11 Crazy Girl (1/2)
Elysa Kingdom was of minor importance to the Dalia Kingdom Magic Academy in terms of the talent it could bring to the kingdom. Most of the real magical talent is inherited through superior genes, thus low tier kingdoms with mostly normal human nobles in power would not usually produce a startling magic genius. As such, the representative from the academy was a low-end teacher from the Water Department. His name was Harrison Eldred. He was the illegitimate 6th son of a branch of the Eldred Family. While the Eldred Family was a fairly powerful force in the Dalia Kingdom, Harrison was illegitimate and his father was the third son of the current Head. Sadly for Harrison, his talent was not outstanding and so the family did not support him. As much as that was true, he still was able to push himself to the advanced level third stage at his current age of 40. The Snow Country as a whole was cold and full of water element mana, thus the amount of water magicians in the country was the largest by far. Harrison's presence, in such an enormous Water Department at the academy, was small. Therefore, he was always the first to volunteer for recruitment missions outside the academy since there was no shortage of families willing to bribe him. He would always gladly pocket their money for his personal funds and if the amount was enough he wouldn't mind doing some favors as well.
The shopkeeper read the information on Harrison while a smile grew larger and larger on his face. He began laughing loudly once he finished reading while a plan was already forming in his head. These types of men were the easiest to use as long as one had wealth.
Harrison ended up arriving in the capital two days before the exam started. Per usual, many aristocratic families came and bribed him with all sorts of rare magic herbs they found or with gold. Harrison kept a genial smile in his face, but, if one looked close enough, they would be able to see the sharp disdain in his eyes. He accepted their money and made empty promises to help their children, however, he would never help them in reality. If their talent is inferior and he brought them back, the academy would be able to spot the discrepancy immediately. These families were all weak but they still made a lot of money as the local lords. Normally, magicians from higher tier kingdoms wouldn't pay attention to the magic herbs and gold that the low tier kingdoms provided, but Harrison had no other way to receive more funding for himself. He just treated these foolish families as money bags and when he broke his promise later he would just use his identity to pressure them to not speak out about it. In reality, he wasn't robbing them of too much money anyways so most of the families would just keep quiet about it and think of it as a gift to make connections.
The night before the exam, Harrison received an invitation to that same magic items shop. He arrived on time, curious as to what the shopkeeper would want from him. As a store, they did not have children they wished to pass the exam so Harrison was confused as to why they would invite him. He was led into the meeting room and saw the shopkeeper waiting for him. Although Harrison wasn't a fan of shady people like the shopkeeper, he still sat down to listen to the request.
”Ah, you must be Lord Eldred, pleasure to make your acquaintance.” The shopkeeper obviously lowered himself in front of Harrison.
Harrison felt disdain for such people, but still cordially responded, ”Yes, just call me Teacher Harrison. I'm not anyone important in the Eldred family. I don't dare let myself be called Lord.”
The shopkeeper could sense his dislike, but continued anyways, ”Teacher Harrison, you are too humble. As a powerful magician, you deserve anyone's respect...”
”Just get to the point. I don't have time to listen to pointless flattery.” Harrison firmly interrupted him as his ears were worn out from all the flattery he has listened to lately.
The shopkeeper's eyes flashed with anger slightly, but he reigned it in as he knew that Harrison could kill him in an instant. He widely smiled, ”Ah, yes, you are very straightforward. I really admire this trait. Then I will be straight with you in return. I wish for you to definitely fail one of the exam participants. I'm not completely sure of his talent level, but I have found out that he's from a rural area so it shouldn't be too amazing. If his talent is pretty good, I hope you would still fail him. I'm sure it's not that big a deal since Dalia Magic Academy has so many amazing geniuses.”
Harrison paused in thought before responding, ”I guess I could accomplish this as it's not a big deal. Plus, unless he is an amazing genius he would only suffer at the academy anyways. I would know best at how those with only above average talent are treated. They are a dime a dozen. Failing him would be doing him a favor.”
”Fantastic! Here is just a small token of my appreciation.” The shopkeeper passed a storage bag to Harrison which contained a large amount of gold and magic items. Harrison peeked in using his magic and was very pleasantly surprised at the wealth this shop was in control of.
”Hmmm... not bad. I hope we have a pleasant cooperation.” Harrison smiled and shook the shopkeeper's hand before leaving. The door shut behind him and there was silence until the attendant next the shopkeeper spoke out.
”Sir, can we trust him? What if he just takes everything without doing anything?”
”Hmm... I'm not sure, but he should follow through. It's easy to fail someone, unlike those others who are bribing him to help their children pass. Anyways, this is just to make sure that he does not pass. Someone with his background probably would not be talented enough to join in the first place. Even without me meddling, his chances of passing are small. Once he doesn't pass, he will probably head home and I can use that opening to kill that brat.” The shopkeeper's eyes squinted with viciousness as he thought to that day's embarrassment.