Controlling Destiny - 9 Funding Issues

Meanwhile, in a different part of the Academy, a meeting was taking place.

The meeting hall was lit up quite nicely with light-emitting runes. They glowed from under the table and out of the walls, giving the entire space a very polished feeling to it.

There were currently 13 people seated in the room, and they all wore different colored robes with a different insignia on each.

Headmaster Magmus sat at the head of the table and 6 other elders sat at each side.

“Let us now commence this meeting, then.” Declared Magmus.

The chatter in the hall died down and Magmus cleared his throat with a light gurgle before speaking.

“I have gathered you all here today to talk about the annual tower trials.” He said slowly.

“I wanted to discuss tonight the current funding issues we are facing in lieu of the event.”

Magmus paused momentarily to take a sip of water from his cup.

Continuing, he added, “As you all know, it is also the upcoming 777th anniversary of the founding of this academy, as such, this year’s tower of trials will be having 7 floors instead of the ordinary 5.”

“However, in order to fund these additional 2 floors, we must raise our current net income by at least 22%.”

“While it would be easy to simply dock the payment of the academy teachers this year to pay for such an event, such an action would not only bring shame to our Academy but would also be causing us to stray from our philosophy,” Magmus said.

The elders around the table looked at each other and nodded solemnly. None of them wanted their income to be docked either.

“As such, Magmus said, I have asked all of you to gather here today as a means of discussing a method of raising our revenue in a moral manner.”

The elders looked at each other again and broke into small conversations amongst themselves. After a few minutes of discussion, an elder near the end of the table spoke up.

“Headmaster Magmus, I believe that one of the easiest ways we can earn money is to create a competition ahead of the tower trials.”

“By setting an entry fee, we can split the funds of the fees 50/50 and have half of the funds go towards a jackpot prize pool and the other half go towards funding for our Academy’s future events.”

A lot of elders nodded silently as they listened. However, one elder spoke up against such an idea.

“Headmaster Magmus, although I agree that such an event that has been suggested by Elder Ineus would be beneficial to the school, I think that a contest of sorts would only be able to draw in so many people as it would limit the number of contestants.”

“Instead, I suggest that we host a variety of mini-events that lead up to the major event of the tower of trials.”

Headmaster Magmus sat in deep thought for a moment before responding, “although these are great ideas, we still require an amount of funding to host such events.”

“At the end of the day, even if we manage to host the events there is no guarantee that we can turn a profit.”

“It is best that we can find a means of making a faster increase in our revenue by spending as little money as possible.”

The elders all turned to each other once again, this time with darkened expressions. They mumbled amongst themselves but no one provided any additional ideas.

Headmaster Magmus took a long sigh. He knew that such a problem could not have a simple answer. “I see that we seem to be at a blockage tonight, I’ll conclude the meeting here then.”

After taking another sip of water, he continued, “please do give this more thought, if anyone has any good ideas, let me know through the identification token immediately.”

“You’re all dismissed.”

As the elders all shuffled out of the room with hushed whisperings amongst themselves, one elder in a dark robe stayed behind without moving.

“Madame Mavira, do you need to tell me anything?” Magmus asked while standing up.

Mavira looked up at Magmus from her seated position and gave a slight smile.

“Oh, no, I was just thinking about the issue of funding.” She responded slowly.

“I see,” Magmus said. “Do let me know if you think of anything.”

Mavira sat there motionless as if deep in thought.

Magmus decided not to talk to her any further and slowly walked out of the room.

A little while after Magmus had left the room, a few maids entered again to clean up the room. They took the cups and tea kettles that had sat on the table and bussed the tables and chairs.

“Ma’am, are you done with your tea?” One of the maids asked Mavira.

“Oh, right, I had forgotten about that,” Mavira answered. She quickly drank the rest of her tea and handed the empty cup to the maid.

“Thank you,” She added. The maid nodded and walked away.

Soon the entire meeting hall was empty yet again.

Mavira still sat where she had sat all evening, completely motionless, as if deep in thought.

Her breathing was slow, and her eyes dry without a twinkle in them as if she never blinked.

Finally, after many hours of motionless sitting, Mavira finally got up from her seat.

Despite having sat in her chair for so many hours, it was stone cold.

Putting on her hood, Mavira finally walked out of the hall.

Unbeknownst to her, two dark figures were waiting outside on the roof of the building.