40 The mouse

The following day, Emp was awakened by a sharp pain in his forearm. After a yelp of pain and opening up his eyes, he saw that it was Celtine that was biting into it with her small but sharp fangs. She released him the moment he opened his eyes. What was happening?

"I asked you to wake me up not bite me." He said, confused.

"Well," Harriett intervened. "She did push master out of the bed without you giving any reaction. I guess this is my fault, I'm deeply sorry master, she was about to slap you awake but I told her not to do it."

Looking around, he could see that he was really lying on the floor right now.

"Is that so? I am sorry to be so troublesome to wake."

"Don't be sorry master, it is our fault for not finding a better way to wake you, we will do better tomorrow."

Of course, he believed she would try to wake him up without biting the next time but, for some reason, Celtine seemed really happy about what she had done and was showing him a proud grin he did not understand.

After his daily morning routine and breakfast were done, they were ready to get to the main point of the day.

"Today, we go buy the things we are missing like we planned. We will have to walk a lot so it would probably be for the best if I carried Celtine like the other day."

"But master..." Immediately complained Harriett

"I cannot just leave her here alone, that would be unfair. She will quickly get better and be able to walk alone I am sure but, in the mean time, there are not that many alternative ways to do this. I do not see why carrying her could be seen so badly."

"There are many reasons master. Do you want me to explain?"

"Please do." At least he should listen to see if there was anything he didn't think of.

"Well, firstly, as master's slave, she shouldn't be using master as some sort of mount, this will seem degrading for master. Buying ten slaves to carry an armchair on which you sat would be less strange than this. Secondly, it's indecent with just the dress like we discussed yesterday. Finally, she is a cursed-blood. Master may not mind but many would feel insulted with seeing one be treated so well. In Artefine more than in the other kingdoms of the empire, we fought against them a lot, there are many who lost family members to them. Carrying her on your shoulders could be seen as a way to glorify her and bring trouble to master."

Why was this so troublesome? She herself wasn't the culprit behind all those things. She had indeed one human kill but he himself had two, by that logic, was he not twice the monster she was? He couldn't know who was in the wrong in the feud between the cursed-bloods and the humans and couldn't change anything about it anyway but, that didn't mean he had to listen to all their nonsense. Until Celtine was proven guilty of some sort of hideous crime, he would treat her like normal. She did bite him earlier with a huge grin but, it was just to wake him up, wasn't it? Anyway, she was sealed so there wasn't a lot anyone had to fear from her.

"I don't mind what they think I'll be kind to whoever I want. If they get angry at that then they should find someone else to be kind for them too instead of annoying me. If they say something valuable I will listen but until then, Celtine is mine and I bring her were I want. for the dress part, I will just lend her a spare pair of trousers for today while we are out buying some."

"I can only comply to your wish master." Said Harriett with a bow, defeated. She didn't seem upset at all about his decision, maybe she knew it would end up like this from the start?

In no time at all, they were all ready to go and Celtine was sat on his shoulders once more. The girl on his shoulder seemed much more comfortable this time around, probably because he wasn't wearing his armor. They left the room and guided by Harriett, reached the entrance hall without difficulty.

"Good morning!" Said the receptionist when they arrived. "Are you going out today?"

"Yes, I need to go buy a couple of things." Emp answered as he waved the list.

"I seem to remember you are not from Bêtéclair. Do you require my help in finding the best places for your needs?"

He gladly accepted and the woman, after taking a quick look at the list, told him about the shops with the best reputations around. She didn't pay any attention to the girl on his shoulders and wished him good day as he left.

Once outside of the school's premises, they set off to look for all they needed. At least he knew where to look thanks to the receptionist, if she had not been there, he could have wandered in the streets for a long time without finding what he needed. The other good thing was that in this part of the city, mostly everyone spoke the noble language so he wouldn't have trouble like last time getting himself understood.

"Master, what is our budget for today?" Asked Harriett, breaking his line of thoughts.

"I have some crystal plates on me. don't worry too much about money."

"Master, that's a lot of money! The gods are really generous with you master."

