Grass rustled at Jalen’s feet. The breeze curling past his hair and caressing the back of his neck carried the faint scent of sweet nectar on it. His nose scrunched slightly in annoyance.

“Well then,” Jalen said, crossing his arms in front of his chest and tilting his head to the side. “I think it’s starting to get a little crowded.”

As was becoming habit, he and Vermil’s students had gathered for class once more. They’d absconded from Arbitage’s typical training areas and headed out to the Windscorned Plateau with a little help from Tim.

Jalen just hadn’t realized quite how many people Vermil had actually known. Their group of temporary teachers, which had initially just been him and Brayden, had now expanded to include Bird and — for some reason — Silvertide.

That was rather odd, as Jalen couldn’t quite remember inviting Silvertide, but the old man had a good relationship with the kids. And, despite being a Rank 5, he was an incredibly capable mage.

There were at least four different conversations going at once. Isabel and Todd were speaking about their runes, Silvertide was showing Alexandra some sword techniques, and James and Emily were flirting with about as much aptitude as a pair of toddlers.

At least Bird was silent. She just clutched a grimoire to her chest and glanced around the grassy plains, evidently wishing she was literally anywhere else. Brayden wasn’t doing much better. He just stood at the edge of the group, watching over everyone with eagle eyes as if a monster was going to materialize behind someone and try to rip their head off.

Damned Plains. I’m bored. I wonder if Silvertide plays darts. Maybe I should —

No. I have a duty. I don’t like those, but I’ve got proof that Vermil isn’t dead. He’d probably be pissed at me if I failed his little brats, so I’ve got to make sure they actually perform well on this exam. I want to play darts again. He won’t be able to play if he’s too busy with remedial training.

Jalen aggressively cleared his throat. Not a single person looked in his direction. He was pretty sure nobody had heard him. His eyes narrowed in annoyance. The one thing he was not used to was being ignored.

Power swirled within his chest and burst out from him, ripping across the grassy plains as his domain washed out over everyone. He repressed it enough to avoid doing any damage, but the sheer pressure from his runes was still enough to make everyone stagger. The only one that wasn’t forced to take a step back was Silvertide.

Jalen coughed into his fist.

“What?” Brayden asked, his hand shooting to the hilt of his sword. “Is something happening? Are we about to be under attack?”

“No.” Jalen dragged the word out, then cleared his throat. “The situation is far more dire. I am bored.”

“Did you happen to train Vermil?” Silvertide asked, tilting his head to the side.

“No,” Jalen replied. “Why?”

“Because you have striking similarities. You’re like a more irritable version of him,” the old soldier replied, his lip curling up in amusement. “But perhaps we should actually get started. Time is too valuable of a resource to waste much of it. I trust you called us here for a reason?”

“I didn’t call you here at all,” Jalen corrected. “You are correct, though. We’ve had enough fraternizing. The exam is… soon.”

Everyone stared at him.

“How soon?” Brayden asked.

Jalen cleared his throat again. This wasn’t going the way he’d wanted it to go. “Soon.”

“You don’t actually know what day the exam is, do you?” Isabel asked.

“That is hardly relevant.” Jalen glared at her.

“He was probably too busy kicking rocks and muttering about darts,” Todd said with a snicker.

Jalen’s eyes narrowed. Vermil’s students acted all too familiar with him. He was the head of the Linwick House. A Rank 6 older than the majority of their family tree. Those who knew him quaked in fear at his name, much less his presence.

The head of a house shouldn’t permit this abject lack of respect — but I’ll be damned if these brats aren’t interesting. I can’t bring myself to actually complain about them being mouthy. It’s so much more interesting than all the idiots that scrape the floor with their teeth when I walk into the room.

“I was busy gathering teachers for you, as I can’t be bothered to do everything myself,” Jalen corrected. “Perhaps we should take advantage of my hard work. I spent a great amount of effort on this, you know. You could at least be appreciative.”

“On bringing Silvertide?” Todd asked, glancing at the elderly soldier. “That couldn’t have taken much effort. He invited himself.”

Jalen sighed. “No.”

“Was the no to inviting Silvertide? Or was it to the not taking much effort part?” Todd kept a straight face, but Jalen could see he was desperately trying to avoid laughing.

“Both,” Jalen admitted with a smirk. “There aren’t many things in this world that I’m truly motivated to do. But Silvertide was not the instructor I kindly invited to assist you. That would be the woman trying to hide behind Brayden. She has kindly volunteered to assist all of you.”

“I am not trying to hide,” Bird said as everyone turned to look at her. “And I did not volunteer to do anything.”

“Then why are you here?” Emily asked.

