While Elizabeth and Luke left quite early, they were having a mixture of relief and sorrow in their eyes. What is going on in their heads only a few could fathom. The Servants themselves were still working hard to make the carriage ready for departure. They could not go quickly enough from this horrible place, but would not even say a small peep about their feelings.
Seeing their gestures of hurriedly getting ready made the two siblings still a bit angry. While many were still working the Servant waiting on the Carriage door could see the demeanour and tried his best to signal the other Servants to not be in such a hurry. The signals were mostly not seen, but the ones who saw it made slower and held in a cold sweat of what would happen if their Masters were again displeased. They could finally move their fingers after them being broken multiple times, if they were broken again, it would make the healing with the Potions they shared moot, again.
Inside the Mansion the Maids including Rose were sitting around the table drinking tea. Drak on the other hand was face down on the couch looking like a deflated balloon close to looking like he melted into goop. The shallow breath he takes every so often showed he was not quite dead.
“Master did great! But now he needs a rest day, Seria can you change his schedule?”
“I already planned a rest day in advance, Claire. The next day and this evening are with a flexible schedule. While It was a stressful day the finer details were in how the Servants were behaving.”
Raja nodded at what Seria said: “Broken bones in the fingers. They lost their precision while they still heal. Muscle twitches over the body shows how they are not fully healed after being strained too hard or maybe even cut. Their eyes showed a hint of fear and terror. They finally seem to be put in place.”
“While I am not a full time Maid of Master,” Rose added, “I am rather glad to see them without the disgust in their eyes.”
“You need to go back later to see after the garden, do you not?~”
“Do I have to? I would rather be with our Master!”
Rose was throwing a small tantrum being reminded she needed to tend to the herbal garden. Her powers in plant growth were necessary for many aspects but could only rarely be with Drak. The time in the Mansion was for her like a vacation, seeing the one who pulled her out of the darkness of being an illegal Slave.
“There will be times you will be able to come here again. As both our best Herbalist and Alchemist you are just needed on too many places at once.”
“Ugh! Fine, but be sure to call me for anything you need.”
“By the way, what about the incense? The Princess asked for the Composition list.”
“Oh about the ashes. It was a bit harder to make out the composition but it had three parts Sandalwood, two parts amber, two parts citrus and five parts Mindroot.”
“Mindroot? Can you explain?”
Before Rose could explain Alice started explaining: “Mindroot is a sedative mostly put in tea for the relaxing and numbing effect, especially if the person is in a state of extreme panic. Given orally makes the person able to think straight again. If burned and smelled the Person is more open for suggestions. Processed and shot into the vein makes colours melt and if someone said an Object or Animal, you will see them everywhere, coming out of the walls and even your body parts melting into what was said.”
“Um… What Alice said. It is normally taken as a small dose in tea. In incense it is way too intense and is used by some people to entice women or men to sleep with them, thinking it was consensual. Too much would make people hallucinate. Originally a natural pesticide as insects start to eat each other, when they ingest it. Who knows what the Insects were thinking while high on that stuff.”
“But the incense was put in afterwards. Isn’t that what she said?”
From the couch came a muffled “u-hu” from Drak, while he still looked like a scoop of ice cream which was too long in the sun.
Rose raised her shoulders and commented:“If someone she trusts had said something to her before, it would make it more plausible as she thought it through.”
“Can you make an Antidote?”
“Sure! That stuff is not that scary if you know what it is. What kind of Antidote do you want? Permanent, preemptive, volatile to notice intoxication, just to block it or directly neutralize it in the body?”
“Um…”
“Phmhnt!” from the Couch echoes.
“Permanent it is. Immunization is easy if the body knows that stuff is not nice. For this she needs to have a patch on her body every day for a week so the body starts to get angry at the stuff. Leave it to me Master!”
“Fhnks.”
—
“While on other Continents their Demon Lord returned our first Emperor was able to forever banish the Demon Lord forever, which made the Continent prosperous beyond anything other Continents were able to create. In this aspect our Magic flourished and the rich ambient Magic makes our herbal trade with other continents highly valuable, while we import our Ore from the volcanic Islands…”
While the class was in session Drak gave Eleonora a thick Letter. Using deception Magic no one could see it happening, even their nosy Classmate Charles did not notice anything.
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Right now Drak had more stress in the form of the running Class as Economics was one of his worst classes and would love to just sleep a bit more. Others sometimes did, but he forced himself to be awake, as the repercussions for not learning would be a thorough drill by Seria, which made this Simplified Version for Nobles like a Vacation.
