Chapter 14 - The Expedition

Sarah Treffle was pacing back and forth, going over what to say in her head. She had procrastinated over the past several days, putting off seeking out the new Professor. She wasn't nervous to speak to anyone, that wasn't the issue, she just didn't want to come off like she was just interested in him because of the potion he brewed the other week. Although she had heard that Professor Kal and Dean Petticoat had come to some sort of agreement regarding the Elemental Potion, she still didn't want to come off as only interested in him because of it.

Just as she had committed to a course of action, and lifted her fist to knock, the door opened before she had the chance, taking her by surprise. Before her stood a plain looking man with black hair and green eyes, wearing a plain black robe. He looked at her, expecting her to tell him why she was there, but all she could do was hem and haw, suddenly at a loss for words.

"What is it?" Professor Kal asked, after staring at his uninvited guest for an awkward moment.

Clearing her throat, Sarah finally found her voice. "Ah, yes, sorry to disturb you Professor Kalcifer. I've been meaning to introduce myself, but haven't had the time to do so. I'm Professor Sarah Treffle, I teach mana control to the second year students."

Professor Kal waited a second, making sure she was finished before he spoke. "And?"

"A..and I was hoping that maybe we could, we could go over some of the finer points of mana and its uses. Learn from each other, I heard that you are a very capable mage." Sarah said, suddenly in a fluster.

Most men in his position would jump at any chance to get closer to such a beauty as Sarah, but Professor Kal almost seemed more annoyed than anything else. She started to worry that maybe she had overstepped her bounds by bothering him so late into the evening.

"Although I do appreciate the compliment, I'm much too busy to entertain you at the moment." Professor Kal said, ready to go back to his research.

Knowing when not to push a situation, Sarah accepted the rejection. "Very well, I'll leave you be then. Just, if you happen to have free time, feel free to let me know."

Professor Kal was in the process of closing the door when an idea suddenly struck him. He spoke up just as Sarah had turned around to leave. "Are you free two days from now? In the morning to afternoon?"

"Uh… I believe so, my classes don't begin until after lunch." Sarah said, thinking Kal was setting up a time to get together.

"Great! Come to my classroom at eight o'clock, sharp." Professor Kal ordered, before dipping back into his room, slamming the door behind him.

She looked at the oaken door that had slammed shut in her face, her brows furrowed.

"What a rude man." She said to no one in particular before shaking her head and walking away.

…..

"I won't stand for this Alfred!" A very upset Duke Hutchens was screaming at Dean Petticoat in his office.

Dean Petticoat was sitting in his chair, listening to all of Duke Hutchens' protests. Apparently, earlier in the day, Clerance was caught plagiarizing his work that Professor Kal had assigned the class to do. Plagiarizing work, of course, is an expellable offense. So it was no surprise that Professor Kal had already submitted the paperwork banning Clerance Hutchens from ever taking an alchemy class again while attending the Academy.

Being expelled from just a single classroom was a much better alternative to being expelled from the whole school, but was still an unbearable embarrassment to the Duke's family. Thus the reason he was currently in the Dean's office.

"There's nothing that I can do…"

"Bullshit, You know just as well as I do how things work. Override his expulsion, fire the professor that kicked him out." Dean Hutchens screamed once more, pointing his finger in the Dean's face.

"I can't do that, your son kicked the hornet's nest this time. Professor Kal, in his short tenure, has already benefited the Academy greatly. I just can't override his decision because you said so, let alone fire him." Dean Petticoat wasn't about to let his golden goose get shot down, he would protect him.

"We'll see about that, I'll go to the King if I have to!" Duke Hutchens said, trying to bluff to get his way.

"And tell him what? That your son lied to his Professor, that you pay off the others to pass him? Oh, don't glare at me like that, I know all about it, I'm not blind. Now, you can either leave willingly, or I can have you escorted out, it's up to you." Dean Alfred Petticoat said, in a cold, even voice, calling his bluff.

Duke Hutchens gritted his teeth, knocking his chair over in anger. He stomped to the door, but not before turning around and screaming once more at the Dean. "This is not the last you'll hear of me!" Before leaving, slamming the door behind him.

Dean Petticoat waited for a moment, making sure the Duke had really left, then melted in his chair. He looked up at the ceiling, imagining how difficult his life was about to become. There was a reason Clerance behaved the way that he did. His father was just as vindictive, no, more so than his son, and him being a Duke meant that he had several avenues to make the Dean's life miserable.

He just prayed that Professor Kal would be worth all the trouble. He really believed he would be, just the Elemental Potion alone was already paying off. Word of the potion had, surprisingly, already made its way out of the country, causing many inquiries about accepting more foreign applications. The tuition for foreign students was much higher than in-country residents, so he could already feel the gold coins jingling in his pockets. He just had to cover for Professor Kal long enough for him to create more boons for the Academy.

…..

