CHAPTER 70: TEACHER

"... What kind of render was the construct?" Grandmaster Oswald asked.

"A render of a grand castle hall."

"And what was the glitch?"

"The underside of a couch. It wasn’t clearly defined."

"That’s a very specific glitch, don’t you think?" The suave gentleman spoke from the front.

"Pascal is right,"Grandmaster Oswald said. "That’s way too specific to be a spur-of-the-moment thought.

"Yeah, I said it looked very splotchy, almost like it wanted to come undone, so it drew my attention in the spur of the moment." Zephyr lied smoothly. "I don’t know, but the Grand Commander seemed to be having a tough time keeping the render stable in the first place."

"An inexperienced Lawbearer?" Grandmaster Oswald frowned in contemplation, straightening up.

"Or maybe because of the gateway link?" Zephyr added.

"You’re still keeping to that part of the story?" Grandmaster Oswald looked back at Zephyr. "Did that part actually happen?"

Zephyr nodded in assent. "We really were caught in a gateway link."

"We?" the Grandmaster noted Zephyr’s choice of words.

"Yeah, I, my partner—Smiling Devil, and the Grand Commander." Zephyr said.

"You’re still playing your games," Grandmaster Oswald scoffed. "Look, boy! Even if you and your partner were the only two in the render with this... Grand Commander, which I don’t for a second believe, the fact that you’re both in this world means that Grand Commander could just as well be here too," Grandmaster Oswald snapped. "And if this person is a Lawbearer as you’ve told us, then we are all in grave danger. In fact, we might be in a render right now and we don’t know!"

A collective gasp instantly rippled through the room, quickly devolving into a low, urgent murmur as the council members looked around their surroundings warily, as if trying to spot any flaws.

"Calm yourselves," Pascal—the suave gentleman, called the council members to order, particularly Dale and his similar minded faction.

Grandmaster Oswald continued his earlier statement without pause, "You should also know that this applies to anyone else you might not be telling us about," he stared at Zephyr pointedly. "Your friends? Family? Anybody else you might care about that was in there with you. As long as they’re in this world, they are in grave danger."

"..." Zephyr remained stoic, but he was starting to get influenced by the old man’s words.

"Even if we forget about the Lawbearer for a second, anybody else from your world who might be here would face the exact same threat that prompted us to bring you here, so every time you spend playing games with words... they are in danger of getting found out," Grandmaster Oswald pressed on.

"Child, we don’t expect you to trust us. In fact, I commend you for being wary, that is the correct thing to do in your situation. Trust takes time to build, and we don’t have the time for you to build that trust, instead I ask that you trust our cause," the old lady slowly stood up, her voice echoing through the now silent room. "Trust the fight these old bones have given their all for. It takes less time to build your trust in that. A few days here and you’ll get a concrete idea of how serious we are about this cause... and then you can come to us, we’ll be waiting for your account... your true account." she nodded with a look of absolute surety as she stared at Zephyr.

"Sharon..." Grandmaster Oswald frowned at the old lady, a bit displeased at the leeway she had given Zephyr, feeling he almost got Zephyr to talk. Still, he conceded, also seeing the reason in her offer.

He turned around abruptly, leaving the center of the room and walking back to his seat. "Then let’s leave this for later and get to the matter of selecting a teacher," he said.

"I would’ve loved to teach you," Grandmaster Oswald said. "But I am not a Half-Exalted. If we had none among us then maybe I could’ve, but we do have Half-Exalted among us," the Grandmaster pointed towards three people— Pascal, a quiet-looking middle-aged lady seated on the right side of the U-shaped table, and a man with bored expression on his face, like the whole meeting was a drag, seated on the left.

"Pascal specializes in—" Sharon had just taken over the introductions from Grandmaster Oswald when Zephyr cut in.

"—No need. I already have someone in mind," he said with conviction and pointed at the person immediately, drawing a low murmur of exclamation and surprise from the members of the council.

"Me?" The person chuckled.

It was the man with the bored-out expression on his face. He chuckled as Zephyr pointed at him, surprised to have gotten singled out by the boy. There was absolutely no reason he could think of for Zephyr to have selected him. "I think you should hear what they have to say before making a decision," the man advised calmly.

"No. I’m sure." Zephyr shook his head. "I choose you."

"There’s no sense in that though...?" the man said again, trying to discourage Zephyr.

"Doesn’t matter, I would’ve selected based on my guts either way. As long as you’re all capable, I think the choice boils down to who I feel would be the best fit for me." Zephyr said.

Grandmaster Oswald watched their exchange amusedly, "Jon, you’re going to mentor the boy," he announced with finality.

Jon—the man Zephyr selected as his teacher, gave a tired sigh, resigning to his fate.

Pascal, seated at the end of the table on the opposite side, laughed loudly. "At least you have something to do now. You’re not running away from this one Jon. I wonder what you keep yourself busy with cooped up in that courtyard of yours," he said. "It’s a shame though, I really thought you’d choose me, kid," he looked at Zephyr. "I had so much planned to teach you... but anyways... you made your choice," he said, standing up. "I think we’re done here, Grandmaster?"

"If there’s nothing else, I’d like to get going as well. We’re all very busy people," Dale said, actually agreeing with Pascal for once. "Still don’t get why we were brought here for just this one kid, like we’re prizes for him to choose from..." he muttered under his breath out of the hearing of anyone.

"This meeting is therefore adjourned until further notice." Grandmaster Oswald announced, also standing up.

The sounds of chairs scraping against the hard marbled ground echoed through the room as all the members of the council stood up to leave. "Adjourned?!" Dale snapped, looking around at everyone as they accepted Grandmaster Oswald’s order.

One of the members simply patted his shoulder to calm him down and prevent him from causing any ruckus. They whispered sharply between themselves as the man guided Dale out of the room.

Grandmaster Oswald looked on without care. "You know, previous Council heads would never have allowed such blatant insubordination from members of the council," the stern old man standing next to Grandmaster Oswald said casually, like it was something he said every other day.

Grandmaster Oswald also replied casually, almost pre-programmed, "Not in my own tenure. I don’t have the time for petty things like that," he said.

The three old council members walked out of the room together, casting a last look at Zephyr and Jon who were the last two left in the room.

Just as they stepped out, Zephyr turned and asked Jon eagerly, "So when do we begin?"