“Are you going to eat that?” Lee asked, daintily dabbing at her mouth with a napkin.
Anthony stared at the chicken drumstick in his hands like it was the vilest thing he’d ever been forced to bear witness to. He’d already opened his jacket and undone his belt to try and make space where there was none. A thin sheen of sweat covered his face and his lips trembled as he brought his hand up, forcing his lips to part in an attempt to take another bite.
He froze in place for several seconds. His knuckles turned white and his jaw clenched as the fierce mental battle he was locked within played out upon his face. Lee slowly reached out, pulling the drumstick from his hands and sliding the entire thing into her mouth.
“Thanks.”
Anthony swallowed. Noah was pretty sure the man would have gotten angry if he had quite literally any energy left that wasn’t already devoted to trying to keep all the food he’d stuffed down his gullet down.
All things considered, he’d done a pretty good job. He’d managed to eat five plates piled high with food. Against anyone normal, that probably would have managed to net him a victory. Against Lee, it was like screaming into a hurricane.
Anthony swallowed. He braced his hands against the table, his eyes shifting to the next plate – and then his face went green. Lunging to his feet, he staggered away and did his best impression of a penguin with bowel irritation as he desperately waddled off into the crowd.
“Oh. He left,” Lee said, her face crumpling. She took a bite out of the napkin she’d been wiping her face with. “Damn. Does that mean it’s over? Or are we going to start again when he comes back?”
“Don’t eat the napkins, Lee.”
“It still had food on it. Wasting food is bad.”
“So is eating napkins.”
Lee’s eyes drifted over to her plate and she picked it up. Noah reached over and plucked it from her grip, setting it back down on the table and ruffling her hair. “I think you’ve had enough.”
They’d managed to gather the largest crowd of professors thus far. Nearly twenty people stood around them. They all stared at Lee with undisguised awe and admiration, and more than a few coins passed between hands.
“That might have been the best damn sparring match I’ve ever seen,” a portly professor with a thick white moustache said with a chortle. He wore a professor’s uniform, but it didn’t have any gold bars to identify his rank – nor did he have a nametag. “And the lass is so hungry that she wanted to lick the plate clean as well.”
Actually, she wanted to eat the plate.
“Is it a trick?” a short girl beside the mustached professor asked. “Were you using space magic or something to send the food away after it entered your stomach?”
“Why would I do that?” Lee asked with a befuddled frown. “Then I wouldn’t have gotten to eat it.”
“You’re a monster,” Moxie said, and Noah couldn’t tell if she was talking to him or Lee. “I don’t think Anthony is going to be participating in the rest of the meeting.”
“He may have an extended meeting with the bathroom for the next few hours,” Noah agreed. “Put up a decent fight, though.”
“What is it that lets you eat so much, if it wasn’t a trick?” the girl asked. “Professor Vermil ate a whole ton during the last meeting too. Do you both have some form of Rune that lets you significantly increase your metabolism?”
“Something like that,” Noah said with a nod as he prepared to tell one of the biggest lies that had ever dared to grace his lips. “I can eat even more than Lee, so anyone that wants to challenge me has to go through her first.”
“Terrifying,” the mustached professor said with a wry grin. “I value my life, so I think I’ll pass on that particular proposition. Quite the display, though. You’ve certainly made a statement in this meeting.”
“I like to be memorable.”
“So I can tell.” He extended his hand. “I’m George.”
Noah took the man’s hand. His domain shivered as he shook it, and the two of them exchanged a quick look. George was a Rank 4 – if not more. His domain was stronger than Noah’s.
The elder man seemed kind enough, but that wasn’t about to make him drop his guard. Honey drew flies better than shit, and a warm smile wasn’t anywhere near enough to let him decide someone wasn’t on Verrud’s side. The only way to determine that was time.
“You can just call me Vermil. This is Moxie, and the hungry one is Lee.”
“A pleasure,” George said as they released the handshake. He put his hand on the girl’s shoulder. “This is Fiona. She’s been in the advanced track for a while now, so if any of your students need some advice, feel free to send them her way.”
“That’s a kind offer,” Moxie said. “Thank you. How long have the two of you been in the track?”
George tilted his head to the side and scratched at his chin. “About two years now, I’d say. It’s always been an exciting time, so it’s hard to remember.”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Three,” Fiona corrected. “We joined the year I came to Arbitage, Professor.”
“Ah, yes. Three,” George corrected. “Quite some time. I’d say it was more than worth it, though. We’ve learned a lot here. Made some good connections as well. That might be the most important part.”
“Why?” Lee asked.
“Personal power matters a lot less once you’re out of school,” George replied with a small shrug. “Almost nobody is truly strong enough to stand tall entirely on their own. Life has a lot of challenges in it, and having people you can truly rely on helps. That’s my favorite part of the advanced track.”
What, the part where the other people in the track gang up on you to try and humiliate one of your students while also gunning for the other one’s Master Rune?
A bark of laughter slipped out of George’s lips, and Noah realized that he’d let some of the doubt in his thoughts seep into his expression.
“I don’t mean to say I’m good friends with everyone in the track, Vermil,” George said. “I simply meant that the friends we have made are true. If you want to make it long in the track, you’ll have no choice but to learn to work with others.”
“And why is that?” Noah asked.
“The mid-year exam, for one,” George said. “Students from every professor are split up and matched with allies of their choice for a competition. The nature of the competition changes, but it forces everyone to work with people they’re a little less familiar with.”
