Being in no rush to head to his dorm room since it was still light out for a few more hours, Kai promised Thomas a silver coin if he could show him all the important locations on the academy grounds. Eager for extra payment, Thomas happily agreed to show him the location of the cafeteria, general classes, and training grounds.

If Kai had to describe the grounds and the buildings, it would be “clean.” It was obvious that a lot of time and patience had been put into keeping the grounds spotless and orderly. Stone statues of various humans were scattered about. Thomas would tell Kai their name, which was also indicated on a plate underneath, but Kai didn’t care to remember. None of their accomplishments seemed too impressive in the grand scheme of things. Some of the people even had statues purely for donations they made. How narcissistic, he thought.

Most of his classes would be in one large building, while the other two were located on the training field. The schedule seemed decent. One class would be held in the morning and another early afternoon after lunch, allowing for free time later in the evening.

“As one commoner to another, don’t go expecting the nobles to become your friends. It’s better just to stay away from them. Nothing good can come out of you mixing with them,” the young boy Thomas warned.

Kai mutely nodded. There was no doubt some of the nobility would look down and possibly even bully those of lower class or station.

“How do you know I’m not nobility?” Kai asked, even though the answer was plainly obvious.

Giving him a once over Thomas rolled his eyes. “It’s obvious, your shirt and trousers are not of high quality. No noble worth their gold would wear clothing like that unless they were in disguise, especially on the first day they come to the academy where everyone dresses to impress. Also, the booths were split. Nobles to the right, commoners to the left. Us bag boys have been switching sides each day. You be surprised how many nobles don’t want our help. They are like “Don’t touch my bags you filthy pleb,” Thomas impersonated a gruff sounded adult causing Kai to chuckle.

A few minutes later they arrived. “Here you go, building C, room 23,” Thomas said, after finally reaching their initial destination.

“Thank you for your help, Thomas.” Kai thanked the kid by passing him a silver coi as promised.

“No problem, I’ll be around if you need more help,” Thomas said giving a small bow. “Good luck.” With that, he ran off, likely back to the booths to show more people to their rooms.

Akane had quietly followed the entire time, likely knowing that she was in the doghouse. Inserting his room key he unlocked the door without trouble.

The first thing he noticed was the room was large, larger than he thought. But the space was very plain and spartan, only four beds and dressers were inside. He noticed one of the beds was already made up with someone laying down in it.

Hearing the opening of the door, a young man turned to face Kai. His skin was dark and mostly unblemished, with eyes of silver staring back into his. Kai noticed the young man had a scar across the side of his face, faint enough to have happened years ago, but was never healed with magic. Closing the book, he was reading, the man stepped onto the floor.

After an awkward moment of silence, Kai noticed that he was shorter than him by a good bit. “Hello, I’m Kai Cineris, I’ll be staying in this room starting today. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Kai introduced himself flawlessly, remembering his mother’s constant badgering about making a good impression.

“It’s nice to meet you, Kai, my name is Andre Belton, of the Belton Merchant Group.” He shook Kai’s hand firmly.

[Human – Foundation Level 22]

“If you don’t mind me asking, what is someone from a merchant group doing at a combat academy,” he inquired.

Andre merely laughed. “Every merchant needs to be able to defend himself and his wares.” His eyes shifted to focus on something behind him. “Is that yours?”

Kai turned his head to see what he was talking about, and sure enough, Akane was already asleep on one of the beds. Guess that’s my bed.

“Yeah sorry, she is harmless. Her name is Akane, and she is my... companion?” He tilted his head questioningly. He didn’t know what Akane was to him. He knew he was a food source for her though. “She’s nice enough as long as she is fed often. I hope you don’t mind as she will be staying with us in the room most likely. If it bothers you, I can go request another room,” Kai said.

“It should be fine as long as she doesn’t do her... business in here, I suppose.”

“I think she’s house trained.” By the gods she better be. I actually don’t think I’ve ever seen her do her business. Maybe she is just shy.

“Would you like to grab some lunch and get to know each other better?” Andre suggested breaking Kai out of one of the most important questions of his life.

“Sounds good,” Kai agreed. Both left the room leaving the fox sleeping on the bed.

Kai led Andre to the cafeteria for lunch. Having only arrived an hour earlier, Andre had yet to explore the campus. The pair found themselves inside the busy cafeteria. Definitely out of place. A majority of the students were dressed in finery and other high-end clothing. Many sported swords, staves, and other weapons, while others wore lots of jewelry and knickknacks. Kai was getting a few odd looks. He guessed it was people judging him on his clothing and lack of accessories. Andre didn’t seem as out of place; his clothes were almost no different compared to the mass of nobles. A couple of people pointed at Kai, making it obvious they were discussing him. Unperturbed, Kai proceeded into the food line.

