‘A lot of people associate willow trees with new life, as a mere willow branch can be planted on the ground, and from it, a new life shall sprout.
It’s a great thought, one that springs fourth hope and love.
But do they perhaps not consider when that willow tree grows it kills all but the hardiest plants around it? In a forest, it is common for a tree to overshadow another, stunting its growth and killing it.
Ah well, living beings are like that too, even the dragons’ the principal mused.
“Happy 549th birthday, it is the eleventh day of the month of September, year 1249 of the Invictus calendar.” The principal whispered softly to himself, his voice was quiet, but it was audible within his rather empty office.
It was not that there was no one to celebrate it, it was just he did not wish to celebrate it with anyone. He had spent a hundred years of his life researching magic, and he had spent another two hundred and fifty gathering enough wealth and power to create the most prestigious academy in the world.
He was beyond the age where he needed any social company.
His life and backstory was so obscure that everyone had eventually forgotten about even his name. The world population had simply came to know him as “Principal Willow” because of his soul weapon.
He adjusted his posture, continuing on with his current objective.
While there were neither windows nor openings to the outside world within his office, he knew it was the early morning of Tuesday.
His mind was currently peering into one of the Arts class, observing a boy and a girl. One was a young human with golden eyes, while the other was a seemingly blind dark elven girl, he knew that she was anything but that.
He got reports that the two seemed to have met each other in two occasions, once at the entrance ceremony, and once at a peasant’s restaurant rather close to the academy.
‘The third elven princess, son of a wealthy merchant, heir of the de Leon duchy and the mentally-ill child of the Enriquez family… I have no clue what those four had in common.” The principal thought.
He had known about their meeting on building G, and he had tried to scry what it was all about, and he had scried what appeared to be a normal meeting, but he thought that they could’ve used some mind magic to cast an illusion instead of an anti-magic ward in order for him not to get suspicious.
So he wasted a bunch of resources and cast scrying eye at a higher level than usual. Yet, what he viewed was ultimately another normal meeting.
He held his head in mental anguish. Principal Willow did not like not knowing things. Many had tried to plot against him, and many had failed. Some had succeeded, but they realized the fleeting mortality of their lives and simply died of natural causes as Principal Willow recovered from their mortal schemes.
No matter if it was the former or the latter, he would recover in time, but his soul felt that this matter was different, that it indeed pose a threat to him.
He sighed, there was no use fretting about it.
He undid his spying, he could only form speculations as of the moment.
‘Hmm, it appears Llamiryl and Louis are publicly showing that they are on friendly terms. Are they trying to consolidate power? They could have better approached the crown prince or that commoner girl that the king still things I actually want. I did hear talk of Cale and Elizabeth’s engagement though. Ah, for a ducal house to marry one of their daughters of to a mere merchant, how far have they fallen?”
Principal Willow stood up from his seat; he walked outside the door in wide strides. He had a clear destination, and no reason to hurry.
Academy staff and students greeted him on his way out, but he saw no reason to respond, he simply walked towards the main gate of the academy.
Taking out a communication pearl, he spoke into it.
“Have a carriage ready for me by the main gate, my destination is the 94th district.”
“At once, milord.” The communication pearl responded.
“Do not address me like a noble.” He spoke sternly.
“At once, Principal Willow” The one behind the communication pearl corrected themselves.
He walked for a few minutes, and upon reaching the main gate, he already had a metal carriage that carried the emblem of Great Leyline Academy, a massive willow tree standing upon what looked like a river of mana.
He stepped into the carriage, offering no words to the driver, as he had already known Principal Willow’s destination. The horse of the carriage galloped speedily to Principal Willow’s destination. He merely closed his eyes and rested until they arrived at the 94th district.
“Sir, you have reached your destination.” The driver spoke
Upon arriving on the district somewhere near the outer edge of the city, Willow picked up his leather bagged and stepped onto the streets.
The district was one you would call slightly above average for the people of Acetia. It was busy and with a decent amount of travelers, as the district was one of the routes people took if they wished to go deeper into the capital.
