Aftermath: The Foryl Family

The private office of Professor Jerome Foryl was completely trashed. The normally ice-cold man was now burning with rage. He just got back from yet another emergency meeting with the conservatives. The noble families and other conservatives were in chaos across the country.

With their second son the instigator of the entire event, the Foryl family's standing fell hard. The family head made impossible demands on Professor Foryl to fix the problem and repair their lost reputation. He blamed the professor for not teaching Lysander correctly and not properly protecting him.

The professor's plans were instantly thrown into disarray. Everything went as planned until his idiot nephew attempted to murder several students. The professor had to step in to keep up his façade and steer the conservatives out of this mess. This has earned him the ire of many progressive and neutral aligned people. Not to mention that the Deputy Headmaster Downer is watching him like a hawk.

Now he had to save Lysander from the fire? Again, just like all of the others? HA! That was impossible this time. Why didn't the family head teach his precious second son how to behave? At the very least, he could hold the brat responsible for his own actions for once.

Professor Foryl had his own bottom line, and he would never light himself on fire for the sake of the Foryl family. However, he would ignite a stupid rosebush on fire in his place.

**********

One week after the incident, the first official report of that day was released. Most of those who instigated or seriously harmed others were suspended. The fates of Lysander Foryl and his comrades were obvious. They were directly expelled due to the life-threatening injuries inflicted on the victims and sent to Sarrasak for trial.

Professor Foryl was barely mentioned in the report. Aside from being seriously rude to students upon occasion, no serious wrong doings of his were found. The professor actively helped in the investigation, and many thought that he took is nephew's actions too personally.

Anonymous tips led the investigators to a certain Professor Elias Rosewall. The surveillance artifacts in other areas only saw him after the fight concluded, suggesting that he should have been in the building at the time of the fight. Eyewitnesses didn't see him walking around campus until that time either.

Professor Rosewall was accused with aiding and abetting the attack on the foreign students as well as obstruction of justice. Namely, he provided the overpowered offensive artifacts, controlled the surveillance blocking artifacts and interfered with security's response.

He was also hit with various other charges from other incidents. These included neglecting and abusing his students, encouraging violence against certain student demographics and various ethics violations. The headmaster fired him and the former professor faces charges in Sarrasak.

Elias Rosewall wasn't the only one receiving widespread attention. Government officials and police officers had combed every inch of campus that entire week. Naturally, they saw the video of when Aayla stopped Lysander. They could easily tell that her victory wasn't entirely luck like what the faculty claimed.

New people asking questions dropped by the residence hall every single day. How she actually beat Lyse became an open secret among the faculty and investigators. Aayla had to hide out in the basement for some peace and quiet. What happened to keeping the witnesses' identities concealed?!

Daren slipped her some notes for the classes that she missed. Poor Chris and Jacki had the credit for their hard work stolen. Ramona promised to get her some peace and quiet after the first official report was released.

At first, Aayla didn't think that she would need to take Ramona up on that offer. By the time that a week had passed, Aayla couldn't take it anymore. The gremlins were awful roommates, and she missed the sun. Ignoring the stares of on campus, Aayla hurried to Ramona's office.

"Ramona, I can't take it anymore! People won't leave me alone! Living with the gremlins is a nightmare! I can't just keep giving them sweets all the time!"

Ramona chuckled. "I suspected that you might feel that way. Don't worry, I've made arrangements. Pack your bags, we'll be leaving today for a two-week expedition along the Havrevel River."

"Oh! That's sounds fun – Eh? We're leaving today? For two weeks?"

"Did you just assume that I would go?!"

"No… but I mentioned your situation to the headmaster a week ago… then he had a small idea… the university needs some good press right now, so… he decided that showing off my never-before-seen goddaughter would be a necessary distraction."

"… So that's how I got volunteered for an expedition to the Havrevel River. Do you mean that super dangerous one with the magical beasts?"

"Exactly the one! I have the gear already to go. We'll be travelling with some other students and professors. Don't worry. Everything will run smoothly."

Everything would not run smoothly.

**********

"What on Tellus are you doing at Nafriton?! Why did my father adopt you into the main family when you're this useless?! You let your nephew get expelled and dragged away in handcuffs! The entire noble circle knows about his undignified departure."

Professor Foryl bowed his head towards the person talking in the mirror. Long-distance two-way communication in real time was an advanced spell. The Foryl Patriarch inherited his position based on birthright. He could not use such a skill. Hence, Professor Foryl was doing extra work to maintain the spell.

His palms began to bleed has his fingers pressed into his skin. His head bowed even lower to hide the fury warping his face. The former patriarch adopted him to succeed the family. Professor Foryl entered the main family under the guise of becoming a future aid to avoid the wrath of his wife's family.

Unfortunately, life doesn't always go the way you want it. The former patriarch passed away when Professor Foryl had barely entered high school. His wife took over, then each day after was like a living hell. Professor Foryl had no choice but to work like a dog for the ungrateful, insufferable fool.

"With his expulsion and arrest, his future is wasted! How could he possibly inherit the family now?! Do you know how many resources we spent on you?! How could you repay the family like this?!"

Tch. Very little after the former patriarch died. He crawled his way up step by step. Though if he hadn't found his teacher and met his current friends then he would still be firmly under this idiots' thumb. As soon as he gets his chance, the entire main Foryl branch will perish from this earth.

"Answer me you incompetent b**tard! You better have an acceptable reason, Jerome."

"Of course, my lord. Have you had the chance yet to review the incident report with your busy schedule?"

"Hah? Who has the time to read that nonsense when you should be doing that for me?"

"… Naturally. Then allow me to summarize the incident. Young master Lysander got into a fight with some foreign exchange students. This fight was instigated by his no-good friends, and someone secretly intervened to make things worse.

"The incident was discovered by Deputy Headmaster Downer. With little time to cover up an incident of this severity, the other faculty, conservatives included, pushed for the young master to take the fall."

"What?! Lysander was set up?! THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU HELP HIM?!"

"The best way to save him was to push him into the fire."

"WHAT SORT OF BULL–"

"Even I am not invincible or all knowing, Family Patriarch. In this case, the incident was too severe and discovered to fast. There was no time to plan. If I had defended Lysander, then the incident could be viewed as a devious scheme. The other conservatives would have used him and the entire Foryl family as a scapegoat.

"By pushing him into the fire, Lysander was protected. Instead of this being a plot by the entire Foryl family, it became a hot-headed young man temporarily losing control. In other words, there would have been no intent to kill. With his largest supporter condemning him, the other accusers would calm down. This bought us critical time to find out the true manipulator behind the scene."

"The true manipulator?"

"Yes, my lord. Professor Elias Rosewall. He was the one who orchestrated the fight, bribed Lysander's traitorous friends and threatened the witnesses."

An hour later, Professor Foryl ended the call. He slowly cackled at the Foryl Family's stupidity. Those fools in the Foryl Family hadn't even tried to find out what really happened. They believed everything that he told them.

The Sarrasak and other noble families would soon learn that Lysander Foryl was the mastermind and lead instigator. However, Professor Foryl told the Foryl Family a slightly different version. One in which Lysander Foryl was framed by conservatives and progressives alike.

The Foryl's status has fallen, but ironically Professor Foryl's has risen due to his serious 'investigation' and insistence on properly punishing Lysander. That gap would only widen once the Foryl Family crazily started to push their 'true' version of events.

By the Celestials' grace he managed to frame Rosewall in time. Now, all he had to do was clean up some lose ends that didn't know when to keep their mouths shut.