“I blackmailed her,” Jalen said jovially. “Any further questions?”

“Yeah,” Isable said. “What did you—”

“That was a rhetorical question,” Jalen said, cutting Isabel off mid-sentence. “No more questions. I don’t care. Now, shall we get on with this? I’ll be so kind as to introduce you all. Everyone, this is Bird. Stupid name if you ask me. You can’t just choose a random noun to be your name. And Bird, this is everyone else.”

“That may be the worst introduction to someone I’ve ever gotten, and I’ve been through a lot of introductions,” Silvertide said dryly.

“Thank you,” Jalen replied without an ounce of sarcasm. “I take pride in my abilities — and Bird takes pride in her Runes. She’s a member of the King family that has very kindly volunteered to supply all of the little brats from her own supply. Isn’t that sweet?”

Four pairs of eyes snapped over to Bird. That had gotten their attention. Her face paled and she clutched the book tighter to her chest.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

“You never mentioned Vermil had this many students.”

Jalen couldn’t help but notice that Alexandra didn’t look nearly as excited about the Runes as any of the others. His head tilted to the side. She was a Rank 3, but that was no reason to give up on getting new runes.

“There are just five of them. What’s the big deal?” Jalen asked.

“I can’t take any new runes right now,” Alexandra said. “So there are only four of us.”

Does she have all seven of her runes filled in? Hm. I can’t remember if Vermil mentioned anything about her abilities or not. I wasn’t really paying all that much to anything his students did other than their formations. Maybe I should have listened closer. Oh well.

“That’s fine,” Jalen said. He flickered, teleporting behind and clapping a hand down on her shoulder. She winced in surprise and he grinned. “Take some anyway. The King family is very generous.”

“These aren’t even the King family’s runes,” Bird said, glaring at Jalen. “They’re mine!”

“Even more reason to be generous. No punishment for taking too much.”

“Why don’t you give them some yourself?” Bird demanded. “You’re the head of the Linwicks!”

“Because that’s a whole lot less amusing than making you do it. Now get on with it, unless you were planning to show them that fighting style of yours that you were practicing.”

Bird choked on her own saliva and doubled over, coughing.

“What kind of fighting style?” Alexandra asked, her interest suddenly piqued.

“Nothing that concerns you,” Bird replied, managing to get her fit under control. She clutched her grimoire to her chest like a sailor clinging to a plank of wood after a shipwreck. “It is of no matter.”

“I’d say it was rather interesting, actually.” Jalen scratched his chin. “Something you derived from Vermil’s fighting style, if those scribbles on your wall were anything to go by.”

“Vermil’s fighting style?” Silvertide’s bushy eyebrows lifted and he leaned on his staff. A flicker of regret passed through his features. “What style are you referring to? Vermil was a uniquely capable individual. Any instruction that could be passed on from him would be a fantastic resource. I didn’t realize Bird knew him that well.”

“He is a capable individual,” Isabel corrected. “He’s still alive.”

“I am not going to continue this conversation,” Bird said. She slapped a palm against the leather bindings of her grimoire. “I’ve been forced to bring you all some Runes, and that’s what I’ve done. You may each choose one.”

“Two,” Jalen said.

“Why?” Bird demanded.

“Three.”

“Oh gods — fine. Two,” Bird snapped. “Happy?”

“Two and you teach them the fighting style.” Jalen could barely hold his laughter back at the incredulous expression on Bird’s face. He flashed her a toothy grin. “Go on. Bargain more. We’ll see how many runes you’ve got in your grimoire after I’m done.”

“You can’t just blackmail me into giving all my runes away,” Bird ground out. She clenched her jaw and turned her head to meet Jalen’s gaze. “Don’t treat me like one of your subordinates, Jalen. I agreed to give some runes, but not all of them. You can’t push me into doing whatever you want.”

I can respect that. At least, I could on most days. Unfortunately, this isn’t just about me. As much fun as I’m having with this, there’s a greater purpose to it.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Jalen said. His smile slipped away and his hand tightened on Bird’s shoulder. “I am very used to getting what I want, Bird. I asked you to collect Runes because there are too many eyes on me, and pulling from the Linwick reserves would have set off the spies that I haven’t bothered rooting out of my house. These kids don’t need that attention. They can’t afford it. I don’t have any Runes they can use myself — thus, you. So either you give the kids what I am more than aware you can afford given your salary from Otto, or the Linwick family ceases all trade with him.”

Bird’s eyes widened in disbelief. “You wouldn’t. That would do significant damage to both of our families. Otto would be—”

“Furious,” Jalen finished. “Look me in the eyes, Bird. Tell me if you think I give the slightest shit about the Linwick family. It is a house of wretched cowards. The Kings are no better. I’d watch them both burn if I thought it would be amusing enough. Don’t tell me you giving away ten runes would break you. It’s a month of work at best.”

