Chatper 6: Socializing with medscholars
Despite the restless night, I pushed through the morning and preparations for the future scholars’ meeting. Thanks to Caroline, I at least looked the part. Hopefully, I would also be able to act the part. Though, that would mostly depend on how the others would approach me.
We were already proven to be good students during the classes, I tried to reassure myself.
With Ehrenfest’s academic successes, I only needed to make a good first impression in my socializing, to look competent. Hopefully, our public image would carry me over.
After lunch, I left the dormitory and walked towards the assigned meeting room. Going alone made me a bit nervous, as I was used to having other students around during the school events. It would have been nice to have some backup from older Ehrenfest scholars, though, this particular meeting was set up just for the first-years. I guess they want to force more interaction between students from various duchies.
The scholars were supposed to be more involved in the interduchy information exchange, so it made sense to prompt us to mingle more right from the beginning. Especially when it came to laynobles and mednobles. We were split between lower- and higher-ranked duchies during a bunch of classes. Our interactions had been quite limited.
Thinking about all sorts of rational justifications made me feel like a third party observer, which eased my nerves.
Upon arrival, I immediately noticed that everyone was already fractured into separate groups.
All the greater duchies had three or more students present, so they came in groups to begin with. On top of that, they stood relatively close to each other, so they could interact with their neighbors more easily.
The top-ranked duchies have it so easy, I complained.
The lower-ranked duchies were more scattered, with mostly one student each. Some had two, though a couple of duchies were missing completely. Still, even they banded together into smaller groups. Everyone was in the middle of their lively conversation.
Nooo, I don’t have any group yet!
This was usually the time when Adeus would have brought some of his contacts or friends to help me with my socializing. It was really hard to do this without him.
Come on, can’t the teacher make some group activity to make us interact? I looked her way. She was mostly just observing. OK, keep it cool. I had already made some contacts, right?
Gelune had seemed friendly enough, though she wasn’t here yet. I was looking for her dark violet hair, but only found a boy with that hair color. Shickehr was here, but I didn’t know how to talk to him when it came to socializing. He had always seemed somewhat annoyed by me. Though, in the library, he had been rather respectful.
Maybe Taranese? I noticed her pink hair from behind another student.
However, I recalled that she had had a problem with the temple, which gave me pause. We had talked during the classes, but that had been mostly just small talk. Would she have a problem with actual socializing that included me sticking around? The idea of coming to her group just to hear her ask me to not bother them made me shudder.
Without Adeus, I suck at this. I resisted the urge to slump my shoulders. Keeping my facade was the only positive on my part.
Then I got an idea. Rather than risking embarrassment from a refusal after approaching someone on friendly terms, I decided to exploit a formal excuse.
Without showing any of my internal turmoil, I walked directly to the nobles from Klassenberg.
“I would like to officially apologize for your inconvenience in the etiquette class,” I began after the greetings. “It was not my intention to cause any repercussions for the mednobles of your duchy. I completely understand how hard it must be to treat someone properly in a practice scenario when you know their actual status.”
The Klassenberg students kept looking at me with guarded expressions, as if expecting some kind of trick.
“It’s not a problem.” One of them smiled awkwardly.
Well, they didn’t seem to be angry about it, which was nice. However, I had a feeling that my attempt to break the ice wasn’t really working. Their expressions pretty much radiated: move along.
“I am grateful for your consideration.” I nodded with a friendly smile and stepped away.
How come it was easier to start a conversation with their archnobles? I grumbled.
Sure, the archnobles had been poking at me to the point that Brunhilde had considered leaving, but we had at least struck a conversation. The mednobles were just wary of me.
Well, I caused them to fail their class. It was understandable that they wanted to keep their distance.
Problem was that I didn’t have a backup plan.
I had hoped to look well-connected to the rest of the room by speaking with the number one duchy for a while. Instead, it had been exactly the kind of short talk I had been dreading. If I just returned to my previous spot and stood there alone, it would have looked like a failed attempt at socializing. With the added bonus of me looking impertinent for trying to approach the highest-ranked students on my own despite being from the Thirteenth.
I guess I can’t stop now. I sighed stealthily and moved towards the Dunkelfelger scholars, hoping to get a better response from another superficial apology.
