The Exchange Teacher - Welcome to Dyntril Academy

Basque sprinted from Tinkerer's shed. He needed to get the cores from his students before they began practicing for the day. The trial would put a spotlight on his class and his training methods. In their eyes, Reianna wasn't a mage, yet she'd won. The performances of his other three students would also be reevaluated.

He needed Tink to make an adjustment to the cores, and he needed to start thinking beyond his classroom. Knowing that Tink, Symantha, and Natt were at one point revolutionaries was both comforting and disconcerting. It was comforting because it proved they weren't plants or spies. Their care was genuine.

That made him trust them more.

At the same time, it was disconcerting because Natt had tried to "change it from the inside." It made sense why she had so many enemies. He remembered Julvie's comments from long ago that, thanks to Basque, they were almost rid of Natt. He'd taken it as her displeasure for the drinking, but that wasn't it at all.

No, Julvie, Krill, and Yasher—they didn't like her because she was upsetting the status quo. Not her alcoholism and their concern for the students, but her care and concern for the lowest students was why she was a thorn in their side; a thorn they'd tried to remove once before.

When Basque got to the training field, he was relieved to see his class wasn't there yet. That meant they were still in the classroom. He burst into the academy and dashed towards his classroom.

After seeing Kruamians fight each other for the right to kill the Yani he'd released, there was no doubt in Basque's mind that Natt's former squad had set her up, hoping the mage Yani they'd been fighting would kill her.

He was also sure that she understood that. Drowning her sorrows in alcohol seemed to be the kindest reaction she could have had. If it had been him, Basque would have already died trying to burn the world down.

He burst into the classroom, and every head shot over towards the door as he slammed it open.

"Bas—Gerenet-Shr. What are you doing here?"

"Sorry, Natt." He turned his attention to his class. "Everyone, I need your cores."

Despite their confusion, twenty-four cores appeared on his students' desks; not a single student questioned his sudden order.

Going through, Basque gathered them all, tossing them into his inventory. He'd lied to Eder. He'd told the head of the envoy that the stuff with the interface was the only thing he'd done with his class. As long as the cores had stayed completely in his student's possession, that lie should have been safe.

As he collected them, he asked, "Have any of you had your core go missing? Lent it to someone or have it disappear on you?"

They shook their heads.

"It's okay if it has. You won't be in any trouble. I just need to know if these have left your possession at any point in time."

"No, Gerenet-Shr," Cayelyn said. "You gave them to us." She said it as if it were self-evident that anything he gave to them would be prized beyond their lives.

"So, no one?"

"No, Gerenet-Shr," they all answered.

Basque's shoulders felt lighter. The trial, Eder, and Billiam made Basque realize he'd been too careless. While he didn't regret making the devices and giving them to his class, he'd been too rash.

Giving this technology to Kruami for free would be a big mistake, and he needed Tink's help to stop the tech from being studied. Tink would help with that. One more benefit Basque gained from learning that his closest friends in the country were revolutionaries was that he understood their motives.

Their political goals were easy to see, easy to understand, unlike Krill's. Basque still didn't understand what Krill accomplished by aiding Reianna. However, a well-trained commoner class, a commoner class that became the greatest hunters in their country, now that would be a huge boon to people who wanted to "change it from the inside."

"Gerenet-Shr," Braelyne said. "Zophiah was going to practice with me again today. Will we get these back?"

Basque held up a finger. Once he had all the cores, he went up to the front of the room, and Natt ceded her position. Gripping the lectern, Basque told his students, "You'll get your cores back soon. I need to make some adjustments to them."

"What sort of adjustment?" Saevi asked.

"It'll be a surprise for later." For whoever steals one and tries to learn its secrets.

"What are we supposed to train with today, then?" Taraia asked.

"No training, today. You guys need a day off after the intensive month of work you put in."

"But what about Zophiah?"

"And Emmah?" Medow added.

"Why don't you invite them to the dorm hall?" Basque asked.

The room went silent.

"We can do that?" Ryleegh asked.

Basque looked around the classroom, looking all of them in the eyes. "Avae, at the beginning of the school year, what did you do when Lavrence attacked Malcalm?"

"I…I didn't even know it happened."

"Xav, what did you do?"

Xav looked at the floor. "I…watched."

"Who did anything besides watch?"

Nobody moved.

"Xav, what would you do now?"

"I'd beat the Yani out of him."

"Avae?"

"I'd be there before Xav."

"Hey!"

She stuck her tongue out at him. "I can't help it, you're slow."

