“The old saying goes that an island was too small for two kings. This mostly applied to life in the western isles, and all but one of the isles were dominated by a tribe each, in their own different ways. Where the Long-ears of Market Isle dominated their by way of economic dominance, the Goldfurs of Largefang Isle dominated through strength, though unlike many, they rarely abused their dominance over the other tribes living on their isle.” - Alina Knizhnyycherv, Researcher of Therian Cultures at the Verozgrad University, circa 672 FP.

“I admit my mistake,” said the old therian chieftain to Cal the next afternoon, as they both watched Ognar, Giselle, and Willa manhandle youths of the tribe in a ramshackle fighting ring. Even Fheeri took part, though she only handled a single youth unlike the others who took on a dozen each with ease. “There seems to be quite a bit we can benefit from learning with the outsiders.”

The old chief happened to be the current chieftain of the Goldfurs, the ruling tribe of the isle, and had been a traditionalist who abhorred the “soft” culture of the mainlanders, though he was smart enough to see the benefits of the conveniences magical enchanted tools provided and was all too happy to facilitate such trade.

Cal and her group were quite welcomed by the tribe, partly because they respected strength as a whole, and Cal’s feats had long spread by word of mouth and tales of bards, even to reaches as far as the Western Isles. The chieftain had treated her like an honored guest.

During the banquet that night, she had noticed quite a few youths of blood affinity in the tribe, although their use of magic was crude and relatively undeveloped. She mentioned as much to the chieftain, who took some offense at the implication that his tribe’s traditional ways of training were inferior, which led to the little “match” between the village’s best young warriors and Cal’s students the next day.

Needless to say, it had not taken long before the chieftain’s eyes widened and his jaws dropped as Cal’s students manhandled the best of the youths in his village with contemptuous ease. Willa even clearly had fun as she tossed some of the youths into each other - though she had held back quite a bit, else they might well suffer from more than just bruises and light concussions - even while a bunch of youths tried to cling and stop her movements to no avail. She just fought on with those youths holding onto her swinging around like living pieces of armor.

“I wouldn’t mind showing your youngsters the way to better harness their natural gifts,” replied Cal to the old chieftain in a polite tone. There was no need to rub salt on the wound when he already conceded that far. “Though it won’t be before next year that I plan to open the school.”

Cal had pretty much decided on opening a school for aspiring blood mages in Paradise. She had plenty of funds to do that, and had already purchased a building to serve as the school on the outskirts of the city, where there was plenty of room and the land was cheaper, since she needed to build a training facility on the grounds.

She found that teaching students had scratched a certain itch in her soul, and the idea of devoting her life to teaching others rather appealed to her. With aid from Aideen and others in Paradise, it was not difficult to secure the patch of land she felt would be a good place to build the school on. Neither was finding skilled craftsmen and builders any difficulty with the wide connections they had.

Although others had offered to help out, Cal had insisted on funding the whole construction on her own. To be fair, her savings were plentiful for that anyway, notwithstanding what she earned in her years of travel since. Even the parts of monsters and rare animals in her storage alone would have been a sizeable trove of treasure should she deign to sell them.

Even when she left this year, builders and craftsmen were already at work on her purchased land to build the facilities to her demands and specifications. With how many friends she had in Paradise who’d watch over the process for her, she felt it wouldn’t be an issue to go on the last leg of her trip during the construction, and start opening the place by the next year. To advertise it to some prospective customers and students while she was along the way was just a bonus.

“Oh? Could they be as… mighty as those youngsters you brought with you?” asked the old chieftain with a glint of interest in his eyes. “Especially that young lady. She puts even the best warriors of the isles to shame. If she were a local, hundreds would have lined up to woo her already.”

“She’s… a bit of a prodigy, so it’s not very likely,” admitted Cal. Willa was indeed a one in a million find, a natural freak accident where parents who had minimal mana capacity - nobody else in her family qualified as a mage - gave birth to a child with ridiculously abundant mana. “That said, if your youngsters proved to have the will to learn and the talent, they might be able to catch up to my other students if they work hard enough.”

“A pleasant reassurance, and I appreciate the honesty,” said the chieftain with a nod. For the blunt and straightforward tribal people of the isles, they were wary of deceit and lies, which the mainlanders were fond of, and much favored dealing with honest people. “It is in… Paradise in the northern land, is it? I will see to it that the youths we selected will be present by the end of the season of renewal, with the… tuition fees required.”

“A pleasure doing business with you, chieftain,” replied Cal with another smile. Below them in the makeshift fighting ring, her four students bumped their fists against one another in celebration, while the village youths moaned and groaned in pain as they were unceremoniously piled up into a large pile of bruised bodies in the corner. Dan had already made his way to the stage to heal those youngsters and ensure that they suffered from no lasting injuries.