Mantle of the Gods

Justia didn't follow the women into the bathroom.

I raised an eyebrow as I saw hesitation and possibly fear on her face as she was contemplating what to do.

“Aren't you going in there to get cleaned up?” I asked my Priestess.

She fidgeted with the jumpsuit across her lap and tugged at the medical outfit she was wearing, “I showered before I got here.” She shook her head, “I'll be fine. Besides,” She looked at me, “I'm not the one who did something dirty since they've got here.”

I blushed and looked to see if Edward was paying attention, but he looked like he was still deep in thought cuddling with his knees.

“Honestly that wasn't-” I began but I couldn't think of a good way of phrasing that, “It wasn't my fault. I didn't go looking for anything.”

Justia just shook her head, amused at my discomfort.

I decided I need to change the subject quickly, “So you've never been in the dungeon?”

“No.” She shook her head, “The dungeon is way too dangerous for anyone who doesn't have a mantle.” She realized what she was saying, or more importantly who she was saying it to and closed her mouth. After a second to think she began again, “I mean I've been trained as a Medic since I could walk and there isn't really much that I could help with in the dungeon without a mantle.”

I nodded, it kind of made sense. “So what about your father?” I asked, “Or mother? Were they Adventures?”

She shook her head. “My father managed to make it to floor 30 before he retired and took over the family clinic. My mother only went as far as the 20th floor.” she shrugged, “Her family was pressuring her to marry so that they could expand their holdings, but my mother didn't want to be used as some bargaining piece. She stopped exploring so she wouldn't be worth as much when my grandparents tried to trade her.”

“Ouch.” It wasn't uncommon for families, especially Noble families, to barter and trade and for the Mundane to even sell their children. I heard about it happening a lot and I was very happy that I had been taken in by the All-Church instead of winding up in the care of someone who would buy and sell children. I had heard horror stories and it was not something that I wished anyone would have to experience.

“What happened to your mother? I asked, “Did your grandparents still marry her off?”

Justia shook her head, “No she renounced her family name and married my father, then the two of them started a clinic together.” She swallowed, “But things are getting rough and her family is trying to put our clinic out of business.”

“That's horrible.” I had heard that it was a common practice between the Nobles to try to tear apart other companies or families before absorbing them. “That's what the…” I caught myself before I said ‘ArchBishop’. “Administrator,” I looked over at Trent but he gave no indication as to whether or not that was the correct word to use, “meant when he said that the All-Church would provide aid to your family's clinic.”

Justia nodded, “Yes, and hopefully it will be enough to keep the Alard clinics from causing them any more trouble.”

The name Alard was familiar to me. “Isn’t the Healer on team one an Alard?” I asked

Justia nodded, “He’s my second cousin. His father is the one who is currently running the Alard clinics.” She hit the bed with her fist, “He's doing all of this just because he feels insulted that my mother is working in a clinic that doesn't have the Alard name on it.”

“Do you think that team one is going to be a problem?”

Trent started chuckling at my question.

I looked from Justia over to my teacher. “I take it you think team one is going to be a problem?”

Trent opened one eye to look at me, “Celia is a hot head. She's been that way since she was my student, and she's going to keep being that way until the day she dies.” He shook his head, “She's ambitious and gaining the backing of one Noble would allow her to expand her company. With five Nobles on her team, she's got six years to make connections that might take ten to twenty more to pan out, but most students always remember their teacher.”

“You taught her?” I asked

“I taught all of them.” he said, “Celia, Warder, and even Bethil. Though I wonder what happened to her. She wasn't so timid when she graduated.”

I was taken back by the information. “How old are you? I mean I know the mantles can extend our lives, but if you were Celia's teacher and she has to be over fifty…”

Trent started laughing, cutting me off. “I would not let her hear you say that.”

“How old is she?”

“Mid-forties.” Trent replied, “I don't remember the exact year. Warder is older than all of them, and Bethil is in her early thirties.”

I took in the information. That meant that Bethil hadn't been away from a team for very long before becoming a teacher. I started doing some math but some things didn't make sense.

“I thought the teachers were supposed to be retired?”

Trent chuckled again and Justia snorted.

“For a teacher.” He said as he motioned around the room, “A surefire recruiting method is to condition the students into the Adventurers that you want them to be. If Celia can do the administrative work of her company or have it delegated for these six years, then she can be getting valuable facetime with the next generation of adventures. As well as making connections with their families during the events. The same goes for Warder. I bet he's looking for people to recruit into the Dispatchers.”

“What about Bethil?” I asked

Our teacher shook his head, “I’m not sure.”

“She might be trying to rebuild her Clinic.” Justia answered, “The Reder Clinic was absorbed by the Alards earlier this year.”

When no one said anything else, I tried to think of another topic or something to do because the silence was deafening. Before I could think of something Ether threw open the bathroom door and marched out wearing her blue jumpsuit.

“Boys turn!” She announced