Many looked at Principal Willow with eyes of reverence, none however questioned his presence.
He legally owned a property here as a private residence. Socially, this was somewhat of a vacation home for him, if you considered staying within the bounds of the city a vacation.
He walked towards the door of his private property, it was a compact house made of the usual stone material. Since Utility magic existed making structures from stone and other metals of the earth were a lot easier and readily available.
There was a comfortable feel to the house.
It had only two rooms, a ‘dining area’ and a bedroom.
Seated on the chair was a man dressed in a commoner’s garb, however Principal Willow could not mistake the man’s distinct appearance for anyone else’s
The fine brown hair and black eyes, and that cleanly shaven beard was that which tried very hard to look like a normal man, but it was all for naught because of his regal appearance.
“Your majesty, what might you be doing in my humble abode.” Principal Willow kneeled in front of the king.
The king looked around, as if appraising the house.
“Your humble abode eh? You send mages here to cast warding spells everyday, so much for a humble abode.”
“Your majesty, a proper amount of caution is necessary for these type of things.” Principal Willow answered.
“Oh really? Knowing you, you should have placed this house smack dab in the middle of an orken desert. Then that would truly be cautious.”
He shook his head.
“Too much caution arouses unnecessary attention.” Principal Willow stood up, dusting his robes which got dirty from kneeling on floor.
The king laughed.
“Alright Willow, just call me Charles, we’re good friends, aren’t we?”
Principal Willow let a ‘hmph’.
“We aren’t even the same age, drop the pretense. I know why you’re here.”
“You know I could have you executed for treason.” Charles threatened, with a scary expression on his face.
“Then what, be attacked in a war from three fronts?” Principal Willow retorted.
Charles laughed even harder.
“Relax, Willow, I took lessons from the Jester. I would never do such a thing.”
Willow walked towards a specific point within the house.
“You are one of the most intolerable of your lineage.” Principal Willow took out a piece of iron and a fist-sized mana crystal from his hand.
“Wait, bring me with you.” Charles outstretched his hand, stopping Principal Willow’s movements.
“As curious as your forefathers eh? Fine, stand where I was standing.” Principal Willow spoke, stepping to his side.
The king in disguise moved to the exact spot where Principal Willow stood. He climbed up to Charles’ back, the two looked like a father giving his daughter a piggy-back ride.
When the two people involved were the king of a great empire and the principal of a great academy, it was strangely more comical.
“Why does it have to be like this?” Charles complained.
“Teleportation would only work on this exact spot. Now stand still while I teleport the both of us, else you will have an arm missing on the way down.” Principal Willow answered.
He focused on the piece of iron within his hand, and upon a few seconds of concentration, he crushed the fist-sized mana crystal before chanting.
“ianuae magicae.” Space warped for a moment, then Principal Willow arrived at his real destination.
They arrived within a dark room, deep inside the earth, the two felt a powerful energy run through them, but they were strong enough not to die.
The darkness was lit by only a few wicks of dying candles.
“What… is this?” Charles answered.
“The death throes of a dying world, King Charles. The world you were supposed to protect. The world that would easily be saved if you were to accept the Harvester’s offer, accept the system.”
Charles deeply frowned.
“No, we will find another way. Maybe not me, maybe not my son, maybe not even my grandson. But someone of the Sanchez lineage will be able to do something about this. I don’t want to place the fate of everyone upon such a… being.”
Principal Willlow walked forwards.
“That’s the 11th time I have heard that. You came here to watch right? Then shut up and watch.”
Charles nodded, the two kept walking forwards, following the faint path of candles laid before them.
A structure formed near the core of the planet, of which the inside is no more hotter than an autumn breeze. Such a structure, should never exist within this world, not without intervention from an outsider.
Eventually, the two reached an area illuminated by candles, it was strange. The walls, floor and ceiling of the room seemed to absorb all light.
All the two could see, was a magical heptagram, with six mages on all the corners but one. Each of the mages held something that couldn’t exactly be called a mana crystal. It was too concentrated to be one.
