A large and slightly chubby man with broad shoulders approached with a steady gait. His face was grizzled and scarred with a large bushy beard complimented by a wild untamed mane of hair peppered with gray amidst the dark brown.

 

Leader of the practical combat section of the Battle Department, Professor Cadmar. Talin had him for Basic Fitness and knew about the professor from his cousin. He was a Commander in the Ilios Army who made his name in the skirmishes near the southern Fengari border 20 years ago. He joined the academy a few years after the Dusk Accords brought peace to the North.

 

With his experience he was qualified to lead the strategy department that taught students aiming to enter the military as officers, but declined when the Battle Department head, Wilmina Frost, offered him the position, stating that he didn’t want to teach others they how to send soldiers to die, he would rather teach students how to survive.

 

When he appeared, whether it was Richard or Professor Mordheart, they both turned a little pale. Things had officially gotten out of hand.

"Professor Cadmar." Talin greeted politely, gesturing again.

 

A kindly smile appeared on the barbarian-like visage. "Talin, did I just hear correctly? They actually used drowning torture against a fellow student?"

 

"Yes sir."

 

Suddenly the kindly smile disappeared like dust in the wind and the professor’s face became terrifying. He first glared at Richard and his goons causing them to shrink back before swiveling on Mordheart.

 

"Very good. Mordheart, you actually supported the criminal to accuse the victim."

 

Mordheart was nervous but didn't completely give in. '`What 'support the criminal to accuse the victim?' I haven't finished investigating yet. I only just heard his side of the story."

 

"Is that so? Are you a shaman or not?"

 

Hearing this Mordheart scowled and made a bitter face, but knew he could not back off now. "I know what you are trying to say, but I still could not be sure of who was telling the truth. Richard had several eyewitnesses backing him up"

 

Cadmar sneered openly. "So you mean to say that a great teacher like yourself, a fifth stage Shaman, was tricked by an 11 year old student. Even the youngest student here knows that’s a pile of dracneir scat. Or do you mean to tell me that your soul sense is too weak to even see through kids four stages beneath you?"

 

Talin had heard that some shamans had the ability to tell if a person was lying or not, but he was not sure how difficult it was. It had not been covered in any of his classes yet.

 

Cadmar continued, “ Correct me if I am wrong, but isn’t teaching advanced uses of soul sense your specialty?”

It was obvious that Cadmar was laying out the situation so that everyone crowded around could fully understand what had happened. Mordheart's reputation would plummet even more after this even if he managed to keep his position. Mordheart glared daggers at Cadmar for a moment before finally lowering his head.

 

"Forgive me for missing this, I had not even thought of using my soul sense on a student." Better to appear incompetant than malicious. Richard may manage to avoid getting expelled because of his father's influence, but Mordheart didn't have anyone to back him like that.

Cadmar humphed skeptically. He obviously did not believe a word of it. "I recommend you go and cultivate harder then so this doesn't happen again."

 

Mordheart nodded acceptingly as if acknowledging Cadmar's advice. "Yes, I will. I will be leaving things here in your capable hands then."

Then, without pausing, he turned and left. Cadmar watched his departure silently. Richard stepped forward as if to try stopping him, but withered under Cadmar's glare. All the blood seemed drained from Richard's face already, his bottom lip shook as he stared at the ground. His scheme had fallen to pieces right as he was about to succeed.

 

"Professor Cadmar, I-" He tried to speak.

 

"You can save whatever it is you want to say. You went too far this time Richard. I will be handling your punishment, and not even your father can save you this time, unless he wants to pull you from the school"

 

Richard shivered. In some ways he might be lucky. Cadmar was known to dislike expelling students. Every person he had caught previously was given a hell-like military training. Cadmar had voiced that it was better than sending them back home where they had a free rein to continue causing trouble. The headmaster let Cadmar get away with it so it was obvious he silently approved.

 

Cadmar had Richard and the other boys stand against the wall near the entrance to the courtyard before shooing away the crowd and walking in with Talin. He wanted more information about who else was involved at the lake and what exactly they had done. Talin gave him all the information he requested. After they finished, Cadmar said a few encouraging words to Talin before preparing to leave, but as he did, Talin could not help voicing a concern of his.

 

"Professor Cadmar, Professor Mordheart would not come back to cause trouble for me over today would he?"

 

Cadmar made an angry face again. "That bastard! If it wasn’t for him having the support of that old crone Tabetha, I would have stomped him into the ground and kicked him out of the academy earlier. You don't have to worry though, even if he has thoughts of revenge they should be focused on me, and he is too much of a coward to act on them. You will have to watch out for Richard though. "

 

"Spoiled little cretin that he is, he probably never had a setback like this in his life. He won't dare to be so brazen again with me around, but I know his kind. He will learn from this and either make trouble in an open and aboveboard way that he can justify or he will try something in the dark. Based on his personality, I would say the former but it would not hurt to be more careful."

 

"Thank you, professor." Talin spoke this from the bottom of his heart. If Cadmar had not shown up when he did, well it would not be hard for them to figure out that he had given the grass to his cousin to have it made into a pill when they could not find it on his person. The pill might have gotten confiscated to compensate Richard then. It would be hard then for his cousin to make him another one before finals week without more ingredients, and his path as a student would have been cut off.

 

"Think nothing of it, Talin" Cadmar looked thoughtful for a moment then decided to explain. "The school values impartiality when dealing with student affairs because this is what has helped us survive for almost 800 years, longer than the Ilios Kingdom has even existed. Do you know why?"

 

Talin paused thoughtfully for a moment before answering, "No sir."

 

"It is rather simple really. A person who was born in a high position and was spoiled his entire life like Richard, if he did something, whether it was right or wrong, and you supported him, do you think he would appreciate it? Probably not. After all he has been treated like that his entire life. It is only natural that you do the same. At most, if he comes into power one day he might grant a small favor but that would be it."

 

"However, change that to a poor student instead. If you take the risk to protect him from a student with a big background, how will he feel? Will he be grateful? Of course! He may be weak now, but isn't the point of cultivation to let the weak become strong? He has slower start because of background and resources, but which student here is not a genius? Even one that seems less talented in the beginning can still reach great heights. There are many examples of this happening throughout the school's history." He gave Talin a meaningful look here.

 

"Anyways, I'm off now. Cultivate hard so that one day, if this academy gets in hot water, I can throw out your big name and frighten the enemy to death. Haha!"

 

Cadmar walked off as Talin gave an awkward smile at his joke.