Once the matter of the rankings was settled, only Jirni Ernas remained inside Linjos’s office.

“The results of the investigation on the academies’ staff is unsettling. It seems that whoever is behind the anti-mana toxins played both sides. They used the rivalry between the old noble households and the new magical bloodlines to recruit members from both factions and escalate the internal struggle into a civil war.

“As for the poisoning, the method employed was as simple as effective. They administered the toxin in the meals. The targets were only those who belonged to the most vocal families loyal to the Crown but that lacked the resources to request the help of any of the great healers involved in the plague.

“It was likely meant to make the young mages lose their rankings, if not fail completely their exams in order to cripple their opponents’ status and political relevance inside the Royal Court.”

“How could they achieve such capillary control?” Linjos had already realized by himself most of Jirni’s report, but he still couldn’t believe it had happened right under his nose.

“Easy, they contacted and corrupted several members of the canteen’s staff. They seem to have handpicked them one by one, choosing only those that suffered from financial troubles or had a deep grudge against the Crown.

“You should know that working for one of the six big academies is considered an honour. Yet it doesn’t prevent staff members who belong to noble households from treating with disrespect mages of commoner origin, while those of humble origins resent the nobles for treating them like cattle.