Within the heptagram, were a hundred and seven men and women; all appeared to be lifeless, they all had black pearls around their necks. They were all criminals who committed the worse crimes in the kingdom. This would be their penance.
“I see you six have done it correctly, very well, after this ritual, you earn your freedom.” Principal Willow spoke.
The six mages looked visibly happy, and were eager to start the ritual.
Charles remained unmoving; he would not talk until after the ritual.
Principal Willow took the last remaining corner, along with one of the unknown crystals, this one was bigger than the rest.
“When I end my chanting, you must all be at the middle of the heptagram and shatter your respective crystals at the exact same time, do I make myself clear?”
“Crystal.” The other 6 mages nodded.
Principal Willow put his foot on the heptagram.
“Willow’s longevity.”
The heptagram glowed.
“Upon a fleeting day of September,
A boy laid upon the canopy of a willow;
He looked towards the fields; o’er yonder.
That time of autumn, o’ so mellow…
And on that day of harvest,
He took from the willow, a single branch;
The leaves spun around, like a crest,
‘Remember, a field of flowers near a ranch?’
The boy loved the beauty of the field;
The beauty of the roses and daisies,
and so within his mind, an inquiry yield:
‘Why not plant a willow upon the priaries?’
But upon the growth of the weeping willow
The flowers wilted, their beauty denied;
The boy cried, with merely a bed of grass as a pillow.
‘O’ why, o’ why, must have these buds wilted and died!’”
The mages slowly approached their final positions, as Principal Willow chanted the final verse.
“The boy grew old, he was now of age
His loved ones, all gone; a pill hard to swallow,
He stood at the prairie, an ugly page;
'Oh how beautiful! The weeping willow!’”
Everyone reached their assigned points near the middle of the heptagram stepping in at the same time with their left foot.
They all crushed their crystals, and the glow of the circle turned pitch black.
The pearls of tears that the victims of the ritual possessed immediately shattered. Their body turned into dust, as if they never existed.
The mages also lay on the ground, lifeless; their face did not even have time to show a sign of having been betrayed.
In the end, only one still stood: Principal Willow.
“Ah, a hundred and fourteen years of life, how invigorating!”
Charles stood aghast; utterly shocked at what happened.
“You- you foul villain!” He brought out his soul weapon, the only hereditary one in existence. A golden hammer, which bore the moniker ‘hammer of justice’.
“You grow stronger the higher the danger to the world is, killing a bunch of heartless criminals won’t make your hammer any more effective against me. Not unless I attack you. Ending the Sanchez lineage would definitely endanger the world. But as of now-“Principal Willow stood, high and mighty.
The embers of the candles floated around him like fluttering leaves.
“You can’t defeat me.”
Charles withdrew his soul weapon; he felt completely and utterly defeated by Principal Willow.
“Don’t feel bad! See, that man murdered an entire peasant family over a grudge.” He pointed to a spot where a helpless man once laid.
“That girl, she seduced and manipulated a baron, causing their house to fall from the inside.” He pointed to another spot, where a helpless woman once laid.
“That mage, he used mind magic to fool a member of the royal court; treason! A transgression against you, your majesty.” He pointed to a man who once stood at the corner of the heptagram, a betrayed man whose freedom was dangled in front of him.
The king clenched his fist.
“Do they deserve to have their souls sucked out and turned into energy! Do you think you are heroic!?” He yelled.
Principal Willow shook his head.
“You misunderstand, young king. This explanation is for you, not me. I have taken over a thousand lives with this method. Not once was I doing this out of a sense of justice, duty, mayhaps. I did reach an epiphany, however, as to why the Sanchez lineage is cursed to die so young…”
A slight smile appeared on his face.
“You see, you either die a naïve hero, or you live long enough for the world to see you as a villain.”
King Charles trembled.
“I should have never come here, Willow, let us go.’
“Very well, your majesty.” Principal Willow complied, not caring about the king’s mental state.
I like this side of Willow. Nice way to introduce him too. Any chance of our morally ambiguous OP Xianxia MC joining him?
That's a bit of a spoiler territory but as of now they aren't exactly against each other, just very cautious of each other.