As Avae spoke, Kamryn, sitting behind her, mouthed along with a slight sneer.

"Kamryn," Basque called.

The topaz-haired girl's mouth clamped shut. "Yes, Gerenet-Shr?"

"What would you do if Emmah attacked Avae?"

Kamryn's face darkened. "I'd throw that Yani out by her butterscotch hair. I'm the only one who gets to smack the flirt."

Avae spun around. "Hey! I am not a flirt!"

"Name a dude you've not clung onto like a leech."

"You're just jealous."

"Am not!" Kamryn's face went red.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"I love you, too." Avae blew her a kiss.

Kamryn sneered.

"Okay!" Basque said, ending their squabble. "Before, you were a collection of individuals. Now, you are pods. You are squads. You are a team. I trust you to make wise decisions. I trust you to know good people."

They listened to him in silence.

"When a bad person comes in—and a bad person will get in—I know that you will help each other."

Basque locked his eyes on Reianna, "That you will believe in each other and not sacrifice yourselves."

Reianna nodded.

"So, go order up a feast tonight. Open the doors and invite your new friends. Go out into the lounges and play. But, don't get carried away and wander off without your pods. We've expanded our territory and made some allies, but dangers still exist."

"Understood, Gerenet-Shr!" the class said in unison.

The class broke into an uproar of conversations.

"Medow, wanna go with me to C and get Emmah and Zophiah?"

"Yeah!"

"Taraia, you and Cayelyn have the best cook! Can you get him to make platters?"

"Are you kidding? He hates her. I'll get him to do it. He likes me."

"Zip sip, azure enema!"

"Taraia! No street!"

"Who's coming with me and Brealyne to C?"

"We need someone else for the kids from D."

"You know Ryleegh's going to go get her boyfriend!"

"Shut up!"

Leaving the students to discuss things among themselves, Basque pulled Natt aside. "Can you watch them tonight? I need to get Tinkerer to do some work on their cores."

"Yeah, as long as you bring back some of Sym's food. No Yani-way am I eating that…whatever you somehow seem to eat every day."

"There was trouble today."

"Trouble?"

"Yes. A mess was made in the dorm hall, and Sophia needs help cleaning."

"Oh." Just having the one eye made it harder to understand Natt's expressions.

"The mess should be out of the hall by now, but she needs me to go with her tonight to help dispose of it."

The frown was easy to read.

"I owe Sophia for her help earlier in the year."

"I'll never forgive you if something goes wrong."

"Nothing will." Basque thought about Reaggie and his forgettable food.

She folded her arms. "Just go. Don't worry about the students. I've got them."

After looking at Natt for a long second, Basque nodded and went for the door.

Natt grabbed his arm. "Be careful, okay? If it comes down to it, value yourself over her." She didn't hide the worry on her face.

"I won't get caught." He smiled at her, and Natt's hand fell away from his arm.

Taking one last glance at his class, Reianna sat in silence, staring at Basque, while her friends around her chatted away. He nodded at her, but she didn't budge.

Out in the hall, Basque thought about her as he made his way outside. The girl was too perceptive for her own good. Despite the coded message Sophia had sent through Yesenia, Reianna had to have picked up that something serious had happened. He was sure she would be knocking on his door soon.

Comparatively, Natt was easier to understand. He didn't know what had happened between Natt and Sophia, but the way she'd stopped him before he left let him know she wasn't angry at him, but rather at Sophia. His vivid purple-haired maid could clean up her personal problems herself.

Tracing his steps back to the tinkerer's shed, only at a walk this time, Basque passed through the training ground yet again.

"I told you I'm not interested!" Elaina shouted at him.

"What?"

"Pervert."

Ah. The harem comment. "The feeling is mutual, Madam Elaina."

"Then why do you keep coming through here?"

"You are the one who keeps interrupting me. I've just got business all around, and this is the best path to it."

A familiar staff poked Basque in the chest. "Fight Madam Elaina," the owner said.

"Mister Hayard? And here you just got your staff back…"

"You know my name?"

"I recognize you from the tournament."

"Well, you've seen my great skills, and we hear about your 'great skills,' but we've never seen them. Give us a demonstration. Fight Madam Elaina."

Basque sighed. "I'll do you one step further. Get into formation, and I'll take the role of a Yani."

Elaina was afraid of her students. That meant most of them could probably beat her. Fighting her would prove nothing to the students, nor to their teacher. This was a teaching moment, and Basque had the time.