“Wait, you are Mila?” a blond girl, named Raziella, asked with furrowed brows. Her classmates shared her confused expression. “Aren’t you an apprentice knight? I was told as much.” She tilted her head.
Does my name circulate a lot in their dormitory? I wanted to just whine loudly.
Well, it wasn’t surprising considering I had interacted with Lestilaut, and well, my short name. But still!
“I am an apprentice scholar.” I smiled politely. “Though, all my siblings train to be knights, so I do practice with them as well.”
“Oh, you are a fellow scholar of the sword.” Raziella smiled.
The other Dunkelfelgerians nodded in approval too.
I almost forgot they don’t actually find this weird.
“It seems like it.” I smiled as well. “Naturally, I do not think our training can compare to those in Dunkelfelger.”
Raziella shrugged. “Our knights spoke quite highly of your duchy after the practice match. Especially about some of your unusual tactics. I wish we were allowed to observe. Maybe next time?”
“Sadly, we are still accumulating resources for the Interduchy Tournament.” I was taking great care to not say anything that could be taken as an invitation.
I shouldn’t talk carelessly even with medscholars who weren’t directly connected to any potential fight with us. Any word could filter to the knights, especially those with higher status, who might see it as their chance to push for another round.
“I guess there is some benefit to living in a duchy with a lower population. By this point, there is not much we can accumulate from our gathering spot. I really wanted to make my first offensive charm.” Raziella sighed. “It will have to wait until next year.”
This sounds like an opportunity for bribes and better relations. My favorite.
“If you would allow me, I could supply the needed ingredients as a gift.” I widened my smile.
“You would just give up your own ingredients?” Raziella frowned.
“Lady Raziella, you shouldn’t have voiced your problem in such a manner. Lady Mila now thinks it’s a demand since Ehrenfest is ranked much lower,” the others chastised her.
Dammit, I wanted to do bribing!
“My apologies, that was thoughtless of me. It wasn’t a demand.” Raziella shook her head hastily.
But I didn’t want to let go of this opportunity. After Dunkelfelger, there were no other duchies where I could use an apology as an excuse for starting a conversation. Well, it was a good thing there weren’t more duchies who had an issue with us. I definitely didn’t need more.
“I would still like to help your efforts.” I kept my friendly smile. “Being able to make a charm as a first-year makes quite an exceptional feat.”
Raziella showed a small smile before putting in a more serious tone. “Wouldn’t that burden you?”
“I mean, you do not plan to make some kind of exceptional piece that requires exotic materials, right?” I asked, a bit uncertain.
With the way she was looking at me, I didn’t want to accidentally promise another Hirschur’s list of ingredients.
“Just a normal charm.” Raziella smiled.
“Then it wouldn’t be a problem at all. I would be honored.” I nodded.
Bribes to gain friends for the win.
As we kept talking, I was actually pleasantly surprised that we spent most of our time on scholarly stuff. I had to admit—before approaching Dunkelfelger, I had been quite biased. I expected them to ditter all about talking, but besides a few questions about the practice match, it was rather… normal. Naturally, they also wanted to know more about the success of our first-year archscholars, which prompted even Drewanchel students to step closer. It seemed their group had been listening in on us.
Seeing how they were waiting, most likely for my move, I went quickly through my introductions. Thankfully, there were only four of them.
I kind of expected like half of the room to be Drewanchel. Maybe the current year was smaller in that regard? Or maybe this profession was harder for lower status in their duchy.
After all, if everyone was interested in scholarly research, it was quite hard to distinguish oneself against archnobles who had access to better tutors and more resources. In such a case, choosing an occupation with less competition could be advantageous. Though, four was still a lot, considering I was the only one from Ehrenfest.
“She is speaking with Drewanchel now?” I overheard someone’s shocked whisper.
Good, good. It seemed like my strategy—starting with the biggest kid on the block—worked well. Though, now that I had inadvertently introduced myself to the duchy number three, it looked as if I was just going through the duchies by rank order, similarly to the fellowship gathering of the archduke candidates.
I guess if I stopped now, Gilessenmeyer and the others would take offense.
Sure, I wanted to establish good relations with everyone in the room, but like, over a longer period of time. Not to be locked into dozens of introductions during our very first meeting.