"They didn't give me that money, I earned it by selling the head of a woodland horror."

"That's even more impressive!" She exclaimed with an apparent admiration.

It wasn't that impressive once you knew the full story of how it pretty much defeated itself. He chose to keep this part of the story to himself for now. Instead, he focused on the incoming shop and the task he dreaded so much, he was about to go buy clothes. Since it was the worst part of it all, he had decided to start with it to get it out of the way.

Like last time, the shopkeeper, the tallest person he had ever seen, measured every part of his body and talked a while to know what he wanted exactly. She showed him examples of things she was talking about and with some help from Harriett, they managed to get through this ordeal. The woman working here promised him ten sets of clothes, delivered to him at the school one by one as they were finished. With this, he would have clothes for every occasions. Not only that but Harriett herself was a decent seamstress and promised to take care of his clothes for him. She even told him she would change his belt buckle when she had some free time later. This was an unexpectedly good thing.

Then, since they were here already, he asked the lady to make some clothes for the two girls as well. Since they already talked about it the day before, Harriett didn't complain about it being a waste of money like Emp expected her to and a second round of clothes designing was started. This time though, since it wasn't for him, he was able to mostly stay out of all that talk. He was made to give his opinion on many things by Harriett but overall, he managed to keep quiet.

The clothes for Celtine were much harder to deal with because of her many problems. Revealing her back and the wound on it was troublesome and somewhat displeasing for the onlookers according to the woman so they should cover it. But, if they dressed her too much, Celtine felt pain from the very same scar. The delicate balance was hard to adjust for the poor woman. What's more, she needed to add breeches or trousers to most of the outfits because of how she was carried and this was pretty unusual for this woman living in the city. It seemed really troublesome for her to design that kind of thing, mixing dresses and pants together. Finally, getting answers out of Celtine was almost just as hard because the only helpful things she could do were point at things, nod or shake her head.

The whole thing, with the three of them combined, cost him a lot of time and money and the woman working there seemed really surprised that not only did he have enough to pay but also, that he was willing to put down this many coin for two slaves. Emp understood that the clothes he was here to buy weren't supposed to be worn by just anybody, the proof was the price itself but he thought it wouldn't be fair to only buy some for himself. Anyway, he had a lot of both time and money.

Harriett seemed really happy to be getting those clothes so it made him smile as well. As long as everyone was happy, it was worth it. On the other hand, Celtine seemed to be more like himself and didn't really care much about those clothes. This was all right too, he just needed to find out what kind of things she liked. Or maybe she reserved her judgement on those clothes until after they were ready?

To conclude this whole encounter, Harriett haggled with the woman to lower the price and since they were buying a large amount of them, it worked out well and Emp saved the price of two entire sets thank to her efforts.

After that, they went around the marketplace buying many random things figuring on the list. Many things he bought he had no idea what they were for and many more he needed the help of Harriett to figure out what was good or wrong. For example, he had no idea how to recognize a good tea set and he didn't know either why he needed one.

"Even if master doesn't drink any tea normally, if master receive visitors they will expect to be served some. It is customary to talk with a drink, if master doesn't serve any, master will be seen as a bad host." Harriett explained.

And so, Emp relied heavily on her for most of the purchase he did that day. He was about to step foot into a world of complicated social rules he did not understand, from what he had gathered until now, he felt that nobles were very complicated. He expected himself to make many mistakes in the future but, with Harriett there, he hoped she would save him from at least some of the most obvious ones like for the tea.

As they walked around, Emp would say what was next on the list out loud and Celtine would point the right direction from atop his shoulders. She seemed happy to be of some use. From her elevated position, she could easily spot a lot of things from over the crowd.

Going around the marketplace with them was a fun experience. Emp saw a lot of strange things like a bored looking guy with a snake wrapped around his arm selling small boxes containing what he said were magic quills that never ran out of ink. They were completely black and covered in very complicated carvings and even had a small hole at the end of it to let someone tie it to a string. Emp decided to buy one, even if it turned out that they weren't magic, they were still very impressive to look at.

