“That was a good fight, Beth,” The Academ pulled the girl in a soft hug before ruffling Casey’s head. Much of her warmth was directed toward Casey, so I wondered if she had already accepted her as her in-law. “And you too, pretty.”

“Thank you, Yura,” Casey smiled at her, but Beth more or less glared at the Academ for ruffling Casey’s hair. A grunt followed, and she flicked Yura’s away.

“And you fought well, Letitia,” Yura continued with her praises, and my lady bowed her head imperceptibly. There was a brief chatter until Yura raised her eye at me and said, “You didn’t see me, Rudolf.”

“I didn’t see you, lady Yura,” I repeated with a smile.

"Never knew you were a progressive mage," she said, watching Beth's healed wrist. "You could become a royal mage instead of retaining your status as a commoner."

"I'm happy with serving my lady, Yura." And with my goal of raising her to become a dangerous villainess. "She treats me better than the royal bas... family ever could."

Yura smiled as if she understood my thoughts until my bread lad, who was quite busy watching the commuters, entered her view. “He is the mage from the gates, isn’t he?”

Garlan turned around and nodded politely, resorting to his courteous behavior. “Your beauty reeled me to the gates, dear Academ, but my heart couldn’t walk past the barring of the moral boundary. For you are married and beautiful, and I am single and blind in youth. I am Garlan, dear Academ, one who guards the gates to your hearth.”

“He’s as crazy as your dead deranged horse, Yura,” Beth rolled her eyes, but Yura was quite amused.

“He’s quite poetic,” Yura said, her smile startling Garlan.

“Did you see that, Rudolf?” I rolled my eyes at his smug. “That’s how you pick up girls; with a few poetic lines, there’ll be a line of ladies waiting for you, even if you are not as handsome as me. Brains pay off more than your face unless you decide to be an exhibitionist.”

“He doesn’t need to be poetic, mutt,” my lady grumbled and moved closer to me.

The other ladies ignored him despite Yura’s amused laughs. She was a commoner now, so she didn’t have qualms about associating with one. Not that I knew her before she became a commoner, but all nobles were haughty until life churned their gut for the better. Or maybe undead, if they let them live after churning the gut, that is. Her gentle demeanor might be rooted in her blood, for not any sane noblewoman would leave the glory of her lineage behind to pursue a simplistic life of a commoner. Even helpless ones would die scheming rather than just walk away.

“Where are we going, Yura?” Casey asked with a smile, her hand already clasping Beth’s arm. “For the party.”

“How about Kafer? The new restaurant right across the corner,” Yura asked, but I knew it was more of an order. And so did everyone else if you ignore Garlan, who was too occupied with his antics.

“What?!” Beth raised her eye in question. “Isn’t that your own restaurant? Are you trying to mug us?!”

“Your brother is running the restaurant, Beth,” Yura smiled, but she was already on her way away from the arena. “And we have ample space for a party of six! Not much crowd these days is adding on to our stock and expenses, so we have a lot of wast… food left.”

“Were you about to say waste?!” Beth guffawed as Casey caressed her arm.

As long as I got bread, it didn’t make a difference to me, and Garlan shared the sentiment for a free meal. I hadn’t expected us to be the guests of their graduation meal, but well, you should learn to cast away your pride for a loaf of bread. Pride was worthless for the undead since we didn’t really need to prove anything to mortals. We mangled a few faces if they annoyed us, but otherwise, there was not much to be said about revenge.

My lady and her friends were hesitant, and after sharing a few glances, they followed Yura with much reluctance.

The usual pavements graced the streets, grey stones spanning wide and far. We strolled past the market, Garlan and me stopping by multiple stores as the Yura led the ladies through the familiar streets. It was probably her last year as the Academ, but I wasn’t particularly interested in the inner political workings of the Academy. My lady had almost graduated, so it was just another empty building in a few more months. I would miss my nameless tree and my countless sleep cycles underneath the foliage, nonetheless.

