Chương 11: Chapter 10

"Look on the bright side; way more people are talking about this than the prince." Cal lay on a sofa, casually scrolling through the forum topics. The new living quarters were swanky but also similar to what he'd experienced in the Ardere manor. In fact, this sofa felt familiar; maybe there was some big noble furniture distributor out there. Alice was not amused by his statement, pacing back and forth in the living space. The living space of their shared suite.

Provided with his own room and bathroom, he had some measure of privacy. It was less than he'd been looking forward to. Apparently, this was not a totally uncommon arrangement for noble families to set up but did have to be specifically requested. It meant his dreams of avoiding Alice at the Academy were just that, dreams. Claire's fingerprints were all over this. When he first met her, Cal thought she was just trying to pump him for information under the guise of cordiality.

Now that he had a clearer picture, while he didn't know for sure, he had a decent idea of her goal. She did not come off as overly patriotic, but he doubted she was looking to turncoat, even if the Federation might jump at a safe bridgehead for an invasion landing. This meant the more likely option was trying to drag him into the Ardere issues and hoping for a positive outcome. The face she would make if she saw his history of 'positive' outcomes would be a sight to see.

"How can you be so calm?" Alice chided, still pacing.

"Hmm." He looked over to her; she'd traded her uniform for a nightgown. It struck him as awfully casual for how long they knew each other. Perhaps it was just the whiplash of today.

"Dunno, probably cause I know they're all idiots." He had been a bit unbalanced when he saw that many people outside the closet, but after some destruction of Academy property and a nice shower, he realized it was all sort of juvenile. Why did he care what a bunch of spoiled brats thought of him?

"Those idiots, as you say, may write to their families. The Ardere name could be dragged through the mud." She emphasized the 'idiots' making quote signs.

"Then set the record straight; you're a noble, right? Issue a press release or something; tell them you were trying to discipline me." A thought crossed his mind.

"On second thought, don't use that word. Also, lots of these threads have no clue who I am, so just saying we're related should squash most of the rumors."

"That's actually a good idea." She sounded surprised.

"Yes, we need to control the narrative before this spirals further." She raced towards her room and came back carrying a laptop. She set it on the table nearby and sat down. So they have those as well. The Federation had been the leader in innovation for a while now, even having a mini-renaissance in the past ten years. It seemed the Empire wasn't keen on being left behind. Maybe he should bring back a couple of souvenirs for Millie? Nah, that was stupid.

Chances are she had access to them, and if not, she'd just call them junk. A knock sounded, and he picked up his head, looking towards its origin. Seeing Lily on the balcony, he swung himself up and walked over. His hand hesitated on the lock for a moment before turning it to the side and allowing her to enter. He caught the sparking finger before it reached his chest.

"Brute, what part of not causing Alie trouble didn't you get?" It discharged in his hand to no effect.

"Gah, lower your shell! You deserve a zap for violating my Alie!"

"Vio-. Stop playing around, Lily." Alice looked up from the laptop with a stern expression.

"This is serious."

"It is!" Lily agreed while still trying to free her finger.

"Why would you want this dummy? Am I not good enough for you?"

"Lily!" Alice's voice came out like a bark.

"Ugh fine, just trying to lighten the mood a bit." She replied more demurely, seeing her friend's reaction.

"So what really happened? The rumors are going crazy."

"I made an error in judgment and overreacted in a public setting." Alice sighed "Since you're here, you can help me draft a statement."

"Can do!" Lily skipped over, taking a seat beside Alice.

"But what blew your top? I know you're a hothead, but you usually have your limits." She ended with an accusatory look directed towards him. Cal returned to the sofa and responded with the truth, "I punched the Crown Prince, and she freaked." Lily froze "Really? That was you?" the incredulous in her tone apparent for all. She looked to Alice, who simply nodded with a grim face.

"The prick dropped his guard." Cal shrugged his shoulders.

"So I broke his nose and knocked him on his ass." Alice buried her head in her arms and said in a muffled voice, "I did not hear that." He may have forgotten to share all the details. Lily started cackling, nearly falling from her chair.

"I like you; shame you're not cute," she said after recovering. Cal pondered the best response to a statement like that and chose the opposite.

"Yep, back at you." The laughing stopped. Lily blinked for a moment before getting up and walking to the couch with measured steps. She loomed over him with a crackling fist.

"Would you like to repeat that?" She said with a dead voice as the lights started flickering. Cal looked her up and down before deciding to accommodate her request.

"Sure, I said-" He never finished because Lily was hoisted by the scruff of her neck and went limp, magic and all. Was this girl a cat?

"Children." Alice tried to imitate her mother while still holding Lily.

"No fighting, more writing." She carried Lily back to the table and set her back on a chair. Once seated, Lily acted as if nothing had happened and started chattering away with Alice while working on a draft. Personally, with this type of school drama, he believed it would just blow over in a week at most, but he was the outsider here, so he left them to their own little world. He scrolled through the forums again as he busied himself looking for posts not about the cafeteria snafu.

