Ethan was about to exit the tower, when he heard a commotion break out somewhere in the higher floors. “Duchess Altria, this is the woman who seduced Duke Milfern. This foul whore goes by the name Violet Whitetower.” The voice came from an unknown woman, and Ethan’s eyes darted in its direction.
“What-? I... I did no such thing!” Violet defended herself, but Ethan struggled to see who she faced.
“Irina, what’s the meaning of this? And you, take back that insult.” A voice cut through, and Ethan tried to find a spot where he could spot who was talking. Alia gave him a funny look, but followed anyway.
“Jon, I was told that she’s been seducing you?”
“There is nothing like that, Irina.” The person named Jon responded. “The idea to invite Lady Whitetower came from myself and Julius.”
“Is that so?” The voice that was Irina asked. At that point, the girl next to Irina cut in.
“It’s still inappropriate, Duke Milfern, to invite a woman to your group when you are meant to be engaged after your graduation to Duchess Altria!”
“There’s no such rule, and don’t speak of the engagement as if it’s a done-thing. It’s not even formally announced.” The one identified as Jon Milfern answered. “It’s nothing but a conversation between our parents, and so far as I am concerned, we are nothing but friends.”
Irina merely glared at Violet, and nodded. “I trust that someone as intelligent as you will know how to behave appropriately. That goes to you too, Miss Whitetower.”
Violet nodded. “Certainly! Nothing inappropriate has happened between us, I assure you.”
“Let’s go.” Duchess Irina Altria said, but the girls next to her added on her behalf. “We’re watching you, commoner!”
At that point, Alia poked Ethan in the arm. “Were you expecting a fight to break out? They look like high nobles.”
“I guess.”
Alia squinted and tried to spot the individuals. Duchess Irina Altria and the girls walked away, but Violet remained, escorted by the three tall dashing men. Ethan focused on the conversations with Violet Whitetower. “Don’t mind her, Violet. I didn’t expect Irina to be so possessive when there’s nothing even formally announced.”
Violet nodded and smiled. “Jon, I didn’t know you had a fiance-to-be. Don’t worry, I’ll behave accordingly!”
“No, that's not necessary. It’s really nothing like that at all. Our parents tend to meet often, and they talk about such things. It’s just common for ducal families to try to matchmake their children, for political reasons. I hear Julius’s parents are also on the lookout for a potential wife.”
Violet grinned and ribbed Julius. “So, have you spotted anyone yet? I’d be delighted to meet the lady that’d eventually be your bride, Duke Julius Storm.”
“Don’t listen to Jon’s nonsense. As far as I’m aware, my parents just told me to enjoy my time here. We certainly don’t need political marriages! All the ducal families are already heavily intermarried!”
“That’s kinda disgusting and hilarious at the same time.” Violet grinned.
Jon and Julius shared her humor. “Exactly! As if we need to dip from the same pond all over again!”
“Hah!” Jon shrugged. “Anyway. I certainly do apologise for that little incident with Irina, I’ll speak to her separately. For now, we should return the Core we collected to the attendant and get our points.”
Miss Whitetower beamed. “Oh yes! That’ll be great.”
There was also another guy, but Ethan wasn’t sure who that was.
***
“You seem fairly interested in the affairs of the nobility.” Alia smirked as they exited the Tower together. “It kinda sucks that we commoners have to be hyper-aware of the conflicts between the nobility just to even live normally in the school.”
Ethan decided to just nod. “Yeah. I... I’m not familiar with nobles.”
“Village-bumpkin Ethan.” Alia teased, and somehow, Ethan’s turned a little red. Alia visibly panicked when she saw Ethan’s expression. “It’s a joke! We’ll get better.”
“Yeah.” It was already really late, and Alia was right. It was time to start saving GP for a rare-grade, or a Titan-grade. He wondered whether he could use his summons, now that he could summon two together, to form a team, and attempt the dungeons on his behalf. That way, they’d earn the GP concurrently.
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He got back to his room, summoned Matilda, the defender and Zaram.
“I’m going to add you to the student list, and here’s your student card. We have three days of rift left, so, I’d like both of you to clear the level 2 rifts together. Can you do it?”
“Yes, commander.” Matilda and Zaram answered concurrently. “I wish to highlight that under current rules, both Zaram and Kaname need to be in tomorrow’s class?”
“Oh shit.” There seemed to be some information exchange between the summons, at least. “Let me see whether I could fake your attendance records?”
[Attendance records are not available at your current level]
“Crap. We’ll start after that, then.”
