Harlan made his way to the cafeteria, sometimes it felt like he spent too much time here just talking about nothing with the others.

Adina looked dreary as she sat with the others, but she perked up when she heard the footsteps she knew all too well.

He got his food and sat down with a few plates; tonight was what they called a stir fry in Reino.

The name was self-evident when he looked at the rice and meat and vegetables.

“I am sorry for taking so long to get back.”

“It was scary when my father’s men came to get me. It was really scary when Mary stood in their way.”

“I can do what we talked about tonight. You won’t need to worry about that any longer.”

“Sure, let’s do that after dinner then.”

“Alright, though it is important to have impartial witnesses for things like this.”

Harlan floated up in the air and boosted the range, but not the volume, of his voice, no need to blow out any eardrums with a simple spell when a bit more finesse would get a better result.

“I WILL BE MAKING AN ANNOUNCEMENT AT THE HALL OF CEREMONIES AFTER DINNER, IF THIS PEAKS THE INTEREST OF ANYONE HERE THEN FEEL FREE TO ATTEND.”

The room immediately filled with murmurs, Harlan was already the talk of the academy after his honorary count title and his involvement in the communicators were announced and then he went missing for multiple days.

Few people had actually witnessed what happened so the most common theory was that he was doing work directly under the king at the time.

Adina did not like all of the eyes now on him however, since it inevitably meant eyes on everyone around him.

“Why did you say that?”

She spoke quietly and leaned over the table.

“We need witnesses, just in case this does go to the courts. We really have no idea how that would even go since our systems have been separated for over a thousand years. I already got witnesses for the grand saint saying that so long as no secrets or blood are spilled she won’t stand in the way of people leaving.”

His questions were never about how she wanted to run Reino, he didn’t care about that, but by getting her to make a clear proclamation and calling her word law she would look wishy washy if she took back her words just a few days later.

Even with absolute authority over her nation she still wanted to be respected as a leader who could be trusted at her word.

Amber came over to his table and sat next to him.

“So, are you finally getting married? It might be a little early, but it should be fine.”

Amber knew what she was doing, the pot had been stirred even more than after Harlan called out to everyone, people were even more interested in whatever he was doing now.

She figured if Harlan wanted people, then he wanted as many as he could get.

She pinched his side to get a connection.

“What in the hell are you doing?”

“I’m making Adina my vassal, I think I’ll go with my minister of justice to mock her father.”

She pinched harder so he could actually feel it.

“Ow, what?”

“Really? Is that what you are doing? Shouldn’t I be a vassal first, I’m your sister after all. I thought you were actually going to propose to her.”

“Do you want to be my minister of pinches?”

Her nails dug into him.

“Fine, Master Warmage. Something that isn’t honorary but I hope I won’t need. No responsibilities.”

“That's better. And we are going to need a LONG talk about why you left for almost 3 days without telling anyone… we were really worried and nobody would tell us anything.”

Harlan thought about what Mary told him before.

“Thank you for being worried about me.”

She broke off the connection but stayed at the table.

The Golden girls were watching everything happen, waiting to get involved with whatever crazy plan Harlan was currently implementing.

“Did the two of you have fun at the gala? I’m sorry I couldn’t be there with you for most of it.”

Yara spoke first.

“Yes, I had a very nice time, your friend Cynthia told me quite a lot about you, she seemed to enjoy the topic. And it helps me understand you better to know that you were once a more harmless kind of troublemaker.”

“I’ve always only been as harmful as I need to be. Not a lot of room for harmless pranks here.”

Ximena wanted to give a short description before Yara tried to wrangle him into a longer chat.

“Well, I happened to speak with the other princess, Rosewell, and her daughter, Relly.”

“Relly isn’t her daughter.”

“Oh? Really? I would never have known with how she treats her. But, as I was saying, she didn’t tell me much since most of your time with her is a state secret, however I find it interesting that you’ve gotten close to two princesses.”

“I got close to two good people.”

They spoke mostly at him, Zella feeling a little left out until they started talking more about Rosewell, who she actually had a close relationship with.

He was absorbed in the first real food he had eaten in days.

Eventually it was time, they moved as a group with Harlan at the helm and flanked on his left by Adina and Amber on his right.

The large congregation made any students in the halls wonder what was happening so they came long, even some of the teachers were wondering what was happening.

