The Castle School of Self-Defense

Chapter 4 - The Discussion

1800hrs
25th September
Cafeteria of the Castle School of Self-Defense

"Your PSDCSA partner was WHO???" William's new found best friend Charlie asked.

"Some girl named Charlotte, didn't I tell you already?" William found himself telling Charlie this for the third time.

"How...... how is that possible?" Charlie questioned.

William was, of this moment, very confused. After his PSDCSA examination, he had made his way down to the courtyard again, where he met someone named Rosa, who was supposed to be his housing advisor. She brought him to his room, where all his stuff was, together with an envelope full of sheets of paper. According to the instructions on the first sheet of paper, he was supposed to fill in a huge load of paperwork. After the paperwork was done, it was already 5:30 pm. Dinner was in 30 minutes so he decided to have a quick glance at his timetable for the next day before heading down to dinner. At dinner, he met his fellow classmate by the name of Charlie. Charlie had also finished his PSDCSA examination on that day, at 4pm. According to Charlie, how the exam worked was that all the new students were brought in at different times over the course of 3 days. It turned out that the first student was brought in on the 22nd of September at 8am. The first exam of the day was at 8am and the last was at 5pm across the three days. Each student's exam was given a maximum of 30 minutes. If they did not complete their task in 30 minutes, they would automatically fail. Those who failed could not attend the school. Of the 60 students who took the exam, only 50 students passed, making that year's cohort of Primary - Level 1 students only 50.

It turned out that Charlie had known all this because his father was the Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors, so he had known everything about this school. William asked him all sorts of questions about the school, further widening his knowledge about how the school functioned. When Charlie mentioned that all the PSDCSA examination partners were 2 Secondary - Level 2 students called Nate and Susan, William had been quite surprised as it had actually been Charlotte who took William's examination.

"Charlie, my exam partner wasn't Nate or Susan." William had told Charlie.

"That's not possible! Who was it, then?" Charlie had replied.

"It was some girl called Charlotte. She didn't look like she was Secondary - Level 2."

"What?? How?? Charlotte definitely isn't Secondary - Level 2, and I don't remember her being on the list of......" Charlie suddenly stopped, and the smile on his face suddenly disappeared. It was as if he had suddenly run out of joy.

"Charlie! Are you alright? What's going on? Is something wrong?" William asked quickly.

"Let me guess, the person who recruited you was Sam Snow? Chairman of the Board of Directors?" Charlie said quickly.

"Yes, but what does that have to do with Charlotte or the PSDCSA examination?" William was utterly confused at this point.

Charlie's expression now turned to half-fear and half-dread. "You see, Charlotte, " he said, gesturing towards where Charlotte was sitting, "she's not any random student here. Not only is she the best student here - she can actually beat some Secondary Level 2 students in a fight although she's only a Primary Level 3 student - she's also Charlotte Snow, daughter of Sam Snow, great-granddaughter of Henry Snow, the great spy in World War 2, and the Great-Great-Great Granddaughter of Arthur Snow, who so happened to serve in the Civil War. Unfortunately, the Snow Family Line is kinda broken due to improper documentation and most of the family working for the CIA. Charlotte doesn't just go around doing stuff for fun, especially if it is being a PSDCSA exam partner. From what I know, Charlotte hates PSDCSA. It doesn't seem like her to take out a test run at being an PSDCSA exam partner, and besides, you can only do that if you're Secondary - Level 1. She's only Primary - Level 3. This can only mean one thing: You're important enough for Sam Snow himself to not trust Nate or Susan to send his own daughter to be your partner. From what my father has told me about Sam, he is actually very protective of his daughter. He doesn't send his daughter to protect someone unless it is of great importance and he cannot find someone else who is fit. Now the question is: why you? Did you do anything important or are you someone of great importance?"

William was taken aback with Charlie's knowledge about the people here and the background of people here. "Charlie, I...... uh....... I'm not a VIP, I didn't do anything like very great or anything, I really don't know why Sam would send his own daughter to protect me."

"Think about it, William. Sam, the Chairman of the Board of Directors—essentially the guy who runs this whole school—risked his own daughter's life for yours. Doesn't that strike you as odd? And to top it off, Sam was at your assessment grading. Do you have any idea how unusual that is? Normally, it's just the principal, vice-principals, the Chair of the Board of Recruiters, the partner, and the bodyguards you have to deal with. Sam never shows up to these things. Yet here he was, front and center. Why? People like him don't just make appearances for no reason. It seems to me like there's more to this—something they're not telling you. You should ask Charlotte. If anyone knows what's really going on, it's her."

William hesitated before nodding. "You're right, Charlie. It is strange." He paused, his voice softening. "Maybe I'll ask her after dinner... I mean, if I see her. I'm going to use the bathroom, by the way. I'll be right back." As he walked toward the bathroom, William's mind raced. The thought of talking to Charlotte filled him with both nervous anticipation and excitement. This wasn't just a chance to figure out what was going on—it was a chance to actually talk to her again, maybe even impress her. He could already imagine the way her sparkling blue eyes would focus on him, the way her voice would make his heart skip a beat. He shook his head, trying to focus. There were more important things to deal with, but the idea of spending even a moment more with her was a temptation he couldn't ignore.

Although William had promised Charlie he'd be back quickly, he had no idea that danger was already lurking in the shadows, waiting to strike.