Twisted Wonderland Book 3: The Merchant from the Depths

Chapter 6: A Contractual Setback

After leaving the Octavinelle Dorm, Briar and the group, including Jack, return to the Ramshackle Dorm to figure out what to do about the situation. Everyone is sitting in the lounge of the dorm trying to come up with a plan.

Jack is the first to speak out, "I think it's safe to say that everybody with an anemone stuck on their head... gambled on Azul's contract and lost. The terms of said contract were apparently to place in the top 50. But with the sheer number of students signin' on most of them never stood a chance of getting in at all. That was Azul's game from the start.

"I DID find it weird that Grim managed to score over 80 on a test. Not to sound mean, but Grim isn't the best with his studies," Briar says.

"You can say that again," Jasper says.

Tanzanite sighs, "Seems like Grim and the others have gotten themselves in a real mess."

Then Jack says, irritated, "I mean, c'mon! If you're gettin' good grades off someone else's work, what does that even prove? You're throwin' away a perfectly good opportunity to show others what you're capable of. Frankly, you're cheating yourself.

Suddenly, Crowley's voice appears, "If the rest of the student body here were as principled and tedious... I mean, as 'serious' as you, it would spare me such grief!"

Everyone yelps in surprise to see Crowley has entered the room.

Even Jack yelps, "WHOA! Headmage?! You startled me!"

"You startled all of us," Jasper says, surprised.

"Hello headmage, what brings you here?" Briar asks.

"I came over to see you to talk to you about something," Crowley says.

He sighs and says, "So transpires another year of me being unable to clamp down on Ashengrotto's little 'side business.'"

"What do you mean, 'side business'?" Sereia asks, confused.

"Do you know something about this, Headmage?" Tanzanite asks.

Crowley nods his head and explains, "Azul Ashengrotto: Sophomore. Housewarden of Octavinelle Dorm. Much like Rosehearts, he is a highly capable student already running a dorm as a sophomore, but... He's a bit-no, I daresay QUITE a bit troublesome."

"Are you talking about him swindling people? Seems to me like one word from the headmage could put a stop to this whole thing," Jack says.

"Jack has a point. If you knew about it, how come you didn't stop it?" Briar replies.

"Ah, but it is precisely BECAUSE I am in a teaching position that I cannot prohibit his actions," Crowley says, sounding a bit distressed.

"Why not?" Jack questions.

"Here's the thing about those study guides that Ashengrotto handed out to the students.

There was no illegitimate activity involved in their production. Nobody snuck looks at test questions or answers beforehand. It was crafted exhaustively by hand, after researching the past century's worth of Night Raven College exam questions and their patterns. In other words, it's an entirely legitimate study guide," Crowley explains.

"A century's worth of test questions?!" Briar says, surprised.

"That's actually amazing!" Tanzanite says, impressed and adjusts his glasses.

"Huh. Well, I'll be. If he did that all by hand, the guy's got chops," Jack says, impressed.

Then something comes to mind, "Hm? Wait... So the problem is that there IS no problem with it?"