"Do you want potions? Yes or no?"

"What do you have?" Firana asked, straightening in her seat.

The librarian sat across from us, pulled an enchanted glass cup from his pocket, and put it face down on the table. Suddenly, an opaque bubble surrounded us. I examined the gadget. User. Direction. Cloak. Dark. Absorb. Field. I had to blink. The runes were brighter than I expected. Even those I knew only from Byrne's documents were clear as day.

Firana kicked me under the table as the librarian flashed a red vial up the sleeve of his robe, but he hid it before I could use [Identify] on it.

"I brew them myself. Herbalist, Lv.28," he whispered with his best salesman voice. "The System will tell you this is a mid-grade Stamina Potion, but I used something special. Extract of Moonfern Bark and Dire Cress. Zero Fairy King's Brooch bullshit, and zero Fire Bloom. You will not find anything better for this price."

Mid-grade Stamina Potions weren't illegal; on the contrary, they were really common among soldiers, travelers, workers, and students. I could only assume the ingredients were property of the Library and he 'borrowed' them without the Preceptors knowing. It didn't seem like he knew anything about the anti-nobility rallies.

Firana looked at the librarian with a doubtful expression.

"I don't know, man, Moonfern Bark is nice and all, but it doesn't hit like it did before," she said. "Don't you have something stronger?"

The librarian tilted his head, his lips curling into a knowing smile. He tapped on the table and leaned forward, seemingly forgetting we were surrounded by a [Silence Dome].

"Stronger? Sure. But stronger is more expensive," he said.

"Do you think I can't pay?" Firana asked flatly. "I am—"

"I'm sure your daddy has a lot of money."

Firana stiffened beneath her robe—a slight shift forward, but not subtle enough to escape the librarian's notice. Not a single speck of mana escaped her body, but her expression screamed a bruised ego.

I held back my laughter, and the librarian gave us a confident smirk. I could tell in his face that he believed he had seized us. Little did he know that he was walking into our trap.

"If you want a stronger product, I might know a guy," he said.

"Then, I'm not interested," Firana replied, opening her book to a random page. "Get out of my sight."

The librarian seemed lost for a moment.

"I thought—"

Firana raised her hand most dramatically.

"I know your type. You'll ask me for money, and in exchange, you will point me towards one of your weed whacker friends who has exactly the same inventory as you," she said. "The nerve of some people. Get out of here before I smash your enchanted trinket."

The librarian cleared his throat, his fingers suddenly still over the table.

"I swear we have better stuff… I just don't have it on me."

Firana kicked me under the table.

"No payment in advance," I said, pushing a bit of mana into [Intimidate].

"No payment in advance," the librarian repeated, raising his hands to appease me. Then, he rummaged through his robe and took out a book. Canon of Medical Salves. "In the chambers of the Nature Circle, ask for Ralgar of Stormvale. Give this to him and he will accommodate your requirements."

Firana grabbed the librarian's book and signaled him to go. The opaque bubble popped a moment later, and the librarian disappeared behind a two-story-high bookshelf like a Wendigo was chasing him.

"I know Ralgar, he's Malkah's half brother," I said, forming my [Silence Dome].

"Malkah? The silent blond one? Why would the son of a Duke sell Stamina Potions? The Kigrians can't be that broke."

"Let's figure this out," I replied, standing from the table and returning the Mathematical Principles of Heavenly Spheres to the bookshelf.

Lord Kigria didn't have the best relationship with their sons, but I doubted he abandoned them to their fate. The Kigrians had an appearance to uphold before the other noble houses. Appearing helpless at the heart of the kingdom couldn't be a good political strategy.

"Your acting gave me chills. I thought you would slap him across the face for a moment," I said.

Firana gave me a blinding smile.

"I have had plenty of study material in the past two years. I know how nobles think, and most importantly, I know how commoners think that nobles think," she said, flipping through the pages of the Canon of Medical Salves, checking for messages hidden among them. She closed the book with a snap and tucked it under her arm.

We stepped away from the desk just as a group of librarians entered the study area. Firana held the book tight, like someone could jump from behind the bookshelves and snatch it at any moment. Her small-time noble lady demeanor was replaced by the harmless Scribe she had been embodying a minute earlier.

There was no chance she didn't have at least one level of [Acting].

"Do you think Ralgar is the source?" Firana asked without looking at me.

"I don't know. We still have to figure out if he has Energy Boost Potions," I replied, hoping it wasn't the case. "This time, let me do the talking. Ralgar trusts me."

I told Firana about the incident during my arrival at Cadria: Ralgar's experimental farm, Malkah's arrival, and my quarrel with Odo. The girl burst out laughing when I told her how I'd used [Minor Geokinesis] to spin the ground beneath Odo's feet. The librarians shoot glares at us. I didn't go into details about why they had smashed Ralgar's farm plot, and Firana didn't seem to care.

"What faces did they put on when they realized you were their instructor?" Firana asked.

"Odo and Harwin wanted to disappear, but Malkah didn't seem to find it problematic as long as his chances of becoming a knight remained intact," I replied.

Firana sighed.

