The dorm hall was quiet. Basque had gotten so used to the laughter and chatter of his class that the silence was heavy. Uscar’s father seemed fine enough. Natt’s assurances assuage Basque to some extent, but the worry gnawing at his stomach wouldn’t go away.

  “They’ll be fine,” Natt said, rubbing his back.

  “It’s just… the one thing your country has taught me is that it’s malicious when and where I least expect it.”

  “Honestly, they’re better off with Colvin than going home.”

  He shook his head. He couldn’t fathom how that comment could apply to eighteen children. A single child every other year? Sure, bad families existed outside of Kruami, but for the majority to be so made him feel even sicker.

  “I know where your thoughts are going. It’s not because they have bad or uncaring parents. It’s the burden they would place on their families.”

  “Is that supposed to make it better somehow?”

  “Well, then, when your people invade and install a puppet government, feel free to fix it all, because I’m sure you’ve eradicated poverty in Hianbru.”

  “Touché. Fine. I’ll stop worrying.”

  She grabbed the sides of his head and pulled him down so she could kiss his forehead. “Worrying is what makes you great, though.”

  Wearing her standard uniform, not the gym one, for once, Reianna came out of her room and walked over to her teachers.

  “Got everything?” Natt asked.

  She nodded. Her hands were empty, which meant she packed so lightly that everything fit in her inventory, which was still only the default standard size.

  “Crystal?” Basque asked.

  “I have him in my inventory. Are you sure he’ll be okay?”

  “Yeah. Like I said, it’s only a theory.”

  Reianna looked at the floor. “I think I’d die if he turned…”

  Basque rubbed her shoulder. “I think we all would.” He looked at Natt and jerked his head. “Natt?”

  Tears rolled down her cheeks. She wiped them away. “Sorry, it’s just…I don’t know if any of us could handle that.”

  “I’ll let him out once we get to your place, okay?”

  Natt nodded. “Yeah, my parents will be fine with that.” She smiled, but another tear ran down her cheek. “Sorry, just…I was never a Yani-pet noble. I couldn’t stand watching something I loved so much turn. Give me a minute.” She ducked back into her and Basque’s room.

  Basque adjusted his backpack to rebalance the weight. “Are you excited to see your parents again?”

  “Yes! I wish you could meet them.”

  He smiled. “Maybe they can come for the next tournament.”

  Shaking her head, Reianna said, “I love them too much to let them see something like that.”

  Basque wanted to mention that the tournaments should improve and lose their death angle, but that would put too much faith in Krill. Basque would believe it when he saw it.

  Banca and Yesenia emerged from their room. Yesenia wore brown slacks with suspenders going over her tan shirt. Her rose-gold hair was up in a ponytail, and its shade complemented her outfit, making the cheap clothing look nice.

  Next to her, Banca wore an outfit similar to the school uniform, only it was lilac, like her hair. Whereas Yesenia was empty-handed, like Reianna, Banca had a large bag that she carried with her, and another that she had over her shoulder.

  “What’s with the bags?” Basque asked her.

  “It’s what I had up in my room on the eighth floor.”

  “Do you need it?”

  “No.”

  “Then why are you bringing them?” he asked.

  “So I can sell them.”

  “In the camps?”

  She sighed. A scowl settled on her face. “No. I’d like to stop by some place and sell them. Then, if we could, I’d like to go to a different store and buy clothes like what Yaz is wearing.”

  “You’re going to sell your nice clothes for cheap ones?” Reianna asked. “Why?”

  The scowl vanished as Banca looked at Reianna. “I don’t want them anymore. That’s not my life or me. I asked Yaz what kids at the camps would need most, and she said clothes.”

  Banca dropped the bag on her back. “If I can turn these into something useful, then I want to.”

  Reianna stared at Banca.

  “That’s very admirable of you, Banca,” Basque said.

  Her face hardened again as she looked at Basque. Natt stepped out of their room, and that hardness vanished again. “Once, someone taught me how to do these sorts of things.”

  Natt took a stutter step under the intensity of Banca’s stare. “What’s that? Are you talking about me?”

  “Banca is going to sell her clothes and use that money to buy clothes for kids in the camps,” Reianna explained.

  “Oh…” Natt said, then smiled. Her face shone with pride. “Take her to Avon Marco. They’ll probably buy her dresses and whatnot for the most part. Go down to Baymeadows to get commoner clothes in bulk.”

  “Do you want to come with us?” Basque asked.

  She glanced at Reianna, then shook her head. “We’re headed up to Vedra. It’s kind of in the opposite direction, but Elaina will be with you, and the carriage driver will get you around.”

