Chapter 17 – First confrontation

The festivities had ended earlier than expected. Neither the emperor nor the headmaster had arrived, and from what Aien could gather, both the Royal Entourage and the various teachers were uninformed about their absence. As it was always the case with such events, speculations and rumors spread across the city, and there was no stopping it. In the midst of it, Aien walked around the campus carefree. Whatever happened was outside of their control, and mindlessly spouting nonsense wasn't very productive. It had supposed to turn into yet another day he'd spent at the library when Lea caught him at the entrance in surprise.

“Come with me. The headmaster wants to speak with you.”

Not even giving him a proper greeting, she moved ahead, her quickened steps showing how flustered she was. Aien was taken aback, unsure about what the headmaster wanted from him. He had paid careful attention to stay out of the watch of sentries before having his conversation with the noble. But with no other choice, he followed closely behind the nervous Lea who didn't even meet his eyes.

“What's the matter?” He asked. “Have I done something wrong?”

“No... No, nothing...” She said, realizing how her distressed appearance must have made Aien nervous, she continued.

“You don't need to worry about anything, Aien. It's just me... I...” She hesitated again, trying to find the right words. “I can't find my research papers. It's driving me crazy.”

“That's... strange. Do you think someone stole them?” Aien decided to play along with the half-truth. After all the time he had spent together with her, he could accurately discern her truths from her lies. Especially this time, since she didn't hide it very well.

“Stole them?” She gave a slight chuckle that somewhat helped her calm down.” I'm not the headmaster, do you think anyone wants to steal anything from me? It was just a simple idea to improve transportation... An outdated idea as well since the pouches made it obsolete.”

The two discussed the matter a little further, coming to no result. They were both certain the paper wasn't something she'd misplaced, neither would anyone have a reason to steal them. It was a dead-end, but there was no reason to worry about the matter this much. As she had said, the paper wasn't particularly worth something.

“We are here...” Lea sighed in exasperation, despite the flight of stairs posing not the least of a problem for her. They had walked for quite a while until they arrived at the top of the tallest tower in the center of the academy. In front of them was a simple wooden door like any other, albeit wide enough to let several people pass through at a time.

“You can meet the headmaster inside. I'll wait here until you've finished.”

Aien gave her a nod before organizing his thoughts. Regardless of the reasons he was called here, this was an opportunity. An opportunity to meet a magus whose might allowed him to stand among the top of his race.

Resuming his usual calmness, he entered the room. It was filled with bookshelves, as were most rooms of magi, and a full circular window allowed for a panorama view that showcased the entire city. On the other side of the room, behind the desk that was filled with paperwork, sat a young man in his chair.

“You must be Aien, it's a pleasure to meet you. I have heard a lot about you from Leathe.”

Zeristin Wezlak spoke up. His voice was that of a youth, and so were the features on his face. His eyes, however, contained a mature calmness that had weathered the passage of time. The long white hair on his head was a stark contrast to his youthful appearance. Strangely enough, he combined the essence of a healthy youth in his prime with the patience and wisdom of a man who had seen the truth of life that could only be found at the end of it.

In that regard, they appeared quite similar.

“I'm honored to meet the revered magus and headmaster of this academy, Zeristin Wezlak,” Aien said, slightly bowing his head in a manner where one could not find a single fault.

“No need to stand on formalities, young man.” Zeristin gave a slight chuckle to reassure the young man who was slightly nervous about why he was called to the headmaster's office.

“You can relax.” He continued and invited him to sit down, but Aien declined. “I merely wanted to meet the student our academy has accepted despite him unable to become a magus. Don't worry, I'm not here to question your admission. But I became curious... What brought you here? Why attend this academy?” His voice remained calm and amiable, but Aien could almost feel the gaze that tried to pierce through all facades to find out the truth.

“It's simple, headmaster.” Aien resumed his confident attitude, no longer displaying subservience. “I have a passion for Magecraft, and nothing, not even my lack of talent, will keep me away from it! I realize that it might seem like a fool's endeavor! That people will laugh at me! Ridicule me! That's fine, let them look at my foolishness! But also let them watch when I turn the world they know upside down!”

