The first thing that they noticed was the smell. It wasn't exactly the most meaty smell but the three of them stopped behind a ridge.

  "Does that smell like cooking flesh?" Cire was the first to ask.

  Ludere shrugged. "Fuck. Do I even want to know?"

  "There isn't a chance that that's one of our classmates starting some sort of fire to roast one of the cows is there. I really hope that's what's going on. Who wants point?"

  The two women looked at him. He silently walked to the front of the file. He had been in the back, the smell only increasing as he got closer.

  It wasn't overwhelming. They weren't downwind at least as far as he could tell. The smell had to be one of the local beasts. They had been moving for nearly two hours. Even with the staggered release, this had to have been someone sprinting all out and then beginning some sort of operation.

  They got to the top of a nearby hill. The high grass would obscure their movements. He found himself wondering who in their right mind would be out an open field full of dry grass cooking meat. But that wasn't his issue. The real issue was that after all that time avoiding the headmaster, there he was.

  "It's headmaster Cass."

  Cire groaned. "Let me guess. He is going to want to ask us something about the attack. You never followed up with him after the return. It's no wonder we got this specific set of instructions is it."

  Mila brought up the rear. The three of them looked over the ridge and examined the valley below.

  The headmaster just happened to be cooking a full boar over a large fire. As they watched, the man was sitting in a chair far too ornate for the distance they were from and structure. Beyond him, a large gazebo looked to have popped out of nowhere, and behind that what looked like a small domicile of no more than two rooms

  "Well that would explain why he's so comfortable. This is like his little villa out here." Mila returned to below the line of sight.

  "It looks comfortable. Do we want to go around?"

  He did not in fact want to go through. That meant that they might need to actually speak to the man.

  "Ludere are we going to go around?"

  "I don't know. It's probably going to take an hour and he definitely knew to give us this particular series of points to go to."

  There was no way that they could avoid him without taking a long path around and even then, it was almost certain that they were already spotted. He might as well rip off the toga now.

  "If the grammarian wants to ask you questions, you should answer them," Mila said. "I don't want to make this decision for you but talk to him for five minutes. He probably wants what is best for you."

  Ludere didn't want to do it. He knew that there would be things he couldn't tell the man. He knew that it was suspicious how he knew about the demon incursion. All these things factored into it.

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  He was going to need to speak with the man.

  The more he put it off, the more the dread of speaking to someone in power was going to dominate his thoughts.

  "Alright. We can talk. Don't say anything."

  Mila nodded. Cire placed a hand on his shoulder. "We don't have to do this. It can wait."

  "No. Mila is right. This might only take five minutes and I think that I would like to have some boar."

  ---

  Grammarian Cass was completely at ease. That probably wasn't good for any of them.

  Ludere gulped. All he needed to do was get some smoked boar into his stomach and then move on. If he could just do that he could have a full stomach. If the grammarian...

  "Regnicus. How are you finding the first field exercise? Mila. Cire. Welcome."

  It didn't pass his notice that his name was first on the man's lips.

  "Headmaster. I suppose that this is as good a time as any to go ahead and cook out in what feel a like the middle of nowhere." He found himself wondering how the animal had been moved all this way. If it hadn't been hunted out here then someone would have had to move it.

  Luka chuckled. "There is precious downtime throughout the year. I take advantage when I can."

  He let the silence continue. The sound of the fire crackling and the wind were slight.

  "I suppose you'd be interested in why I chose this time to be here and this particular place"

  He wasn't. Neither of his companions were either. "There's something about the space. It's just calm. I've set up camp here very regularly. It's nice to get away from your responsibilities for a time. You know before I was a grammarian, before all this I had ambition above and beyond this role. But who could resist a chance to shape the young leaders?"

  He'd never really considered the position of the man. Ludere almost did considered religion as an option. It wasn't clear what they did when they were not on duty. How they existed outside of the classroom was not clear. What did they do, if not be the instructor all day?

  He couldn't imagine the pressure that the position held.

  It had to be difficult to be a headmaster but he had chosen that or been assigned through religion. All the processes about how they assign people with jobs do not seem to factor... He had to have chosen this assignment after his own time of the academy.

  He looked young to be a headmaster as well. Ludere judged him to be in his late twenties.

  There was no other way. So he'd probably been here then decided to stay and that was so foreign of a concept to him. He only said this is this was a very temporary place for both the students.

  "It's good to see you head master. Can we have some of your boar or is this one of the official engagements of the field exercise?"

  "Ah. That is the question. Well I suppose that it's about time that the four of us had a chat."