NOVEL NEXT Book 3 Chapter 4
"Just... sleep on it first, okay?" I said, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Don't rush into this- I know you're not immortal, but humans live plenty long enough, and you really do have a lot of time to figure it out."
"There's nothing to figure out," Faith said, firmly. "This is the only reasonable choice- Justice was the ideal I thought Hano's Paladins represented, but... Now I know better, and I know where to find Justice at the source."
"Not today," I said firmly. "Tomorrow, if you're still sure, but... Not today. Promise me at least that much, Faith."
"Fine," Faith said. "I promise."
"Thank you," I said, pulling her into a tight hug, and shooting Volex the nastiest glare I could manage, putting a lot of magicka into an Occult expression of 'you're an asshole and you are not helping.'
She simply smirked back at me, a smug look written upon her face.
"Alright," I said, patting her on the back. "Let's head over to the University, yeah? Might as well-"
There came a knock on the rear door to the van, and I blinked. The hell was...
"I'll get it," Volex said, heading for the door, and opening it up. "Oh, hello there. You must be Jason Goldmist-Rosewood."
"That would be me," the man standing there said, nodding. He was a tall, broad man with an impressive, yet well-groomed, beard and long, well-coiffed hair- both of which shared the same golden hue of his skin and even his irises. Outwardly, he wore the guise of an elf, but under that guise thrummed a very distinctive magical signature that very obviously didn't fit any elf or human I'd ever met.
There was only one Gold Dragon alive, these days, and evidently, that was him.
"Is Joseph Ironheart-" Jason continued, before his gaze landed on me. "Ah, he is. May I come in, please?"
"...Sure," I said, nodding. "Are you... with the University of Mount Fate?"
"I am, yes," Jason said, nodding, as he stepped inside, Volex closing the door behind him. "Jason Goldmist-Rosewood, Deputy Headmaster of the University of Mount Fate, and... well, your grandfather. It's nice to meet you, Joseph."
"...Jason..." I repeated, before blinking. "...Are you that Jason? The one Helen thinks Mom is mad at her about, who Mom further described as a dead man once Helen wasn't present to contradict her?"
Jason winced. "That... does sound like Ariel, yes. It's... I'd rather not go into it, personally. I simply wanted to meet my grandson, and-"
"You're kinda not his grandfather, though," Talia pointed out. "His mom is a Silver- she has fully rejected her family, and that includes you."
"Talia, don't," I said wearily. "We don't need to antagonize the poor guy just yet. If it turns out we can't get along, then sure, we can ask him to leave and I'll refuse to call him grandfather, but so far, all he's done is knock on my door and say it's nice to meet me. So, Jason, what brings you to our caravan?"
"Formally, my duties include handling the intake of freshmen each year, and ensuring that everyone ends up with class schedules they can at least tolerate," Jason said. "You are the only freshman adventuring party that's likely to arrive today, and as such, it is entirely reasonable for me to come to you, and discuss matters at a leisurely pace. Informally, however... Well, you can hardly blame a man for wanting to meet his only grandson, can you?"
"Is his mom an only child?" Faith asked.
"As it so happens, yes," Jason said, nodding. "Helen and I have never conceived, for a variety of reasons that are all too personal to go into here and now, but the end result is that Ariel is, in fact, Helen's only daughter."
"So, is there anything we can take that's not in the orientation packet Helen gave us?" Talia asked. "I'm curious about General Alchemy, but I'm not married to it, y'know? What else is there?"
"Unfortunately, what is in the packet is the full extent of what we have on offer," Jason said. "We may have more resources at our disposal than most other universities, but the simple fact of the matter is that we can only offer so many different courses, given the small size and exclusivity of our student population. There are graduate-level courses on offer, of course, but those will only concern you when you've earned a Bachelor's, which will likely be a good few years, depending on how well you do with your Placement Exams."
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"Placement Exams?" Emily repeated.
"Placement Exams," Jason confirmed, nodding. "There are a number of them that we have on offer, and you are free to take as many as you like. The purpose is to determine your existing skill level in a given subject with far more detail and accuracy than standardized Certificates can, and they will enable you to skip classes that teach material you may already know."
