Damian looks at Tisha with a cautious gaze and an expression filled with suspicion.

「…And what would that be?」

Hesitant, he asks after a long pause.

「Tutoring.」

Tisha nonchalantly replies with her arms crossed.

「…Huh?」

「You heard me, don't act like you're deaf. You don't want to be a mercenary, you don't want to be a murderer, so how about putting your know-it-all attitude to use?」

She asks, gently tilting her golden head.

「…Tutoring who? Where?」

Damian lightly shakes his head in confusion.

「Me. Back north. Idiot.」

Tisha replies with a snide little huff from her nose.

「…Are you serious? I'm not in the mood for jokes right now-」

His brows angrily furrow, and the corner of his mouth slowly begins to scrunch towards the side of his face.

「Absolutely serious. How about it? I could ask my father to pay you a hefty sum for magic lessons, I'm sure he'd agree if I'd butter him up a little.」

The northern princess says, looking at Damian without any hint of sarcasm in her eyes or tone.

「There's no guarantee he'd agree…」

Damian replies, turning his eyes back down to the table.

「Sure… But if I tell him about you helping me pass the term, he's likely to. I know my father. Isn't that also what you're doing already, giving me magic lessons?」

「That's… I'm just doing it because we're classmates. I need to study anyway, so I might as well help you three out a little.」

「Exactly, so why not get paid for it?」

Tisha shrugs, and inquisitively spreads her hands as she asks. Damian briefly glances at her, before once again staring down at the white tablecloth before him.

「…Just tutoring? You wouldn't enslave me, or draft me into your military?」

He asks, looking at her with a face full of suspicion. Tisha rolls her blue eyes as she clicks her tongue.

「Good grief, who do you think I am?… I might be a northerner, but I have feelings too, you know? I'm not some sort of a backstabbing liar… Let's just call our bet a draw.」

Tisha grumbles under her breath as she looks aside, before returning her gaze back to his face.

「…Fine. But you said I'll likely not have to kill anyone, I don't think tutors normally kill people.」

With a shrug of his shoulders, Damian lets out a resigned sigh. His wary expression softens a little, but his brows remain furrowed.

「Mhm. I don't intend to lie to you, my father will probably want you to be our court mage for the time you're there. If a war breaks out, you might end up having to kill anyway…」

With her arms crossed, Tisha nods her golden head, looking at him with a serious, yet no longer frigid gaze.

「…But if it comes to that, I'll be right there with you, so you don't have to take that burden alone.」

She pauses to sigh, and adds.

「You don't have a court mage?…」

Damian shakes his head in confusion, furrowing his brows.

「That's right. Most northerner courts don't. It's due to a combination of factors… Magic is seen differently up north, mages are too powerful, and the north is too cold for most mages.」

「But why? Wouldn't having a court mage solve all your problems? Couldn't I become a court mage somewhere in the north then?」

「Don't get too excited about the idea. A single mage wouldn't change anything in the grand scheme of things, there's always mercenaries after all…」

Tisha's gaze immediately sharpens when he brings up becoming a court mage.

「…Not to mention, if you would join a foreign court as a mage, there's a chance we could end up enemies one day. Of course, they could also murder you if they suspect you of a plot.」

「Wha-? Without a trial!?」

His head jumps up in shock, and Tisha lets out an amused huff, briefly turning her smirk aside.

「…Damian… What do you think the north is like? You think non-mages would politely ask you to defend yourself in court? They'd kill you before you become a threat.」

「But that's…」

「Savage? Brutal?… I know. My father holds the same opinion, but that's how things work there…」

Tisha asks, tilting her head a little before nonchalantly shrugging her shoulders.

「…He's actually one of those that you would call civilized. He's still a northerner, of course, but I think you would find my father to be agreeable, unlike most jarls.」

「So the only real option is your father?…」

Damian sighs, propping his head up on his fist while staring at the table with a troubled expression on his face.

「Yup. What's the problem? It'd be the same as what you're doing right now, but you'd be getting paid for it. At worst, my old man would pick your mind for questions about magic.」

Tisha quizzically spreads her hands, raising her brows while Damian remains silent, only letting out another long sigh while he visibly ponders something.

「…Isn't that a good idea, Damian? You need the money, right? I know it may not seem like it, but Tisha is actually a really nice girl.」「Urk- Neela…」

Neela chimes in, tilting her head while looking at Damian. He briefly glances at her before turning his eyes back to Tisha's awkwardly smirking face.

「Damian, do you have any plans for the time between the Academy's terms?」

Cycelia softly asks, joining into the conversation.

