We stood like that for a long moment before my brother barked out a short laugh and raised his hand to run it through his hair.

Then staring at me, his other hand flicked something at me, and catching it - I saw it was a gold Proton.

Puzzled, I stared at my brother who winked at me and said, “That’s yours.”

Jumping up, I exclaimed, “A whole gold Proton? Is it my birthday again?”

Shaking his head ruefully, my brother said, “That’s the last of our money.”

This time, I almost fell onto the floor and looked at my brother with bulging eyes as I mouthed, “The last of our money?”

Confused, my brother looked at me before saying, “Didn’t I say in front of that Lord Antoninus that I’ve reached an agreement with the golden blades and that I’m donating all my money to them?”

Nodding, I did distinctly remember him saying that, but the point is - why was he following through with it?

So I asked him exactly that.

“Why are you giving all the money away? Shouldn’t you keep at least a little with us?”

My brother looked at me and said righteously, “I did keep some money with us. 100 gold to be precise. 1 gold to each of the people remaining, and 2 golds for the knights as extra money to spend.”

This time, it was Sir Leonidas and Sir Patrick who grimaced as they spoke in unison, “That won’t even buy us a gold rank fart.”

Sighing, my brother raised his hands up in surrender and said, “We can’t keep any money on us or else the Merchari will suspect we’re playing funny. So, the only solution is to keep what money we need to establish ourselves here and earn whatever we need however we can.”

Nodding at his logic, I looked at the gold coin, which felt heavy all of a sudden.

Continuing, my brother said, “I’ve already set aside a small sum for the Captain and his crew, but we’ll have to look for alternative employment for them too.”

“What employment,” I asked curiously.

“Anything. Guards, packers and movers, construction, Bal - whatever takes their fancy,” my brother said, a wry smile on his face.

“Ah.” I replied, an incredulous look on my face.

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Laughing as he saw my expression, my brother said, “It’s not going to be all that bad. Me, your teacher, this old man here, along wit-” he was interrupted by the door opening and Sir Dustin coming through with Celine.

Continuing on, my brother spoke, “along with Dustin here - will be joining the golden blades and taking on their contracts. Sir Egon is forming a household guard with the remaining soldiers and will be in charge of protecting us, as well as part of our troop.”

Then, pointing at Celine and me, he said, “You both are in charge of the seedlings. Galen tells me that there is a page school in Yamal that I want you all to attend.”

Pointing questioningly at myself, I repeated, “Me and Celine?”

“You and Celine,” my brother confirmed.

Looking at Celine who had a composed expression on her face - though the paleness of her skin showed the tumultuous thoughts running through her head - I politely said, “I am no leader and I think Celine is better suited to the role than I am.”

Thwack

Teacher took away his hand and examined it musingly, “Skulls gotten harder since he’s woken up.”

Then, looking up, the teacher said, “Celine will be joining page school a month or two from now with Damon and Ares. You have close to 3 years before you’re going to be allowed to join it, but we’ll try to get you and Sia in sooner.”

Distraught, I looked at Teacher and asked, “What about our training with you, Teacher?”

Looking down at his feet, the teacher forced a smile and said, “I won’t be able to teach you every day as I used to before. Whenever I have the time, I’ll come by and see how you’re doing but....” Trailing off, he looked at my brother who nodded, and then he continued, “We’re too short on people to have a weaponmaster like me guarding the coop.”

Understanding the logic, I looked down at my feet, frustrated. Then I looked up at the teacher with clear eyes and said, “Don’t worry, teacher. Page school? We’ll get into page school with our own merit and we’ll show them the students that you have taught and what we can do.”

Thwack.

Teacher taking his fist away angrily, said, “Do you not have respect for the instructors at the page school?”

Clutching my head, I said, “I was wrong…” only to fall down as Teacher continued, “you should not only show them what you can do, but you should dominate them and show them what only you can do and they can’t.”

In front of me, Celine watched with wide eyes and her mouth opened slightly as words struggled to escape her, but she eventually forced them down. However, the hints of a smile remained on her face.

Then Sir Dustin cleared his throat and bowed toward my brother. He then said, “I have informed our household of the coming changes and they are prepared to face them.”

Nodding by his side, Celine spoke out gravely, “We are all part of the same House and we will work together to make it rise again.” then peeking at me, she continued with a smile, “We are all Draykes!”

Grinning at her, I echoed her and said, “We are all Draykes!”

Smiling, the knights looked at us in gratification and nodded their heads.

Then my brother spoke chipperly, “We are all Draykes and currently, we are Draykes without a hoard. So, we are bankrupt.”

Celine stiffened up while Sir Dustin slapped his head and said, “Knew there was something I forgot to say.”

Celine then slowly looked at each one of us in turn, and then stammered out, “Ban-Bankrupt?”