"What the hell was the meaning of that?"
Instantly forcing Fen to sit down on one of the chairs, his teacher started walking around the room with a panic written all over the face.
"Why did you have to do this?!"
Still pacing around the place, Fen's teacher continued to build up the scenarios that could now happen. Watching the actions of his master, Fen simply waited until the man would calm the heck down.
How was he supposed to explain anything when he was unable to even catch Stiel's stare or attention?
"Do you even realise what you have done?!"
Suddenly stopping in his tracks, Stiel looked harshly at his student. Calmly responding to the middle-aged man's stare, Fen could notice the hints that this man wasn't able to decide whether Fen was stupid or covertly a hidden genius!
Still, Stiel has yet to reach the point where Fen could reason with him. Just the flares that continued to appear in his eyes only to vanish in the very next moment were enough of a proof for this.
"At least tell me that you know what a paragon is!"
Once again stopping in his tracks and turning to his student, Stiel allowed Fen to see the bottomless sea of hope in his eyes.
"I'm sorry, but outside of a single tale I heard, I only have rough guesses."
There was absolutely no point in hiding this fact. While the part how Fen learned about paragons' from his visions could be omitted, just the fact of possessing this knowledge couldn't hurt.
"I see…"
With all his hopes crushed, Stiel simply approached the nearest chair before falling on it heavily. Instantly sliding down the seat turning his position into one that would never be recommended by a responsible parent to their teen child, this middle-aged man released a heavy sigh.
"Then why the heck did you stir up so much trouble?!"
Stiel's head was hidden deep in his cupped hands. Even his voice came out muffled because of this as if the man in front of Fen could only give up.
"Because if Basil as much as allowed a single thought that the entire story I fed him is nothing but bullshit, then that place would already turn into a bloodbath."
There was no denying this fact. Fen wasn't as blind as to ignore the same kind of insignia that Basil's robes were decorated with as the ones worn by the same inquisitor that commanded over Fen's execution.
Figurinig out what actually happened, wasn't that hard at all. From how Basil sold his soul by ratting Fen, his friend, out, through how the entire village disappeared, all the way to not even a hint of living being remaining in place after Inquisition's intervention…
"Isn't it obvious? The entire tale about Fen's brother that I told back there… Is just as I called it. A tale about my older brother."
Just the implications behind this conjunction were grave. From how Fen actually had a family to speak off, through how come they were calling themselves a paragon, lawfully or not, all the way to why did Fen's and Basil's master brough that topic up, and twice as that!
The first time, was long gone in Fen's memories. He only knew about it thanks to the others telling him that it happened, and what kind of wondrous effect it had over the young man during his childhood years.
The second time when that story was brough up, was when officially became an adult at the age of seventeen. Just few months short of his execution, delayed only due to how obscure Fen's village was, pushing the initiation from something that should happen on the day of birth, to a yearly ceremony heralded by the one priest that could bother to actually go there.
To this point, Fen always considered this situation as nothing more but an array of coincidences. But what if Fen's master was someone far bigger than the young man realised? He wasn't as stupid as to ignore Firo's rambling about her grandparent either. Unless some kind of great change happened, then Fen would be actually sure that his master was no other person than the man that Firo was so desperately looking for!
With this kind of background, all Beyar's action had to be analyzed once more, one by one, in order to unravel their potential hidden meaning. What if the fact that the old man told them this story was just a single stone in the entire mozaic of hints that the old man gave to young Fen?
"But… Why…?"
Stiel wasn't stupid either. Just from the few words that escaped from Fen's lips, he was capable of picturing the true underlying problem of the situation. Yet, to say that he wasn't overwhelmed by who did his student pick a fight with, would be nothing short of a lie!
"Let's say that he owes me a debt of blood. And that's why the news of my resignation from the tournament has to be kept secret!"
Suddenly changing the topic from the ambiguous past to the harsh present, Fen looked up at his teacher with confidence brimming through his eyes.
"Wait, I'm totally confused right now. You have this much bad blood between each other, you went to such great lengths to make him wish to eliminate you, and now you are talking about dropping out of the fights? Aren't your words and actions standing kind of in reverse?"
Barely raising his head above his cupped hands, Stiel's voice continued to shutter. It was weak enough for any listener to wonder when it will break, but steady enough to keep passing the necessary message through.
"Let's say that I'm not childish enough to follow through with my revenge in clearly unfavourable terms. Right now, he is with the strong boys. Waiting for the time when his current allies will abandon him or won't be able to help him will be my way of bringing forth the justice I demand. That's why, I wanted to ask. Is it possible for me to obtain the token right away, as to use the next three days to move out from the empire?"
Suddenly asking an unexpected question, Fen this time didn't allow his teacher to turn his sight away.
"Heh… Given the story that I gave to him, Basil is likely going to spend the next three days at the ruins remaining from our village, waiting to spring the trap on me."
With an added chuckle, another part of Fen's makeshift plan was revealed. Feed the enemy enough info to confuse them, but give them the parts that you know they would latch on, directly and simply. In the clusterfuck of the options, windows and opportunities, they would surely go for the most obvious one! After all, if someone could ever be cautious, they would never speak about their plans of throw their weight around like that in the first place!
"Okay then… Sadly, I can't help you with the token like that. Unless you were proven to be a paragon, my hands are bound and so are the possibilities that the guild as a whole has. You might be exceptional, but unless you are even more talented than the absolute top, then the guild won't be able to afford buying you out."
Whatever did the mercantile sentences at the end of Stiel's part meant, the answer was clear. No matter what, unless he followed their procedures, Fen would be doomed to waste the next three days in the city.
"It seems that I will have to wait for the tournament to end then. I hope you can find some ways for me to avoid facing Basil or any of his friends. The next time…"
Recalling all the emotions that were coursing through his veins during the last encounter, Fen realised that if not for their strange mixture that both managed to make him appear authoritative while calming him down to the point where he wouldn't erupt right away, then the events would proceed in a far different manner.
"I might not be able to hold myself back with them."