As the Rail slowed to a stop, I wiped some faint lipstick off my cheek and gathered my things.

During the ride we ended up changing clothes. Neither of us were completely prim and proper since we had gone a day and a half without really cleaning ourselves, but we still looked good enough. It wasn't like we were going to a party.

A man in a tidy suit, quickly recognized by Umara, stood elegantly next to a pillar.

“Sir Heemo!”

“Lady Umara. Mr. Cooper.”

He bowed, gesturing to the Terminal exit.

“Please, follow me.

……

“We have arrived.”

The carriage rolled to a stop, and I hopped out with Umara on my back.

The massive Talerria Estate sprawled before us. A terraced, balconied mansion spread itself across an area dozens of times smaller than the surrounding hills and dales comprising the entire plot of land. Somehow simultaneously as shiny as wet polished slate and dull from constant surface weathering, surrounded by lush bushes and multicolored flowers, the single tiled walkway brought us before the three-storied mansion.

It was on the outskirts of the City of Joffrun, but the surrounding area was incredibly rich. On the carriage ride over, I hadn’t noticed a single shanty or even trash on the road; even the “wild” country off the sides were carefully pruned into their current appearance. It seemed like everyone with money wanted to move near the Duchess’ own residence despite its distance from the city center. Then again, maybe they just wanted to get away from all the noise.

Of course, nobody could compare to how rich the Duchess was. The mansion wasn’t even located near the wall, but from the back of the property all the way to the wall itself, there was nothing but fields of green. She had prohibited any construction back there for nothing more than the aesthetic, as if she lived in a rural mansion.

With Umara on my back, we walked up to the main door. Sir Heemo, the head butler of the estate, was a mere few steps in front, having sent a duo of servants rushing back to the doors to properly notify the family of our arrival.

Not that they hadn’t already expected us. Before we could even get to the door, the rest of the family arrived.

Talexia Talerria, Ikhor Talerria, and Feay Talerria. They all stood garbed in casual but proper dress, looking much less disheveled than the two of us, strange looks on their faces as Umara waved at them.

“Hi mom!”

“Dear, is there a reason John is lugging you around like a sack of rocks?”

“I twisted my ankle.”

“Why didn’t you get it healed?”

“We were running late…”

She dodged her mother’s narrowed eyes with a turn of the head, deciding not to mention our incredibly rushed departure.

As the Duchess sighed, I heard the scraggly voice of the Duke.

“John, you can put my daughter down now.”

“Hm.”

I hummed before kneeling, allowing Umara to climb off.

Her shoe was off, so the fat ankle was clear as day for them to see. Although she didn’t break anything, it was still painful to walk around on, and I didn’t mind carrying her.

The Duchess waved.

“Come inside. I’ll heal you up.”

With those words, everyone turned and went through the doors. I was met with a large entryway that led to two huge staircases sloping up to both the second and third floors.

The place, although rich, wasn’t overly flashy. I could tell that the Talerria household was more pragmatic than they were worried about impressing people.

The only thing that stood apart from the otherwise modest entry hall was the line of larger-than-life paintings, the stern faces of Talerria line heads staring into a void.

They were an old family dating back centuries like many other noble households. They had ancestors well over a century old still alive and kicking, as well as many offshoots populated by aunts, uncles, and cousins.

The main line, which Umara descended from, was most important and always ran the family as they were also the most powerful. But that didn’t mean the branch families were neglected.

They were in charge of the countless other affairs the family had to deal with, be it running businesses or serving under the Duchess’s command as a private army. Offshoots were nurtured with opportunities and financial support, but there were many measures in place to cut off branches that had diverged too heavily to prevent exponential hemorrhaging of resources.

All of the pictures I saw while walking through the house were of important people who came before the Duchess, including special individuals who married into the family. When the Duchess passed the mantle to the next heir, she would become another photo on the wall, adding to the long chain.

And this estate was passed down through the generations. Currently it was for the Duchess and her family to inhabit, but the rest of the family, who I would be seeing during the Christmas celebrations, wasn’t far away.

That would be fun.

As I observed the place, taking in the refined architecture and tasteful artistry across the board, Duchess Talerria sat Umara in a room and started the healing process.

A warlock such as herself obviously knew how to heal. Although it was, in theory, its own special field, it was all magic in the end, specifically water and fire.

How that worked, I had no idea. But put simply, healing was a combination of the two elements. They were difficult spells to learn and utilize so any healer was an incredibly respected professional.

Umara would only be able to learn healing later since she was only now beginning to develop her fire affinity.

After a few minutes, Umara’s ankle looked much better. The swelling went down entirely and she said it only felt a bit sore.

And so, the introductions were made.

“John Cooper. I am Ikhor Talerria, Umara’s father. Pleased to finally meet my daughter’s boyfriend.”

“Pleased to meet you too, sir. And thank you for the hospitality.”

“Of course. And allow me to introduce you to our second daughter. Feay Talerria.”

“Pleased to meet you, Feay. I’m John.”

“Mm. Nice to meet you.”

