A lady who looked to be around the same age as Mercer had long white hair and a long robe that touched the ground. Though her skin had wrinkles, her mind seemed just as sharp as anyone else's
She is Brigid O'Connell, also known as the vice principal of the academy. She usually handles everything to do with the school and faculty, while Mercer handles all missions and oversees the Western Kingdom.
To the far left in the room were Lyra and Sami, followed by Anna in the middle. On the far right were Poke and Angel. Those two were sitting closest to the door.
Sami was shocked that the school had a vice principal. He truly thought Mercer handled everything on his own. Now that he thought about it, though, having someone take care of the students made sense.
It also made sense why students were rarely seen coming to Mercer's office, as they would go to her first for matters. They would only go to Mercer if it was something she couldn't handle.
In fact, the only reason Lyra and Sami had met Vice Principal O'Connell was because Mercer asked her to handle them. After making them his official apprentices on paper, they had more power than even the average student.
That is, until today. If they hadn't broken the rules so badly, they may not have met her. Now the team had to listen to her lecture them about sneaking off academy grounds.
The amount of anger she had at the audacity of students to think they could continue to break the rules appalled her. What upset her even more was that none of them had approached her for help or even asked her for training.
Brigid quickly gathered her thoughts as she looked around the room. Seeing that most of them were either looking around bored or barely staying awake (she blamed Sami for that), her anger quickly returned, even fiercer.
"Is there anything you all have to say for yourselves?" Brigid seethed as she glared at the group.
Mercer was oddly quiet at his desk as she stood to his right. His face rested on his balled hands as he allowed Brigid to handle everything. The rules were things he set in place, so it wouldn't be right if he decided to discard them when he saw fit.
Angel looked on the verge of tears at the lashing, as Poke's face stayed expressionless. Lyra's face just looked bored, while Sami was fighting to stop the snicker threatening to come out.
"VP, I think I can speak for all of us when I say we have all learned our lesson—" Anna started with a serious expression on her face.
"Quiet!" Brigid interrupted.
Anna's mouth moved a couple of times in shock. Ultimately, she didn't say anything, deciding to keep quiet and not make the situation any worse.
"Teacher Veridian, your disciplinary action will be handled later, during a private meeting held away from the students," Brigid continued.
"Madam Brigid, I don't think I have done anything worthy of being disciplined," Anna argued.
"That's the problem. You think." Brigid stated, turning her head away from the five troublemakers in front of her as she dug through the files on the desk.
The students snickered at the comment as Anna sulked in her chair.
Lyra mouthed to Anna, "You're getting in trouble!" before sticking her tongue out in a childish manner.
Anna didn't have a chance to retaliate before Brigid glared at her once again, picking up a large file and opening it in her hands.
Brigid fixed the glasses on her face before reading out. "Major Incident 568: Being careless, causing three students to die under your care, along with the student Samuel, who received a near-fatal wound."
Sami self-consciously grabbed his stomach as he remembered all the blades of dark energy that cut his body, not wanting to ever experience pain like that again.
"Yeah, but I was also assigned another mission to handle at the same time," Anna added.
"How about this, Incident 567: In the cafeteria, you decided to make a giant pudding slide, making the student Lyra help you. When I came to catch you, you threw Lyra at me before running, saying, and I quote, 'You'll never take me alive, coppers!'" Brigid read out.
"Yeah, but it was to spice up the academy…" Anna trailed off.
"How did she even make an entire slide of pudding?" Sami asked Lyra.
"You really don't want to know. It took us casting a lot of spells and making an enchantment pouch," Lyra whispered back.
"Hmmm," Sami replied.
Brigid flipped through a couple of pages before reading out, "Incident 500: You released a bunch of chickens into the training yard."
"That one was so ba—" Anna began as she scrambled to make a case for the situation.
Brigid quickly cut her off. "They were magical fighting chickens that sent over one hundred students to the hospital wing."
"The amount of parent complaints was a lot. All the favors we had to call in to keep you out of prison was more than I'd like to admit," Mercer added.
Anna shrunk in her chair as the rest of the team looked at her in shock. Lyra wasn't there for that incident, so she had never heard of it before.
Brigid cleared her throat before continuing. "Now, Teacher Veridian, before you speak next time, think. Better yet, just sit there and be quiet." After addressing her, she turned to the students.
Brigid paused to look at Anna as if threatening her to speak or challenge anything she said. Once Anna didn't speak after a couple of minutes, she cleared her throat before looking at Angel and Poke.
"Angel, I had hoped that you would have used your brain. Instead, you went on a mission that could've gotten you killed. For the next month, you and Poke will be cleaning the stables, the bathrooms, and helping the staff with the cafeteria. You two are graduating next year and know the consequences," Brigid continued.
Angel let out a huge gasp at the harsh punishment. Tears formed in her eyes before she wiped them away, deciding that now wasn't the right time to argue, since she was in the wrong.
Poke kept a straight face but nodded after hearing the punishment. He expected something harsh, though he didn't think he'd be forced to clean poop for a month.
Sami sat straight up as he listened to the punishments the teacher was dishing out to people. He realized that if they had such harsh punishments, then he and Lyra were next to have to do hard work.
"Poke and Angel, you are dismissed. Go back to your dorms. Don't forget to rest up this weekend. I expect you at the stables on Monday, bright and early," Brigid demanded.
Poke quickly stood up without saying a word, bowed, and walked toward the door. Angel followed behind him, doing her best to not run out right in front of the principals.
Once the door was shut, Brigid looked at the other two. Her stern face softened as she looked at them. When she looked at Lyra, Brigid couldn't help but see her mother.
Lyra's birth mother was a child she found after a mission went wrong. The baby was left in her care. For all intents and purposes, Lyra would be her granddaughter if Mercer hadn't given her to the Uchian to be raised.
One of the greatest mistakes was not being open with the child. One day, they will have to sit down and talk. Lyra needs to know who her mother is and also gain her family's grimoire.
Brigid realized she was staring too long and cleared her throat to speak.
"I just want to start this off by saying I'm glad you are back safe and sound. It might not seem like it, but I value every one of my students; that means you as well, Lyra," Brigid admitted.
"Thank you, ma'am! It feels good to be back and away from where I was being kept," Lyra stated.
Brigid nodded as she turned to look at Sami. He looked exactly like his father and grandfather, with his mother's grey eyes. Both his father and mother were students of hers at one point.
Sami, not knowing what Brigid was thinking, began to squirm under her gaze.
"With my emotions high on the subject, I will leave all discipline to Mercer before excusing myself from the room," Brigid told them before bowing to Mercer.
"That is so not fair! They deserve to be punished too!" Anna whined as she pointed at Lyra and Sami.
"It seems you have the energy to keep talking, so how about we have your meeting today?" Brigid suggested.
"What? No, it's totally okay, I'm so tired," Anna quickly said.
"Come, Teacher Veridian, don't dilly-dally. We don't have all day," Brigid demanded.
She grabbed Anna by the ear and began to drag her out of the room. Anna was doing her best to hold onto things with no avail.
Soon, she was dragged out of the room, screaming curses at the top of her lungs as the door loudly shut behind the two of them.
A huge bead of sweat dropped from Sami at the scene. He didn't even want to laugh; it was just sad that Anna hadn't grown up yet.
Letting out a sigh, Sami looked at his grandfather, hoping the punishment he and Lyra would get wouldn't be that bad. Though, with the look on his grandfather's face, it seemed like they'd be in big trouble.