Please creator let today be the day I earn my surname.
Alerius prayed as he waiting anxiously outside the office which belonged to one of the most powerful men in the City of Zophia; Kirrien Ururu. Rumor had it that he had reached the apex of Cultivation possible in Kiania. Alerius did not know if this was a blessing or a curse but hoped that it was the former. When this day had started he had not thought he would end up here because not even in his wildest dreams had he dreamed of ever meeting such a mythical cultivator; an Under Lord. He hoped his gamble would put through as he remembered how he had gotten here.
Commoners were not allowed to have more than one name. To get a surname a person had to join one of the Eleven Houses that ruled Zophia. Then that person would then start using that House Name as his surname. For those born in the Noble Houses they had an extra name which served as a distinction between the subordinates and the nobles. Thus a person's surname was one of the two ways of telling someone's allegiance. The other was from the colors found on his cultivation badge.
Alerius was putting on his finest clothes when he had left the Free Quarter and had then proceeded to the Noble Quarter. He had passed through the gate that led to an area in the Noble Quarter under the influence of Noble House Ururu. The City of Zophia was divided in four sections. Each section was separated from the other by huge walls. The city was built in such a manner that if it was to be seen from the sky, the four walls would form four concentric circles. The innermost circle was the Royal Quarter where Royal House Kapulya ruled from. The following circle enclosed the Noble Quarter followed by the Free Quarter and the outermost circle enclosed the Farming Quarter. A few kilometers from the eastern part of the outermost wall was a huge forest called Foggy Forest.
Alerius was impressed when he entered the area under the influence of House Ururu. The cobbled streets were wide enough to allow three carriages to pass side by side with space left on the sides to allow those foot to move freely. This part of the Noble Quarter was cleaner and the sides were lined with magical street lamps that used crystal marks to turn on. The design of the streets showed that it had all been carefully planned and that the planner had used a lot of money to achieve this. The other parts of the Noble Quarter he had visited in the past week had not been this impressive even though they had all been better than the Free Quarter,
It had been a week since Alerius had reached the the Liquid Phase. He had spent the past week trying to join one of the Noble Houses but the results had not been to his liking. He had started with Noble House Phiri which was rumored to be the weakest among the eleven houses. The condition they gave was that he had to be soul bound to the house. This was in effect slaverly with no hope of ever gaining your freedom. With his special ability he did not want to be someone's slave for the rest of his life. In the following days he had tried four other Houses but they gave the same condition. Today he was changing his strategy, the houses he he had already visited were all said to be weak but this day he was going to visit Noble House Ururu. He had heard that it had become very influential in the past years and was now second only to the the Royal House.
The Noble houses had each an area in the Noble Quarter which they governed. These areas was where they stayed together with there subordinates. The noble quarter was mainly a residential area for cultivators, most type of commerce in Zophia was undertaken in the Free Quarter.
When he had reached where Noble House Ururu was. Alerius had used the small gate used by servants to enter the walled fence into the official Ururu residence. The buildings inside gave off a palatial feeling and all the roads inside had been lined with magical lamps. he had been impressed by this sheer display of wealth.
Alerius had introduced himself to the guards at the gate and they had been shown the building where the House conducted it business from was located. When he had entered the building he had thought he would be meeting one of the Elders of the House like what had happened at the other Noble houses he had visited. He later had discovered how wrong this assumption had been when the woman he found inside had told him to wait because Lord Kirrien was busy. He had felt both awe and trepidation when he was told this because the only people in Kiania who are called Lords are those who had reached the Under Lord Realm and to a commoner like him Under Lords were creatures of myth.
Alerius was worried that the Under lord might discover his special talent and was preparing his excuses in advance. He did not know all the abilities that Under Lords had but some rumors said they can see a persons soul and can tell when a person is lying. If these rumors were true and his soul was different from those of other people because of his special ability then he was fucked. He didn't know what excuse he could come up with which wasn't a lie. He didn't know how the Under Lord would react if discovered his special ability. Alerius did not want to be experimented on but it was to late now.