It had been two days, it was now time for the alchemy class to go on their little expedition. It was still half an hour until class was supposed to start, but the entire class, minus one, was already there and waiting. Nearly all of the students in the Academy were the children of nobles, a few were children of wealthy merchants, so almost none of them had any real experience in going out into nature. They've traveled before, but always within the confines of a carriage, surrounded by guards, never having a chance to go out on their own.

Although they didn't know if there would be guards accompanying them, they were still going out, making this a very new experience. All the students were happily chatting with each other, mostly about today's excursion. Ryan and Ben were talking amongst themselves as well, just like they always do. The topic today was the new ring that Ben had spotted on his friends finger.

It didn't take Ben long to spot it, the silver sheen standing out against Ryan's fair skin. After teasing him about getting eloped without inviting him, Ben tried to get Ryan to tell him where the ring came from, but only to be disappointed. No matter how he asked, or how many times, Ryan would not tell him the origins of the silver ring. Ben had started the assault once again, practically begging his friend to tell him about it. The mystery surrounding it only feeding his curiosity.

"C'mon, just tell me where you got it." Ben poked at Ryan.

"No, just give it a rest will you." Ryan said, getting more annoyed as time went by.

"I'll tell you later, just not right now, ok?" He said, wanting to change the subject.

"Fine, you better though. Hey, who's that?" Ben said, pointing at the woman that had just entered their classroom.

Sarah had just walked into Professor Kal's alchemy class, curious as to why he had told her to come. She was under the impression that they would go over different aspects of magic, maybe she would get lucky enough to pry him open, learning some of his secrets. What she was not expecting was to walk into a full classroom of students without Professor Kal to greet her.

Feeling only slightly awkward when the classroom all turned to stare at her when she entered, she gave them a small smile and took a seat on a stool by the chalkboard. It was only about five minutes until the start of class, so at least she wouldn't have to wait long.

Like clockwork, as soon as the minute hand landed on the twelve, with the hour hand on the eight, a very familiar portal opened up, presenting Professor Kal to the class. He, as always, had his black robe on, holding his gnarled black staff. Without missing a beat, he closed the portal, then opened a new one. This one was slightly larger, able to accommodate two people at once walking through it.

"Let's be on our way, everyone, through the gate." Professor Kal said, stepping to the side of the portal.

"Professor, where are we going?" Professor Treffle couldn't help but ask.

Turning towards the questioning voice, Professor Kal's unnerving smile found its way onto his face. "Ah, you made it, just in time as well. We're going on a little expedition, I'm so glad that you could volunteer to help chaperone."

"I thought we were going to go over some of our different areas of expertise." Sarah said, not remembering volunteering in the slightest.

"We'll have plenty of time for that in between looking after all these bundles of joy." Professor Kal said as he pushed the first student through the Warp Gate, causing them to trip before disappearing into the black and purple swirls.

The students had gathered around the Warp Gate, but were hesitant to walk into it. They had watched the Professor use it multiple times by now, but watching someone else do it was very different from doing it yourself. They didn't really trust magic they weren't familiar with, even scared of it. Then the professor 'helped' their classmate overcome their fear, not wanting to be 'helped' as well, they all timidly walked through the gate.

"After you." Professor Kal said, giving a polite bow to Sarah after the last student stepped through the Warp Gate.

Frustrated, but too late to change anything, Sarah reluctantly obeyed. A falling sensation was all she could feel, her vision was black, not even the faintest of light could be seen. This only lasted a second at most before her vision returned to her, displaying the verdant forest, in all its glory, to her. She looked around, noticing most of the students were milling about, laughing and enjoying the perfect weather. Only one or two students were propping themselves up by some trees, obviously affected by the sudden change of scenery.

"Gather round, gather round." Professor Kal called out, grabbing everyone's attention.

"Now, I want everyone to gather into groups of three. Seeing that we are an odd number, there will be two groups of four. I will leave it up to you to decide on the groups. Go ahead, I'll wait."

Professor Kal waited patiently for his students to group up, many going with the ones they were already familiar with. Ryan and Ben found themselves in one of the two groups of four. It was them, along with Laura Cromwell, and another boy named Richard Visagoth.

Richard was a quiet boy, the two friends couldn't remember an instance of him ever talking to anyone else. They didn't know much about him, only that he kept to himself and his family was from the southern part of the Amine kingdom. Never to ostrasize anyone, all three of them welcomed their group member, only receiving small nods in return.

Seeing that everyone had grouped up, Professor Kal gave out the day's itinerary. "Now that you have your teammates, it's time to begin. You all will spread out into the forest, looking for any herbs that can be used to brew potions. Any herb will do, don't be picky. Not only will you use the herbs you pick in a potion, you will also be responsible for bartering with the other groups as well for any ingredients that you failed to find. This exercise will teach you the proper way to pick, clean, and store ingredients used for alchemy, but also teach you how to haggle with others in order to achieve your goals."

He paused, making sure everyone understood the assignment.

"Everyone take one of these." He held out his hand, inside was a small, glass marble.

"If you crush this, or break it, it will alert me to any danger that you or your group may encounter.. Although this forest should be safe, it's always good to be prepared."