“What’s his problem?” Garrett was furious. The boys were back in their dorm room.

Derek could only smile and shrug. “That guy has some really ugly traits. I was wondering what bothered me about him yesterday, but after observing him today I am sure of it.”

Tristan nodded, “His kingdom and mine are neighbors. I have heard some things about this young crown prince over the years. Sometimes things like this are just bad rumors spread by the envious but it seems to be true this time.”

Desmond sat up from his bed, “So what are the rumors? Or do you want us to guess based off of our observations today?”

Tristan laughed and waved him off. “From what I have heard the guy is the pride of his kingdom. His elders are very proud of his strength and he can do no wrong in their eyes. To speed his growth he is the royal executioner. I have heard he has killed over a hundred men.”

Derek shrugged, “That’s not uncommon though. I learned in my statecraft class that it is very common for powerful families to cultivate their promising youths by allowing them to kill powerful criminals. It’s not considered very humane, but in many parts of the continent it is considered the norm. So what’s the difference? I hear that in some of the more corrupt places, they round up undesirables to allow their youths to kill them as well.”

Tristan glanced over at him, “That is true but their family has made a big deal of making it look like a fair trial by combat. I hear he goes into an arena and duels these people until he has killed them. In this way, his image in his country is bolstered still further as a brave and strong leader. But the people truly in the know understand that he has never been at risk. The criminals are usually poisoned before they go in to make sure he’s never in danger.

“The image of this guy is that he is a brave and powerful mage, a talented young prince of his kingdom. That has only managed to strengthen his ego. Couple that with the fact that he can get any woman he wants in his country and it gets even worse. This man has robbed many wives and ruined many daughters and from the way the people in his kingdom act, it is only their good fortune. The husbands and fathers can say nothing and their king usually compensates them for their ‘contribution’.”

Derek frowned, “What about the woman, are there ever any complaints from them?”

Tristan had a disgusted look on his face. He sighed before he continued, “I imagine so, but that country is very chauvinistic. They don’t really care about what the women think. Our two countries have clashed multiple times due to the overbearing nature of the men from that kingdom.”

Derek nodded as he thought of this. “I heard from my mom that he tried to force one of her maids to service him last night. There was an argument because of it and in the end she switched the maids in that wing out for butlers. She even had Ovid keep an eye out for her people last night.”

Garrett was seething, “What a prick! What about Alicia? Her family is willing to marry her to a guy like this?”

Tristan thought about it for a moment. “From what I know, Telis is under a lot of threat from outside forces right now and needs a strong relationship to keep the peace. Elnon is one of the only neutral countries around them with three others eyeing Telis’ territory at all times. Elnon is known for its hardy fighters and strong army, so a marital alliance between the two countries will really bolster Telis’ safety in the next few decades. Perhaps an alliance like this could even allow the two to become much more aggressive in the near future and allow them to gain many more territories.”

Desmond thought about it and nodded, but Garrett still seemed to be thinking about things, “But that still doesn’t explain that guy’s attitude. He practically accused Derek of having indecent relations with Alicia and we all know Derek’s practically a monk. If I hadn’t seen it when we were showering I would assume he was a eunuch… ehh, no offence Derek.”

Derek scratched his head, “Err, none taken, I guess?”

The others got a laugh out of this. Tristan thought it through, “Well with his personality, Blake probably couldn’t have lived very long with Alicia without doing something and with how Derek and Alicia behave, many people would assume they were quite intimate. We all know it’s more of a sibling thing between the two of them but to a guy like Blake? Well, do we even know if he has left his sisters alone?”

Derek shook his head, “This is no good, we can’t let Alicia marry this guy.”

Desmond frowned and disagreed, “It isn’t that easy Derek, this marriage means a lot to her people and you know Alicia better than the rest of us. Would she really be willing to break it off with her family over an arranged marriage like this?”

Tristan nodded at Desmond’s words, a brief moment of anger and regret flashed across his face as he thought over the situation, “Trust me Derek, I would be the first person to back you up if I believed Alicia would appreciate it, but her family and her kingdom mean too much to her. She has been raised to be traded this way. To her, this marriage will be a sacrifice at first, but there is no reason to believe that she will forever be unhappy.

“Blake’s father was just like him as a youth but aside for his infidelities, he has treated his queen with only the greatest care. To men of his kingdom, possessing the most sought after wife and being able to show her off and protect her from the advances of others is the greatest sign of honor. Blake’s mother has been the best treated woman in that country and everyone says she has been very happy, especially after Blake was born. Providing an heir has cemented her place beyond even her great looks. It’s quite possible that Alicia will never be mistreated while she is there so being upset for her is a bit premature really.”

Derek thought about it for a while, “That country sounds like a real piece of work but it isn’t our problem for now. We have two more days before our part of the competition. Let’s get some rest.”

As Garrett laid down he thought of something. “Hey Derek, what do you think your chances are in the duel against this guy?”

Derek thought about it for a moment, thinking about what he had gleaned from Blake’s status. Finally he answered, “His attributes are a bit higher than mine, but I am confident in my skills. I would say maybe seventy percent chance, maybe more. I don’t know, if anything goes wrong in the competition, maybe less. It isn’t worth worrying about right now though, we have at least a week before I have to worry about it, let’s get to sleep.”

For once, the boys hadn’t worked themselves into exhaustion that day, so they were left with their thoughts. Each had things to think about from the events of today. It took each of them quite a long time to get to sleep.

The next day was the Alchemy competition. Garrett had been unable to acquire them seats in the judge’s booth but they were able to get a different booth with some of the other faculty. Eona and her guests joined them in that booth again and the presence of the Prince of Elnon made things awkward for a while before people started to ignore him.

He was infuriated by these people that didn’t seem interested in giving him face and was sulking from having his private bodyguards beat up last night by Eona’s armsman. He had intended to teach the man a lesson but when he saw Ovid that morning at breakfast he realized that the ‘armsman’ was much more powerful than him. He wisely decided to step back, but he had still made his displeasure known with his future mother-in-law. The woman had proved useless, choosing to chastise him instead of asking their host to flog her armsman.

The Alchemy competition proved to be interesting for some but quite boring for others. Garrett was cheering his girlfriend on and Desmond had opted to stand to prevent himself from falling asleep again. It proved monstrously difficult even still so he resorted to attempting to visualize different sword forms in his head.

In the end, many of the students in the Alchemy College had produced quite interesting potions and demonstrated their skills and creativity. Ronelle only managed to place towards the top of her year, not securing any prizes but it was still respectable. She had been able to create a tier three potion and would likely one day be a great alchemist.

The next day was the Smithing competition and Derek was quite excited to see the skills of the students in that College. Priest Cnut made a guest appearance and sat in the judge’s booth with them as well. Derek got front row seats to seeing all of these enterprising young Rune Smiths. He wondered how many would join their growing Association.

The competition was stiff, finally in the end, the overall competition was won by a burly young tenth year that had crafted a peak tier five warhammer. There were many pieces of great beauty in the hall and Derek could only admire how good the talents gathered at Windreach Academy were. The idea of roping them into the Association went out the window as he thought that ninety percent of these students would be offered positions as personal smiths to kings in the area.

Remembering Blake’s derision of the Academy from before he glanced over at the man. To Derek’s surprise he found a thoughtful look on the young man’s face. It seemed there were some positive qualities in this man after all. Derek knew he was going to have to work through some prejudices if he was going to be happy for his mother’s little apprentice in the future.