Blade Over Magic

Insane Suggestion

After a few seconds of stunned silence, Falael was the first one to speak, their voice filled with incredulity

"What could have POSSIBLY prompted you to make that statement?" Xander—who seem to have expected such reactions—just shrugged.

"A few things. Spite being a pretty significant driving factor." That just made the other three groan and Xavier sighed.

Aubrey adjusted her glasses and addressed Xander directly.

"Xander, I feel like you already know... but his Excellency just told you directly that given even half a chance, Archmage Bellion would personally wipe you from the map. Think about it, a significant part of his life’s work came from his proving that traditional magic practice is the superior way, and pretty much everything else—like your swordplay—is an obsolete dead path. With that footage showing you defeating a creature several Elite mages fell to using that same ’dead path’, your very existence is essentially a massive insult to his life’s work. That’s bad enough. So if you actually go ahead and open up a school that teaches Swordsmanship, that’s like... the biggest middle finger you could give a literal Archmage!" The more she spoke, the more heated she became, and it was hard to blame her. Xander’s suggestion bordered on insanity.

"... That aside, we’re already in quite a situation with the different Factions wanting to recruit or suppress us. An academy creates a fixed headquarters. It also makes us easier to find. Also, his Excellency agreed to act as an umbrella, but shielding us from passive political recruitment and shielding a massive controversial public startup are two very different things. If he were to back such an institution, that’s putting a massive target on the Lowell family and their estate. Archmage or not. And from his earlier words, you and your half-siblings aren’t exactly on good terms, so there’s a pretty decent chance they will see you as problematic during the whole thing." Curtis added his two cents.

"And the amount of interference we can expect will be insane too. For instance, even if you somehow had the resources to build such a school, these Factions can simply ensure you don’t have anywhere to build it. They can intimidate prospective students and make them drop out. They can send their people to the school to challenge and humiliate anyone attending, and so on. Plus, no offense, but who would actually want to join such a school. The idea that swordsmanship is a dead path has existed for so long and is so deeply ingrained that even if you had volunteers, they would be desperate commoners with some mana deficiency or something similar. Seriously, this isn’t just some casual hobby, it’s essentially a declaration of war." Falael finished.

"Well, your friends seem smart enough. I didn’t even need to say anything myself." Xavier huffed, but Xander kept staring at him.

Xander: (0_0)

Xavier: ( ￣-￣)

"... What?" He finally asked.

"Well, none of what they mentioned is wrong. But there are solutions to a few things. For instance, the issue of getting land and permits can be solved if the school is opened your territory. No one is gonna tell anyone what they can and can’t do in the city under your control." Xander raised finger.

"Second, we could tweak the ’protection’ a little bit to ensure a somewhat even playing field. For instance, rather than simply saying that no one can mess with the school at all, we could say that my father will stop people like Archmages from causing problems, and then the school itself basically has like a few months of grace before the other Factions can start their bullshit. This will lessen the pressure on him" He raised another finger.

"In regards to the bullying, same thing. No one is gonna cause problems in someone else’s property." As he talked, he continued raising fingers, and everyone suddenly had the baffling feeling that Xander had actually been thinking about this for a longer time than they thought.

"If materials are being gatekept, we can always buy some from the Underworld. Considering how they would want to make connections with us, I doubt they will refuse. As for prospective students, well, the footage of my fight is already circulating. And if that’s not enough, I can always just make recordings of different forms of swordplay and distribute them for people to watch and see its efficacy." He rubbed his chin.

"Moreover, I would actually prefer if the first batch of students were desperate people without much to lose. After all, I also had a mana deficiency before most of this. If people with with lacking mana pools or magic talent were to get proficient enough to combat mages with standard mana pools and spell training directly, that alone will be a huge boost. To its reputation. And so on." When he finished talking, Xavier narrowed his eyes and asked.

"You’ve been thinking about this for quite some time, haven’t you?" At that, Xander just smiled, neither agreeing or disagreeing.

"... Okay wait, fine, let’s say the situation isn’t totally hopeless." Falael folded their arms. "Why exactly are you so determined to even start something like that? It doesn’t seem like you. So far you’ve acted like you’d rather just practice swordmanship by yourself, and if someone shows interest in it, you’ll happily teach them, but you wouldn’t be the one to first initiate contact in most cases. Also, wouldn’t opening a school like, infringe on your precious training time?" The last part was an obvious jab, but it was also a legit question, considering Xander’s attitude.

Xander fell silent for a moment, then he spoke.

"Like I said, a primary driving force is spite. I don’t particularly care if someone doesn’t want to use a sword or not. It’s up to them to learn what the want. But writing an entire thesis about why someone shouldn’t learn something even if it isn’t inherently harmful... I understand my father saying he was petty but that’s borderline childish." If anyone else heard Xander call a literal Archmage childish, they would either faint or attack him on the spot.

"And as someone who likes swords so much, well, I can’t really let that slide. Moreover, I actually see teaching people—those who are willing, anyway—as a form of training as well. I don’t know about you, but if you get good at something, sometimes repeatedly showing off the basics of that thing to others and then slowly building them up is a way to solidify your foundation." What Xander said was true, but there was another facet to it that he didn’t explain.

His Swords of Myriad Paths thrived on the idea of Paths and possibilities in the context of the sword. And Xander had a feeling that training people in the way of the sword and allowing them to forge their own Paths through it was one way to advance the Garden even further.

After a beat, he said.

"Finally, well, the method I made pretty much works for everyone. In society today, your worth is pretty much tied to how well you can use magic, your bloodline, and so on. Things that common or unlucky people might not have. I created something everyone can use, so why not share it? I have no reason not to besides perhaps not wanting the possibility of anyone being as good a swordsman as myself." There was a second part to that last sentence that Xander did not say aloud, but everyone knew subconsciously.

’And if I did find another swordsman as good as me, I would be more ecstatic than irritated.’

When he finished, there was another period of silence, then Xavier spoke.

"Well, it’s good to know that you didn’t just have this idea in the spur of the moment. But it is still fundamentally a very risky endeavor, even with my presence, so how about this." He gestured with his hand.

"We table this for now. As things stand, no matter how well you plan, your current situation is very volatile. Initiating your idea would just be pouring fuel on the flames. It would be smarter to wait for everything to settle at least a little bit before making big moves like that. And sure, perhaps we could brute force it," He gestures to Mia. "But even in the unlikely scenario that she agrees, I get the feeling you wouldn’t want to settle things like that." He gave Xander a pointed look, to which Xander nodded slowly. Mia helping was nice, but he didn’t really want her babying him or the rest of the group.

"Good." Xavier nodded. "So we’ll leave it at that for now. You’re free to continue planning and thinking up solutions of you desire. But one thing at a time." Xander tilted his head. Then he nodded.

"OK." His agreement let the others let out a sigh of relief. If Xander chose to force the issue, they could imagine things getting ugly quickly.

Still, if he actually pulled off something like that...

It was shocking to imagine.

After that, Xander asked.

"Also, since we’ll be heading back soon, what about things like the funerals and processions? Those should happen soon, right?" Despite everything, Xander had absolutely no intention of missing the funerals for the fallen soldiers and Andrew. Considering the stunt he pulled—even if it had been orchestrated by Mia—he still believed he owed them that much.

However, when he spoke, there was an awkward silence, and he frowned a little.

"... What?" Aubrey rubbed the back of her neck.

"... Those things have already happened." This startled Xander.

"What?! How long have I been unconscious???" The trio shared glances, then Curtis spoke.

"... 4 days. We’re set to head back by tomorrow..."