The Beginning of the Beastmasters

Observing a Foe

I thank KatherineOzawa of Wattpad for helping me.

Back at the lounge, all three were silent as they sat around on the furniture. No one said a word, only drinking the water or tea Niho got out for each of them to quench their thirst. Jack only took a few sips of his water before putting the glass down on the table and spoke up first.

"I think it's safe to say that everybody with an anemone stuck on their head gambled on Azul's contract and lost. The terms of said contract were apparently to place in the top 50. But with the sheer number of students signin' on most of them never stood a chance of getting in at all. That was Azul's game from the start."

"I DID find it weird that Grim managed to score over 80 on a test." Niho muttered, her hands wrapped around a mug of ginger tea that she barely touched.

"I mean, c'mon! If you're gettin' good grades off someone else's work, what does that even prove? You're throwin' away a perfectly good opportunity to show others what you're capable of. Frankly, you're cheating yourself." Jack continued to rant. Rajni set down her own cup and calmed Jack down with a hand on his bicep,

"But it wasn't as if they had a little answer sheet on them while the test was going on."

Niho nodded, "Getting a little extra help isn't cheating."

"If the rest of the student body here were as principled and tedious... I mean, as "serious" as you, it would spare me such grief!" A new, but familiar, voice perked up.

"WHOA! Headmage?! You startled me!" Jack nearly flew out of his seat from the miniature jumpscare and knocked over the water glass, but saved it due to fast reflexes.

"So transpires another year of me being unable to clamp down on Ashengrotto's little "side business." Crowley sighed with forlorn.

"What do you mean, "side business"?" Niho narrowed her eyes at the bird man with suspicion.

"Azul Ashengrotto: Sophomore. Housewarden of Octavinelle Dorm." Crowley recited by memory. "Much like Rosehearts, he is a highly capable student already running a dorm as a sophomore, but he's a bit- no, I dare say QUITE a bit troublesome."

"'A bit'?" Rajni mocked with scorn.

"Are you talking about him swindling people? Seems to me like one word from the headmage could put a stop to the whole thing." Jack joined in on the suspicious air around the girls, and glared at Crowley accusingly.

"Ah, but it is precisely BECAUSE I am in a teaching position that I cannot prohibit his actions." Crowley added, making Jack even more on guard.

"Why not?"

"...Here's the thing about those study guides that Ashengrotto handed out to the students. There was no illegitimate activity involved in their production. Nobody snuck looks at test questions or answers beforehand. It was crafted exhaustively by hand, after researching the past century's worth of Night Rave College exam questions and their patterns. In other words, it's an entirely legitimate study guide."

"A century's worth of test questions?!" Niho gaped in the relevance. She felt like It should be customary that whenever schools take exams, the answer guide sheet should be subject to change with the questions that come year round! Basically, new waves of students should be answering far different questions than their predecessors! Otherwise, what was the point?!

" Huh. Well, I'll be. If he did all that by hand, the guy's got chops. Hm? Wait... So the problem is that there IS no problem with it?" Jack inquired, interrupting her thought process.

"You strike right to the heart of the matter, Howl. As a teacher, I can hardly prohibit a student from crafting an exam study guide via honest work. Nor can I prohibit a student from "kindly" sharing their notes with friends."