It was a passionate speech, almost unbelievable that he had come up with it on the spot. Whether Zeristin believed him, however, was not something Aien could make out from his expressions alone. Decades, maybe centuries, of actual life experience was something even Aien couldn't compare to.

“Good!” Zeristin gave a firm nod of approval with a slight smile. “Unfortunately, our students lack passion like yours. They consider entering the academy the goal when it was only their starting point...” It was a topic that had clearly troubled the headmaster for quite some time.

“That's everything, for now, Aien." He ended their short meeting. "I'm sorry to have wasted your time, but I wanted to meet you face to face since I couldn't take the time to attend the dance. I also want tothank you for what you've done. You might not be aware of it, but taking care of the magical plants is a great merit to our academy. There've been a few accidents over the years, and thanks to you, we no longer need to worry.”

“I'm glad to be of use. Then, if you'll excuse me, headmaster.” With that, Aien took his leave and stepped outside the office, where Lea was waiting for him. She was relieved about how their conversation went and told him to go ahead without her before entering the office herself.

“So?” She asked, the nervousness yet to leave her.

“...”

Zeristin reclined in his chair, gazing out of the window. Within his mind, he replayed the conversation over and over, looking out for the smallest details to be found in Aien's actions and tone.

“He did tell the truth, and there is no trace of any outside influences.” Nonetheless, the frown on his face didn't disappear as he turned to look at Lea. “However, that doesn't have to mean much. Don't let him out of your eyes and pay close attention to him. The timing of his arrival is... inconvenient.”

“Yes, headmaster.” Lea gave a quick nod before leaving the office. She didn't follow after Aien immediately as she leaned against the wall outside, her thoughts drifting to his figure, that wouldn't leave her mind in peace.

“I really...” She gave a helpless sigh, and with daydreams filling her head went downstairs.

During his free time, when he wasn't busy with studying, Aien still made time for himself to scavenge the western forest outside the city for anything that interested him. It had been a year since he was accepted into the academy, and things should've been going smoothly at this point. However, it turned out that his time spent there became less and less productive. The answers he'd hoped to find eluded him, and with barely any support, his situation wouldn't improve in the meantime.

Therefore, he had decided to change his approach some time ago.

After one of his regular strolls, Aien visited a shop in the Outer District. Its sign was shaped into a bottle with several bandages that were wrapped around it - A shop he'd been frequenting lately.

“Hello!? Derek? Are you here?” Aien shouted after stepping through the entrance. He was confronted with the familiar scent of medicinal herbs that drifted out of the door behind the counter. The shop itself was filled with vials of all kinds of colors. Below each, there was a sign that depicted the price, name, and purpose of the contents above. From treating different types of poisons to general injuries, everything was there. At least it was supposed to be there. The most common healing potion that was used for all-around purposes was apparently out of stock.

“Aien? That you? Give me a minute!” Broken words came out from the other room, the person within clearly being busy.

Aien waited for almost half an hour before the owner of the shop finally appeared. He wore a white gown that was stained with the same colors that could be found within the vials. However, the newest stains were mostly red that painted over the rest.

“I got the payment for the last batch,” Aien said and handed over a bag filled with herbs. Derek unceremoniously accepted it, and after checking through it once, he stored it in the room behind him before reappearing again.

“And this...” Aien continued as he opened his Spacial Pouch. Several gold coins clinked onto the counter, which Derek responded to with a small gasp of astonishment. It wasn't the amount of gold but...

“You want even more, Aien!?” Derek could no longer hold back his worries as he thought about the number of potions Aien had bought and pre-ordered over the last month.

“Is it a problem?” Aien asked. “Are you lacking resources or-”

“No! No... it's none of that, but...” Derek didn't know how to say it but eventually decided to just directly approach the problem.

“You are buying too many, Aien. I can produce as many health potions as you want, but... What are you doing with them? Who could possibly use that many?” Derek gave voice to his doubts with some slight apprehension. He didn't feel comfortable with the matter, as if he was doing something wrong. The number of potions he'd sold Aien was enough to provide a small army.

Aien gave an exasperated sigh, shaking his head. With a torn expression, he pondered about the matter. The conflict was very clearly displayed on Aien's face as to whether to tell him the truth or not. This only caused the anxiety within Derek to increase, making him think he'd stumbled onto something he shouldn't have.

