Chapter 222

Looking at how the morning started Ajax would have assumed that the positive or negative reaction to his discovery would be the biggest change he would see in his interaction with his fellow students. Well it turns out that said statement was a little more than half right.

That is to say that as Ajax walked down the street beside Benedict and Rick he was quickly made aware of another massive change in his position when it came to nobility, one that he hadn’t taken into consideration when he came to the Academy that morning. This is the fact that the Academy also serves a purpose in allowing young nobles to interact with each other and pursue relationships.

Since they had left the classroom no less than five girls had attempted to flirt with Ajax. Now while Ajax is not oblivious to this it is also something that he has little to no experience in. Back on Earth he never had time for a girlfriend and in his new life the friends with benefits relationship he had with Alana is the extent of his experience. Suffice it to say that when it comes to courtship of any sort Ajax is a novice.

“What is with them?” Ajax muttered under his breath. “I know I’m not that good looking or there would have been some sign before.”

“It depends how you look at it actually.” Rick countered. “Objectively you are not ugly, in fact you could be called handsome. Most of the girls who attempted to make overt moves on you are second or third daughters to knights and barons.”

“What difference does that make?” Ajax said as he couldn’t place the social situation.

“Most of their marriages have already been determined in advance for political gain.” Benedict explained. “Compared to some of the people that they have been promised to you are downright dashing, add that on to the fact that a relationship with you is one any baron or knight family would take no questions asked and you have a few people who see you as the perfect way to escape their tragic fate.”

“HUUUHHHGGG” Ajax groaned as he rubbed his eyes at the thought.

“Wait, does that mean that my brother and sister will now have suitors?” Ajax asked concerned about what else he could have brought down on his family's head.

“Your brother is out of the picture.” Rick said. “At least for a year or two while he still has a baby on the way and for a short while after the birth. As for your sister, nobles do have a certain level of decorum as to not haggle her until she gets her business off the ground, but she can start to expect them as soon as that happens.”

“Hell, even your cat might have suitors.” Rick chuckled good naturedly at Ajax’s panic.

“Fluffy?” Ajax asked surprised.

“Oh yeah.” Rick nodded. “Most monster species of the same family can breed amongst themselves. You should expect a few people to come by with whatever feline bond their family has to try and arrange a litter for when the shadow cat is done growing.”

In his mind Ajax has already assigned the job of Fluffy’s pimp to his older brother Tom, after all they were bonded and there was no way he would let him just stand on the sidelines while he and Judy suffered.

“Remember not to grow overconfident.” Professor Silvertongue’s words brought Ajax back to the task at hand. “I know all of you have made significant progress since the first delve we have done here but keep in mind that we have also started splitting you up more and more. You no longer have the same safety net.”

Following the first disastrous class tournament that had mercifully ended after four delves with a draw between Anna and Benedict who had ended up forced to team up against the prince to keep him from abusing superior numbers, all challenges had changed.

From now on all challenges were one delve long and announced only after entering the dungeon. This was always a risk when one of the stronger and larger overall class came together this year, time to develop long term strategies always ended up badly for at least one student.

This delve however was no joking matter. The idea of the exercise was care and efficiency. People would be forced to split into teams of two for the duration of this delve. A much lower number compared to the minimum of four they were previously. The idea was to give them an idea of how it would be to get separated from your team during a delve.

“Also everyone is aware of the markers.” instructor Gatecrasher said, “ if you find yourselves cornered, and I do mean as a last resort, make for the closest arch and go to the second floor. Make sure to also mark the arch you entered so that one of us knows where to go look for you.”

It came as no surprise when most people split off into groups with their friends, something both instructor gatecrasher and professor Silvertongue covertly winced at as they remembered just how many fractured friendships came from this exercise back when they went through the Academy. Few friendships survive a few split second decisions made with your life on the line.

“Winner of this exercise will be the first team to reach the base with at least five points collected.” Professor Silvertongue finished.

“Where is the base?” the prince asked competitively.

“Clues will be given out to all of you depending on which layout we get, after all we do have to give the thinkers among you an edge.” Professor Silvertongue said with a small smirk.

To the surprise of almost everybody the challenge ended up being conquered almost four hours in as the prince made his way into the temporary base. A few muttered arguments had been made about him cheating when he chose to follow Ajax’s tracks instead of reading through the clues, after all where else could Ajax set up shop and start cranking out potions.

“Have you thought about what you are going to have your house focus on for starters?” Lexi asked once she also found the hidden base, a little miffed that the prince had beaten her and Anna to it.

“What do you mean?” Ajax asked.

“One of the downsides of noble families is that they have to pay much higher taxes than commoners. In order to keep up with said taxes each house usually focuses on one field to start off with and create a reliable source of income.”

“Under most circumstances the means that got them the title are also the means by which the house makes a steady income.” Anna said. “Which is also where you hit a little bit of a wall seeing as how your monetary reward is still ten years away.”

“Hmmmm.” Ajax said as he thought about the issue. “I think a subset of farming might be the best thing to go with.”

Ajax said as he thought about the bees. After all, there was going to be a massive shortage of honey in the coming season. The reason for the shortage should be obvious, Ajax basically plundered massive amounts of the bee population from the surrounding grounds. The bees haven;t had proper time to repopulate meaning that his honey may just become a scarce luxury, and those were something that nobles would always pay top coin for.

“Farming?” Lexi asked confused.

“Well we do come from a small little village by a forest, that and I doubt hunting for game would be all that profitable or sustainable long term.” Ajax explained. “How about your family, what did you do when your grandfather was first given the title?”

“Dad leaned into his magic by offering training to the most promising mages of other nobles, though I am not all that sure of the details as by the time I was old enough to remember anything we had already expanded enough that we had a few means of income.”

“You could always offer that fancy purple magic you were casting.” Anna said, referring to void mana. The spy's house Goldmancer had inside house Silvertongue had provided that little fact.

“It’s not all that useful for mages.” Ajax said honestly. “Stand alone that magic isn’t all that useful without physical strength to back it up.”

The prince seemed to forget his animosity towards Ajax at this moment as he heard the topic of conversation. A new type of element that was useless without physical force but devastating when used with it, this was something he could use to take his next step on the path to being a hybrid fighter.