I pointedly ignored the stares from everyone as I followed the staff member down the halls to the headmaster's office. Rumors had gotten around, I supposed, that I had been challenged, this school being infested with loose-lipped gossips, but hopefully not the details. I wasn't ashamed of my work at the maid café, but certain appearances did need to be maintained.
Or maybe they didn't? How much was my wanting to keep up some semblance of noble dignity, and how much was just vanity on my part? Was it the same thing? Too many questions. I wanted to get my homework done, and have some lunch, maybe take a nap, or a bath.
Yes, a bath would be nice.
My distracted thoughts found me running into the staff member as we stopped in front of a door. It was a simple door, no ornamentation, just a little sign that said "Headmaster" on it. She rapped on the door gently.
"Enter." A gruff bass voice called from the interior.
She opened the door and led me inside. It was a simple office, very minimal in ornamentation, pragmatic choice in furniture. Even the headmaster's desk was a simple wooden affair. The only thing that stood out was a bookshelf covered in a variety of objects, likely trophies or mementos of doubtless great sentimental value.
The headmaster was signing some kind of papers and looked up at both of us. He was a mountain of a human man, heavily muscled with scars all over his arms, clearly from all kinds of weapons, bites, and claws. They even extended to his face, framed by short, cropped salt and pepper hair, and a handlebar mustache to cap everything off. The small reading spectacles perched on his nose threw the entire "grizzled retired adventurer" look off, however. They just looked so tiny compared to everything else about him, it took a great deal of willpower just to keep from giggling.
"Thank you, Farina, you may go." She bowed slightly, turned, and left the room. He signed a few more papers before pointing at the chair across from him, clearly indicating for me to sit.
I sat there in silence for a few more minutes as he kept filling out documents. I was beginning to get annoyed.
"Sir, I don't mean to be disrespectful, but what did you call me here for?" I broke the silence. He stopped and looked up from the papers, met my gaze for a moment, sighed a bit, and shuffled the papers before putting his pen down. The soft click of it felt like a hammer on a gavel.
"I'm going to be blunt, Miss Marchesi. You are in trouble. Big trouble." He grumbled, his low tones practically making my bones hum.
"What have I done sir? My academics surely-" He held up a hand to stop me from continuing.
"Not in trouble with the school. Far from it. You are an excellently adequate student, and I predict a fine career in dungeoneering in your future if you can maintain the level of work I've seen so far. No, you're in trouble with everyone else in this town." He stood and walked over to the window and stared out the window.
"Surely you must be mistaken, sir! I'm not sure how I'm angering everyone. Is that even possible?" I was getting nervous.
"Excuse my hyperbole. Not literally everyone, but enough powerful individuals that its making life difficult. The City Lord is on my back about the fight you had the other day, and the knights are asking to have you expelled." He explained.
"But I just received a letter of challenge! They said they'd forgive everything if I accepted." I was taken aback.
"Of course they did. They are trying to pressure us to expel you anyway. Offered money to make it happen, no matter which way the duel goes. And to make sure, they're having the City Lord threaten the school. The Obsidian Gauntlet are scoundrels of the highest order, if you ask me." He growled, sounding more like an enraged beast than a man.
"Why would they do that?" I couldn't believe it. Duels in Burgotova were sacrosanct things. The terms of a duel were absolute, and any kind of trickery around them was deeply shameful. I knew they were duplicitous thugs, but even for knights, this was beyond the pale.
"This Cavendish you so deftly handled, turns out he's the nephew of the head of the order. As well as a cousin of Knight Captain Carter, and the son of the lord of the port town of Godsea on the eastern coast of the Principality of Tarkota, which is the official sponsor of The Obsidian Gauntlet. I'm sure you get the picture." He turned back to stare at me.
"Basically, I just hit a nest full of hot tempers nepotistic hornets? That figures. Every time I stand up for myself, it turns into an absolute mess." I bemoaned my fate, sliding down in the chair. I just wanted to hide and disappear forever.
"Yes, I've heard stories about that little prank you pulled, which started your whole journey here. Hearing the details, I can't blame you for what you did. Either in that incident or this one with Cavendish. What do you plan to do, Miss Marchesi?" He sat back down and looked me straight in the eyes.
"What can I do? If I fight him and win, I'm in trouble. If I fight him and lose, I'm still in trouble. If I refuse the duel, it'll get even worse." I felt tears begin to well up in my eyes. The nobility had messed up my new life too. I was sad. I was angry. I was furious. My tears had turned into rivers of white-hot rage rolling down my face.
I slammed my fists on the arms of the chair I was sitting in. I slammed them again, and again and again till my hands hurt.
"I won't back down! I can't back down. Even if my life is over, I won't let them just walk away from this unscathed. I am Alta Marchesi, and I will not be treated this way! Even if I die, I will come back from hell and wreak a just vengeance upon them!" I cried out.
He laughed and slapped his hand atop his desk. "That's what I was hoping to hear! Never surrender! To no man or monster does an adventurer bend the knee!"
I looked at him, eyes wide, taken aback by his outburst.
"I don't understand." I sputtered; my cheeks were still wet with tears.
"I needed to see what kind of person you were myself. I wasn't going to let myself be bullied by the City Lord or those damned Knights, and I wanted to make sure you wouldn't either. And I'm satisfied by what I've seen!" He laughed again, a deep, hearty sound that warmed my heart, pulling it back from the dark red abyss it had slipped into.
"So, you're not going to expel me?" I couldn't help but smile at this.
"I'd rather chew my arm off. Again! Never mind, that's a story for another day! Now let's get to the fun part!" He stood and helped me up. He turned to his bookshelf of treasures and tapped one with his finger. It was a strange little conical object, like an ice cream cone turned upside down.