"Well, idiots usually get in the dump sections. Imperial Knights have a sixth sense to detect who is Knight material and who isn't."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Did you know about dump sections?"

"It's an open secret that you get to know pretty soon after classes start. Not that you can tell anyone outside the Academy. Even writing letters is hard with the Hex messing with your hand," Firana said with a mischievous grin. "I thought Zaon told you."

My heart skipped a beat. More than a month had passed since my arrival at the Academy, and a part of me suspected the kids still had a bag full of secrets.

"Were you put in a dump section?!" I asked. It made sense considering they were orphans from a backwater city near the frontier of civilization. They fitted the mold as much as Cedrinor and Genivra, and those two had ended up in the Cabbage class.

"We weren't put in a dump section," Firana said, trying to sound reassuring. "Holst called dibs on all of us, but you know me, I don't give second chances. I caught Instructor Ghila's attention and was accepted into her class. Zaon and Wolf ended up in a dump section with most of the Wolfpack. Ilya stayed in Basilisk Class for some reason."

Firana lowered her voice to the point I had to feed [Foresight] mana to understand her words.

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"You need to talk to Ilya. Something isn't right up there in her sky-blue coconut, and she isn't listening to me. I'm afraid she will fall in love with the wrong man."

I couldn't help but laugh.

"I don't see what's funny, I'm worried about her," Firana said.

"Ilya had her reasons for staying with Holst. You should ask her," I replied.

We reached the end of the corridor, and Firana showed the book to one of the aides at the library entrance. The man wrote something on Firana's card with an enchanted stylus, and they let us through. A swift glance revealed a 'signature' enchantment similar to the one I used to bind enchanted items to specific users. On the other hand, the card was enchanted to receive only markings from a particular 'signature'. The mechanism was clever.

Firana guided me back to the base level, and then we climbed another set of stairs coiling around a pillar so thick that it could be a tower on its own. I had yet to understand why the Library had been built like a tower instead of a fort. Sure, a tower of magic was as stylish as a magical institution design went, but climbing so many stairs seemed impractical. We followed the black and green robes of the Nature Circle into the upper section, just to find a hall mirroring the library but full of greenhouses instead of bookshelves. My ride in the elevator hadn't shown me any of this. Young novices and adepts tended to rare plants and scribbled notes under the attentive gaze of their Preceptors while enchanted brooms kept the dirt from reaching the main corridor.

"It's hard to believe how different this place is compared to home," Firana said.

Our conversation was strangely philosophical today.

"Do you feel out of place?"

Firana was amused.

"Call me a simpleton if you want, but I can't relate to anything happening inside of the inner city. Don't get me wrong, I understand that the title of Imperial Knight will make me almost untouchable, but this is as far from Farcrest as possible. It's like a fever dream where everyone is jumping through hoops to achieve God-knows-what," Firana said, her eyes lost among the greenhouses.

When I worked at the law firm, I felt the same way as Firana. I knew that by filling out forms and gathering documents, I was helping 'justice' happen. However, the connection was so faint, so tangential, that I often felt like my work was meaningless. Working with kids was completely different. Even if it was a back-breaking job, at least I felt I was doing something meaningful.

"You have changed a lot," I said.

"Knowing the System is a human creation puts many things into perspective," Firana replied. "All my speed, strength, and skills are just things a chubby guy came up with. I've been doing some thinking, you know? If I'm not my Class and Level, then who am I?"

It took me a decade and a half more than Firana to start asking those questions.

"And? Who are you?"

"I am whatever my actions make me."

I laughed again.

"Just keep the hero complex at bay and you will be fine, kid," I jokingly said.

"Hero complex? No. I was going more for a cult leader angle."

We were starting to attract curious glances, so Firana asked a novice for help finding Ralgar of Stormvale. He sent us to the greenhouses, but Ralgar wasn't there. After asking around for a while, we were told to look at the dormitories. Getting a spot in the workshop was almost impossible, so many librarians used their bedrooms as makeshift working spaces. A few adepts asked us why we were looking for Ralgar, and Firana told them we were working together. Seeing librarians of the Academics Circle around wasn't particularly rare. Many Scribes and Scholars assisted other crafting Classes, and Herbalists and Alchemists had much to gain from their assistance.

The Nature Circle dormitories weren't extremely different from the teacher's lounge. The first-year novices shared communal bedrooms with five bunk beds each. The place almost seemed overcrowded, but the higher one got in the Library's pyramid, the better the accommodations.

"Let me do the talking," I whispered as we reached Ralgar's door.

Firana nodded, and I knocked on the door.

"Busy!" Ralgar shouted from inside.

"It's Robert Clarke! We met when your brother and his stooges trampled your pumpkins!" I shouted in return. "Can we talk for a second?"

I heard the glass clinking, and the door burst open a second later. Ralgar was just as I remembered him: short, blond hair, pale skin, a strong neck, and a burly frame. This time, however, he wasn't covered in dirt. He wore a stained leather apron, thick gloves, and safety glasses.

Elincia only wore protective gear when she was brewing dangerous potions.

"L-lord Clarke, I didn't expect your visit," he stuttered, before focusing on our robes. "Are you … part of the Academic circle?"

