Road of the Heavenly Light

9-2: Mastermind

The next morning, Alexander unexpectedly found himself alone at the breakfast table, as Darren had gone out for some business matter, leaving Alexander in the hands of his more than capable staff. He enjoyed a quick but delicious breakfast before taking the spare carriage towards the academy. Alexander was a bit early for his first class, hopefully giving him enough time to traverse the maze that was the academy. He felt some slight nerves now that he was here for real, but reasoned that there were plenty of people who believed in him, so he had nothing to fear.
"Hey! What are you doing here?" a voice called out. Alexander turned around and was faced by a man clearly some years older than him, and probably at least three times his height. Alexander very nearly had a heart attack when the man walked up to him.
"I-I'm studying here."
The man scoffed, "really? What's your name, kid?"
"Alexander Gaspard."
He watched as a cheeky smirk then formed on the man's face.
"Oh, I've heard all about you. Your ambitious father must be proud of his sons, pushing them into royalty. Your brother is already gonna be our king one day, and you'll be a grand duke when you marry Princess Emma of Divinia," he mused, "and now you're also attending this school, for prestige I imagine."
Alexander wanted to respond to the unknown man and his weird remarks, but before he could open his mouth, the bells rang, and it was time for his first class. The man walked off without another word, and Alexander had to focus his attention in finding the right classroom.

Thankfully for him, the classroom he needed to go to was just around the corner, and he was able to walk in without being late. He chose a seat near the back of the class, not wanting to stand out just yet. As everyone else, including the professor, were getting ready, he took some time to ponder the strange man's words. What had he been talking about when he said that Alexander would marry Emma? They were just friends, not to mention that they were only ten years old. No one was thinking about marriage at that age, Alexander included. The man must have misunderstood something or heard a nasty rumor.

Alexander's thoughts were interrupted by the words of the professor, who cleared his throat and bade them good morning and hoped they were excited to start the new year, before jumping straight into the lecture,
"Our beautiful country has been a place for tacticians and strategists to study and flourish ever since its founding, neatly five hundred years ago. This very academy was founded by King Gerard, who, before becoming its patron, had been the tactician of the Legendary Heroes of Iola and the brother to our first king, Nicholas. It was Gerard, who, after Nicholas' assassination on the orders of Empress Adeline, took charge of the war against Magnos. It was his genius plans that allowed the Falmarian army to take the territory that is today the independent kingdom of Aurion."
Alexander was busy taking notes, though he already knew most of the information. He had already received extensive lessons on the history of Aurion, which started with the same war.
"For your first assignment of the year, you will be put into pairs and receive one of Gerard's tactical plans to study and create a solution for. This will be used to gauge everyone's current level of skill, as well as team-working skills. The difficulty of the rest of your lessons will be determined by your results."
Oh gosh, they were really serious here. Alexander would need to do well on the assignment, or he'd have come for nothing. He had been allowed to enroll at a younger age than was usually allowed for his potential, and so he had to prove that everyone had been wise to put faith in him.

Alexander walked down towards the list of pairs the professor had drawn up, hoping for a good partner. It was a group project, after all, and so the result depended on his partner just as much as on him. He looked down at the list for his name, and for that of his partner. Andy Whitewood. He didn't know anyone by name yet, so he hoped he would just find this Andy somehow. He hoped Andy was a nice person.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" he heard a familiar voice exclaim next to him. He looked over and saw the man from before staring at him. Alexander then knew at once who Andy Whitewood was. Just his luck. He could only hope Andy was more friendly when forced to work with him.
"Now, listen here, kid, you gotta pull your weight for this assignment. I can't do the work for you when it gets too difficult."
This was hopeless. He was doomed. Oh well, he was stuck with it now, maybe he could at least try to prove himself somehow.

"Where will we be working on the assignment?" he asked.
"It can't be at my place. It's filled with guests. My mother is trying to find a suitor for my sister. I don't suppose you're staying at anything better than a cramped inn."
"Actually-"
"Alexander! Kiddo, it's good to see you!" Darren exclaimed as he approached the duo, "I just finished up my business for the morning, and since I would pass here on my way back, I thought I'd give you something nice for lunch."
Darren handed him a crêpe, which Alexander gladly accepted.
"Now, don't be home too late today, we're having supper early, as Their Majesties have returned from their tour, and they've invited us to spend the evening with them."
"Of course. See you in the afternoon," Alexander responded, and the marquess left again.
"You're staying with Lord Ashwood? Well, in that case, let's meet at your place tomorrow after school, if His Lordship doesn't mind," Andy suggested.
"I'm sure he doesn't."

Luckily, the rest of the day Alexander could spend far away from Andy, as even though they shared nearly all of their classes, at least he wasn't forced to sit next to him. He had to admit that he was rather relieved when the day was over, though. The classes and professors weren't bad, he just hadn't imagined that of all things, a man with an attitude would be his biggest problem.
"So, how was your first day?" Darren asked him at dinner.
"It was... interesting," Alexander diplomatically responded. Truth be told, it was also terrifying.