Every one of his senses told him to be careful. To not breathe a hair out of line or upset the woman sitting across.
As expected... for Welxorth's main Academy branch, anything short of an archmage would be disgraceful. Still...
"Pretend to be one of your teachers?" Ilrune blinked, bewildered.
I didn't expect that. At most, I thought that I was maybe going to be a teaching assistant. Her pressure simply is too much. Even thinking is a struggle right now.
...So that's the power of someone at the peak. How many years will it take me to reach her level?
A towering cliff set mages and archmages apart. It was like comparing a whale to a shrimp. An archmage could have less mana capacity than a regular mage, but still single-handedly beat dozens of them in a fight.
They are most known for their Imagery, a plane they can invoke upon reality, dealing immense amounts of magical damage beyond human reason.
"I'm sorry, I don't follow. If you're lacking a teacher, couldn't you hire another? I'm sure plenty of talented individuals wish to join your prestigious Academy's staff."
The dean sighed, as if she had to deal with this question for the hundredth time already.
"You're asking too many questions. Read the contract then tell me if you feel adequate for the commission." she ordered, tossing out a scroll.
I guess this is a confidential matter. Asking me to sign the contract first before getting the details just means that she's already deemed my mana adequate. With her status, she can see through my magic. There's nothing I can essentially hide from her. Well, close to nothing.
Ilrune touched his hair which had been turned copper brown and resisted the urge to frown.
A disguise potion is useful but its side effects are too great. I'd rather do it the non-magic way.
Then, he unfolded the scroll.
[The third party adventurer shall be referred to as party A and Aquila D. Amyse shall be referred to as party B.
Party B will appoint party A as the sole fulfiller of party B's issued commission.
Party A must do what party B requires them to do in order to fulfill the commission "Pretend to be Bernard Monet."
Party A must not question or dig deeper in the underlying issues behind the commission.
Party B will compensate party A for all expenses related to the commission.
...
Neither party will disclose the sensitive information shared in this document to outsiders.
Upon signature, both parties will agree that neither are liable for any property damage, personal damage, injuries or deaths caused by the commission.
Upon signature, party A confirms to have extraordinary knowledge on the following topics: Fundamental Botany and Advanced Magical Plants. Party A will be held liable if students under their tutelage do not manage to pass the end of session exam.
Upon signature, party B confirms to give an advance of fifty couronnes, with the rest to be paid at the end of the semester after the arrival of a replacement teacher. A portion of the payment will be given in the form of a teacher's salary.
Upon signature, both parties confirm that they have read the terms and will therefore comply to them.
Upon breach of contract, the responsible party will lose a mana heart.]
A bit harsh for a commission contract... Indeed, losing a mana heart is unbearable for some people. One mana heart is the difference between a level 5 and 6 mage, and some take years to form one. That explains why I saw no other applicant on my way in. They must've chickened out after seeing the conditions.
Ilrune smiled slightly, then infused his mana in the contract.
However, I'm pretty confident in my botanical skills. I'd be a disgrace of an elf if I couldn't even do that much.
Then, he handed the scroll back and watched the Dean do the same.
In the end, two names were neatly signed: A.D. Amyse and Arlo.
This reminds me of back in the days. The first time I signed a magical contract with my fake name, I was so worried I spilled ink everywhere. Thankfully, the clerk mistook my nervousness for clumsiness.
Although Ilrune laughed and reminisced inwardly, he showed none of those emotions towards the dean as it would be absurd in the current context.
"Now you should be able to explain, right?" He spared no time and asked directly.
Thud.
A small badge that sounded much heavier than it looked landed on the table.
An artifact? The runes engraved are quite interesting. Deception, distortion...
Transformation.
This is a disguise artifact.
"This is a disguise artifact."
The dean and Ilrune voiced at the same time, one verbally, the other mentally.
Wait...
"I'll lend it to you for the employment period so that you can disguise yourself as Bernard Monet."
Ilrune suppressed the nerves in his heart and asked in a composed voice,
"Meaning that I'll have it on me at all times?"
"That should be obvious."
Jackpot? Wait, this is a bit too easy?
"Can you really just give it to anyone?"
This is a precious artifact. In fact, the amount of its kind in the world can be counted on one hand!
"I trust the contract will not be kind to liars."
A reasonable answer... Still, this is too coincidental. I arrive in Vilste looking for the Transformation rune, and suddenly I receive an artifact with that exact rune inscribed on it? I can basically replicate the entire artifact now that I have it in hand.