“Y-you know what,” Derek said hurriedly. “It's fine, I don't need to know, Aien. It was a pleasure doing business with you, but I have to ask that you don't come here anymore. Please don't hold it against me.”

Even the uniform that indicated that he was a student of the academy was no longer enough to relieve him of his doubts. Something shady was going on.

“You leave me no choice...” Aien said, having made up his mind. In response, Derek lowered his arm beneath the counter, grasping onto something.

“It's a secret, and you can't tell anybody...” Aien whispered dreadfully, making Derek regret that he had said something before.

“I'm making my own potions...”

“Wh...What?” All the built-up tension within Derek was relieved at once as he almost fell to the ground.

“You know my story, Derek. We've made some great business deals, and I consider you enough of a friend to confide you in the secret research I've been doing.”

It was not what Derek had expected, but he was very relieved to hear about this, so he listened to what Aien had to say.

“Even your worst recovery potion is worth twenty-five gold coins. Enough to feed a man for quite some time.” Aien stated.

“It's worth its price!” Derek refuted like he'd been wronged. His potions were the combination of regular herbs and Magecraft. He had to regularly hire a magus to aid him with the construct he was using to create his potions, which increased the cost immensely. That's how he'd met Aien, who had one day come to his shop, despite unable to help him with the construct.

“Definitely!” Aien agreed with him. “Twenty-Five gold coins to save your life is a catch! No doubt. Nonetheless, too many people can't afford it. That's why I've come up with this idea...”

Aien explained the research he'd been doing lately. The purpose of the construct Derek used was to create a perfect balance with which the ingredients could be processed. Not only was it essential to maintain the balance, but it also sped up the process tremendously. Drying herbs that would take days could be done within seconds. Handling dangerous and poisonous plants that were harmful before being processed were taken care of by the construct without any dangers. That and many more features that were needed to concoct potions were built into a single construct. In this way, days and even weeks of hard work were reduced to seconds.

What Aien proposed was a different method of concocting. Instead of creating a potion, his results would turn into small crystals that could be swallowed with ease, creating the same effects. The catch was his method to create them. While the number of ingredients would almost double and triple compared to a potion created by the construct, it needed far less interaction from a magus.

“I'm still researching whether it's at all possible these crystals can be formed or not,” Aien explained. “That's why I'm using these potions for now to test my theory. The results have been promising, but unfortunately, the unstable prototype crystals always turn into dust, leading to me wasting this outrageous amount of potions.”

“This... This is brilliant, Aien! If you succeed, then the production costs are cut down by more than seventy percent!” Derek almost shouted in excitement. He wasn't familiar with Magecraft, but even he could tell that there was some promise to the idea, or at least he wanted to believe so. The highest cost was the hiring of the magus to maintain the construct. If he could cut that out of the equation, then... Derek couldn't hide the hint of greed that became visible in his eyes.

“Derek, I know you are a smart man, so I believe you know how to keep a secret.” Aien continued. “And since we've already done this much business together, I hope to continue our cooperation. How about I'll sell my finished products exclusively to you? I only need a few more batches of health potions until my research is complete.”

Derek pondered the matter for a short while until he realized there were no drawbacks for him. Even if Aien failed, there was no harm done to him. The only thing he had to do was continuously sell him potions.

“Of course, Aien, my dear friend!" Derek agreed with a wide grin on his face. "Whenever you need something, come to me! I'll even give you a ten percent discount for the future! Let me quickly grab the newest batch from the back.”

Aien could almost see his eyes turn into gold before he went to the backroom with a skip in his steps. Derek had refused cooperation earlier than expected, but... The greed of men had always been easily manipulatable.

Derek had yet to return when a sudden gust of wind stormed through the entrance, almost causing all of the vials to fall from the shelves. It took Aien by surprise as he turned around to see a familiar face.

“Lea!?” Aien asked, perplexed. “Why are you using Mag-”

“Serak and Yasim went missing!” She exclaimed, her hand on her heaving chest that gasped for air.

“If they aren't found soon, they'll be wanted for treachery against the empire!”