"I'm going incognito," I replied. "Can we talk for a moment? It's a private matter."

Ralgar nodded and moved aside. The room was small, with a bunk bed in the corner, two trunks, and a wide table under the window, covered in potion stains, acid marks, and alchemy tools. A small enchanted burner heated a flask with a crimson liquid, while a mana bubble separated the alchemic reaction from the environmental mana. Ralgar's mana control was better than Elincia's the first time we met, which was strange considering he only became an Herbalist a month ago.

I quickly set up a large Silence Dome over his dorm, then gestured for Firana to show him the Canon of Medical Salves.

Ralgar paled. He tried to babble an apology, but I stopped him.

"Look, I don't care if you steal ingredients from the Circle. I'm not here to bust your potion deal," I said, trying to sound reassuring.

"You are not?"

"No. I'm looking for a certain potion that has been in circulation lately. A purple Energy Boost Potion with high-rank effects and toxicity. Do you know anything?"

Ralgar gave me a cautious look and moved between me and his work table.

"How important is it for you to know?"

"Extremely. An innocent girl got hurt, Ralgar, and I'm trying to set things straight," I said.

The boy nodded.

"You are a good man, Lord Clarke. You defended me from Odo and Harwin," Ralgar said. "I know a thing or two, but you'll have to set something straight for me first. I'm sorry."

The petition caught me off guard.

"Do you want materials? I have good connections to the Farcrest's Alchemists Guild. I can even try to arrange something with the Alchemists Circle of the Vedras dukedom. I'm sure your father would like that," I said.

"No, I don't need materials," Ralgar said, shifting nervously. "I want you to expel Odo and Harwin. I know they are in your class. I thought they would be expelled during the first selection exam, but you are a better teacher than anyone expected."

I looked at Firana from the corner of my eye. She didn't react.

"They have already expressed their intention of departing from the Academy," I said, trying to appease him.

I wasn't expecting Ralgar to jump into the revenge bandwagon at the first opportunity.

"I want them expelled. It's only fair after all they have done to me. They must not become Imperial Knights, and they must not show their time here as a badge of honor," Ralgar snapped, his voice trembling with barely contained anger. "I want them expelled."

Something was off.

"I can have them apologize and make them swear they will make amends—"

"No! I want them expelled."

I rubbed my eyes.

"Do you understand why Odo and Harwin acted like that, right? What Malkah has had to endure?" I asked. "The treatment your father—"

Ralgar cut me off again.

"Our father barely speaks to us," he said. "That's my price. Make me whole and I will tell you everything I know."

I scratched my chin. [Foresight] told me Ralgar wasn't in the right mental space to reason with. My experience told me it was nearly impossible to talk sense into a kid who harbored that much pain, not in such a constrained timeframe. Odo and Harwin's abuse was undeniable, but even Ralgar didn't seem aware that there was more to the story. He didn't seem to understand that his actions had brought Malkah great amounts of pain.

"Should we hang him from the window?" Firana nonchalantly asked.

"Ralgar is the son of a duke," I replied, turning towards him. I couldn't let this lead slip away. "Odo and Harwin are the weakest links in my class. As much as I try to remain neutral, they still attacked me back then. I can't let them set such a precedent, can I?"

Luckily for me, [Foresight] made me a great liar.

Ralgar grinned.

As my father used to say, no one fools a man better than he fools himself.

"You can't let them set such a precedent. You are a Prestige Class," he said with a satisfied smile. "Return when they are gone, and I will keep my end of the bargain."

Of course it wasn't going to be so easy.

"That won't work. The trail is getting cold, and dealing with Harwin and Odo might take time. If I leave this room without the answers I came for, the deal's off. I will find someone else who knows. Your move, Ralgar," I said.

The boy squeezed his eyes shut, clearly at war against himself.

"No. Can't do. You have to do your part first."

"Okay, Ralgar. No problem. See you around," I said. "Let's go, Firana."

I walked to the door and my hand hovered on the knob for an instant before Ralgar spoke again.

"Wait!" Ralgar said. "I am the son of a duke. Do you know what will happen if you don't keep your side of the deal?"

"I have an idea."

Unfortunately, Ralgar didn't seem to realize he was a toothless lion. The fact that he didn't know about Lord Kigria's abuse of Malkah only told me he wasn't involved in the family politics. He had Lord Kigria's surname but not much more.

Ralgar opened a drawer and pulled out a half-empty vial of Energy Boost Potion.

"Do you know how to manufacture that?" I cautiously asked.

Ralgar shook his head, savoring the words as they came to his mouth.

"Not yet, but I'm very close. I have already mapped most of the ingredients. It's incredible, the things it can do. Dangerous, yes, but incredible. I have gained ten levels in a month, and I can brew things…" he said with an almost crazed look on his face. "If I manage to produce a safer version, this will be huge for the Kigrian Dukedom. Don't worry. I won't put a dangerous potion in circulation. I'm not like Odo."

Firana gave me a worried glance.

"Where did you get that, Ralgar?"

"You won't find them. I already tried," he said, shaking his head. "They will only show themselves if they want to recruit you. That's all I have. If you want to meet them, turn yourself into an asset they can't ignore."

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