In the well-lit room, a hungry monster sat among humans, their guards low as the thought of an attack didn't even flash across their silly mortal minds. The Bloody-Handed Judge stiffened her muscles as a particular delicacy crossed her vision. Dark mana flowed into her limbs as her mind barely contained the hollow hunger of her malnourished vessel.
Pounce, the monster grabbed its trophy before sinking her sharp fangs into it. Bloody streaks stained her face as the sweet liquid filled her mouth followed by eutrophic waves of fulfilment spreading all over her body upon the successful hunt.
"Subject?" Mumbling as she hurried to stuff the delicacy into her cheek, Kia called out as she saw the flat-chested human standing at the door.
"Lady Siri, what is happening here?" The confused human stepped toward the ancient being, pulling out a handkerchief and whipping away the creamy remains of the cake from her mouth.
Iris does that too.
The ancient grumbled to herself as her big eyes followed the white cloth annoyed at such a waste of her cake.
This is my tribute!
"We have come because we were invited." A person wearing a long colourful cloth which was in fashion of Oriri nobility responded.
"I already knew that," Her subject retorted quelling her annoyance mid-sentance. "What I don't understand is the food."
In an instant the ice-cold mage furrowed her eyebrows, shifting to the side to protect her well-deserved taxes.
"Lady Siri had asked us to." Kia's eyes turned back to the man in a colourful pajamas.
Sofia turned her head toward the pale girl watching over her shoulder as she continued to nibble on the red creamy cake smelling a tinge of alcohol.
"Don't tell me..." The frontier noble finally took her eyes off the plates and baskets surrounding Kia like gold surrounding a dragon, and saw the many opened notebooks on the table.
Kia hadn't made the blonde subject so it was expected that she was a little slow but it was fascinating to watch the human blindly stumbling onto an answer. Like in the days of old, lesser beings were presenting her a tribute. It was a bit strange to not receive a body and a long letter stating the deceased every great feat right after the tribute and an even longer document asking for a proper rest. If that had happened she was sure Iris would forbade her from receiving more tributes meaning no more deliciousness between breakfast and supper. Thankfully these mortals were odd, asking for her to repeat information they already heard, studying what they called it, which was strange this wasn't the studying she knew.
"I told you." The other shorter human with orange-red hair reminiscent of that of a sunset leaned toward Sofia and whispered in her ear.
The blonde noble coughed into her hand, although scanning her didn't indicate she had any debuff from disease before speaking. "Sofia Junker, apologies for my sudden arrival the student master called for my presence."
"Hello, Sofia." A woman who had been introduced to Kia as viscountess of Submonte raised her head before going back to moving a pink feather with blue tips.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
The Junker looked around at the six nobles who had seen the error of their ways and gave tribute to the undead Overseer. All of their faces felt familiar as they shared classes with Kia, but they had never spoken with each other. To her greatest surprise was the fact that two of the people diligently writing were mages from the local nobility. As a rule, the outsider nobility was treated as a sort of pariah, too blind to see that the only that mattered was raw power. The only way to get them to show up in the same room as an outsider was to pique their interest or...
"Lady Siri, how many siblings do you have?" Sofia suddenly asked causing the Firmusian to stop eating, a feat she didn't expect to happen.
"Me?" The girl’s tone carried the weight of disbelief as if the Junker’s question was so blatantly obvious that asking it bordered on sheer stupidity. "No."
"Really?" The Oriri man raised her head. "You must feel lucky."
"Having siblings is not as bad." One of the foreign students chimed in. "Me and my siblings are quite close.
"Clearly you don't know how it is living with sisters, the gossip itself makes me want to gut them." The Oriri woman hissed.
"Wouldn't go as far but no one would want to live with them alone I bet." Someone added.
The room erupted in an argument from Sofia's scheme, leaving her staring at nobles not knowing how to stop the bickering. A silver lining to this was that her suspicions were proven correct all of the Oriri students were the equivalent of spares judging by how quick they were to go at their siblings. So the only way for them to progress in the city was to prove themselves as powerful mages, then there was a chance of skipping their older siblings in inheriting or if all else failed, they could join the Geni'i. So unable to afford a private tutor they came to Lady Siri who costed only a fraction of the cost while also having a reputation of a rather studious student.
It was nice to know she didn't have to worry about on stepping someone's toes, hurting their big but fragile ego. It was not like she planned to ruin a thing Lady Siri seemed to have set up. Even if it was to get more food.
The Blackworm could see that her subject thought of something and she nodded in agreement. She didn't know what it was but it didn't hurt to see mortals put their few brain cells to use.
Upon finishing the cake a large white moustache being the only remains before being licked clean by the ancient, she stood up and unceremoniously grabbed the closest notebook belonging to the human.
"Wait I didn't finish!" The female human shouted as she fruitlessly reached toward Kia who had already hopped back onto the cushioned couch. The nobles around the woman quickly stopped arguing returning to their studies before she got to them.
"You said that you will only have one chance at this." The undead coldly remarked as she scanned the page.
As expected the humans used rather archaic means to cast spells but she was asked to teach them the knowledge taught in the classes and therefore Kia examined the spell array more like a game of spot the difference. She even found it enjoyable as she solved puzzles while being able to treat herself to as much deliciousness as she could. And there was no Iris to stop her.
"What are you studying for?" Sofia asked her palms holding onto her kneecaps.
"Have you not heard? The tournament is starting next month." A student who had her notebook grabbed replied to Sofia holding a similar look in her eyes as Kia did not so long ago.
Her subject's green eyes opened wide as she quickly stood up and began to talk to her maid before returning to sit between Kia and Aoife while her maid left the room.
The ancient paid little mind to anything that was going around her as she began to correct the first noble on what she did before reaching her hand toward the human next in line. They behaved strangely some of them nodded along as she spoke, showing little on their faces as she pointed out mistakes yet some gritted their teeth in anger and others interrupted her asking questions she would have answered if allowed to speak. The humans were strange creatures, behaving so radically differently even while listening.
The cycle of Kia repeating the older human's words, making the human answer her questions before correcting them repeated itself multiple times, Sofia joining in eventually. This went on until all but one basket filled with a glass jar full of red orbs was left.
Sensing the sun slowly going down and wanting to watch it in her room with Iris beside her, Kia stood up.
"Are we finished?" The viscountess spoke, apparently short of breath from sitting.
"I want to go." Kia ignored the human and blocked the light for Sofia as she stood in front of her.
"I will escort you then." Her subject answered while wincing as she raised her hand to her head.
"Are you going to do this tomorrow?" An Oriri mage asked.
"No."
"I meant the next day when we have classes." They instantly corrected themselves.
"More?" Kia lifted the basket she forgot to put into her inventory receiving an affirming nod.
"But after the eight bell." Sofia quickly added. Kia quickly recalled the bells she heard today and the eighth bell happened two bells after the sun had been straight above her.
"You can teach well when you want," The blonde noble said after they left the building. "But you should probably make breaks in your lessons."
"Waaaaahhhyyy?" The ancient yawned as she spoke causing the human to copy her.
"Because that was five bells worth of non-stop brain-melting questions. Not everyone can hide their exhaustion until it gets dark." Kia felt like Sofia was making some sort of point but she heard the scream of a monster living among the humans, even fed by them. "Some people are also not scared of geese. It equalises I guess you being a gifted woman."
The two reached the door of Kia's room and she knocked. One of the golems opened the door and the ancient said her goodbyes to the human.
"Iris?" Kia called out finding an empty and cold room greeting her. "Iris..."