“So, if the other city counsellors have to be elected, but the seats for the academic deans are not,” Yuriko said as they climbed towards the cable carriage. “Would that not skew the weight of power towards the academies?”

Blanca grinned. “Yes.”

Yuriko hummed. “Ah.”

Giggling, Blanca added, “It’s not that simple, though. Bresia Republic’s history is quite speckled. The original reason the nation came together was two-fold. The Shattered Realm, and mutual defence.”

Yuriko nodded. She had struggled through the history books. Even if the process had been painstaking, and even though she expected fascinating details…the first book she read put her to sleep even before she reached her ten-minute reading limit. Yup. It had taken weeks to read the first book, and the details were slightly fuzzy in her head. Her ability to memorize had risen with her ascension to Transformation, and the process of holding Damien’s memories had taught her how to do the same with her own memories. So even though it took a few inches worth of Anima reach, certain memories, images, and texts, were now preserved immaculately as long as she continued to bear their weight. However, that didn’t mean all of it was readily accessible to her mind.

“Each councillor holds different responsibilities, duties, and privileges,” Blanca continued. “The academic deans may hold office as long as they are the deans, but the moment they are relieved, they also lose the council’s seat.”

“Oh, and how does turnover happen?” Yuriko asked.

“Retirement, deposition, or when a call for a new dean is made,” Blanca shrugged. “The challenge can happen anytime, not just every six years. So as long as the dean is effective in his or her duties, they are unlikely to be deposed, but as soon as any whiff of incompetence is detected…”

“A challenge can be made,” Yuriko nodded.

“Indeed,” Blanca smiled. “Only professors, tenured or otherwise, as well as administrative staff of a certain level in the organisation can make the challenge.”

“Oh?” Yuriko blinked. But she got her position so easily…

“Yes. Your title and the honour you declined is that important.”

“Should your country really give that much power to a foreigner?” Yuriko asked.

“Why? Are you planning to become the dean?” Blanca asked with a smirk. “You’d have to get the support of all the professors and upper management.”

Yuriko shook her head wordlessly. It would be easy, actually, if she used her Mien. Not that she wanted to. Nope.

The cable carriage arrived at the bottom station and the two of them got in. A few minutes later, the carriage left the station and they were the only passengers. Honestly, it would have been faster to fly, but Yuriko wasn’t in any particular hurry and Blanca didn’t suggest anything either. The Khuni woman gazed out into the distance with a distracted look while Yuriko sank into a light meditative trance.

Her Anima reach had grown a bit above average to two hundred and ten paces. Well, she could only use a hundred and sixty paces of reach since the rest were used to contain Damien’s memories and her own memory palace. She could also control just a few more sunblades without strain, at around six hundred and ten currently. Even now, she had all of them out, and more than half were hidden underneath her clothes, miniaturised to be no larger than a needle. The other three hundred and ten were spread underground, ready to emerge should any trouble arise. She hadn’t expanded her maximum sunblades much since she hadn’t trained for it.

One would think that the hundreds of sunblades would have been painfully obvious to the residents, or the teachers, but her control over the Animus constructs was that no amount of heat transferred from the blade unless she let it. That had been the focus of her training lately, which she began when she accidentally destroyed a Chaos Fount. Radiating heat meant that Radiant energy leaked out from her control to wreak havoc on the environment. That would not do. She would only hurt or kill those she intended to, and not by accident.

Her light trance was simply to check up on the scattered sunblades and adjust. Ah, one of the blades had poked into a sewer line and was boiling the water. She swished the construct around and gathered the excess heat and contained it. At this point in her training, such exercises were barely noticeable, but then again, her control did slip. She pursed her lips in annoyance and tightened the reins. She didn’t move the sunblade, however, even if the imprinted Tremorsense spell on it gave her a bit too much detail on what passed through the sewers.

The sunblades were still limited to three times her Anima reach, which was currently at less than half a longstride. In absolute distance, that was small, but it covered a large part of her surroundings anyway. The Ennoia of Radiant Flying Swords made sure that the sunblades went where she wanted them to go and followed a set of directions she impressed upon them at the moment of creation, which they would follow if she didn’t focus on them. She could change the imprinted directives, but she had to spend just as much focus on creating a new one.

She wasn’t lacking in Animus or Radiant energy so she often just unravelled the blades and remade them when she wanted to change directives. The current set was simply to avoid hurting anyone or anything and to keep out of sight. And to use the imprinted spell every few minutes. Handling the feedback of three hundred Tremorsense spells did wonders for training Yuriko’s Will, though the first time she did it, she was nearly knocked unconscious.

They arrived at the fifth layer and alighted from the cable carriage. Nirian Hall was a short walk away, and as they entered the administrative building, they ran into a few other professors and staff members. The head of the Battle Magus department, Eduardo Farran’ir landed on the cobblestone path with a loud whomp. He dusted his trousers and nodded to both of them.