Alerius checked his status to make sure his Talent stat still showed 3.5. He had changed it to 3.5 in the morning before coming to the Ururu residence. A talent of 3.5 was considered a very good talent for a commoner but wasn't that rare. This way he could avoid being under to much scrutiny and at the same time be taken serious and not be dismissed right away for having a poor talent.
"Walk with me." A powerful voice suddenly startled Alerius.
Alerius was surprised to discover a man was standing in front of him. He was not sure how long the man had been standing there because Alerius had not been fully aware of his surrounding for he had been thinking deeply on how to present his case and coming up with plausible excuses in case the Under Lord discovered his special ability.
Alerius didn't need to be told this man was Lord Kirrien because the air suddenly became thick and Alerius found he could not even breath, he felt a huge pressure start crushing him that he dropped to his knees from where he was sitting. He felt like a huge mountain was pressing him down.
Oh creator, am I going to die? alerius thought. In that moment, he became sure that he was going to die. He tried to fight the pressure but he failed. It was just too much and he couldn't do anything to prevent crushing feeling he felt.
"I am sorry, I forgot to bind my Aura. I don't usually associate with fledgling cultivators." Lord kirrien said to him and the pressure alerius was feeling suddenly disappeared. Alerius barely heard what the Under Lord was saying. He was busy trying to get as much air as he quickly could in is shaking body.
Alerius did not respond right away. He was just grateful the crushing pressure had disappeared and in truth he did not know what to say. After a few moments had passed, he managed to compose his shaking body but there was nothing he could do about the sweat. He did not think it would do to wipe away the sweat with his clothes in the Under Lords presence. He managed to stand and manage to bow. His head was blank,he couldn't think of anything to say so all he managed to say was "My Lord."
"Walk with me." The Under Lord repeated himself and started walking towards the door which led out. He did not bother to see if alerius was following.
Alerius was perplexed. He had thought they would go inside the office instead Lord Kirrien was heading towards the door which led outside so he just followed behind the Under Lord his head still bowed and went out.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
"So you want to join my House?". Lord kirrien said.
Alerius and Lord Kirrien were standing in a garden. Alerius had followed the Under Lord from the building until they had reached the garden. There were no other people in sight but alerius was not worried. If Lord kirrien wanted to kill him, he would not need to do it in a secluded area. No one would trouble the Under Lord if he killed Alerius after all Alerius was a nobody.
Lord Kirrien was a tall man about six feet tall with a powerfully built body, he had brown skin and long black hair which was common to all the people on Kiana but Alerius did not know how Lord Kirrien looked like because of how there first interaction had taken place and he did not dare to look at him now. The Under Lord might consider it an offense, he had seen how all the people they had passed on there way to garden had bowed when they met their Lord.
"Yes my lord. This humble servant would love to join your House?" Alerius replied.
"Do you know what Houses fear the most?" Lord Kirrien asked and turned so that he was face to face with Alerius and Lord kirrien looked directly into Alerius's eyes. Blue eyes of Lord Kirrien met alerius's blacks. alerius tried to look away but failed. The Under Lord had piercing eyes and Alerius felt like the Under Lord was seeing his soul.
"Its having your plans known by your rival" Lord kirrien answered his own question. "The simplest way to know what your rival plans is through spies and traitors. This simple fact is why all the Houses will not allow you to join them without being soul bound to their house."
"but am. am. not a spy" alerius tried to say once he got the full impression of what the Under Lord Meant.
"It doesn't matter what you say. The truth is you are too old to be joining a House. Commoners who have such a good talent as yours join up immediately they gain there status. The houses are notified by the Ascension Halls of any commoner with a talent of more than 2 but in your case no one was notified about your talent. Which can only mean that you already work for one of the Houses and they covered up your talent all this years. It screams spy to anyone who thinks about it."
"The other reason is that at 19, you have already formed an opinion on how you think the world works. Its easier to change a child's mind so that they can put a House needs above their own but in your case your own needs come first and you have demonstrated this by declining to be soul bound to any House."
