Chp.43: Discussion with the principal

When Maldor had revealed the secret of the runes to Isaac, she had expected that at most someone would come and compliment her. What he certainly didn't expect that would get the attention of the infamous principal, Hara Razorsain.

The last time they'd met her, she'd been able to sense their presence even though they were using the invisibility rune. At the moment, however, they were feeding the rune with their own blood, while now they were using, just for a case like that, the blood of an adult dragon, which was infinitely more powerful. Since adult dragons could easily beat a legendary level in a one-on-one fight, it stood to reason that an adult dragon's blood possessed enough mana to fuel enough of the invisibility rune to block even a legendary level's perception. However there was no guarantee, and in fact both Maldor and Kotaru would have sweated like two fountains if they could; technically even if Hara noticed their trick she couldn't have killed them, but they would still have to say goodbye to all the progress they had made so far.

The Academy of Magic consisted of a large building with a central tower and four smaller towers located at the cardinal points. The principal's office was located on top of the central tower, so she could immediately access the roof that served as a platform for her wyvern to land. The office was actually quite small and the furniture was rather spartan: it consisted only of a desk, some pictures and trinkets to decorate the walls, and several chairs to welcome guests. This showed how little time Hara spent there despite being the principal.

At that moment the tension in the room seemed to be running high. Hara sat at her desk with her arms folded, and although she looked relaxed her gaze was hard as stone. Maldor sat directly across from her, and she didn't dare meet her eyes; just the memory of what this woman might do, or the thought of her realizing she wasn't who she said she was, was enough to terrify her. Next to Maldor was Kotaru; unlike her she was on her feet, as expected of a maid, but she too was shaking inside, even if she was better at hiding it. Finally, sitting in the corner of the room were the vice principal Bump and Isaac, both looking very tense.

After what seemed like forever, Hara spoke: "Miss Harister, can you confirm that it was you who gave Mr. Hugoson an efficient explanation of how the runes work?"

"Y... Yes, it was me!" Maldor answered almost involuntarily screaming.

Hara's eyebrows arched. "Could you please explain to me how you were able to formulate such a theory yourself, without any means to prove it, when the most brilliant minds of our kingdom have failed to do so?"

"I..." Maldor swallowed deeply, then provided the answer she had prepared: "I was just thinking. I've always been passionate about fairy magic and always wondered how it could work. And then one day, while experimenting with magic, I realized that the more I compressed an object, the more it released heat.I had already studied this process when I was a student... but only then did it occur to me that maybe it was the key to solving the secret of runes. I started thinking about it day and night and finally I got a satisfactory theory that didn't violate any of the rules known to us. B-But it's just a weak theory... I don't even know if it has any basis.. ."

"It's not just a weak theory" Hara said, then pointed at Isaac with her eyes. "Mr. Hugoson has told his colleagues about your hypothesis, and together they have tested it over and over again, and it has proved to be right every time. Of course, it is still very fallacious, and there is still much to figure out… but in any case your reasoning turned out to be correct. So congratulations, Miss Harister: you have discovered the way runes work, and you are probably the first human not blessed by the gods to understand it"

Maldor was silent for a second; even though she already knew her theory was right, she still had to feign amazement. "What...? Is it... Is it right?"

"It is, Maldor!" Isaac exclaimed with a smile, though that didn't erase the tension from his face. "We have tried it many times and it has always worked! Your name will be remembered in the history of magic!"

"Yeah, that's right. You can give this discovery your name" Hara said, bringing her attention back to herself. "Normally I would be delighted if one of my researchers made such a discovery. But you will forgive me, Miss Harister, for being suspicious of you. It seems strange to me that you should have formulated such an accurate idea using only reasoning, without any experiment..."

Maldor was about to pass out from the tension, but luckily for her Bump spoke up: "Come on, don't be unreasonable, principal! There's no reason to suspect Miss Harister. She just had a hunch and worked on it until she made it work. What's so strange about that? Many philosophers of the past made extraordinary discoveries simply by reasoning. Some of their theories were even tried and tested after their deaths! Miss Harister just used her mind and thought outside the box. I see no reason to question her like this!"

"Indeed! I can assure you that my mistress really only reasoned!" Kotaru said taking advantage of Bump's support. "I've never seen her tinker with runes before! She barely knows what they look like! She wouldn't have had a chance to experiment! Also, sorry, but even if she did, why should that be a problem? Is there a law against experimenting with magic? I understand that mages can act freely!"

Hara sighed and closed her eyes slightly. "It's just that I find this situation very suspicious. The School of Magic of the Orobic Kingdom also experiments with magic, right? Why haven't you ever tested your theories there?"

"They never let me into their labs" Maldor explained. "Besides, I formulated most of my theory after I left"

"Really? And why did you leave?" Hara asked again.

Maldor didn't know what to answer. "I didn't really like the environment"

But Hara wouldn't settle for so little. "Why?"

Maldor was about to have a panic attack, but luckily Kotaru replied in her place: "Do you want a long explanation or is it enough for us to tell you the salary they gave my mistress despite all her efforts? Those people were rubbish"

"Yeah! We all know that the Orobic Kingdom is extremely classist and treats non-nobles terribly!" Isaac said after hearing that. "If I had been in her place, I would have left too! Do you want to suspect Maldor just because she sought a better life here? Come on, don't you hear how ridiculous this sounds? She's been here for two months and she's never done anything wrong! If she had evil intentions, why would she give us her theory?"

"Mr. Hugoson is right" Bump said. "Furthermore, we have already verified Miss Harister's identity. All the documents she has provided us are authentic. The only way to investigate further would be to ask the School of Magic of the Orobic Kingdom directly, but we already know that they would definitely lie to us!"

