“Well, I’m off,” Alex said the moment they stepped out of the building.

“Off?” Tasha repeated, confused.

“You only just got here?” Daisy added.

“Yeah, to check, nothing bad had happened; as I said, you scuttled off without even a note. Now I know what you are up to; I don’t need to worry. If you are in desperate need of help, make a little cut on the very tip of your ring finger… Bea, for you, it’s your pinky,” Alex explained.

“And that will do?” Maxwell asked.

“It’ll let me know you are in trouble and to come help.”

“Why the ring finger, chief?”

“Well, it’s not often the one cut when doing normal everyday stuff. Can’t tell you the migraine I got when I put the alarm charm on Yuu’s pointer finger. Do you kids have any idea how often an artificer nicks their pointer?”

“I do,” Gunter said with a nod.

“Oh yeah… well anyways, I have a few meetings today to prep for tomorrow when we meet Kline’s parents. Your parents are… well, let's just say they certainly aren’t what I expected your parents to be.”

With a backhanded wave over his shoulder, Alex walked off towards the Noble district. With him fully gone, the class all turned their attention to Kline.

“What does he mean?” Daisy pressed.

“You don’t need to tell them, Kline… it’ll be more fun if they see for themselves.”

“But they are embarrassing enough already, Maxwell,” Kline whined.

“What do they do then?” Bea asked conspiratorially.

“They are very much new age wererabbits. Like don’t let society define you types,” Kline wearily explained.

“I kind of want to meet them now,” Bea pondered aloud.

“Well, we can discuss that later; where to next?” Maxwell asked.

“I want to visit the common district,” Kline insisted.

“But I already told you-”

“EXACTLY!!!” Kline snapped right back, to everyone's surprise.

“You decided for us… we aren’t your servants… I am not yours, Maxwell. My family may have served yours for generations, but that doesn't mean I’m obliged to. Nor am I under no obligation to follow your orders. Maxwell… when you say jump, I will not be one of those people who asks how high?” Kline snarled in a near growl as his eyes began to flash a deep red.

“Whoah, calm down!” Daisy said, placing herself in front of Kline.

“Kline, this isn’t you… we can check out the commoner district… While you are right, Maxwell shouldn’t decide everything without our input; there are better ways to say it than the one you picked.”

Maxwell, however, looked equally frustrated with Kline for the way he had spoken to him. Both boys decided to keep the rest of the class between them as they pouted and sulked, avoiding each other's eye contact.

Weaving through the streets, the class eventually came upon the wall separating the trade district from the central tower district. They would need to pass through this one and the market district to reach the commoner district, which was located in the northwestern area.

Handing their guild tag IDs to the guard at the gate, they were freely waved through. As they continued through, the class kept shooting glances between the two werebeasts, unsure of how to proceed.

“Ah, visitors to our fair city. Have you heard the fable of Lord Pride, Silvers Greyback and his rise to the seat?”

“I have,” Maxwell replied in what was closer to a grunt.

“We haven’t, though,” Daisy added, inclining for the street performer to tell his tale. All at once the stone on a bracelet he was wearing shone, and an illusion of a towering man with silver-grey hair stood before them.

“They say the Greybacks once served the Staine family loyally. That there could be no other family so devoted to another than they,” he explained as the image knelt low.

“But the insidious words of the outside elements entered his ear,” the performer explained cocking a thumb over his shoulder and pointing to the south, obviously indicating the Theocracy.

“What they couldn’t overcome by force of arms, they overcame by force of coin,” the performer's image changed to a portly man who was basking in a shower of golden coins.

“Staine, who would’ve been better suited to the seat of greed, betrayed his duties and opened the gateway to the theocracy,” the image again warped, showing a birdseye view of the city with smoke billowing up from it.

“Thousands of innocents were slaughtered like beasts with no trial, no rights. All because Staine was a human,” the performer continued as devil horns began to grow on a new image of the last Lord Staine.

“But in the chaos arose the last man anyone would suspect. The werewolf, ever loyal, bit its master's throat out and organised the defence of the region,” the image warped to show the original image of the first Pride from the Greyback family but coated head to toe in blood.

“He spared not a single one of that traitorous human's family. Even the children, he devoured their traitorous human hearts.”

“How awful,” Daisy muttered.

“Awful?” the performer repeated. “Humans, with all due respect, ma’am, are scum. They lack any real strength, so they politick their way to power. There is no truly strong human, and if there were, they would become fat and lazy like Staine. A man who is so reviled that he has a saying created because of him.”

“Enough!!” Maxwell snarled. “This is why I didn’t want to hear the stories my wetnurses told me. The context is entirely lost for what? To keep humans under heel?!”

