Ajax was very glad for how well his family adapted to their new noble status, not the least of the reasons for his appreciation was that despite dropping the news of twenty thousand possible extra people coming to the city Elija and Alana both stopped themselves from cursing him out in front of all their guests. Despite the calm response Ajax knew the discussion wasn’t over, merely delayed.

While Ajax was bringing his family up to date with everything that happened today the rest of the nobles were sampling the food that was prepared for them while they mingled.

“Is there anything you can do?” Helmeth all but begged Sandor and Denisa.

“If you want to back out of the bet you’d have to work that out with Duke Hearthbound.” Sandor was clear in his rejection to act as a middleman.

“You think I didn’t put it together that I was sent here to duel him?” Helmeth snarled in anger as he realized the royals wouldn’t do anything to help his House. “And now you’re tossing me to the wolves?”

“Even if my grandfather might have allowed you to join in the hopes of you dueling Ajax he didn’t prompt you in any way.” Denisa showed no remorse. While she had been raised with the same human superiority propaganda as most imperials she had no patience for needless cruelty so many of the nobles took part in it when it came to the other races. “You made that bet all by yourself.”

What bothered Helmeth even more however was that he knew the Emperor would absolutely be enforcing the bet even if House Septimus decided to not follow through. They might not have done so before this trip to Gryndor on the account of how much the royal family also had invested in the operation but in a twist of fate the duel, or more specifically Ajax’s use of [Telekinesis] meant that they would side with House Hearthbound just to not offend a future pinnacle.

“How would it work with the slaves, my Lady?” Theron asked Lexi after Jari and Nashara shared what happened.

Theron had always thought that his decision to join House Hearthbound when he was given the chance was one of the best decisions of his life, after what he heard happened today he couldn’t be prouder to wear the sigil on his shoulder pads. After the conditions he saw the beastkin, elves and dwarves live in the Empire the news that Ajax had just freed thousands of them meant a lot to him.

“It is difficult to say.” Lexi admitted. “Most likely a lot of them will continue working in mines like they have been doing for a while now. The difference will be the improved living conditions as well as path to progression. Above all however they will have the choice to leave and try making their way through life as they choose.

“The mines, my Lady?” Theron asked, Jari and Nashara behind him looked confused as well.

“It seems House Septimus was heavily invested in a slave mining operation. The number of slaves we expect will not just be in the thousands but the tens of thousands.” Lexi answered with a smile that covered the doubts she had about how they would accommodate so many people on short notice.

While Theron, Jari and Nashara all were left shocked at the news a similar fate befell another person in that room.

“Excuse me?” Benedict said after he regained his composure. “I think I misheard you.”

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“No mistake.” Fealin said with a charming smile. “Today’s events have changed my opinions on a number of things. Your relationship with Elara being amongst them. I do hope it progresses well.”

Unlike Emeris, Fealin had no direct interest in keeping Elara’s family from forming such a deep tie to House Steelblade. With the revelation of Gryndor’s future power a tie to their current military archduke would be priceless not just for Sylvanthal but also all their nobles.

“Though I do have to admit you would be remiss not to switch your fighting style more towards a hybrid.” Fealin continued. “These duels should have shown you some of the limitations a pure physical focus can have, especially considering all the mental stats you have received from delving.

“I’ll make sure he has the opportunity to learn if he wants to.” Elara said. “Though I have to say your approval is appreciated, even if it wasn’t something we needed or even wanted.”

Unlike the previous evening Tom was standing apart from the rest of the nobles. While his presence was required he still hadn’t quite gotten over what happened with Jake, as much as he wanted to be with his wife and son at the moment he knew he would need to wait at least another hour before he could take his leave.

“Lord Hearthbound, if I could ask for a moment of your time?” Tom was surprised to see Levy Firebreath as well as Ramus Deepfort approaching him.

“Of course, Lord Firebreath.” Tom responded. “How can I help you?”

“You see I was interested in inquiring about having my niece come to Lessis to attend your school.” the man answered and from the way Ramus was nodding it was clear the man also had a young relative they wanted to send.

“I also have a cousin that would benefit from attending.” Ramus also joined.

“Excuse my question but I was under the impression that nobles in the capital already did something similar for their children.” Tom was shocked at the requests.

“They do.” Rammus answered. “However, that is a two hour gathering twice a week to practice social Skills with the rest of the tutoring happening individually. Your approach may prove better in getting my cousin ready for the Academy in a decade or so, she’s only six right now.”

One person might have been something Tom would accept but two, so soon, both young girls. It quickly became clear to him that this wasn’t really about the girls' learning but actually both House Firebreath and House Deepfort were actually looking for a chance to get closer to House Hearthbound. And the way they had decided to go for that was by having their eligible family members work towards a future relationship with Jake.

Tom didn’t know how to feel about that. He was aware that unlike himself and Kate, Jake’s life will be heavily influenced by their noble titles but that hadn’t prepared him for something like this, so instead of dealing with it he pushed it to the back of his mind so that he could discuss the situation later with Kate and the rest of his family to process it together.

Tom instead chose to focus on the other big impact that would take place. Ajax had pushed for Jake to take part in school with everyone else as a way to convince commoners it would be worth it to have their kids attend. With the number of nobles in attendance now Tom was sure it wouldn’t be long until at least a dozen noble Houses sent their kids here to attend school in hopes of forming a tie to House Hearthbound. Some of those Houses would be Dukes and powerful Viscounts, their system wasn’t prepared to deal with them yet.

“That is certainly something we can arrange.” Tom nodded while hiding his thoughts on the matter. “It may take a while to narrow down the specifics so I will get back to you this week.”

The evening had left all of House Hearthbound exhausted, with one exception. Sam wouldn’t be dealing with the logistics of housing twenty thousand former slaves or the politics surrounding nobles moving to Lessis to attend school with the commoners. He instead focused on supporting his family while they dealt with the situation.

Ajax woke up early the following morning eager to take his mind off everything that was happening. And he decided to do just that by making his first attempts into working with Gravity Mana.

Two hours into his attempts however and all Ajax had to show for it was a small pile of tiny metal pieces that had been Mana infused before Ajax began. Ajax was sparingly using the Mana infused metal, using small pieces and draining them of their Mana causing the circuit to fail and generate Gravity Mana for that instant in hopes of getting a better understanding of it.

“At least I found out the size of the metal piece used and the amount of Mana that is infused in the metal both affect the amount of Gravity Mana generated.” Ajax said as he stretched and took a small break.

“Mreow.” Ajax was just about to start working again when he heard Fluffy.

“Morning Fluffy.” Ajax greeted the feline.

“Mreow.” Fluffy meowed again but this time she got into position to pounce. Unlike the numerous times she had done this before Ajax could tell there was something different about it this time. She wasn’t just playing around now.

“She wants to train.” Tom's voice came from the doorway. “She doesn't feel good about how the fight yesterday started.”

“Hmmm.” Ajax nodded as he thought about it. “Maybe it’s time to try and teach you how to use Void Mana.”

From the way Fluffy’s ears perked up, Ajax could tell she liked that idea.