The young teen nodded and shook my outstretched hand. I saw the Crest she bore and knew that she would become a knight, but had yet to awaken. She was 14, so she would only have to wait another 2 years.

Feay looked at me with a courteous smile, a mature gesture betraying little of her true emotions, truly fit for a noble daughter of a Duke. She didn’t seem to have any real desire to interact with me, but I would hopefully eventually have a chance to win her over.

After getting her ankle healed, Umara walked back over, nudging me with her shoulder.

“We should get you settled in your room.”

“The butlers have already arranged his room.”

The Duchess chimed in behind us.

“John, everyone here resides on the third floor, as you will. For now, we should talk about our schedule for the next few days. Come sit.”

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She waved everyone over to the nearby couches where we got comfortable.

Ikhor pulled out a sheet of paper, a comprehensive to-do list already prepared for us.

“Today, we are to attend to our personal affairs. I have a meeting with the Marshal of the 3rd Knights Division. Talexia, you have those plans with Raven.”

“That’s right.”

“Umara, your friend Mina is holding her 22nd birthday celebration today. You’re due in three hours at Parencia to attend that with John.”

“Oh, crap. I forgot about that.”

Umara’s eyes widened, making me wonder who this friend was.

“As for Feay, your own friends are holding an early Christmas celebration. You’ll be staying overnight, so prepare for that and be ready to return tomorrow morning.”

“Mm.”

“Then let’s prepare. Umara, take John on a tour around the estate until you need to leave. I’ll be heading out soon, as will your mother.”

“Okay.”

Everyone stood with those plans made. After that, the rest of the family dispersed to go take care of everything.

Umara linked arms with me and took me around the first level of the house, pointing out anything I needed to know.

“The first floor is where most of the household activities are taken care of. Cooking, dining, attending to guests, training, education, and whatever else goes on. The second floor is for work. We have two offices, two studies connected to the library, and a small atrium containing the household pool along with some rooms that act as the family storage and vaults.”

“Damn.”

I muttered as we walked around. The first floor was rather threadbare other than the subdued decor, but the second floor was full of cool stuff.

Especially the library and atrium. The library wrapped around the atrium, extending all the way into the heights of the third floor.

The bookshelves were practically the walls themselves, crammed full of a veritable fortune in paper, only the occasional window providing some natural light while floating lights illuminated the rest, drifting through the air on multiple levels.

As for the atrium, it was indeed a huge pool, but it was also surrounded by a garden. And this wasn’t a generic countryside family garden, but one filled with exotic plants I had never seen before.

Inside the pool itself there were some water lilies, but unlike normal water lilies, these ones actively moved around, spinning and drifting among several others, almost like they were all performing a dance.

And outside the pool were some plants a little too active for my liking. There were vines with feelers poking out, roses with large bulbs within their petals that glowed like a lamp, coral type plants that shot beams of light out of their hollow bodies like flashlights, and some short trees that sprouted oddly shaped leaves which occasionally dripped a mysterious liquid into the pool below it.

There were even some floating plants that drifted in the occasional breeze from one part of the room to the other.

It was rather magical, but I still found some of it a bit creepy.

Still, I looked forward to actually experiencing it.

The atrium was connected to a few other rooms too. Two of them were hot baths while another was a large hall intended for parties such as the one coming up in a couple days.

The whole area around the atrium was intended to be a place of socialization, so I would get my chance to take a dip in the pool soon, maybe use the hot baths which were basically giant hot tubs.

And then, there was the third floor.

This was where the family resided. All their bedrooms and those for special guests were here, including my own. There were also much larger dedicated bath rooms with a variety of features such as a pseudo-shower function, blanketing the entire room in a mist of water.

This was just the main hall and its offshoots; the two secondary buildings, although large in their own right, were more than a little boring.

One of the side buildings was called the Ancestral Hall. It was a proper place to honor the ancestors of the Talerria family. It held all of their familial records as well as a few dozen heirlooms.

As for the second building, it was a residency for most of the butlers and housekeepers.

Beyond that, there was the backyard, which was a massive tree filled garden bordering the definition of a forest. And this backyard led out into the vast field behind the estate that extended all the way to the walls, which I could see in the distance over a mile away.

Turns out, most of the neighboring houses and estates were taken by members of the Talerria family. It was common for that back field to act as a place for children to meet and play, while the adults had easy access to the homes of other family members.

And all of them would be coming to the mansion for Christmas. Apparently there were a lot of them. Lots of cousins, aunts and uncles, and distant relatives who still carried the family name Talerria.

With that, my tour was basically complete. Umara showed me everything she thought was interesting, including her own room where we got a bit frisky before continuing.

By the time we finished, both parents were long gone while the sister was getting ready to leave. But we also had to prepare, so I found my room and separated from my girlfriend to change.

It was a birthday party and the birthday girl was one of Umara’s good childhood friends. While there, attendees would consist of about a dozen of our peers. The adults would have a slim presence.

There would also be activities before the birthday celebration. What they were, I didn’t know, but I still went prepared.