「What?- No, not really… I was hoping I'd find a quick job to keep myself afloat, like cutting lumber…」

He glances into Cycelia's gentle, soft emerald eyes and shakes his head when his own gaze returns back to the white tablecloth.

「Tsk… Cutting lumber… Really? That's what studying magic was for? So you can cut lumber?」

Tisha scoffs, rolling her blue eyes away with her arms crossed.

「That's just an idea I had. I don't actually know what to do…」

「So in other words, you don't have a plan, and you don't have any idea what to do. So why not come with me?」

She asks, and Damian once again lets out a large sigh, still looking at the table.

「You keep sighing and sighing… Why not just agree? Where's the harm? Even Neela thinks that it's a good idea. You have nothing else to do anyway.」

Tisha nods her head towards Neela, who simply shrugs in response. Damian sighs once more.

「It's true that it sounds good… But…」

He nods, thinking deeply with his eyes held low and a pensive expression on his face.

「But? But what? But you don't trust me?」

She asks, and with a sighful groan, Damian turns his gaze away from her as if ashamed.

「Wow. Right on the mark?…」

Tisha remarks as her brows rise in surprise.

「It's not that I don't trust you… I don't trust anyone. It's not just you, it's everyone…」

He replies, briefly gaining eye contact with an apologetic look about his face before he turns it away again.

「…I know it's a good idea. I know you probably can be trusted. I know this is the exact solution to my problems… But something is stopping me. I tell myself it's because it's far and cold.」

Damian explains, fidgeting heavily with his hands at the table, brushing and rubbing them together idly.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

「It's true that it may be a little far… But you don't need to be worried about the cold. I get cold there too sometimes, so I could use a bed warmer.」

Tisha shrugs nonchalantly before leaning onto the table with her head propped up on her hand, smirking smugly at Damian.

「Huh?…」

He furrows his brows at her, confused. He glances at Neela and Cycelia for clues, but they're both staring at each other with wide-eyed, tight-lipped expressions on their faces.

「…What do you mean by a bed warmer? You mean that metal thing you put under the covers? You don't have one at your-?…」

Damian asks, narrowing his eyes. Tisha's mouth wobbles as she struggles to stifle laughter while her smirk grows. His voice trails off when he realizes what Tisha has implied.

He immediately turns his eyes away, staring down directly at his hands in his lap, completely silent. His tight-lipped grimace slowly returns back to his gloomy expression.

「…Still, I don't know if I can just leave everything behind. It's not like I have anything here, but-」

Thwack!

The waiters' heads jump up in surprise, exchanging shocked glances with each other when Tisha abruptly stands up to reach towards and slap Damian across his head.

「Owww!… What is wrong with you!? Here!? Now!?…」

He yelps in pain, clenching his teeth and clutching at the top of his head while the northern princess calmly sits down, glaring at him in silence with her arms crossed.

「Yes. Here, now. Maybe that will help the mess in your head sort itself out. How about now? Do you feel like you can make a sound decision yet?…」

Tisha asks with a frigid tone of her voice, looking at him with a disdainful expression. Damian rubs his head for a few moments more, and lets out another sigh.

「…Can I think about it?」

He asks quietly. Tisha snaps her face aside, taking a large breath.

「…Fine.」

She replies through a long and frustrated sigh, shrugging her shoulders as her face returns to him with the corner of her mouth lightly scrunched to the side.

「How long do I have?」

Damian turns his eyes to hers, and she briefly glances at the crystal chandelier to think.

「…My carriage should be here by the time the term is officially over, if they didn't get stuck in a blizzard or eaten by a beast along the way. I'll give you time until then.」

「Fair enough… I'll give it some thought.」

He nods in response, and Tisha raises her pale hand towards the group of waiters. They exchange quick glances, and approach the table.

「Yes, esteemed mages?…」

One of them asks, bowing his head.

「I think we're done, aren't we?… What's the total?」

Tisha looks at Cycelia's mostly-empty meat plate, and a cursory glance reveals that everyone has indeed already finished their meals. She turns her attention to the tuxedo-wearing man.

「The total is, let's see…」

The waiter pulls out a little notebook from his breast pocket, and quickly skims through the writing on its first page.

「…143 engraved gems equivalent.」「Hrrrrrkkk!…」

He replies as his eyes rise up from the notebook to meet Tisha's gaze. Wide-eyed, Damian gasps for air and clutches at his chest.

「I'll be paying for Lia and myself… I'm not going to let her pull that「You're in my debt!」shit on me.」

Straf nonchalantly chimes in, looking at the waiter with his bored eyes before turning them to Tisha's smirking face.

