SSS-Ranked Summoner: Only I Summon All Heroes And Heroines Of Legend-Chapter 16: A Meeting With The Principal

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

The monitor kept its steady rhythm, indifferent to everything else in the room.

Altair sat in the chair beside the bed, placing both elbows on his knees. The infirmary smelled of antiseptic and enchantment oil, a specific sharp-sweet combination that filled the room. Finn laid in the center of the bed, wrapped from shoulder to mid-thigh in bandages.

He looked pitiful. The bright energy was gone, replaced by still quiet unconsciousness, a supported sleep to accelerate recovery. Finn’s face, usually radiating with positivity, was just a darkened face now.

The juvenile wyvern had gone off-script.

That was one way of framing it. What had actually happened was that Ryka’s summon had gone rogue in the heat of the battle, turned from Finn’s summon, and swept a column of fire across the arena edge where Finn had been standing. Oz had cut the fight immediately. But the damage had already been done.

Third-degree burns across forty percent of his torso. The healing spells did most of the repair now, working through his cells at a molecular level. The doctors said he’d be fine. A week of supported sleep, then some days of monitored rest was all he needed.

Altair had been here most of that first day. They weren’t really best buds yet, but Finn had no one else at the Academy. Just Altair, a room and a beeping monitor.

So he stayed.

Knock. Knock.

He turned toward the door.

It pushed opened. And there, Ryka Drakenheart stood in the frame.

"Why are you here, Ryka?" He questioned in a direct tone wasn’t, laced with a bit of hostility.

"I came to see how he was doing." She stepped inside, swinging the door shut behind her with a quiet click.

Altair watched her cross the room and stop at the foot of the bed. The way she looked at him made it clear, she had taken responsibilty for her actions.

"He’s got heart, I’m sure he’d get through this" Altair said.

"I hope so."

She stood there for another moment. Her posture was always composed. Then something changed subtly, Altair almost missed it.

She looked like she was finally letting her guard down, her face losing that stoic edge. She looked away from Finn, staring down at her hands instead.

"I just lost control," she said, her voice dropping to a low, honest murmur.

"I’ve got the wyvern’s range down. I know exactly when to back off. I really thought I had this," she said, stopping for a beat before repeating it, almost to herself. "I really thought I had it."

"You didn’t."

She nodded once, accepting that plainly. "I didn’t."

Then, out of nowhere, her eyes started to well up.

Ryka closed her eyes. A single hot tear escaped, tracing a clean line down her cheek. Then she broke into a muffled sob.

Altair sat with that for a second. Because it wasn’t what he’d expected. He’d seen Ryka at summoning festival, the trials, she had the same elite composure, that same self-possessed energy that made every head in the Gran-Lucia turn whenever she moved.

He hadn’t expected this.

She looked fourteen. But it was clear, behind all that aura and reputation, she was still just a teen who’d lost control of her summon and put her classmate in a hospital bed.

And that kid was now standing in a small infirmary trying not to cry and failing at it quietly.

Altair exhaled.

He reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. She flinched slightly at the contact, then stilled.

"Hey." His voice was even. "You didn’t mean for it to happen."

She didn’t respond.

"Summons can be tough to handle, especially one of such quality. Everyone knows that. And besides, I’m certain you’re not the first student to lose the thread mid-trial." He paused, watching her unchanged expression. "Finn is not going to be carrying scars from this He’s going to wake up, and his first question is going to be whether the results are posted yet."

She let out a short breath, a ghost of a laugh. And then wiped her face as she regained her composure. Watching her was like watching a reboot in real-time, the posture locked back in, the emotional walls went back up, and her face smoothed over. It wasn’t that she was being fake, it was just the version of herself she knew how to project, and she was good at it

"He’ll be alright," Altair said again, pulling his hand back.

"Okay." she answered quietly.

Then she turned and walked to the door.

She pulled it open.

Master Oz was standing directly on the other side, one hand half-raised like he’d been about to knock.

Ryka stopped.

