Chapter 624: Chapter 624 - Taming the Fifth Year - Friends

The room was strangely empty when Ren finally arrived.

Liu and Taro had already moved in days ago. Their beds were made with military precision, their desks organized with the patience of those who’d had time to spare for proper arrangement. Books stacked neatly. Personal items placed just so.

Min’s bed also showed signs of recent occupation. A half-unpacked suitcase. Clothes tossed with the characteristic abandon of his friend who never quite understood the concept of "putting things away".

Ren dropped the "small" backpack he kept outside his beast storage next to his bed. Yet even with nothing on his back anymore, he felt the weight of the last few days like stones on his shoulders.

The days following the ceremony had been a whirlwind of papers, signatures, and meetings with people whose titles he still couldn’t fully remember. Lord something of somewhere. Lady whoever from whatever house. All blurring together into a mass of formality that made his head spin.

And then he also had been listening to the girls’ complaints. Especially about the defense at Selphira’s ice wall.

Larissa had been diplomatic about the matter, as always. "Some nobles from the major families tried to... complicate things for Luna during the defense." Her tone had been neutral but something lurked beneath.

Luna had been more direct. "Idiots with inflated egos who thought they could question me because I’m a woman and young."

Liora had simply rolled her eyes. "Old nobles being old nobles. You know how it is."

None had mentioned names. Ren had assumed it was because they didn’t expect him to know the names of these families. And didn’t want to fill his head with more noble names and politics than it already was. So he’d nodded and murmured the appropriate things and hadn’t asked more.

Now, standing in the silent room in the gloom, where before his mushrooms would have automatically illuminated everything, he wondered if he should have asked.

The door opened with a creak and Liu entered, his night bat materializing briefly on his ears before dissolving back into his system.

"Ren," he said with a genuine smile that lightened some of the tension in Ren’s chest. "Thought you’d arrive tomorrow."

"Managed to escape," Ren let himself fall onto his bed. The familiar mattress received his weight as he let out a sigh that came out more dramatic than he’d intended.

"Where are the others? What did I miss?"

"Taro went to the library to look up something about territorial documentation protocols." Liu sat on his own bed, crossing his legs beneath him. "Apparently his earth element comes with administrative responsibilities that are driving him crazy. Prepare yourself ’elemental rainbow’."

"And Min?"

"Chasing some girl, probably." Liu shrugged, but there was affection in the gesture. "He received his title from his uncle. Hasn’t stopped talking about it. ’Lord Min’ this, ’Lord Min’ that. It’s adorable and annoying in equal measure."

Ren smiled despite the exhaustion. "How are things here? Very different?"

"Completely different." Liu leaned back against the headboard, his expression becoming more serious. The casual posture contradicted the weight in his voice. "The schedules changed for everyone. Taro, Min, you and me have completely separate classes now. Noble curriculum and all that. I’ll only see you in combat training."

"Just combat?"

"Just combat," Liu confirmed. "Lin and Yang keep torturing everyone equally, regardless of year or status. It’s the only consistent thing in this place now. Everything else is adult preparation... and the extra noble curriculum for you and Min."

Ren pulled his schedule from his pocket, the paper already wrinkled from so much folding and unfolding. Checking it. Rechecking it. Hoping the huge amount of information would somehow change if he looked enough times.

"Says I’ll have that... noble protocol, with Aldric Galehart."

The silence that followed was long enough for Ren to look up.

Liu was watching him with a strange expression. Something between concern and something else Ren couldn’t identify.

"What?" Ren asked.

"Nothing," Liu said too quickly. The word came out rushed, forced. "Just that... the Galeharts are a big family. Powerful. In Starweaver territory."

"And?"

"And nothing." Liu stood up, clearly wanting to change the subject. He moved to his desk, unnecessarily rearranging already organized items. "I’m sure it’ll be fine. External tutors shouldn’t be able to harm you anyway."

But the way he said it, the slightly forced tone, made something twist uncomfortably in Ren’s stomach.

Like swallowing something that didn’t quite go down right.

♢♢♢♢

A few hours later, Min burst through the door like a small hurricane of enthusiasm.

