Chapter 074
“I’m sorry, these textbooks are supposed to be for advanced students and higher,” he said with that forced smile on his face as he set the majority of Joram’s pile to the side.
“’Supposed’? Is there some rule or policy preventing me from purchasing these books?” Joram asked politely even though he was tempted to [Ego Whip] the idiot into oblivion.
“It would be irresponsible for us to sell such advanced materials to a first-year student,” he said, his smile growing even creepier.
Breath. Just, breath, he thought as he restrained his growing frustrations. He’d started the morning by embarrassing himself in front of Avi’s friends, who also happened to be incredibly attractive young women. Then further embarrassed himself by running out on them. The talk with Jae-Eun hadn’t been back, but having a murder machine staring at him the whole time had been draining, to say the least.
Now that he’d finally gotten to his perceived safe-haven, he was once again attacked. By the hateful stares of dozens of people and the aggressions of this idiot. He was about to give in to his baser instincts when a thought occurred to him.
Ask an adult.
‘Grammy?’
‘Yes, Joram?’
‘I’m having a bit of trouble buying some more advanced array textbooks. Is there something I can do to smooth this over?’
‘There shouldn’t be any problem buying them,’ Grammy sent back, obviously confused. ‘If there’s really a problem, you’re bank card should deal with it.’
‘Should? Does it come with special privileges or something,’ he asked, not sure if he should be excited, happy, or taken aback. Was his purple-bordered bank card the equivalent of having the Emperor-Class VIP card from the Heaven’s Bounty Auction House? Now curious, he asked.
‘You have an Emperor-Class VIP card from Heaven’s Bounty?’ Grammy asked in disbelief. ‘Of course, you do. Anyway, think of your bank card like that. It should quiet any complaints.’
Joram sent his thanks to Grammy just as the cashier started speaking again, appearing even more annoyed than a minute ago.
“Then, if that’s all, we’ll tally up what you’re allowed to purchase…” he stopped as Joram placed his bank card on the desk in front of the cashier.
“I’ll be taking all of the books, thank you,” Joram said politely, drawing heavily on his lessons in etiquette and diplomacy from Altaea.
The cashier looked like he was about to snark him, but the card finally registered in his brain causing him to choke on his words.
“Hurry up, I don’t have all day,” Joram said, now letting a bit of his annoyance slip into his tone. “Oh, and I would also like a receipt.”
-----
What is with people today? Joram asked himself as he stepped up to his front door and opened it.
Inside, he was greeted by the sight of eight beautiful women, one man… and one murder machine.
“Hello?” He said, slowly inching his way towards his office.
“Young master! We need to talk about our food budget. Let’s head to your office to go over things,” Wentian said, standing up and hurrying over to him, practically blurring in his haste to escape.
“Yes, the food budget! Let’s go!” Joram said as he grabbed Wentian’s arm and beat a hasty retreat to his office.
Once inside, he closed the door, locked it, and then used [Modify Matter] to fuse the sliding door in place, effectively making it a part of the wall.
‘What in the name of the Light is going on?’ He sent to Wentian, securing his link with Wentian to make sure that Avi/Alicia couldn’t listen in to their conversation.
‘The five of them stayed behind after you left, talking about music and the piano and such. But then the princess showed up not long after you left. Then Bai Lian and Mo Yu returned from work, and well… that happened.’
“That” referred to the incredibly tense atmosphere in the living room.
He noticed that Alyraele had taken a seat at the piano with Sophia sitting beside her, looking over an open book of sheet music. Daleira and Gabrielle, however, were seated on the same couch they’d used then they’d first arrived, directly across from where Bai Lian and Mo Yu were now seated. Jae-Eun had taken his vacant chair, with the murder machine standing to her right and slightly back.
Alicia was still in her chair, looking for all the world like she was having the time of her life.
The problem, as he saw it, was how the occupants of both couches were looking at each other.
Bai Lian, for some reason, looked like a cat eying up another cat that had just walked into her house. Gabrielle looked a bit confused, but was stubbornly holding her ground. Daleira, though, was smiling almost as calmly as Mo Yu was, but both had given him the impression that there should have been lightning shooting from their eyes, causing ball lightning to form between them.
Even Jae-Eun looked like she wanted to join in, but obviously didn’t know what she’d be getting into, so she stayed out of it. Fortunately, Aya the Murder Machine seemed to be more amused by what was happening than not. Otherwise, he was sure that more than a few bodies would have greeted him upon his return.
