The Exchange Teacher - Welcome to Dyntril Academy

The paper slightly trembled in Basque's hands as he read it.

Basque paused in his reading. An important word was missing from the last sentence: Safe. The word was nowhere to be found. The hole in his stomach widened.

Basque gripped the paper in his hands so tight, the edges crinkled. Unshielded? Why? Why the Yani would they have an unshielded round? No matter the length, it was reckless and unnecessary.

Krill still stood and addressed the room. "As you can see from the printout, the Opening Tournament will return to grade-specific this year. Despite the excitement of the full battle royale from last year, the effects on the rest of the year were too profound as seen by the progress of this year's second-years."

"Or lack thereof," someone from the third-year cluster muttered. A few people around the room laughed.

Krill cleared his throat, silencing the room. "As usual, the tournament will be held over a three-day period, next month on the seventh through the ninth."

"There goes that weekend," someone muttered. Others joined in on the complaint.

"People, please, let's keep the side-talk down. Since it's being shortened from five days to three, the number of participants will be limited to four per class, rather than the whole class.

"However, since we are limiting the number to four, we will opt to do a full ranking. Now, are there any questions?"

One of the fourth-year teachers raised her hand; she had the same dark blue hair as the twins. Sa…Za…Zamantha? Basque was still having trouble with the foreign names. "Deputy Headmaster, wouldn't it be better to do full classes, especially considering the state of the second years?"

"Good question, Madam Zarina. Headmaster Yasher and I discussed this, but we decided that, inversely, due to the smaller number of students in the third year, we would be able to do this full-ranking contest in those three days. Of course, this is assuming that most matches won't go the full time, and in all likelihood, they won't."

Basque clicked his tongue. Zarina, not Zamantha. At least he started the name correctly.

"Understood."

"Yes, Master Briyan?" Krill called out to one of the fifth-year teachers.

"I assume matches will go in order, first through fifth year?"

Krill shook his head and then stared at Basque, instead of looking at the teacher who had asked. "Since our first-years have a distinguished guest as their teacher, we plan to move the matches involving the first-year elevators to the time slot between fourth and fifth."

Basque raised his hand. The hole in his stomach burned.

"Are there any other questions before we move on?"

A third-year teacher raised his hand. "When do we need to submit our list of entrants?"

"The Marnday before."

Keeping his hand in the air, Basque did some quick mental math, including weekends, that gave him exactly thirty days to prepare four of his students to survive ten whole seconds of unshielded combat.

"If there are no other questions, we'll continue on to the morning briefing."

Basque stood up. "Deputy Headmaster Krill—"

"Basque, sit."

"I am not your dog."

Headmaster Yasher reached out and placed his hand on Krill's. The deputy headmaster sighed. "Master Basque, please be seated."

"But I have a question about the tournament."

"Moving on—"

"How old are you, Deputy Headmaster?" Basque kept his voice calm and collected.

"Master Basque, I thought you said you had a question about the tournament. My age is irrelevant to the tournament."

"Well, I was just curious because you look to be almost sixty but act like you're twelve."

Someone sucked their breath in.

"Do they not have manners in your country?" Krill snarled.

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"That's funny, I was just thinking the same thing."

"Master Basque! Deputy Headmaster Krill! Enough," Yasher finally cut in. "You have both handed slights to the other. Master Basque, I am sure your question is one that could be handled amongst your first-year group. This is why Deputy Headmaster Krill did not call upon you."

Basque kept his cool exterior, even though the poor excuse made no sense to him. "May I ask it now, and we can see?"

There was a pause; then Yasher nodded once. "You may."

"Why is there unshielded combat?"

Krill pointed at Basque. "See! I knew your question wasn't pertinent to the running of the event. That is something that Ashkar can easily answer. Please ask it later."

"Do you people not care—"

"Enough, Master Basque!" Yasher said in a firm voice. "I will not tolerate any further slight during this meeting. You may be seated and ask your head teacher at a time convenient to both of you."

