Karma (3)

*

The one who runs the Academy is the chancellor.

However, the chancellor's power remains confined to the spheres of scholarship and education; governing the Academy territory is outside his jurisdiction.

Then who, in this cruel world, is it that guards the walls of the Academy's fief?

The answer is the four marquises.

Originally, they were lord-level powers who should have been ruling proper territories of their own.

And so, with four such people gathered solely to defend one Academy fief, perhaps it's no wonder the Academy's traditions never once broke, even as countless territories were lost and retaken over the centuries.

And Marquis Barlot was one of those four guardians.

[Don't answer; just listen. He is Marquis Barlot, the Seer. Publicly, his vision magic is known as divination, and his battle aura is around Tier 5.]

As I walked with Barlot...