Seria herself had worked hard to go to the School with no Noble background, but could never apply before the framing of her Family. Now she uses all her knowledge to make Drak work not only the simplified but extended curriculum. The More Drak knows beyond common knowledge the more additional Points he can get. Unlike other Nobles who specialize, Drak has his demerit of the static 50% Combat, Sports and practical Magic to fight against. As Combat and Practical Magic count Double for Noble Children, this makes him extremely disadvantaged.
Although it was his own plan, Drak had already multiple second thoughts about making it so hard for himself. The reasoning was sound, but now that he had the work to do in front of him, reason fell below feeling the pressure.
Time went on and with steady waning willpower he made it through the Class before his eyes glazed over too much. After the Lunch he was filled back with energy right before being depleted again in the evening.
The trek back home was rather uneventful and while sitting in the large Carriage his Mansion came into view. Entering a Servant told him a Letter was brought to him.
“A Letter? By whom?”
“By the Middle Son of Count Barklay. The Berklins and Barklays have a rather good Relationship as they are both not only in the same Kingdom but next to each other. The River Dakkau flows between both fiefs and with partnership this River was made into a fishing spot and includes an irrigation system for both sides to make it prosper.”
“But why would he send a letter to me, Seria?”
“This I can not tell. You need to open it and look into what is written.”
Going into the Study, Drak opened the Letter after verifying the wax seal was really from the Barklay household.
//
Dear Drak Berklin,
apologies for only inviting you now, as I was in serious stress through my remedial studies as I was close to failing in History and Calculus. To make amends for not greeting you directly beforehand, I would like to invite you to a hunting session.
Now that you are out of our Kingdom we are both only Students finding our goal in life. As you might know I am not seen as a favorite in my Family and will be an outcast later on. As we both have similar stories we might be able to find our own path before the School is over.
As I came to this School I was ostracized and had few friends until I found people I could trust and who would understand me, so I am giving you the same chance to meet new people to make Relationships and create connections. The only request I have is for you to maybe do the same good I am doing for you, to make us not fully understood Children of Nobles also find a way to connect when I am not in this School anymore.
Friends made in this School will make our own goals, whatever they will be much easier and bring us only benefits.
The hunt will be at the next rest days in Redwood Village. Please understand for us lesser seen Nobles we have to make do with fewer known hunting treks to not only be not mocked by other Nobles hunting in the widely known hunting places, but also under people who do not judge people by status or look. If this might be too early or not aligning with your Schedule, please just write back and we will find a better time and place for some enjoyable few days of fun and connections.
I would love to see you there at the next rest days.
Martin Barkley
//
After reading it, Drak gave it to Seria which gave it to Celia, Raja and at last Alice.
“So, what do you think? Is it a trap?”
“It sounds definitely like a trap, Master.”
“Trap!”
“Trap indeed, Master.”
“Amu, yes a trap~”
Drak noticed Alice and had to ask her: “Are you eating the Letter?”
“Hmm? Oh, I am sorry Master, the smell was not fully deciding on what this Letter was laced in, so I had to taste it.”
“Wait, that Letter is poisoned?”
“Not poisoned, but had a pheromone simulacra on it. The substance just makes people incredibly happy but does not hold on long after. A failed alchemical drug. What is strange is the Letter tastes also like some kind of acid.”
The notion of acid made Seria intrigued: “Can I see this Letter again?”
Giving back the letter she scrutinized it thoroughly.
“This ink is off. Oh, Tea Ink! This makes it more logical.”
Drak was curious, but waited for Seria and the others to explain.
“This ink is a special Ink named Tea ink. Created by using a base to make the ground leaves of some trees black. The ink is a party trick 'invisible ink' which can be activated by just rubbing a citrus fruit over it. After a day it will vanish.”
“So it will vanish? Why?”
“So there is no evidence they sent the Letter? Must be a different kind of acid than citrus fruit to not smell and maybe take longer.”
“But would it not be possible to make it visible again?”
“Not really, the base and acid make it non magical and residue will just vanish into the air.”
“Still, there must be more to it. The letter and the seal are there anyways.”
“Wax can be made to liquify after a while with some ingredients but the Letter can’t… wait.”
“What is it now?”
“There are grooves on this paper, but they do not align with what was written.”
“Better keep the letter, copy what is written and find out what they want people to think is written. Can the Wax be saved?”
“Freezing it, and nothing happens, Master. Now what do you want to do with this ‘invitation’?”
“I am not fond of people trying to trap me. I should go and see what they want and maybe do the same to them?”
“And what if they want to kill you?” , Seria asked seriously.
“My Hands are already full blood, so what are some people more? Their Status does not make a difference.”
“Fine, but right now your Hands should be stained in Economics, you looked rather dazed after the Morning Class.”
“No!”
Drak’s wail was heard through the mansion, but he could not escape Seria’s extra Curriculum.
