The chapter 18 : A department's problems

As the tournament was over all the new students were being moved by the various instructors into different areas representing the different departments. Lisa began to make her way to Aion as she had been keeping an eye on him.

Aside from Lisa, Ban was also making his way over to Aion as he intended to take him to the assassin department. The first to arrive in front of Aion was Lisa, after all she was in a hurry to take him before any other department tried to take Aion.

Obtaining second place in the small tournament in itself didn’t mean much, but did show potential so the possibility of other departments trying to take him was fairly large.

“Your name is Aion correct?” Aion looked at the woman who spoke with him, she was tall reaching a height of just under two meters with long blond hair and a slender figure.

“Un.” Having expected a response with more than just a sound Lisa looked at him as if waiting for him to continue.

“… Good, Now Aion follow me, l will be taking you into the knight department.” Hearing this Aion was confused as he had done as the senior assassin said but didn’t get the results he wanted.

“No, assassin department.” Lisa knew this child would be stubborn about this as the letter she received stated that he was oddly fixated on becoming an assassin.

“You know that this academy has the instructors choose what department a student will join correct?”

“Un.”

“Then you should know that I as an instructor decide what the best place for you is. Even nobles and those of large clans can only complain but don’t have the power to change anything.” Aion understood this as his grandpa had informed him of it in the past.

“Better suited for assassin department.” Although he didn’t use a lot of words, he was trying to figure out a way to join the assassin department and not the knight department. Ban was casually strolling towards them and it would still take a while before he reached the two.

He did so because over the corse of the five years he spent with Aion he learned something important, although the boy was incredibly intelligent he was extremely naive. So this would be a good opportunity to let him learn a valuable lesson.

None of the other department heads went towards after all Lisa was there and the boy wielded a claymore showing his desire to be a knight.

“Child I saw the way you faced your opponents that was the furthest thing I have ever seen from an assassin. Contrary you fought with the vestige of a knight.” This was an obvious fact, as much as his teacher had trained him to be an assassin, his teacher was still a knight through and trough.

Having been taught by a knight that believed that his honor and word were the most important things how could Aion not fight like a knight. Aion’s head was spinning as he thought about having to become a knight, this was the last thing he wanted as his natural gifts were inclined towards that of an assassin.

Suddenly he remembered the senior assassin and knew he had been lied to and was quite upset not at the senior assassin but himself. Iris had told him that some people took pleasure in schemes and sometimes they were directed at random, he had also been told not to trust others so readily and think about things himself.

When he thought about it, that was something he should have done and not trusted the senior without reason and gotten himself a dagger. Ban saw that Aion had finally figured out what happened as annoyance showed on his face, Lisa however thought that it was directed at her and laughed.

“little child in this academy we have the right to decide, your only other option is to find an assassin and hope he has more authority than me or is willing to pick a fight. But more importantly I would like to speak to your parents, would you take me to them?”

She was able to confidently ask this because of a couple of reasons first aion’s clothes while not being anything great were well made, second he was well trained, and third he seemed determined to become an assassin most likely caused by his family. So the chances off him being an orphan or a street child were slim at best and the parents of well trained children would accompany the child.

“They are in the mountains.” Aion thought about his family and didn’t know where they were so he could not tell her or take her to them. Lisa hadn’t expected this and was wondering if the child’s parents had left him for the academy to raise.

“Then who is taking care of you?” She refused to believe that a child of eight was going to be left when he had received that degree of training.

“Grandpa.”

“Good can you take me to your grandfather.” Aion nodded as he had now felt the life force of his grandpa enter the range of his life sense ability, and began to walk strait to him. Lisa watched as Aion walked with an assured sense as if he knew exactly where he was going, when he stopped she was shocked.

When Aion had stopped, he began to walk back with the new assassin instructor, as assassins generally didn’t give their names everyone Simply called the new instructor Senior Assassin Instructor.

“Senior Assassin Instructor I'm sorry that this child has bothered you, he seems to want to be an assassin but has exceptional talent in knighthood, I ask that you help convince him.” Lisa was startled by the assassin but immediately asked for assistance as he must have seen that the child had talent to be a knight.

“Grandpa, she asked me to bring her.” Something in Lisa’s head clicked when she heard this, Aion was the grandson of a powerful assassin it was perfectly reasonable for him to wasn't to be one.

