Chapter 23: The questionable morale of wizards
On Saturday I notice a letter addressed to me, while sorting the mail. Or rather, addressed to 'Mrs. Grabiner'. Next to the letter is a small packet, cramped into the same envelope. I remember this, it's another game event. I don't recall the letter word for word, but I still know the gist of it. And I remember, that I shouldn't open the box under any circumstances. With a sigh I open the letter to read it.
Congratulations on your marriage… blablabla..thanks for taming my son… I'm like my son, so my wife ran away in horror… blabla please get pregnant as soon as possible, everything else will be taken care of, because I want a heir aside from my grumpy son…blablabla, I have no idea how you are, so I simply assume, you're the daughter-in-law I wanted, and gift you a wedding present, which could possibly function as your grave, since I don't even know, that you're still a minor…
Warmest regards, Grabby's noble father with loads of titles.
Ok, maybe my summary wasn't the most correct one, but that's what I read between the lines. Or they're my assumptions and conclusions at least.
I take a small look at my deadly wedding present, a key of some sorts to some Otherworld-estate. Though I'm not 100% sure, that my assumption is correct.
I place my mail to Grabiner's mail and continue with my treasurer duties.
It doesn't take much time, until Grabiner arrives and I point out his mail for him. He frowns, as he notices, that I've opened the letter. "It was addressed to me,
so naturally I read it. I couldn't simply burn my mail, just because I might not like, what I would read, right? However, I'm not inclined to accept presents from a man, who I don't know and who obviously doesn't know me, for a wedding that was in name only, so you might want to deal with that instead.", I calmly explain to him.
"I see.", he responds, not minding my sarcastic remark about his hobby of incinerating his letters, and skims through the letter. Meanwhile I finish the mail.
After he finished reading, he looks at me questioningly, with a raised eyebrow. What does he expect me to say?
"What? It's not my business, how you deal with your relatives, I won't interfere. However, I have to deliver the mail now, so please excuse me." I pack the last batch of letters on the delivery cart and start pushing it towards the door. "Yes. That would be for the best. It would seem you would have learned some sense. Or at least, some restraint. I believe five merits would not be out of question.", he comments dryly. "As much as I would be honored to receive merits from the number one demerits-distributer of Iris Academy, I'm afraid my merits are already maxed out." I reply to him with a smile. Yes, I'm proud of having 50 merits.
Call me nerd or whatever, I don't care. He looks at me surprised. What, you didn't expect me to have so many merits? You're the only teacher, who sees me as a troublemaker, you know? "Well, I have to be going. Good day to you, Sir." I bid him goodbye. I exit the office and Grabiner follows suit.
"Good day.", he bids me farewell and heads of into another direction. Is he …starting to treat me like a human being? I'm not sure, whether I welcome this change or not. Whatever, I'm finally in a good mood again, and very quietly hum another kpop-song, careful not to disturb the sleeping students in doing so.
I wake up in the middle of the night again on Tuesday. Really, Virginia? I try to listen to another sleep mumbling of hers, but the room is silent. I wake up due to something else? Suddenly the door opens and Virginia slips inside. "Virginia?", I whisper. She shrieks at hearing my voice. "Oh. You're awake."
Another event. This one I can remember quite well. "There's something going on out there.", Virginia whispers back. Virginia sucks at behaving quietly however, so Ellen also wakes up. "Mmuuh?" "I had to get up and pee, but when I was coming back, there was all these weird noises.", Virginia explains.
We discuss a bit about it, but decide to head back to bed soon enough, since we're all sleepy.
The next day Isobel informs us about the cancellation of classes today and I decide to use the time for studying.
In the afternoon, we head to just ANOTHER assembly in the gym and Potsdam informs us about the incident. After the assembly Virginia grabs my arm, to tell us about Donald being suspected, as expected. Even Virginia seems worried about Donald. "There is no way, that Donald is responsible for that. He'll be cleared of the wrong accusations soon.", I comfort Virginia. Since I already know, that his accusations will be cleared, I don't worry much. I think about confronting Grabiner, but I'm missing the passion for confronting him, as I already know, that everything will turn alright. I'd like to comfort Donald a bit, though.
The next morning Donald knocks on our door, as expected, to tell us about him being released and Barbara's confession of practicing her ninja skills. I have a hunch, that Kyo has something to do with the incident, since the room targeted was Jacob's. I would totally rate him as capable of doing something like that.
If he has no regard for the well-being of the person he 'loves', why should he care about the health of his love rival?
But it's too early to accuse him, I have no evidence.
On Friday, I attend some blue magic classes from Grabiner. I'm really no fan of Professor Kralik, he likes to hear himself talking and his explanations are disorganized and incomplete. Another advantage of Grabiner's classes is the fact, that he is extremely unpopular among students. Usually only serious students attend his classes and the attendance all in all isn't high, meaning you don't have to wait long for him to answer your questions. A disadvantage is of course, that it's more difficult to avoid his focus. It's really no use attending his classes, if he's peeved at you.
After classes I wander through the halls, unsure what to do with my time until the exam start. Suddenly someone grabs my arm, and pulls me into an abandoned corner. Not again. I sigh. "What do you want, Damien?" He gives me a seductive smile. "You of course." Lines like these make me want to throw up.
"Apart from that… you've been going to a lot of classes of Grabiner.", he continues, looking at me pensively. "So?" I'm confused. What's his point?
"Shouldn't you avoid him more?", Damien inquires. I tilt my head, still confused. "He cooled down, so I have no reason to?" Damien frowns. "But the incident isn't over." I'm thankful for him referring to it as 'incident'. "Everyone hates his classes, but you seem to enjoy them?", Damien probes further. It's not his business though?
