141 The Principal

At the far end inside Twilight Academy's central building was the office of rank 3 magus Principal Duvall. His office was like a living fantasy, books flew off their shelves and rearranged themselves in a neat order, magic seals flew around the room creating flashes of dazzling light that shimmered off the large waterfall he had in the back. A light sprinkle of morning dew could be found on all the vibrant plants the water nourished.

It was a magical sigh just as magical as the wizard who floated on top of a small grass hill in the middle of his room. Duvall's dark blue robes fluttered gently as if they were billowing in the wind. It was a small display in his skills in enchanting items for all to see.

Duvall appeared to be somewhat old, around the age of 40-45. He had a somewhat wrinkly face with a small mole on the right side, a noticeable amount of bags under his eyes, brown hair, and a short beard. He had a stern expression on his face even while he was studying which matched his Demeanor.

As Duvall was looking through various books a knock came from his door. After nocking, a little green goblin stepped inside the room. That goblin though wasn't normal it was a goblin special breed and genetically modified by mages. Natural goblins are typical quite ugly but the genetically modified ones aren't. The goblin that walked in was quite small, but also very cute. She had short dark hair, near flawless green skin, large eyes that made her look more adorable when she looked at you, and sharp pointy ears that were currently pointed downwards in the presence of her master. She wore a typical maids outfit and had a submissive demeanor about her.

Though she was a slave it is important to know that people on Theotera can't be enslaved. Theotera typically only enslave species from other worlds because it is Illegal to enslave any Theotera denizen that isn't a mindless beast. The only way around that law is to acquire that persons will fragment. Will fragments allow people to control whether a person lives or dies they also allow the holder to decide where that person can go after death. The method to perform such a thing is not widely spread and even those with great power and influence have almost no chance of acquiring the method to do so. That's because The Pantheon Of Valdora acquired all known methods spread throughout the world and sealed it away.

So, though the goblin is intelligent and a denizen of Theotera she has no real rights as a person because she lost her will fragment.

As the goblin stepped in she bowed to Duvall and said to him in a soft and intimidated voice, "Master I know I have no right to disturb you but it has already been an hour since the war meeting started didn't you have plans to go?".

The goblin's soft voice was gentle to the ears and pleasant to listen to but her nice voice didn't have any effect on Duvall's attitude.

Sissy felt ashamed that she disturbed her master during something important so much that she started punishing herself for her mistake.

"Stupid Sissy, bad Sissy, how could you be so forgetful, master doesn't need you to remind him".

Sissy slapped and punched herself repeatedly hard has punishment. She even banged her head against a nearby bookshelf making it wobble around a bit after every hit.

"That's enough of that sissy your making to much noise".

Duvall wasn't particularly kind to Sissy but her wasn't mean to her either. It was a strange in between where he taught her how to punish herself when she felt as though she went out of line. That method of his had obvious effects on her personality because she's always timid and insecure about everything which makes her punish herself all the time for every little thing.

She had a sad face after Duvall told her to be quite her ears drooped down even more while her puppy dog eyes started to tear up.

"How could you foolish Sissy your master already said he was in the middle of something important".

That realization only made her beat herself even harder than before. She grabbed a thick book off the shelf and started slamming it over her head. Duvall didn't stop her he had seen her do that for many years and was use to it. But it did make him wonder if he had possibly gone wrong somewhere when training her? Duvall thought for a moment then quickly realized that it was possibly already too late to change her. Though it's not like he minded it anyway, he had become too accustomed to her personality that if it were to suddenly change he would feel as though the world was crumbling around him.

As Sissy beat herself senseless with a book a sudden knock came from the door. That nock made Sissy come to her senses and do her job like a proper maid (slave). After she exited the room to have a short conversation with the person outside she returned to inform her master of who it was.

"Master Professor Loodwell is her to see you".

"About what?".

"The death of his student"

"Uhh ... so, it's going to be one of those talks".

Duvall didn't want to go through this conversation, but he knew that he had no choice, so he might as well get it over with.

