I am not lonely [Mystrade] - BOOK 2

CHAPTER 210 : Bright young people

Mycroft smiled as he got in sight of the massive frontage of the Imperial College. It had been quite some time he hadn't been back within its walls and seeing it brought back a handful of memories. Despite being seen as a sort of outcast and not having many friends back when he was still a student here, he still had had an enjoyable time in these classes and, old age making him soft, was somewhat emotional to be back in his old college. He entered the main door and found himself and the old hallway that hadn't changed a single bit in the last thirty years. The place was flooded with students moving from one lesson to the other and the official followed the flow to the second floor where were located some of the college's most ancient and biggest amphitheater. The doors of the rooms were opened to allow students to take place as they were waiting for their next lesson to began. The elder Holmes finally found the room he was looking for and was surprised by the attendance, most of the seats already filled and more students coming in. He took a look at the profile of the students and was happy to discover some diversity and quite a lot of women.

He sat on the edge of the desk placed on the platform and waited a couple of minutes as for everyone to be seated before nodding to a young man sat near the door to shut it close. He kept silent for a few more seconds, gaining himself silence and attention. Then, as two hundred pair of eyes were fixed on him he cleared his throat and began.

« Good afternoon young people. My name is Mycroft Holmes and I will be responsible for putting one or two new information in your head for the next two hours. » he introduced himself in a joyful voice. « Does any of you actually knows what a civil servant is? »

Three dozens of hands or so were raised in the air by their owner making the politician chuckle.

« What are you even doing here then? » he asked, rhetorically. « For the rest of you have you been living in a cave for the last twenty years of your life? »

Mycroft Holmes was known as the Iceman but it wasn't fair to him because he wasn't just a composed and cold hearted man, he was also someone who liked to roast other because it made him laugh a great deal internally and confused his interlocutors, giving him power over them. Today was a perfect example of that. In less than a minute he had insulted the intelligence of everyone in the room and made them so confused he could see the doubt in their eyes as what was still to come. He left another moment of silence just to appreciate the confusion he had created before he continued his speech.

« So for all of you munchkins. A civil servant is, as its name gives away, a civilian who serves. »

The students were left pretty gobsmaked by this introduction and many were looking at their friends, not knowing what they were doing here exactly. The politician could easily make guesses over who, in the group of friend had dragged the other to the class, promising them that it would be a useful way to spend a couple of hours.

The elder Holmes inserted a memory stick into the computer sat on the desk and double click on a files that the students could clearly see was labeled as "stupid presentation for dumb youngsters.pdf". A page filled with numbers and statistics suddenly appeared on the projection screen behind Mycroft. Of course, he could have taken his time to do one of those pretty slides that teachers usually did for theirs students or let Anthea take care of it but he had no time to spare on such silliness and was convinced that by making things voluntarily difficult to follow, only those who were especially motivated would still consider joining the civil service after this class. The official was the fruit of his education despite all of what he had fight against these past years and some things had never changed. In his eyes, only the very few should be able to serve at the top, although his judgment was no more based on your money and your ancestors but on your will and intellectual abilities and this class was his own little test.