Many were, and he became acutely aware of how much of a local celebrity Alice must have been. Off the first page, he came across the original thread that kicked off this chain of events. The comments showed that the conversation fell to the wayside because the original poster hadn't any further proof, with the last post in the thread basically accusing him of making it all up. It did seem to be the most obvious conclusion, given the prick's reputation as the 'strongest'.

He moved on, looking for more useful threads. Eventually, he stumbled on some talking about upcoming classes with some people complaining about certain professors. He thought on his own experience with the first two professors he'd encountered.

"Hey." He got the girls' attention while waving his phone.

"Is there a way to see what professors are good or not on here?" They looked at each other.

"You mean like the forum? There's a couple of threads." Lily responded and quickly returned her gaze to the laptop.

"Not that," he said, regaining Lily's attention.

"I mean, a separate site or app lets people leave reviews for teachers. Like a one-stop shop for reviews that can give you a quick breakdown rather than digging through..." He trailed off, noticing the blank look both were giving him.

"Never mind, I'll manage." He turned his attention back to the phone, scrolling through and trying to commit some names to memory. These philistines, using barely 2000's era internet, and they called him the hick. The Federation itself had only recently developed it, and they already approached a level recognizable to him. With the caveat being the limited amount of users allowed on the network. His phone buzzed, making him frown. He had an ugly premonition; no one should have his number yet.

Seeing what it was, he felt a mixture of relief and nervousness.

"Got my results," he muttered while opening the attachment and expecting the worst. The document was sparse, with only the subjects listed and the grade he'd been assigned. He stared at it, trying to work out what they meant, but with no frame of reference, he made little progress.

"Ladies," he called out, giving up on deciphering the letter's meanings.

"Anyone want to help me out here?"

"You got your results?" Alice turned to him, some anxiousness on display. He nodded and tossed the phone over, only for it to be snatched by Lily, who started studying it. Rather than fight over it, Alice read along with her. He watched the pair, neither giving any sign of how he did until Lily broke.

"Geez, I knew you were a brute, but this takes the cake!" Alice yanked the phone from Lily, looking at the results more closely while her friend busied herself laughing at his expense.

"It's like," she said between giggles.

"You've never been to a school before."

"Never planned to," he said glumly while looking up to the ceiling, instantly regretting his choice of words. He wasn't meant to talk about his background; as a 'bastard', it'd be acceptable to just pretend that part of his life didn't exist. In fact, it'd be expected for him to act that way. Answering questions, truthful or not, opened the potential for people to find holes in his story.

It would be less of a problem if he had someone else in the Academy to cover for him, but they were all under suspicion at the moment and so also kept in the dark. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Sorry." Lily's shaky voice caused him to look back in her direction; she avoided his eyes.

"It's, uh, not that bad, right, Alice?" She nudged Alice, who still studied the results; the expression on her saying it WAS that bad. Lily nudged Alice again, who then calmly placed the phone on the desk and folded her hands. She wasn't moving. She might not be breathing. He made to approach her, but a held out palm stopped him in his tracks. Lily slowly shook her head at him before gently placing a hand on Alice's back and rubbing it back and forth.

"Alie? It's fine; everything is fine. No need to burn the dorm. Please don't burn the dorm. We won't be able to cover it up a second time. Even if it was totally called for." There was some important information nestled in there, but he got distracted as he saw Alice's stiff posture slowly collapse backward. The tension in her visibly leaked out. That seemed a useful skill. Seeing the peaceful moment, he decided to ruin it.

"So, no one told me how I did yet." Both heads snapped in his direction. One filled with betrayal and the other wrath. Alice took several breaths before responding to him.

"Your math was... slightly above average and your science passable. For all other subjects, you received the lowest possible grading."

"That's not right." Lily chipped in.

"He got the second lowest score possible for history." He made to argue before remembering he had zero prep time and just nodded.

"What about the practical? How'd I do there?" It was the only E grade he'd received. Alice simply groaned, burying her head again so Lily picked up the slack.

"You got an Exempt." He perked up "Isn't that good?"

"No, it's not," Alice responded head still buried.

"Exempt means you won't participate in the standard combat class."

"Which means you can kiss that easy grade goodbye," Lily said while patting Alice on the back.

"That seems…. unfair," Cal remarked.

"It is weird." Lily tapped a finger to her chin.

"Usually you only get that for people who don't want to take religion." That was an option??

"Ah, sorry. You have to declare that at registration before you take the test," she answered sheepishly.

"Anyways, I've never seen that before for combat. Super weird," she finished, speaking a bit too quickly. Their eyes met, and the understanding that both of them remembered the events in front of the registration building was communicated non-verbally. Cal looked at Alice, who was still blissfully unaware of the exchange. He opened his mouth while Lily made frantic zipping motions in front of hers. He closed his mouth, deciding against violence for now. Olivia would be proud.