Just as he was buying it, an idea crossed his mind. He decided that if that quill really worked, he would gift it to Celtine once she learned how to write. That way, she would be able to write at anytime and anywhere. There could not be a more convenient tool for her.

They bought a lot of things like a comb, soap, a small silver mirror, buckets, spices, a chess board with pieces made out of stone, a new chair for him because the other one wasn't a match for his status according to Harriett and so much more he would never have been able to carry them all without his bottomless bag.

All the while, they caught the gaze of many people and merchants. They would make a small smile seeing him carry Celtine around on his shoulder until some saw that she was a cursed-blood at which point their smile would more often than not turn into a frown. Emp didn't care much but sometimes, when the looks became too heavy or hateful, her fingers would tighten around his forehead. Was she afraid, angry or both? It was hard to tell from bellow her. How did they even notice she was a cursed-blood? Was it her red hair, her strangely pigmented eyes or the small bumps on her back?

Even then, no one disturbed them and they managed to finish their business there without trouble. But, even though they were done with the general market, their shopping wasn't over. They had to stop at many more large shops like an armorer where Emp bought five new shields.

He also went to a weapon smith were he bought ten ordinary straight swords as spare, a good long sword and a rapier just in case it was one of those two things that the fencing class meant by sword. Things didn't go as smoothly in that shop as for his other purchases though. Not because of the shop keeper but instead, because of another customer.

It all began while Emp had just finished selecting a long sword. He had chosen a heavy thing with a large blade and some runes to make it sturdier. It might not have been the most cutting edge in the shop but it would be more than enough for training purposes as he wouldn't need to be afraid of breaking it. He then started looking around the rapiers and while listening to Harriett's opinion on which had the best and most artistic guard design, the entrance bell sounded again and a tall man stepped into the shop. Almost immediately after, he talked less than politely.

"I didn't realize you let low lives and filthy cursed blood inside here. Will you throw them out for me or should I go somewhere else?" (1)

Emp turned around to see who it was that talked like that. He wore black britches and a dark blue coat giving him a really square and straight build. He had lean and mean looking eyebrows, grey colored eyes and a sneer on his well shaved face.

"Sir please, do not be unreasonable, this man here bought me eleven swords already, he has all the rights to be here. If this really bothers you, you could come back at another time?" The merchant said as an answer.

"Do you really think this boorishly dressed and mannered boy will spend as much as me on a blade?" Questioned the man Confidently.

How was he boorish? Wasn't that man the insulting one here? The shop keeper was about to defend Emp again but he chose to leave instead to not make things difficult for anyone.

"Here, I will take that one and then I will leave."

None of the rapiers here caught his eyes but this one was the best of those sold here in both sharpness and light weight. The design of its guard didn't represent anything in particular but a spell was engraved in it to make it sturdier just like the long sword he had bought earlier.

Emp took the money to pay out of his bag. The shop keep seemed both relieved and displeased by this turn of event but chose to keep his mouth shut. The other man though, wasn't done and interrupted them once again.

"Wait, it is that sword I desire."

Emp frowned and looked his way again. There was no way he really wanted that sword, he didn't even know anything about it.

"I thought you wanted us to leave, why are you delaying us now?"

"Indeed I want you lot to leave but I also require that sword."

"You are clearly lying, I do not understand you, why are you doing this?" Asked Emp, both confused and annoyed at that illogical man.

"I fear you do not understand the situation you are in. Not only are you, some lowly servant or rather a mutt, befriending our enemies, the cursed-bloods, in front of me, of all people, but you are also being disrespectful and calling me a liar."

"Celtine isn't your enemy she is my slave. I am the servant of no one and you do not seem to deserve my respect."

He had lied and called him a mutt even though they had never met each other before. Emp didn't feel like it was worth it to be friendly with him.

"You slug! Don't you know who I am? I am Baron Josephal the mouse, captain in the Artefine royal army!"

"I fail to see how this is relevant in anyway. Also, neither baron nor captain are that high of a rank. They both are only one step above a knight and even then, you aren't in the imperial army but the royal army instead."