“You a human sympathiser, lad?” the performer asked, letting venom drip from his words as he considered this the worst thing any mortal could be.

“And what if I am?” Maxwell asked.

“Oh, nothing much. I will wish you a good day and to leave my sight. We don’t need your sort around here,” the performer said, spitting a glob of phlegm towards Maxwell’s feet.

“How dare you!!! Have you any idea who I am?!”

“You forget that lad? No wonder you’re a human sympathiser; you are clearly addled. So do me a favour and fuck off. Your backward thinking is scaring off real customers.”

Clenching his fists, Maxwell could feel his inner beast trying to claw its way to the surface. He was still struggling with it ever since he met Johan. Something about his influence had deeply affected his inner beast that he couldn’t understand it.

“Maxwell… let's go,” Kline said, resting a hand on Kline’s shoulder. Looking at the friend that, at the back of his mind, he knew he should be feuding with, he could only let out a sigh.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Thank you, Kline… I nearly forgot myself there… it’s not a noble's job to clean up the trash on the street,” Maxwell replied as he began walking away from the performer.

“You will regret those words, you freak!!” the performer shouted at the backs of the class as they walked away.

“What was all that about?” DAaisy asked.

“As this is the region often first invaded during crusades, lots of people have lost friends and family to human attacks. Sometimes they are just raids just to cull the population,” Kline explained.

“Little children get taught that bullshit story over and over till humans are like monsters in the night. The commoner district even has a human slum for the few that do live here,” Maxwell added.

It was now they looked around; they could see how few humans there were. Academy City was more metropolitan in its population, caring more about capability than race. They could now see there was a far more deep-rooted discrimination.

“Maybe this is why the fake sir did what he did. They would’ve been far crueller to a new human than an established one,” Gunter suggested.

“It does seem likely,” Daisy replied, feeling a bitter taste in her mouth as the class made their way passed the front of the Tower of Pride, which left the entire square in a twilight of sorts.

“It’s my family's wetnurse’s fault for telling that story over and over again that made Celes hate sir so much. I myself went to the family library and read the first Greybacks journal and know the truth.”

“What is that, then?” Kline asked, having never heard it even mentioned before.

“The Theocracy had kidnapped Staine’s children.”

“So he didn’t turn traitor willingly?” Bea asked.

“I don’t know to be honest. My ancestor seemed conflicted by his master's decisions. It is true Staine was granted many benefits after opening the gate, and he did become a collaborator in the end. But the first Silvers Greyback always wondered if his children weren’t taken, would things have turned out differently.”

“Well, we know sir is very protective of children. He has even said he would do terrible things to keep children safe, so maybe Staine was similar?”

“I don’t know,” Maxwell replied, looking down. “I just made sure to keep an open mind, but you know what sir says about that.”

“Yes… don’t let it be so open your brain falls out,” Daisy answered with a chuckle as the class reached the western gate to the market district and queued up.

“It’s not a far walk from this gatehouse to the commoner-district gatehouse, so we could be there rather quickly… so long as we make it through,” Maxwell muttered, glancing at Tasha.

“Perhaps it’d be best to take the long way round?” Kline suggested.

“What are you two talking about?” Bea asked.

“The central area is where the confectionaries are sold; there are a lot of sweets and…” Maxwell glanced at Tasha, who was lost in her own world gazing up at the tower.

“I see… she may cause chaos… why would they sell sweets in the middle area, though?” Bea asked. “Surely selling the most important goods would be better?”

“They are important. Nobles here are impatient and have a sweet tooth that would put her to shame,” Maxwell explained, pointing to Tasha.

“Can’t have a Noble waiting too long. So the immediate gate a nobles servant will go through has the sweets,” Kline elaborated. Looking at the oblivious elf, they could see her freeze midstep and watch as her head darted in every direction.

“You ok, Tasha?” Maxwell asked, half suspecting she could smell the crepes stand as he and Kline could.

“We’re being followed,” Tasha replied.

“What?” Maxwell asked, looking around.

“Probably just sir organised some secret guards like Johan had,” Kline said as he dreamily reminisced about the tightly dressed shadows.

“Hopefully, can you keep track of them?” Maxwell asked, looking at Tasha, who had somehow detected followers at a range even his heightened senses couldn’t detect.

“Yep, Elissa taught me how to heighten my senses to a super high degree… she said it would help me endure the pain if it was more intense… side effect though I can tell if someone is looking at me from really far away,” Tasha blithely replied causing the class to shudder at what was more torture than training that Elissa had put her through.

“Thank the gods she’s an idiot; otherwise, she might actually hold a grudge,” Daisy muttered, which elicited murmurs of agreement from the rest of the class.

