Benjamin Wiedly was coming through his thick gray mustache with a small comb. He had long gray robes on with black pants underneath. He was bald in the middle of his head but had long gray hair that ran over his hood, which was pulled down. He was in a large study with the only light being a chandelier with only half of the candles lit.
After he finished combing his mustache, he put the comb down and walked on the wooden floors to one of the bookshelves and pulled out a thick book titled "Liar's Getaway". He glanced around the room a bit before waving his hand, causing the book to shrink down in size and have a particularly bold cover with the title now being "Xeon's Arrival".
He read as he rocked in his chair slowly. He flipped through the book and chuckled to himself as he read through the pages. Then his door flung open, and he slightly jumped in his chair as his hands moved to reapply the disguise to the book. Mrs. Burk walked in with a stern look on her face as she approached him. "Don't do anything?" Her voice was loud, and her eyebrows were furrowed intensely, causing her face to wrinkle a bit more. "Have you lost your mind, or have you simply forgotten about your duty as the headmaster?"
Benjamin's face went from bewildered to amusement to confusion. He thought she was talking about letting Dirin be until orders from the higher-ups were given, but it seemed that she understood that part. After a bit of thinking, it slowly dawned on him. "You mean the cultists? This isn't their first threat towards us, as I'm sure you are aware."
"I am very aware of the constant threats we have been getting, but what I'm not aware of is why you keep on brushing it off as if they aren't a threat! They finally tried to infiltrate! They are getting too bold." Mrs. Burk was furious as her blood rushed to her face.
"I was told to wait by the secretary of the Flame of Creation. If I did do anything, then I, and anyone around me, would be dead. Simple as that. These orders came in not too long ago. I forwarded them to you, did I not?" Benjamin's statement caused Mrs. Burk to stay quiet as she stared at him. She didn't have time to check whatever was forwarded to her since she was busy with classes and making sure the cultists didn't infiltrate.
"They finally got someone in a town nearby. About fifty miles west of here. A teenage boy, no less. He applied here, and he got accepted. They are after our students. How can they expect me to wait?" She had to clench her hands to stop her teeth from grinding.
"They are doing it on purpose." Benjamin's face was dark as he stared at the clock on the far wall. "They want to make sure we don't have any members rising in our ranks. A strategy that has always shown results regardless of where you look in history, if done properly, of course." He then flicked his hand, and a file appeared out of nowhere in front of him, floating in the air. "A person from this year has reached Rank 1. I think his path is something to do with botany. Wishes to be a farmer, he says."
"He did it too early. He won't get any long-term benefit from this." Mrs. Burk looked over the file as she shook her head in dissatisfaction. Whether she realized that Benjamin switched the topic on purpose or not didn't show, but he didn't care since it worked anyway. "We should've been encouraging him to research more and maybe even plant a couple of more plants. A girl, Vale, I think, is studying music and is currently researching how it helps plants. This could've benefited the farmer greatly if he had only thought of it."
"Youths are shortsighted and easily swayed by quick gains," Benjamin explained as he waved a hand, causing the file to disappear from her. "We were the same way once, and we had people like us being dissatisfied with our results as well. He's just one person; there was bound to be someone like him in this group. Look at others. A kid named Zack wants to learn everything about magic, Bella is trying to learn every way to train and communicate with animals and plants, Keith and Tillie are studying everything about one element, and Samuel, who is learning magic, spirit energy, runes, and constructs. This is just a brief list of people, and the most exceptional people."
Mrs. Burk looked at him for a bit. She was unsure of how to continue this conversation in a way that could persuade him to take measures against the cultists. She took a deep breath and regained her composure. "Please give me control of finding the cultists. I'll take all the blame that would befall you if any were to come."
"Alright, if you are that passionate about it, then the matter of the cultists is now forwarded to you. I'll have another teacher replace the classes you teach while you focus full-time on them. Is that agreeable to you?" Benjamin started to write a contract in pencil before he made it in ink.
Mrs. Burk let out a breath she didn't know she held as she looked at Benjamin with gratitude in her eyes, and she slowly nodded. "That would be amazing, sir. I will look for my replacement right away. These cultists are as good as gone. I already have a few in mind." She bowed her head slightly as she left the room.
Benjamin let out his own sigh of relief as he finally saw the door shut, and he willed the door to lock as he pulled out his book. He was very happy with how that conversation turned out. He also wanted to do something about the cultists, but he was under orders to do nothing towards them despite his constant emails and updates to them. Thankfully, Mrs. Burk was under no such obligations as him, so she should be able to get rid of the cultists safely. If they have a Rank 5, I'll have to get involved regardless of how the higher-ups see it. With my age, they would only give me a slap on the wrist anyway.
He glanced towards the corner of his desk and saw a picture of his wife, who recommended him the book he was reading, with his newborn daughter, Mary. He counted the days for his next vacation to go see his wife, though he was mandated to stay here for five weeks in a row before he could leave and visit them. His weekends were very short and very far away. "Just wait till you get older, brat. I'll make sure you train and train and train till your arms, or whatever path you go down, drop." He chuckled to himself as he kept reading his book.
***
Dirin dropped down onto his bed after the third day of being at the training field from dawn to dusk. Ritchard joined him today, and he forgot to bring any form of protection from weapons, so they had to be very careful with how they hit each other. Dirin thought he was doing very well with holding back his swings and thrusts whenever they made contact, but Ritchard didn't do that at all. He seemed to know exactly where to hit to make Dirin's knees buckle without any chance of killing him. That was what he said, at least.
The person who really had it bad was Markus, though. The poor man was constantly arriving late and sweaty with swollen hands and fingers. He wasn't having a good time at blacksmithing at all, but he still kept going, and Dirin was starting to question his sanity. Maybe falling for the teacher, who was called Elizabeth, was driving him crazy. Dirin wasn't one to judge openly, but he was definitely judging in his head.
Dirin felt his phone buzz and lazily picked it up and saw a text from Tillie. He didn't like seeing these texts as of late since they were more ways to train in a topic he knew nothing of, and it usually left him exhausted. This time, though, it was her inviting herself to join him, Keith, and Ritchard to the training field. Dirin slightly missed her telling how to train compared to this. Now that she was going to be there, he was sure she was going to find something to improve upon, or worse, use him for one of her tests again.
Is it too early to put in a vacation day? Surely it isn't. Maybe I should pretend to be sick so they leave me alone. No. Keith would figure it out right away and get the same idea. That would get us both caught and in trouble. Dirin started to grumble to himself as he replied with a thumbs up and put it away before falling asleep.