"Master Oz." She inclined her head in a precise, respectful greeting.

Oz studied her for half a second, long enough to register the slight redness at the corners of her eyes, then returned the nod. "Drakenheart. Go rest. you need it."

"Yes, sir." She moved past him and disappeared down the corridor without a backward glance.

Oz watched her go, then stepped inside and let the door close behind him. He crossed to the bed and looked at Finn briefly. Then he turned to Altair.

"How is he?"

"Stable. A week under strict supervision, then another on rest." Altair leaned back in his chair.

"Hmm" Master Oz nodded, "Well I’m here on official business, The principal wants to see you."

"What for?"

"Come with me."

Oz arranged cover at the nurses’ station before they left — a junior healer nodded at instructions and headed straight for Finn’s room. While Oz led Altair out of the infirmary and into the open air.

The carriage was already waiting.

They rode in near silence. Altair watched the Academy grounds pass through the window. The principal’s building came into view before they reached it.

It wasn’t the broadest structure on the grounds, but it was the most vertical, tapering upward. The upper floors narrowed to a point where the principal’s office sat at the apex, looking out over all of Gran-Lusia from above.

Altair stepped out of the carriage and looked up at it once.

Then he followed Oz inside.

...

The office was still when they entered.

Principal Baldwin Woxingthon sat at the highest desk in the room, elevated on a raised platform that placed him above everything else. He was draped in formal robes. Below him, at a second tier, Vice Principal Vivienne Zaldris sat.

And below them, at the third tier, the Council of Four Masters. Four desks, and three seating behind it. Oz ascended and took his seat among them.

"Welcome, Altair Elfender." Baldwin’s voice filled the room effortlessly. "Sit." He commanded.

"Thank you, sir." Altair took the offered seat.

Baldwin placed both hands flat on his desk and looked at before continuing.

Your registration is a bit of an outlier," he said. "When Michael enrolled, your father went through all the formal channels. Proper introductions, family standing, expectations for his second son’s education. " He paused, letting the silence hang. "With you, there was nothing. Not a letter, or messenger, not even a heads-up."

The only sound in the room was the steady tick of the wall clock.

"It is," Baldwin continued, "quite odd that the first son of House Elfender registers here only after his second brother has already graduated from this same institution. That alone raises questions." He removed his glasses and set them on the desk. "Those questions compound when Master Oz informs me that your summoning ceremony resulted in you producing a book. An event he oversaw, personally."

He gave Altair a moment to process it all.

"I suspect these things are connected." His eyes did not move from Altair’s. "So I will ask you plainly, and I expect a plain answer. Does your father approve of you being here?"

Altair looked away and then back. "No, sir. I came on my own accord."

Baldwin studied him for a moment longer. Then he made a quiet sound.

"Good."

He picked his glasses back up.

"Now." A slight shift in tone. "According to Master Oz, your registered summon is a book. What every student and faculty member in that hall observed at the trials was an eight-foot warrior built from what appeared to be primordial power." He looked at Altair steadily. "Care to explain the discrepancy?"

"The giant is also my summon, one I discovered a bit later" Altair said.

Baldwin was quiet. He glanced briefly at Vivienne. She gave him a slight nod, Then he looked back at Altair.

"Very well." He leaned back slightly, dabbing a quil in ink, as he scibbled something down on sheets while continuing.

"For the duration of your enrollment, you will receive specialized study under Master Oz. You are outside family jurisdiction while you remain here, the only house you answer to is House Daeryion. Your progress will be monitored directly." A final look. "You may leave."

Altair rose and bowed once, before leaving through the door.

Behind him, Principal Baldwin spoke to Oz.

"Master Oz."

"If my hunch is correct, this boy may be a multi-summoner. And if he’s already carrying two summons at this stage, there is no telling where that ceiling sits." He folded the sheet. "It is also genuinely unusual that he summons a man. I want you to study his ability, and train him. We cannot afford someone with such potential drifting in the wrong direction."

"I feel..."

"He may be the brightest thing Gran-Lusia has produced in generations."