A quarter of an hour after Wolf’s unexpected outburst Anna, Wayde and Wolf were sitting at the table in Wayde’s and Wolf’s room, sipping tea.

Accompanying them was an elderly lady in prim clothes, with a prim expression on her face.

“I’ll ignore the hug which took place just now. By the way, this is some fine tea,” the elderly woman said as she took another sip from the fine cup, her pinkie primly up in the air.

Anna and Wolf looked at the old minder with awkward looks which could pass for gratitude.

“Thank you Madam,” Anna said with more gratitude than she really felt. “This pea for brains here got carried away after not seeing me for a long while. We are old friends.”

Kids… At your age you dare say anything about you is old? Even though that’s what she thought, the chaperone refrained from commenting.

She was paid to be discrete and to keep the young ones from going astray. Well, at least from blatantly breaking the Academy rules.

“What an unexpected acquaintance you have there young miss,” she said before taking another sip of tea.

Wolf nodded his head and chuckled. “Years ago she ran away from home and dressed up like a serving girl. I found her on the street and took care of her for a while. I was sure that she would’ve ended up sacked if I’d left her alone.”

“Wolf!” Anna shouted angrily as she indignantly slammed her teacup against the table. He was referring to her as if she were a stray cat! And he was embarrassing her without restraint.

“Sacked?” Wayde and the old woman asked at the same time.

The old woman was especially confused, due to her own sensitivities. Who could fire a child who didn’t even have a job?

“Yes, sacked. You know, when they put you in a sack. Happens all the time to beggar kids.” Wolf grit his teeth while explaining the sacking phenomenon.

The old woman blinked slowly once. “You mean kidnapping?”

Wolf nodded his head.

“Yes, but there’s a subtle difference. They put you in a sack and take you away. Almost happened to me once,” Wolf explained with an awkward expression caught between rage and embarrassment.

“How… interesting. Life on the streets seems very colorful,” the nanny said and then took another sip of the tea Wolf had brewed.

“Good tea,” she said once more, hinting that she was interested in getting the tea leaves. Unfortunately, Wolf was as dense as a rock.

“Thank you Madam,” Anna stepped in quickly to cover for her friend’s incompetence. “Wolf, where did you BUY this tea?”

Please don’t say you stole it somewhere. You should have enough money to buy it, the young lady thought.

For a moment she thought about elbowing Wolf to get the hint. Considering he spent his days with South, Anna believed that Wolf was as socially skilled as a rabid bear.

“I got it from a special store in the city. I rarely get to drink it though, since Big brother isn’t much of a tea person,” Wolf lied just a bit.

This was the tea he’d gotten as a present from Roger, but he couldn’t say that without exposing his alter ego.

“How is that old per… son?” Anna stopped herself in time. Otherwise an inappropriate and very unladylike word would’ve slipped her lips.

“Big brother’s the same as ever,” Wolf said. “I’m going to have lunch with him in three days time.”

“May I join?” Anna blurted out, and the old woman immediately frowned. This was no different from the young noble lady asking this boy out on a date.

Anna immediately realized her guff, but there was no unsaying the words.

“Wolf… is an excellent cook!” she exclaimed. “His food is much better than what you get to eat in the academy cafeteria or in most Silver City’s restaurants for that matter.”

The old chaperone cocked her eyebrow.

“You don’t say?” she said after a moment of silence. Naturally, she didn’t believe a single word.

Wolf was the talk of the Mage Academy already, and a family sacrificing their daughter to draw him in was a very obvious ploy to this experienced woman.

On paper Anna was a student of the elite class, but there were rumors going around about how her father had sunk a lot of money into getting her there, hoping he could marry her off into a family of higher standing.

Edwin Didot was hardly the first man to come up with such a ploy, and the story usually ended with a ruined girl killing herself in humiliation after being used and discarded by some playboy.

Seeing the look the chaperone was giving her, Anna fought with all her might not to blush.

“But it’s true! Wolf, could you cook something for us?” Anna practically begged him to get her out of the embarrassing situation.

“I’m shy.” Wolf acted shy. Are you insane, woman?! You want me, a beggar, to show a complete stranger a thousand gold pieces worth of cooking utensils and the fact that I have a Ring of Holding!?

“Besides, I don’t have anywhere to cook here,” Wolf gave Anna a hint just in case she ratted him out.