“Seems your popular,” Andre whispered next to him.

“It’s almost as if they have never seen a commoner before,” Kai jested.

By the gods, Akane is missing out. The food smelled so delicious as a feast was laid out before them. Collecting a little of everything onto his plate, Kai ignored the stares and proceeded to the nearest free table with Andre following. With a glance, Kai could see the room was a bit chaotic. There didn’t seem to be any order in the seating, so he sat down at an empty table. He was still receiving the odd stare but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. Bringing attention to it would just call more attention to himself. Kai quickly began eating, unable to hold himself back any longer.

Andre watched on with bemusement. “Didn’t they feed you at your home?” he joked.

“Yea, but I have to compete with the foxes often,” Kai said with a mouth full of food. His eating decorum was lacking.

“What?” Andre appeared confused. “Wait, you’re serious?”

“It’s like a rite of passage in my village except it happens all the time.”

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“Sounds rough,” Andre laughed it off.

“It is. And Akane is the worst of them— Akane what the hell are you doing here?” Kai’s heart stopped when he found the wily fox sitting next to him on one of the cushioned chairs staring at his food without blinking. A single long strand of drool stretched down to the cushioned seat she was sitting on. His hand went to his head, a headache quickly forming. I thought she was shut in the room... I…I don’t know anymore.

Rather than continuing to contemplate the impossible, he would just accept her presence. It was easier that way. After all, he was used to her antics and knew she would make a scene if he tried to take her out of the cafeteria. Grabbing a small side plate, he placed half of his food on top of it, then pushed the plate in front of Akane. He watched her jump up on the table and begin eating voraciously. The room had quieted down slightly, many around had taken notice of the animal on top of the table, eating away without a care in the world. Kai’s headache getting worse. He had screwed up, or rather Akane had screwed up his plans. He was gaining more attention than he had wanted to on his first day. His plans of a quiet life at the academy had been quite literally eaten away.

“Is she allowed to be in here?” Andre asked him.

“I think so...” Kai couldn’t remember a rule that stated pets were not allowed to eat in the cafeteria, but judging from everyone’s looks, it wasn’t a proper thing to do.

He ignored them and went back to eating. Again, he knew drawing attention to it would probably be worse than just leaving it be. His new roommate stared at the fox destroying her food.

“Are you a summoner?” Andre asked when they had nearly finished eating.

“No, gravity and vanguard,” Kai spoke honestly, seeing no reason to hide the information.

One of Andre’s eyebrows raised. “Interesting choices, I wouldn’t have guessed with your fox there. I’ve never met anyone with either of those before.”

“How about you?” Kai asked in turn, curious as to what a son of a merchant family would choose.

“Barrier and shield mage. Obviously, my focus is on providing shields for myself and my cargo.”

In a way, it made sense to Kai, that a merchant might go a more defensive route. But in Kai’s mind, a good defense was a better offense. Focusing on defense without offense was a weakness that would enable his enemies to attack him without fear of retaliation. Not that defense wasn’t important but being unable to stop the enemy could mean death.

Tap. Tap.

Kai looked at Akane, who was now tapping her paw against the table in front of her plate. She looked at him in the eyes before she pointed her nose towards the now empty plate. Sighing, he stood and got back in line, replenishing his plate with even more food. What am I? Her food slave? Is that why she is here, she just wants different kinds of food for a change?

Kai could hear people talking about him as he walked back. He was able to pick up things like “savage” or “commoners with no manners”. He even noticed a few other beasts or pets, but they were rather rare to see and well-behaved. None of them were on the table, ravishing their food.

Sitting back down, Kai kept his ears and eyes open as he took in everything going on. It was order and chaos. Mostly everyone seemed situated in groups, all talking excitedly. There were a few individuals alone, some people even steered clear of going near them, purposely walking around a few tables just to avoid them. About halfway down the cafeteria, there was a large group of students standing around what he presumed to be a table and some people, but he wasn’t able to be certain.

“Do you know what’s going on over there?” Kai asked the distracted Andre who was watching Akane eat through the entire plate of new food without pause or breathing.

With an odd look at Akane, Andre focused on the group squinting his eyes. “I think that is the twelfth prince of the Ashbourne Kingdom. Obviously, a lot of other nobles are fawning about, trying to get on his good side. I’m afraid I don’t know the others. I only know the nobles my family has done business with. Part of the reason I’m here is to make new connections for the family.”

Kai couldn’t see the prince from his seat, but he wasn’t about to get up and gawk like the country bumpkin he kind of was.

“I’m pretty sure Akane ate more food than she could possibly hold in her stomach,” Andre pointed out.

