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The Next Day, The Little Forest Restaurant, Wintersleep Hotel, Wolfsteeth

"So, Lia is having a break today?"

Aurum shrugged while putting her note away, "Yep, I think it was a mistake to go to the northern district. I heard that they are the most ruthless up there. She probably ran into problems."

Maurice frowned, clearly worrying about her, "Should I go with her the next time?"

Aurum nodded, "When asked, do so, please. I will just go to the guard post and get some protection there then."

Before they could talk some more, the door to the restaurant opened, and multiple young men and women came in. Aurum immediately could identify them as his alumni who came all the way from central Mal-Gil.

They looked exhausted as the journey was probably too long for them, even though they took the most comfortable route. After they agreed to come, Aurum immediately went to Green and asked if she could use her connections to open up a portal in a Temple from central Mal-Gil to the Temple in Blue-Vermillion city in Moorgrel.

Temples had teleportation gates, which were only situated in the most important cities, as they were hard to maintain and thus expensive. However, they could cut down the time for travel by a lot and thus were very important to the upper classes. Regardless, even if you were ready to donate a pretty coin to go through them, they would immediately decline you if you weren't a strong supporter of the Circle. So, using Green to bring them through the gates was beyond extravagant and was only reserved for either Temple folk or higher nobility.

The usual route one would otherwise take, which he did when traveling back after graduation, was by boat. It took him around a month, which wasn't pleasant, even though he paid a lot for the best traveling conditions. As such, he wanted them not to go through the same as they probably wouldn't even come here in the first place then. Fortunately, Green was all ears after saying it was all for Alexander, probably wanting to strengthen their relationship.

Aurum smiled when he saw them and stood up, walking toward them while opening his arms, "My my! If you are not my cute little friends!"

He booked the restaurant today only to serve them. It was expensive, but it was worth it if Aurum wanted to get the noble youth on his side.

There was a reason for him pampering them. They had too much pride to say they had problems and needed help. Everyone was reasonably capable but no genius, so all of them were far down the line to be the heir, as they had siblings far more talented than they were. There were also those with a parent who was a concubine and were damned to some low-paying administration position, even if they had talent. So, giving them a chance to make a lot of coin while being treated with respect should, in his opinion, make them more amiable to accept his job offer.

Besides two, they were all nobility of central Mal-Gil, and there was a giant difference in how nobility there educated their cygnets in their households compared to Moorgrel nobility. From the beginning, most of his colleagues were handled like frail cygnets their whole lives and barely got any pushback. Be it at home or the boarding school - they were always treated with utmost courtesy. There was also the problem that because they showed no discernible talent, nobody in their household would invest in them, so they also had little to no pressure or were rarely punished if they misconduct themselves as nobody cared about them.

Here, on the other hand, a lot of resources were invested in the youth, no matter how average they were. Even Narsiz, who was especially talented in administration, was trained rudimentarily in fighting, which was unthinkable for all his alumni. Then, should they make some mistakes, punishment would be expected, and sometimes it became severe, like with Sarah, Lorient, or Alexander, who was indirectly forced into an anti-mana collar so he wouldn't go rogue. Only Narsiz seemed to be following the conduct and was rational, which made him much more likable to Aurum than his sisters.

Regardless of the situation in the Leonandra household, his colleagues had developed enormous egos that wouldn't allow them to work for someone who wasn't another noble of higher standing. Yet, they were here, showing him that they were truly desperate.

He wrote the letters saying they would save the poor and underprivileged with their talents and higher intellect. It was obviously bullshit, but a little ego-scratching would always help. Once they got the massive pay and could live in luxury again while getting adored and bowed by everyone they helped, they would never want to leave again. They would get gold, prestige, and the respect they looked for.

Aurum planned everything meticulously to get them to agree. He wanted to have people he knew about, even though maybe Moorgrel had better ones. He believed working with someone he knew was always better, even though the person wouldn't be the best. For this job, though, he wouldn't need the best but someone adequate and someone he could trust.

Most of his reasoning was based on emotions since what he was about to do with the charity was that he needed people he could trust. It was a little irrational, but hiring unknown ones, he would always fear something would happen and, if the mana contract wasn't harsh enough, bring him sleepless nights.

However, the first to greet him wasn't one of the nobles but a rabbit-kin, a good friend and commoner. He came forward and smiled at him, "Oh shit! You look like you didn't sleep for months, haha!"

Aurum smiled back, "Good to see you, Quill, and even better that no girl killed you till now. I had a bet against you, you know? Hehe."

Quill was a womanizer, but more importantly, he came from a humble background. He lived as an orphan on the streets, fighting for every breadcrumb he could get. Fortunately, a broker took an interest in him, or rather his intelligence, making him his apprentice. Afterward, he got into the school through a scholarship. They became almost immediately friends as Quill had a carefree personality, which made him easily approachable.