  “Alright.” Basque figured Natt was doing it for Reianna more than any directional reason. The fight seemed to have cleared any resentment from Banca, which surprised him as he thought she would have been the one to hold on to it.

  It seemed like those months being beaten down by her former friends had affected her more than he’d believed.

  Pulling out the comm device that he’d given Tyze, he passed it over to Natt.

  “What’s this?”

  “Comm device. You can get in touch with me through that.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “I swear, you Hianbrun have the greatest gadgets.”

  “Just wait for after the break’s over. I asked them to bring back something that will blow your hair.”

  “Mind,” Natt said.

  “What?”

  “The idiom. It’s not ‘blow your hair’, but ‘blow your mind’.”

  Basque narrowed his eyes. “No…I wasn’t using an idiom. I mean it will literally blow your hair…It’s a hairdryer.”

  Natt just looked at him. “I’ll have to see it then.”

  “Alright, shall we go then?” He grabbed both of Banca’s bags and tossed them into his inventory.

  “Hey! How did you do that?” she asked.

  “Expanded inventory. You wouldn’t believe all the stuff I’ve got in there. Your bags are no issue.”

  He held the door open for the women, and once they passed through, he locked the dorm hall. The two weeks before school started for the next term, the servants would move everything over to the second-year’s dorm, but until then, Basque wanted it locked.

  Considering the servants’ doors were all open, it wasn’t much of a deterrent, but it was still better than nothing. It calmed him.

  Elaina was waiting for them outside. Alestra was standing with her. Basque raised an eyebrow.

  “Good day, Master Basque,” she said. “Madam Elaina informed me about her plans to hunt at the camps with you. She and I used to be teammates and…I really need those kills. May I come with you?”

  He looked at Banca and Yesenia. Banca shrugged, and Yesenia just stared at him. “I don’t see why not. I don’t know how many Yani there will be, but you’re more than welcome. We’re more going for humanitarian aid than hunting.”

  “There should be enough. With us out there, the emergency response nobles will pull back.”

  Yesenia laughed.

  “What’s funny, child?” Alestra asked.

  “‘Emergency response nobles’. More like ‘Respond at my leisure’ nobles.”

  Alestra frowned. “Do I know you from somewhere?”

  “No, Baronetess. I’m a stray that Gerenet-Shr picked up. I belong to him, not the school.”

  “A servant dares to mock a noble?”

  “Enough. Alestra, if you wish to come with us, don’t argue with the kids.”

  “Understood, Gerenet-Shr. Gahh. I’ve heard your kids say that one too many times.”

  The carriage driver stood silently, holding the door open. Basque gestured towards him, and the four women got on board. Instead of following them in, he walked to the carriage behind his. Reianna and Natt were already on board.

  Their windows were down in the nice, warm spring weather. Basque’s face was just at the height of the windows. He reached in and patted Reianna. “Enjoy visiting with your parents. Don’t forget to train.”

  “I will every day.”

  He nodded, then walked over to Natt’s window. “I’ll call you every night.”

  She smiled. “It’s fine. You’ll be busy out at the camps. I’m just going to be with my folks, Reianna, and her folks. Don’t force yourself.”

  “I’d never be forcing myself.”

  She leaned over and kissed him. “I love you,” she said.

  “I love you, too.”

  He reached in, and they squeezed hands. After smacking their door twice, Basque went back to his carriage. Elaina and Alestra had aligned themselves on one side, while Banca and Yesenia sat on the other.

  “You know, maybe I’ll ride up top with the driver.”

  “Do not leave me alone with your children,” Alestra said.

  Sighing, Basque got in. Yesenia moved over closer to Banca, so Basque could sit. The carriage jerked to a start.

  “Did any of you tell the driver where to take us?”

  “Yes, Gerenet-Shr,” Banca answered. “I know what places Natt is talking about. I’ve instructed him.”

  Thank you, Banca.”

  After that, the carriage fell quiet. Basque had been in awkward positions in his life, but that carriage ride was up there in his top awkward moments.

  Rather than dwelling in the unbearable atmosphere, he looked out the window at the country as they rode along. He knew the area around Dyntril best, as it was practically the only place he’d been in the country.

  Considering the entire country was a walled city, they were very economical with their real estate. Residential and commercial areas were dense, and in between were stretches of farmland, similar to what Dyntril had.

  “The regional baronet or baronetess is responsible for inspections,” Elaina answered when he asked.

  “I know that there’s a limited number of ranks, marquess and above, but how is there enough…area for each noble to control something? Wouldn’t higher-ranked nobles have more area and land?”