It was apparently rude to outshine the host, so Umara had both of us dress down a bit, a balance between formal and casual.

After we were ready, we boarded one of the many carriages owned by the family, a small one that took us to the city’s Teleporter Nexus.

“Would you look at that…”

The room that contained the teleporter was massive, and the entire place was enchanted, brick by brick. The teleporter itself was over 80 feet tall and 200 feet long, constructed with 8 large elliptic rings stacked on top of each other 10 feet apart. Each ring hosted staggeringly complex runic formations that warped and twisted into and under each other, leaving even my enhanced mind tired as I tried to trace. The power source, a massive Authority 11 crystal, sent out waves of incredible magic power, the “veins” of the rings pulsing in accordance. I could sense the overwhelming power within; even the air was distorted by the pressure.

“Lady Umara, the teleporter is prepared. Please step forward.”

“Understood.”

She nodded and pulled me along onto the platform where we stood along its edge. Some operators to the side fiddled with some sliders and pressed a button on a control panel.

The rings flashed as I felt a compressing force envelop my body, my mind feeling like it was being pulled in two opposite directions, everything in my sight blurring and shifting.

The disorientation filled my senses for but a mere second before I suddenly realized that I was on solid ground again in another place.

I stood rooted for a few seconds before zoning in and looking around, my head slightly dizzy, but nothing my strong mind couldn’t work past.

Umara seemed used to it as well, at least more than me, so we promptly walked off the platform and left the Teleporter Nexus.

We arrived at Parencia, a city on the other side of the entire Kingdom.

Upon walking out, there was a carriage already waiting for us, sent by Umara’s friend. We boarded and were taken to her residence.

Umara gave me some details as we rode.

“Mina Halleve is a year and a half older than I am, but since our families are close, we’ve been friends ever since we were children. She’s an Authority 7 Warlock who inherited some of her parent’s talent.”

“Who are her parents?”

“Her father is Grand Duke Charles Hawk, one of the Authority 12 Warlocks of the Kingdom, and her mother is Grand Duchess Millia Hawk, his wife and an Authority 11 Warlock.”

“Oh. Shit.”

My eyes widened, not realizing Umara had a friend who may as well be a princess, holding the fourth highest status in the world: just below an actual princess, her parents themselves, and the King.

Umara smiled.

“Don’t be so intimidated.”

“I’m not. Just surprised.”

“Our mothers are good friends seeing as they’re similar in power and position, and Duke Hawk is also my mother’s superior in the military. He also oversees a massive farming territory responsible for over half of the Kingdom’s food production. Along with a few mines, he’s an incredibly rich man within an impossibly rich family. Their family line traces back to the founding of the Kingdom and is even tied to one of the past Kings.”

“Wow.”

So the guy was a massive deal, a true Elite in this world. He was effectively royalty, his family potentially holding more influence than the King himself.

That was something else I thought about. How powerful was the King, exactly? Was he the highest power in the Kingdom? Or was he just a puppet that managed the general affairs of the Kingdom while the Grand Dukes ruled from the sidelines with their iron fists?

I was curious, but such things were well above me so I didn’t think about it much.

Umara hummed.

“Yeah. He almost married my mother, in fact. But despite being one of his suitors, she chose my father instead, allowing Millia to marry him without competition.”

“And she’s still friends with your mother?”

“Of course. My mother simply doesn’t care about the plans or thoughts of others. Millia realized that and it’s not like my mother had much of a choice in regard to being Charles’ suitor, so she didn’t resent her. So when my mother found my father and simply dropped from the list, nobody was able to do much and everything was settled. Now, Millia respects the kind of person my mother is and the two became friends.”

“Hm, I understand that, but I’m not sure about your mother not caring about the plans or thoughts of others. Seems false considering how she treats us.”

“She does that because she has to. It’s part of the responsibility of being the head of the Talerria family, as well as being pressured by all the other families who have a vested interest in my marriage. It was easy for her since she was already in line for succession, but I'm not in the same position, and you’re also not from a noble family like my father was. It was easy for her to ignore other people. We don’t have the power nor influence to do the same.”

“That’s true.”

I nodded as if I hadn’t already guessed that. Once again it was reiterated that all the cards were stacked against us. There was no use comparing, and I still had to be thankful to the Duchess for even allowing this to happen.

After conversing more about Mina and Umara’s history with her, we arrived at the Hawk Estate. At first glance, although it wasn’t much bigger than the Talerria Estate, it was definitely richer.

The two massive statues flanking the main gate, showing the weathering of time, yet still giving off a feeling of vast authority, painted a clear picture of the generations of prosperity, wealth, and unquestionable power needed to construct such an estate.

Kings came and went, hundreds of diplomats shifted the political landscape every year, entire armies of soldiers and generals cycled through, falling to the Scourge or time.

But this Family remained standing, through all trials and tribulations, affirming its unshakable foundation with every new generation.

Not even President Carrion could compare to the depth and majesty of those within this family.

And so we pulled up to the front steps of the mansion. I was curious to see what Umara’s friend had in store for us.