「Um… I'll be paying for my own meal too…」

Neela meekly raises her hand, smiling at the waiter with a gently tilted head.

「Split bill, I see… In that case, the total is 39 gems for the gentleman over here, 35 for the lady and her meal, and 69 for the blonde lady.」

「Nice.」

Straf lets out an amused huff, grinning at Damian and Tisha. Damian is trying to catch his breath, almost choking on air itself.

「Hm. The prices have dropped?…」

She remarks, gently raising her brows. The waiter nods his head lightly.

「Indeed, we have secured a bulk supply deal at a favorable price. The quality remains constant.」

He shrugs his shoulders, and the remaining waiters pile up the plates to take them away, taking care of the empty wine glasses as well. The man bows, and takes one step to turn away.

「Um, excuse me…」

Damian raises his shaky hand, sweating profusely. His lips wobble, and he stares at the tuxedo-wearing man with his eyes wide-open.

「Yes?」

The waiter tilts his head, smiling gently as he turns back around to face him at attention.

「…H- How much did my plate cost?…」「Tsk… Don't worry about it…」

Damian points down at his empty plate of pasta smeared in tomato sauce. Tisha clicks her tongue and rolls her eyes in response.

「Your meal was… 20 gems equivalent, sir. Would you like to split the bill as well?-」

The man quickly glances at his notebook, and Damian is rapidly twitching his head left and right when his eyes return to him.

《T- That's almost 20 gold… I could have a farm somewhere nice for a single plate of spaghetti!?》

Damian's jittery eyes dart all over the tablecloth while his palm covers most of his face, peering down at the table through the gaps between his fingers.

「Well… Shall we go? It's going to get dark soon. We might be free to leave now, but I don't want to accidentally piss the headmaster off…」

Tisha asks, shrugging her hands as she turns her golden head to the window. The street outside is bathed in a pale blue light by the magic lamps, much like inside the Academy.

「Right, Straf?」

Cycelia says, tilting her head with a soft little smile. Looking at her with his mouth aslant and arms still crossed, Straf wordlessly shrugs, and stands up.

「We'll await your return, esteemed mages…」

One of the waiters bids the group farewell, bowing as Straf and the rest leave the restaurant…

…

Ten minutes later, at the foot of the path up the hill…

The group is mostly silent as they make their way back to the Academy, only making idle remarks about regretting not being able to window-shop around the town before. Tisha is casually walking with her arms locked behind her golden head, while Damian peeks at her over his shoulder every few seconds. She notices, and raises her brows.

「What's up? Did I not wipe my face enough?」

Tisha asks, tilting her head at him.

「No, it's just…」

Damian turns his gaze forward, while his eyes drift down to his feet.

「It's just what? Speak up.」

Tisha demands in a commanding tone, scrunching her mouth to the side.

「…Why me?」

He asks, looking at her over his shoulder.

「What do you mean, why you?」

Her brows furrow, and her head recoils a little in mild surprise.

「Why not any other mage? I'm sure there's plenty of Academy graduates that haven't found any jobs yet. They're sure to know more than I do. They'd likely teach you more than I can.」

Damian maintains eye contact with her, looking back into her blue eyes with a hint of caution mixed with mostly a hopeless, dejected face of resignation.

「Hmmmm… You're not wrong…」

She grimaces a little with her mouth, tilting her golden head to the side in agreement. Damian winces as he faces forward again.

「Yeah, I thought as much…」

He lets out a sullen sigh, placing his hands in his pockets.

「…But there is a reason I want you with me… Two, even.」

Tisha replies, crossing her arms with a smug smirk on her face. Damian looks at her again, remaining silent and waiting for her to explain with an expectant gaze.

「The first one is… I know you, really. You wouldn't be a threat at our court. You're too weak, and you have no stomach for plots. That means I don't have to be careful around you…」

「Nhhh… Thanks… And the other one?…」

Damian winces and sighs while he thanks Tisha with an audibly sarcastic tone.

「The other one is… Well, I don't want some stinking old man teaching me magic! I have a perfectly fine handsome boy my age who can do that right here.」

She continues, and lets out an amused huff out of her nose with a large, smug grin on her face. Damian quickly snaps his face forward and begins walking markedly faster.

「Stop saying stuff like that already!… It's not funny!」

He says from a few steps ahead of everyone else, refusing to even peek at her.

「Huuh? You think I'm joking? I have my whims too! Be grateful that I'm picky!」

Tisha replies with her golden head held high, speaking loud and proud while they make their way up along the steep and winding road to the Academy above…