Ulfric's reply came within two days of my own letter being sent out with him agreeing to fund the dark brotherhoods work for the good of Skyrim. That said he did make it clear that he was unhappy about it. I just scoffed at that though as he should have considered that when he chose to drag me into this mess. Still I hadn't been idle during this time and had been carefully gathering information and making plans about the people who had the political pull to stop the high king from making a choice like this.-
There were a few who fit the bill with Thane Erikur being the biggest name. The man was DEEP in the empire's pocket and in fact owed his entire Thanehood to their support. He dealt not only in politics and commerce however but funded bandit groups and even peddlers as his ambition burned brightly. Killing him quietly would prove difficult however as he was well aware of how big a target he was. He never went anywhere without a guard and didn't accept anything that wasn't verified by his people beforehand.-
At the same time however we could absolutely arrange for his murder in broad daylight for the simple fact he had a LOT of enemies. His death would throw things out of balance but the reasoning behind it couldn't be guessed as a result of his incurred hatred. The more troublesome names I found were the ones belonging to the legion. Officers permanently stationed in Solitude to enforce the empires rule in Skyrim. Killing an officer of the legion was NEVER quiet. It got the empire sniffing around so I decisively marked those people as the last few targets.-
It was only a week later that the representative of the dark brotherhood arrived. It was an old grumpy imperial man in standard issue blue magicka restoration robes named Festus Krex.
"Ah, this brings back memories. I used to study here you know. Left once I discovered I had a taste for..... unorthodox magical uses. Been with the brotherhood ever since." the man said after he introduced himself.
"To each their own. Now then to business. I've made a list of names and methods of preferred execution. The point of killing them is to remove them without stirring up the wrong kind of suspicions so being messy or straight forward is not an option. I trust the brotherhood will remain professional in this matter?" I said calmly as I handed over the list.
"Naturally. The initial payment has already been handed over so the brotherhood will send these souls screaming into the void. Oh right, the matriarch of the brotherhood extends an offer to join our little family. Your murder of Grelod the kind was a thing of beauty to us given your age, why you are practically made for us." the old assassin said imperiously.
"I'll respectfully pass on that invitation. Not big on being bound to eldritch entities you see." I said calmly.
"Hmph! Suit yourself, more for the rest of us then." he said before leaving.
Like that I threw any further thoughts on the matter behind me. Any mistakes or drama that followed was no longer my business. My days weren't really worth talking about for some time after that. I woke up, studied, practiced and attended lessons. Any time not spent doing that was spent earning money or relaxing. The first harvest from the greenhouse came out and Korir was forced to swallow his pride and prejudice and ask for more to be made.-
Word reached Winterhold slowly for most happenings in Skyrim but after two months of time rumors were starting to come in about several strings of deaths in solitude. Erikur met an unfortunate end at the hands of the dark brotherhood who double dipped on the rewards by accepting an additional contract on his head from some one else. The other deaths mentioned in the rumor were all vampire attacks. The rest on the list weren't even mentioned as if they died of accidents or natural causes. To little surprise these rumors also came with more rumors about Torygg sending emissaries to Hammerfell.-
I was fairly certain that things were going to play out nicely and focused on raising my magical skills up some more. I was already starting to make my attempts towards the expert level of mastery but each additional level to my skills were coming painfully slow. Even after spending so much time and effort solidifying my foundation in each school advancing in levels only got harder after a small moment of rapid improvement. I had barely hit sixty in my magic skills which was still ten off from the seventy I needed to qualify as an expert in those schools.-
"Finally hit a bottleneck eh? Took you long enough." Urag said as I came to get more advanced texts.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked with a frown.
"You know why most of the students here leave after reaching adept status?" he asked without directly answering me.
"Because it's good enough?" I said confused at the question.
"Aye, that's one reason. The most common however is that they are going to gain experience. Theory and practice have their place but mages need pressure too for growth. The kind you can't get by locking yourself in a room with texts all day." he said staring me down.
"Are you telling me I should just go and wander the world for a few years?" I asked with a sigh.
"Aye, you need to experience life. Get drunk, raid some ancient tombs, almost die a few times. That sort of thing. Do that and you'll feel that bottleneck of yours crumble like old bread." he said gruffly.
I sighed "I suppose it wouldn't be the worst idea. I'll give it some thought." I said before taking my texts and heading back to my room.-
I did think about it too for quite a bit. As much as I hoped to master all these schools by pure study and practice at the college I also understood what Urag meant. The mind is a funny thing sometimes. You'd think safety would be the best for improving but it actually wasn't. We mortals learned best through pressure. The more desperate we were the better our brains worked to try and find solutions. This leads to those troped to hell and back "breakthrough" moments. Prolonged mental pressure that suddenly snaps from strain or the exact opposite when the strain is suddenly gone causes our minds to leap forward in progress.