Alerius did not know what to do. From the words the Under Lord said, he gathered that no House would ever allow him to join at his age without being Soul Bound. What he did not understand was why the Under Lord was telling him all this. Does he want me to be soul bound to his house? Alerius thought. He did not think that was the reason Lord Kirrien was doing it. Under Lords would not their waste their valuable time to convince someone like him unless he knew about alerius's special ability. When he thought of this Alerius suddenly became afraid, if this was true then he would not leave this place alive. The Under Lord would not take no for an answer.
"You must be wondering why I am telling you all this." Lord kirrien said as if he had read alerius's mind. "The reason is simple, I can allow you to join my House under one condition and it does not require you to be soul bound either." He then paused for a moment and then went on "the condition is that you must marry my daughter."
"What!" Shouted alerius. He was confused by the offer. He was expecting that the Under Lord would want his only daughter to marry him. Alerius thought that maybe he was being tested, and how successful this meeting would go depended on how reacted. "But my lord, am a nobody. I can't possibly marry your lustrious daughter" alerius said. He decided to use a humble approach just in case he was being tested.
"Don't pretend to humble with me. You are an ambitious young man, if you weren't you would have accepted the offer to be soul bound already. Don't worry its that ambition of yours that made me interested in you in the first place. So listen closely, I am going to give a chance to to change your destiny but it will cost you. Don't say I didn't warn you." Lord kirrien stopped talking for a while as if to give alerius a chance to pay attention and then continued "you must know that I love my daughter very much. War is coming after the shrouded year ends and I can't have my only daughter fighting in it as is expected of her but if she was married then her husband can fight in her place. So the deal is, you get to fight in the War and in exchange you join my House as my son in law. If you agree then you have two years to prepare. I will arrange a place for you at the Academy so you can be trained there in the basics for a year and after that it is up to you to prepare yourself. Of course you will not truly marry her, the marriage will be canceled after the war is over. So what do you think? I expect an answer right now"
Alerius immediately agreed, it was a nice deal. No one was going to push him around As the son in law of the Under Lord and he gets to be taught at the Academy where only children of nobles trained and in some rare cases commoners that were favored by a particular House.
"Don't think this is a sweet deal, the war will be brutal and you might get a challenge or two from some the young men who will not be happy once I announce the engagement. So you should prepare yourself and don't waste time once you get to the academy, use that time to train as if your life depends on it cause it just might. Report tomorrow at the academy you will find everything as been arranged. That's all, now leave me and I don't need to remind you what will happen if people know about our deal now do?"
Of course alerius knew, It meant his death "I won't tell anyone." Was all he said and bowed to the Under Lord and left.
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An old man appeared next to Kirrien after Alerius had left. The man was standing in a spot where previously nothing had been there. "House kapulya will be angered by this, there will see the engagement for what it is and not what you told the young man." The old man said.
"I had no choice uncle Vin, I have heard from our spies from House Kapulya that the Patriarch of House Kapulya wants my daughter to marry his first born son. When I heard that a young man with a talent of 3.5 was looking for a House to join, I had to make a lot of promises to those Houses he visited so that they don't allow him to join. If Alerius is engaged to my daughter then House Kapulya can't pressure us to force my daughter to marry into that House and I couldn't use anyone affiliated to the Houses already. I will announce my daughters engagement today before the Patriarch of House Kapulya comes with an offer for our children to marry. The patriarch of House Kapulya must suspect something or he wouldn't want his son who has a talent of 5 to marry my daughter with the talent we have told everyone she has." Kirrien said.
"If House Kapulya wants to end this engagement, the patriarch's son has to wait for Alerius to complete his basic training in order to challenge him or the patriarch's son will lose face for challenging someone with no training. That will give us a year. My daughter just became an Under Lord and in a year's time she would have consolidated her realm and at that point we don't have to be afraid of House kapulya anymore."
Both men didn't mention alerius's fate if he was challenged.