Chapter Fifty-One - Assignments

Shorter chap~

1 'oooo' = 1 bulli

***

“Did you get your assignment yet?” 

Eleanor glanced up from her textbook. It was a rather long-winded treatise on the [Magic Missile] spell, one of the go-to combat spells perfected by elvenkind and which was featured heavily in their second semester courses.

The question that had dragged her out of her reading came, unsurprisingly, from Pepper. “Oh, hi Pepper,” Eleanor said.

“Wow, an entire sentence without a stutter,” Pepper said. “Should I be impressed?”

“S-sorry?”

They were in the library, one of the few safe spaces where she knew that she wouldn’t be harassed. At least, not normally. Even Princess Marcia knew better than to anger the [Grand Librarian]. That woman was a Titled former adventurer and world-reknown scholar and someone who considered the library a sacred place.

Somewhat literally. The library was off to one side of the campus and was wholly the Titled’s property. It wasn’t even technically the school’s library. The crown had given it to the Titled when she was given her Title and so the entire building was literally the woman’s fiefdom. 

It was common practice to give a new Titled a small fief. That tied them to the nation they were from. It was less common for that fief to be a building.

Pepper shook her head. “Semester two just started. I know you’re not too far behind on your studies, which is fine, but have you started to think about the mid-semester test at all?”

Eleanor sank into her seat, slowly bringing the book she held closer as if its many pages could serve as a shield. “I-I haven’t,” she said.

That was a lie. She had been thinking about it a lot. More than once she’d awakened in a cold sweat dreaming about it. 

On every even-numbered semester, students of the Dawntown University, no matter the track they were on, were given an assignment.

The idea was simple: classroom learning was good, but only in bursts. Even with some of the best teachers in the world, sitting in a room and learning from books could only get someone so far. Most academics agreed that hands-on experience counted for more when it came to gaining levels. Though practical experience, education, and lessons supplemented that as well.

A person levelled fastest when they had a teacher and were put in situations where they could put what they were taught to practice, especially if they did so in an environment where they were facing new, novel challenges.

Hence, the assignment.

Or maybe it was The Assignment, capital letters and all.

The university paired up with local guilds and would find problems for the students to tackle. In the distant past that was it. They'd started as actual quests, simply given to a student who was expected to succeed. 

Now, of course, was a more peaceful and modern time, and the entire thing was a little different. Students did the assignments in groups, and since many were nobles, they did them with their retinues in tow. 

“I haven’t put in any of the paperwork,” Eleanor admitted.

“Tsk. Idiot goat,” Pepper snapped. “If you wait until the last minute, you’ll be given an assignment that’s so hard to accomplish that you’lll die. Or worst, get expelled.”

“I-I know!” Eleanor said. “But Princess Marcia hasn’t chosen either.”

Pepper blinked. “What does that have to do with the price of butter?”

“Who picked what is public,” Eleanor explained. “Um... well, what you put on your sheet is.” There was a fairly complex system in place now, since knowing ahead of time what quests would be available was difficult. Instead, students would mark down their capabilities and desires through a form, and then be assigned a quest that fit that.

“Are you waiting for the last minute just to avoid being in the same group as the princess?” Pepper asked.

“Um...”

Pepper reached over and grabbed one of Eleanor’s horns and shook it up and down. “Cowardly goat,” she said.

“Oooo.”

Pepper reached out and grabbed her cheek instead. “No, stop that. No ‘ooo’ing’. You’re a grown-ass woman, Eleanor, you can’t put off paperwork until the last minute just to avoid people you don’t like.”

“Y-y-y-yes I can?”

“No,” Pepper said. “Come on. You’re probably not going to pick any of the same boxes as the princess. She’s an overachiever and has a dozen levels on you. If you don’t go now you’ll end up with an assignment way tougher than what you can handle.”

“I know!”

“Then go do it.”

“I’ve been meaning to?”

“Liar!” Pepper said. She returned to pinching Eleanor’s cheek, at least, until a loud ‘shush!’ echoed through the library, and both of them froze.

Right, it was better not to anger any Titled. 

She’d figure it out, and put in her forms for the assignment... later.

***

He crouch-walked into the camp, moving slowly, his stealth abilities all triggered and his attention sharpened to a razor’s edge. He was a [Shadow Eye], one of the best in the business when it came to moving around unseen, and for the most part, his job was surprisingly dull.

Walk from one place to another, deliver a package, grab an idea, transfer information, then return. It was work he could be proud of, however. He was a loyal citizen of the Aerie, and he took his job seriously, even the less savoury parts, like dealing with Titled bandits.

Titled bandits which he discovered split into three distinct pieces and splattered across the back of their camp.

“What the hell happened here?” he muttered as he kept low and inspected the corpse.

It was the [Bandit Lord] alright. The face was unharmed. One of the cuts had passed though the man’s neck, from collar to the opposing armpit and through the heart. He knew that Titled were in a class of their own, but even one of them couldn’t survive this.

It wasn’t the only sign that things had gown horribly wrong. The buildings were ruined. Interestingly, after looking at them from a few angles, he could tell that they had been sliced apart near the top, at about the same height.

A single attack? 

What had even delivered that?

One thing was for certain. It wasn’t a monster.

The rest of the bandits, most of them at least, were in the centre of the camp. They had their arms tied behind their backs, their ankles fastened together, and their throats opened. 

It looked like a few had tried to make some distance, but hadn’t gotten far. 

This was... methodical. 

He started to scan the area, looking for evidence, clues, anything, but there was little to be found. There were two fires nearby, both near those tasteless zombie cells. The undead had been burned. 

A few prints in the mud told him that some people had passed, but other than the sizes of the boots being relatively small, he couldn’t find any clue as to who did this.

A small group, certainly. Three to seven members at a guess. One, maybe two Titled. At least one that was stronger than the [Bandit Lord] and by a decent amount.

His masters would want to know about this. Someone was acting against the Aeire.

***