The earth mana flew past me as it traveled to the lower floors. I knocked on the nearest doors, hoping to find William. It would be rude not to greet the host, even if we had already met her once today. The search didn’t take long. He walked out of the next room the moment I knocked.

“I quite enjoyed that.” He nodded his head.

I looked inside the room and saw it was empty.

“It’s a meditation chamber.” William smiled. “Even better, it’s soundproofed.”

“Being antisocial is fun, but we’re going to say hi to Unice.” I gestured towards the stairs.

Ouros hadn’t left the room with the golem dogs, but Amanda was already heading towards the lower floors. She’d wanted to say hi, and I suspected she also wanted to interrogate her brother about how their walk to the house went.

“This place is… Better than I expected.” William nodded his head approvingly. “It feels like the opposite of my houses.”

I could understand that. The walls were drab, and although it wasn’t as minimalistic as Amanda’s home, most of the attractions were centred on smaller possessions and not lavish displays of wealth.

It was a sharp contrast to the personality of William’s father.

“Did you see the dog?” I stepped onto the staircase.

“I did. Then Amanda started fighting with it so I left them to their own devices.” William shook his head. “You’re making friends with a lot of different people. I need to learn how to do that.”

“That would be wise.” I joked.

He gave me a deadpan look and I chuckled. We made our way past the first floor and entered the ground floor. As my feet planted down onto the first of the steps, I caught the view of the entryway.

Dozens of students had entered the castle and I could see a crowd around Unice. Quite a few of them hung back, looking disinterested.

She had invited a lot of people, many of whom were here out of courtesy or to have fun, not because they knew her personally.

I saw Amanda dragging her brother to the side and speaking with him.

His two friends walked towards our stairway. They climbed into the stairs, and I made way for them to pass me. One of them gave me a friendly nod, and I waved back.

Neither of them spared William a glance.

“So, do we go and say congratulations?” I wasn’t quite sure what the protocol was.

“From what I heard at the guild you’ve already given her the best gift. Nobody down here helped her attune.” William shrugged. “How about we grab one of those bouncing sofas before they all get taken.”

“I knew you liked them.” I smiled.

We walked back up the stairs and made our way towards the nearest sofa. It was placed up against the center of the right wall.

I picked up my pace and jumped onto it. My body landed on its side, and I flopped into the cushion, the material stretching as it folded around me. Then the rebound threw me out of the sofa and an inch into the air.

“You child.” William rolled his eyes.

“Life’s not worth it if you don’t have a little fun when you can.” I sat up properly. “Take a seat, become one of the dirt dwellers.”

I looked around but I couldn’t see Gerial’s telltale blur. He either couldn’t enter the castle without being detected or he had decided to go home. Maybe he could enter but was still figuring out if it was safe.

I hoped it was the last one.

I was sure I could find a way to hang out with him for a bit, even if I went outside and chatted with him.

The sofa bounced as William tenderly sat down.

“Ouros was lying before, the sofa doesn’t really bite.” I poked the gelatinous material.

I didn’t know dirt could get this soft.

“I know that.” William sank back into the cushions. “I really don’t understand you sometimes, Andross.”

“Oh? Are we having a real talk already?” I looked at him. “Is it my chiseled good looks and lack of muscles that’s burning your brain?”

He shook his head and gestured towards the other students around us.

“Don’t you feel weird talking to them? I understand Gerial, but Amanda and the others aren’t our age. I can’t even figure out what they’re thinking, let alone what they want to talk about.”

“You have no idea.” I chuckled. “It’s pretty tough.”

My age difference was a little more pronounced than William’s. He was young, in a teenager's body, with the wisdom of an adult. I was an adult with the age of a child that had the body of a teenager.

I got a headache just thinking about it.

“I guess the answer is I got used to it.” I thought over my next words. “I also went out of my way to make a friend. The others kind of came along the way. Just like it did for you and Gerial.”

William looked at me and then back at the other students.

“What did you say to start the conversation?”

“I can’t remember.” I tapped the side of my head.

My mind could memorise things when I wanted to, but most of my conversations went too quickly to think about them.

“I went for a common point of interest.” I spoke. “Amanda had a bird. I had a bird. Gold is also pretty social, so it worked out.”

William’s fingers linked together as he thought over my words. I could see the tension in his expression, and I understood his plight.