‘So, how’d you get stuck in there with them?’ Joram asked curiously.
‘I brought out more tea and snacks when the princess arrived and was caught up answering her questions about the insights I’d gained when we were on that quest,’ he explained in a pained tone. ‘Then the other two got home. Things were good a first, but then got more tense as the conversation progressed, until I felt that if I left, Mo Yu might… do something to me if I left,’ he finished and shook his head.
‘But why are they being like that?’ He queried, not really expecting an answer.
‘Meh.’
‘Indeed. It seems that they might not appreciate unexpected guests,’ he sent.
Wentian looked at him a bit oddly, but then shrugged.
‘Women are weird,’ he sent, then looked around. ‘What’re we going to do now?’
‘I’m going to read,’ he sent as he deposited the dozens of books onto his desk, then pointedly ignored the other conversations being had on the Network.
* * * * *
‘Did the young master seriously just… run away?’ Bai Lian asked incredulously.
‘It seems that way,’ Mo Yu replied, not sure if she should be vexed or amused by the young master’s actions.
She hadn’t expected Bai Lian’s reaction when they’d come home to see that there were guests present. That Bai Lian had grown more distant as they learned why Alicia was there with her friends had also struck her as odd. But when Ms Hayes had practically gushed over how much the young master had helped her, Mo Yu understood her reactions.
It had just been the night before that she’d spoken with Bai Lian about her feelings for the young master. Yet, the very next day they found themselves sitting with other beautiful young women who, at the very least, seemed to be interested in the young master. If she was being truthful, Mo Yu thought that their interest was a bit deeper than passing curiosity in the young master.
Mo Yu regarded Daleira as everyone idly chatted about things inconsequential. If she were to go by what most men found attractive, Daleira was arguably the prettiest of Alicia’s four new friends. There was also something about her that seemed to pull one’s attention to her… like a natural charisma.
‘What are we going to do about them?’ Bai Lian asked her as she leaned forward to refill her tea.
‘Just treat them as guests for now,’ she replied. ‘If they prove to be more than that in the future, I guess we’ll just have to lay down the law, as it were.’
‘But wouldn’t that be considered bullying the weak…?’ Bai Lian asked, sounding unsure if that would be a bad thing or not. But also sounding as though she might be OK with that.
‘No,’ Mo Yu corrected. ‘I mean that we would be the young master’s wives while they would be concubines.’
When no response came after she sent the last message, Mo Yu quickly glanced over to her junior sister and saw that her face had once again turned red.
Ah, my shy junior sister, she thought fondly as a smile tugged at her lips. If the teasing doesn’t help her to sort her feelings out, then maybe I’ll have to try other methods.
I’m just not sure about Ms Dexamene, though. Is she just teasing junior sister, or is there genuine interest in the young master?
* * * * *
Joram suddenly felt a chill run down his spine as he finished reading the standard arrays class’s third, and last, recommended supplementary book.
“I sense a disturbance in the force,” he murmured to himself, catching Wentian’s attention.
“What was that?” Wentian asked, marking his place in the basic arrays’ textbook with a finger.
“Maybe we should head back out,” he said, not quite sure if that was a good idea or not.
Wentian’s eyes widened a fraction before he spoke.
“Is that… wise?”
“I think it’ll be all right if we bring an offering,” he said, sounding it out. “Yes. We’ll bring them dinner. Wentian, please hold the fort while I head over to the food court and grab us some take-out.”
Just as Joram shifted back to his Realm, he caught Wentian’s confused look and smiled. He arrived in a small space just off the main food court where he hadn’t felt anyone’s presence. No need to accidentally bump into someone.
It took him a few minutes longer than expected to get his orders because everyone wanted to speak with him. From thanks to questions about how reconstruction of Brightside was going to new recipes, they all had something to ask.
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He was almost done when Grammy contacted him.
‘Joram? I’d like to come by for a visit this evening. Maybe have dinner while we all discuss the future of the Clan.’
‘Umm, I have a few guests over at the moment,’ he hedged, not wanting things to get even more complicated.
‘That’s fine. It would be good to meet the friends you’ve made at the Academy so far. I’ll be bringing some of the family along as well, if you could arrange for them to come, that would be lovely.’
‘So, who’s on the list?’ He asked, resigned to his fate.
Grammy sent him the list of those who’d be coming, and he almost fell over.
