After the initial reaction we settled down in Cassie’s and Skadi’s room, to discuss the situation.

“So, who are you supposed to meet?” Helena asked.

“Apparently one of the sons from Duke Payton. His name is Derrick and he is like 25. Ugh. There are some other nobles as well, who have expressed their interest. But he is the most important one.”

“He is not married yet, at that age? I thought most nobles got married rather quickly.” I wondered.

“He is the 3rd son, actually. So marriage is less important, since he won’t inherit a lot. I don’t know that much about him. But the Ashfields would like better relations with the Paytons. Florence is already engaged to Archibald and she is the only daughter of Duke Reynold. We are a branch family, but I am the heir. I bet Duke Reynold suggested this to my mother.” Cassie explained.

I scratched my head. “Ok, let me see if I understand this. So, you are related to Duke Reynold Ashfield, but you are from a branch family, the Ashburns. Your mother would like to be more important, so she wants to do a favour for Duke Reynold. Since Duke Raynold wants better relations with Duke Colton, you are supposed to marry Derrick Colton.”

Cassie nodded.

“Thanks to your fame, Koyuki, Cassie has become more important too.” Helena added. “That is a valuable connection. Cassie’s mother is trying to use that opportunity to get her married into a duke’s family.”

“I don’t care. I am not gonna marry any of them!” Cassie said.

“What if they are actually nice?” I asked.

Skadi snorted.

“I have no interest in any men.” Cassie stated.

“Fair enough. What if you just decline? We are really busy with our group project, after all.” I suggested.

“I don’t think my mother will accept that. She will certainly reduce my alchemy budget.” Cassie said.

“Do you need that money?” Skadi asked. “You could scale back the alchemy. And we did make some money from those bandits. Maybe we can do more next year. We could go bounty hunting during the break, before the 2nd year starts.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Great idea! We should go hunting! I could take you north to my father’s county.” Helena suggested.

“North? It’s cold enough here and winter has only just begun!” Cassie complained.

“The break is in early spring, it’s not that bad…” Helena said.

“With all the monsters coming from the mountains, we could earn some money there. I think the idea has merit. And there are hot springs too.” Skadi said.

“Have you considered a warming spell? I am sure there is one.” I suggested.

“Hm…” Cassie pondered that.

“What is a bit of cold if you can dodge your mother’s matchmaking!” Helena said, cheerfully.

Cassie sighed. “I doubt mum will give up that easily. She never does.”

“If we pull off the advanced magic, we will be even more famous.” I noted.

“Sadly, that will make her even more desirable as a wife.” Helena added. “Nobles are very interested in strong children to carry their bloodline.”

“When is this meeting supposed to happen?” Skadi asked.

“In three weeks. Apparently he is in town at that time and my mother has suggested I should accompany him to dinner.” Cassie said.

“Whatever you do, we support you.” I said. I was pretty sure we all agreed on that.

“Yes. We could accompany you as well, if you want.” Helena suggested.

“Huh?” I was surprised by that offer. “Would he not object to that?”

“He might not be travelling alone, so he could bring friends as well. And while it would clearly be less romantic, he might be curious about meeting you, Koyuki.” Helena explained.

“I hate politics, but I would accompany you, if you want.” I told Cassie.

“I would endure the company of nobles for you.” Skadi added.

“You… you would do that?” Cassie looked at us.

I gave her a hug. “Yes.” Skadi and Helena joined in and it became a group hug.

“Meow.” Nyx jumped on our heads. I suppose she wanted to offer her support too.

“See, even Nyx is willing. Or maybe she just hopes you feed her their corpses.” I said.

Cassie chuckled. “Thank you.” She said, then she added: “I am going to think about it. There is still some time. But I would not mind going, if you accompany me.”

“Now that we solved one issue, we still lack corpses.” Helena pointed out.

“What about Leo? We could go out with him, as a group, in exchange for corpses.” Skadi suggested.

Helena grimaced. “I suppose…”

“Do you think he would do that?” I asked.

“Well, he would probably expect something in return, even if he says he does not. But you would not be obligated to do anything. I guess if we accompany Cassie, we might as well endure Leo for a bit.” Helena said.

“Wouldn’t it be weird if we insisted on going out together every time?” I wondered.

“Most men would probably fantasize about getting all four of us. They might even be flattered.” Skadi said.

“It would not be unheard of, for a lady of a certain standing, to bring other ladies for a first meeting.” Helena explained. “He would expect further meetings to be more private though.”

“Hey, Valeria’s party is tonight, right? We could still go there.” I suggested. “If we have to mingle with others, we might as well get it over with.” I didn't really want to go, but maybe some connections would be helpful to get corpses after all.

“We don’t have a present.” Helena pointed out. “But you are right. If we engage with other nobles, shortly after rejecting her party, it would look bad.”

“We could gift her an Iron Beak!” Cassie suggested.

“I don’t think we should gift her something that explodes…” I said. Then again, what else did we have? A normal skeleton? And the Iron Beaks were at least something we all had worked on.

Cassie just looked at us with a growing smile, as we struggled to suggest alternatives.