“Take this back.” Grant said. He handed the dagger back to Andromeda and she in turn handed it back to Albert. Grant couldn’t do it, the weight of his feelings weighed against murder made it clear where he stood. He didn’t know if Andromeda was just incredibly sure of herself or incredibly blase about her own life. But he wouldn’t risk anything before he was sure.
“Alright, now, can I ask if you have any other suggestions?” Andromeda said.
Grant was still working over what had just happened a moment ago, but it seemed like she was going to move right on past it.
“My only recommendation is to not bury your nose in a book and forget that the world is dangerous. If my snap was enough to distract you then there is improvement to be made.” Grant said.
Andromeda was impressed that he managed to say it like that with minimal vitriol towards her and everything that dared live around him.
“I’ll take that to heart.” Andromeda said. Grant waited a moment in thought, then nodded his head. He did a small bow and walked back to whatever it was he was doing before he walked over.
“I’m glad that ended well.” Andromeda said.
Andromeda turned back to her practice while Albert and Alice watched (or sensed) on. The main thing she needed to improve on was her mechanical skill. The actual technique didn’t was very hard, but her throwing arm wasn’t good.
She also wanted to distract herself enough as training, so she struck up a conversation with the others while she practiced.
“Hey Albert, it occurs to me that I don’t know all that much about you.” Andromeda said.
“I wasn’t aware you were interested.” Albert said
“Just making small talk, I’m curious.” Andromeda said, she tried to use her flow like a lasso a few times to little effect.
“What do you want to know?” Albert said.
“Got any hobbies? I can’t imagine a merchant like you would be comfortable with his nose in a book all day.” Andromeda said. She tried a one handed throw a few times but couldn’t get the stream flow to bend right.
“You got me there, it's too stuffy here for me most days, so I like to sneak out into Trevias and shop around.” Albert said.
“Have you not been caught?” Alice asked.
“I made friends with some of the staff and they agree to let me come and go as I please so long as I get them some lines in with some distributors I know.” Albert said.
“Is it that hard to leave?” Andromeda asked. She hadn’t made an attempt to explore around town since she got here because of various reasons, so she was curious.
“Officially it's not all that hard, but the staff make a whole thing out of it. They had people shadow me the few times I tried to head out through the front door, that’s why I found an alternative exit.” Albert said.
“Anything interesting out there?” Andromeda asked.
“Yeah, quite a bit. I hadn’t made it out to this part of the kingdom before I came here so I was surprised. You hear about it being called “The City of Magic”, but you don’t really get a sense of that until you see kids running around in the air playing tag.” Albert said.
“That would be quite the sight.” Alice said.
“Besides that, the city has a lot of nice parks and shops. Almost feels too nice sometimes.” Albert said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Andromeda said, taking issue with his ominous statement.
“I’ve just never seen a city so large that was so clean.” Albert said.
“Isn’t that a good thing? The streesweepers are doing their jobs well.” Alice said.
“Sure, but it's not just literally clean. In a city this size it’s almost a given that you see guards everywhere. But I couldn’t find any to speak of.” Albert said.
“I’ve heard that crime is very low in the city, maybe that’s the reason?” Alice asked.
“This city can’t have less than 50 thousand people. Even if crime was only at 1% then that would still be dozens of petty crimes a day. I have looked a lot and I’ve never seen so much as a single beat guard.” Albert said.
“It’s a city of mages, I’d be surprised if some random pickpocket would have the nerve to steal from someone who could rip out their soul.” Andromeda said.
“Pickpockets don’t steal because they're brave, they do it because they're desperate.” Albert said.
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“Fair point. Is it a red flag or is it just strange?” Andromeda said as she underhand threw another flow loop.
“Just strange, there are a lot of good people down in the city. I just can’t get used to how quiet it is.” Albert said.
Andromeda made a mental note to check out the town when she gets a minute.
“Goht et.” White said. That wasn’t a literal suggestion, but giving White some practice was good.All throughout her experimenting with Arcanism, she was having White record everything. What was working, what wasn’t, and what she should look into in the future. She was a little worried that White would find this tedious or boring, but When asked White seemed perfectly content because it reaffirmed the whole “we’re a team” concept.
Everyone continued talking for a bit before settling into studying/relaxing for the better part of the afternoon.
-----
In the headmasters office, three people sat in deep contemplation. The first was Headmaster Ander Plact. Across from him was Vice Principal Evelin, and the final was a dark haired man.