“Both Lady Marianne and Lord Ignaz are retainers of our archduke candidates. Naturally, they want to acquire grades worthy of their lord and lady. Our whole year is inspired by their efforts,” I began once again with our tailored story, just like during the tea party with Klassenberg.
Everyone around me nodded, more or less. Since the classes for mednobles were split, they hadn’t had the opportunity to witness the success of Ehrenfest in practical classes firsthand. As such, it was easier to sell them the archnoble lead. Once I realized that, I had to suppress an urge to smirk.
“Aren’t you the girl who managed a cleaning spell and schtappe transformation right after the schtappe acquisition?” a boy with dark red hair asked suddenly, throwing a wrench in my cover.
His name was Hildreth, and he was giving me a pensive look, as if I were some kind of object for studying. Even worse, the other students from Drewanchel began giving me the same look.
I bit my tongue, though still smiling. Can we not?
Once again, complaining would not help me. With no easy way out, I decided to just roll with it, while trying my best to look nonchalant about the whole affair. “The cleaning spell is rather easy. Every first-year in Ehrenfest knows it by now.”
“Really?” Hildreth blinked.
Nice, diversion worked.
“I heard she was a commoner…” I overheard a snippet of another conversation, but tried to ignore it.
“It is just a one-word spell. Do you want to try it?” I widened my smile.
This was everyone’s first year in the Academy; learning and using new magic should be alluring. It certainly was for me.
“Well… sure,” Hildreth replied, taken aback.
I produced my schtappe in my right hand, pointing at my left hand. “First, look carefully, for a better mental image. Waschen.”
A blob of water appeared in my palm. Hildreth wasn’t the only one who watched intently—both Drewanchel and Dunkelfelger had their eyes on my left hand too.
“They cheated in practical exams, right?” Despite me trying not to eavesdrop, the voices were still occasionally coming through. It was annoying.
“While this isn’t truly water, like the one created by the water stone, I still find it useful for my mental image to think of it just like that—simple water. Waschen,” I renewed the blob in my hand. “You merely need to wish to clean a certain spot, and the spell will act accordingly.”
Everyone narrowed their eyes as I cast the spell again, this time in the form of a bigger blob.
“Just imagine this cleansing water engulfing any item of your choosing,” I kept smiling at them. “As nobles from the top-ranked duchies, you have already successfully cast different spells I believe, so you merely need to repeat the process with this image in mind.”
I renewed the blob a couple more times—engulfing my whole arm, then as tiny as the tip of my finger so their mind wouldn’t get stuck on a single-size mental image—before prompting them to try it as well.
Blobs of water appeared all around me with no issue. No one really struggled.
They really are better than us, I had to admit.
Our first-years, back in our dormitory, had needed multiple attempts. It seemed that our only advantage was that we had tried these things first.
“Very good. You seem to be all quite skillful, succeeding on your very first try,” I praised them.
The nearby duchies took immediate notice of the unusual occurrence. They slowly moved closer until we created one big group consisting of the top six duchies.
Raziella helped me to introduce myself. Heh, I finally know what Raimund looks like.
His hair wasn’t messy at all. Was I remembering it wrong? He looked just normal.
However, it seemed everyone was mostly interested in learning the spell, not me. Which was fine by me. I threw the responsibility for teaching the newcomers on those who had already accomplished the feat “to prove that they understood the theory.”
With that move, I successfully managed to distract the Drewanchel students and shift most of the attention towards them and Dunkelfelger. They were now trying to repeat some version of my instructions in an attempt to teach it to others. Distracting young students is so easy. I smirked.
I just had to provide new entertainment, and they were all eager to learn, forgetting everything else.
The teacher was the tough one. Her gray eyes were focused exclusively on me. I gave her a nonchalant smile. Whatever. Pandora’s box had already been opened at the Farthest Hall, so there was no winning strategy here.
If they would point at me as something unusual anyway, I could at least exploit it for my socializing. There were plenty of spells I could teach the other students ahead of the curriculum.
“Lord Raimund, are you even trying? Everyone else can do this easily,” I heard a teasing voice on my left.
Hmm… does Pandora’s box also apply to Rozemyne’s contacts? Technically, this was a normal event for all aspiring medscholars from my year. It wasn’t like I personally invited him for a meeting. I would merely interact with everyone here, not breaking any rules. Technically.
