A few moments later others started arriving, Jace waited for them to arrive because he had no clue if there was a procedure he should follow. They started gathering in groups, Jace saw a group that was evenly mixed between men and women, most were human but a few other races were mixed in. He saw a minotaur, some of the animal people, an elf and a dwarf. A couple other races he didn’t recognise, he walked towards the group. “You guys mind if I ask you some questions, I have no idea what I’m actually supposed to do now that I am here.”
One of them walked towards him, a young man that oozed arrogance. “You are truly unprepared and have no business asking us of the Vult family such inane questions, a commoner such of you should know better than to talk to nobles, what family would even sponsor one such as you.” He looked down at him past his nose.
Jace grinned, “That would be the Vin To Shurka family.”
The noble paled “Ah… Well fuck.”
A girl with long dark hair and violet eyes walked up to the guy and smacked him on the back of the head. “Nice going Arian, only just started at the academy and already insulted a knight of the battlemaster clan.”
Arain looked at her and stomped his foot, “How was I supposed to know he wasn’t a commoner! The Vin’s never take in a knight, like it hasn’t been done in at least twenty years! He looks so slovenly!”
“STOP INSULTING HIM IDIOT!” The girl screeched, looking ready to beat Arain into the ground.
Jace burst out laughing, everyone stared at him, the girl calmed down a bit. Jace grinned at the group, “You guys can relax, I AM a commoner and you’d have try a good bit harder than that to insult me.”
Arain took the chance to straighten his back and formally bow, “I am Arian Vult, third son of the Vult Matriarch’s second son. I would like to inquire as to how you managed to acquire the Vin’s patronage.”
Jace smiled and patted the man on the shoulder, “That’s easy to answer, I matched Jisa in a spar and helped her break through to the master tier.”
A commotion broke out as the others surrounded him bombarding him with questions, Jace had to speak up to calm them down. “Easy easy! One at a time, you big guy, you first!”
The youngsters calmed down and Jace noticed that the other students had drawn closer as well. So much for a leisurely time at the academy.
The minotaur straightened and towered over the others, he folded his hands behind his back. “If you helped the Ice Rose break through into the master tier, does that mean you yourself have broken into the master tier?”
Jace nodded, “Yup.” A commotion was about to start again so Jace quickly pointed to another, a merman looking man. “Are you and the Ice Rose involved romantically?”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
The crowd froze, Jace grinned. “Nope, Jisa’s interested in the womenfolk, no men allowed and all that. Plus I’m married so there’s that.”
Some guys drooped upon hearing that she was interested in women, some girls however became rather excited. Jace rolled his eyes, the girl who had smacked Arian spoke up. “Is your relationship closed or are you open to breeding?”
A few others perked up in interest, Jace just stared at her slack-jawed. “I beg your pardon? You’re gonna have to.... elaborate. I was a foreigner.”
“You have reached the master-tier, at such a young age as well. That speaks for an incredible amount of talent, and a lot of untapped potential. Many families would be interested in your seed.”
Jace scratched at his beard, “Well I guess that would be up to my wife? But personally I don’t think it would be my thing. I’d prefer raising the kids I’ve uh… made.”
The girl nodded, “Thank you for the answer, should you be interested please let my family know.”
“Which family would that be?”
“Owh how rude of me, I’m Vivianna La Flereux. of the La Flereux family.”
“Pleasure to meet you, before we continue with our, whatever this is. Shouldn’t we enter the academy.”
“You make a good point, we should enter, It seems most people have arrived.”
The group walked down the road, asking questions and getting to know each other. Jace seemed to have broken down and the groups had melted together into a solid mask. Vivianna once more apologised for Arian, who simply growled it wasn’t his fault. She swore that Arain was of a good sort, but just acted incredibly pompous on occasion. She then entertained Jace with a story of how Arain once dived into the mud to save a commoner child from getting run over by a cart. Complaining how he had sullied his clothes all the time. Jace grinned, Arain simply sniffed. Saying that it was a noble’s duty to watch out for the common folk. Why would they be the noble’s otherwise.
The concept of honour he once more realised how important it was to these people. Jace normally hated arrogant people, something about thinking you were above others just set him off. Yet he could not bring himself to dislike Arian, the boy was outspoken about the common people and his own superiority, but his actions proved otherwise. Jace grinned, a real life tsundere, who woulda thought.
He was introduced to some others, the minotaur was called Murt and was a friend of Vivianna and Arian. The rest of their group were retainers and talented people that their families had gathered. Some more questions and he found out that Arian and Vivianna were basically cousins. Their families had intermarried quite a few times and were basically one and the same. Vivianna was surprisingly higher up in the social ladder than Arian was, she was third in line to inherit the family, Arian was twenty-first.
They were curious about how Jace and Jisa had met, Jisarila was well known for her dislike of talking with other people and was seen by many others as unapproachable. When Jace told them about how he had taken his wife and daughter to the training hall to teach them a few things about their weapons. How Jisa had taken offense to their presence and challenged him to a match. How they had both lost themselves to the battle and fought for hours. How they had broken through and how she had come visiting with her grandfather a few days later, where he was asked to join the families knights.
He did not tell them about the whole bloody ear’s thing. It was still a touchy topic to him, no matter how he pretended to have gotten over the events. Eventually they finally reached the courtyard between the mansions. Some knights clad in heavy armour were waiting for them there. Jace was excited to get started on this knight thing!