"Sure about it?"

  Harvali sent Derina a glare. Being stuck up was part of his role, and Derina played the part of a clown. Together, they represented the very definition of federation terror under the age of twenty. That was until the Clevasti idiot turned out lacking enough brains to understand the danger he dragged Wergaist into.

  "Harvali?"

  "Yeah, yeah," Harvali drawled. They were alone. He didn't need to pretend to have his sabre stuck up his rear. "Sure about it. Both Lady Nakagawa and Sir Questingtank stink of power."

  Derina leaned back on the grass with his hands behind his neck. "I noticed."

  He hadn't. Pretending to be a clown sometimes came too easy for Harvali's friend. "Not aura power. Family." Aura power made you dangerous, not powerful.

  "You mean the two of us stink?"

  "You know we do."

  Derina sat back up. "You want to keep control over the school after we graduate?"

  "We're not in control. I can push around the student body, but Lord Clevasti has bought the staff."

  "Not all of them," Derina said.

  "What do you mean?"

  Derina stood up and grinned. "You know, I'm not tactically bright like you are. I'm good a fighting and running spies. Oh, and I can sniff out bribes."

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  Harvali knew the last part. Derina was like a hunting dog when it came to bribes. "Who sent money where?"

  "Now, that's the funny part." A flash of aura later, Derina jumped a tall building's height into the air and drew his rapier. When he returned down on his aura enhanced cushion of air, he swiped a few insects from his blade. "Sorry, but I'm the only one who gets to run a spy ring here." He smiled. "Anyway, two sources, and I believe they were unaware of each other to begin with."

  "How so?"

  "Sir Ironsnake, Verina and Lady Cerciana were bought by people around Lady Nakagawa. I don't believe they needed much persuading to begin with."

  Harvali nodded. Something had felt off about the timing when several teachers suddenly left the school.

  "Sir Questingtank is surrounded by power, but he's either a better actor than me or he's unaware of it. His house pilfered all the theory teachers."

  Harvali slapped his forehead. A very outworlder gesture he'd learned in school. I'm an idiot! He'd been too focussed on the two freshmen as a couple to see that they came from different spheres of power. "So we're betting on them to keep the students in check the coming three years?"

  Derina shook his head. "We're betting on Lady Nakagawa. You know that."

  Harvali swore silently. The Clevastis hated Sir Questingtank with a vengeance, mostly because he stood in the way of a good party for their firstborn, but almost killing said firstborn only worsened it. "You believe they have a valid case this time?"

  "He almost killed one of his party members. I'll have Milita Argander make friends with Lady Nakagawa. If I'm correct, their little princess already knows, what was her name, ah, Canadena."

  So, the young frontliner would get kicked out of school, probably around graduation, to obfuscate that one student vanished. "Derina, I'll stick around the area after graduation. I've sent for some of our house knights with adventurers guild badges."

  "You want me to stay as well?"

  "Holiday."

  "Holiday, my arse! Sure, my entire party have badges. If you want to babysit your little hero, I'll tag along."

  Harvali rose to his feet as well and slapped Derina's shoulder. "No babysitting. Something's brewing, and I intend to know what it is."