I stepped towards the Ahrensbach group. Hildreth was the one teaching them. Well, at this point, just Raimund, as the others had already managed to cast the spell, so they had time for occasional teasing remarks.
“My deepest apologies. I introduced this spell without any forewarning,” I began with a noble smile. “Every student has their own scheduled activities where they might expend their mana, so this was rather unfair towards those who had worked hard on their own projects with an expectation of simple socializing today.”
It was the simple truth that mednobles didn’t recuperate their mana in a day, so I tried to exploit this fact.
“Oh, were you working on your own projects during the practical classes, too?” Raimund’s classmate joked.
“Please, take this rejuvenation potion as compensation for my thoughtlessness.” I pulled out a bottle without even acknowledging the remark. “As we in Ehrenfest don’t believe that the greater duchy of Ahrensbach produces weak nobles, I do not want to accidentally tarnish the reputation of your duchy.”
The moment I framed it as a duchy issue, the others immediately shut up. It also forced Raimund to take the bottle without any protests, which was quite wild. I mean, I know I am not a threat. It took me a moment to realize that he had basically taken an unknown substance from an unknown noble just because of peer pressure.
After he drank it, there was a small pause until his eyes suddenly widened.
“Imagine big,” I said quietly with a wide smile.
His mana had been described as being closer to a laynoble, so getting a bit of stronger stuff must have been surprising. Raimund kept looking around with a bit of unease, until he just pointed his schtappe at the floor and successfully flooded it. Everyone around tried to take a step back on reflex, but they were too slow. I remained in my place, with my feet drenched. After ten seconds, the sensation was gone.
“Now, could you repeat that on that chair?” I kept with my smile, and pointed at a random object.
“Ehm, sure.” Raimund nodded, clearly flustered.
He cleaned the chair without issue.
“What about making a blob in your hand… maybe you can try enveloping your whole body… it would be fun to…” I continued making suggestions with an unperturbed expression.
It was important for him to expel his mana and avoid overflowing his vessel. But of course, I didn’t want to say it outright. Otherwise, he might have panicked. Once distressed, he might have struggled with his focus, which would have freaked him out even more, creating a negative feedback loop until he lost control of his mana.
Thankfully, my nonchalant attitude worked, and Raimund merely created bigger blobs of water in comparison to others. On the downside, he began to look a bit sick. It wasn’t too noticeable, but it made me worry.
Sorry, I might have overdone it. I had assumed he would be used to expending his mana after the practical lessons. Maybe I had miscalculated by basing that on our laynobles, who had been training every day for over a month and a half.
Still, by the looks of it, the other students didn’t have a clue. They seemed to think he was just showing off. In response, they too became more daring in their cleaning spells. Soon, the whole corner devolved into a chaotic mess, with water appearing suddenly in various places as everyone competed.
It was quite funny. They were almost teenagers, but their faces made me recall the kids throwing taues.
I used the chaos to move to the other side of the room, still being watched by the teacher. I don’t care. I kept smiling.
Since I had just demonstrated socializing with higher-ranked duchies, well, at least somewhat, I felt much more confident to interact with the rest.
“Lady Mila, did you start that cleansing rave?” Taranese smiled in confusion as I joined her group of six.
Still, her expression seemed friendly, which relieved me.
“Indeed. I was asked about the spell, and then the others wanted to try it as well.” I shrugged. “It did make the room a bit lively, didn’t it?”
“I was hoping to be the one who introduces you to Klassenberg students, but you are actually quite well-connected for someone from a thirteenth-ranked duchy,” Taranese mused out loud while looking at the “cleaning corner.”
Though, it seemed the students had already stopped. They must have realized how much of their valuable mana had been spent on those party tricks.
Yep, I’m totally connected, not pushing this at all. I tried to keep a nonchalant facade.
It was probably for the best to not think too much about the fact that I could have just joined Taranese, someone who had already interacted with me, and be introduced to the number one duchy in a completely normal fashion.
“I am grateful nonetheless.” I nodded.
Though, why them specifically? Was it because Gaussbuttel and Klassenberg had a sturdy trade relationship?
“It seems you have already resolved the issue from the etiquette class.” Taranese smiled, before glancing at a girl with dark yellow hair next to her.