  “Baronets have a small area. Like this area we’re going through now, this is divided among three baronets and three baronetesses. A baron or a baroness controls two of them, and a viscount controls several barons. Then a count controls a number of viscounts, and so on and so forth.”

  Outside the carriage, the domiciles and stores once more made way for farmland. “But… do you really need that many baronets?”

  “We actually don’t have enough. I don’t think you understand just how large Kruami is. There are over 8,000 square kilometers inside the Wall, and the Wall stretches over 280 kilometers,” Elaina explained.

  Alestra's eyes shifted to Yesenia. “It’s not easy getting to emergencies outside the wall. The emergency response is pretty good, considering, in my opinion.”

  Yesenia harumphed. “Let’s hear you say that when we’re outside the wall.”

  Alestra opened her mouth to respond, but Basque cut her off. “Why are there people on the outside? Why are there camps?”

  Scowling, Alestra said, “Even as large as Kruami is, there is a finite number of mouths that we can feed. Criminals and the invalid, they serve no function in society. Why should we care for them?”

  Basque wanted to press further. He wanted to demand to know why have a wall in the first place, why not train more hunters. Hianbru managed it, and it was much larger than 8,000 square kilometers.

  But it wasn’t his place to say something. Giving information about Hianbru was prohibited, and he’d already messed up enough. He kept his mouth closed, and the uncomfortable, awkward silence returned.

  They made their stops and traded Banca’s dresses and jewelry for some kruh, then bought so many clothes for children from infants to teens that not even Basque could carry it all in his inventory.

  The sun was setting by the time the Wall came into view. Elaina explained that she arranged for them to stay the evening with a baronetess near one of the gates. The following morning, they would go out into the camps.

  The baronetess fell beside herself when she saw Basque. “A Hianbrun ambassador, at my estate?!” Baronetess Seredine squealed.

  It wasn’t just the baronetess; her staff also didn’t try to hide their stares. He couldn’t count the number of times he heard “black hair” and some variation of “sexy.”

  “No, I really must commemorate this! Bramwell! Contact a sculptor.”

  “I’m sorry, Baronetess, I’m afraid that I don’t have time to pose for a sculpture.”

  She waved him off. “I’m not having a statue made, just a plaque. Though I would like you to chisel your name in it. Basque.” She shivered. “What an exotic name. I would love to give my next son that name.”

  Basque knew what was coming next. “In Hianbru, we practice monogamy, and I am in a committed relationship.”

  Her shoulders sagged, then she straightened them. “Well, no matter. You did stay at my place, not at that pig Baron Alric’s. My grandchildren will be able to hold it over them.”

  During the meal and evening preparation, Yesenia tried to serve Basque, but he made her act as another guest, and she reluctantly agreed. Basque demanded that Banca and Yesenia’s rooms be adjacent to his when the baronetess tried to put him next to her and her husband’s room.

  By the time he lay down on his hard bed, Basque was almost the most tired he’d ever been since arriving in Kruami. Despite his feelings for the academy, Dyntril was built in luxury in comparison to the baronetess’s mansion. Even the more luxurious guestroom he’d turned down was much smaller than his room back at the academy.

  The room he finally wound up in was about the same size as Natt’s former room, but the bed was of much poorer quality. He knew that he’d be spending the next month or so in just a sleeping bag on the ground, but even with that thought, he couldn’t enjoy the plank-like bed.

  There was no bath or shower for the guests, so Basque had to make do with just a washbasin and a cloth. He would have thought that being so close to the wall and able to rack up Yani kills, the nobles here would have been higher-ranked and draped in luxury, but it appeared as if that wasn’t the case. Either that or Seredine was an outlier, but he doubted it.

  The following morning wasn’t anywhere nearly as relaxed as Basque had hoped for. Word had spread throughout the barony that a Hianbrun ambassador was there, and commoners crowded the street, hoping to get a view of him. Even if their departure hadn’t been delayed an hour for Basque to sign his name on a stone plaque, they still would have been delayed due to the number of onlookers.

  The going was so slow to the gate that what should have been a short, forty-minute drive turned into a two-hour slog. It was past lunchtime when they finally got out of the city, return passes in hand, and on foot—carriages weren’t allowed outside of the city.

  Basque had expected that there would be tents and lean-tos built up right outside of the gates, but it was empty.

  “They’re not allowed within two-ks of the gates for safety,” Elaina explained. “So, do you want to head east or west?”

  Basque looked in both directions. East vanished off toward the beach and ocean, where west spread out towards a forest, a habitat for Yani.

  “Let’s go west,” he said, and the group took off.