“Professor Davar, Secretary Ferron,” he said. “Any idea what the dean’s meeting is about?”

“Wouldn’t you know better?” Yuriko asked.

“Ah, well.” The man reddened slightly. “I was a bit busy. I didn’t even realise he was back until the Message spell hit.”

Eddie fell in beside Yuriko as the three of them made their way to the meeting hall. The Sha’ledras’ ears were droopy and his stride scuffed the marble flagstones. Yuriko could also smell a bit of alcohol on his breath.

“Day drinking?” Yuriko prodded.

“It’s Lightday,” Eddie shrugged. “What else am I to do? None of the other Battle Magi wanted to spar and you were busy on your date.”

“Hmm.” The two of them had sparred on occasion beyond the first time. Eddie Farron’ir was a competent duelist though he was still limited by his nature as a Magus. With his ears and toes capable of casting somatic components, he was faster and more versatile than any other Magi, but once she closed in on him, and stuck within a couple of paces, he was barely able to do anything to counter. After that particular spar, he begged her not to use it again unless he asked for it. Most Magi simply did not fight that close-up.

Even her favourite students, Sofia Garcia and Juliette Abad, who practised the sword, more often than not, shot elemental arcs or cast spells using the movement of their blades rather than using the weapon for its intended purpose. Most adventurers often stuck to range, too. Barrier spells were commonly used to keep foes at bay, while they rained destruction down at them. The few spells that were more effective close-up were often used to fend off an attacker.

They soon made their way to the meeting hall. Yuriko wanted to sit by a corner but Blanca and Eddie pulled her towards the front row. Soon enough, Vice-Dean Olivia Biera came into the room with a tall, muscular human who had fiery red hair, though half of it had turned grey. His presence instantly pulled everyone’s attention, and Yuriko had to fight the urge to condense her Anima and ready for a fight.

The man’s aura felt so dangerous that her sunblades quivered under her dress. The blades she had underground began to move towards her, but she hastily commanded them to stop.

Fire Elemental energy swirled violently around them, though most of it was deflected by each professor’s personal shields, but the palpable sense of danger washed through the hundred or so professors and staff. Yuriko’s perception aura was active, though she kept it from directly touching anyone. Long practice allowed her to attach other senses besides touch to the aura, though seeing through multiple points of view had been initially disorienting. She saw professors flinch, and even Blanca shuddered for a long moment. Whatever it was…domain…it split against Yuriko’s Anima and continued on uninterrupted.

The man didn’t seem to care about his domain’s effect. He was clad in long flowing robes, nearly as crimson as his hair and had brown highlights. Something moved on his shoulder, and what Yuriko thought had been a scarf turned out to be a strange snake creature whose head was more reminiscent of a toad than a serpent. It was bright red too, with a midnight black stripe down its back.

The dean arrived at the front and turned to face his audience. His bright green eyes caught hers almost immediately, and his eyebrows rose to his hairline. Yuriko nodded to him, and he cleared his throat and visibly tore his gaze away from her. Was her Mien not on Tranquility? It was. No problems there.

Dean Carlos Varro tapped the podium and spoke. His voice was deep and rumbly and imparted a resonant vibration that washed through the rest of the crowd. Tensions visibly eased, and welcoming smiles replaced frightened frowns.

“I must apologise for my long absence, but Virtalla City’s elections are just a few weeks away at the turn of the Season. That’s not the only reason for the delay of course, and most of it does not really concern Niria Academy per se. Instead, something Dean Eva Guiterrez proposed that is of much concern to us all.” His frown caused many to flinch.

“Briarwin School of the Five Elements has challenged us,” he said ponderously, “and as always, we will prove that we are the better learning institution. The challenge involves students of the upper tier, years four to six, and the subject of the challenge is the final examinations. Eva pointed out that our practice is outdated and coddling. I disagreed, of course! Tradition has its place! But she did bring up some good points. As such, we will replace the upcoming finals for the upper tiers. Instead of the standard arena matches, the finals will be held as a delve. Practice for the actual contest that will happen during the next trimester…”

“Oh no…” Blanca muttered. “Why would he force the change so close to the finals?”

Yuriko hummed. It was already the ninth week of the Season of Earth, and there were only four weeks left in the trimester. The exams will happen during the Season’s last week, so they had only a couple of weeks to arrange things properly. The dean rambled on, but Yuriko tuned him out. Well, she kept a couple of strands of consciousness focused on the man, but let the rest of her mind wander.

She agreed that the exams she witnessed last Season were a bit tame, but she wondered if bringing children to a Chaos Fount for a test was wise. Hmmm. Then again, she was only thirteen when the Wyldling Wave drove her and her friends into grave danger. That was not intentional on any of the Watchtower or militia’s part, but the danger was there anyway. Would something similar happen here?

Well, there was one big difference. She was here, and she was powerful enough to make a difference.

Somehow, that eased her conscience, but she couldn’t help but harbour a tinge of worry anyway.