Oh, a participant from the etiquette class. Her name was Nianne, and she was Taranese’s friend from Jossbrenner. Her cream-colored cape made it clear.
“I thought Ehrenfest kept mostly to themselves.” Nianne shrugged, giving me a pensive look with her violet eyes. “You skipped all of the classes.”
Fair. I had made the whole plan to attend the subsequent lessons even after passing the exams so I could gain more contacts, but then I had gotten distracted by everything. Hirschur had happened, gathering spot had happened, I had had a ton of fun with brewing, there was so much to read in the library, all the events in the dormitory, the tests, the rituals, and in the end, I had kind of skipped on all of the classes.
I mean, I did visit one lesson despite passing its entrance exam, I recalled. However, it was probably a bad choice of subject with it being math.
The people in the classroom had been quite hostile the moment they had noticed my cape, so it hadn’t been just fun alternatives that had kept me from attending more of those classes.
Seriously, who exactly can’t pass even a “noble math” exam? Other subjects were understandable. If one lacked textbooks and tutors, they could only rely on their parents’ memory. But addition and subtraction? No one needed textbooks for that. No wonder that class was full of antagonistic students.
“I was invited into Klassenberg’s tea party room, where I apologized for that regretful outcome. Though, you are right—it seems we did neglect socializing somewhat. The push for better grades took precedence over everything.”
It was probably a better excuse for my absence than rituals and weaponizing household appliances.
“Would you like a small meetup then, in the next week maybe?” Taranese asked.
Wow, this is surprisingly easy.
“That would be lovely.” I smiled happily.
The amount of worrying I had done before coming here seemed rather unnecessary. Everyone was interested in fostering connections. Well, it was kind of the point of the event, but still.
“You would really associate with someone from the temple with such a reputation?” a boy from Lortzing asked. “Your whole duchy has a negative opinion of her, do they not?”
Taranese wavered.
Wait, no, don’t retract the invitation! I watched in complete panic as her face filled with worry. I mean, I was just talking to the students from the top-ranked duchies. I have contacts, right? Right?
“Just because the greater duchies are entertained by the curiosity, it doesn’t mean favor,” a girl from Lehmbruck added.
Do you read my thoughts? I grumbled while smiling at her. I need to say something to show I am a good option.
Though, before I spoke, Taranese gave a weak smile. “I think in Ehrenfest they see the temple quite differently compared to the rest of the country, so…” She seemed to struggle with indecision, not knowing what to say next.
“To be honest, the change in perception is rather slow even in Ehrenfest.” I kept with my completely genuine unbothered smile. Hopefully, my tension wasn’t showing up. “I just returned from the Dedication Ritual, and the whole event was split between sexes, accommodating our archduke candidates to avoid any possible doubts to their reputation. As such, I only spent my time with the female archduke candidates.”
Yeah, I was once again bragging about my connection to the archducal family. It reminded me of my late noble father. Maybe, I was a bit desperate.
Unlike Rozemyne, I wasn’t an archduke candidate. In the story, she had been able to rely on her retainers who had managed to compensate for her absent socializing by gathering information and making their own connections.
As a medscholar, I actually needed proper connections with as many other scholars as possible, which meant having good relations with most of the students in the room. Not just befriending one girl from Dunkelfelger and calling it a day.
And who knew if that offer of ingredients had been enough? I hope I wasn’t too tacky.
“You were called to expend mana even when you are in the Academy?” Nianne frowned a little.
Hey, focus on the valuable connection, don’t make it sound like abuse!
“Shouldn’t you be resting now?” She blinked at me.
“I always just take a rejuvenation potion after every such activity. It seldom happens that I fill my vessel just by waiting.” I shrugged.
“I meant the exhaustion… why are you filling your vessel?” Nianne was taken aback.
Right, exhaustion. I smiled, and focused only on the latter part. “The pressure helps to stimulate the growth of your vessel, no? More mana, more pressure.”
While Nianne kept with her confused expression, Taranese smiled. “Right, Lady Mila was taught her compression method by a member of their archducal family.”
It seemed that we were both trying to come up with proper justifications to make me look connected. It really made me happy that she had actually pushed for me to attend her meeting. I made a casual nod.
