Chapter 19

Aaron got ready quickly and had a light breakfast before he bolted out of the house. He informed his parents about the meeting with the agents from the academies. So they too helped him by preparing breakfast first for him.

The school is not that far away from his house. The only reason why he took so long to reach the house the previous day was because he wanted to avoid the attention of the locals.

Even though he is the top ranker of the entire alliance, it's not like they can wait for him for an entire evening. So he kind of toured the city a bit before he returned home.

By spending time out more, there is a chance that he would be recognized by more who saw the news but he put a cap on his head, making it not easy to identify as people wouldn't normally stare at strangers for no reason.

Even with a cap covering his face partially, the ones that are familiar with him would easily identify him. So, he returned just before dark, hoping that whoever was at his house would leave and if there were any near the building, his face would be obscured and they wouldn't identify him easily.

All he needed was a few minutes and he could enter his house before anyone could identify him. The plan worked but since he didn't appear last evening, if they saw him in the morning there was a high chance that they would crowd him.

Luckily, it's still early in the morning and everyone in the community is either in bed or preparing for their day. There were not many on the street and he freely left the community towards his school without worrying about others stopping him, making him late for the appointment.

To come late to the appointment with the agents from the academies, would leave a bad taste in their mouths and in-turn could turn out problematic in his future.

---

Aaron directly went to the principal's office as it was detailed in that message to arrive there by 8 A.M. and it is exactly that time.

Knock! Knock!

He can't barge into the principal's office. He is after all the head of a school and should be given respect, even though Aaron has technically graduated from the school and has no more ties with it.

Moreover, from what Aaron knew, the principal is a Rank-4 Fire Mage, approaching Rank-5. Maybe he is even Rank-5 but that was never made public.

"Come in", a calm voice came from the inside.

Aaron entered the room and immediately felt a lot of gazes on him. He looked around and saw five people seated with the principal. They are all in their middle ages or at least appear so.

This is one of the perks of ranking up. The life span increases and if you rank up early, you can preserve the looks of your youth for a long time.

Aaron immediately understood that they were the agents who came here to recruit him and his fellow batchmates.

"Ah, Aaron right on time", the principal spoke, "These fellows are from the top five academies here to recruit you. Speak with them and decide what academy would you be willing to attend".

Aaron nodded.

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen, speak one by one and give your terms to the boy. Whatever he decides would be final. No tricks", the principal warned the agents.

They gulped at the warning.

Aaron was surprised at the principal warning them. Normally, a principal of a school from a small city like Rock City would be lesser in stature when compared to people from the academies but that wasn't the case here.

Aaron wasn't sure about the reason but he had his doubts.

The most probable ones are that the principal is of higher rank than them and can easily squat them or since Aaron is the top student, no one wants to be overbearing and influence his decision.

If such a thing happens, the four other academies that lost their chance to get him would unite and push the academy that influenced Aaron to join him.

With the four academies backing him, the principal would be in a higher position than these agents. Now, every agent has the fear that if they push too much, the other four will back up the principal and may push them down.

No one wants to risk that as that scenario would not only make them lose a valuable student but also bring a bad name to the academy.

What would the academ\y do in such a scenario?

Push all the blame onto the agent that went to recruit the student and punish him properly to maintain their name. It would be a lose-now and lose-again situation. No one wants that to happen.

If the boy was just top of the school or city, then even if they used certain underhanded schemes to make the students join them, as long as they didn't cross a line, there would be no backlash.

The problem was that the student was at the top of the alliance this year.

Everything that would happen with this recruitment would definitely make it into the news channel or newspaper, which would be viewed globally. It would be pretty problematic.

So, no one would dare to cross the line. No, they would not even be near the line at all.

---

"Okay, I'll start then", a stern-looking man spoke first.

The first impression may be the best impression but the other four didn't care. They each wanted to give the best conditions to Aaron but also save some resources as that would increase their bonus.

So the best way to do that would be to speak last as they would know the benefits that others proposed and can offer better benefits.

The principal looked at the other four and smiled, "Okay, since Lt. Aldren spoke that he would go first, let's leave them alone for five minutes", he said to others before turning to Lt. Aldren, "Good luck".

he stood up and started to walk out of the room.

The smile on the other four froze but they had no choice but to follow the principal out and that's what they did.