Noah’s eyes narrowed. “They get to choose who they group with?”
“Yes. We’re aware of the complications that come with politics,” George said. “The kids select their teams. The only rule is that they can only be a single student per team per professor. It’ll be quite some time before that rolls around, but I suggest looking into it.”
“And who do you generally team with?” Noah asked, looking to Fiona.
“They don’t like to share their identities,” Fiona replied. “I’m the face of the team. You’ll see us fight when the competition rolls around, though.”
“Everyone will,” George added, a confident smile passing over his rounded features as pride entered his voice. “Fiona and her group have won for the past three years, after all.”
He was bragging, but Noah was surprised to find he wasn’t really put off by it. Something about George made Noah think of a smug grandfather more than a dangerous threat. That in itself probably should have been a concern. Anyone this friendly almost felt out of place in the advanced track.
“I think we’ll be off, then,” George said. “Make sure to mingle some, Vermil. Students aren’t the only ones that benefit from playing politics. Enjoy the rest of the meeting.”
He and Fiona headed off into the crowd, leaving Noah watching their backs warily. As soon as George left, several other professors and their students came by to congratulate Lee on her win.
“They seemed nice enough,” Moxie said, speaking in a low tone. Nobody else was trying to get near Isabel or Emily, so they had a few moments to themselves.
Noah nodded in agreement. “Agreed. Doesn’t seem like he’s got any ulterior motives beyond showing off Fiona. I can respect that. My domain didn’t pick anything on her up, so she’s Rank 3 at the highest.”
“Lucky me. If there was a student higher ranked than me, I don’t know what I’d do,” Moxie grumbled. “Luckily, it won’t be long before I don’t have to worry about that anymore. I’m getting really close to Rank 4 now.”
“Oh?” Noah raised an eyebrow. “How close?”
“If I can go hunting one more time to fill my runes up, I should be ready for it,” Moxie replied. “I’ve been doing a lot of research on what my Rank 4 will be as well, so I’m confident it’ll go well.”
“We could always just buy you a Rune and break it down for energy.”
Moxie rolled her eyes. “Look at you, thinking like a real noble. I’m not in that much of a rush and there’s no need to waste money on something like that. I’ll go hunting tomorrow and then be done with it. Besides, you’re going to need all the money you can get if you want to make that Space Rune.”
That’s a fair point. Say, I wonder if anyone here would be willing to sell me a good Rune. Isn’t sharing resources and knowledge half the point of the advanced track?
“Hey, do you think you and Lee can keep an eye on everyone for a bit?” Noah asked, scanning the surroundings in search of someone he recognized that he could leech off for introductions. “I want to see if anyone here might be in the business of selling Runes.”
“Yeah,” Moxie said with a nod. “I don’t think anyone is going to try anything else today. That would take balls that I don’t think Verrud or Jakob have – but I’ll keep an eye out and shout for you if something happens.”
“Thanks,” Noah said. He spotted Silvertide and Tyler, his student, standing off to the corner of the room and grinned. “Found my targets. I’ll be back soon.”
He set off, stepping through the milling crowd of professors until he arrived before Silvertide. The old soldier raised a bushy eyebrow and grabbed Tyler by the shoulder before the large boy could slip away.
“Vermil. You’ve been having quite the eventful meeting.”
“It’s been fun,” Noah agreed. “I was wondering if you’d be willing to help me out.”
“You? Asking for help?” Silvertide tilted his head to the side and released Tyler’s shoulder. The boy sent one last look at Noah before darting off and vanishing into the crowd. Noah turned to watch him leave. Evidently, Tyler still hadn’t gotten over getting attacked.
I still kind of feel bad about that. I should probably apologize properly to him at some point. I prefer to only throttle the people I don’t like.
“Yeah,” Noah said, looking back to Silvertide. “I was wondering if you know anyone with a bunch of runes that might be willing to sell or trade them. Specifically, space-related ones.”
“Space?” Silvertide raised an eyebrow. “That narrows things down a little, but if you’re looking for a collector, one man does come to mind. He’s painfully arrogant, though.”
“I can deal with that as long as he’s willing to trade.”
“Then turn around,” Silvertide said, nodding over Noah’s shoulder. “See the tall, fancy man standing by the back wall over there?”
Noah looked in the direction Silvertide had indicated. A man leaned against the wall, away from the thick of the gathering. He barely even looked like a professor. His clothes were trimmed with shimmering gold and each button on his beautiful clothes was a huge ruby.
“God, talk about gaudy,” Noah muttered. “Who is he?”
“Otto, but he also goes by the Violet Void. Stupid name if you ask me – but he earned it. He’s a rune collector and trader, and he was a rather respectable soldier in his youth,” Silvertide, but Noah nearly missed the rest of his sentence.
Violet Void? Violet? And a rune collector at that? You can’t mean…
“Does he collect all forms of runes?” Noah asked. “Or just space-related ones?”
“Just about anything unique. He’s got the wealth to back it up. Probably the bit about him that annoys me the most.”
Of course a powerful rune collector would be part of the advanced track. Half their thing is researching rare or new runes – that’s why Will was part of it, according to Ulya. Then this guy is almost certainly the one that bought Violet Transference… and is my walking moneybag.
“Why’s he so rich?” Noah asked absently.
Silvertide let out an annoyed huff. “Because he’s one of the treasurers for the King House.”