The restaurant was on the left street, smaller when compared to the tenements in the distance but still imposing enough to welcome new commuters. ‘Kafer’ in bold was strapped on a grey board right above the portico adorned with red tiles, and there weren’t many commuters entering the new, unfamiliar restaurant. None, to be exact, because of the ‘closed’ sign at the entrance.

A seat against the counter was our rightful place, for the chairs against the round tables spanning in the large room were upturned. It wasn’t early in the morning, so I affirmed they had some problems after noticing the weighty conversation between the couple. The owner was a good man, despite being young and dumb; that was evident from the way he interacted with his wife.

Body language alone talked in magnitude about a person. In this world, where every man had his brain in his pants, it was challenging to find nobility who genuinely respected their wives.

“Welcome!” he smiled at us once he was done talking to Yura, who naturally took a seat beside us on the long counter. “Beth! Long tim–”

“To hell with your longtime, Melon!” Beth said in annoyance. “Are you still trying to run a restaurant after running away from home?”

The man’s eyes softened under Beth’s glare, “Are you worried about me, Beth?”

Beth snorted and settled down beside Casey. “I’d rather shove my head in poop instead of caring for a pipsqueak heir.”

Melon cast a smile at Beth and passed her a glass of water. “You are holding up better than me, Beth,” he said and disappeared through the door behind him into the kitchen. I doubted he owned mana powered utensils within, but Yura’s presence told me not to disregard the fact entirely. She was a progressive mage, after all, one that could efficiently channelize mana without much work.

Guilt flashed across Beth’s eyes as she stared at her brother, and she silently resorted to drinking water. Yura had miscarried thrice while in the mansion, and it had become public knowledge at this point. The anti-commoner sentimental bunch was using this fact to get rid of her from the Academy once and for all, claiming that she was cursed, since not even the fetus dared to stay within her.

Once could be disregarded as coincidence, and twice could follow with some suspicion. But thrice set in stone the rumors that had followed her throughout my lady’s time in the Academy. King Berzilius wasn’t keen about the matters of the Academy in his old age, so unless Yura herself resigned from the post, there was no way any high-ranked minister could dissolve her title granted by the King. But Yura herself couldn’t go against the decree either, so she was trapped in a fissure, the walls closing in every passing day.

“Yura,” my lady called out. She rarely talked to outsiders, but her attempts to come out of her shell were admirable. “How did you escape the royal clutches?”

“Harem, you mean?” Yura asked with a smile as she settled down on the other side of the counter, as Melon busied himself with cooking.

My lady nodded, sipping her own glass of water that I had laid discreetly.

“That question shouldn’t even enter your mind, lady Letitia,” My bread lad smiled as he leaned on the counter. “Even the King is scared of plucking flowers fancied by Garlan, the immortal.”

Yura laughed, quite unnaturally.

“I was rebellious in the past, Letitia,” she said, filling up a mug of water for herself. “My family was a smaller noble household driven to the brink of extinction, and my presence only accelerated the pace. The raw hatred of my household only riled up my unruly mien. So, during my time in the Academy, I was hardly interested in the subjects and kept myself busy with stealing money from Mel. He often had to borrow and earn some trashing, but he delivered them on time.

“Things happened, I got kicked out, Mel took me in earning some real bad admonishment from his family. More things happened, I aced the Academy, but my lack of background and terrifying reputation thankfully warded off the Imbero family's attempt to push me into the harem. More more things happened, and Mel proposed marriage because he had fallen in love with his bully, and I, who had nothing better to do, acquiesced. In the end, we ended up getting kicked out of the household. Of course, after three miscarriages and countless tears, as the whole capital knows by now. Though, I wish he could have seen the faces of the children at least.”

She paused and took another sip from her glass with a smile. “It’s a tragedy, lady Letitia. Nobles getting married to commoners defies the law of the King, so you won’t have a place to call home. The same goes with my two little babies.”

“We aren’t your babies,” Beth said, her voice not stern as usual. “But damn! You have almost survived hell, Yura.”

