Well, that sure went well. Now he just needs to follow through on his end!

We made our way outside where a seafoam green car was waiting with the door open. Elder Mezzis sat in the driver's seat. The other teachers seemed to have already left. The cars weren’t just for royalty, so I should be able to get my hands on one. They still seemed like the ultimate reading vehicle.

I hopped inside the car while Highthorn got in next to me, closing the door behind him. There was so much I needed to process during this trip that I had considered making more time or at least accelerating my brain’s processing speed. I can’t always rely on spells, though, because it would stunt my growth.

“The food was delicious. We don’t normally get such high quality food. Agriculture is one of the toughest issues we have to overcome. Healthy, good tasting food is scarce and has only been getting harder to reliably acquire. The population keeps growing but our food production is at capacity,” Mezzis said, striking up a conversation.

CUSTOMERS! I can use this chance to lay down the groundwork for trade relations. “I have read many stories of nations not being able to keep up with growth; that is why island nations fail in the long run. I just struck a deal with King Al’Don for trade. My people in Astraville can provide you with some healthy mushrooms I developed, just get in contact with Firth to discuss a trade deal.”

The car jerked to a stop, causing me to fling forward, but Highthorn caught me.

“Please drive carefully with Lady Astrid in the car!“ said Higthorn snarling at Mezzis.

“I apologize. That is just a lot to process.”

At least someone else gets to feel like me for once! I figured it would be good to brief her quickly, so there was no confusion as to what I had said. “That is what I was discussing with King Al’Don when you left. They have not announced it yet so don’t spread it too much, but I am the leader of the formerly known refugees or exiles. They are now my citizens under my protection. Firth is in charge when I am not around.”

“Wow, that’s great to hear. Firth has always been good to work with when we deliver learning material. That is a lot to think about. I shall try to drive more carefully,” Mezzis said, starting the car’s movement again.

“So, what subject do you teach?” I asked the professor while I looked outside the windows at the passing town. The areas we passed through were very clean and well kept, much better than the lower city. They needed to implement some sort of volunteer cleaning crew. The bears did most of the work in the library, but occasionally after some more mysterious experiments, another caster would have to figure out how to clean up the issue.

“I teach general history. That’s why I’m so interested in you. You are like living history!”

She seemed like a suitable candidate to be a future patron of the library, but I would have to do some more research before I brought her in. I still had to figure out the state of the world and also what the corporations were up to; several leadership books had said to never trust a merchant. There seemed to be a lot of politics at play. After all, someone was supporting Donna’s actions.

“Some of the other professors wanted to greet you, but we didn’t want to scare you, so we decided that only one of us would bring you to the academy. The gem crafter teacher fought me hard, because I was more senior, and I didn’t freak out when news of your return started to leak out.”

I tilted my head in slight confusion. “Oh, you didn’t? Most people have a hard time remaining calm around me.”

“I knew you would return one day. There are a lot of theories about you. Though I am not a specialist, I am of the belief that you are a godlike human and thus the power hasn’t gone to your head. I mean, you didn’t immediately take over the kingdom when you returned. Not that it would be a bad thing, considering current leadership. Oops, I said something I shouldn’t have. Please don’t repeat that,” she said, sounding rather insincere at the end.

She reminded me of the elder magic users in the library that didn’t care much for decorum or keeping their opinions in check. It was always funny when they would essentially taunt royals, including ones from their own nations. I needed to know what she meant by that.

“Is there a specialist here? I really want to get a handle on what is being said about me. Also, what is wrong with the current leadership?”

“No, unfortunately not. Though I am sure they will come from all over once news of your return spreads around. Oh, nothing with King Al’Donna. It’s rather that his daughter took a lot of work to teach. Her mother was much worse. May she rest in peace. We are all hoping she takes after her father.”

It doesn’t seem like she is. This could be a bigger problem than I thought. I will have to ask around about her mother.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“I am willing to meet him,” I replied, interested in why he fought the hardest to meet me. Although all I wanted to do was read some books, every time I turned around there was something else that needed to be done.

“Perfect, I will show you around the campus on our way to his class. We have informed all the students to behave themselves, but I apologize in advance if any aren’t able to remain as calm as me.”

As calm as when the car jerked to stop?

“Could we stop by the library on the way? I wanted to get some books.”

“That can easily be arranged for. I will get you a copy of my history book. Feel free to mark it up with any notes or disagreements you have.”