Thanks to causality, I am never without misfortune. I'm not exactly keen on accidentally making the students face the repercussions of my bad luck...
Ilrune fell in thought as the dean took his silence for acceptance and said,
"Bernard Monet is a missing botanic expert from the Dawn Tower. He was also supposed to attend as our new lecturer this year. However, classes start in two weeks and he hasn't even made a public appearance yet."
If this was a regular case of a teacher getting cold feet and disappearing, she would've gotten a different teacher. I'm guessing she suspects foul play.
"The current situation in the Academy is precarious. The previous dean had supported the Nobility faction, resulting in many conflicts among teachers and students. I hired Monet because he was neutral, and well-educated in the required subject."
Ah, politics. My least favorite. This isn't surprising. Welxorth Academy is basically the breeding ground for future relations between the futures of the Lurene Continental Association. However, that's not the entire reason she has to have Monet, is it?
"You suspect there's been foul play involved in his disappearance?" Ilrune leaned forward, a serious look on his face. "What if I don't have the ability to protect myself if that threat comes for me again?"
"Doesn't matter. As long as they are willing to attack you, I can find out who it is and protect you."
A confident answer. Being backed by an archmage might sound nice, but it just means that the expected danger is higher. Uh, I don't think I have time to deliberate about accepting...
Ilrune glanced at the dean's cold face.
She has this intense look in her eyes... Like Perseis when he gets really excited about cleaning.
Overall, the conditions aren't bad. Food, room, clothes, research labs, it's all provided for free. In return I need to watch out for some random politician trying to kill me. As a bonus, I get the disguise artifact and temporary cover from the officials looking for me.
Really, this is so perfect that it... scares me. A lot. Still...
Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum.
Loud heart beats filled his ears and his lips curled into a small smile.
This is too good to pass up on.
"I'll do it."
***
What is corruption?
Well...
"I remember reading a manual hypothesizing about it. 'Corruption is the vilest thing to exist. Its overall goal is to eat, and it has a living characteristic with a high affinity for survival at all costs,'" a scholarly youth with golden blonde hair and long pointy ears explained. "Divine magic is most effective against it."
"Cellan, spare us the flowery words."
A young woman had objected, raising her hand. The arrogant look on her face felt undeniably noble.
"Az's right! They went right through one ear and out the other..." another added. It was a teenager with a headful of fluffy pink hair and deep blue eyes.
"As expected of Kaeth." Cellan shook his head in feigned dismay. His hair, tied half-up, half-down, shone brightly under the sunlight like liquid gold.
"Hey, wait, what is that supposed to- my eyes! Put that damn hood back on! Az, get him to stop! My eyes!"
"How is it my fault-"
The three teenagers who had been discussing in a small clearing soon turned that discussion into a physical dispute. The fourth and final member of this eccentric group watched the squabble in silence, a slight, romanesque smile on his lips.
Rustle. Something approached from the cover of the forest floor.
However, he wasn't distracted from his post as he quickly turned around and shot a burst of mana into the forest.
The dying squawk of some creature told him that his spell had hit the mark.
"What was that?" the arrogant young woman nicknamed Az turned her head in puzzlement. "Wilroy. What happened?"
She had felt the disturbance in the mana flow and looked towards the fourth member, Wilroy, raising her eyebrow in question.
Cellan, who was stuck between her and Kaeth, also raised his head.
"A small disturbance Azriel," the brown-haired teenager replied.
Fortunately for Cellan, Kaeth got distracted and let go of the elf and walked over to Wilroy's side.
"Whoa, what'd you kill? Think it's edible?" Kaeth asked, already foraging and poking around the bushes. "I always wanted to try- eh? It's a sewer rat. Ew."
A large grey rat with red eyes hung from the scruff of its neck in his hand, its mouth still open in an attempt to lunge at prey. It had frozen still after Wilroy had killed it, and its pose was quite grotesque.
A moment of silence lapsed, likely for the small group to thank the deities for not making humans that ugly.
"I hope I look better than that when I pass," Cellan subconsciously commented, breaking the stillness. As if his words re-animated the group, everyone got back into motion.
"Hey, Az, it looks like you!" the pink-haired teen joked, swinging the rat towards the woman.
"Ha. Funny coming from you," she scoffed. The young woman kicked the creature back to Kaeth, who yelped and ducked.
"Anyone's got holy water? Let's get the core and sell it when we go back."
"I don't."
