Chapter 9

Maston Academy

The Town of Maston in the Candis East District

After they had gotten Professor Hazel’s approval, Myles and Jane left the lesson, still giddy with excitement from succeeding. It was early yet. The lesson was intended to continue for a few more hours. Regardless, the pair decided to head back to their dorms.

In the morning, they had been assigned the task of setting aside a few hours for delving. Professor Hazel had added to that with an assignment for them to figure out how the batteries they made could be usefully applied in a real-world scenario.

When they finally got back to their room, a young man who Myles suspected was maybe a year or two older than them stood leaning against their door. The man was in a nice outfit that while seeming expensive, was clearly designed for practical use.

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” The young man gave a slight bow. “My name is Joshua Maston, the third son of Baron Maston.”

Myles wasn’t exactly familiar with nobles as the title meant little in Verith, but he knew that Baron Maston was the noble in charge of the town, and that probably meant his son expected some form of formal greeting. Unfortunately, Myles didn’t know what that greeting might be anymore than he knew what the noble wanted with them.

Myles bowed awkwardly and introduced himself. To his relief, Jane seemed even more awkward than him, stammering over her words as she introduced herself. Myles had almost forgotten how shy she was. After spending a few days together, she seemed to act normally enough when around the people in their dorm.

The young noble seemed to pick up on their unease from their slapped together greetings. “No need to be formal. I actually came to speak with you two in part because you would be less likely to act formally around me than other students.” Joshua scratched his head briefly as though considering something. “I have become somewhat curious about this new academy and the implications it may have for this town. How much do you know about Maston Academy?”

Myles shook his head. If he was entirely honest, he knew very little. Everything about the academy seemed odd. “They haven’t shared much with us.”

Joshua nodded sagely. “My father and older brothers are only interested in the economic and political benefits that having the academy here will bring them.” He looked down in disgust. “They only seem interested in gaining favor with the powerful people who set this up. I’m interested in trying to understand why they created an academy where all the instructors are such significant individuals.”

“Significant individuals?”

“Your instructor this morning, Primrose Tomkin, is called the White Tiger in some circles. She was part of a mercenary force that single-handedly turned the tide in the war. Professor Hazel, your aether engineering instructor, has been recognized as the greatest aether engineer in the province by many top engineers despite refusing to do anything but teach. It’s not just them either. Nearly every member of the faculty is a major player in the province.”

Jane shook her head in confusion, intrigued enough to contribute to the conversation. “Shouldn’t you be happy that so much talent is in Maston now?”

Joshua looked around briefly, seeming to be using more than just his eyes. As he did, Myles felt a slight disturbance in the air emanating from him. “Perhaps I would be if they weren’t all eccentrics with their own questionable motives. Also, from what I can tell from the paperwork I could find, the academy is split into three distinct curriculums that each seem to represent the three major factions in the province. I find that split to be particularly disturbing.”

Joshua suddenly seemed to react to something unseen. “I have to go.” He handed Myles a card with an address written on it. “This is where you can find me if you need me. Please reach out if you notice anything out of place.”

As Joshua walked away, Myles called after him. “What did you mean about three factions?”

Joshua looked over his shoulder. “Ask your roommates. They should know about it since they’re studying politics.”

As Joshua rounded a corner, Jane led the way into their rooms. They were both somewhat concerned about what Joshua had said, but they decided that worrying about it wouldn’t do much good. They would talk to Silas and Mercy who were apparently studying socio-political interpretation. Myles could guess enough from that description to understand that they would be studying politics to some degree.

If Joshua claimed they would know about the three factions he had mentioned, Myles was inclined to believe him. He seemed to know more about the academy than any of the students did.

In the meantime, their classes had given them quite a bit to work on. Jane studied the book on aether forge operation closely, vouching to catch up her forging skills quickly, while Myles looked through the aether index for possible uses for battery constructs.

The study session was made rather lively because of the sense of excitement that hadn’t really worn off from that afternoon. They each regularly stopped the other to ask questions.

After about an hour of study, nobody else had made it back to the room. Myles decided to take a quick break. He had looked over dozens of different runes that were labeled to be compatible with pure mana. Most of them seemed fiendishly complex both in construction and in imbuing mana. As it turned out, each rune required a unique method of mana manipulation so as to avoid what the aether index referred to as catastrophic consequences.

As Myles was grabbing a glass of water, courtesy of a construct in their kitchen area which Myles had already studied, Jane walked up. “I’ve been wondering. Why did you decide to come here?” She looked somewhat mortified for a second before continuing in a quieter voice. “If you don’t mind me asking, of course.”

“I’ve always wanted to be an aether engineer, but I never thought I would get the chance. I’m not all that keen on the military part, but it’s worth it.”

Jane raised her eyebrows. “You knew you were going to be an aether engineer before you came here?”

“Yes. Did you not?”

“No.

“Why did you come then? Did you want to join the military?”

Jane looked thoughtful for a second. “Both of my parents went that route once, and I have some respect for that, so that was probably part of it.” Jane shook her head. “Although even if that wasn’t the case, I probably would have taken the offer anyway. I come from a small town, and my family struggled to keep everyone fed. We ran a woodworker shop. My Dad was skilled, but not many people were willing to come to our shop. I didn’t really know any details about the academy, but when I got an offer, I jumped at the chance. It looks like I got lucky. The school actually seems to be legitimate. I wasn’t really expecting much.”

Just as Myles was about to reply, the door opened, and Kate and Seth walked in. Seth gave them a polite albeit stiff nod before heading straight to his room. Kate walked over as though she would join them, but she noticed Jane’s hostile glare and fled to her room too. They had both been carrying what looked to be a huge pile of books.

Jane clearly wasn’t about to forgive Kate for her comments earlier. Myles had a theory on why that was too. To him, the stares he had gotten from wearing a yellow band had always been little more than an annoyance. For Jane though, Myles suspected it had been more dramatic. She had lived in a small village and her family’s shop had done well until her father had returned from the army. It wouldn’t be surprising if the reason her family had difficulty getting customers was because of the bands they wore, marking them as dangerous to the world.

Myles went back to his studying. He wanted to talk with Jane eventually, but he didn’t know her that well. She had most likely only told him what she had because she had been excited over how well things were going.

By the time Silas and Mercy walked in, hours after even Seth and Kate, Myles and Jane had come up with a few theories about how their batteries could be used for something practical. They were still somewhat shaky, but they had ironed them out enough that they at least sounded impressive. Most of them revolved around creating a device with moving parts so that multiple batteries could be used. They had gone down a few tangents from that idea, exploring how the same idea might be able to store more mana, change mana types on the fly, or do both at the same time.

Their lively discussion reached an abrupt end when Silas and Mercy entered though. Myles had come to know the two of them to be the liveliest of the group, but right now they looked exhausted—no, that wasn’t right. It was more like they were in shock. Compared to Seth and Kate, their pile of books was much smaller, but the looks on their faces were alarming.

Myles thought back to what Joshua had said earlier and followed Silas into his room. He caught sight of Jane doing the same with Mercy. No surprises there, those two had already grown close. Myles was more concerned about what Joshua had said now than ever. If the knowledge he had withheld from them had shaken Silas and Mercy this badly, what was the academy truly up to?