A heavy silence settled over the room as both sides sized each other up, neither willing to be the first to break the tension.
William tried to read the principal’s expression, but the man’s inscrutable gaze offered no hints. If he knew anything about William’s involvent, he certainly wasn’t showing it.
"Spies?" William said, "What do you an?"
William had expected a direct confrontation, but instead, the principal shifted the conversation in an unexpected direction, bringing up a na that William recognised all too well.
"We caught a guard recently," the principal said, his finger tapping on the table, "Zen, his na."
Zen. That was the reason William had co to the principal’s office in the first place—to ask about his whereabouts and see what had happened to him. Apparently, the principal had his own reasons for bringing Zen up, which made things both easier and more complicated.
"Zen? I think I drank with him the other night," William said.
Sooner or later, the principal would hear that William had been asking around about Zen. It was better to get ahead of it now and avoid unnecessary suspicion. At least for the mont, it didn’t look like the principal had connected him to anything more serious.
"Really?" the principal said, one eye narrowing slightly. "And how was he? What did you think of him?"
He clearly hadn’t expected William to recognize the na of that guard. Even less could he have imagined that the two of them had actually shared drinks recently.
Still, deep down, it wasn’t completely surprising. Guards often spent their free ti in the bars located inside the academy, so it was perfectly plausible that William had run into Zen at so point.
"He seed worried," William said. "Worried enough that he made pay for his drinks, saying he’d return the favor another ti."
William let out a short laugh. "Now that you told what happened... it does feel like he knew he was going to get caught."
The principal sighed. "The worst part is that he used a spell to take his own life. We couldn’t extract a single answer from him. You’ll have to investigate these spies for ."
Deep down, William had no idea why the principal was giving him such an important task.
There were plenty of other professors— even the mysterious Brian. So why him? William was already overwheld with the classes he had to teach, not to ntion the plan he needed to co up with to assassinate Brian. All of it weighed heavily on his mind.
"Are you sure I’m capable of doing that?" William asked, his tone carefully asured as he searched the principal’s face for any sign of doubt. He leaned forward, trying to seem uncertain. "Isn’t there soone more qualified? Maybe soone with more experience?"
The principal didn’t find the question strange. He knew very well how overwheld William already was.
"From what I’ve observed, the spies have avoided detection by those who’ve been here longer," the principal explained. "Because you only arrived recently, your actions and loyalties are easier to verify. That’s exactly why I trust you more than anyone else."
William found the situation almost amusing. He understood why: he was one of the spies embedded in the academy.
As he considered his current predicant, his mind drifted back to the necromancer cult and its leader.
"Did they already expect Zen to be caught... and send because of that?" he wondered.
If so, it was ingenious. Their prediction was exact, leaving the principal utterly convinced of William’s innocence.
"We can’t trust the other teachers either?" William whispered, leaning in a little closer. "All of them?"
"All of them."
What had first seed like a desperate situation turned out to give William a strange sense of relief. The only problem now was having to investigate these so-called spies.
Perhaps it was even advantageous that he’d been chosen. Now, he could erase his tracks and haunt the academy like a phantom. Nothing and no one would obstruct his plan to assassinate Brian.
"This is a very serious matter," William said, trying to show concern in his eyes. "Where should I start? What do you know about these spies?"
"I will prepare the docunts with all the information I’ve collected, and soone will deliver them to you tonight, alright?" the director replied.
"No problem."
"Now, why did you originally co to see ?" the director asked.
William was quick to respond. He knew the director would ask, so his mind had already prepared a plan.
"I just wanted to comnt on how the classes are going," he said, "a quick report."
The director nodded. William quickly comnted on how the first-year students were excited to have him as a teacher and how participative they were in class.
What surprised the director most was the fact that the first-year students were so well-behaved during his lessons.
"Other teachers constantly complain to about the chatter. It seems that with you, that’s non-existent."
William chuckled, "What can I say? I’m able to intimidate these youngsters a bit."
"Haha, I have to agree with you there."
The two spoke a little more and then went their separate ways. William sighed in relief as soon as he left the academy’s main building. He had been a little apprehensive during the eting with the director, and now his mind could finally relax.
"I still have to prepare for today’s classes..."
He felt tired just thinking about the things he still had to endure that day. However, this was much better than the world where he would have been discovered.
William decided to head to the Training Hall, where his classes would take place. He didn’t have much ti before the lesson officially started; his eting with the principal had run longer than expected. Still, it was enough. He could plan things out and get his mind ready.
Students trickled into the Training Hall and imdiately settled onto the mats spread across the floor.
During the first lesson, no one had dared to speak. This ti, out of respect, William allowed them a bit more freedom.
"You can talk as long as you keep your voices down," he told them. "I just don’t want any noise."
The students grinned at his words, pleased to be recognized for their discipline.
It was no secret. William was strict with anyone who ssed around or failed to take the class seriously. Now they also understood that he could be lenient—if they respected the rules.
Everyone took the chance to chat quietly. It wasn’t often that William was this gentle, so there was no reason to refuse the opportunity. Besides, class would still take a while to start. It was better to talk to their friends for a bit than sit in silence.
William also spoke with a few students who approached him. They had questions about the previous lesson.
Of course, William answered them gladly. Watching these students improve filled his heart with pride—quite contradictory, given that he was an infiltrated spy at the academy...
"Maybe I’m helping these students more than the other teachers, even while being undercover," he thought.
When the ti for class finally arrived, William stood up and said sothing that surprised the students.
"Today, we’ll have so sparring matches between you. It’s ti for so practical training."
The room buzzed with excitent. And right at that mont, soone else entered the Training Hall.
It was the sa tall, muscular professor who had tried to pick a fight with William in the cafeteria the other day.
"What do you say we fight and show them how it’s done, Professor William?"
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