The young lady either didn’t take the hint, or she wanted Wolf to suffer because he’d revealed some of her shameful, tomboyish past.

Anna was about to say something, but thankfully the old minder beat her to the chase. “You can prepare the food in the shared kitchen on this floor. I mean you just brewed this lovely tea for us there, so there’s no reason to be shy about cooking some food.”

“I don’t have any ingredients.” Wolf still tried to worm his way out, but the chaperone would have none of it.

“Nonsense,” she said in a no-nonsense tone of voice. “You’re an elite student here. I’ll follow you to the kitchen. You can pick and choose whatever you want from there. Nobody'll dare say a word about a couple of steaks going missing.”

The woman took Wolf by the hand and led him out of the room. Suddenly finding himself alone in the room with Anna, Wayde smiled in a way he undoubtedly believed was suave.

“You two get going! I may be old, but I’m not senile!” the chaperone said from just outside the door.

“Yes Madam!” Anna and Wayde chirped and followed after the minder and the extremely unwilling Wolf.

The kitchen was well stocked, giving Wolf ample ingredients to choose from. Cooks watched with curiosity and after observing him for a while they were both impressed and dissatisfied with the young man’s performance. The pipsqueak was like a thief. He picked the best of everything he laid his hands on.

The kitchen staff was knowledgeable about spotting good ingredients, and they could easily see that this boy knew at least something about cooking. But they didn’t make much of it, every kitchen hand knew how to pick decent chunks of meat and the right vegetables.

Once Wolf had picked his ingredients, the four of them went to Wayde’s and Wolf’s dorm and headed to the shared kitchen to watch Wolf prepare food.

The old chaperone was impressed.

The tiny youth was very proficient at chopping up ingredients. He was fast, didn’t hesitate and every chunk came out more or less the exact same size.

In Wolf’s practiced hands the knife moved as if it had eyes and will of its own. The minder couldn’t have known that Wolf was a Sword-Sage. In a way, fine chopping like this, was a kind of meditation to him.

Several minutes after Wolf had finished cooking, the group of four was back in Wolf’s and Wayde’s room eating at the table.

“This… This is really good!” the old woman said with approval and disbelief after taking a bite. “You didn’t use magic to change the flavor, right?”

The question itself was silly. She was a Third Order Mage, and she would’ve noticed it if Wolf had tried anything funny.

Wolf frowned at the tactless question. “Why would I ever do that? If you can’t cook, don’t cook. Besides, even if I had changed the smell and the flavor, you’d still feel sick if I messed up the cooking part.”

The old woman felt embarrassed for a moment, realizing her slip-up. Being an amateurish diplomat, she quickly changed the topic.

“Where do you have that lunch of yours? If you want I can be the chaperone that follows the two of you,” she offered selflessly.

However, as soon as she said that, Wayde protested, “Madam, what do you mean two?! There are three of us here!”

“All right three. But the Mage Academy rules still require for a chaperone for a party of three,” the woman agreed to Wayde’s correction without skipping a beat.

When have I agreed to any of this? And those rules only apply while we’re on campus! Wolf blinked in disbelief as the situation slowly got out of hand.

“They have their lunches on Sundays, and they usually eat late. And knowing that… person… they will be eating in a trash-filled back alley in the Merchants’ District. It’s in the vicinity of the Cursed bridge. I still remember the way over, and we can easily find it. But we should leave before ten in the morning to make it in time,” Anna chirped in with a helpful tone of voice.

“They eat near a garbage heap?” The old woman paled when she heard that, but a moment later she steeled her resolve. “I guess that’s fine. We can come a bit earlier and I’ll bring something to clean up.”

***

Atop a certain garbage heap, in a certain trash-filled alley, a certain drunkard lay on his back. Suddenly he shuddered as he felt chills creep up his spine.

“Why do I sense a grim future?” he asked as he lazily opened his eyes, looking at the skies in wonder.

***

“Madam, you have to understand that both of them are beggars, and one of them lives in that trash filled back alley. So eating in such an environment is natural for both of them,” Anna explained everything, completely ignoring Wolf’s sour expression.

“Hey! You were coming over regularly to eat with us!” Wolf said, but then realized he had bigger concerns. “No! Wait! That’s not the issue here–”

“Fine, fine,” the old lady said, not paying much attention to Wolf’s tantrum.

