Chapter 314: Displayed My Corpse For Entertainment
When he went to the Academy shopping center, Lancet got Solaris a long cream coat, a fitted dark dress and high leather boots from one of the boutiques.
It cost 11,400 Profits. But he was a rich student now so spending Profits meant nothing to him.
The outfit was usual by present standards, but Solaris wore it like someone had been wrapped in another person’s customs. Her shoulders remained too straight beneath the coat, and her red hair flowed down behind it like a crimson banner.
Her breasts pushed out of the cream coat, and her legs were tall and emphasized inside those high leather boots.
She gathered more attention in those clothes than she did when she was covered in fire. Students watched them cross the central grounds.
Some stopped speaking when Solaris passed. Others whispered behind raised books and crystal screens, comparing her face to old paintings they had seen in the museum.
A few kept their distance from Lancet as well, as though standing beside the Phoenix Reincarnate had made him part of the same danger.
"What is she doing with Lancet?"
"Damn. He’s so cool. How come only he gets to spend time with baddies from the past."
"I’ve always wanted to tap that fire ass. It really should have been me."
Solaris looked at a group of the Year Three students who quickly hid their faces.
"These clothes make people more curious, not less," she said.
"They were going to stare either way." Lancet told her.
They continued toward the Headmistress’s tower.
When they got there, they found an assistant outside. She wore a fitted gray suit and held a crystal tablet against her chest, but her professional expression tightened when Solaris entered the reception room.
"Lancet Leogardt," she said. "The Headmistress is expecting you. She told me to tell you that the meeting has been moved."
"Moved where?"
"The Administrators’ Council."
Lancet’s hand froze behind him. That changed things.
Danistasia could punish students, suspend Class Group privileges and place restrictions on Academy facilities. But the Administrators’ Council could decide whether Solaris was allowed to remain on Academy grounds at all.
They controlled the institutions above the daily running of the school, and when they gathered together, the matter had already moved beyond a broken roof and an angry Headmistress.
Solaris noticed the change in him.."What is this council?"
"The people above Danistasia."
"That ice witch?"
Lancet smiled at that. "Yes. Exactly her."
Solaris’s eyes moved toward the assistant. "There are people above the woman who challenged me?"
"Several."
"Do they all make stairs from ice?"
The assistant didn’t know what to say. She looked at Lancet for help.
Lancet lowered his voice. "They’ll decide whether what happened at the museum deserves punishment."
Solaris’s face hardened.
Lancet stepped closer before she could answer. "Remember what we discussed."
"I remember."
Lancet exhaled. "Good enough. Let’s go."
The assistant led them through a private corridor behind the Headmistress’s office. The walls changed as they climbed. Student banners disappeared first, then the portraits of former Class Group Head Instructors. By the time they reached the upper floor, only the Academy crest remained, set into black stone beneath a line of gold.
Two guards opened the final doors.
The Administrators’ Council chamber was built in a circle, much like the Kingdom Council.
Was this some architectural rule, Lancet wondered.
A wide table curved around the center floor, leaving one open section for whoever had been summoned before them. Seven high-backed seats stood along the outer edge, each marked with the symbol of an Academy division.
Helagreem Pastop, the one who had chosen the challenge about control, sat beneath the crossed-swords crest of Academy War Affairs. He was smaller than Lancet remembered, his narrow shoulders nearly swallowed by his dark ceremonial coat. A thin pond of white hair covered the center of his head, while the bald skin around it shone beneath the chamber lights.
Beside him sat Administrator Mirelda Quain, Head of Academic Standards, whose office controlled curriculum, examinations, promotion trials and faculty accreditation. She wore narrow red spectacles and had already arranged three files in front of her before Solaris entered.
Administrator Yorrick Vale headed Magical Infrastructure. His division managed the barriers, transport tubes, laboratories, training grounds and every expensive structure students broke while trying to become stronger. The fresh report in his hands carried a sketch of the museum roof.
The fourth seat belonged to Administrator Elian Vossard, Head of Student Governance and Discipline. His division handled suspensions, expulsions, dormitory laws and serious misconduct that went beyond what ordinary instructors could settle.
Administrator Senna Marrow represented Relics, Archives and Historical Preservation. The broken Phoenix Statue and Solaris’s coffin had belonged to her division until the previous day. She watched Solaris with the particular pain of someone who had lost half a museum in one afternoon.
The final two administrators controlled External Relations and Academy Resources. One dealt with Kingdom officials, Guilds and foreign schools. The other managed the Academy’s funding, properties and long-term expansion.
Danistasia sat below them at the lower end of the curved table.
Dean Ordenance sat one level beneath her.
The arrangement made the hierarchy clear without anyone explaining it. The Administrators governed the Academy as an institution. Danistasia ruled its daily life. Ordenance coordinated the students.
Lancet and Solaris stopped in the open center.
Every eye settled on them.
Helagreem folded both hands over the head of his cane. "Solaris Ashen."
Solaris looked at him.
He waited for some acknowledgment but she gave none. She had no idea who the hell any of these people were.
Helagreem continued. "Have you settled since your awakening?"
"It seems so," Solaris replied, her concise voice echoing in the hall. "I understand where I am now."
Ordenance peered at her, completely astonished.
Mirelda adjusted her spectacles. "We should begin by thanking Mr. Leogardt. The situation outside the museum was close to becoming much worse."
Several administrators nodded.
Yorrick looked at Lancet. "How did you persuade her to stand down?"
"I mean... I talked to her."
Danistasia’s eyes narrowed immediately. Lancet met them and smiled once.
She did not return it. "You expect us to believe that?" she asked.
"It worked."
"We all saw you carried away in fire."
Lancet shrugged. "She wanted privacy."
Solaris glanced at him. "I did not ask whether he wanted to come."
Lancet turned his head slightly. "Not helping."
Senna Marrow opened the report in front of her. "Whether he persuaded you willingly or not, the immediate danger ended. That is the only reason we are speaking calmly now."
Solaris looked toward the museum seal carved on the nameplate placed at her side of the table.
Senna noticed. "My division maintained your coffin and the Phoenix Statue for thirty-two years."
"So you displayed my corpse for entertainment"