"Interesting..." Talia said.
"I saw that there's a sort of... 'Paladin Studies' track," I said. "How firmly is that for Paladins, and how well do you expect it to adapt to someone who's not a Paladin, and instead is some other kind of knight, such as, say, an Elven Mage-Knight?" Or, y'know, an apostate Paladin who was gonna try to become a cleric of The Mother?
"Quite well, actually," Jason said. "It's fairly popular with Fighters as well, who tend to be rather less concerned with the finer points of theology than Paladins are."
"Fair enough," I said, trying desperately to not let myself get sidetracked thinking about the Fighter's Guild. Because the thing about the Fighter's Guild was that, while they weren't law-enforcement and they didn't hassle civilians all the time, they were still elite warriors who considered everyone around them to be worthless chaff, and they very much had fought alongside the Paladins in the War of the Roses, and- oh goddamnit. Ugh. I can hate the Fighter's Guild later. Right now, though, I had other shit to deal with. "So, what would you recommend for someone who wants to study mounted combat, and Arcane magic, and Occult magic, and Divine magic? And who, perhaps, might also have a strong grounding and continued interest in machining slash engineering, but is aware that it could probably stand to be set aside for a few years while he focuses on other things?"
Jason tilted his head to the side.
"...I would recommend wanting something else," Jason said primly. "Failing that, I would recommend setting low expectations for yourself regarding your yearly progress on those skills, and perhaps negotiating a higher term limit with the Headmistress so that you can finish out each of those courses in full."
"I see," I said, quietly.
"However," Jason continued, "the situation is not quite so bad as it seems, if this truly is for you. I am well aware that Ariel is one of the greatest Wizards to walk the Earth, and if you can bear to set your Arcane studies aside for four years, then you can simply return home and continue learning from her once you're done here. Likewise, I am aware that the fetching lady with the purple skin is your Succubus Familiar, and am quite confident that she can tutor you quite extensively in the Occult as well. And, finally... Divine magic is not something we truly teach, here, as it is, more often than not, a matter of your particular relationship with your deity, and we can only give an introductory course that is only helpful to the truly rank beginner. May I ask what God you are a cleric of, Joseph?"
"The Father," I said.
"...The God of Time," Jason said. "Well. In that case, young man, I would like to retract my cautionary advice, and will simply wish you good luck."
"Is the Knight Studies track a full-time thing, or should I take some other stuff too?" Faith asked. "Also, when are the placement exams held?"
"There are a few rounds of them over the summer," Jason said. "There's actually a round of them starting next week, if you'd like to sign up for those now, and get them out of the way."
"Fine by me," Faith said.
"I have brain damage," I said. "Is there another round that's, like... two weeks out?"
"I, uh... Yes," Jason said, a little taken aback. "Are you quite alright, Joseph?"
"I died three times yesterday. The fact I can walk and hold a conversation is nothing short of a miracle."
"Aren't you a Druid?" Emily asked, facing Talia, and clearly wanting to change the subject. "Is there a reason you're not taking Druid classes?"
"Yeah, because those don't exist," Talia said with a shrug. "Primal magic isn't something you learn in a classroom. It's about your relationship with the Living Earth, and there's only so much that other people can help with that."
"There are a few courses," Jason said. "But, well... They're more for preparing someone to become a Druid, and once they are a Druid, then Talia is correct: a classroom setting simply is not appropriate for a Druid's skillset."
"That actually raises another question," I said, turning to face Emily. "You're a full-on Healer, meaning you've already graduated medical school, and have a Doctorate. How is that going to affect Emily's courseload?"
"Mainly, it will exempt her from a number of basic courses that she would normally be required to take, on the grounds she has already taken them," Jason said. "Now, I am going to need to fill out some paperwork with each of you, regarding declared majors and placement exams, but once we've finished all of that business, would you be interested in a tour of campus?"
I looked around, and nobody was actively resentful of the idea, so I turned and said, "Sure, why not. We need to figure out where the caravan parking is."
"Excellent! Now, let me see..." He reached into the inside of his jacket, and produced a stack of papers, along with a fountain pen. "Who wishes to go first?"