"You dare! Some shit muncher you are! If I ever see you again, you will feel the consequences of your acts!"

On this, he left as if he had given up. What was that all about? Why did he not try to make him regret now? Why give up halfway? That did not make any sense. He felt like that time a girl shot an arrow at him in the woods. What a strange conclusion.

"Master, why didn't you tell him who master was as well?" Asked Harriett from his side.

"What for? He did not ask."

"If you had told him, he would have apologized, after all, you are ranked much higher than him on the social ladder."

"Maybe. Anyway, he already left." He was annoyed at being called names but since he had given up and ran, he chose to let the matter go as well.

"You didn't seem impressed at all, by what he told you, forgive my curiosity but are you sure you will be fine?" Asked the merchant with a bit of worry.

"Of course master will be fine, he is the son of the great general Muracier after all." Answered Harriett for him.

The merchant suddenly seemed really glad he had taken the side of Emp at the start. It irked him that this wasn't exactly the truth but since Chinui was allowing it, he chose to leave it like that. This brought back the question of the letter to his mind, what was written in it for the duke to call him the secret son of Chinui? He really needed to find out later.

This small event also served to teach him something new. The seals on the slave prevented them from talking about things that didn't figure on the hunting card but it seemed they were able to talk about those that were hidden on it. If he didn't want Harriett to talk about the Muraciers, he had to ask her.

Emp bought the rapier and left for the next thing on his list.

After that event, he went to see a shoemaker as well and left with riding boots and shinning ball shoes for him and some sturdy footwear for the two girls. He also came across a bookstore and bought a dictionary and finally, they bought a painting to hang in the main room to liven it up a bit. It was a large thing picturing the side of a forest where ancestors where gathering around a small home.

When they finally finished, the day was already well advanced and Harriett who worked the most was dead tired even though she looked really satisfied of her work. Emp could understand that well, it was always pleasant to achieve your goals like beating a monster on the road but after that, a break was necessary. Even Celtine was tired of being sat up there all day, she probably couldn't wait to stretch her legs again.

It was then that, to their greatest of surprise, they came across the strange man once again. They stood at a distance of around five meters, facing each other. He was just as surprised as them to meet on a random street like that.

"You again! Why are you following me?" He snapped angrily.

"We are not" Answered Emp simply.

"What are you doing here then?"

"It is the middle of the street, we are only going that way." He said pointing behind the man.

"It's an obvious lie, there is no way we would meet again so soon if you weren't following me! Anyway, now it's too late, I told you before that the next time we would meet you would feel the consequences of your acts. Now I have no choice but to go through with it."

Emp had really thought those were just meaningless parting words though. What was wrong with that man? In any case, Emp wasn't scarred of someone who called himself a mouse. Mice weren't scary at all, if you were to take a name for yourself, you should go with something impressive like a wolf instead.

"Can you not just ignore us so we can all go home? The girls are tired."

"I don't care if those two slaves are tired! You should have thought about it before you insulted me!"

"I did not though, you were the one calling me names."

"Shut up stupid brat! I don't know who sent you three to mock me but I will have you apologise!"

A small crowd of onlookers were slowly gathering on the roadside, curious to see what would happen next, even some carriages had stopped further on the road.

"Not only will you apologise but you will also put that cursed-blood down to receive a good beating, only then will I let you leave."

Emp frowned again. What was that man even trying to accomplish? The fingers on his forehead tightened. Was she scared?

"No." He answered calmly.

There was no way Emp would follow those instruction.

"Are you really looking forward to get beaten up in front of all those people? Do you think I won't dare beat a stupid kid and two girls?"

"I just think I have no reason to apologise to you and Celtine did nothing wrong so I can't let you beat her either."

"Her mere existence is wrong!" The man claimed.

"That girl is mute, wingless and sealed, I do not get what she could possibly do to you." Emp asked again.

"She is as guilty as the rest! Every single one of those trice damned cursed-blood should be eradicated."

"This is not an argument, this is just a meaningless opinion. I won't do it."

The man started fuming of anger.