However, before they could continue their chat, a panther-kin guard pushed Quill to the side while a reindeer-kin interjected, sounding annoyed, "Damn it, can't believe you were part of the royalty faction. Why didn't you say so before? Not like we would skin you."

Aurum smirked at him, "Yeah, sure. Why not tell this to her..." He pointed his chin toward a small girl in the back, a Lizard-kin. She swirled her tail slightly in distress and smiled at Aurum, "I... I was fine, thanks to you, Aurum."

Ariana was the daughter of a scribe and made it into their school through a scholarship like Quill. However, because her Father was a lowly scribe of the healer union, which was partial towards the Crown and their ideals, which were also Moorgrel's, she was treated as if her Father had some say there. It was ridiculous. Aurum and Quill often stood up for her when others bullied her because of her parent's position.

It became worse by the day, and at some point, Aurum had enough. He went to the principal to have a conversation to show his perspective, as he wanted to create a school where everyone could study in peace. It didn't work. So, he threatened her by using his household name.

He made sure to make it clear that he would write to his Mother and bring their household guards into the school to protect Ariana. It was an obvious bluff, but Moorgrelians had a somewhat nasty reputation regarding confrontations, so something like an altercation could easily lead to a beheaded noble youth and, with that, smearing the reputation of the school.

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After the talk, the principal officially announced that the discussion with Aurum opened her eyes to the importance of treating commoners much more friendly, as it was the noble's duty to treat their subjects well. The bullying immediately died down, leaving only some juvenile insults.

He came back from his joyful memories as the rest came inside. Another two guards pushed forward, and behind them, three youths looked and sounded like they had stepped into sewage water.

"Pardon, but why does the air feel like someone is trying to murder me?!"

"Urgh, I get now why you all are so pissed. The heat is killing me."

"I need some wine... can't believe you can survive out here."

Aurum understood that they were uncomfortable as the east of Moorgrel was because of the miasma from Kratikal, which was hostile to everyone who wasn't acclimated to it. He also saw how they became easily irritated through it, 'Moorgrel really changes one.'

After the first greetings, everyone sat down and chatted with each other. It was a pleasant atmosphere even though the nobles isolated Quill and Ariana, barely looking at them. The same happened to Aurum as they were very cold or indifferent toward him, seeing him as someone lesser. This behavior irked him, but regardless of how they acted now, he knew they would change with time, 'Calm down, not like acting like my Mother would make anything better.'

The servers came in shortly after and served the food and alcohol. It was a pleasant atmosphere, but he could also see how all of them, except Quill and Ariana, needed to force themselves to act noble-like. Some small mistakes here and there in their etiquette were sporadic at first but became more frequent as time went on till one of them became fully relaxed, not caring anymore. It was, again, because of the miasma, making them easily forget their conduct, making the atmosphere more open, little by little.

They enjoyed the costly food and drinks while also being treated hand and foot to their every need. Everything worked as planned, and they even acted according to their status, not trying to use it for anything weird, as being nobility from central Mal-Gil, they had no power in Moorgrel.

Yet, as they consumed more alcohol, the first problems began. A moron began to harass the restaurant workers, "Hey, you Moorgrelian trash! Next time, do serve wine from the right side!"

Aurum immediately tried to squash some of that, "Hey François, how about you calm down a little? We are here all happy. What's the hate? Just enjoy the gathering, all right?"

It didn't work, though. François, the reindeer-kin, looked at him in disgust, "What? Having problems with me how I treat some dirty commoners..." He looked back at the frightened server and sneered, "...an avian-kin no less. What do you expect?"

Aurum raised an eyebrow and was confused. He thought François would become more humble after finishing school, but the opposite happened: He became much more arrogant. He didn't understand why, as he had nothing anymore and would either be married off as a concubine or work for his siblings with whom he was in a clinch.

Before he could try to calm François down, a snarky remark from a cat-kin girl came from the side, "It's obvious that Aurum doesn't like to be Moorgrelian himself. Otherwise, he would tell us in the beginning, and now, seeing how the workers even have no manners towards nobility, I can understand it, hehe."

François agreed, "That's right, Ilusia! The wor..."

Clap!

Something snapped inside Aurum. He stood up and clapped to get their attention, "That's enough!"

He looked around and cleared his throat, becoming irritated himself, "Ahem, not to step on your toes, but you acting like nobility here is the funniest thing I've seen for a long time..." He looked around at his alumni and the mostly stressed-out workers serving them, "...you probably forgot, but your titles mean nothing here. You are the same as every worker here, my dear colleagues."

It became silent, and everyone stared with hate at Aurum, who only smirked arrogantly at them. Moorgrel was different, and the nobility in central Mal-Gil hated it, bringing much friction to the empire. In the past, nobles from central Mal-Gil had the same privileges in Moorgrel as the local nobility, but then a clusterfuck of accidents happened, which changed everything.

