Alf was lying on the bed and was staring at George with open eyes, he didn’t try to look calm and was breathing heavily. He couldn’t find any good comeback and just reacted like Roy and Max had told him too.

“I think you have mistaken me for someone else, I got these injuries from the hunt yesterday and I have never seen you before.”

George felt really uncomfortable sitting there with an arrogant smile on his face, the only way he could get the information he wanted without getting caught was to scare the kid into submission but he had nothing to scare him with so he had to improvise.

“Don’t do that, you are more intelligent than that. I’m not here to discuss if you were in our room or not, I’m here to tell you the consequences of your action. Did you really think that you could beat a general's son and get away with it?”

George could see that Alf was getting more scared by the second, he had never met a noble other than Martin but he had read books about nobles from old times and how most of the time they didn’t even listen to the others point of view and would just push their own conclusion as the truth, because someone who has power doesn’t need facts. So when Alf was about to speak again he grabbed one of his broken legs, pushed hard but not hard enough for him to yell. George hated people who acted like this but he had to remember that these were the same people who had broken into his room and beaten his roommate and given the chance would have done the same to him. So he took another couple of breaths and tried to show as little emotion on his face as possible.

“The mistakes you people made was to think that the general has forsaken my master, but what you didn’t know is that it’s all an act to protect master from internal dangers in the family that you don’t need to know about. You should not have gone overboard when you broke in to steal the scroll last night, that scroll was a cheap reward master had gotten me for my service to him, but you had to break in and not only beat him but also call him a fool and question his honor as a nobleman, or did you think that it is a coincidence that a commoner is living in the same room as general Eric’s son!”

George waited for Alf to take all the information in and at the same time get some air himself, It didn’t look like it but on the inside, he felt more panic and fear than properly even Alf felt at the moment. Seeing Alf not say a word he felt a little happy that his plan was working and he went on with his story.

“The general has already put an enslavement order on you and your family and it took me a lot of time to convince master to give you another chance. He wanted to visit you himself this morning after we got word that you were here but I convinced him that you had already suffered enough and that you could be of some help to us. So he told me to give you two options, you tell us everything we need to know and supply us with information or you can be quiet and take your chances when master comes and visits you himself next time.”

George knew that there were a lot of plot holes in his story but he didn’t have time to come up with something better. But he didn’t think that Alf had the intelligence to notice anything.

‘Stupid, the next time you want to make up a story, take some time to make it believable so you don’t have to use stupid excuses like we wanted to give you a second chance. What if he doesn’t buy it and goes to the principal, the man is already crazy as it is, I can’t afford to anger him any further.’

George had always been hard on himself and full of self-doubt, but luckily for him, Alf didn’t seem to notice anything and nodded his head in agreement. George felt like he could breathe again and was thinking of what to ask next.

“Master told me that your punishment depends on how much information you can give me, and remember that we will question the other two as well when he catch them, so no lies. Now, tell me everything you know about them, and whose idea was it to steal the scroll?”

Alf paused for a second to think and after a while put his head down and started to talk.

“I had an appointment with the principal about my progress as a protector. I’m the only second-year student that hasn’t mastered the last stage of the Bō skill yet and he told me to go watch master Keven perform it on the training ground. I don’t have a lot of money and getting a chance to see master Keven use element power made me really happy, even a demonstration from Joseph would cost me at least two credits. So I went to the training ground and saw them hand you a middle-grade spirit stage refining technique, after the training was done I told Max and Roy what had happened and it was them who had the idea of stealing the scroll.”

George didn’t know if he was telling the truth or lying but it didn’t really matter, he had already confessed to being there and he already knew the principal's involvement. George felt a little annoyed on how cunning the principal was, he had orchestrated everything but there was nothing to connect him to the crime. He even had saved the day and made a name for himself, the only reason they knew about his involvement was because he had said so himself. George didn’t know why he had shown himself to Martin but there were two reasons that made sense to him. He wanted to teach George that power was more powerful than the truth or he wanted to gloat about his deeds, or maybe both.

“Now tell me everything you know about Max and Roy.”

Alf hesitated a little but didn’t stop, he had already crossed the point of no return and he still felt a little angry about the beating he got from the two, especially Roy who had broken both of his legs as punishment for saying his name.

“The boy who fought your master is Roy Nelson, he is the leader and is one of the best second-year students. There is even a chance of him reaching the top ten in the annual tournament in two months. He can be considered one of the three strongest students the academy has and there is a chance of him being recruited in a big clan if he performs well in the next tournament. The other boy is Max Morrow, we are not really related but our parents belong to the same clan so we consider each other family. Max is a lot more cautious and even though not a match for Roy he can still be considered in the top ten of the whole academy. The truth is that both didn’t really want to hurt your master and didn’t attack with full strength or he wouldn’t have had the chance to use that pill.”

George didn’t understand what pill Alf was talking about but didn’t think that it was the best time to ask. He had a lot more questions he wanted to ask but he felt like he had reached his limit.

“That will be enough for today, I will tell my master what you did and hopefully he will pardon you from your crimes. I will contact you if I have any other questions, and remember, not a word to anybody or we will find you.”

Alf nodded his head and George got up to leave, he didn’t change his expression and walked out with a slow pace. After he left the room he fastened his pace and exited the hospital, he found a small tree next to the hospital and moved next to it because he felt sick. But to his surprise, he didn’t have to throw up and after a couple of minutes the fear he felt changed into excitement. He had never felt such a rush before and even though he didn’t really enjoy the encounter it wasn’t as bad as he thought it would feel. But what he did enjoy was the feeling of outsmarting Alf and getting what he wanted without even lifting a finger, was this what made the principal do those things to him?

George went back to the entrance of the hospital and it took Tyler a couple more minutes to return. Tyler had a worried look on his face and was running towards George. George had never seen Tyler with a worried look and was wondering if something bad had happened to Clara. Tyler was out of breath when he reached George and it took him a couple of seconds to tell him what had happened.

“When I entered the barracks I saw the fool guard celebrating on the table and drunk, when I asked the others what had happened they told me about how he had brought a newcomer to the commander and that this time he had found a genius recruit. Apparently, she is an assassin class and can control three elements! So when I asked where they took her they told me that she was sent to the Hooper clan training ground and that with some luck she would be ready to enter the tournament in two months. If she shows any potential at the tournament she will be accepted as a Hooper clan member and taken to the next area and enter a real academy. So there is no chance of us seeing her for at least the next two months.”

George didn’t know how to react, was this a bad thing or a good thing, did they force her to enter the Hooper clan or did she agree on herself? George didn’t have enough information, he didn’t know what Tyler meant with next area and a real academy.

“Maybe you can ask your roommate to go look for her.”

George didn’t know if that was possible, he didn’t really have a good relationship with Martin and didn’t think he would help him, but he had to try.

“Yes, I have to talk to him anyway. I will see you tomorrow in class.”