"Did I not tell you who I am? I am Baron Josephal the mouse, cavalry captain in the Artefine royal army. "

"You did, then I told you that this title was meaningless."

"You rat!"

"Are you not the one who is a mouse?"

"Rats and mice are completely different! Mice are cute!"

Not only him but Harriett too made a disbelieving face. He had no idea on what to answer to that unexpected shout. The puzzlement spread through the crowd but the man ignored it.

"I wish I had my spear on me but my fists will do for a small guy like you!" He said as he rolled up his sleeves.

"So you wish to fight me? Would you not like to know who I am first?" Asked Emp. After all, even if that man was strange, presentations were important. Maybe he would change is mind like Harriett said if he told him his name.

"I don't want to hear it! I don't care for the name of an insulting peasant of a buffoon. I will beat you up so badly that the girl hiding behind you will have to drag you back home in a hand cart."

How did it even come to this? Why was he so mad?

"Master, should I call the guards?" Proposed Harriett.

What a great idea, perhaps then he would be freed from this nonsensical situation.

"Yes, please do."

Harriett turned around to flee but her way was quickly blocked by the onlookers, intent of stopping her.

"Don't ruin our fun lass, we want to see how it will turn up." Many voices were heard but this was essentially what they all meant. "This will be over in a minute anyway." They didn't even seem particularly hostile, what a troublesome bunch. They seemed to just be starved for entertainment. Maybe they should all make a trip in the forest, the hunters of Dark-glint never seemed to have the same problem after all.

Meanwhile, Baron Josephal put on some leather gloves and Emp asked Celtine if she wanted to stay up there or get back down for now. As an answer, his head and neck got squeezed harder by her thighs and hands so he understood she wanted to stay there. Since she was weighting essentially nothing, it did not bother him but she still needed to be careful.

"I will not be able to hold you once it starts, if you do not hold on properly, you will fall so be careful."

While Harriett was still anxiously trying to find a gap in the crowd the baron finished his preparations.

"Do you know what mice are known for?" He asked as he took some sort of low to the ground stance.

"Stealing grain?"

"They are fast!" Denied the man angrily as he made a sudden dash forward.

He was indeed fast and almost instantly arrived in front of Emp as he split the air. Emp had never seen someone so fast and barely managed to step aside as the wind screamed around the punch aimed at where his head had been. How was he so fast?

"How are you so fast!" Exclaimed the man as if to mirror the thoughts of Emp.

He had not expected Emp to dodge that and so, had not prepared any follow up attacks. Unfortunately, the emergency dodge of Emp combined with his inexperience didn't let him retaliate in time either. Instead, he stepped back to put a minimal distance between them and got the thunder-chew hammer in his hands.

"What is this?"

"A hammer made from the tooth of a thunder-chew."

"No, I mean... Whatever, you'll get beaten anyway."

He punched his way again but this time, he expected the dodge Emp made and followed him through his back step. Thinking he would get hit in the face by the punch, Emp decided to swing his hammer to make a hit as well. Surprisingly, the baron, who was a good two heads taller than him managed to crouch bellow the swing and Emp got hit in the stomach by his fist. The hammer hit the pavement in a loud bang and Emp lost his breath from the punch and was bent forward by the shock.

The crowd erupted in loud cheers while a second punch came in right away. Emp managed to put the hammer's haft in the way and the man made a pained grimace following the thud his knuckles made on it, making the crowd laugh through their cheers.

Holding his stomach with one hand, Emp tried to kick him away since he was so close but the man was too quick and managed to grab his leg instead. This was really bad, how was he supposed to deal with that? Luckily, before the man could make him fall, a small hand came out of nowhere and slapped him across the face in a very audible way.

Gasps were heard all around and silence fell on the crowd, stunned by the surprising action of Celtine. Emp gained just enough time to swing the hammer once more and the baron was forced to jump backward to dodge, releasing his leg.

"Just you wait, you will pay for that!" He yelled as he rubbed his cheek.

