Ray turned towards the cat, wide-eyed. ‘Did you just speak in my head?’

‘What? I did, no, I was not supposed to do that. Why was I not supposed to do that?’ the cat’s voice appeared in Ray’s head, confusing him more.

‘Why can I talk to you? What are you?’ Ray asked.

‘Cause, you’re Fae kid. What house are you from that you can’t even recognize your elders, huh?’ the cat replied.

‘What elders? Are you very old? And how did you recognize me?’ Ray asked, mildly panicking. Had he given himself away somehow?

‘I am very old, yes. At least, I think so. I fear my memory is not the best these days. But I do remember that I wasn’t supposed to talk to you for some reason. But now that we are, can you take me out of this shitty city?

I am starving! Just because I don’t need food- Wait do I need food? I don’t know. I knew there was a reason you take care of old cats. Now take me home, kid. Does the Fae Empire have a portal nearby?’ the cat said, puzzling Ray more.

‘The Fae Empire? I don’t know much about Fae, we’re in the Empire of Humanity half a world across.’ Ray said.

‘Huh? The Fae Empire has been replaced by filthy humans? Do they still live in those horrible glowing blue caves? Are caves really horrible? I just remember that I didn’t like them, but I can’t remember why.’ the cat said.

Ray was pretty sure the cat had some serious memory problems, but was also Fae. Or it was very likely it was one. Ray’d heard that sometimes old people’s memory got weak, was this similar?

‘I can take you home, and no, Humans don’t live in caves anymore. The Empire of Humanity conquered half the Elven continent, in fact.’ Ray said.

‘Oh conquering, horrible business. I do hate it, they’re just going to ruin the Empire doing it.’ the cat said, probably talking about a different Empire.

‘Wait, no, that was long ago. Ugh, can you get me some healing jewels? I can’t remember anything. I can’t even remember if this condition was recent.’ the cat said. Ray felt pity for it, he couldn’t imagine its pain.

‘I don’t know what a healing jewel is, but I will see what I can do to help you.’ Ray said, walking towards the Commoner’s district. The cat sat on his head the whole way, not saying anything, but Ray was sure that things were going through its head.

But there was something else waiting for him back at the bakery. A crowd of College students, led by the nervous-looking figure of Marcus, who was currently fidgeting under the gaze of an irritated Ma.

“So, you're here. And with another unexpected guest. Perhaps you would prefer if we had this conversation in private?” Ma asked.

“Yeah,” Ray replied, now nervous. Ma made him nervous, he realized. Before everyone else, he could act confident. The shadow princess, the brat, just about everyone he knew. But Ma scared him somehow. The look on her face right now made him want to run away and hide.

The two of them went inside as the cat jumped off his head and headed for cookies. Ray shook his head at the betrayal, couldn’t he have waited a bit? Ma couldn’t be too angry at that cute face! But now…

“Now, can you tell me why you promised to make labs for people?” Ma asked.

“I didn’t promise. I said he would ask you, we were just a bit excited. The College is raising prices again.” Ray replied.

“I just said that I would help them, Ma. I mean, we could use the business from so many people selling potions. And I could sell neutral mana potions for cheap so that they can make more potions. The labs don’t take much either, I am sure we can come up with something.” Ray continued.

“And you’re bent on helping them by opposing the Dean of the Alchemic College himself?” Ma asked.

“The Dean hasn’t exactly been kind to us, Ma.” Ray noted. After all, it was the Dean that had all the ridiculous rules about classes. Not to mention all the other problems with the College.

“And that’s why you want to oppose one of the most powerful men in the city?” Ma asked.

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“I don’t think we have a choice Ma, we’re already in their crosshairs, Ma. The bakery has already become famous enough. I am sure we’ll attract some nobles' retaliation soon.” Ray said. Ma was clearly opposed to the idea, but he would fight for it.

Ma opened her mouth, probably to object, but then her expression changed. As if she had suddenly gotten some knowledge that he was unaware of, she calmed down.

“As long as you are sure. The business will be good anyway, but do be aware that you just chose a side, Ray,” she said, motioning for Ray to leave. Ray did so, but he found what happened odd. Ma had been acting strangely for a while now. At times, she was too panicky, at others too agreeable.