Warnings were put out to watch what would be happening.

The hall of ceremonies was largely unused outside of well, ceremonies.

It could hold 4 thousand people, which was roughly the number of students and staff combined minus a few hundred.

As the academy expanded the room was not inadequate for both staff and students, but there would be enough room for everyone who would be coming.

The ceiling was high and vaulted with murals of Marigold’s actions painted in gory detail, she did not want to hide from the blood she had spilled and felt it added weight to whatever ceremonies would be taking place in the room.

The room was set up on a slanted half circle so everyone could see whatever would be happening and a number of arrays made sure that the voices of the speakers on stage would carry to everyone.

Mary was sitting on a chair in the middle, having been called on as the officiator.

She would be the one who controlled the arrays in the worst case scenario and acting as an official witness whose name would be on the documents.

Amber and Adina stood across from Harlan and waited to see who would be called upon first.

Harlan hadn’t really written what he wanted to say and the kingdom had guidelines for what he needed to say, but everyone added their own flair to the event, so Harlan would do the same.

“Amber Formoria, step forth and kneel.”

She did as asked.

Harlan drew Lugh and shapeshifted him into a blade styled to his own taste.

He had been thinking of the blade that he wanted that would be his, he was Fomorian, but he was also human and he only really liked half of that.

The machete design that he had wielded had become part of what people knew about him, but it was also a tie to the half of himself that he didn’t like.

So he would have a new sword, one that was his.

Lugh lengthened his handle and blade, pommel to tip he was 4 feet, abnormally long for a sword used by Harlan who still only stood at 4’9 himself.

The blade itself had not become any thinner, the thick back of the original design was now another edge, its mass being used for the length, and its most distinct feature, a flared tip.

The top of the blade was a crescent shape, it would make it something more for heavy slashes to cut through armor and bone, with the hooks to let Lugh cast magic from their tips directly into the targets.

A quick shifting could also reverse these hooks to try and stop larger charging beasts.

They had both worked on the design and consulted a teacher of blacksmithing at the academy.

It was somewhat ornamental, but it was still a fine design as a real weapon and because it was still Lugh he could shorten himself so he wouldn’t be getting in the way of anything.

“By these powers which are vested in me by His Highness Sir Yggdra the 15th of his name, I hereby grant you vassalship. You are my family, but now you must be more.”

The floor around them went pure black as Harlan covered it in a harmless wispy darkness, followed by cold fire that didn’t rise more than an inch off the ground and had the same waves as his crest.

Harlan placed the flat side of the blade on both of her shoulders then on her head.

“Raise, Lady Fomoria, Master Warmage of House Fomoria. I hope that I never need to call upon your knowledge, yet should that be required there is no other who I would ask before you.”

You could’ve heard a pin drop in the room as the students realized what Harlan would be doing to Adina.

Everyone knew that something was happening with her, but the original incident had happened late at night while the night students were in class and the day students were sleeping.

Harlan would need to send her instructions through soulspeak as this went on.

“Lady Adina, come forth.”

Adina was shaking as she stepped forward, worried that as soon as she got on one knee she wouldn’t be able to get up.

This was it, when she got up she would likely never go home again, and it was that thought that brought her peace.

The weight of her father was being removed from her head.

“Lady Adina, do you hereby renounce all claim to your assets, both blood and brick, within Reino, do you renounce your nation.”

“I do.”

“Do you say this in full presence of mind, under no threat of harm from myself or any within Ragne.”

“I do.”

“Then cast aside the shackle of your nation.”

She took off her glasses and placed them on the darkness, Harlan turned it to void and they were reduced to little more than dust to be swept up by a cleaning crew.

“With this you are no longer Lady Adina, Daughter of Malachi, you are Adina, orphan of Ragne.”

“I am fully aware of this and I have acted with full presence of mind.”

“Then I ask you now, shall you not be Adina, orphan of Ragne, but Adina, Minister of Justice for House Fomoria. You would be granted rank and home with annuities paid from myself to you for whatever duty I call upon you for, you would serve my house until the time of my death or my release of you from my bonds. Do you accept the terms I have set?”

“I do.”

He performed the same motions as with Amber.

“By these powers which are vested in me by His Highness Sir Yggdra the 15th of his name, I hereby grant you vassalship, Lady Adina of house Fomoria. You shall not take my name, yet you have rights to use it in your duties in such a way that does not break this trust which I have placed in you.

