The headmaster and Mr. Till were in the corner talking. "I'd say he is ready." Mr. Till gave his approval as he watched the other students doing their own thing. He was well aware that Ritchard and some other students were tuning in, but he didn't care. The others didn't have any context, while Ritchard was one of the few people who knew.
The headmaster nodded in agreement as he heard. He saw the reports and some recordings from Mr. Till about the training and what Dirin was doing during his own free time. The progression was quick, but the headmaster was still a little bit skeptical about how Mr. Till started it off. However, he had to admit that it brought results.
"When do you plan on letting him step into Rank 1 then, or were you serious about only letting him do it once he made contact with you?" The headmaster swept his gaze across the students as well and spotted Ritchard pretending not to listen and only chuckled a bit. People who used life energy were easy to catch when you were at their level. "Run along now, child. This is still a class."
Once that was said, Ritchard huffed a bit and walked away. He pulled out his phone, no doubt texting Dirin or someone close, which caused the headmaster to shake his head. "I plan on having him do it tomorrow. That way, he can get for rest and be ready for it tomorrow."
"You talk about it as if stepping into Rank 1 is such an arduous task. It's not like he is breaking into Rank 5 just yet. I guess you wouldn't know that sensation yet. Never mind." The headmaster earned a 'tsk' as a response. "Calm now. Once you are done with your shift here, you will surely have enough to get the trail you need."
"My inexperience has nothing to do with this, headmaster. Dirin has trained and learned everything. I'd be surprised if it wasn't difficult. I'm predicting him to pass out and fail his first attempt. The second one I'm sure he will barely fail. The third he'll pass." Mr. Till was confident and puffed out his chest as if showing his great teaching. "After that, he'll have to do everything all over again."
Seeing the puffed-out chest caused the headmaster to laugh a bit more openly this time. If Mr. Till was that confident, then it was likely to happen. He made a mental note to excuse Dirin from classes for a couple of days. He was confident in Mr. Till's prediction, but he just wanted to make sure that Dirin wasn't going to get thrown out because of a misunderstanding.
"I'll leave it up to you then. Can I trust you with these kids?" The headmaster started to pack things up. Mr. Till nodded, and that was his cue to leave.
He went back to his office with a gesture and sat down in his seat. He immediately started to go over some emails he had gotten and scrolled through all of the parent emails. He has been getting them since the cultists became more active. Some of them demanded to get their kids back, which he was starting to arrange to do, while others were asking him to take care of the matter quickly, but others simply asked him to keep their kids safe.
They started to calm down recently since their kids were now Rank 1s and had some ability to defend themselves, but others didn't care. When should I go public with this? People already know about it, so the sooner the better, and hiding it would just be pointless, and if I do hide it would make us look vulnerable to them. I'll prepare a statement now.
He started to ponder on how to word his statements. He couldn't necessarily release Mrs. Burk and her already being involved, since that wasn't something he was allowed to have let authorize in the first place. If he did go public with it, it would call for some sort of action on his part, but it could also be what he needed in order to get the higher-ups to finally approve him getting involved officially. There were multiple things he needed to consider while thinking about this.
He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. He started to think of many things that would change or had the potential to change with just one simple statement from him. I hate being in high positions when these types of things happen. When am I due for that vacation as well? I swear, they delay these things more and more as I age. Can't they see I'm clearly an old man?
He was about to think of a statement again until he got a knock, and just by the tone of it he already knew it was Mrs. Burk. After letting out a silent groan, he unlocked the door, which then immediately opened. She came storming in with her hair messily undone. It seemed like she had just come from a long fight. "Tough day?"
That caused a scoff from her as she proceeded to toss a paper at him unprofessionally. He took a look at it and his eyes widened a bit. It was a simple cloth, but he could feel high traces of magic flowing out of its ruined flows. "So, they have a Rank 5..." He was silent for a couple of seconds until he pulled out a red phone from his drawer. "I'm taking this up to them now. This is getting ridiculous and out of hand. If they keep on trying to pus-" He was then notified by an email from his phone permitting him.
"Always watching. Those basta-"
"Watch what you say if they really are watching. Let's simply be happy that they are allowing me to take official action now." He went over and started to call the other faculty staff about the new developments. "We are going to take action. And you are taking a pay cut."