"Alright let him in".

Quickly responding to her master's orders Sissy let the man inside. Rank 2 magus Professor Loodwell walked inside with a scowl on his face. He was quite upset with the sudden death of his student and wanted to see if he could get the Academy's help in making the perpetrator's life a living hell. Someone at his level killing someone at an apprentice level is below him and would leave him open for a large amount of criticism from others at his level including his peers. Overall it wasn't something he needed in his life but he still wanted to do something for his fallen student because he had thoughts of making Gerald officially his apprentice.

"Principal Duvall I am grateful that you are willing to speak with me about this matter".

"I was gonna have to speak with you anyway so we might as well do this now rather than later".

"Excellent so I must know what the academy intends to do to exact justice for my student and those other students who were brutally murdered yesterday by Howell Maverick and his accomplice. Howell has been rampaging inside this school unchecked for too long. We must do something about him before he starts thinking that he can walk over even his teachers".

"I hear what your saying Professor Loodwell and I can assure you that the academy will do absolutely nothing to resolve this matter".

Loodwell was surprised and upset by what Duvall said to him because he wasn't expecting it.

"What do you mean your planning on doing nothing are we really going to let Howell get away with murdering 3 students in cold blood that's against the rules".

"Are you sure he murdered those students because as I recall the report said that he honorably risked his life in defense of an old man who was being assaulted and robbed by your student and his friends. All of which in turn protected our school's reputation. How could I possibly punish someone that would go to such lengths to protect this city's citizens and the school itself".

"All that is nothing more than a bunch of beautiful lies that he whipped up".

"So, what if they are do you have proof to refute them because I certainly don't. At this school we training our students to be leaders, to fight, to be mages and cultivators in the truest sense of the word. How in the world can they be that if they can't adapt to every situation thrown at them or above all read a book?

Every single word in the student guide book was chosen carefully and Howell found the purpose of each one and used them to his benefit. That is what we are teaching here and he is a shining example of what a true mage should be able to do. Not those useless brats who died moments before the war even started. If you want to act against Howell go ahead, so long as you don't abuse your power as a professor or as an official mage I won't care. A few big losses will teach Howell not to get too cocky".

While Loodwell didn't like what Duvall said he respected and listed to hid decision.

"Fine I understand your stance on Howell but what about that old man in the reserve unit who personally killed 2 students and assisted in killing one other. Why won't you do anything against him".

"Well for starters it is officially stated that he was acting in self defense. So, us pursuing a man who was simply defending himself from our who were robbing citizens will not go well no matter how you look at it. We could always use our massive influence to win the case but why should we even bother. The second reason I will not pursue this is because it's too dangerous".

Loodwell had an intrigued look as he asked, " dangerous how so?".

"This old man claims to be the official apprentice of a powerful and extremely skilled mage rank 3 that goes by the name Zane. While I don't believe that its true for a second because I actually know that bastard his words mean one of two things. One is that he is publicly claiming that Zane has some kind of invested interest in him so messing with him would be the same as messing with Zane. Which is something you don't want to do unprepared or he is announcing that he is the biggest idiot in the world and will most likely be dead within a week once Zane finds out someone was using his name again".

"Again, someone misused this man's name before?"

Duvall had a complicated look on his faces as he explained what happened, " don't you remember the One Man Riot about a hundred years ago".

"You mean that slaughter that one man carried out hunting down every person with the same name as him across the world because someone stole his name and made a bunch of deals and trades while pretending to be him".

"Ya, it's the same guy he's an absolute lunatic that should have been imprisoned years ago. If that's not enough for you then you should know that man fought against Nisus Bel and Nester Vargas yet is still alive to talk about it. So, I highly recommend you drop the matter against the old guy for your own health".

Loodwell not expecting the situation to be so complicated was happy he didn't do anything beforehand and talked to Duvall first. With nothing left to address Loodwell respectively said his fair well to Duvall and left. Duvall alone at last immediately got back to his research while Sissy moped in the corner.