Chapter 68: Pettiness

That evening Ciaran was impatiently waiting for his mother. When she finally came for their scheduled meeting, he dragged her by the arm and sat her down.

"I need information, and my mentors refused to help. Didn't want to be involved in petty childish games they said." He said and explained what had happened in the day.

Camille sighted. Not only was her boy no longer in need of therapy he was already working on his new goals. She couldn't be happier.

"Give me the list, let's see what we have here." She told him.

She went over it and frowned a little. There were twenty-two names on it, and ten of them were Mages. Screwing with them would be unwise, at least the Clades couldn't involve themselves or it would become a mess.

"You will be on your own her Rony. If we or your mentors interfere things will get out of hand. If we mess with them it may trigger a big political storm. And I hardly think it would end with just a prank if your mentors have to step in. If they use force against you, they WILL die, and there will be consequences."

The boy eyed her up. The irritation could be seen in his eyes.

"I don't want or even need you to step in. I asked for information and advice on how to get back at them. I was thinking poison, but my Master told me not to cause too big of a mess." He gritted his teeth.

The boy knew that with their limiters on, he could easily give them diarrhea or use his favorite itchy powder on them, but Eleftherios had been very adamant about not using any of that stuff, and especially stern about not showing off his space artifact.

Camille stood frozen. She thought she heard wrong or the boy misspoke.

"W-why did you call your mentor your 'Master'?"

"He made me his disciple. We are both with a Wind soul, so it works out." He said, not getting what the big deal was.

The woman was stumped. She looked more shocked than worried, which Ciaran took as a good sign.

"Mr. Eleftherios I want to talk with you after tonight's session, privately." She said, took a big breath, and let the matter go.

"Ciaran, do not target them directly. They will not hold back, even if you are a student they will retaliate, and things will go out of control. I propose you screw with their carriers instead."

"For every student that passes into a higher Year, they are rewarded credits, and they use those to get what they want from the Empire. Hit them where it hurts, in their wallet." She told him, and a cruel smile appeared on their lips.

"I get the feeling I won't be receiving any more help from you then." The boy sighed.

"No matter, I called in another guest tonight, and I feel like she would be more than happy to help me out." He said, and soon after his teacher walked in from a tunnel.

"Was it really necessary to keep her separate just so she can make a dramatic entrance?" Eleftherios asked his student.

Ciaran looked at his mentor in disgust.

"Plebeian." He said, merging with the echo of Verdania's voice. The two had been more in sync.

The dryad grumbled and walked away with his puppy, at least she wasn't rude to him.

Elizabeth walked toward them already feeling a headache coming. She knew what her student was going to ask of her, and she was ready to refuse him no matter what he offered.

"No red hair tonight Liza?" He asked, and his mother slapped him on the back of his head, telling him to be more respectful of his teacher.

Elizabeth was elated Camille was here. She thought maybe with his mother present the boy would behave himself.

"You don't get it, Mom. She promised us private lessons, and I want to build a stronger connection." He said as Ariadne appeared behind him, embracing the boy in a hug. Her eyes glowed in a feint orange light, while his projected a fighting light blue one.

The old woman was shocked, her dampener flew off her hand in a second as she showed her true form. She felt their souls and was amazed to see that they were both actually Novices.

"HOW? To reach the Novice Rank so early is virtually impossible for the two of you, at least not at once. What did that crazy forest bitch make you do?" She asked.

Elizabeth hadn't realized it yet but she was allowing more and more of her real personality to show up in front of the boy and his familiar. She was a very passionate woman, who once had little to no patience for censorship, especially when it came to the way she spoke.

Camille wasn't happy with her son's teacher freely cursing in front of him, but she stayed quiet. She wanted to see how his son would finesse his teacher into doing his bidding.

"Ask Mom. I'm already over it, but I feel like you want the story to be told with a fresh seasoning of anger. That will come later, now we talk business."

The boy gave his teacher a second to calm down and continued.

"I would like to change our agreement a little. Making friends is not going to cut it. I don't like them, and they don't like me. What I can offer you is my help in getting them to pass. You want to see more of your kids next Year right, well I am your man for the job."

"Plus, would you really allow two Novices to roam around not supervised? We both know, I would set people on fire if there is a benefit." He said, and Elizabeth barely stopped herself from mentioning his mother's alleged sex life. First, the woman was sitting right there, and second, she was innocent.

"Fine, but no magic in school." She said, and heard a cheerful "Yes Mrs. Parker."

Then the boy took the list from his mother and gave it to his teacher. This time she said a lot of things about the headmaster and seven of his most recent ancestors. She disagreed with her colleagues but giving out their information like this was more than a little unprofessional.

"Help me screw with their classes. As far as I know the higher the class the fewer homeroom teachers there are. If you don't help me I would have to harm them through their students, and we don't want the innocent children to get harmed do we?" He asked the Devil's smile on his lips.

The Grand Mage knew he was about to make her an offer, and she didn't like the fact she was feeling excited about it. She had thought her nature had died down in these peaceful years spent at the Academy, but she was a creature of chaos after all. When it came knocking she welcomed it like a long-lost friend.

"I want them all to fail Liza, all twenty-two of them gone. Let them go back to Year One. Don't you think, that teachers who don't want to actively screw students would make for better mentors? Who do you believe can help us achieve our potential better, you or them?"

Camille sighted, she was wondering what the boy would offer but this was too ambitious. If so many teachers fell off this year, the workload of the rest would increase a lot. Plus, from what she knew of Mrs. Parker, she would never agree to such a thing.

"Well, you can't make them lose students, but if their students were to request to be redistributed to another class, and the teacher of said other class was to agree, then it could work. A class needs to have at least eight students for it to exist, so if you leave them with less, they might just be out of your hair for the foreseeable future." She said.

"So, if I let the incompetent fail, not make them fail mind you, I know you would frown at those tactics, just not help them, and I was to … entice the more capable kids to just switch class, it would work out?" He asked, and she nodded.

Camille just looked at them expressionlessly. She wondered if the boy really didn't have any of Liam's blood in him. She had seen her husband offer and close the most shockingly stupefying deals, with the most unlikely of characters, and now this brat was following in his footsteps.

'Great, I am spending more time with him, and he still takes after his dad more.' She pouted. One of her sons took after his grandfather and the other after his dad. Where was the fairness?

Ignoring Camille's inner dilemmas, both teacher and student were in the middle of scheming on how to properly get rid of the plague that was the horde of incompetent teachers.