what the kid needed now. Plus she had come to this park to instill the spark of curiosity by showing them images. To address all the internal problems-

Yet as she saw him run, all she could think about was Tim Moss, and when she had previously failed as a teacher-

Gertrude Collins blinked. Because as that sad child charged out of the group, he ran directly into a man that rather suddenly appeared in his path.

With his lowered eyes that were probably tight with tears, he wasn’t paying attention at all; he bounced off the man and fell on his butt. With a trembling lip, he looked upward. The man became the center of everyone’s attention and the surrounding laughter died as was though he had come and devoured it. The man squatted down in front of the kid and smiled at him. “What’s your name?”

For a second the kid was silent. Everyone was silent. Because rather than the kid’s name, everyone in the surrounding area was thinking of the name of the man crouching down and smiling in front of them. They stood transfixed, held captive by the force contained in that simple question. Someone, everyone knew that it wasn’t their place to speak when they were not the subject of that man’s attention.

But finally, something in the child’s chest stirred him to move. This time, he had been chosen. “...My name is Paine.”

“Nice to meet you, Paine,” Randidly Ghosthound said softly. But even if his voice was pitched low, the surrounding children all heard him. Even Gertrude could barely pull her eyes away from him as he crouched there in front of young Paine. There was something about him that seized attention. He offered a hand to Pane. “And it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from. You are here now. And therefore a citizen of Kharon. And that means that you get to decide who and what you are… and who your family is.

“Kharon is the place for bold choices. That’s why I made it so the city could move. Don’t let anyone tell you what you are or aren’t.”

Then the Ghosthound stood. He was taller, taller than Gertrude had been expecting, and covered with wiry muscle. His metallic left arm moved as naturally as though it was flesh as he turned to regard the surrounding children. His black hair was unruly across his head, a testament to his wild nature. His eyes were a bright emerald color that was captivating yet somehow chilling as his gaze swept the surrounding area. “Toward your fellow citizens… you should always have respect for their choices. Have I made myself clear?”

The children all nodded as one. Gertrude even heard someone gulp audibly.

Then the Ghosthound spread his hands wide. Above his two palms, different images flickered to life. There was a brief scene of light filtering through heavy emerald leaves, then there was an image of light turning milky and swirling around a dark marble. Then there was a chilling dawn rising over a wasteland, its rays both a relief and a curse to the creatures that had been struggling to hide in the darkness.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Gertrude’s skin tingled as the image seeped into her body. The image was so powerful that she even felt like she could smell the dust of that wasteland. It left her in awe. True, she had exhausted herself for weeks to improve her images to the point where she could just barely pass the Order Ducis’ tests, but that was nothing compared to this. Her skin was warmed by those rays of light. This was Randidly Ghosthound. This was why he was the most powerful man in the world.

Then the Ghosthound lowered his arms and the image disappeared. He grinned around at the surrounding children. “Light is indeed powerful… but anything can be powerful if you work at it for long enough. That’s the beauty of images; you can share whatever truth in your heart that you possess, so long as you focus.”

His eyes flashed again. “So make sure you don’t give up on your convictions.”

All at once, the Ghosthound’s charismatic gravity vanished. The heaviness that he released was abruptly gone. The change was so sudden that it was slightly alarming to Gertrude. The children around him began to stir as the Ghosthound straightened. Then he put his hands on his hips and announced. “Now, if that’s all, I’d like the chance to talk with Miss Collins. Alone, please.”

The children began furiously whispering to each other. Gertrude cursed her own pale face as she felt herself begin to blush furiously. “...ah? Is there a problem? I believe I didn’t break any rules in coming here…”

Randidly Ghosthound chuckled. “I’m not here because of rules, just to ask you a few questions. I need your help.”

****

Randidly quickly opened a portal and brought himself and Gertrude Collins away from the whispering children. Once they were safely on his island, he turned to face the teacher. “I just wanted to ask you your opinions on Kharon’s current education situation. And I think to start… I’d like to know why you didn’t volunteer when the Order Ducis called for teacher volunteers.”

“That’s why you wanted to talk to me?” Gertrude Collins seemed shocked. Her hands came up and toyed with her silver necklace. After a few twists, she sighed. “It’s not that… I don’t know... I just didn’t think it would be a good fit for me. Working with… all this.”

Randidly raised his eyebrow. “It’s hard to totally believe you when I just watched you use your free time to interact with children. Please, don’t feel like you can’t-” Randidly abruptly realized that he had quickly brought Gertrude Collins to a floating private island covered in silver mist. Honestly, she was behaving rather calmly considering the fact that she didn’t know where she currently was. If he wanted honest answers from her, perhaps he should adjust the context a bit.

“Ahem,” Randidly cleared his throat. “Follow me.”