"So I get that this isn't great." From his perspective, the only casualty was his pride; being placed in easier classes meant more time to do his actual job.

"But it's not like I'll get kicked out so why are you acting like it's the Fall?"

"Don't speak like that." Alice rejoined, picking her head up.

"It's not appropriate," Lily nodded behind her. Leave it to the Empire to still be bitter about an event over a millennia ago.

"This is an unfavorable position for you, Callum, for House Ardere." She continued sharing a look with Lily.

"Improving your grades will be your top priority. Do you understand?" He gave a thumbs up, even if he didn't feel his report card would matter if the school and or city was overrun by hordes of demons. Having left the girls to their devices, Cal lay awake in bed. He'd promised to turn in early; Alice insisted on it because tomorrow was his first day. He wasn't too worried about it; it would just be a matter of patiently sitting through inane classes before being dismissed.

The real reason he stayed up was to contemplate what exactly his plan was.

"Grand demon summoning," he mumbled to himself. The phrase hadn't stuck with him initially. What did he care what quality or quantity of demon was summoned? They were no threat to him. Him. Arriving at the Academy and seeing all the faces, many of them young, made the gravity of the situation hit him on a deeper level. He wasn't prepared, and he needed to change that yesterday. Cal couldn't claim to hold a positive opinion of the Empire, but consigning thousands of children and potentially a city to death?

Not many people were that heartless. If the 'grand' was no lie, that wasn't an exaggeration. The term may have been broad, but the last time it was used, one of the Free Cities disappeared overnight. Which left the question, why would the Empire reach out to their long-time foe for something of this magnitude? Would they be willing to risk scions from so many noble families? A city of millions? A potential beast wave? There was little doubt in his mind that his initial assumption about this was correct.

This HAD to be a trap of some sort. At the very least, the Empire must be acting in bad faith, or maybe this wasn't even a real mission. The Federation could have blackmailed House Ardere, and no one else on the Empire's side was aware he was here. He cut off his random speculation. Even if he was right. Even if everything he'd been told was a lie. In the slim chance that the Empire was not only too incompetent to deal with this in-house but had actually reached out to the Federation…

The line that those with great power had great responsibility had never resonated with him. Even so, he was here; he had the power and so wouldn't be sitting on the sidelines. And if the people upstairs were playing their games? He'd deal with that when the time came. From what he recalled, solving a crime involved motive. That was easier said than done. He'd never gone mind hunter and asked why a cultist did what they did.

Not that he expected that to yield any results; by the time he got to them, their sanity was frayed by all the foreign magic they'd channeled. He settled on just keeping an ear out for anyone disgruntled; it wouldn't be his immediate priority. No, that would be finding out where this could take place. He recalled the case he'd just dealt with—how they had used the stadium for its open floor and dampening wards. The training ground he'd visited earlier today filled most of the same criteria.

That was a good place to start; he'd canvass all the training grounds and then try to assign a probability to them of being the site. After that, he'd have to go through all the buildings. The campus was big, almost too big for a one-man job. He'd have to prioritize places that had less foot traffic. See if they had any of the features needed to play host. Maybe look into any subterranean areas? An Academy this old had to have some of those lying around.

Once he had a list of likely sites, he could start to see who had access to them. Maybe see if there were specific groups of people? If nothing came up, he could just routinely patrol them all. Trained spy or not, he could be very quick, and these types of things took a lot of setup. Yeah, that all sounded good. Of course, all that would be pointless if it happened in the city instead. He had to depend on the team there to pull their weight. If they didn't exist? It wouldn't be pretty.

Even the one he'd dealt with earlier this month could have wrecked most of the city it was summoned in. Postremo Lux was large though; they must have had other forces stationed. Some Fingers perhaps? He still held a dim view of them, but they should be enough to buy time. Casualties would still be horrendous. Well, he finally had a plan. Tomorrow, he'd see if there was enough time after classes to get started. With that last thought, he fell into his trance.

Only to find himself surrounded by a suffocating nothingness. Blinking his metaphorical eyes, he cursed. That was quick; whoever did it must have been good. Strangely, he could tell the cost of going back, and it was low. The lowest it could usually go, which meant one thing. He leaped up, augmentation running at his limit. Standing in the middle of the room, his senses told him he was alone. He sent a probe of magic through his system, confirming there was not a bit of physical damage.

So he still had his face, good. Did the killer think a job done and leave? He couldn't discount the possibility. Very quick. His trance may have been mostly deaf to the world, but it was very tuned into any magic sent his way. Not many people could pull that off. He only knew of one, and if She had been the one to do it, She'd be gloating about now. The Empire having someone like that was... not that big a deal. Surprising, sure, but that level of death magic was the most useless thing you could try against him.

He shrugged, returning to bed. He wouldn't be able to track them down right now, his senses being only good, not absolute. Better to wait; people generally didn't stop at one attempt with him.