“On a brighter side, I wouldn’t have met your brother if it wasn’t for that hell. His morning face often makes my day, though a despairing stroll through the corridor of the Academy isn’t really something I appreciate after rejuvenating in the morning. Not that I can quit anytime because I would be going against the King’s wishes. And neither can the Mage Congregation kick me out because my slates are clean.”

“Don’t worry, Academ. You can always come to see my face at the gates whenever your day gets harsh,” Garlan said, watching the kitchen door intently. He was growing impatient for food, probably as much as me.

Yura smiled. “Sure, Garlan. And call me Yura outside the Academy. I don’t really have any attachment to the label.”

“He is a pervert, Yura,” Beth glared at Garlan. “Who knows what he will fantasize about at night? He had the audacity to grope me in public!”

Garlan grunted, but he didn’t refute.

“Have you asked the mages for an approval letter, Letitia?” Yura asked, poking my lady, who had grown silent amidst the back and forth curses of Garlan and Beth.

The entire room had forgotten about my presence, for I hadn’t spoken a single word since we entered the deserted edifice.

“I haven’t decided yet,” my lady said, holding my palm that was lying idle over my thighs. Well, except one. “But I have already cleared a quest with this mutt, so wouldn’t he do?”

“Garlan isn’t a certified mage of the Academy, Letitia,” Yura laughed, which stopped the chatter in the room. “You need approval from a progressive mage or a higher ranked mage for graduation. They might assign you a mission or just ask you to shadow them for a few weeks. Or some might even write one after ascertaining your spells. But your reputation might make it harder for you to get a mage easily. And by you, I mean all three of you.”

“Can’t you help us out, good bitch?” Beth asked as she leaned on the counter.

“Certainly I can’t, bad bitch,” Yura replied, her lips curved to a taunting smirk. “I am the Academ, and you are better off without my acquaintances. They are vagrants first and then mages. You can always schmooze with Poisor, your homeroom instructor, and he might recommend you to many mages.”

“Poisor is a bastard,” Beth waved her hand and snarled. “He is too partial toward the bitch, and we are equivalent to trash for him.”

“Gladiata?” Yura asked with a smile. “She is an ideal Academician, Beth. I don’t see a single splotch on her, though I can understand why you hate her. In my young years, I detested kind kids with a passion. Now, I appreciate such kids.”

“She’s too unrealistic,” my lady said, and Casey bobbed her head.

“Gladiata even offered to heal me after my battle despite having been bullied by us so many times,” Casey said. “But we don’t appreciate her unjustified kindness. All she is doing is making us look more evil.”

“And we need to prove her right, don’t we?” Beth chimed in. “That’s why she is our prime suspect in every kind deed performed in the Academy. This pervert even robbed her in broad daylight once.”

“You forced me to, lady Beth,” Garlan said. “She was only helping me out.”

“Weren’t you really happy with the money, mutt?” My lady glared at him. “You could have always told her the truth, but you never did. Which makes you nothing more than scum. Worse than all four of us combined.”

“Yes,” I said and earned stares from all the directions. “I mean... I was just trying to mingle into the conversation without sounding odd. Those stares mean I failed, I guess.”

“That’s because you called me a scum, bastard,” Garlan smirked. “I–“

“No,” Beth interrupted him before he could go on. “Ruddy just affirmed to the truth, so we were taken back for a moment.”

“Sure, sure, “ Garlan waved his hand. “But what would you do about the approval letter, anyway?”

Silence descended in the room again, followed by three sighs. “We’ll manage somehow. Volch is a progressive mage, so we will go to him if no one else works out. Suspicious mage is better than none at all,” Casey said, resting her cheek on her palm.

“Only one letter for a mage,” Academ said. “Poisor will break it down to you right after the results of the graduation tournament, but you better find a separate mage for each one of you.”

“Shitty Academy never changes, does it?” Beth clicked her tongue as the door to the kitchen opened, and the fresh smell of spices entered the room. We hadn’t asked for the menu, and neither had he asked for our preferences, so it appeared like they were really trying to empty their excess stocks. There was bread in a basket, so it didn’t make much difference to me, either way.