Bird clenched her jaw. Then she blew out a short, angry breath. “Fine. Two runes.”

“And the fighting style,” Isabel added. “If there’s something that Professor Vermil did that you learned, I want to know how to do it too.”

“You heard the kid,” Jalen said with an unabashed grin. “And the fighting style.”

“I am not fighting naked in front of an audience,” Bird snapped. She caught herself an instant later and cringed, but it was too late. She’d already spoken. It took every ounce of self-control that Jalen had to keep from howling with laughter.

“Ohhhh,” Todd said, his eyes lighting up in recognition. “That’s the fighting style you’re talking about? I guess we should have guessed.”

It seemed as if Bird had only heard half the words that had just come out of Todd’s mouth. Her eye twitched. “What? He showed you?”

“Oh, yeah,” Todd said with a nod. “All the time, especially in the Scorched Acres. fighting naked is a pretty good way to put it. It really did feel like that. The style was really useful. Great at making me get over my fears and trust myself more. I did almost get ripped open a few times, though.”

“He did it with you?” Bird exclaimed, pulling at her hair in distress.

It was Isabel’s turn to nod. “We all did it together. He helped at the start, but after a while he just watched.”

“Is this the technique you used back in the first exam that you told me about?” Emily asked eagerly. “I want to learn how to do that! I don’t plan to stop using a shield, but being able to fight naked would definitely help me save energy. Can you show us?”

“There’s something seriously wrong with all of you,” Bird said with a groan. “Is Vermil a plague? A curse that infects everyone he gets close to?”

“Oh, most certainly,” Jalen said through a cackle.

“Does that mean the two of you… figured out exactly how the style works?” Bird asked, a flicker of hesitation passing through her as she pointed to Isabel and Todd in turn.

“I don’t know if we’ve mastered it, but I think we got a decent understanding,” Todd said as he scratched his neck. “Nobody did it as good as Vermil.”

Bird swallowed. A second passed before she let out a defeated groan. “I can’t pass up the opportunity to learn more. I’ll show you what I’ve learned if you do the same.”

Todd and Isabel shrugged as one.

“Sure,” Isabel said. “If Vermil showed you something, then I want to learn it.”

Bird scratched the side of her neck. She glanced to Jalen. Then she sighed. “If a word of this ever leaves this field, I will make every single one of you regret it.”

“I’m not spreading Vermil’s teaching anywhere he doesn’t want me to,” Alexandra said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“Same,” Todd said.

“I wouldn’t share without his or Moxie’s permission, and James is too lazy to do anything,” Emily added. James nodded sleepily in agreement.

“Fine,” Bird said. She grabbed the hem of her shirt, her face screwed up in a grimace. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Whoa! What are you doing?” Todd asked as Isabel lifted a hand to cover his eyes.

Bird paused with the shirt up to her midriff. “Seriously? You’re going to make me explain this?”

“Maybe her shield is beneath her shirt,” Emily offered, but she didn’t sound particularly confident in her own words.

“No, I’m not wearing a shield. I was getting naked,” Bird said through a sigh. “You are making this a lot harder than it has to be.”

“Holy shit, you were being literal?” Todd asked. “Vermil didn’t actually get naked to fight. He just doesn’t use a shield.”

Bird stared at him. “What?”

“He still wore his clothes when he trained with us,” Isabel said. “And thank any god that was listening for that. He never would have beaten the allegations against him if he didn’t.”

“Are you saying Vermil fought naked in front of you?” Emily asked, her eyes narrowing. “Does Moxie know?”

“I… no, I never actually saw him fighting. I made some educated guesses to fill some things in,” Bird stammered. Her eyes darted around the clearing, then abruptly lit with understanding. “So that’s what he did.”

Ah, damn. I suppose the fun is over. I’m not sure how Vermil managed to trick her this badly, but Bird was always better at researching than thinking from what I recall Otto telling me. I suppose it’s about time to get class started properly anyway. No more jokes.

“What do you mean?” Todd asked, Isabel’s hand still over his eyes.

“He only showed you the first part of the technique,” Bird said without so much as a flicker of hesitation. “My research has deduced the next stage, but perhaps you all aren’t ready for it yet.”

Jalen was unable to hold back any longer. He doubled over and howled with laughter. Despite a bit of naivety, Bird had some pretty good observations written on her walls. Jalen was pretty certain her tutelage would actually be quite useful for the students so long as she didn’t lose her clothes in the process. That would just have to wait until he could breathe properly again.