Chapter 93: Noble Ways

Location: Magicon Empire; Magicon System; Terra; Imperia; FBC

The remainder of the introduction week goes by way too quickly, and suddenly it’s Friday. Lessons today end at noon, and everyone starts leaving the giant stadium. I only see that Charles dude a single time during that week, but he just stares daggers my way and leaves for another section of the stadium. But I also notice that he’s not the only one looking at me strangely. Pretty much everyone Clara identifies as a lesser Noble scowls at me or starts making rude jokes about me when I’m in earshot. Looks like that Charles dude went to all of them and complained about me…

Maybe I should put in a little bit of effort and try to smooth things over a bit? I shrug inwardly. let’s start with the simple things. It’s our first weekend in Imperia. We’ve got better things to do than dealing with idiot Nobles!

As we’re all new to the city, we decide to go out to have some fun. Our group of four quickly grows to six when Lucy and I invite Nick and Tim, and as I still feel a bit bad, I also invite Dave and his archeology crew. He quickly agrees, and our group grows to eleven people. We arrange to meet up at 8 p.m. which means, I still have a few hours to do other things. I tell the others that I have to look after the Stargazer for a bit and leave them be, then I cast the Teleportation spell and jump away.

Instead of going to the Stargazer, I have Clara give me the coordinates for Benson Moon, as my great-grandparents asked me If I’ll visit this weekend. As I’m probably wasted tomorrow, I decide to just jump up there today. I arrive in one of the jump rooms with a purple flash, and the door immediately opens to show me another disguise chamber. A written note appears on the screen, telling me to use the chamber to shed my Sara Green identity, as she can’t be seen up here. I do just so and exit the chamber as my real self a few minutes later.

I jump in shock, as I almost walk into a broadly grinning Amelia Benson. “Grandma Amelia!” I shout out in surprise, and she smirks at me.

“Hi Sara, I heard you met your first Nobles?”

“How’d you…? Right, spy-mistress… Yeah, I guess I did. Not that it worked out that well…”

She bursts out laughing. “Oh, you messed up really well. Come your grandpa is waiting. He doesn’t have much time today; I’ll tell you about that Junbun boy later.”

She offers me her arm, and I quickly grab on, then we teleport into another room in the Emperor’s Estate. It’s a cozy living room and Grandpa John lounges in one of the floating armchairs with a pipe in his mouth. Said pipe quickly disappears when he notices his scowling wife. He chuckles weakly. “Can we pretend you didn’t see that?” Then his face brightens when he sees me. “Sara! Welcome back. Come here.” He pats another armchair next to him.

I sit down smiling. “Hi Grandpa John, where did that pipe go?” I ask with a big smirk, and Grandma Amelia starts chuckling.

“Yeah, where did it go, John?” She asks with a raised eyebrow while still chuckling.

“Errr, it’s gone, okay? Let’s just leave it there.” He looks not a single bit like the all-powerful Emperor he is under his wife’s stern gaze.

“I hope you threw it into the sun,” Amelia replies and sits down on a third armchair. Then they both turn to me. “So, Sara, how was your first week?”

I clear my throat. “It was really cool! I’ve already learned so many things about the college and all, even if the real lessons haven’t begun yet. I’m excited for them to start. It starts with Space magic on Monday. And that whole exploit the system practice… That’s crazy. I’ve been hired by some guys on the Courier course who want to skip all the booking of cargo ships by using me as an express service. I’m curious how that will turn out.”

Grandpa John laughs out loud. “Oh, this is going to be fun! You’ll have to fight for it, as the professor of the course will certainly see this as cheating at first, but don’t let that discourage you! There is a way, and I’m pretty sure you’ll find it. You’ve done it before after all,” he winks at me.

I’ve done it before? What does he mean? I start thinking of all the possibilities until Grandma Amelia claps her hands. “Enough of that. You can think later. There is still time. Would you like some tea?”

I happily agree, and she speaks under her breath, and a few minutes later, three cups of tea appear before us. We continue talking about college and other stuff until Grandpa John regretfully informs us that he has to leave for his appointment with Duchess Song. I tell him goodbye, and he disappears.

Grandma Amelia looks at me sternly. “Now onto the topic of the day… Didn’t you say you want to avoid Nobles?” She asks with a raised eyebrow.

I sigh. “Yeah, I did, but I couldn’t help it… He was an ass, and I couldn’t just sit there and take it. It’s just been a week and it seems I made every single Noble at FBC my enemy…”

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She stands up and puts an arm on my shoulder. “It’s not that bad… But you are right, they won’t become your friends anytime soon, and there will be a few consequences you’ll learn about sooner or later. Luckily, Nobles are a minority at FBC, and they are all from Baronies. Everything higher should be at RMA, or under disguise just like you.

They don’t have any political power, so you don’t have to fear anything from that Junbun boy, even as Sara Green. That said, you probably can’t stop him from using his influence to make a few things harder for you…”

She stops, and I frown. I messed up, but I just couldn’t let Dave down like this. Also, Charles rubbed me wrong right at the beginning… And what is his problem with Dave? “Can’t you just make that problem go away?” I ask weakly, not really expecting a yes.