Maldor and Kotaru mentally thanked their sisters for managing to obtain such perfect documents. Furthermore, they also thanked their adventurer 'friends' for revealing to them the complex dynamics between the various realms. They had chosen to pretend that Maldor was from the School of Magic because it and the Academy of Magic were often in conflict, since they had two very different teaching styles, and both were trying to outdo the other; furthermore, even though their kingdoms were allies, they both sought to obtain more magic to outdo the other. In politics, after all, there were no eternal allies or enemies. Consequently, if Hara or Bump had gone to ask the principal of the School of Magic if he had ever had a student named Maldor Harister, he surely would have understood that she was important to them and would have denied to force them to incarcerate her as a suspect and thus block the possible searches she would do for them. Therefore, it wasn't even worth asking him. Maldor and Kotaru knew this and had used it to their advantage, and apparently they had done well.

Hara seemed to weigh their words carefully, then nodded. "Okay, you've all made good points. Miss Harister, I won't lie to you: I still have my suspicions about you, but I admit you don't seem to have bad intentions, so I'll try to trust you"

Maldor lowered her head almost rhythmically: "Thank you very much! Thank you, thank you seriously!"

"However, we now have another problem" Hara continued. "Since you have been able to conceive of such a theory, it is clear that you could greatly assist us in understanding fairy magic. I would like you to join the researchers...". Maldor's eyes glittered. Join the researchers? This was even better than she had planned! She could have found out how the portable gate was secured personally! "...but the fact remains that you aren't a citizen of this kingdom, and that you have only been employed for just two months. Clearly, I cannot show our secret research to someone I know so little"

Maldor's smile faded, but Isaac intervened to defend her: "Principal, please be reasonable! Maldor will be alone surrounded by dozens of expert mages. Even if she wanted to steal something, how could she do it? We just need to keep an eye on her and only show her searches related to fairy magic, and not all the others"

"R-Right! And I'm even willing to get blindfolded and tied up while you take me to the lab, so I won't be able to see the defenses and I won't be able to come back later!" Maldor exclaimed in feigned excitement. "Please... everything is fine for me, but studying and understanding fairy magic has been my dream since I was a student! Don't deprive me of this opportunity just because I'm a new teacher!"

The room fell silent, and for a moment Maldor feared she had gone too far, but then Hara nodded. "Fine. Mr. Hugoson will be your supervisor. When you need to enter the lab, he will blindfold you and make sure you don't use magic to see through the blindfold. Once inside, he will free you and only show you research related to the fairy magic, and will watch over you at all times. If you try to take a false step, Miss Harister, even if it is simple curiosity, you will be barred from entering the laboratory forever"

Hara's gaze was really scary, but at the moment neither Maldor nor Kotaru was paying attention to it. When their eyes met, they understood that both had had the same thought: finally they could access the laboratory! "Thank you! I won't let you down, principal!"

"Good. You can go. Vice Principal Bump, please stay: I need to discuss some things with you" Hara said. Maldor, Kotaru and Isaac didn't let them repeat it and immediately left the principal's office.

Once outside, Maldor took a deep breath and nearly fell over as the tension left her. "Thank goodness... I couldn't take it anymore"

"Yeah, I know the principal can be scary. But don't worry, she's not as bad as she looks. If she's agreed to let you work with us, that means she trusts you" Isaac said, slapping her on the shoulder. "Well, now I'm going. Tomorrow I'll pick you up immediately after your lesson and I'll take you to the laboratory. Get ready, you'll see many interesting things. And don't forget to think of a nice name to give to your theory, since it will be written in the books of history next to your name!"

With that said, Isaac disappeared down the corridors. Judging by his haste, he must have left something important unfinished business. Maldor and Kotaru were left alone in the corridor. "For a moment I feared she had seen through our disguise" Maldor confessed to her sister.

Kotaru nodded. "Me too. But it went well. We finally got access to the lab. You were great, sister!"

Maldor smiled at the compliment, but she also scratched her head in embarrassment. "Yes... speaking of that... how do we do it? In short, when I proposed the blindfold I didn't think much about how I was going to see the path... I spoke without thinking, let's say..."

She expected Kotaru to scold her, but instead her sister gave her a bright smile. "Don't worry. I've already thought about the solution!"

The next day, Isaac picked up Maldor immediately after class as he had promised, and brought her to the door of the laboratory. There he blindfolded her and made sure she didn't use spells to see through the blindfold. Then he touched the door, and as his fingers touched it it seemed to shake, and then it opened; a long corridor appeared and several lights inside went out, a sign that the traps had been deactivated. Isaac led Maldor to the end of the corridor, where another door was already open, and there they entered another wing of the academy. At that Isaac touched the door again and it closed, followed by the other they had entered by, and a crack confirmed that the traps had been reactivated. At that point he finally took off Maldor's blindfold.

"Here's the lab" Isaac said, spreading his arms as if to welcome her. Maldor looked around and saw that the place was a huge room of at least twenty meters without windows and openings, with innumerable tables, cauldrons, shelves, potions and stills, but also numerous cases with various magical objects kept inside. And among them Maldor recognized the portable gate. When she saw it, her eyes lit up.

Isaac saw her smile, and took it as a good sign. "So, shall we start work?"

Maldor looked at him satisfied. "Yeah, I guess we should get to work" she replied.

What Isaac didn't know was that Maldor had actually seen everything: the path to the lab, the traps, the way in the door. And this is thanks to Kotaru's idea. The blindfold Isaac had put on her had been placed over her eyes... but the previous night Maldor had altered her avatar and moved her eyes from the eye sockets to the cheeks! Isaac couldn't know thanks to the illusion, but she actually never had the blindfold on the eyes for the entire time and she saw it all! 'Thank you very much, really. Now, I know exactly how to steal the portable gate!' she thought laughing in her mind.