“Yea that doesn’t surprise me anymore.” Kai was unfazed by Akane’s gluttonous behavior. She had outeaten everyone in the village, whether they be fox or human.

“Hey Andre,” a pale young man in a decorative charcoal tunic approached. Behind him, another young man in even more fanciful clothing followed. There was an instinctual dislike of the second noble. He held himself highly, and had the most arrogant smirk around, with eyes that deemed all those around him to be unworthy. His black pupils must have been a reflection of his heart. One look at Andre and Kai and he had already dismissed them as inconsequential. But appearances must be kept so he followed behind the other noble.

Standing up, Andre bowed deeply from the waist, arm across his chest, hand at the heart. His bow was well-practiced and performed gracefully. “Lord Dravenport, it is a pleasure to see you here.”

“It is good to see a familiar face among so many new peers. Allow me to introduce an old family friend, this is Lord Jason Grell, firstborn and heir to Marquess Johnathan Grell, newly appointed finance minister of our beloved Kingdom. This is Andre Belton of the Belton Merchant Group, an old friend from my home in Rille,” Lord Dravenport introduced. Even surrounded by wealth, Jason Grell stood out among the masses.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Lord Grell,” Andre said giving another deep bow. Jason Grell inclined his head in response, an indifferent expression had settled on his face.

[Human – Foundation Level 57]

[Human – Foundation Level 72]

Damn. Pretty good levels for starting in his first year. Jason’s level was one of the highest Kai had seen so far, with the majority being around his level or lower.

A thunderous burp resounded that echoed across the large dining hall, instantly silencing everyone. Andre looked on in horror at the small fox who had destroyed the atmosphere and drawn the attention of every single person to their table. Kai tried to keep it in, but he couldn’t help it. He would have been horrified had the situation not been so absurd. He started laughing, nearly to the point of tears. Many around him joined in laughing. Wiping his face, he snickered, “That was not very ladylike.”

The two nobles stood rigid. Lord Jason Grell did not laugh. His eyes were trained on the small fox, his jaw tense. His eyes narrowed even further as they shifted to Kai taking in his clothing and face.

Coughing lightly Andre turned to Kai and Akane who were still sitting down. “Allow me to introduce my roommate Kai Cineris. Oh. And his companion Akane, whom we’ve all met now,” Andre jested lightly in an attempt to fix the mood.

Kai contained his laughter and stood, bowing as Andre did to the two, while Akane waved a paw from her seat on the table. While Kai personally didn’t want to bow to the pompus noble, he chose to play the subservient commoner card in his attempts to not create any more rifts between him and the two nobles. Perhaps when Jason Grell had accomplished achievements worthy of respect, Kai would mean it when he bowed, but not while they were riding the coattails of their family. Not that Lord Dravenport had appeared rude to Kai, he was just unlucky enough to be paired with the crimson-haired asshat Jason Grell.

While there was amusement in Lord Dravenport’s eyes, Lord Grell’s was anything but amused. His eyes burned with anger, even his cheeks were coming close to matching his hair.

“What a cute little fox,” Lord Jason Grell muttered, stalking around the table to where Akane sat. He reached his hand out towards her, intentions unknown.

Akane deftly evaded the oncoming hand. Not to be deterred the noble tried even harder, not even bothering to hide the fact he trying to grab at Akane.

Right as Kai stood up to stop the noble, Jason made a grabbing motion in the air, closing his fist. The air pressure changed slightly, Kai feeling his hair flutter a little. Air had been dragged towards the noble’s hand, but Akane remained firmly in place. She was grooming herself like nothing just happened. To Kai’s delight, Jason’s eyebrow started twitching, his face grew even redder than his hair. With a final glare at Akane and Kai, the noble turned and stalked off, followed by Lord Dravenport who gave Andre and Kai a small nod surprisingly.

“Making friends already, huh,” Kai muttered to himself softly. He started petting Akane down her back. He couldn’t say he didn’t get satisfaction from watching what happened, but he wasn’t prepared to make enemies so soon. But apparently, Akane was on his behalf. He was purposely ignoring the scowl coming from Andre. He didn’t want to make trouble for his new roommate, but the noble should have been aware not to put his hands on another person’s companion without permission. And the attempted use of magic on Akane was definitely forbidden though no one called him out on it.

Kai was aware that he and Akane had become the center of attention and judged that it was a good time to make his escape back to his room to unpack his stuff. Andre followed Kai, likely equally embarrassed by the situation and attention.

Lord Davenport had taken the initiative to introduce Andre to a noble of a higher rank, doing Andre a favor. Then Akane had not played ball so to speak and embarrassed the noble creating tension and conflict. Kai could only hope this wouldn’t ruin his relationship with his new roommate, or it would be an awkward year for the both of them.