Turning back the clock to the night before—the Sherwoods had joined the Kimberly faculty by day, but in their hidden workshop in the labyrinth’s first layer, they still held sway over their assembled comrades.
“Thank you for coming,” Gwyn began. “Let’s begin with news: We’ve figured out the general gist of why Farquois is here. This appears to be an attempt by the Gnostic Hunters to unseat the headmistress.”
Gwyn got right down to business. Some were convinced, some confused. He elaborated:
“This is not merely circumstantial evidence; our comrades in the Gnostic Hunters backed it up. They’ve been plotting this for a while, and the teacher disappearances merely encouraged them to act. Clearly, the Five Rods loathe Esmeralda’s influence more than we’d imagined.”
“I figured as much.”
“Not many other explanations.”
Several comrades nodded. It went without speaking that anyone hoping to foster good relations with the headmistress would hardly send the great sage after her. Given the Gnostic Hunters’ motivations, Gwyn turned his comments to how this affected their own actions.
“This is hardly as simple as ‘the enemy of our enemy is our friend.’ But we can look at it as a wind in our favor. Should they actually succeed in unseating Esmeralda, there’d be staff changes to follow—and that might give us the opportunity we seek. And we can take advantage of the chaos leading up to it. But it may also put avenging Lady Chloe further out of reach.”
This last sentence was largely a consideration directed as his cousin, and Oliver expressed no dissatisfaction. When vengeance and their mission aligned, they would do anything to achieve it, but if the two purposes diverged, the latter was the natural priority. This was clear for all comrades, not just Oliver—a core belief that never wavered.
“That’s sounding pretty optimistic. You think the headmistress is gonna let that happen? I’m betting we see a whole new set of Five Rods instead,” said one comrade.
“But we’re talking about how we should proceed,” offered another. “Forget who’ll win this political struggle—if the Gnostic Hunters thin our enemy’s numbers, that’s great for us. They already got Instructors Vanessa and Baldia pulled off campus. If we can count on that in the future, no harm backing them.”
Opinions flew fast and furious, and Gwyn’s eyes swept the table.
“Here’s where I’m hoping for more perspectives. Our moles claim the Five Rods are dead set on the idea the disappearances are caused by an internal rift in the faculty. They’re going after the headmistress for failing to mediate that. Farquois’s purpose is to find evidence of the conflict or make it seem like their posting put an end to it.”
Everyone crossed their arms, thinking. The Five Rods’ take was wrong, but they knew exactly why. Three great mages slain—most would assume whoever achieved that was of equal or greater strength. Their own efforts to disguise the truth had directly led to that conclusion.
“If they’re convinced it’s a falling-out, they would take that approach. Everyone knows the great sage has the Gnostic Hunters’ backing; them wandering around campus alone would make anyone think twice. If nothing else happens for a full year, people would give them credit for it. Which naturally lowers confidence in the headmistress and makes it easier to pin this on her.”
“And if she beheads Farquois, all the better. The Gnostic Hunters sent them here to perform an inspection—their death would be justification for exacting payback. But the great sage ain’t exactly suicidal. Not that you’d know it looking at the shit they’ve pulled since they got here.”
“The way they’re prancing, it’s a wonder they aren’t dead already. Hard to get a read on them, but I get the sense they’re planning on garnering as much student-body support as they can while they’re here? The Farquois faction’s rising fast in the lower forms. Partially our fault for spending three years making this place feel even more dangerous.”
There was a touch of self-rebuke in those words.
Once the stream of opinions died away, Gwyn moved things along.
“Either way, Farquois’s behavior largely plays into our plans. I’m thinking we leave them alone for a while. We can always target a fourth afterward.”
A concrete suggestion, and unsurprisingly, no one argued the point.
“Instructors Vanessa and Baldia are off at the front. Instructor Baldia might pop back in every now and then, but on her own terms; we can’t plan for it. If we targeted anyone this year…”
“It would be Instructor Gilchrist or the headmistress herself. Honestly, I don’t think we’ve got the forces for either. We haven’t even filled in the losses from the Instructor Demitrio fight, and we’ve got a wild card like Farquois in the mix. Things might improve in the back half of this year, but—I still say we should take a full year off.”
Silence signaled consensus; the final decision fell to their lord, Oliver. His comrades’ eyes turned to him, and he took a moment to think before nodding gravely.
“…Very well. I agree it’s too early to discuss plans for a fourth target. But if we are going to pin our hopes on Farquois, we will need a better grasp of their character. A pawn of the Five Rods meant to discredit Esmeralda—is that really all they are?”
He accepted the direction but focused on a doubt that was lodged deep in his mind. His comrades exchanged glances. This had clearly bothered them, too.
“They’re a complete enigma,” one comrade said. “It’s been bugging me like crazy how unrelated their expressed views are to the Gnostic Hunter ethos. They’re out here openly criticizing Kimberly’s style, arguing in favor of prioritizing student safety… Isn’t that, like…?”
“Civil rights movement thinking?” someone cut in, jumping ahead.
And that put identical grimaces on every face.
“Rod Farquois, the great sage? If that was true, it’d be wild. Put a tear in the eye of everyone at Featherston.”
“It’s a sick joke. Gotta be a performance designed to attract student support.”
“But they’re putting their neck out there, which is fascinating. You heard they came out of the meeting room down an arm. Rumor has it the headmistress called that punishment for their transgressions. They’re way out on a limb—would not have surprised anyone if that had been their head instead.”
Oliver’s comrades seemed equally impressed and appalled. He was as well.
And that’s what bugged him. If the great sage was just here to topple the headmistress per the Five Rods’ plans, there was no need to attract this much attention. They’d be better off dutifully sticking to a substitute teacher’s role. If the headmistress did cut them down, the Gnostic Hunters would use that as an excuse for retribution, but that was hardly the outcome Farquois themself was gunning for. In which case, this behavior must be to a purpose unrelated to that of the Five Rods.
“You believe we should step closer and attempt a deeper analysis, Noll?” Gwyn asked.
“Yes, Brother. Watching them unsettles me. But I cannot yet tell if that is good or bad.”
A vague sensation at best. However, the most vivid image in his mind was how the great sage had held Lombardi’s corpse in the lava tree mold trunk. If that had merely been a performance, it would not have stuck with him. And if was no act, then—
“Observations from a distance are getting us nowhere. Mindful of the risks of their charm, I’m going to attempt a face-to-face conversation with them,” said Oliver. “I don’t think that’ll let me see what they’re really thinking, but if I strike them from a new angle, I may catch a different ring.”