Celtine wasn't that strong, or rather, she was really weak, but, she had used her whole arm for that slap and the angle had been perfect. Even though it wasn't that hurtful, it must have been quite shocking for the man.

Emp wondered how he could possibly defeat that crazed man while trying to gulp back some air into his lungs, he was way too quick. His own space steps let him cover large distances in moments but could not beat the raw speed of someone in melee combat. The trick of the kick was an obvious failure so what did he have left? Was the only way to defeat him to take him by surprise?

"Master, I believe in you!" Threw Harriett as desperate encouragement since she was denied to leave.

The man ignored her and moved in once more for a punch. Emp put down all his strength into a downward swing of his hammer in an attempt to either hit him or block his path. Of course, the baron easily dodged from the side while the pavement cracked under the strength of the hammer. "Wow" The crowd yelled, impressed by the strength behind that hammer swing. The mouse immediately closed in from the side to deliver a punch towards Emp or possibly Celtine, he couldn't see. He tried to turn his head to see him but Celtine's leg was in the way.

He got punched in the side and released the hammer from the impact, encouraging him to make a second one,but Emp turned on himself while swinging the sword Ray he had immediately swapped the hammer for. Not expecting a sword to suddenly appear in his hand, the baron didn't manage to react in time despite his speed and his blue coat was cut open.

A new round of gasps exploded from the crowd and a long but shallow cut appeared on his chest. This wasn't as good of a result as Emp had hoped but he did manage to hit him once.

Before the man could do anything, Emp followed him and slashed again. The baron pivoted his upper body to dodge the sword, caught the hand of Emp and twisted it to force him to release the sword. Emp groaned in pain and let go of the sword but stomped on the guy's foot making him groan as well.

The mouse counterattacked with an uppercut but Emp managed to get one of the shields he had bought in his hand before it connected and the man crushed his own hand into the steel reinforced shield. As long as he had the bag, there were many surprises he could give.

Once again, the observers reacted with applause at how the baron hurt himself. It seemed that they weren't on anyone's side, they just enjoyed the unexpected performance. All those nobles must have been really bored. He just wished they chose someone else to look at.

Emp took advantage of his moment of pain and surprise to grip the baron's hand that was twisting his own and dragged the mouse towards him while bashing his shield forward. Someone of his height and build should not have been that strong so the baron, having underestimated his opponent received the shield straight on the nose and blanked out for an instant.

"Yeah! What a hit!" Screamed someone from the side.

Emp did not let go of either this opportunity or the hand of the baron and hit him in the face trice more in quick succession before his opponent finally regained enough of his sense to try to back away.

He discovered to his dismay that the grip of Emp was like a steel shackle and would not be escaped this easily. He was much faster than Emp but now that he was held by his opponent, his movements were greatly limited.

Unable to free himself from Emp's grip, he blocked the next hit with his remaining forearm and kicked Emp in the shin with the heel of his foot.

Emp felt it was surprisingly painful and his leg was kicked from under him. Having lost the support of one of his legs, Emp almost fell backward but used the hand of the man as support to stop himself from falling.

The man used the gap in Emp's attacks to push the shield aside and punched him on the forehead, smashing Celtine's fingers between his fists and Emp's skull. His head still felt a strong shock through the fingers and was pushed back into her stomach.

Emp couldn't see the reaction of the girl of course but judging from the wince and grimaces the crowd showed, it must have hurt a lot.

Then, a second punch painfully dug into his cheek snapping his teeth against each other and a third hit Celtine's leg when Emp desperately tried to dodge it. It was his turn now to be stunned, the pain spreading from his face blurred his mind and he could barely understand what was happening to him. Miraculously, the fourth punch, he caught with the hand that previously held on to the shield by reflex. He was now holding both of the baron's arms.

"What a surprising development." Commented a large bellied man seeing the baron trapped.

Obviously, A guy so much taller than him should have been stronger as well but this wasn't the case. It seemed he was only fast and whatever he did and tried, he couldn't fight off Emp's grip. This is what the crowd, just like the baron, could not understand. How could they know how much Emp trained with the overburdening hammer?