Guess I’ll need to grab some more food, he grumped, putting in several more orders while he was at it.
‘Can you both get the dining room table set for an additional five people, plus whoever is already there, please?’ He sent to Bai Lian and Mo Yu, not bothering with individual channels for this.
‘Yes, young master,’ they replied almost simultaneously.
‘The table can only seat up to twelve people, though. We’ll need a larger table and some chairs,’ Mo Yu added a moment later.
‘I’ll get some more materials and get it sorted,’ he sent back, then mentally went through the materials storage space in his Realm.
It didn’t take him long to find a matching wood, so he shifted a few logs to his study along with some extra materials to pad the chairs with.
With that done, he ordered a few more containers of curry and rice. While he waited, he went over M3 and M4’s progress with [Genesis] and couldn’t help but smile. It seemed as though M4 had taken on a bit of his geeky side. Considering how much he’d read and gamed before coming here, it really shouldn’t have come as a surprise that a part of him would want to create a world similar to a game.
That part will take a while longer to get going though, he thought as he received his extra orders.
Having procured dinner, he quickly checked that his guests were ready to go, then shifted everyone to his office, following along a moment later.
“Joram,” his mother greeted him with a light hug while his father patted him on the head.
“Good to see everyone,” he said as he stepped away from his mother. “I hope everyone’s been able to adjust well?”
“No different from waking from a nap,” Gramps said with a shrug, getting him odd looks from his wife and Grammy.
“Well, let’s head out,” he said as he stored the materials away in his storage ring. “I have some guests that are still here from a tutoring session, so I’ll introduce you before getting things ready.”
His family nodded as he stepped to the door and used [Modify Matter] to separate it from the rest of the house. Wentian followed quietly behind his family, not wanting to attract attention. Unfortunately for him, he had zero chance of remaining in the back of his family’s mind as they’d likely start being “friendly” with him as soon as there was a free moment.
Even though his Clan had “servants”, they were still treated like people. It was more of an employed staff than having a servant-class amongst the Clan. As such, the “just a servant” mentality was absent from his home, which he greatly appreciated. He’d grown up on Earth where a servant class or caste in society only really existed in a few countries. Sure, there were entitled assholes everywhere that treated someone in the service industry like crap, but they were fortunately a very small minority of the population.
Heck, if he ever made it back to Earth, he might have some fun trolling those entitled ass-wipes for a time….
As he stepped into the living room to introduce his family to his guests, Alicia stood up and waved.
‘I’m Alicia here,’ she sent to his family, including him in the conversation.
“Hi again,” he said to the room, still feeling a bit awkward with all of their gazes on him. “I’d like to introduce my family…” he said, then proceeded doing so in order, getting polite bows from the girls as he went.
“And these lovely young ladies are…” he said, introducing them in the same order as Alicia had introduced them to him. “Alicia introduced us all today, hoping that we could share insights into Mental Strength and Arrays,” he said with a smile. “Please, make yourself comfortable while I attend to dinner arrangements.”
Having done his duty as the host, he quickly stepped away into the dining room. Not that it provided him any cover as the main floor was mostly an open concept design.
Joram quickly retrieved his supplies and got to work. Thinking about it more, he decided that instead of just elongating the table and making it prohibitively long, he’d make it into one of those elongating tables that you could push back together. So, after retrieving some extra supplies, he got to work.
A minute later, he was done with the table and chairs. He turned to the Trio who’d clustered at the kitchen doors and found that their jaws had dropped.
Ah, shit. I haven’t done that in front of them yet, have I?
Then he started paying attention to his field of perception and couldn’t help but sigh. Yes, he was sighing a lot. Upon reflection, he determined that it was probably a psychological response to accepting something that he couldn’t change that then manifested physically in the form of a sigh.
Well, he could change it if he was willing to erase the event from all of their memories. Heck, it’d be easy considering that the event hadn’t yet transitioned from their short-term memory to their long-term memory.
“Let’s get the food ready!” He said, discarding the thought of manipulating their memories as he ushered the Trio into the kitchen.
“Here’s the plan,” he said once the doors swung shut behind him. “Take all this and present it nicely. I’ll head out and entertain them while you get things ready. Don’t worry about being social, even if my family presses you. They’ll understand if you don’t feel like talking.”
Bai Lian looked the most relieved of the three, but Mo Yu came a close second for some reason. Wentian just shrugged.