She shakes her head. “No, you started it, so you have to see it through. Sara Green doesn’t have connections that high. That said, if it gets worse, or that Junbun boy brings in higher-level Nobles to harass you, give your brother a call. Christopher will take care of things in a way that is believable for someone of Sara Green’s social standing. He’s very good at this. I can give you a piece of advice though. Once you have joined lessons with RMA, try to make friends with a few of the Nobles there. If you don’t mess this up, the Junbun boy should back off, as they have way more influence than him. Just don’t anger them as well,” she winks at me.

“Also, try to get some lessons on Noble things, or browse the library… Your parents should have told you at least a little bit, but I guess that’s just how they are. They probably have a good laugh once they hear of this mess.”

Yeah, that sounds like my parents… We both look at each other and grin.

I nod at Grandma Amelia in understanding and silently promise to look up some things once I’ve got time. “Okay, thank you. Can you at least tell me what Charles’ problem is with Dave Rowlins?”

“I can, yes. One moment.” She stares into open air and mumbles under her breath. “Ah, there it is. Your new friend Dave’s parents lost their small company due to bad dealings between the Junbun family who own the former parent company of Rowlins Inc. and another Barony. Those dealings resulted in a heavy fine for the Junbuns, and they decided to pay it off with the ownership of Rowlins Inc. The other Barony, the Powells accepted it, but they fired the whole board of directors of Rowlins Inc. meaning Dave’s parents lost everything. They went to court and got a partial win: The Powells had to pay them off for firing them, and the Junbuns were ordered to pay for the academic career of the oldest child of the Rowlins, and the other families of the fired board of directors. That’s Dave’s friends, they are all on a scholarship by the Junbuns. This resulted in Charles Junbun losing his place at RMA and made them hate each other with a passion.”

“Holy shit!” I can’t hold back my swearing and stare at Grandma Amelia with wide eyes. “How is something like that legal? Just transferring companies between Nobles and stuff…”

Grandma Amelia shakes her head. “It isn’t… Especially not what the Powells did. But The Empire is big, and we can’t stop everything. Therefore, everyone can take legal action in court without worrying about court costs. There aren’t any. That’s the best option the Big Five came up with a few thousand years back. In your friend’s case specifically, Dave’s parents received a lot of money from the Powells for what they did, and the process is still running. From what I see, they have good chances of getting their company back in the end.”

I nod slowly. From what she is saying, everything should end up well for Dave, but still… That such things happen in the first place is just wrong. “Thanks for letting me know, Grandma Amalia…”

She nods. “You’re welcome, and I see, you don’t like it. Me neither, but I don’t know how to change it… Maybe you’ll have a few ideas in the future when you take your rightful place as Sara Valterion.”

Yeah, maybe. We continue talking for a while until I have to leave for my appointment with my friends. I say goodbye to Grandma Amelia and promise to drop by the next weekend. She stops me for another few minutes to send me a file. When I open it, my eyes go wide. It’s a spell explanation for the Master level Utility spell Video Call!

I focus back on a grinning Grandma Amelia. “It’s from your parents. You can't learn it at FBC because you are limited to Junior level Utility spells as Sara Green. But they already miss you very much, so they decided to give you this spell to call them in your free time. You can’t use it out in the open though, as this will blow your cover. If you want, you can train the spell up here on weekends or whenever you have time. Or just go to your ship if you prefer the solitude. Once you’re done, I’ll teach you another spell to conceal the use of Master level spells so you can also use it to call your parents from your dorm room.”

I quickly hug her. “Thanks, Grandma Amelia, I’ll definitively take you up on your offer to train up here.”

She grins and tells me goodbye as well. Then I teleport back to the disguise chamber and turn back into Sara Green. With one stop at the Stargazer to grab a dress and heels that didn’t fit in the closet in my dorm room, I teleport back down to the planet. It’s time to explore the city!

I make it barely in time. My roommates are already waiting for me when I step out of my room after changing into my dress. “Took you long enough,” Lucy greets me jokingly.

“Sorry, I noticed that I didn’t have a fitting dress for the occasion tonight, so I quickly had to buy a new one. Took me longer than I expected.”

Lydia and Lucy of course know where I really was, but I obviously can’t tell Alina that I was meeting with the Emperor and Empress just to say hi. Luckily, my excuse works and Alina just grins.

“I have to say it was worth it, though. You look fantastic, Sara!”

“Thanks, Alina,” I reply. “You don’t look half bad either.” I wink at her. “Are you all ready to go? I think the others are already waiting.”

“Yeah, let’s go!” Lydia agrees and we leave our room and take the elevator down to the lobby.

We meet the others at the old RMA castle that now functions as the entrance of the college sector of the city. Dave is the first to notice us, and waves awkwardly. “Hey girls, nice to see you again. We wave back, and I take care of introductions. Dave’s friends are a bit reserved at first. Now that I know the story, I can understand them. We’re all rich kids with big companies backing us. When Nick tells them that he’s on a scholarship as well, they finally start to interact with us a bit more. The tall, dark-haired guy is called Fabio, and the others are Toby, Lena, and Kylie. The two girls are blonde twins and both almost as tall as Fabio. Toby on the other hand is way smaller but has muscles like a bouncer. He’s got his hair completely shaved at the sides and the remaining hair is in mid-length dark curls.

With introductions out of the way, we’re finally ready to go. Tim takes the lead and after a short pause at the subway entrance, he shrugs and ignores it. That earns him more than one raised eyebrow. “I’ve booked us a shuttle, my treat. Just buy me a drink later tonight,” he laughs and five minutes later, we arrive at a landing pad where said shuttle is already waiting for us.