Together, we managed to sway others as well. Or, at least, make it so that they didn’t voice their opinion out loud. At the end of the day, Taranese’s duchy had the highest rank in this particular group, so it wasn’t like the others could oppose the way she conducted her meetings.
I was more worried about that remark of her duchy having a negative opinion of me. Well, they did complain about me slandering their temple. My response to them had probably not won me any favors. And naturally, as they had socialized with other duchies, they had spread the sentiment.
Should I maybe mention that I’m going to be an archducal retainer from the spring on?
The retainers were regarded quite highly because of their prominent work and connections. The boost in reputation was especially high among the mednobles, where only a select few managed to gain such a position.
Though, I was too paranoid to say it out loud before the official confirmation. Even after Charlotte’s letter that informed her other retainers, I still lacked the confidence to mention it to students from the other duchies.
As such, I merely tried to sound proper during this conversation. Nianne seemed a bit suspicious, and the others quite guarded, but otherwise I thought my introduction went quite well.
My next target was Shickehr. He was talking with a boy from Kirschnereit, so I didn’t know whether I could intrude. At the same time, since I had met with pretty much everyone above Ehrenfest, I didn’t want to cause any accidental insinuation by skipping them.
With mounting pressure, I walked in their general direction but not straight to them so I could always just abort. Thankfully, when I got close, Shickehr moved a little, creating space for me to join. I stealthily sighed in relief.
If the others knew how nervous these events make me. Antagonism and insults were fine, but if someone just told me politely, “Please, don’t bother us,” that would have killed me.
“Lady Mila, what happened in that corner? The students just whipped their schtappes and began practicing cleaning spells,” Shickehr asked right off the bat.
“I was asked about the spell, and the others seemed eager to learn it.” I shrugged, trying to sound as if the others were the weird ones.
Technically, they could have all just said that a social meeting like this wasn’t a place for practicing magic. Some blame should definitely be put on them as well.
“Really?” The other boy seemed quite surprised by my answer.
Shickehr merely shrugged just like me. “Being a mednoble, I gave up on specializing in information gathering in favor of magic research. Yet, you seem to leverage spells in socializing quite well.” He gave me a slightly amused smile.
“If nothing else, it’s good for distraction.” I smirked, before getting more serious. “I will focus on magic research too. Though, why do you think such a path would be easier for mednobles? Archnobles have more mana for brewing and casting spells. They have a natural advantage, while anyone can gather information.”
Wait, he did mention his family has archnoble mana, I recalled a memory. Maybe the mana wasn’t such a problem for him.
“The archnobles are better at information gathering,” the boy from Kirschnereit remarked, his expression once again confused.
“Why? The mednobles have connections in their own circles, which might prove just as valuable, no?” I raised my eyebrow.
If someone wanted to find out what had happened in this room, they would not be able to gather that information from any archnoble student since none were present. Unless some other duchy had a genius idea to disguise an archnoble as a fellow mednoble. Though, this wasn’t the first week of school anymore. Everyone was more or less known by someone.
Shickehr exhaled through a smile. It seemed like he had realized something. “An archnoble can question a mednoble. It’s not possible the other way around.”
“Ooh.” I smiled awkwardly.
It was pretty obvious. I must have looked slow on the uptake to them. It was just, I was used to throwing around “I follow Lady Charlotte’s order,” whenever I needed something to accomplish or avoid. And well, I had leaned on that hard, especially with the archnobles.
But besides me abusing someone else’s authority, I couldn’t deny the clear asymmetry.
When I withheld information from Ferdinand, I had a problem. When he withheld information from me, he could just shrug and get annoyed that I dared to bother him. Similarly, if I pushed for answers from him, he could easily refuse me; if he pushed for answers from me, I had no option but to comply.
So yeah, when it came to information gathering, those with lower status were at a clear disadvantage. No wonder the archduke candidates needed at least one archscholar. Those without one just struggled as their retainer could always be denied.
And let’s not start about barriers that hinder information gathering from certain archives. I pushed that thought away.
“Well, I guess it’s good that I am better at brewing than socializing,” I replied jokingly.
“You are already brewing?” Both boys got taken aback.
Sure, it was a year early, but their reaction was surprising. When Raziella had mentioned brewing, the nobles around hadn’t been this shocked. Talk about double standards.