Matilda returned to the void, and his ninja-summon took her place. “I recommend not linking both of us together. Matilda, Fedora should be added later when you have greater access to the records. They may find greater scrutiny if they fail or did not attend certain subjects. I also want to flag that there is a combat evaluation after four months, so, more summons on the list, the higher scrutiny we all will get, collectively.”
Zaram nodded. “Kaname highlights a valid issue, Commander. It may be wise to reserve some goddess shards to gain levels in that aspect. It would ease our operations in this institution.”
“Fine. So for tonight, go out there and patrol?”
“As you command.”
It was a quiet night.
***
Week 2 Day 5
Kaname sat where she sat the previous time, while Zaram sat next to Ethan. They all sat together for their history class.
“First thing, for those that don’t know, there are no compulsory classes during the rift closure weeks.” Grandmaster Greenwood announced, and there was a big sigh of relief throughout the class. He grinned. “I know that feeling, don’t worry, it’s mutual, I can’t stand explaining history to a largely disinterested crowd that many times a month, too.”
He then stared at Zaram momentarily, and scratched his head. He checked his student list and frowned. “You. Zaram Blacksword. You were absent last week, stand up and explain yourself.”
The entire class turned to look at Zaram, and yet, Zaram seemed perfectly calm. Most actually looked afraid on his behalf.
The summoned fighter stood and answered perfectly. “I missed the class, sir. I take full responsibility for my failure to attend the class as required. Please mete out the necessary punishment.”
Grandmaster Greenwood smirked and then, in a sudden, he was right next to him. He seemed to feel something in the air, and he stared at the fighter. The fighter did not cower.
“I see. I shall be lenient since you admitted guilt. The administrative office shall reduce your GP by 10.”
Zaram nodded. “Thank you for your consideration, sir.”
[Kaname: Master, I think it is best for us summoned warriors not to appear before these grandmasters. They have a keen sense of magic and seem able to sense that we are not... normal. Our cover may be blown if they push it.]
[Zaram: Indeed, Commander. The Grandmaster used some kind of detection ability.]
Ethan felt his heart skip again, this was the second time that happened. He had to be careful around the Grandmasters.
[Ethan: Agreed. I’ll make the adjustments.]
Grandmaster Seville Greenwood didn’t dwell on the issue for long, and started lecturing on the past. The class went on smoothly, and it didn’t resurface.
Then, when it was time for a short toilet break, Kaname had... company.
“Lady Kaga.” Camelia Everfrost was the first to approach her. “Pleased to meet you again. I was hoping to find you since our... incident the other day. Do you mind having tea with me? After the class, of course, I’ll cover the cost. There are things I want to talk to you about.”
[Kaname: What should I say?]
[Ethan: Yes. Just say yes.]
“Certainly” Kaname said, and Camelia’s face brightened considerably. “We’ll meet after class?”
“Splendid!” Camelia nodded, and walked away. Everyone in the class watched the two interact. It was important to pay attention to how people were related to each other, and the ‘friends’ of Duchess Everfrost were viewed with immense interest.
“Miss Kaname! We finally meet again!” Violet beamed and immediately got a little too close. “Can I get some of your time, please?”
“Oh.” Kaname looked at the bright smile, and the platinum-blonde-haired Violet pulled her hand like they’ve been friends since forever. “What can I do for you, Miss Whitetower?”
“Call me Violet, please! I’m just a regular commoner, not even a noble!” Violet grinned. “Can I call you Kaname?”
“Yes, you can.”
“Good. So Kaname, thanks for saving me the other time, but uh, I’m thinking whether you’d like to join my group for the rifts. I saw how you fight and I was really impressed! I know it’s short notice, and we only have like, two and a half-days left of rifting for this month, but I think you would really make a good addition to the team. Julius, Jon and Anton are all really nice and capable people too, and we are trying to take on a level 3 rift before this week’s over.”
[Kaname: She wants me to join her rift party].
Ethan massaged his head, struggling to comprehend how popular Kaname was. In such a short time, Kaname had made contact with both Violet and Camelia.
[Ethan: What is she offering? What’s your GP share]
“What will the GP share?”
“Equal! So if a level 3 rift is like 90GP, we’ll get about 18 to 20 each. I’m hoping to grow the team to 6 members!”
[Kaname: What should I say?]
“Please? If you can’t make it today, could you join us tomorrow?”
[Ethan: Say okay. It’s good to get a link with one of the heroines]
“Sure. I’m busy today, but I can make time for tomorrow.”
“Awesome!” Violet gave Kaname a hug, and then realised she had just crossed the line. “Oh. I’m sorry. Uh, let’s meet at... 10 in the morning, at the Tower tomorrow?”
“Certainly... Miss Whitetower.”
“Violet! Call me Violet!” Her extremely bright smile seemed to infect the men around her.