Finally reaching the front of the queue, the class offered their IDs to the guards, who only glanced at them and waved them right on through. It seemed security was a medley at the gates. Some being strict while others being rather blase about the task.

Maxwell made a mental note to speak to his father about it when he had a chance. As if a war was on the horizon, then they would need to have stricter security protocols.

As they stepped through the gatehouse into the market district, they came face to face with a gauntlet that they knew would be a trial in itself. Before them stood row upon row of stalls covered in so many sugary sweets, they could feel their teeth ache at the very sight. Tasha herself looked distracted as if she didn’t even notice the sea of sugar arrayed before her.

“You ok, Tasha?” Maxwell asked, concerned as she had yet to turn her nose up at any sweet.

“They transferred who is following,” Tasha muttered.

“Transfered?” Gunter asked.

“Yeah, people in this area are now following us,” Tasha confirmed.

“Maybe they didn’t want to get held up with the gate guards and lose us?” Bea suggested as she looked around, trying to locate their followers.

“They feel like Elissa during our training… so they might be friendly?”

These words immediately put the class on high alert. They knew Elissa had not made her training so harsh to be nice. It was out of anger. The fact the people following them held similar feelings meant they weren’t friendly as they had hoped.

“Let’s just go through here as quickly as possible. The commoner district has very strong gangs controlling it. Even the guards won’t do anything stupid in their territory,” Kline's suggestion was met with unsure nods as the class hastily made their way through the path of sweets without Tasha seeming to even notice. This was how intensely she had focused on their followers.

Arriving at the gatehouse, they hastily made their way into the commoner district. Expanding their senses, the class could feel countless eyes now on them. The majority were not hostile but more curious.

“Yo Kiddies!!” a familiar voice said as he approached.

“You follah tah get a refund? I ain’t do no refunds,” Spoony said as he walked up to the class.

“Spoony?” Daisy asked, confused about how he had gotten ahead of them. They were only in the guild for a few minutes, and he was in completely different clothes than he had been.

“Yes, dat’s me,” he said with a deep showy bow.

“Tasha, are we still being followed?” Maxwell asked to which Tasha nodded and gestured towards the gatehouse.

“You run tah dah commoner district to hide?” Spoony asked. “You toffs muss be desperate den,” he added with a smirk.

“We will help yah for a fee, of course,” Spoony said, rubbing his fingers together in a multiversal gesture to make it worth my while.

“Fine, we will pay you,” Bea hastily said as a quartet of nasty-looking men started walking down the street towards them.

“Shake on it, folks,” Spoony said, spitting on his hand and holding it out. The class paused and grimaced as they looked at his palm. Uncertain if what the men had planned was worth touching the hand.

“By the gods,” Bea groaned as she hopped off Gunter’s shoulder, spat in her own palm and shook Spoony’s hand.

“Ok… HEAR DAT DEEZ KIDZ ARE UNDER THE SPOONY ‘ATS PROTEKSHUN!”

The class could feel a number of the gazes no longer focus on them, as if his words alone were enough to get them to look away. Looking back at the four figures approaching, they could see very bloodthirsty grins spread across their faces.

“Hello, good sir… we mean no harm to ‘the community’. We are simply escorts hired to retrieve these wayward noble brats. Their parents are all very worried about them,” the lead man said as he swept a predatory gaze over the class.

His gaze alone instilled a deep primal fear in the class. They had faced powerful people. They had been trained by people that were considered monsters by monsters. They could tell, looking at this man and his backup, they stood no chance. He radiated a combat skill that left them in awe.

“Dat so? Dis true little lady?” He whispered, looking down at Bea, who was still holding his hand.

“My parents aren’t even on this plane of existence. They are lying!!”

“Dat so…” Spoony said as he pondered this.

“Did her folks hire you to get ‘er back to the noble district?” Spoony asked.

“That is the case… seems these children have been rather disrespectful to certain prominent figures in the city and must be punished.”

“I see…” Spoony said as he lifted Bea off the ground.

“HEY, WE HAD AN AGREEMENT!!!!” Daisy shouted as Gunter readied himself to hit Spoony.

“Dat we did… you know I am very good at reading lies. ‘Av tah be to survive in dis business… you folks…. You ain’t lying too much…, especially this little one,” Spoony said as he lifted Bea up to his eye line, making it so only she saw him wink at her.

“But I’m sure these folks would be amenable to sharing the reward for my non-interference?”

“Of-of course we would. Several small golds for each child!” the lead man said as, his smirk that sent a shiver down the class’s spine.

“Well, dat iz all I needed tah hear,” Spoony said as he dropped Bea roughly to the ground.