It seemed like they expected me to just know everything. I couldn’t keep all the knowledge I had active at once. I could probably pull out some of the better books on history from the library to be copied and sold by my people. This would fulfill the other part of the trade agreement I had talked to Don about.

After driving through the city for a bit, it seemed like we had come upon a set of large gray buildings and some sort of storehouse. I also saw stands that reminded me of knights jousting for honor. They probably used it for showing off talents or possibly training battles. Those might be fun to watch as well while reading a good book. Nothing helps spark inspiration like a close fight. It would also be good for me to know how they fought now. Even if I could defeat them easily.

The building had very few windows, which confused me, so I asked, “Hey why are there so few windows? Isn’t sunlight good for students and for staying awake?”

“Well, normally yes, but there’s a matter of secrecy with some of the training going on, but also to prevent accidents. People used to fly out of the windows when a gem control lesson got out of hand. We don’t want any injured students.”

“Oh, are there that many gem control classes?”

“Yes, that is how we survive and have developed. Everything from the creation of gems—to inscribing them—to using them in society—to using them in combat—to developing new inscriptions.”

What I really wanted to ask about was the human curse. That seemed like priority number one to fix, but it was probably the hardest thing on my list. I had no idea if I could even accomplish it. I was going to undo a spell possibly put on by the gods. If I wasn’t careful, I would alert them and who knows how they would treat me. I would probably have to run back inside my library for a very long time. If that even would protect me.

I knew there were stories about how to fight deities, but there were no practical spells written down anywhere in the library. I would have to try to replicate some of the spells in the fairytale books in the children’s section. There were also a few in the romance section when the prince would take a stand against the gods for his lover. It was always so romantic to read, so I hadn’t really paid attention to the spell content.

We stopped, and Mezzis led us inside. It was a large front entrance with staircases going to different hallways. There was a huge painting of me on the back wall of the front entrance. It was really intimidating to look at. It was prettier than me!

“Why do you have a painting of me? I know the king had one, but why such a big one here?”

“It’s the goddess of knowledge. We are at school. Students pay homage to you for good grades.”

“That makes sense, but they should just study harder rather than pray to me.”

“Studies show that students who spend at least one hour a day praying to you have an increase in their grades.”

I had no clue how that was possible. Maybe while they were praying, they would review their texts so that they could get higher scores? This wasn’t the worse thing I suppose. I mean, at least they weren’t burning books to send them to me. That would be a tragedy and I would be very upset and have to rectify that immediately. “That’s very interesting —” a maniacal plan grew in my head, a way to ensure that I got many more books, “—you know if students were to send me copies of the books, my divine will may pass on to them easier. We could at least test the theory out.”

The elder looked at me, shocked. I almost thought the jig was up before she said, “Of course. That makes so much sense. Even the gods all require objects to interact with humans. Even if you are just ‘godlike’ we don’t know what the extent of that is.”

I just nodded my head, unable to believe that it really worked. Yes, more books on the way!

“One of your names was the fairy of the library! I mean, records showed praying to wind spirits brought their favor to the seamen’s sails. I wonder if that is why they were so powerful and always cited you as inspiration!”

I cringed a little at that name, remembering the more annoying parts of my fan club.

“We will get on that immediately. The more wealthy students can easily afford this.” She took out some sort of notepaper and began writing notes as we walked.

“You seem well-connected. How would I go about getting courses taught in Astraville?”

Her mouth went agape. “You mean you would let me teach in your land?”

“Yes, of course, well-educated citizens are the best citizens for a prosperous empire,” I said, reciting a line from “Your Citizens And You By Emperor Kaplin The 6th”.

“Of course, I want to, Lady Astrid. Teaching for you would be the highest honor. It’s similar to being your apostle,” she began furiously taking notes, unable to keep her refined older demeanor.

Well, that was rather easy to accomplish. I should send a message to Firth about adding some sort of rooms for classes in the updated design plans as well as the other latest info. I was really starting to build up. “We should stop for a moment before we get to that class. You need to finish your notes and I need to send a message to Firth.”

“Yes, of course,” she replied, stopping and taking notes even faster.

I recalled a spell from “Draknar’s Communication Networks” that should do the trick. Even if I hadn’t set up his mythical network, I knew how to send an information packet directly to Firth. I compiled mostly everything into a single fluid thought other than the poisoning incident, phrasing it more like we had come to a mutual understanding. The thought took the form of an invisible mana orb that none alive today could see and took off to deliver its contents.