“So long as I’m not left alone with them again, I’ll be fine.”
Joram nodded his understanding. If he hadn’t been so focussed on teaching, it was likely that he would have bailed much sooner.
In the living room, Joram found his family chatting amicably with all those present. His parents and grandparents were engaged with Alicia’s friends while Grammy was already speaking with Jae-Eun. Aya seemed more alert than ever, likely due to having two more Tier 5 Mages show up; though with Grammy wearing an aura shroud, and having been introduced as his great grandmother, he was sure that the murder machine was still guessing at her threat level.
He wondered why his parents were so focussed on speaking with Daleira and Gabrielle. The words were cordial and polite, but he got the feeling that it was somehow an interrogation of sorts.
Gran and Gramps had engaged Alyraele and Sophie by the piano, Gran asking a myriad of questions regarding anything from her studies to the piano, the last of which were redirected Joram’s way.
Ah, that’s going to be a headache, he thought as he clapped softly to get everyone’s attention.
“It’s good to see everyone getting along nicely,” he said with a slightly crooked grin. “Since it’s so late in the day, I hope that you won’t mind staying for dinner with us.”
There were various murmurs of acceptance which, honestly, shocked him a bit. He knew just how intense his family could be, so having everyone accept wasn’t what he’d expected. Like, he’d just met Alicia’s friends that day.
Looking around, he also realized that not a few looks were directed towards the kitchen doors. Were they interested in what he’d serve for dinner? Was it that simple?
“Please, sit where you’d like,” he said, and led by example. He’d instinctually made his way over to the foot of the table, the seat closest to the kitchen this time, leaving the head of the table for Grammy to take.
Which, for some reason, got him frowns from his family.
‘Joram, it isn’t appropriate for you to sit there,’ Grammy sent disapprovingly. ‘Come back over here.’
With more than a little bit of colour staining his cheeks, Joram got up and made his way to the head of the table where Grammy was holding the chair out for him. He looked at her before sitting down, noting an almost imperceptible air of smugness about her.
‘Why do you need to make me the centre of attention? Aren’t you still the Matriarch?’
Grammy placed a hand on his shoulder as she smiled at the guests who were slowly taking their seats. Gran and Gramps took their spots one down from him on the right, while his parents took the two on his left. Alicia sat at the foot of the table, flanked by her new friends. Alyraele and Sophia on her right while Daleira and Gabrielle sat to her left.
‘For now. But you’re the master of this house, so you’ll always need to take the seat of prominence,’ she sent as she took her own chair immediately to his right.
‘Bah! I’d rather eat quickly and get back to studying,’ he sent while smiling at his guests.
“Thank you for taking the time to have a humble meal with me,” he said as the kitchen doors opened for the Trio. “I’m not sure if you’ll like it, so please let me know what you think.”
That got more than a few eyebrows raised: six to be precise. Alicia and his family were already familiar with the food served in his Realm for those who wanted to eat out. On the other hand, Jae-Eun, Aya, and the four goddesses were coming into this blindly.
Or maybe not. He really didn’t know what kinds of food were served on the Zhizun Zhanshi continent, let alone their regional specialties. For all he knew, curry was commonplace there. He’d also gotten a selection of stir fries and fried rice. He’d missed eating eggs back on Earth, so he hadn’t hesitated to include the recipes with eggs in them when he started sharing his favourite recipes.
The Trio went about placing the dishes of food and their serving utensils along the length of the table, providing a selection for everyone, also placing bottles of wine and decanters of water. It would have still been a bit awkward for everyone to serve themselves a bit of each dish, so he spoke up.
“This next part is a small custom from where I grew up,” he said, sending a mental wink to his family as he did. “Everyone take a bit of what you’d like to try, then pass the dish to your right. Continue on until everyone has had a chance to either take or decline every dish. From there, it won’t be difficult to take more of anything that you’ve taken a liking to.”
Joram was pleased with how well his family covered their surprise. His family was truly one of professional infiltrators, for they didn’t even bat an eyelash at his words. Indeed, they did exactly as instructed as though they’d done it thousands of times in the past.
They did, however, send their amusement through the Network.
For their part, the goddesses seemed a bit surprised at this turn of events, giving both Joram and the Trio curious looks. Well, except Gabrielle, who seemed to think that this was a bit more normal.