The sudden arrival of Arch Magister Ferdinand following the grievous failure on their part by letting one of their students be kidnapped in broad daylight was a dark time. While nothing was made public outside the college, many influential members of the college alumni had called into question whether they could be trusted anymore. On top of that there was the growing concern surrounding one student.
Andromeda Noelle. The sponsored mage on the credit of High Magister Ferdinand.
While her reputation among the students and staff alike was mostly positive, her connection to the Arch Mage White could never be dispelled.
The issue was this, being connected to an Arch Mage was a critically risky position to be in, and by extension anyone connected to that person was also at risk. Confirmation only came when Andromeda was kidnapped and refused to disclose the events of what happened to anyone besides Ferdinand. The only reason she would do so was if it was related to White. Despite their promise of secrecy, this rumor had managed to reach out to the families of some nobles who studied at the college.
This presented the college with a massive problem. There were skyrocketing demands for her to be removed from the college at once to protect the nobles present. There was some precedent for this in the past as she was still only a peasant rather than a noble herself, but being specifically vouged for by a High Magister was probably one of the only situations that would overrule the demand for her removal.
This was on top of the ever present shadow of the unknown Arch Mage. If Andromeda was removed from the college, this could be seen as an affront to White, but if she wasn’t removed then it would lead to sweeping unrest throughout the entire country's nobility. It needn’t be said that either outcome would be a near fatal blow to the college's future.
Placed in a hard spot, Plact and Evelin needed to find a way to solve this problem. The solution they found came in the form of the black haired man sitting before them.
“I have been briefed on the situation, you do understand exactly what you are suggesting my team do, correct?” The man said.
“Unfortunately I do, this situation has gotten out of hand. How long do you think it will take?” Plact said.
“If we tried to capture the girl here in Leltial, especially in town, it could take months to learn her patterns and get her quietly.” The man said.
“That timeline is unacceptable, Andromeda needs to be gone within weeks if not sooner.” Plact said.
“There isn’t much we can do about that, unless you can get her out of Leltial.” The man said.
“If we could do that, where would she need to be?” Plact asked.
“King’s Grove is too hot right now, and if she is connected to Ferdinand like you say it would be impossible to move on her there. We’re still laying low in Lego Delta after a job and we don’t have solid contacts in Aegisrancor yet. The only option you have right now would be Skysea Adalay.” The man said.
“We can make that happen, are there any considerations you need?” Plact asked.
“I suspect that it would be hard to get her to go alone, so only send those you are willing to lose.” The man said.
“Lose? Are you mad? We can’t sacrifice members of our staff!” Evelin said.
“If you can get her to come alone then fine, that’s not my issue, but I am saying that if anyone else comes then their safety isn’t guaranteed. We do not allow for loose ends.” The man said. Plact and Evelin looked at each other. The situation was already far from ideal, but collateral damage would be adding a weight on the already crushing load their conscious’ had to endure.
“We could hire a traveler corps, would that work?” Plact asked.
“That depends, if you hire a good and experienced one, that would defeat the whole purpose of sending her to Skysea.” The man said.
“Do you have any recommendations? We have only a few vetted contacts for things like this and their work quality tends to be high.” Plact said.
“Traveler corps that aren’t very good don’t generally exist for very long. But I do know of some mediocre ones. I’ll have my books man send you some contacts. Be quick though, you have a week before we walk.” The man said. With that said, he stood up and excused himself from the headmaster's office.
Plact could feel his stomach doing flips. He felt ill at the thought of what he was compelled to do. He had no problem with Andromeda herself, at most he was slightly annoyed at her for the paperwork he had to do on her behalf. The issue was the shadow that followed her everywhere she went.
He was a timid man behind it all, he only held the position of headmaster due to his long tenure as an educator. He had no leadership skills to speak of, that is why he had Evelin with him. But this was a situation he had to carry the sin of alone. He had a duty to keep the college afloat through these troubled times, and with the interference of the king’s army he already had to bend on a lot of things.
Plact was already considering his resignation once Andromeda was gone. He scarcely had the will to live after considering this plan, but if he was going to end the life of an innocent girl because of political pressure then he was going to be sure to suffer for it fully.
His only regret was that he didn’t do more to prevent things from going as they did. If he had more of a backbone he might have been able to speak with the relevant parties. But he never had the nerve to even speak to her.
“Evelin, I know this is a sudden question, but are you religious?” Plact asked.
“Religious? I say a prayer now and again, but I wouldn’t say I am.” Evelin said.
“I’ve never prayed before in my life, I thought it was a foolish thing. But if I wanted to ask for forgiveness, what would I do?” Plact said.