Entertaining Guests

Aayla and the professors stood along the hilltop edge. She gave them a rough summary of what happened on the way up. After she pointed out the rough location of the camp, the Nafriton professor disappeared in the blink of an eye. The Olafssey and CNU professors quickly left to investigate the source of the avalanche.

An accident like this shouldn't have happened. All of the main camp areas were chosen for their relative safety. If anything, a major problem at a campsite should be a test from the professors. Only the Tigurum professor was left.

"I need to do some repairs on my own campsite. Will you stay here sir?"

"Your own campsite? So, you didn't set up your own tent with the others?"

"Nope. I didn't really like where the Nafriton team set up theirs."

"Why?"

The Tigurum professor followed Aayla back to her own campsite. Aayla went over what happened in more detail. The professor was particularly interested in the strange pieces of evidence that she found at the main camp that caused her to move.

"In short, you found evidence of flooding in the area and assumed that the Nafriton team was prepared since their seniors told them about that specific location. Why didn't you stay with them though?"

"I didn't stay because I'd rather not take the risk that the Nafriton team couldn't handle the flooding. Also, Deputy Heston told me to keep my distance and interfere as little as possible."

"Your job is to help them evaluate any ancient artifacts or ruins that they find, though. Isn't that interference?"

"That's not improper interference. Any team can come find me if they need something. Deputy Heston declared that publicly."

The professor thought for a few moments then agreed. He cut his questioning short and calmly waited for the other professors. The abruptness of his silence caught her off guard. Ignoring her worry, Aayla checked on her campsite. The ward stones were fine, but the snow cave had started to collapse.

Aayla was forced to rebuild. After tearing it down, she piled more snow on top. She reinforced the new walls by freezing them with some of the left-over ice element mana. After the mana was gone, the ice stayed frozen thanks to the cold.

She really wanted to experiment with the New Moon Bracelet. One of the gems had turned a light blue. It seemed to like the ice element mana very much, but with a professor outside Aayla couldn't do any serious tests openly.

Several new voices echoed from outside the snow cave. The other professors had returned. Aayla pushed the remaining snow out through the door and crawled out.

"Who told them to blindly listen to their seniors? Things change from year to year. It seems that Nafriton's teachings are sorely lacking if their students are this overconfident."

"How on Tellus could they defend against an avalanche of that scale? Especially when they were clearly prepared for the river to flood. The physical and magical barriers were properly set up."

"That's enough you two! Since they're fine, we can just leave them there until they dig themselves out. Let's treat this as our first test for them."

"Agreed. Even if the camping area is supposed to be safe, they still need to check their surroundings. Ms. Glowery avoided the entire mess, didn't she?"

The other professors nodded in unison, though the atmosphere was a bit tense. The Nafriton and CNU professors glared at each other. Aayla put on her polite smile again.

"Welcome back professors. Is everything alright?"

"Yes. The Nafriton team is buried underneath the snow. They should cold, but fine. Just let them dig themselves out. You can help them out if they need medical treatment, though."

"What could a first-year with her magical talent do? Fortunately, the actual team didn't slack off setting up the defensive formations like they did in selecting their campsite. Though I'm surprised that Nafriton can still teach moderately advanced skills like that, since clearly the students don't know common sense," the CNU professor sneered.

The Nafriton professor's eye twitched as she held herself back yelling at this idiot. One must always stay composed in front of students. Aayla slightly frowned and cautiously took a half step back. She could feel the sparks start to fly. Literally. Her hair started to stand due to static electricity.

"I wonder why CNU's students are so boorish and ill prepared this year. The CNU team wasted all that money on expensive things yet they were still such a disorganized, dirty mess. Does money grow on the trees around CNU? Though you would do better with a cure for stupidity. Maybe you could buy that?"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

"STOP! Both of you!" The Olafssey professor nodded his head towards Aayla as if to remind them that a student was present. "My colleague from Tigurum mentioned that your tent got shredded and blown away. Is this it?"

With a wave of his hand, a broken tent materialized in the snow. Aayla looked through the shredded fabric and bent tent poles. She nodded. This should be what was left of her tent.

"It is. Thank you, sir. May I ask how far the damage spread? I was expecting a visit from you all much earlier."

The face of the Tigurum professor darkened while the CNU professor once again looked smug. The Tigurum professor glared at him.

"Why are you looking so smug when your own team's such a mess?"

The Nafriton professor smirked with glee. The Olafssey professor cut off the CNU professor before he could respond.

"There were some incidents last night in Tigurum and Olafssey's camping areas last night. Tigurum was hit hard, but Olafssey avoided the calamity. Their camping area was the farthest out this time, so they decided to stay somewhere else then head to their camping area this morning."

"Indeed, something strange happened last night. Maybe we should let the Tigurum team camp here with the Nafriton team?"

Aayla's eyes widened in surprise. The other professors were shocked as well. Why would Tigurum want to camp in the same area as Nafriton? The Nafriton professor was especially shocked and suspicious.

"Having two teams so close could cause unnecessary conflict –"

"It's fine, isn't it? I would prefer to have a medic, no matter how skilled, closer to my university's students after last night. Ms. Glowery must have some skill since you're letting her treat your university's students, right?

"Besides, it's already unfair to have Deputy Heston's field agent camp so close to Nafriton's camp. Since strange accidents happened to both teams, keeping them together can improve their safety."

The Nafriton professor shut her mouth. The Olaffsey professor seemed to have a look of realization, while the CNU professor sniffed in disdain. The Nafriton professor had heard about Aayla keeping the serious burn victim alive before she fought Lysander Foryl. However, that information had yet to spread abroad.

The Tigurum and Olaffsey professors were suspicious. Vague rumors had spread among the top universities about Ramona Heston's goddaughter. Like the rumors said, Aayla Glowery rarely used mana, and her current magical skill wasn't enough to get into Nafriton for a magic oriented major.

This rumored goddaughter was personally brought over by Deputy Heston. Instead of keeping her around the other professors to brag, Ramona sent her into the wilderness with the Nafriton team. Each visit to a team could only last for so long. In other words, there was no opportunity to directly confirm her abilities themselves.

The Olafssey professor's eyes narrowed. His intuition told him that Nafriton was hiding something. That old fox at Nafriton had been strangely quiet lately despite the recent scandals. Tigurum must be aiming to indirectly confirm various rumors about Nafriton revamping its curriculum and why the latest scandal calmed down as fast as it did.

Tigurum had been competing with Nafriton for centuries for the position as the best university on Tellus. Nafriton lost that position due to a certain wonderfully foolish former headmaster and a lack of non-magical curriculum. The current Nafriton headmaster was exceptional. There was no way that he wasn't planning a comeback.

With the way that the Tigurum professor was smiling, Aayla had a strong feeling that she couldn't say no. When she glanced at the Nafriton professor, she barely nodded her head.

"Well, I just know a bit of non-magical emergency first aid. I don't mind if another team stays nearby as long as they provide for themselves and don't cause trouble. Oh, and most importantly Deputy Heston needs to approve."

"That's fine."

"In that case, I'll request for the Olafssey team to join as well. After all, they nearly had an accident as well. With all of the unrest in Chinbar right now, it's best to be more cautious."

Aayla and the Nafriton professor blankly stared at the shameless professor who also insisted on his team moving. The Tigurum professor scowled. As expected, Olafssey is not to be underestimated. Unlike a certain other university.

At that moment, a hand burst out of the snow in valley below.