117 Chapter 117:

"Congratulations Ace, you have, again, made our school proud, and have proved that we are, just as we always have been, a cut above the rest. You have shown us that we were not wrong in choosing you as the representative, and I, as well as the other members of the faculty, want you to rest assured, when considering places for a future event or tournament, you will always be considered. We understand that you possess certain… 'qualities', that make you a great asset to our school, and it would be foolish of us not to use you.", his homeroom teacher said, giving him a bright smile.

'You witch', "Thank you.", 'For nothing.', Ace thought, 'They want to play this game now, well, so can I', he thought.

"However, I would like to warn you, I will soon become quite busy - a lot more than I already are, so it will not be easy for me to participate without prior notice, and even then, It might just be impossible, who knows.", Ace said, while laughing in his mind. 'Checkmate, if you want me, you gotta pay the price.'

Her face contorted for a split second, before returning back to her default expression. Regardless, Ace had caught it, and she knew it, which only made her frown even deeper. "I...understand, I will, of course, be in contact, but I hope that you can clear your calendar when necessary.', she then went back to doing paperwork.

It was a rude dismissal, Ace would have been able to complain if he so wished, but he just ignored it, and left her office, going to the canteen to get some lunch.

***

"Before we begin, I guess some congratulations are in order, as I am sure you are aware of, Ace came in first in the Puzzle Tournament.", Rob said, and the others smiled and cheered, looking genuinely happy, which surprised Ace. Some of them were cold, but even then, they still seemed to be supportive, and seemed pleased with his achievement. This was something he could definitely get behind.

"Thank you, although I am sure that this was a thing any of you could accomplish.", Ace said, even if it was more of a formality. Most would not be able to get first rank, even if they could definitely get top ten, but that was simply because it was not their focus. A few of them, however, Ace was sure that they would be able to, in fact, it would have been interesting to face their puzzles in the finals, since they would sure be both hard and creative, innovating on obscure concepts.

They all smiled, knowing the formality was just that, a formality. Then, Rob continued speaking, this time on a much darker tone.

"Also, I will warn you of something that we have heard will soon happen. Radnol Industries will soon make a move, trying to take over the New York building business. You all know what I mean with that, and the measures you should take because of it. From what we have heard, it seems that they will not be able to make it, but it will be quite close. You understand what I am saying though, right? A hidden enemy might come at any time and take over both businesses at once. The chances of this happening are quite high in fact, a few other companies have also been moving assets around in preparation for the ripe pickings.", Rob ended, and they proceeded to a calm debate and conversation on what was to come.

The consensus they reached was quite positive, however, it would not have much impact on them, since at most they would have some stocks invested. They would just have to trade, buy and sell as needed.

They discussed a few other topics, but nothing as major as the other two, not at least until the end of the meeting, when they discussed school affairs.

There, a question was proposed, "Will the war on the construction sector have any effect in school? From what I understand, there are various heirs, is there anything we should do? Or should we just leave them be?"

This prompted another discussion, where they ended up agreeing that it was best for them to do their own thing, as long as not too many innocent students were harmed. It would be better than just forcing the heirs to bottle up their emotions, that never worked well when it came to adolescents, especially when a family feud was about to ensue.

***

"So, how was your day in school?", Samantha asked.

"Well enough, nothing much happened, but the construction sector might soon become a war zone. I guess you have already been informed and have made your plans, but if you need me to contact any of the heirs, I believe that I am now powerful enough to make a meeting happen, at the very least, they will have to consider it quite seriously.", Ace said, helpful as always.

"Thank you, for now, all I need you to do is to observe, and tell me how they get on, sometimes, what other teachers can say can be simply a lie that has been spun, or an illusion created by a past bias.", she explained, letting him know what was needed of him and the reason for it.

She would never leave him in the blind unless it was necessary, or part of a test. She preferred to explain her reasoning - at least to him, since she believed it would help him learn and understand why certain actions were done the way they were. Like for most things, she was right.

"Ok, I understand, I will keep you updated. I assume this was not the reason as to why you wanted to meet, however, what is it you want?", Ace asked, his tone slightly worried.

She smiled, "Oh, nothing much, I just wanted to spend some time with my grandson, we have something to celebrate, after all, and I bought ingredients.", she laughed at his surprised look, waving the cloth bag she had brought with her, a bag that Ace had assumed would have contained paperwork or files she wished for him to have a look over.

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