Ray got the feeling that something was going on that he didn’t know about. But now he had a crowd to manage. Ray had to let confident Ray take charge again. Now, if only either of them were actually confident or knew what was going on.

“So, this is how it's gonna go.” Ray began. “I can help you make labs, it's relatively simple, just clean the area and fuse the windows. As for selling, the bakery will take a ten percent sale charge, the rest of it goes to you. Is that acceptable?”

A hand immediately shot up, not waiting for a response from Ray before asking, “What about prices? I know that you guys are underselling stuff, but are we expected to do the same?”

“No, you can decide the price and mark the beaker, but be warned that you will be competing against others. The bakery can’t do anything if your potions are charged too high for people to buy.” Ray replied, that seemed an acceptable way. At least, Ray hoped it was.

“So you’re not guaranteeing sale?” the voice asked again.

“No, I can’t guarantee that someone will buy bread tomorrow, let alone potions,” Ray said. Now he was losing confidence. The question was ridiculous.

“And what if none of our things sell? Are we to give our time and money with no assurances?” the voice asked again, suspiciously not having a face. Ray was a bit confused now, he was doing them a favor. And those were questions more suited to a normal business deal.

“Yes. As I said, I can assure nothing. Nor do I have the money to offer any advances.” Ray said.

“I won’t be joining you then.” the voice replied.

“Ok. Now, any more questions?” Ray asked, hiding his nervousness. But even he knew enough to not engage in a shouting match with a clearly ridiculous customer.

“What price would you suggest we keep?” one of the girls asked.

“A third of the market price. As it stands, our main market is commoners like us, and we have to make things that are affordable for us.” Ray replied.

“What potions would you recommend?” another asked.

“I would first suggest that you not listen to the person that has only been doing Alchemy for a couple of weeks. But if you want to, then I suggest that you do something that would be useful to our clientele that you can make.” Ray answered, somehow he had become an authority on things.

“What area would you suggest for a lab?” the next question came.

“I use an attic,” Ray answered.

“An attic? Do you think your potions are worth anything, produced in a dirty place like that?” the person who had been questioning him first sounded out.

“The thing about dirty places is that they can be cleaned. But I don’t expect you to understand that, tell me, did you ever clean anything?” Ray asked. The questions were suspicious.

“And the politeness wears off! I knew you would revert to base insults!” the noble replied. Ray shook his head, had the guy even heard him?

“And here I thought it was a question.” Ray said, trying to act snarky, “But your noble self would know better, do bother revealing yourself. Or are you afraid that mere commoners will see you?”

“No, I am not.” a girl said, stepping out.

“And you are?” Ray asked.

“The person whose seat you stole. Did you know that he is just a paid student? I checked his Academy records! Ray Rosenmund failed in mana pool and element! The only reason he even got into our prestigious College is because of the Marchioness! The very definition of noble privilege!” the girl said.

The crowd shook their heads at her. Ray rolled his eyes, the records were supposed to be secret, but apparently that changed when their secrecy inconvenienced someone in power.

“Ma’am, is it not rather rich of you to come here and lecture us on our actions when the College has practically banned us from the lab building?” a girl replied.

“Not to mention, failing the Academy program is normal here. Just one in ten pass, and most of the ones failing are commoners. Do you think that we are going to judge someone based on something that he had no control over?” another boy replied.

“And besides, Ray has proved himself capable by coming and setting up the first Alchemic shop in the Commoner’s district. The fact of the matter is, the College pushed us into a corner, and Ray is offering a way out. Now, if you will excuse us, we have potions to make and mana to get.” Marcus replied as the crowd cleared the way for the girl to stop out.

The girl huffed and walked out, leaving the crowd in silence. Ray looked at them awkwardly, having no idea what to do.

“Well, that’s all I have to say, so, um, you all can go home and decide where you want to make the labs. I can’t help you much, but I will do what I can.” Ray said. The crowd dispersed as Ray entered.

Ray looked for the cat to see what it was doing. The cat was in the process of picking and eating cookies as Ma watched it with fascination. Ray had no idea how it was doing the picking. The cookies were just sticking to its paws.

“Now what do we call you? I don’t suppose you remember your name?” Ray whispered to it. A paw touched Ray’s hand as sounds of chewing sounded in his head.

“Norman it is.” Ray said, picking a random name from his head.

‘No, no, anything but that! Noooooo. Wait, why no?’