Joram got the impression that Gabrielle was of a more humble upbringing. It wasn’t just how she reacted to the dinner arrangements, but also how she carried herself. When he’d asked her about her cultivation methods, she hadn’t reacted the same way the other three had. Then there was her Knowledge Sea; it was pretty much a giveaway.
“Oh, I’ve missed curry!” Jae-Eun said, surprising him and the goddesses. “Aya, look! There’s even beef and broccoli teriyaki! And long grain rice!”
Aya nodded to her ward as she served and passed food along. Joram didn’t miss the air of growing suspicion around her as she took in each of the dishes.
He wondered then; just how binary this world was. He wasn’t talking about the cuisine of the continents, but how… stereotypical things were. For the most part, Waeryn seemed to be dominated by what Earth would have called Caucasians. Sure, there were some other ethnicities present, but for the most part they all kept to themselves.
While Zhizun Zhanshi seemed to be primarily made up of what Earth would have called Asians. Again, he was sure that there were varying ethnicities there as well. But given that the names of the Trio, princess, and her guardian all hailed from what would have been China, Japan, and Korea back on Earth really got him wondering.
Was this world a bit of a dumping ground for Earth? Did rifts drag more people here than he’d originally thought? But if there were more people dragged here than he’d initially suspected, wouldn’t those arriving have a more random distribution around the world? Were the people who’d been dragged here placed specifically? Like, a Japanese kid landing in a Japanese themed country?
Did that mean that there was some sort of guiding force here? Or was it something else? Like, the power of genetics or something? Were people drawn to places with similar characteristics? Life? Energy?
Was that why this world had such… modern magitech? The card readers, primitive forms of internet in the form of inter-connected array systems like the banks, auction houses, and Academy used? Their student cards acted as a kind of multi-pass, map, and cell phone. It even had installable “apps”!
But if that were true, why hadn’t tales of Outworlders spread? He’d grown up in, arguably, the greatest knowledge-gathering clan in the world, yet he hadn’t come across anything that so much as hinted at Outworlders….
Did everyone just mistake Outworlders for Reincarnators? Someone who spoke about technologies that didn’t exist in the current world…. Did they think that their memories weren’t complete, so they attributed the things shared by the Outworlders as a type of magic that had been lost?
These and similar questions plagued him all throughout dinner to the point where he co-opted M3’s help to keep up polite conversation. He didn’t want to be rude, or a poor host or anything. It was just that his mind was now racing, going through the possibilities one after another, branching out to the point where he almost had M4 help with it.
But he didn’t.
M3 nudged him, bringing him back to the moment. Dinner had just wrapped up.
“Would anyone care for dessert?” He asked with a smile.
The answers this time were much more enthusiastic than before, with even his family quickly adding their desires for dessert.
‘Would you mind heading to the kitchen? I’ll send you to the Realm from there,’ he sent the Trio, who got up and then made their way to the kitchen.
“Then, let us relax for a bit before dessert arrives,” he said, looking at everyone gathered.
From what he could see and perceive, Alicia’s friends had mostly stuck to the less spicy dishes, though Daleira looked to have at least tried the spicier ones. Jae-Eun and Aya had both sampled everything, though Jae-Eun seemed to have preferred the curry over the stir fries.
“I didn’t know that your family was so well travelled,” Aya suddenly piped in from her spot to his left.
“Ah, well, I’m told my ancestors liked to travel,” he said with an embarrassed smile. “It seems that they enjoyed the food on their travels so much that they brought back some of their favourite recipes. I’ve grown up eating foods not common here in Waeryn.”
Grammy’s snort of amusement over the Network nearly made him jump.
‘What a silver tongue you have,’ she sent. From her tone, it was clear that she found his explanation hilarious though.
“I’m glad that our homeland had such a positive influence on your ancestors,” Aya said politely, still looking a bit suspicious.
“Ah, the things my ancestors brought back,” Joram sighed, feigning nostalgia. “There were even dictionaries of the languages that fascinated them. I’ve tried my best to learn from them, but I’m afraid that my pronunciation might not be the best.”
Which was mostly true. He’d come across various dictionaries, translation guides, as well as pronunciation guides in the Library. All presumably to help his family learn what they needed so that they could infiltrate their desired targets. He just didn’t say that he’d tried to learn those languages on Earth before coming here.
The problem with his pronunciation wasn’t that he’d never heard the languages spoken before, but because he’d mostly learned them from watching TV. Like anime, or Korean dramas….