“So I presume, you are planning to pass next year’s classes on your first try as well, right?” Shickehr remarked in clear resignation.
“Next year, the first two of our archduke candidates will enroll. Expect even bigger things.” I smiled knowingly.
Was that too much of a jab?
Shickehr frowned for a moment, but then he just smirked. I was pleasantly surprised that he took that teasing quite well. Surprisingly, it was much easier to talk to him than during the classes.
Maybe the exams were too stressful? Either way, I felt much more relaxed.
Once I finished speaking with the boys, I was in a bit of a bind. Despite the way I had moved through the rank in descending order, this wasn’t actually that kind of meeting. We didn’t come here to represent our duchies like the archduke candidates, only to know each other a bit better. Still, now I had this urge to stand still and wait for the students from the lower-ranked duchies to approach me.
That would have been too presumptuous.
I looked around for whom to approach next, and spotted Gelune coming my way. Woohoo, someone actually does approach me. I wanted to grin; she was saving me from all my overthinking.
“Do you know what happened with all those cleaning spells?” Gelune asked after the greetings. “I arrived in the middle of that spectacle, and you seemed to be talking with the participants at the time.”
Her face was full of confusion. This was her first big socializing event, and a bunch of students competing in water production had seemed kind of off. Well, she wasn’t wrong.
Once again, I went through my explanation, trying to make it sound mundane. This was a magic academy in a magic world, after all. Spells weren’t weird. Right?
As we talked, we were approached by a couple of students who also worked on the transcriptions for me in the library. In turn, their presence prompted the rest of the students from the lower-ranked duchies to group around us. I really loved the domino effect. This way, I didn’t have to struggle with my indecision anymore.
With a big smile on my face, I used the opportunity to offer more transcription work to those who weren’t involved yet. Providing jobs did wonders for my reception; Rozemyne was basically paying for my PR.
“Your archduke candidates are quite generous,” Gelune pointed out.
I nodded with a smile. Though, let’s just avoid further money talk. She seemed nice about it, but I was a bit nervous about others. Our duchy had already been attacked on multiple occasions for doing too well. I didn’t want to talk too much about Rozemyne having a lot of money.
“Certainly, it is quite lucrative.” The others nodded along.
Or should I? I hesitated. Maybe I could throw more money at the problem? Their eager smiles made me reconsider the money talk. I was in the mood to bribe everyone to gain favor, but unlike with Raziella or Raimund, doing that with the students from the lower-ranked duchies could be seen as forceful. We were all of similar status, but I didn’t want to risk such a look.
What if I framed it as mere work, just like Rozemyne? Rewarding enough to make them happy. I did actually want something to acquire, so giving them more “lucrative” opportunities seemed perfect.
“You seem all quite dependable,” I remarked. “If you are interested in additional income even after the winter ends, it would be nice to cooperate further.”
“What do you have in mind?” Gelune jumped on the offer.
“I would like to acquire seeds from plants not native to Ehrenfest nor the Academy grounds. To that end, I will be paying one small silver for each new species.” With such an easy task, I expected more of those “you are quite generous” comments my way.
“One small silver?” A boy from Lindenthal frowned.
Eh? I thought it was generous enough, considering that middle copper was the usual price for such a thing among commoners. It took me aback that overpaying a hundred times for a simple task wasn’t seen as a great deal.
Sure, rich mednobles would have scoffed at mere small silver, but most of those around me weren’t exactly rich. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been so interested in transcription work to begin with. Wait, had that offer from Rozemyne skewed their perception of prices? I couldn’t exactly hope to match her.
“Getting a feyplant…” Gelune mused, her face also uncertain.
“Any plant would do,” I added hastily.
Maybe they thought that I meant gathering exotic feyplants. That would have certainly been too cheap on my part.
“Regular plants? You mean, I can just ask a servant to collect some seeds from our garden?” The boy from Lindenthal stopped frowning, and gave me a confused smile.
“Sure.” I shrugged. “But consider the fact that I will pay only for the new plants. If someone else brings me the same seed from their garden before you, only they will be paid. And you can’t exactly bring me something like a rafel, as those grow in Ehrenfest as well.”
If he wanted certainty to get paid, he actually had to put in at least some effort. Like, sending his servant to a local market. Well, that wasn’t exactly “more effort” for a noble.