Why would it matter to him, which classes I attend anyway? "Why does it matter, which classes I attend? And why do you know that? Are you a stalker?"
Calling him a spy would be too flattering for him. Damien responds to me, unaffected by my stalker-accusation, "Just answer me, why do you attend his classes?"
The heck?! Am I his servant or something? Who does he think he is, ordering me around like that? We're not even in a relationship, and he already behaves like a jealous, overly-protective boyfriend. "Because he is a good Professor? Why else would I attend his classes? I don't know, what YOU do in your magic classes, but I use them for learning magic.", I sarcastically remark. "Really." Damien just continues giving me a pensive look. "Well, I have to go to my exam.", I dryly remind him.
But Damien catches my arm, hindering me from leaving. "Wait. Just one more question. You don't actually like Grabby, right?" Where did that come from?
Just because I still attend his lessons? "The heck's wrong with you…", I mumble, while I free myself and head towards my exam door.
I arrive a bit early, but I really didn't want to spend more time with my stalker. As I reach out for the door handle, a sudden realization dawns on me. I don't remember. I don't remember anything about the dungeon I'm about to enter. I don't remember anything about further dungeons as well. That's… odd.
But this way, I'm not cheating anymore, right? Besides, I have my merits maxed out, so even if I were to fail, it wouldn't matter much. I hate failing though.
With mixed feelings I touch the door handle and get teleported into the dungeon. After arriving in the dungeon, the instructions inform me, that I'll be competing against another person. So I have to finish as fast as possible, how troublesome.
Keeping my calm, I cast Awareness to get an overview of the dungeon. To my surprise, it's not a labyrinth. Apart from the corridor I'm in, there is another corridor, joining paths with mine. And in the other corridor is a living being – my opponent. I teleport myself to the joint, to get ahead.
It's important to be in the lead from the beginning, since you're the one preparing the traps then. I would've teleported further, but it wouldn't have been save, since my Awareness fades out too much. If my white magic would've been better, I could've teleported farther.
I take a deep breath and head towards, thinking about what measurements to take against my opponent. I stop in the middle of my step. That was close.
On the floor in front of me grows ivy. There haven't been any plants growing into the dungeon so far. I cast Enchantment-Detection. It's a trap, as I thought.
Great, so I also have to watch out for traps, even though I'm in front? Well, the exam might've been too easy otherwise. I strengthen my body and jump across the field covered with ivy, without touching the ground. I don't want to ease the way for my opponent after all. Just as I'm about to safely land on the other side of the ivy field, my opponent suddenly appears in front of me. Damn, e caught up already! E turns around and cast Push, in order to push me into the ivy-trap. I manage to miss the attack by taking a step to the side. "Wait a minute!", I shout at em. But e ignores me and tries to cast another Push, which I also dodge.
"We can settle this in another way!", I try again. This time e halts. "You're willing to pay me for forfeit, or something?", e inquires leisurely. Bribing?
"How much would you want for your forfeit?", I ask out of curiosity. "100$", e answers. 100! That's a bit much. Besides, I don't want to BRIBE, in order to win my exam. That's simply wrong. "No chance. Anything else?", I further question em. I was the one proposing this, but e doesn't seem to mind. "Like what? Your body? I'm not interested in a kiss." First bribing, and now prostitution? What is wrong with this school?
"I wanted to take care of this in a peaceful way, but you had to go and insinuate that I would be a w***e!", I hiss at em.
E seems to be taken aback by my anger. While e still wonders, why I would react so strongly to eirs suggestion of mild prostitution, I cast Sleep on em.
It's not enough, to actually make em fall asleep, but e staggers. This gives me enough time, to move the enchanted ivy-trap from behind me, to where e stands, using a dual spell of green and black magic (no blue magic needed, since I didn't transfer the charm itself). Meanwhile e regains eirs balance and tries another Push, to finally push me into the trap, not noticing the ivy burrowing towards em. Another Push-spell, really? How uncreative.
The enchanted ivy reaches em and starts climbing em, cutting off eirs ability to move. I take my time to cast another sleep-spell, but put more energy in it this time. "Good night.", I wish em and continue on my way.
I'm mentally tired now, from casting so much. I hope there aren't too many traps awaiting me, as I might faint otherwise. In front of me appears a… bird bath? Table?
I can't really identify it, but it stands in the middle of corridor and is shaped out of stone. Smells like a trap. Though it's way too obvious.
I double-cast Detect-Enchantment, to get more information about what kind of enchantment it is. It seems to blockade another object. The door?
I take the risk of needlessly depleting my remaining mental resources and dissolve the enchantment. My opponent will soon wake up, I have to hurry.
After I have finished dissolving the enchantment, I feel a light headache, but I continue on my way and soon arrive at a wooden door. I open the door and emerge out of the dungeon. Yes, that means I won.
Potsdam is already waiting for me to congratulate me and give me merits, like usual. Though I won't actually receive the merits, since they're maxed out already. "Headmistress, may I ask you something?", I inquire Potsdam. She tilts her head curiously. "What is it, cupcake?", she chirps.
"Just out of curiosity… How would you have reacted, if I took the offer to bribe or kiss my opponent?" Potsdam giggles at my question.
"I would've given you more merits." The heck?! "….. why?", I probe further, perplexed. This school encourages bribery and mild prostitution?
"For having solved the conflict without fighting against your opponent.", she explains to me. I can't say, that I agree with that argumentation, but she has a point.
I rub my temples to relieve my headache, while I stagger back to my room.
The rest of the evening I just laze around, not inclined to do anything remotely mentally-challenging.