Youths were supposed to be moody, and given her experience and social intelligence she knew that with Anna here, there was only one possible conclusion to this whole affair. “I’ll do a bit of cleaning and we could bring a folding picnic table with us. Do you kids have Rings of Holding, or should I borrow one from the Mage Academy?”

Let me finish! How did things end up like this? Wolf tried to protest a couple of times, but his words fell on deaf ears, and the other three hashed out all the details. Including a coach pulled by magical steeds, table, chairs, pots, pans, tableware and getting a portable stove for the day.

They agreed on everything with great enthusiasm and finally asked Wolf whether he was going to cook tomorrow as well.

“I’m a student here, not a cook. I have to study. I don’t have the time to cook for you people!” Wolf was on the verge of shouting, and the chaperone backed away.

They’d pushed the youth as far as he was willing to be pushed. Even though Wolf protested, she could tell he was kind of glad he’d be taking Anna and Wayde to lunch, while she tagged along to protect Anna’s purity.

Where are those pesky butlers now? Wolf grumbled inwardly. They’ve been bugging me for two hours straight, but didn’t interrupt these three at all!

Wolf didn’t know that the butlers had stopped swarming him because the visiting hours had ended. And as soon as there was nobody around to spread the rumors, Anna came over for a visit.

“Do you mind if I ask one thing?” Wolf asked the old woman as an idea popped up in his head.

“Naturally dear, feel free to ask anything,” the woman said with a smile.

Her impression of Wolf had somewhat improved after he’d served her tea. The lunch the youth had prepared was even more impressive.

She wouldn’t mind a grandson-in-law who could cook like this little youth. She should bring it up with one of her granddaughters.

“Could you do me a favor and deny entrance to those annoying butlers?” Wolf had given the woman fine tea, made lunch for her and she even wormed her way into the lunch he wanted to have with Anna. It was about time she did something useful.

Unexpectedly the woman immediately nodded her head. “Sure thing. Students have the right to refuse visitors they don’t want to see. You can also add specific days when you are willing to host visitors. Many students do this, especially a week or two before the exam, or when they leave for a mission.”

“Thank you Madam,” Wolf said feeling grateful and yet like he’d asked for way little in return for the inconvenience this woman was.

***

While three people were having fun and Wolf was annoyed, albeit not in a bad way, the army of butlers had returned to submit reports to their lords. All of them had failed and while their masters didn’t really blame them they couldn’t help reacting to the news.

Majority of them simply sighed. They didn’t really expect anything, and they were just testing their luck for the cheap cost of a couple of hours of their majordomo’s time.

At least that was the case for almost all Barons and Viscount households. A new True-Namer wasn’t a big deal for them. Such a person had status above theirs. The only thing which would change was that they would get a new person they paid tribute to. In that case having a greenhorn would give them plenty of leeway and benefits in terms of tax evasion opportunities.

So, just about all of them decided to leave Wolf alone and wish him the best of luck. They would wait for an opportunity to help him out, if he ever needed help. Having a high noble owe them a favor was one of the best things they could expect out of this affair. But there were some households that had a very different view of the situation.

Those were shaky Baron and Viscount households. A new Count would most likely demote an existing one into a Viscount, which would in domino effect shake that Count’s weakest Viscount and that Viscount’s weakest Baron, turning the Baron into a Thane or a Knight, which was hardly any better than being a commoner.

Even more shaken were some of the Counts and Marquesses. Both considered a rising True-Namer a direct threat, and the heads of various households were now consulting their advisors on how to handle the situation. Counts didn’t really expect that they could get this boy under their wing, but Marquesses were surprised with the boy’s refusal. A Marquess’s honored guest practically had a higher status than a Count and this was exactly the kind of offer they had made to Wolf.

In an extravagantly furnished mansion in the elite part of the Nobles’ district, a Marquess was having a fit.

“That brat dares!” the fat blonde man yelled, smashing a glass of spirits against the wall. “Do we have any information on his family or friends? No? Then get it! Now! He couldn’t have appeared out of thin air! There must be people he cares about! We can buy them, if we can’t buy him! If need be, buy them literally!”

Some, less stable, households which were at the bottom of their rank were contemplating even more drastic measures. The rise of a new Marquess or Count could mean the decline, or even the ruin of their house.