The first frictions began after one of the former emperors and his supporters were overthrown, mainly by Moorgrel and his Knightages. After the coup, the supporters who were left didn't relent directly, as they lost a lot and were pressed against the wall. It was even fortunate that they retained their status as nobility.

However, it didn't mean that they wouldn't try to take revenge in other ways. Their first petty act of taking revenge was after the council was created: They kicked the Count out. The Count mostly ignored it as Moorgrel had their own internal politics and system. Then there was the fact that the council, in the beginning, was a somewhat toothless animal, barely able to touch the Count.

Afterward, seeing that Moorgrel disregarded them and simply acted unilaterally at that point, they turned up the heat by trying to revoke his title entirely. Still, since it was received from the Crown, only they could annul it. They didn't, for obvious reasons, as it would split up their empire and lead to more severe problems.

This, in turn, led to the Count declaring their status worthless while being in his territory in retaliation. Yet, whenever something happened to his knights in other fiefs, he would personally step in to enact either revenge or get them out of trouble. Regardless of the Count's loyalty to his retainers, if serious crimes were involved, he wouldn't be too easy-going on them, to say it nicely.

In retribution, the council petitioned that the Count allow the Crown to give away part of his territory to meritious people so that they could become nobles. The Crown agreed to this, even though the goal of the higher nobility was to send their people into Moorgrel to try to invade the political scene.

Yet, it never worked. Going against the guard households was like a death sentence since they didn't care about the higher nobility. The results were that the lower nobility, who received titles from the higher nobility and were put into Moorgrel, were cannibalized, extorted, or worse, by the Count's Knightages. It was a colossal shit show which led to enormous schisms inside the empire. Ultimately, only the Crown won as the nobles fought with each other while they could build up their power again.

However, on occasions like the one with the Silver-Tail Knightage, they tried to marry someone inside their household and cut them off from their dealings with other Knightages. They succeeded till Bartholomew, the son of the rulers, gathered everyone he could together and killed his parents, taking back the fief and was now trying to restore relations.

The silence broke when Ilusia stood up and spoke with disgust at Aurum, "I don't think Moorgrelian trash has any right even to exist..." She straightened up and looked at Aurum more intensely, "...do you truly think that the dirt you call Moorgrel can even survive without our help? What gives you the right to act as if you stay over us, the rightful nobility..." She sneered, "...especially as an avian-kin and commoner."

Aurum smirked at her, ignoring her provocations fully as he knew it was not different from his time in school, "Good point!..."

However, he stopped before entering a dialogue full of insults and instead looked around, analyzing the strange occurrences that caught his eye. All workers were frightened, but the guards were strangely tense, holding onto their weapons, 'Would you look at that?'

His intuition kicked in, and he suddenly understood they were not here for the job offer. Insulting commoners and beast-kin races was one thing, but insulting the fief was like spitting into the face of the Count. Nobody in their right mind would do this if they were ready to stay here. They would only do so if they were only here for something else and leave immediately afterward.

Aurum smiled but, inwardly, was boiling with anger, "So? Looking at your guards and behavior, you are here for another reason. Why not cut to the chase and tell me, or do you want to act like cygnets?"

François stood up and gestured to his guard to come over, "Cygnets? You are really a Moorgrelian. You even held onto the barbaric manner to call children by your race's bound animal..." He looked to his back, to the leopard-kin, another noble, "...don't you find it disgusting, too, Greg?"

Greg also stood up with his sister, who was sitting close by. They both drew their swords, and he looked at Aurum as if he were filth, "Listen, Aurum, it's nothing against you, but we know who your Mother is and that she is wealthy enough to pay a good ransom for her son. Why work if we can simply catch you and then ransom you back to your parents and household? I bet even Moorgrel wouldn't care about some retainer from the fourth child being kidnapped, so be so nice and just give up..." He smiled at his sister, "...isn't that right, Mary?"

Mary continued, her smile full of vicious intent, "I know that Moorgrelians have a great reputation for being warriors, but I don't think your single guard would be able to protect you..." Her voice became cuter but also sinister, "...we just want to drag you away to central Mal-Gil and then sell you back. Be nice and follow us."

Something inside Aurum cracked. It was like he was dumbstruck, 'I can't believe they are this stupid?' However, worse was that he told his Master he had great colleagues he could trust and that they would be great servants. Yet, all he felt was disappointment, not toward them but himself. He failed again, like when trying to build the concepts for the charity.

A dread inside of him grew as all he wanted to do was to help others. Not even that, he thought his plan worked in bringing them here and promising a great life, 'Why?'

Mary looked at him and chuckled, "Hehe, he gave up. Get him. It was a nice..."

However, Aurum's killing intent, the little he had, surged. He interrupted her, "Maurice, inside of Moorgrel, they are nothing but thugs. Kill them all."