Basque blinked a couple of times. He wanted Hianbru to have nothing to do with this country moving forward. He pinched the bridge of his nose to calm himself. "Fine," he whispered into the palm of his hand and sat down.

Natt was no longer sleeping. She was now staring at him with bloodshot eyes. Of course, the drunk had been drinking again. Couldn't expect her to be sober too long now, could he?

"Thank you, Master Basque," Headmaster Yasher said. "Now, Deputy Headmaster Krill, if there's nothing else?"

Krill shook his head.

"In that case, please commence your grade-level meetings and have a good day." Yasher stood and left the room.

As soon as the hubbub picked up after Yasher's departure, Harnel leaned over. "Honestly, I asked the same thing when I was a student here."

"Master Basque," Ashkar said. "Would you mind if I answered your question with a question?"

Basque just blinked at the man with vivid burgundy hair.

When Basque didn't say anything, the head of the first-years continued, "When people fight against Yani, do they fight using the dueling system?"

Basque stared at the man's green eyes.

"Ahem," Ashkar cleared his throat. "No, they don't. We need to prepare the students to battle outside the dueling system."

"I'm sorry, Ashkar—Master Ashkar, could you repeat that?"

"We need to prepare the students to battle outside the dueling system?"

Basque nodded. "I just had to hear that again. Do you think you could say it a third time for me?"

Ashkar put his fists on his hips. "Master Basque, I do not need to be mocked."

"Are you sure about that? I mean, I've taught adolescents for over a decade, and I don't think I've even heard one of them say something so stupid."

Natt laughed once.

Basque turned his glare to the woman with bloodshot eyes. She stared back at him. Getting into a staring contest with her had no point, so Basque turned his attention back to Ashkar. "Thank you, Head Teacher, for the explanation."

Ashkar gave a half smile and then looked at the other teachers. "I would like you all to submit your entrants a week early so that I can confirm their skills. I know that some might be itching to have a chance to show off in front of their parents, but I want to make sure that all participants are well-suited for the show that we will put on. Thanks to Master Basque, we've been awarded a prime slot in the competition, and I don't want us to come off as too dull in comparison to the fourth and fifth years."

Once again, Basque noted the concern for how it looked to the spectators, but not a single word about making it safe for the students.

"Now, if there aren't any further questions?" Ashkar asked in a rising tone.

The group of teachers was quiet.

"In that case, let's have a good day."

The rest of the teachers stood to leave. Basque sat in his seat and stared at the top of his desk. He didn't have the luxury to get angry and rant and rave. Not only would that take time he didn't have, but nothing he said would make a difference. The only difference he could make would be to come up with a strategy to keep his students alive. That's all he had time for.

Basque stood to leave, but Natt called out to him. She still sat at her desk as well, and it was Basque's first time realizing she hadn't left. "Hey, outwaller," she said.

Something else I don't have time for. Basque looked down at the lily-white-haired woman, who was still sitting. He didn't say anything.

"You better get those kids ready."

Basque glowered. "You don't get to pretend to care." He turned around and ignored her as she called out to him again.

Harnel wasn't waiting for him in the hall. Basque could only assume that his one friend had already gone to class. Instead, a teacher he wasn't expecting was waiting out in the hall for him. "Do you need something, Baronet Davith?" Basque asked the terracotta-haired man.

Davith's gruff voice matched his portly build. "Basque-Shr, I saw you went to the Tinkerer's yesterday." Davith fell into step with Basque.

Basque nodded as he walked. "That I did."

"Don't ask him for weapons for the students."

Basque glanced over at the other man. "Why not?"

"He's not good at making them. Whatever scraps your students may have brought, bring them to me, and I'll see what I can do with them."

Basque continued to look at the man rather than where he was going. Like he could trust someone who kept company with those others who gambled on the lives of children. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."

Davith nodded as if Basque had agreed to the suggestion. "Well then." The portly man turned around and walked back the way they'd come. Basque watched him go. All Basque could do was think, How odd.