This Senior Assassin Instructor showed up at the academy about a year ago and quickly made a deal with the Vice President taking up the position of second assassin, only one step before being the head assassin.

“It seems my grandson wants to be an assassin, you say that his talent lies in knighthood but I would disagree.”

“Senior Assassin Instructor please reconsider as he has great aptitude to be a knight. For him to be anything else would be a wast, I'm sure you saw as well his fighting style resembles a knight more than it does and assassin.” Lisa knew that convincing the senior assassin would be difficult after all who wouldn’t want their children and grandchildren to follow in their footsteps.

“Going by the way he fights you do have a point after all a knight rigorously trained him for a couple of years. But he has a natural disposition to be an assassin.” Lisa was at the end of her rope, the knight department needed talented youths, even if it was the largest department it had been declining as anyone who joined usually found a way to change to the archery department of swordsman department.

The reason for this was that all the noble children were in the knight department and constantly attempted to put down the commoners who aimed to be Knights. And although their influence was negligible inside the academy walls the same was not true for the rest of the kingdom. So most were unwilling to go against the nobles and the noble’s children contributed little towards the knight department usually stagnating in the late intermediate rank of the human stage.

So the knight department was filled with only nobles and the small amount of those willing to endure. What hurt her the most was having to let so many talented children go to other departments over the years, as she had to approve the move from her department to another.

Normally she would not want to let them go but how could she watch her students be bullied and just tell them to endure. She had punished many nobles and done her best to stop their oppression but as the children's parents only told them to continue the worst she could do was have them expelled then the child would either continue in the Royal Academy or at their own home.

So she needed someone like Aion who was strong with great skill and would not back down simply because his opponent had a noble backer.

“Senior Assassin, I know that you must want to have Aion follow in your foot steps but please consider helping me convince him in joining the knight department. As I have seen him fight with the skill and heart of an honorable knight.” Ban saw the desperation in her eyes and knew the reason, as he too didn’t like the antics of nobles he decided to give her a hand.

“Hmm if that is what the head has decided it will be difficult to change your mind but not impossible.” As he said this he released some of his frightening aura in a way that only she would feel, this was done to move his proposition along faster.

“So I have a suggestion, Aion is an incredibly smart boy and won’t need the general classes such as reading, writing, or calculations. Instead during that time he will attend the assassins specialized courses, so he will be trained by both departments. What do you say?” Lisa didn’t know what to say as she had a cold sweat drip down her back, she had once faced the vice principal and even he didn’t intimidate her as much as this Senior Assassin did just now.

His proposition was actually rather good as new students were given five days to focus on cultivating elemental energy and any other interest they might have, two days for general studies, and three days of specialized training with an instructor.

“Aa. As long as he is treated as an official knight department student then it’s not a problem.” Ban smiled as the small condition she gave wasn’t anything difficult.

“Aion it seems you will be joining the knight’s department but still be receiving assassin training.” Aion was not happy with this as the last thing he wanted to be was a knight.

“Grandpa, no.” Ban laughed looking at his grandson’s face.

“Aion this will be a good lesson for you. Think about the consequences of your actions if you had not used a claymore and instead picked up a dagger this wouldn’t have happened.” Aion could do nothing but agree after all he had not thought to question the actions of the senior assassin even when he thought it was strange.

Off to the side a black clocked figure watched as the three spoke and dashed off, and out of the gates of the academy. This was precisely the senior assassin who was headed to the Corvidae manor in order to report his success to Iris and hopefully receive a fitting reward. Reaching the manor he was taken to a room were Iris waited.

“Little miss I've taken care of what you asked. Currently the boy has been taken to the knight department but a senior assassin has stated that he would train the boy to be an assassin regardless.” Iris was happy hearing this as her plan had succeeded, the senior assassin was most likely her grandpa but Aion would slowly be taken farther away from the idea of being an assassin and join her as a knight.

Her final plan was to move him to the Royal Flame Academy but she had not figured out how to accomplish that goal yet. To the rear of the manor Valt sat laughing at his daughter’s attempts to play the part of the scheming woman.

What she had done was actually quite clever but hinged on the fast that Aion was incredibly naive and knowing the boy something like that would not work twice. But regardless of how amusing he found it he would have to reprimand her as plotting against enemies was fine but not towards the ones you wish to call a comrade in the future.