"Nope."
"None."
Faced with the three negative answers, Azriel frowned. Her elegant face seemed to convey the words 'Why am I with these idiots?', to which the three targeted smiled awkwardly.
"Forget it. Someone'll have to drag it back to the Adventurer's Guild," she sighed.
"We should give the money to Wilroy. After all, he was the one on guard duty," Cellan commented, gesturing towards the latter, who gently shook his light hair.
"If Azriel wants it, she can have it. I don't need money," the teenager smiled slightly. There was a sliver of romantic charm to it.
"Ah, my dear, lovely little Wilroy-"
"I'm older than you."
"Who cares? My kind soul, who never misses the opportunity to give away what is his to others... a true hero!" Kaeth patted his friend's shoulder with one hand, the other gesturing wildly towards the sky.
"I always feel unsettled when he does something like that," Cellan whispered.
"I'm with you on this one."
"I don't need it. It's a useless amount of money."
"Ahh, right, how could I forget? Mister Wilroy Duciel, firstborn of Marquess Duciel, our cute little socialite!" Kaeth grinned, swinging an arm over the young noble's shoulders.
"I don't see why this is relevant at all to the conversation here."
"So naïve... my heart can't take it!" Kaeth put his hand over his chest, leaning backwards. "Won't the valiant Miss Azriel and clever Sir Cellan come help me?"
"Annoying bastard," the former sighed, the latter humming in agreement.
"Hey, I heard that!"
"Yeah? Fight me if you disagree." Azriel condescendingly waved her hand, inviting Kaeth. "I'll show you the way of the Farlanders."
"You say that, yet every time you get your ass kicked!" The pink-haired teenager wasted no time in lunging towards her, already conjuring a spell with his wand.
"Who says?"
"These guys..." Cellan sighed, taking a seat next to Wilroy. "Causing trouble everywhere since year one. We can't even complete a small commission in peace now that they've gotten skilled enough to destroy their surroundings whenever they fight each other."
"At least it's entertaining."
The two stayed in silence for a while, contemplating life and enjoying the show as their friends raged on.
However, Wilroy couldn't help but glance at the dead rat a couple more times. Furrowing his brows, the noble youth spoke up.
"The rat. It's odd."
Their gazes focused on the dead monster. Mellow sky blue and soft sage green, belonging to Cellan and Wilroy, respectively.
"Is that... other traces of mana?" Cellan squinted.
When he focused his vision, he could see two different mana signatures. One ran through the stomach in a straight, disciplined line. The mana traces around it were clean-cut and cold. Cellan could easily identify it as Wilroy's mana.
The other trace was a shallow cut on the rat's back, which seemed to be the result of-
"Hunting."
Cellan startled.
"Was it being hunted? By another magic creature?" He suddenly looked around in alarm. He hadn't sensed anything with his mana at all!
"There's nothing about." Wilroy shook his head. "Thanks to those two, we have already hunted them all."
He gestured towards the fighting duo, then the two bags by the side of the wooden log. It was full of ruby-shaped gems, mana cores.
"Thankfully," Cellan sighed. "Shouldn't you tell me that before letting me worry about our safety? Spare me the anxiety, please."
Wilroy didn't smile, but something like one tugged at the corner of his lips for a small instant. "Sorry."
Rustle. Rustle.
Slowly, clouds covered the sliver of light, leaving the clearing in an odd sort of shadow. The sounds of fighting quietly faded into the background.
Rustle.
The two friends stood up. Spells formed, mana ready to launch.
"Wait," Cellan said, an ominous tone to his voice. "We forgot to ask what a sewer rat was doing in the forest."
"I don't sense anything."
Wilroy furrowed his brows. He lightly released his mana, dampening the surroundings with a slight woody scent mixed with chamomile.
"Most monsters can't conceal their mana." Cellan agreed.
Rustle. The ominous sounds paused. The friends eyed each other, not daring to talk, and raised their hands higher. For what felt like forever, the forest awaited, with bated breath, the meeting of fate.
Then, as quietly as water falling in a pond, a slim figure broke through the feuillage. It was a man with average Lurenean features, dirty blonde hair, and kind green eyes. He had multiple leaves and small branches stuck in his hair and casual suit. The golden brooch pinned to his vest glinted slightly.
The man froze as he came face to face with the teenagers.
Mellow sky blue clashed with green, a hint of teal.
"..!"
Unexpectedly, a scream tore through the forest, chasing the birds away.