Logging into the training ground's system, Basque set the rules up: untimed, four versus one, mental stun on shield zeroing, stunned until complete victory. He sent the boy an invite.

"What the Yani is this? You scared outwaller?"

"Yes. I am scared that you will die."

"Ha! Man up or—"

"I am not here to negotiate with you. I am teaching you a lesson. We will use shielding."

"Fine," the boy spat. He and three of his friends accepted Basque's invite. The rest of the class stopped training and gathered to watch.

"Madam Elaina, may I borrow your whip?"

The cornflower blue-haired teacher jerked her head. "Huh? Oh, uhh, sure." She handed him her barbed whip.

"I will take the role of an intermediate Yani, one you'd find from a corrupted goat or medium-sized dog, a rather common size." Basque held up the whip. "My skills will be whip-tail and two-step."

Looking over the class, his eyes came to rest on a girl standing near the front. "You, magenta hair. What's your name?"

"Tracindy."

"Miss Tracindy, what does 'whip-tail' mean?"

"Just as you say, Master. A tail that acts as a whip."

"Very good. And two-step?"

"Umm, only two steps are required to cover any distance within five meters?"

Basque nodded. "Correct. You know your stuff."

The girl smiled.

"Can anyone tell me if these are rare or common skills found in Yani?"

"More on the common side, Master," Tracindy answered.

"Correct again." Basque turned to his four opponents. "Are you ready?"

The boys nodded, and Basque was off. His second step put him in the middle of their formation. Hayward, in the back command position, struck out with his staff.

Basque's whip wrapped around the end of it. A hard pull ripped it from the boy's hands, launching it at the lead boy behind Basque. A flick of Basque's wrist freed the staff from his whip. The staff impaled the front boy. He collapsed with his shield at zero.

The boys to Basque's left and right reacted then, but Basque two-stepped out of their way, and they struck each other, taking off chunks of their shields.

Basque's whip snaked out, locking onto one boy's ankle. He pulled him to the ground and two-stepped on top of him. Basque crushed the last of the boy's shield as his knee flew into the other boy's jaw, zeroing him as well.

Before he had even landed, Basque spun towards Hayard. The borrowed whip lashed out and wrapped around Hayard's neck. A quick jerk on the whip handle sent a shock that would have broken the boy's neck, but zeroed his shield instead.

The round over, the four boys moaned on the ground as the stun effects washed out of them.

"Not even ten seconds. Your teacher there, she might be a lower rank than your parents, but she's got real experience against Yani, not stabbing them in cages experience. Shut your mouths and listen to her if you don't want to be one of the bodies Headmaster Yasher promised in his commencement speech."

After curling the whip up, Basque held it out to Elaina. She took it from him.

"Thank you, Master Basque. That was quite educational. I think…I think I might just take you up on those lessons."

Basque nodded at her. "Have a good day, Madam Elaina."

The adrenaline pumping through his system cooled off by the time he got to the tinkerer's shed. He hoped that his demonstration would get the kids to listen to their teacher and get some of the obsession off of Reianna. If the students in the school were talking about his performances, it should let Reianna fade into the background again. He hoped.

The thumping of bass greeted Basque as usual. He didn't bother knocking and went into the man's workshop. Looking around, Basque finally found the fiery-haired man underneath one of the carriages. His feet wiggled and waggled in time with the music.

Basque kicked the bottom of one of Tink's feet, and the tinkerer slid out from under.

"...Yani-lover kicking my feet, I'll weld them to their—Oh! Biscuit!"

"Hey, Tink. Where are you going to weld me?"

"Ha! I thought you were one of them knobs. What'chu need?"

Basque pulled out one of the cores.

"Something wrong with it?"

"Yeah. It needs a suicide device."

"A what?"

After explaining about the trial and the new scrutiny that would be put on his class, Basque told him about his desire to have the machines destroy themselves if they were tampered with, just like the comm devices the Hianbrun's had brought with them.

"I mean, I know I was being watched before, but that was just by your government. Those nobles will probably all be looking into everything now as well. I'm sure you'd prefer to keep them from getting more power."

"Huh? No idea what you're on about."

"He knows!" Symantha yelled over the music. "Just fix his doodads like he wants." She slammed the door.

The tinkerer looked at Basque. "Something happen?"

"Sophia was here."

"Aww, Yani in a handbasket. Just give me a minute. I'll be back to help you in a second."

Baque watched the man go after his wife. Under his gruff exterior, Tinkerer was probably one of the best men Basque knew.