Chapter 376 – Plots
“This is preposterous!” Headmaster Sorin shouted as he threw his tablet across the room. “No one could have found and tamed a labyrinth in just a few months. It has to be a lie.”
“It would be quite the foolish lie. Very easy to see through. If no one ever gets to actually go into the labyrinth, then it would be clear she doesn’t have one,” Headmaster Colon remarked calmly.
“From what I understand, Mage Harris and the representative from the Protectorate have both accepted the claim as true,” Headmaster Bianco replied.
The three headmasters of the three magic academies were meeting secretly since most of what they had to say about Mage Teft was not for the rest of the S Rank Assembly to hear. Their respective families had controlled the three magic academies for quite a few years and the idea that Helga Teft, a common born Water mage with low talent, had actually established a new White Zone and magic academy was repugnant to them.
They could not let this stand. If Mage Teft was successful, it would create a crack in the system they had created and relied on for power for generations. If they did not find a way to put a stop to Mage Teft and her new magic school then there was a good chance their way of life was going to irreparably change.
“Even if she does have a labyrinth, it should take months, YEARS to build a city that could be called a White Zone,” Headmaster Sorin emphasized. “Where did the money come from? Where did she find workers? Who did the designing?”
“We don’t know,” Headmaster Bianco said. “But if they are advertising a ready built city to move your family into, it is entirely possible that she has been working on this plan for a long while.”
“Maybe Mirian knows something. Her grandson was the one that was supposed to control Helga all those years ago,” Headmaster Colon suggested.
“You think Helga started this plan during her self-imposed exile?”
“It would make sense,” Headmaster Colon continued. “Building a whole city from scratch is not a short-term project. For all those years, she had to be somewhere. What if she found a community of exiles out in the wilds and that is where she is now building her White Zone.”
“An interesting notion,” Headmaster Bianco said. “But would Mage Harris and the Protectorate endorse such an arrangement?”
“Mage Harris may not know. He has been rather deferential to this Mage Thresbane since his appearance. Maybe this is actually the secret to the Protectorate.”
“What?” Both Headmaster Sorin and Bianco asked in response to Headmaster Colon’s assertion.
“Think about it for a moment. The Protectorate has been said to always exist, but they have been shrouded in myths and legends for tens of thousands of years. As far as I know, until now, no one living has encountered them. If it weren’t for him being as powerful as he is, I would challenge his claim to be from the Protectorate. Perhaps this new White Zone is just where the Protectorate have been hiding themselves.”
“When he appeared in the Assembly he was clearly stronger than Mage Harris and the reports from Mage Wells’ hearing claim he is a SS Rank. I don’t know about that, but if Mage Thresbane is stronger than Mage Harris, he is beyond our reach,” Mage Bianco said.
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“That isn’t the point. We don’t need to be stronger. This is no longer about strength, after all, I have it on good authority that Ingrid has taken her entire household to the new city, this is about popularity,” Mage Colon told them.
“Popularity?” questioned Headmaster Sorin.
“Yes. After what Teft exposed last year, two very highly talented and prized noble heirs trying to murder a more talented common born mage, we are quickly losing the confidence of the populace. Nearly all commoners doubt our goodwill towards them, and even lesser noble houses are beginning to question us. How long do you think it will take before they decide Mage Teft’s new city, Atlantis, is a better place to grow? How long do you think it will be before they decide to send their children to this new school?”
“The school is a joke. They are saying they won’t even begin teaching spells until after a student’s eighteenth birthday. The young aren’t that patient. They will be begging their parents to let them come to our schools so they can graduate by eighteen and be ready to start their lives as adventurers or whatever,” Headmaster Sorin dismissed.
“I would not be too quick to discount their method,” Mage Colon warned.
“Why is that?” Headmaster Bianco was curious, but Headmaster Sorin had turned his head, clearly not interested.
“Because Mage Teft is following the same methodology as when she trained Mage Wells.”
“What do you mean?” Headmaster Sorin asked, suddenly interested.
“Normal school with physical training and instruction on how to manipulate mana and draw it in, but no actual spellcasting until eighteen. Isn’t that exactly how Mage Wells was raised? What if Mage Wells is not as unique as we thought? What if…”
“What if he is just a product of how the Protectorate has been training their children for generations?” Headmaster Sorin cut in. “If this is true then Mage Wells was all just for show. He was only meant to show the commoners that it was possible.”
“I don’t know,” Headmaster Bianco said, doubt filling his mind. “Mage Wells’ history is not full of holes. I investigated him quite thoroughly before sending Tricia to try and recruit him. Even after he went to Silver Spire I continued to look into him, hoping to find a hook to lure him to my Erythraean Academy. I never found anything unusual about him or his family.”
“Nothing about him needed to be unusual,” Headmaster Sorin countered. “That would be the point. He comes from a completely ordinary family but has S+ magic talent and affinity. By using a completely ordinary kid she is showing how effective her method of training is.”
“You are saying Mage Teft planned this out over decades. I find this hard to swallow,” Headmaster Bianco said.
“But she is capable of it. Look at how she handled Richard Thorn,” Headmaster Sorin’s eyes were wide, and his voice was becoming increasingly hysteric. It was clear to Bianco and Colon that Sorin believed what he was asserting, and he was desperate for them to believe him too.
“As possible as your theory is, it is just as likely that everything boils down to coincidence,” Headmaster Colon told Headmaster Sorin calmly.
“That is not what you were saying just a moment ago!”
“I know. But all we have are theories and there is no point in driving ourselves mad trying to determine which theory is true.”
“Then what should we do?” Headmaster Bianco cut in.
“We should focus on discrediting Teft. Focus on her actions, how she killed two young promising mages…”
“She was exonerated of those charges!” Headmaster Sorin roared.
“She was found to have acted according to the law,” Headmaster Colon pointed out. “While her actions may have been just, we simply need to point out they were excessive. Other solutions existed. If we point this out and suggest anyone living in her city of Atlantis will face the same type of justice, I think we will quickly temper anyone wanting to move there.”
Headmaster Sorin and Headmaster Bianco nodded in agreement with Headmaster Colon’s plan. However, just dissuading some would not be enough. As time passed and people were not summarily executed for minor crimes, their word would mean less and less in the face of Mage Teft’s track record.
“We also need to send our own people. Somehow get them into her city. So, they can cause problems. Only if things don’t go smoothly for her will we be able to cement the idea that Teft is not to be trusted with power,” Headmaster Bianco offered.