He was having trouble making friends.

It was a tale as old as time, but his hurdles were a little more unique compared to the ones I had faced back on Earth.

“I think the important thing is to remember that other people want to have friends as well.”

Amanda had wanted a friend. That had been abundantly clear to me as I’d gotten to know her better, but I hadn’t known that when I’d first spoken to her.

“Well, you also have me.” I straightened my back and tried to exude confidence.

From the humourous smile on his face I don’t think it worked.

“That’s true.” He spoke. “You’re already introducing me to new situations.”

“I try my best.” I smiled. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll think of some stuff that you and Amanda have in common, and we’ll see if we can’t make you two closer friends by the end of the night.”

The first floor was filling up as the students from the ground level migrated towards the comfortable furniture.

William reclined back into the sofa, letting it envelop him,

“Does she know how old you are?”

His words caused me to do a double take.

“It hasn’t come up.” I chose my words carefully.

“Because you haven’t brought it up?” William stared at me with a shrewd expression. “You might want to let Amanda know. It’s a small thing now, but when she trusts you more it’ll seem like a bigger betrayal.”

“Is it a small thing?” I asked.

I was asking sincerely. I still had my old world’s mentality about age, where a two-year-old child didn’t hang out with teenagers and go to school.

“Nobles and magicians are used to it.” He pointed at me and then himself. “You’re rare, but your ageing isn’t that rare. At best it’s a small surprise that she’ll get over it quickly. At worst it’s a slightly bigger surprise that she’ll get over quickly.”

He was right. The reactions I had gotten from my age had ranged from surprise to indifference, but everyone had gotten over it in the end. Things simply didn’t work the same way in this world, a place where magicians could defy the natural laws of the world I knew.

Amanda and Alexis could be the same age I was.

I knew that wasn’t the case, but the idea comforted me.

“What brought this on?” I exhaled.

“I’m telling you this because it’s the wisest thing to do if I want to make this a more permanent friend group.” He smirked.

He looked up as he spoke, and I followed his gaze.

I could see Amanda, Alexis, and Unice among the crowds of people. Unice spotted me and I waved. She grabbed Alexis’ arm and the trio made their way towards us.

I watched Amanda and nodded my head.

It wouldn’t be a bad idea to tell her soon. I’d gotten to know her, and I would feel bad if I kept it from her now that it had been pointed out. Like William said, it wasn’t a big deal.

Of course, the middle of a party wasn’t the best place to do that.

“Unice, good to see you again.” I stood up to shake her hand.

She gave me a hug instead.

“Andross! I was hoping you’d come.” Her face was filled with joy. “I hope Ouros didn’t steal the full tour away from me.”

I was going to make a joke when I saw her expression. It looked like she genuinely wanted to give me a tour of the castle.

“I got through a couple of rooms on the second floor. Your dogs are cute.” I saw her expression falter. “But I haven’t seen the third and fourth floor yet.”

I didn’t think the people around me even needed to see those floors. There was enough space for everyone on the lower floors.

“We absolutely have to go back to the second floor.” She perked up. “I have something top-secret to show you. Top. Secret.”

She pressed a finger against her lips.

I looked around at the group of people that had all heard her clearly. Amanda and Alexis were shaking their heads and William was clearly conflicted.

He was a person that always made the wisest decisions, and Unice was doing the opposite.

It hurt him to see it.

“That sounds like a plan.” I peeked at William. “How about we do that once everyone is settled in?”

“Okay, it’s a deal.” Unice grinned.

She turned around as someone called her name and she fluttered off to greet them. Amanda sat down beside me, sandwiching me between William and herself.

The sofa was wide, but it separated them from making conversation.

“Have you seen Hutton and Cresp?” Alexis shifted to face me. “I swear they went up here.”

His face was slightly pale, and I could see a smattering of sweat dripping down his forehead. I gathered from context that he was talking about his two friends.

“They definitely passed me on the stairs.” I looked around. “Maybe they got lost in the crowd.”

“They’ll show up. I need to rest anyway. It was a long walk here.” Alexis wiped a bead of sweat off his nose.

I offered him a seat on the sofa, but he shook his head and stayed standing.

“I heard from my dad that you and Amanda are sparring now.”

I saw Amanda’s hair flare up lightly beside me, and she tucked it behind her ear.