"Brother!" he exclaimed, his smile so wide it practically split his face in two. "Did you see my ceremony? I received my uncle’s title! I’m Lord Min now. Lord. Do you realize?"

"Ren had a ceremony too and you already mentioned yours in the last three hours again," Taro pointed out dryly, but there was affection in his tone as he helped Min organize his things. His assassin’s legs emerged briefly, moving with surprising delicacy as they helped push scattered items into more organized piles.

"It’s just that I still can’t believe it," Min let himself fall dramatically onto his bed, spreading his arms as if embracing the entire world. "My uncle almost cried when he gave it to me. Said the family would finally have someone who ’wouldn’t be an embarrassment in society’. His exact words."

"What an inspiring lie," Liu murmured, but he was smiling.

Ren observed his roommates, feeling a familiar warmth that contrasted sharply with the chaos of recent days. Here, surrounded by these three, things seemed... normal. Or as normal as they could be when one had faced corrupted creatures the size of buildings.

When one had nearly died multiple times.

When one had been honored before thousands of people...

"So," Ren asked everyone, "how bad is the new curriculum for you all?"

The three exchanged significant glances.

"Min and I already saw our schedules," Taro said, sitting on the edge of his bed and crossing his arms. "We have different tutors. Mine are... well, they seem strict but fair according to the rumors. Luckily I don’t have noble tutors like Min or you..."

"Mine are two old ladies who spend all their time drinking tea and criticizing my posture," Min made a face. "But at least they’re predictable."

"Mine aren’t bad either... but it won’t help you much to know ours... this depends almost completely on your tutors," Liu said finally. "The external tutor, I mean. Zhao will be Zhao, but the other one..."

"This Aldric guy, does anyone know him? Liu says he’s from a big family..."

Min sat up, his expression unusually serious.

"Remember Seiya? The guy we saw at school once years ago and who received full succession rights at the recent ceremony?"

"Vaguely," Ren admitted. There had been so many faces and names that day they all blended into a blurry mass of bows and titles. A sea of formal clothing and practiced smiles.

"That’s Aldric’s son. But hey," Min tried to sound optimistic, his smile returning but not quite reaching his eyes completely, "maybe he’ll be kind. Powerful nobles are sometimes kind. Better than... you know..."

"Than nobles who are desperate for power and use any advantage they can?" Taro finished dryly.

"Exactly."

♢♢♢♢

The next morning arrived too quickly, as it always did when one preferred to stay asleep.

"Shit!"

Ren woke to the familiar sound of Min tripping over his own suitcase, followed by a series of creative curses involving the furniture ancestors and the questionable birth legitimacy of the inanimate object.

"I swear this suitcase hates me," Min muttered while rubbing his toe. His face was scrunched with pain, one eye squeezed shut. "I put it there specifically to remember not to trip over it, and still..."

"Strategic genius," Liu commented without looking up from the book he was reading. He’d been awake since before dawn, taking advantage of the quiet hours. "You put the obstacle exactly where you know you’ll walk."

"It’s reverse psychology," Min defended with questionable dignity. He hobbled toward his bed, still favoring the injured foot. "If I put it where I know I’m going to walk, then my brain will be alert and... shit, it made sense in my head."

"Good morning to you too," Taro murmured from his bed, his voice muffled by the pillow he’d put over his head. The pillow moved slightly with each word, like a strange speaking creature.

"This suitcase hates me," Min declared with absolute conviction, still rubbing his toe. "I hate it. I hate everything it represents."

"It represents your inability to remember where you put things," Liu commented again.

"I told you to lift it... you tripped over it yesterday too," Taro pointed out, his voice still muffled.

Ren couldn’t help but smile as he got ready. The normalcy of the scene, the familiar morning chaos with his roommates, was again comforting after days of ceremonies and formalities.

He pulled on his training clothes. Splashed water on his face from the basin. Tried to make himself look presentable.

Morning training with Lin was in half an hour, and after that would come his first official noble protocol class with Aldric Galehart.

His stomach twisted at the thought.

♢♢♢♢

Lin’s "light" exercise turned out to be anything but light.

It was exactly as brutal as he expected.