Turning to go to his class, Basque couldn't get Davith out of his mind. What was the man's game? Was he planning on betting four deaths with the others and making sure that the weapons used in the "tournament" were faulty and would break? That was the only thing that Basque could think of.

Despite how little he trusted the weapons-repair teacher, he would take into consideration his warning about the Tinkerer. While he'd liked the man, Basque could tell that average requests would be met with less-than-average effort and results.

Not that it mattered, Basque had enough weapons of good Hianbrun quality that he could arm his whole class without worry. At any rate, he wasn't planning on weapon training for a while; time was limited. He wouldn't have time to teach the students everything, and he'd already decided on his tactics for the tournament:

Defense.

That's all his students needed. They needed to survive, not put on some flashy show of back-and-forths with psychopaths who wanted to kill them. The only "weapon" that his class would be training with over the next month would be their bodies. And there was only one thing they would train to do: dodge. He was already teaching them how to take a blow in their morning sessions, but if they could dodge everything, nothing would hurt them.

In order to teach them that, he needed to get the cores soon, much sooner than he'd planned. Basque made a mental note to check with the Tinkerer to see how the cores were progressing. Even if he could only get a couple, that would be enough to get the students working in rotations. The important thing was to get their agility up beyond anything that the other classes could manage.

It was Basque's intention to give the spectators the most boring, dull, and unentertaining matches possible. His students weren't a spectator sport. The Kruamians should create some sort of professional gladiatorial league if they wanted bloodsport that bad. Let educational centers be places of education.

Well, creating a new sport wasn't something he could set up. It wasn't something he could do. He wasn't there to change their world. He was just there to observe it—and he was going to observe all twenty-four of his students live to graduation.

Putting his hand on the classroom door, Basque took a deep breath. He couldn't show these emotions to his students. He needed to project a calm aura; his nerves could affect theirs, making them stiff and slow, the exact opposite goal of what he was going for.

Pulling the door open, he stepped into the classroom. "Good morning, class."

"Good morning, Gerenet-Shr."

Turning to the board, Basque wrote "Battle Tournament" on it. Putting the chalk down, he faced the class again. "Who can read this?"

All but 6 hands went up. Xav and Braelyne from Saevi's pod. Basque wasn't surprised about Xav, but considering Braelyne hung out with Maecy, Reianna, and Fawna so much, she was a bit of a surprise. Arion from Cayelyn's pod was almost a given. His standard Kruamian had improved greatly, but the words on the board would be unfamiliar.

Next was Taraia from Kolt's pod. She stared at Basque when he looked at her. He knew she could read it, but was being obstinate. He felt like calling on her, but that would just drag things out.

Last were Kamryn and Malcalm from Kyre's pod. Kamryn was still stand-offish with the rest of her pod, and it was holding her back. Basque was going to need to speak with her again. Malcalm had plenty of people helping him out. From the way Avae looked at him, Basque knew Malcalm was playing dumb to get attention from others. Basque was going to need to nip that in the bud.

Basque put his hand on the board next to the word. "Saevi, if you please?"

The platinum-haired girl stood. "Battle Tournament."

"Correct. Thank you."

She sat down.

"In one month, there will be a school-wide battle tournament." Even though the students didn't make a sound, Basque could feel the electricity of nerves in the room. They sat straighter and tighter. Their eyes locked on him and didn't move. Ryleegh looked to be on the verge of tears. They knew what it meant as well. They'd only been there for such a short time, but they all knew.

"For the next month, we will be preparing for it. We will continue practicing reading today. Tomorrow, we will have individual reading tests. The day after, we will start learning the interface. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to push writing lessons off until after the tournament."

He looked at the students. Only Taraia looked happy. The girl wore a smile that would make the Cheshire cat shudder.

"I know I said I was going to take it slower initially, but we don't have that luxury. This is going to be a hard, trying month. But I have faith that you all can do it."

Basque erased the foreboding words off the chalkboard. "Enough of that, though. Let's get into today's lesson."