47 The Elders

As they entered through the doors, the group was greeted by the majestic view of the splendor of the room. The windows were huge, and there was a huge door at the other side of the room.

However, the door that they had entered, although quite splendid in itself, was really plain compared to the majestic doors. It could be seen that they wanted to remind them of their lower status.

And the floor inside the room were splendidly carpeted with a splendid carpet. Anyone else would have been hesitating to step on it, just because of its splendor, but Foo and company were just marching forward.

Before the majestic doors, there were a couple of chairs. No, because of their splendor and majesty, they could only be described as thrones.

One huge empty throne in the middle, and two slightly smaller occupied ones at the sides of it. And further to both sides were even smaller ones, although the right ones were empty.

Although the word "smaller" was used, it was wrong to assume that they were unremarkable. The splendor of the room was way beyond description, even the smaller thrones were way beyond what any monarch would dare to sit at.

And the thrones were placed on a half circle podium, as if to further elevate the status of the ones sitting in them.

The splendor in the room was almost poking the group's eyes out. The ones who designed this room were definitely compensating for something...

Although the majesty of the room made most in the group feel apprehensive, for Foo it was just a bad taste in decorations. What kind of marvelous designs had he not seen in the other world?

Refusing to acknowledge the bad taste of the room, Foo then arrived in the center of the room, with the group standing slightly behind him.

The arrival had not alerted the elders seated in the thrones, and they were now busily yelling one louder than another. The ruckus was too loud and mixed for anyone to actually hear anything, even the intended recipients.

In fact, it did not seem like anything remotely similar to a scholarly discussion. Everyone where just trying to shout louder than the other, with spittle flying everywhere and the clothes being disheveled from the energic arguments. Arms wifting around like crazy, in an attempt to give more logic to their statements, or something...

The sole, warrior-like, person sitting alone at the right throne was smiling wryly at the scene playing out before him. The wizard-like men had completely lost all decorum, and he was glad that his section did not have that problem.

The scene had reaffirmed his view that the warriors were more elegant and refined than the rowdy wizards. People who said that the warriors were rowdy brutes with no elegance, to then praise the schoolary refinement of the wizards, had clearly not seen the scene before him.

When he was dodging another shower of spittle, he happened to see that there was a crowd in the center of the room, currently watching the scene with fascination and disbelief.

Stunned that they had arrived so stealthily, he then realized that he had been too distracted by the fight amongst the wizards and the loud noise that he had not noticed anything.

When he had recovered from his stupor, he coughed loudly, with pressure that broke through the noise in the room.

Upon hearing the cough, the wizards were startled, and quickly turned to direct aggressive stares at lone warrior. However, before they had the time to bite his head off, he nodded towards the group that had arrived.

The gazes of the men then turned towards the center of the room, and upon seeing the group there, they were stunned.

But quickly, in a flash, they were suddenly sitting straight in their thrones, with the clothes exemplary neat, the hair and beards now perfectly groomed. Suddenly they gave off an air of refinement and elegance, as if the earlier scene was only an illusion.

The group then gasped in surprise. What was the epitome of magic? Well, they had no idea, but this change must certainly belong amongst them!

The wizard on the larger throne then coughed lightly and was artfully pretending as if the earlier scene did not happen at all. The skill he used was even able to be compared to Foo's skill in ignoring a past event, which speaks a lot of the impressiveness.

With the aura of a kind and wise grandfather, that could even cover up his slightly creepy appearance, the man then spoke, "Ah, greetings! We have called for this meeting to address the new circumstances that have arisen."

Carefully gazing at Foo, he then continued, "As we all know, Foo here have arisen to the position of the section head of the—"

But suddenly he was interrupted by another wizard, "I vehemently object! Even as the section head, you should not have the right to arbitrary accept someone magically inept to be the section head of the `Magical Warriors`! It is clearly dishonoring the wizard section! If my sources are correct, he should have passed by using a trash spirit and warrior skills! There is no way that we can accept someone like that!"

"That is right!"

"How could we accept that?"

"I have long said that the section head is trying to sabotage us! This is clear proof!"

"Don't come up with such baseless accusations! But I agree that this is unacceptable! Section head, please enlighten us of your thoughts!"

The general opinion seemed to be that of disapproval, and was most likely the cause of the heated... discussion... earlier.

However, when the section head heard someone referring to a trash spirit, his expression turned awful, and he furiously roared, "SILENCE!"

After a light cough to gather his composure again, and to ease his expression, he said, "As the head of the section, it is my right to do this decision. If you disagree you have the right to vote for my resignation, but not to interfere with my decisions."

Glaring sternly at the others, who were startled by his slightly evil look.

"Of course I have my reasons to make the decision." However, he could obviously not disclose the truth. But as someone in his position, he had obviously lots of experience of playing the other elders. As such he quickly came up with some random explanation.

"As you all know, the third section have turned into a slum. Such a disgrace for our prestigious academy. We need someone to clean it up. However, we cannot just kick them out as the magnamious elders that we are, else they would be long gone."

Looking around to make sure that the others were listening, he continued, "As such why not assign someone the role of managing the section, and let him make it presentable?"

As sly and cunning as the others where, they instantly realized what he was trying to say. They could obviously not kick the rubbish out of the academy, as that would disgrace their position as elders, and also possibly break the rules of the academy.

The only trick they could employ was to make the life in the academy for the trash unbearable. It was one reason to the appearance of the slum. But the students were more desperate than they had expected. No matter how bad they made it for them, they still strived on to learn anything to elevate their status.

And they could not make it too bad, as their reputation would surely be affected. But what if they appointed some inexperienced marionette? They could put pressure on him to `clean up` the slum. And then he could either somehow kick out the trash, or struggle with attempts to increase their talents to an acceptable standard. A task that was completely impossible, even if they were to try it personally.

Even if he did not explicitly kick them out, the pressure that they would put on him would make him treat the trash so bad in his attempt to force them to get better that they would definitely want to quit.

And when they had gotten rid of the trash, they could use the action of chasing away the students as an excuse to remove him from his position.

Everyone knew that he had everything but cheated to get past the examination. As such his standing would theoretically be below that of a normal student. It was the perfect pawn to play.

He had somehow even conspired with the warrior examiner to get a free pass for that examination. Everything about that was suspicious, their sources were clear of that. As such the warrior side must also not think too much about him.

In fact, they might have similar thoughts to them. And if they reached out for the first real collaboration in ages, they were likely to accept.

The other party must surely have other intents in accepting Foo, but how could they measure to the wizards in a bout of intellect?

There were also other benefits of assigning a section head. There were lots of areas that could only be looted... err... taken care of in the interest of the academy, when all three section heads agreed. In the past years they could only watch while salivating, but now they could start to compete with the warriors about getting the resources.

If they could think of so many benefits, then the section head, which they all agreed, even if some were doing it grumpily, was the best at scheming of them all, would definitely have a way more elaborate plan that would rise their status way above the warriors, once and for all.

As such, all wizards were agreeing to the decision, and they were all turning their gentlest smiles towards Foo. The smiles had such a brilliance that the group behind Foo had shivers down their spines.

The group, who had not even woken from the shock that Foo seemed to now be a section head, were all having the same thought, ``They are definitely not up to anything good! We better escape when we still can!``

However, how could they leave Foo behind? Yes, it was definitely the comradery with Foo that made them stay. Not the fact that they were too scared that they might be noticed if they moved, and thus included into whatever nefarious plan that the elders had. Not at all. This was pure comradery.