Raise yourself, hold your head high.”

She stood up, Harlan’s telekinetic grip keeping her stable as she sat next to Mary and Amber.

Her robe turned golden with a simple gesture from Mary.

Harlan turned on one leg, stomping loudly first with his foot and then slamming the tip of Lugh into the stage.

The sound jolted the students from the shock and made him seem 10 feet tall.

“I hereby end this ceremony, I shall take no word nor challenge for my actions.”

His swagger as he walked out of the room with Lugh held reversed in his hand gave him the appearance of a leader for perhaps the first time in his life.

At the top of the stairs however was the older Cato brother.

“I challenge your actions. You have taken a daughter of Reino without regard for her kin, and without prior notice.”

“Her kin has never held regard for her. I see no reason why I might give them prior notice.”

“You are not the one to decide that.”

“Then her kin may face me in the courts. I have broken no laws here or within your lands. The Grand Saint Fragile Peace said herself that her word is law, and the immigration of her people to Ragne without shedding of blood or secret shall be met without resistance.”

Harlan really wanted to leave, this stiff talk was getting in on his nerves now.

“Why not settle the matter in a trial by combat?”

“In the words of The Grand Saint Fragile Peace, she wishes a nation where man might live in peace.

I hope to honor that wish through peaceful resolution with quill and ink, not steel and blood.

Please stand aside, elder son of Cato.”

It was hard for him to argue against Harlan.

By directly invoking her words in front of so many people Cato couldn’t use an excuse of not being aware of what she had said before.

Along with her words that any whose cause was unjust in the punishment of those who left the country peacefully were not her people, there was a real risk that he could lose his head.

Harlan had acted the fool for a long time, and he was a fool for a long time.

But the more he planned the revenge against the Cato's the more he understood how to be a real bastard, Sepul had given him many books and lessons on how to do so after all.

Manipulating a 13 year old girl who had been the leader of a nation for only a year was childsplay with a little use of empathy.

He considered the ability unethical as it was a minor form of mind control in his opinion, but he also understood that it was the lesser of evils because he was still willing to kill a lot of people to make sure Adina would be safe.

Cato stood aside, understanding it was his loss and believing that the courts of the two nations would favor his side.

Harlan felt a rush go through him.

It was nice to feel fear of an enemy who had wronged him, but to see him defeated with nothing but a few words, ones which he had set up in advance to tear him down.

Well, it was truly something else and so he wore a malicious small on his face as he walked out of the room.

When the doors closed students on all sides really didn’t know how to react other than Harlan’s friends who clapped and then left the room.

For Ragne, Harlan just let a student from Reino into his house, which really wasn’t a cause for celebration.

For Reino, Adina was somebody who they were supposed to either hate or ignore since she was a burden on their nation.

Losing her didn’t really have an impact unless somebody knew that she was being used as a political cudgel directly against Harlan.

For the Confederacy, Ragne was an ally and without all of the other context they didn’t celebrate because the students of Ragne didn’t do it.

Barely any false undead were even there, most of them were hoping for a confession of love and left disappointed.

It was certainly shocking, but it was more just really strange for everyone who was viewing it from the outside.

People thought of Harlan relatively positively at this point, he was helpful and attentive in class and people asked him for small favors all the time.

Find this, look at this spell for errors or advice, talk to somebody on my behalf.

He asked for nothing, which made no small number of people worry, but for others it meant they had somebody to bother for small things and who didn’t mind giving up his own magical knowledge.

With this everyone was still wondering what exactly he was doing.

When they got back to Harlan’s room he Adina just sat on his couch and shivered.

She was scared and very, very, happy.

She basically jumped from social pariah even in her own house to a minor noble in a different country in 5 months.

“Harlan, hold my hand, I really don’t want this to be a dream.”

“Even if it was, I’d still be here when you wake up.”

She nervously chuckled and everyone else in the room looked at the two of them and wondered how they hadn’t gotten together yet.

“Alright, I know we just ate dinner, but I can at least give everybody some tea to celebrate. Or wine, I do own a few bottles.”

The tension was broken and Harlan ended up assaulted by questions from everybody from Amber to Adelwulf for the rest of the night until Sepul showed up to kick everyone back to their rooms.

Normally it would be a dormmaster, but Sepul also wanted an excuse to talk to Harlan.