The room looked like it shimmered for a moment before solidifying again. It was then I noticed I couldn't hear anything other than our breathing anymore. The windows were likewise suddenly clouded over.
"Useful little trinket that. Blocks out sound, so no one can hear us talk. I like to think all my staff are loyal to me, but I've also lived long enough to know that everyone, and everything, has its price. Keep that truth close to your heart, Marchesi." His hand strayed to a scar on his arm, and his eyes looked distant for a moment before returning to the present.
"I will, sir." He didn't need to tell me that. I had met enough scoundrels, including one I was related to, for that lesson to be burned into my soul. "What now?"
"Now, we plan your duel. The most important rule of dungeoneering that they will never teach you in your classes. If you're in a fair fight, you've done something wrong. Never fight fair, if you can help it." He grinned and touched another of his artifacts, which caused the entire bookshelf to slide open, and revealed an entire room filled with all sorts of strange objects.
"W-what is all this, sir?" I marveled. Some of these items were worth the entire wealth of some countries. Ancient too! Swords, armor, jewelry, and more. I was astonished.
"Equalizers. I've no doubt the knights have dirty tricks up their sleeves, and I won't have any student of mine go into that sort of nonsense unprepared." He explained, running his hands over some of the objects, like a collector admiring his prizes.
"Where did you get all these, though? These are amazing and rare!" I asked excitedly.
"Found most of them on dungeon trips. Made some, had some of them made for me. One thing you start to realize is that some artifacts are worth more in your arsenal than being sold for coin. Coin is nice, but having an expansive toolkit is better. Both are ideal, though!" He patted my back with a laugh, the blow nearly knocking me off my feet.
I felt suspicion growing in my gut. A little nagging voice in the back of my mind is supporting it. "What's the catch, sir? I don't mean to be suspicious of your generosity, but I am."
"Clever girl. Of course, there is a catch. Also, you can call me Walther. I never much cared for being called sir." He grinned.
"Of course, s- Walther. As you wish. About that catch, though?" I pressed. I had to know exactly how much deeper into this morass I was getting into.
"Right. Here's the thing. I can't just give these to you. Too suspicious. They'd be able to claim unfairness, or some other dragon shite excuse to nullify the duel. However, if you say, find them in a dungeon while on assignment, that's something else entirely." He shrugged.
It made sense. If I just showed up with high-level items out of the blue, it would be pretty obvious. Items and weapons were allowed in the duel, but only what you could reasonably claim. The terms of the duel were pretty vague about what constituted a reasonable claim, so I was pretty sure they would have some kind of dirty tricks at the ready, just in case. They wanted to completely embarrass me. I wouldn't let them.
I looked over everything available. It was hard to decide, as there were some things here that would be monstrously overpowered that my fingers were itching to touch and use. I couldn't overdo it, though. I had to admit, I had no idea what to choose.
"Walther, I'm going to be honest; I have no idea what to choose. I also can't delve into too strong of a dungeon, and if it’s too strong, they'll suspect something is up. They likely will anyway, but I don't want to put too much suspicion on to the school. Finding a Divine Armor Cleaver in The Tower of Ash and Blood would be ludicrous." I finally said, after the indecision got too much for me.
"And you passed my second test. You used your brain to consider outside situations beyond the immediate challenge. Very good." He grinned again and gave a rumbling chuckle.
I sighed and put my hands on my hips in as stern an expression as I could muster. "What is with all these tests, sir? For serious, I am getting a bit annoyed."
I really was. I had felt very yanked around emotionally today. First, I had been told that I had a duel I didn't want, then found that the knights were conspiring to ruin my life out of pettiness, then the headmaster was doing all kinds of tests of character. I was deeply irritated by it all and was wondering what the point of it all was.
He frowned, a deeply sad expression, suddenly. "I-I can't explain right now, Alta. I really can't. But I want you to know that I, and the staff here, have your back. We have a plan already set up for getting you equipped. It hasn't been announced in your classes yet, but you are set for another practical dungeon assignment, this time solo exploration. It is there that we will set you up with some items to help. Items that would be completely reasonable for a student of your level to find, and then on the weekend, you will fight your duel, and no matter what happens, we'll still accept you at Dungeon School."
He was doing his best to reassure me, his tone seeming more like a grandfather than a headmaster or former adventurer. He was like the ocean in a way. His presence, also with his moods, was ever shifting, and it made it hard to figure out how to react. Was this just how he was, or was it some sort of strategy?
"What if I lose?" I asked, feeling suddenly overwhelmed by everything. The emotional ups and downs of the day were also like the ocean, and it was making me seasick.
"Then you apologize to a knight with more pride than good sense, you take it as a scar upon your honor, you stumble through a half-hearted apology, and life goes on. It's not a duel to the death, just an honor duel. Remember, to an adventurer, survival is more important than honor. There are more honorable souls in graveyards than on the face of the world." His expression turned sad, and his eyes took on that distant cast again.
"Why help me then? If not to help me preserve my honor?" I was confused more and more as this conversation continued.
"Honestly? Because I hate Knights, and I'd love nothing more than to see a student at my school knock them down a peg. Plus, I think you have a lot of promise, and I see helping you out here as a sort of investment."
An investment. Just like I had thought of my roommates. I guess it was fair to be considered one by someone else. Maybe he was like me, and it was something he just told himself to keep from getting to0 close. I had sensed he had a lot of history, the predominance of it being painful.
I held out my hand to him. "I agree to your terms and thank you for your assistance. Let's work together to kick some dirt in the face of some Knights!"
He grinned and took my hand, his grip firm. Too firm. Ouch.
"Glad to hear it. I wish you luck with your assignment and your duel. I will keep an eye on your career closely from now on!"
"Glad to hear it." I tried to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.
Good intentions or ill, attention never bodes well for me.