Chereads / Contract of Convenience / Chapter 18 - The First Lecture

Chapter 18 - The First Lecture

***Kaius's POV***

Platina was surprisingly serious about her job as a lecturer. The next two days were spent thinking about what she would talk about in her opening lecture. She prattled on about how it must be basic enough to promote understanding, but interesting enough to keep people wanting more, and interactive enough to stop people from falling asleep. I was getting tired of her asking for my opinions and then immediately refuted all my ideas. If there was one thing I learned about Platina after all my interactions with her, it was that she was a perfectionistic control freak. She wanted things to go exactly as she planned, and any deviations bothered her immensely. While we are in a cooperative partnership, we ultimately clashed all the time about the most basic things. For example, I was more easy-going in my daily lives and tended to leave my room a little messy. However, the moment Platina saw me throwing my jacket anywhere other than in the closet, she would frown, then cleared her throat to indicate that she wanted something done, and when I didn't respond, she went the direct route and nagged at me to stop being a slob. She now implemented weekly cleaning. She would get annoyed when I dawdle in the morning and ended up being a little late to lectures. In all honesty, she was acting like a naggy mom. And somehow, I let her. Our master-familiar relationship had somehow warped the opposite way. She was now more like the master, and I was the familiar bound to her every whim. Platina had a strong personality that commanded respect. And while I am not one to be bullied either, I had to admit that when it came to ability to control people, she had me beat completely. Not that there wasn't any benefits to be gained for me. I now have a tidier room and no longer trip on random objects I threw on the floor. I showed up to lecture on time more often than not. I have a more regimented schedule with perfectly proportioned time for sleeping, eating, training, studying. I made sure to complain liberally about it, but I still did as she asked in the end.

Anyway, back to the lectures. After two entire days of planning, Platina finally decided on a lesson plan. She then proudly stood on the podium of the lecture hall while I sat at the very front row (because of the master-familiar distance constraints, not because I was excited for it).

As expected, after Platina's surprising show of magic at the performance assessment, pretty much the entire school showed up for the lecture, including the Headmaster and the professors. Everyone was looking at Platina with expectation. I briefly wondered if she was feeling too nervous to speak, but that concern was no longer there when I saw her face. Platina was standing straight with her usual prideful expression and spoke into the enchanted voice amplifier with ease.

"Good afternoon! Thank you very much for attending this lecture. My name is Platina. As many of you know, I was transported into this world by accident and became Kaius's familiar. I came from a different world, called Loranthos. It is a world similar, and yet different from yours. Like you world, we have magic, which we use to defend against threats from monsters and advance society. But unlike your world, the magic we use is different. What many of you have seen during the performance assessment is but one of the many spells harnessed by mages in Loranthos. This lecture will be the first in a series to introduce you to Loranthian magic and society."

At this point, Platina paused to gather herself, then began again. All eyes were focused on her, including the Headmaster's, whose eyes were sparkling as though he had found a treasure.

"Loranthian magic is founded more than 5000 years ago. It is said that those who carried the ability to command magic were much revered in the primitive societies of the day. However, as is human nature, they were mostly used not for good, but for wars and destruction. For the first 1000 years, mages were subjected to the whims of the ruling class and trained to become weapons of destruction. At that time, the three most powerful mages, who all had many followers, harbored the wish to distance mages from the conflicts of the time. To them, a mage's power should be used for the betterment of society and the human race, not to wage wars amongst civilizations. Thus, together they created the Confederation of Mages, based in Opsoras city, which disallows magic to be used in political conflicts. Soon, the Confederation grew in support and has expanded to other areas. Aside from the first mission statement, it now plays a pivotal role in magic education, research, peace-keeping, defense against monsters and many more."

She paused a bit to let the students who were taking notes to finish writing everything down, then continued, "The Confederation contains the Council, made up of respected mages as well as politicians all over the world, and the three Supreme Warlocks who are direct descendants of the three founders – Norigium, Amagaerius, and Hedovonia. For 4000 years these three families have managed the affairs of the magical community in Loranthos."