Chapter 38: Cooperation

Sam and Jack are sitting at the river side where Sam usually eat along with Philip and others. This time there is a huge bird that was roasting on the fire. Sam looked at intently as he was waiting for it cook waster. Even though he, could make it faster with the Golden flames, the feel of waiting while roasting the meat on an open fire is really good.

"Sam, I want to make a deal with you?" Jack broke the silence.

"What would that be?" Sam asked as he flipped the bird.

"Do you need more meteorite sand?" This line caught Sam’s attention completely, he turned towards Jack and looked at him with a serious expression.

"You have more?" He asked.

"No, But I know a place where you can find it." Jack replied with same calm tone.

"Why should I believe you?" Sam asked a little cautiously.

"The Black meteorite sand is a proof itself."

"That is what it is making it more suspicious. Even though you and I might not have any grudges, you might have some other intentions to bait me with it. After all, if you really know the location where the Meteorite sand is, you can make a deal with a High-level noble family or better yet the royal family. You can live your life in luxury. Why would you come all the way here to a backward city like this and make a deal with me using that precious resource." Sam said bluntly.

Jack shook his head at Sam’s speculations and didn’t know what to say for a moment.

"What should I do to have you believe me?"

"Nothing much. Just tell me the truth of the whole matter. Why do you want to make a deal with me? Where did you get this Black meteorite sand and how are you so sure that there is Meteorite sand at some place and how did you know it?"

Hearing Sam’s questions, Jack hesitated a little and finally came to a decision. "I don’t know if you will believe me if I tell you the truth, but since, you asked, I will tell you.

My father is originally from the royal capital. He once accompanied a group to an expedition. At that time the group went to the small island and then discovered a large amount of all kinds of Meteorite sands. My father and the other members in the group are very happy to find it and everyone took a small amount of a type of Meteorite sand and then made an agreement that everyone should keep the island a secret and all of them could only come back once a year to take a small amount at the same time in order to not to draw any suspicion. They took a soul oath and all left their own ways after making an agreement on the next time they should meet.

But they didn’t know they were already betrayed. One of the guys already sent the news back to his organisation even before they made an oath. They already put some tracker spell on the rest of the group and hunted down in the very next days.

But my father already had made some preparations as he prepared to along with my mother and me. But they still managed to find us out and he took the enemies on and let my mother and me escape. My mother then fled with me to the village. The Black meteorite sand I took out yesterday is the one that my father passed." Jack said as he felt a bit sad.

"How long has it been?" Sam asked calmly.

"15 years" Jack replied in an equally calm but sad tone.

"Then you are just an infant at that time. How do you know all these?" Sam asked with some suspicion. Jack just let out a sigh and shook his head. Then he took out a scroll and passed it to Sam.

"No, father. I already asked you before to not to make a move on him. You refused and sent people to assassinate him. He got the news. Then when he is taking the academy assessment, you also asked Carl and others to make a move just because he took revenge for what you did? Now, you want to meet him just like that because he has status that you cannot offend. Sorry, father. I already did what I can and already requested him to be lenient towards us. If you don’t provoke him any further, he will be lenient. I can’t bring myself to make a request for him to meet you. After all, even though he is magnanimous and can do that for me because of our friendship. I won’t have any face to show him after that. I still have some shame left." Freya said with a tone filled with disappointment.

"Freya, how can you say that? You have to do something to our family." An elder from the side suggested.

"And why should I do that? I am not the one who created the mess. You the esteemed elders did and you have face to ask me to clean up. Dream on." She said and left without any hesitation.

All the elders looked ashamed being berated by a young girl.

"What a pity? We have lost a genius like Carl and we also lost a chance to maintain a good relationship with such a monstrous talent. And worse, we have offended him."

Someone from the side sighed as he thought of the situation.

"Maybe those from the academy already knew that. That is why they didn’t send the elders to save Carl. They truly are meticulous when currying favour."

"No. they didn’t intentionally stop the elders from saving him. It is more like they are not able to at all." Suddenly the family head said making all the room silent.

"What do you mean? Family head"

"The judge of the assessment is the not the academy elders but something else. There is another rule that the Principal didn’t mention as it has become the norm since so many years that the rule was implemented and there was not a need aroused. But due to Carl and others the rule was used after a long time." The family head sighed as he remembered about his son.

"What kind of rule it is?" One of them asked.

"When somebody issues a death challenges and keep their escape tokens as wager the other elders can’t interfere in the fight while they are in the testing grounds. Actually, the judge won’t allow it." The Patriarch said in a low voice.

"But isn’t the judge also the part of academy and isn’t he also human. He can bend the rules, right?"

"No, the formation itself is the judge. No human is fit enough to judge the assessment as they can influence the judgement."

All the elders felt confused. "What do you mean the formation is judge?" Someone asked. But this time there is no reply.

Meanwhile. Sam finished his meal and went to the city along with Jack. They went to the market and Sam bought a lot of materials for tailoring, raw materials for forging and a lot of materials for inscription ink. Jack looked at the Sheer amount of the materials and took a deep breath.

"Sam, why are you buying so much?" He asked failing to hide his curiosity.

"I need to make some money." Sam said and continued his shopping spree. It was already afternoon by the time Sam came back to his mansion. Jack has gone back to the academy.

After entering his mansion. Sam took a seat on a chair and after a moment of silence he spoke.

"I don’t like guests coming uninvited. So, you better come out while I am being nice."