When Villin got up the following morning, the news of what had happened the previous day had spread all across the grade. According to Kayley dozens of visitors had passed by with seemingly kind intentions, not a single guild had even ntioned the fact that they had been responsible for most of the attacks that had happened thus far.
A few guilds even ca intending to be annexed by Athena's Forge but Kayley rejected them all while waiting for Villin to wake up and make his decision.
Other than these visitors and the people from Athena's Forge, the area surrounding the main tower was entirely void of people. The guilds that lived nearby had packed up and moved away to another location, nobody wanted to be in striking distance of the explosive spears they had, and since it was now known that Athena's Forge was responsible for multiple raids thus far, they figured the chance of them being properly attacked now that the news was out was too large.
Over the course of a single day, a larger and larger area around Athena's Forge was evacuated, this went on for a multitude of kiloters all the way until the section was cleared out up to the locations where a multitude of combat guilds including 'The Shielding Lions' and 'The Soaring Eagles' had their bases. This ant that nearly a fifth of A1 had been entirely cleared out saving the classrooms that were located in the area, and even if they had to go for those, any students would be exceptionally powerful.
Because of this, a lot of buildings ended up empty and Athena's Forge could spread out slightly wider, Villin stopped the utilities from being moved but mbers were allowed to have their living areas outside of the tower, if they wanted to work, though, they'd have to co.
Villin also noticed that due to all that happened, the mbers of Athena's Forge had beco a little cockier, but since overall this wasn't a bad thing, he allowed them to be so as long as it didn't cause problems in performance.
Since all the territory was thrown onto his lap, Villin also didn't feel like he could leave it be and solely defend the tower, for no other reason than it'd be a bad look. Looking powerful was half as important as being powerful after all, this was a truth he had realized long ago. After all, one would be much, much quicker to contest soone who isn't showing any strength.
In order to take control of this larger area, the enchanters of Athena's Forge began prioritizing the creation of enchanted spearguns.
The only problem they had here was that they couldn't form the tal quick enough, this was because Athena's Forge only had a handful of people who properly knew how to smith.
In order to take care of this problem, Villin had a look at the list Kayley had given him stating all of the guilds that wanted to cooperate or be annexed, and soon he began sending ssages to each of them.
Since overnight the status of Athena's Forge had dramatically increased, becoming the clear alpha of the grade, Villin didn't go personally to each of the guild leaders, instead, he sent so of the more trusted mbers of the guild to relay his ssages, this saved him ti and once more increased the image of strength he was trying to create.
His ssages to each of the guild were extrely simple. Currently, Villin didn't want to take more people directly into his guild but this didn't an he couldn't use them.
He created trade and work agreents for many of the guilds that had contacted them. For example, he would buy a very large amount of forged tals from a blacksmithing guild for ninety percent of the market price. They were all overall fair deals including large sums of money and resources.
The majority of guilds involved focused on crafting and things of the like, those that ca with friendly intentions coming from combat guilds weren't contacted as Villin didn't have any need or desire for their help.
"We have contacted twelve guilds and received eleven replies. Nine agree with the conditions set while two others wish to discuss the details of the deal. The non-responsive guild seems to be having so internal issues currently that is delaying their response, we should expect to get it tomorrow." Kayley finished as she looked at so of the files in her hands.
"I see. What's the situation with 'The Black Swans'?" Villin asked as he thought of the issue that had caused this entire 'problem'.
Kayley's expression darkened slightly as he thought of the traitor, "We have been doing our own investigations into them, we are still unsure what the traitorous boy was offered to betray the guild as he seed loyal to Ruby previously. The Black Swans have been extrely nervous today and barely left the basent, whenever they co up, they have been getting an stares from the mbers of 'Athena's Forge'." she said before waiting for Villin to speak.
"Good, we need them to be nervous and realize how important it is. Let the an gazes continue but make sure nobody gets physical." after pausing for a few monts he continued, "You are the person most liked within the guild overall and the mbers of The Black Swans seem to like you too. Play bad cop, make them nervous, if they're scared, they'll show what they're made of. Have people tail any mber of 'The Black Swans' that leaves the tower, if they head into the direction of one of the guilds that attacked us, capture them and lock them up secretly. We'll do this until we are sure there are no more traitors."
Even though Villin had been the one to invite 'The Black Swans', now that one of them was found to be a traitor, he wouldn't be kind to the others until he was sure no others would pull a similar move. Making them stress out was the best way to find the rats currently as they would get scared and try to run.
After thinking of this for a bit, Villin spoke again, "What about Ruby, how has she been handling this?" he asked.
"She doesn't seem to have done anything in response that we can see. She has been continuing her work as if nothing has happened. She and Sara are currently the only ones in the guild that don't seem affected at all, they have been going outside and doing missions like normal. I'm pretty sure one of our mbers got spotted by Ruby while tailing her but she didn't ntion it or anything of the like."
Hearing the situation, Villin nodded seriously before releasing a deep sigh. In just one day, a lot had changed, and a lot more could change in the following days.
Currently, a lot was happening at once and things were a little chaotic, exactly how Villin liked it. He and Kayley swiftly took care of the situation in an organized way. Alia was making sure those that got wounded the previous way properly recovered while Rein worked with the enchanters to create spearguns and sections of the spears.
Villin finished these spears and soon a few spearguns and spears were ready to be deployed.
Overall, the section not belonging to Athena's Forge was rectangular-ish. Villin decided to have a speargun on high ground every hundred ters, flattening a couple of the buildings that would disrupt the nearby line of sight. He also tasked the fake warding guild that contacted them with creating a massive ward all around the area to defend against people using invisibility spells. This was one of the guilds that wanted to be annexed by them but were declined. Their task would take multiple months to complete but they would be paid a great sum by Athena's Forge so nobody complained.
When the new neighbors saw the number of spearguns that were being built and the speed at which it was done, they were all seriously sweating but nobody moved anymore, it'd be useless to do so.
When the evening ca, Villin saw in his study when Rein knocked on the door. After entering and sitting down, he took a red envelope and presented it to Villin.
Villin took the envelope and inspected it. It was bright red and seed to radiate magic even though it didn't have any effect, there was a red seal in the middle of it showing The Academy's crest. On the other side were a few short lines.
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From: The Headmaster
To: Villin Grey
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When Villin broke the seal and took out the pink letter within, he fully expected it to talk about today and yesterday's events but it didn't ntion any of that.
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Villin Grey, runemaster and genius of The Academy.
Earlier, I was presented with a request for you to see , I'm not able to oblige you here since I'm currently not capable of coming to The Academy. When hearing the reason you wish to speak to was the fact that you wish to bring so Atlantian enchanters to The Academy to learn under you, I decided to grant you permission to do this.
This would not be the first ti The Academy would get exchange students and it will not be the last. Atlantis is a mysterious nation with limited knowledge about it, having Atlantians enter The Academy will only create benefits for us.
You will be allowed to take three Atlantians of your choosing so long as they are below thirty years of age. They must also, obviously, be magi.
Good luck with your endeavors,
The Headmaster.
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Reading the letter, Villin got a weird feeling. This didn't seem like sothing The headmaster would write. Then again, the seal couldn't possibly be forged and it simply had to be. As for how the headmaster could write a letter here without being able to travel here, magic was the obvious answer.
No matter what, he could take in so Atlantians.
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