This time, Randidly used the Philosopher’s Key to open a portal to the outskirts of the Orchard below. Due to the rapid slew of construction for the duos competition, a constant night fair had emerged on the Southern edge of the Orchard. Bright lights flashed from lightbulbs around various carnival games mixed with food stands. Scents of oil, salt, and sugar-filled the air. Due to the general increase in proficiency for humanity, the difficulty of the games had increased sharply. Shouts and good-natured cursing was a constant companion in that area.

Randidly casually walked with Gertrude for a bit. She trailed after him, casting strange glances his way as they wove their way through the crowd. It had started as a way to make the talk more informal, but Randidly quite enjoyed this break from work. Plus, no one here seemed to recognize him, despite his bare feet.

As his mood improved, he allowed himself to grin around and sniff the air. Still with Gertrude taking surreptitious looks at him when she thought he wasn’t looking, Randidly followed his nose to purchase a funnel cake covered with powdered sugar and chocolate syrup. Then he sat down at one of the many wooden tables in the area and gave Gertrude a long look. He held a piece of the funnel cake poised in front of his mouth. “Let me ask again: why didn’t you volunteer? I’d like an honest answer. I’m asking precisely because I want to improve Kharon’s education system.”

“Really?” Gertrude seemed stunned. Then she smiled bitterly. “Then… I feel somewhat stupid. I... I didn’t volunteer because I had seen Kharon’s ‘schooling’ and thought it meant that the city didn’t value its youth. I didn’t just want to be another body that was thrown at the problem… the whole system needs to be redesigned. I’m tired of being part of administrations that don’t care about their students.”

You really refused just because of a misunderstanding…? More than bodies, what we wanted was people with ideas… Randidly thought to himself. But he didn’t vocalize those thoughts. Instead, he carefully chewed on another piece of warm and sugary fried dough before saying, “Well, in our defense, I don’t think any of us expected to have such a large population of children. Considering the… survival rate of that age group through the System’s arrival, having one-fourth of our population needing an education took us by surprise.”

“That makes sense…” Gertrude took another peek at Randidly and then blushed. “I… I’m sorry. I was just… I don’t know, disappointed. Kharon… Kharon is doing so many things well. I don’t like how much violence is emphasized… but its clear you aren’t trying to turn people into an army. You are just trying to give them the tools to defend themselves. I was just disappointed to see that education had become the equivalent of independent study.”

“That’s why I wanted to talk to you. We only have about ten people with actual teaching experience employed by Kharon’s government… considering the number of students…” Randidly shook his head. “We DO need bodies. But we need more than that. I would love your help to refine our teaching philosophy. But I want you to know that we aren’t just going to let students engage in independent study forever. Actually, I’ve recently been working on a very special project… Kharon Academy.”

Then, while Gertrude Collins listened closely, Randidly explained the details of Kharon Academy. He went through the design and then the purpose, before turning to the details. Then Gertrude began asking questions, questions that were very pointed and relevant. Questions that made Randidly realize exactly how far out of his league he was by designing an educational institution.

During this process, Randidly watched Gertrude’s image. And that pure dedication to education caused a small smile to form at the corner of his mouth. The pure joy and commitment to helping others grow was exactly what he needed.

At the end of her slew of questions, Gertrude stared down at the table in front of her. The previous shyness she had was shed as the focus on education came to the fore of her being. Randidly waited silently, feeling rather satisfied that he had listened to Derek Moss and come out to talk with this teacher. He could already tell she could help shape the spirit of Kharon Academy.

Chewing on her lip, Gertrude finally spoke. “...some of these things are too big for me to know any decent methods. I’ll need to contact some people I knew back in Zone 1. They… they have more experience than me. Even if they aren’t as talented at images… they know how to handle children. But I do have one suggestion, even though I’m not sure how realistic it is.”

“What is it?” Randidly asked.

“Well… obviously not the whole thing, but…” Gertrude gestured toward the still scaffolding being assembled for the duos tournament. It sat next to them in the dark, opposite the bright lights of the carnival. “If you really want Kharon Academy to be an institution that epitomizes Kharon’s spirit of forging its own path… what would capture the image of trailblazing better than having a portion of the Academy built by the very children who will spend their time there?”

Randidly froze. His thoughts began to race. Obviously, there needed to be a base structure in place, but other than that… a portion of the students would likely choose to address weaknesses related to building or craftsmanship anyway… “It could be an on-going process. We don’t need to build it all at once. As they graduate, the students can shape the Academy… or they act as support to throw their vote behind which professor should shape the Academy-”

Very quickly, Randidly shook his head and brought himself back. The details could wait until later. But for now, he needed to make sure he had Gertrude’s support, going forward. What better way than a Kharon municipal team-building retreat? “Do you have some spare time tomorrow? If you do, I’d like you to come into a Dungeon with me to work on these ideas.”