Her father had gone around during the party talking to different people, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was telling them all right now about the scheduled match between Amanda and Alexis.

“Ah.” Alexis realised his mistake. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine.” Amanda waved her hand. “Dad’s an ass.”

Alexis snorted and a grin spread across his face.

“I bet you’re happy you don’t have to deal with this in your household. You’re an only child, right?”

“Yeah.” I nodded.

“Lucky. Then you don’t have to deal with all this head of household junk. You just get to inherit yours outright.”

I stared at him and then looked at William and Amanda. Amanda shrugged.

“I think there’s been a misunderstanding.” I spoke. “I’m not a noble.”

It wasn’t a lie.

My father had been stricken from the official household records and couldn’t be admitted until the family officially accepted him back. All that really meant was that he couldn’t officially lead the household.

There was also the matter of my upbringing. My mum and dad hadn’t raised me as a noble, and my knowledge of noble families was mostly taught to me by the Zodiac employees. Amanda knew that I had no knowledge of noble customs, and I had assumed she had told her family.

Apparently, she hadn’t. I felt a tinge of gratitude in my heart.

“You’re not?” He didn’t hide his shock. “But you’re metal attuned, and I see you doing all that harder work in symbols class.”

“My dad is a scriber, and I got the metal attunement on my own.” I shrugged. “There’s not much more I can say about it. It’s just how it is.”

Alexis nodded his head, and I could see his mind drifting. Then his eyes cleared, and he stared at me.

“How many hours a day did you have to study to get to where you are?” He asked.

His expression was genuinely curious.

I had never been asked that before.

“Before school it wasn’t uncommon for me to work on my symbols studies for twelve hours a day. That includes the inscribing practice.” I gestured with my hand and a tendril of silver flew out of my pocket. “If I wasn’t inscribing or studying new symbols then I was practicing my magic.”

William nodded his head as though it was the norm. Amanda and Alexis looked at me in shock.

“I thought we had it bad.” Alexis tapped his foot against the ground. “What did your dad bribe you with?”

“Bribe me?” I laughed. “I worked for free as an intern in his scriber section of the company. His payment was the studying.”

Reincarnating into another world had instilled me with a very simple principle from early on, hard work pays dividends.

At first it had been about learning the new and mysterious parts of this world, magic and symbols, but as I continued it quickly became about improving myself as much as possible. Whenever I felt an improvement in my scribing abilities or magic, I felt good.

Having a death sentence over my head also helped my concentration.

“That’s… Unexpected.” Alexis’ hair lit up in his excitement. “I'll be honest, I assumed you were from one of the southern clans. Not many commoners get as far as you have.”

I could tell he didn’t mean the word ‘commoner’ as an insult, and I could see Amanda shaking her head in embarrassment.

I was a Marked one, but I wasn’t going to tell him my secrets.

“Let's just say I’m happy to have attuned to metal, but that doesn’t mean it came easy.” I turned my body towards William. “How many hours do you train a day?”

I couldn’t imagine master Wilhelm Letting him off easy.

“About the same as you. Maybe a bit more on weekends when my dad is free.” William pursed his lips. “It’s a different tutor every hour most days. This is the first evening I’ve had off in five months.”

Alexis’ posture straightened and his eyes gleamed. I recognised his attitude; it was the same as when Amanda had started talking about books.

Was Alexis a training junkie? Maybe he only liked to hear about harsh training.

Alexis opened his mouth to respond when a girl coughed beside him.

Unice had returned, and she was looking at me.

“Hey Andross, can we chat for a moment?” She smiled sweetly.

“Sure.” I lifted myself up and the sofa wobbled.

Alexis took the seat beside William, his body shifting to face his fellow student.

William flailed in his seat, and I gestured at him comfortingly. They had enough to talk about while I was with Unice. I could see that Alexis was dying to keep the conversation going.

William would be getting some firsthand experience at making friends.

Unice and I made our way upstairs. My footsteps echoed out as we took our time in the spiral staircase. I could see that she was itching to tell me something and when we entered the second-floor corridor, she couldn’t wait any longer.

She skipped ahead of me and turned around to face me.

“Okay, now that I have you, I need your opinion on something important.”

Her eyes twinkled as we moved through the corridors.

“I want you to see my new metal cultivation room.”