2.04.2 Unexpected meeting

When it was known to the city that a marshall would be visiting it. There were a lot of murmurs. But none knew the reason why he would be coming here. They didn't know about the death of Farhad nor did they know that he was the son of a Marshall.

To most that were in the know, he was just some unlucky boy that died and nothing more.

But to others, his death was a disaster in itself.

"Arrogant," Remira said, looking at the face that resembled Farhad to a fault, with the only exception being the eyes.

She might have not seen Farhad when he was alive, but she can know that he was nothing compared to his father.

A father, ignoring the welcoming party organized by the mayor and the news reporters looking for a scoop, approached Remira and ordered.

"Take me to your Den." His voice was heavy, holding the authoritative flair to it. Which made Remira back off a bit.

But that was just her body reacting to the imposing figure of Marshall. Her words on the other hand showed none of this weakness.

"It would hurt you to be a bit polite?"

Those around her, including the mayor's associates that came to welcome him from the stations, were sweating hard when they heard these words. They feared that the Marshall might do something bad in anger.

They didn't do anything besides go silent. No one wished to intrude on this conversation, if this woman wants to die, then so be it. But they won't go in to calm the situation down. And instead, they were doing their best to not attract any attention.

Though, what these men didn't expect was a completely nominal response from the Marshall. "Sorry for before," Maisel said, shrinking his aura a bit. Before requesting Remira. "Can you take me to Maxim?"

Now it was Remira's turn to be dumbfounded. She didn't expect that Marshall would be this normal?

From what she had heard from Maxim, this man was brutal and a pain in his ass most of the time. So what might have caused such a change?

But she doesn't care about all of this. Her job was more on the field and after taking this military man to Maxim, she is going to go on a walk and enjoy it.

*****

The designation of a Marshall was a special one in the army. Higher than all the officers and directors under the general with one exception.

A marshall listens to no one besides the General of the army. Not even the Prince of this country can force him to do anything. But in return for this, the freedom that one obtains after becoming a Marshall is immense, they even had the right to use their abilities in public if they wished to.

An honor afforded to a select few.

Farhad's father was one of those Marshalls. A man of focus and commitment that sent his son as a punishment far away from his home.

And now the same son is dead.

Did he blame himself for this? Who knows?

He was a marshall and someone I can't sense the feelings of, he was strong, probably the strongest in the city of Durum at the moment.

And he was here with vengeance.

Or so, many thought about it this way. And the group from Radiance was not alone.

But to their surprise, the words that Marshall spoke were a lot more amicable.

"I will go straight to the point. Don't let my son's life go to waste."

A surprising request from the man with almond skin and gloomy countenance. He was a lot calmer than he initially appeared to be. Which was odd considering that his son died in the presence of Radiance, an organization with which he had more than a few disagreements in the past.

I might have made a small mistake. The father of the boy was a lot more cordial to the ones responsible for his death, which was a bit unexpected.

"It would be a lie to say that those words are not odd. Considering they came from your mouth." Maxim said, surprised as ever, but there was no inking of joy on his face. He was just curious as to why the sudden change in treatment?

He had expected blowback from Marshall Maisel, a suppression that would make it harder to do their job. But one of them happened much to his surprise.

And it would be a lie to say that I was not the least bit thrilled with this unexpected change in the flow.

It turned a bit harder for me. But this has its own appeal I guess.

"Magistar, we both might not agree on certain things, but that is due to my duty as this country's protector."

"And today, I am here as a father, not a marshall." He was well aware that Maxim was not the kind to kill a child, instead, Maxim was one of the very few people who he respected.

But due to his hash personality, he struggles to show it to people properly. "Even if I might be from the military, I still have some knowledge about the occult and understand what might have happened."

"So, even though I feel some anger towards my son's death, I know that you had nothing to do with it. He was weak and hence he turned into a perfect puppet."

It would seem that while the Marshall might not be in the city, he was well aware of the proceedings in the mayor's office and his eyes have done their work as well.

He was well aware that his son was manipulated and used in a trap to disturb the relationship between the two parties.

And more than that.

"Which I don't wish to. I only follow the General and I don't intend to become the sword for someone else."

There it is, the heartlessness that Maxim was used to.

He even wondered if Maisel even cared about his son's death or not. He seemed more hurt by being manipulated than the death of his son.

There was even a chance he might be cursing his son for the problem he had caused.

A problem that the poor boy was not even aware of.

"This… then I truly appreciate this," Maxim said, before giving the General the inscribed text from the wood that Remira found.

"This appeared below your son's bed in the apartment he rented with one of the runes targeting the dreams."

"This is how he might have been marked," Maxim explained, not the least bit offended when the piece of paper flew to Maisel's hand.

The real piece of wood had long been sent to the Heart of Radiance in Wortham Principality. This was just a copy.

"So someone led him there? I presume this is what you mean to say?" Farhad's father asked, his eyes curious about why Maxim would give such an important piece of information to him.

Usually, this kind of information would be hidden by other parties for fear of sabotage. But Maxim was not worried about it at the very least.

Because the man he showed this to was not just a marshall, but the father of the victim as well. And no father would wish to sabotage the people investigating their children's death.

"Of course that is. Instead of going home for vacations, the child went ahead and rented a dirty apartment and the next day, he came to me for the job. The timing seemed a bit off and too coincidental."

Maxim was on point, this was truly a bizarre series of coincidences and not to mention, all of it was a bit too perfect.

Almost as if he was being watched all the time.

Sadly, what the old man didn't know was the true extent of the fear and shame the boy felt for his failures in front of his father.

To the boy, living in a dirty apartment was a lot better than facing the disappointing gazes of his father and the cruelty he suffered from in his college.

Which made him one of the easiest individuals to influence.

"That is suspicious."

Farhad's father was not the least bit affected by these words, he never even considered why his son could be so easily led to that place. To him, he also treated it as a case of pure manipulation.

But I don't possess that level of ability. The most I could do was influence weaker-minded individuals, I can't push them to do what they would never ever consider. That's the limit of my ability.

Though a father that considers himself perfect and just an individual, this would be a hard fact to fathom.

This father might not even know how much hate his son had for him.

"His actions were known to me, he had requested the funds for that apartment from myself. But at that moment, I didn't think deeply enough and gave in to his request." Maisel recalled the phone call and how busy he was that day.

From what I recall, he accepted the request of his son without even hearing properly what his reasoning was.

"Which was odd for him, he is not the kind to ever live alone. He had never even experienced the harsh reality of the world. So living away from dorms was a clue. I should have picked up on it." Maisel said, his voice a bit low. Being aware that if he hadn't given out the funds his son might still be alive.

But that single moment of emotion stayed for only a bit before he turned to Maxim and asked. "So that was suspicious."

Then, Maxim explained. "The call came out from the Lucien Academy, am I right?"

An obvious question and Maisel nodded at this point. But then he paused. "He was targeted in the university?"

"Yes, the same university that has closed down its doors to our investigation."

Seeing that Marshall Maisel had agreed to collaborate with them in the investigations, Maxim didn't hold back and put down his request.

"We need an entrance to the university."

There was a high chance that the headmaster might have cleaned up the place where Farhad frequented regularly. Anyone would in this situation.

If something was truly found out in the academy. The name of Lucien would be sullied, and the reputation of the headmaster would be ruined along with it in the wizarding community.

There is no place for an academy that can't protect its students in the whole world. So if they were incriminated, the Lucien Academy would be ruined.

This was one of the reasons why the headmaster hated the Radiance Society so much.

But in truth, more than hate, it was fear.