“I see. It does sound small, but with enough seeds, it can be quite lucrative as well.” He nodded.
Finally, the students around began seeing the value of this opportunity. Their expressions softened.
“And because we are fellow scholars, I will also pay you for referrals.” I produced a conspiring smile. “Five small silvers for each additional student whom you bring next year with their own unique seeds.”
“That sounds great!” They all smiled happily.
I wonder if they will try to min-max this? I would have probably scoured the duchy for fifty different seeds then distributed them to fifty different students and raked in five small silvers for each.
Then again, reputation was important, too. A few additional silvers most likely weren’t worth advertising one’s desperation for money.
Either way, by next year, my finances should be solid enough to cover even extreme cases. Didn’t I say that I would cut on expenses? It sounded a bit risky to rely on future profits rather than current reserves. Well, hopefully no new fines were waiting for me back in Ehrenfest.
“Lady Mila, can you really afford all of this?” Gelune asked with a surprised look.
“Well, I do help with transcribing just like you.” I smiled nonchalantly.
“Ah, back in Ehrenfest as well, right?” She nodded.
Nope. But it was good to have an excuse.
Everyone seemed content, so I didn’t want to spend too much time on my money situation either. Henrietta’s burned paper was still somewhere in the back of my mind. Bribing everyone seemed like a great strategy; I just needed to distract them afterwards from possible envy. So I changed the topic once again, asking about possibilities of gathering in different duchies.
I was hoping to goad them into bragging about rare feyplants which only their duchies could provide, but it devolved into a talk about mana drought and how the best way to acquire ingredients was to go to the Academy. It was kind of depressing.
As our group dispersed somewhat, the teacher called for everyone in the room. “I see that this year we have quite an interesting batch of students.” She smiled. “My name is Veneria. Currently, I’m an assistant, but from next year onward I will teach a portion of specialty subjects on magic tool creation.”
Veneria gave us a rundown of the currently available paths for specialization. Naturally, she hyped magic tool creation as the most invaluable part of the curriculum. Well, I was kind of focused on tools anyway, so I didn’t mind her bias.
Though, all specializations seemed interesting.
“May I ask? How is it graded when one wants to take the class in advance?” I began the questioning round. “Would a second-year taking a third-year class at the end of the winter place below or above a future third-year who takes that class a year later, but finishes at the beginning of that winter?”
“Why would you want to start sooner?” Veneria seemed intrigued by the question.
“I am concerned with conflicting schedules of different classes. For example, I read that for the doctor qualification one has to take certain classes from both attendant and scholar courses. I would like to avoid situations where it's necessary to skip a useful class just to finish sooner with my main course.”
The first in class was good for reputation, but I didn’t want to cut useful knowledge just to achieve that feat. Preferably, I wanted both.
“Oh, that depends on individual professors. You would have to negotiate with those teaching. For example, I would not mind, but some might prefer to stick to their regular scheduling,” Veneria mused.
“Thank you.” I nodded.
OK, so I just have to ask. Hopefully, every conflicting pair of classes would contain at least one professor like Veneria.
“You want to be a doctor?” Shickehr raised his eyebrow.
Do I not look doctor-like? I shrugged.
Firstly, healing was an invaluable skill. Every time I had been in pain, those with the ability to help seemed to me like angels. I definitely wanted to get better at healing.
And secondly, no one would find it suspicious if a doctor studied poisons excessively. “She is probably working on antidotes.” Yeah, that’s what everyone will say. I suppressed a smirk.
We bombarded Veneria with a bunch of questions about our future classes, and after enough Q&A, we returned to socializing. This time, I tried to focus more on eavesdropping to find out what my reception was among others.
I haven’t heard the word “commoner” used for a while. I smiled.
Someone did call me stupid for offering a deal that could be easily exploited. “I live in a province, and we have a big garden. I will split the seeds and ask my friends,” he bragged.
Unless you ask your whole dormitory, you are still thinking too small, I teased him in my head.
“Lady Mila?” Gelune stared at me.
“Oh, pardon me, I got lost in a thought.”
It was so tempting to intrude into other conversations, but my own was struggling because of it. I gave up pretty quickly and fully focused on the person in front of me. After all, today I wanted to present my best possible self.