With Emp firmly holding onto him, the fight could only go two way. It could have become a wrestling match but Emp was so much stronger than him that he could just stop any of his movements easily. Instead, the fight devolved into a duel of kicks with no dodging allowed. Every time the baron was about to land a kick, he would extend his arms to widen the distance between them and limit its strength but every time Emp was about to do the same, he would bring the baron up close to maximize the power of his own attacks.

Emp had been insulted, attacked and the mouse even hurt Celtine that was under his protection. He was determined to beat him up now. When they began, he didn't care that much but now, he felt invested. He chained kicks after kicks, quickly wearing down the baron under the stupefied gaze of the crowd and the loud cheers of Harriett.

"Yeah master! Beat him up! Make him regret his words! Knock him out! Have him pay for Celtine!"

After a particularly strong kick in the stomach, the Baron collapsed forward and Emp threw his knee at his face, knocking him out in the process and further bloodying his face after the shield bash he had already endured.

Harriett raised her arms in the air and jumped repeatedly in the excitement of the victory while a large part of the crowd clapped at this unexpected conclusion, they obviously didn't care for that mouse baron.

Once Emp was sure that Josephal wouldn't get back up immediately, he released his hands and let him collapse on the road. He didn't give him any attention and instead focussed on Celtine.

"Celtine, he hit you twice, are you all right?"

Of course, he got no answer so he gave a light tap on her right leg while asking further.

"Move this leg for yes and the other for no."

Her right leg rose to answer yes.

"Should we go see a healer?"

Celtine didn't answer immediately but Harriett came back to their side to give her opinion.

"Master is right, people of her race have brittle bones, we should see a physician in case that man broke one of the small ones in her fingers. I would also like to congratulate master on his victory. What an impressive display of strength, the crowd must be in awe." She said with energy.

"Thank you Harriett. Let's go back home, there is probably someone who can take a look back at school."

"What about the baron?"

"He is still alive no? Let's just leave him there. I'm sure he will wake up eventually."

"All right master, if you say so."

They left the man there and no one tried to stop them from leaving anymore. Many hesitated on whether to call the guard or not because Emp didn't look like a noble at all but thinking about it, they felt he probably wasn't a simple commoner. He had two branded slaves, the strength to beat a captain, tried to present himself and didn't seem stressed about the situation at all, meaning he wasn't scared of the guards coming. Calling them would be pointless if they would side for the boy anyway, it would just waste everyone's time.

It seemed that everyone else believed it was the baron's problem if he got beat up, they had no reason to call the guards for him. The only thing they did was move him to the side of the road so that he wouldn't be in the way.

With all of those things finally done, they went back to school and the receptionist welcomed them in the hall. When she saw them, she worried about the bruise on Emp's face.

"My, what happened to you while you were out?"

"A guy calling himself a mouse attacked us for no reason. Is there a healer in the school?"

"There are some, of course, in case an accident happens to one of the students, I'll call someone to show you the way there."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, also, here are the things you asked for yesterday."

She placed all the supplies they asked for on the desk and Emp pocketed them all before he was led to the office of the healers. Apparently, there was an entire team of specialists of all kind employed here to swiftly answer any and all problems.

They checked on both him and Celtine and concluded that everything was mostly fine. A bone in her index finger had cracked but not completely broke or moved so they gave her an onion smelling drink and tied up her finger to stop it from moving anymore. They said to come back in a week to see if it was back to normal and Emp didn't need to pay anything since it was all free for students.

After Celtine drank the potion with a reluctant face, they all went back to their room. It took them all of what remained of the day to store everything they had bought in the rooms. Before he left to sleep, he apologized to Celtine.

"Celtine, That was a great slap, I would have lost if you had not been there, thank you. I am sorry you got hit because of me."

Celtine gave him a smile and Harriett intervened.

"What is master even saying? If you had not been there, she would have been hit a lot more."

Emp knew this was the truth but still felt like if he had not moved for that third punch, she would not have been hit in the leg. She had a hard enough time walking already without her leg hurting, after all, he knew what a hurt leg felt like. He changed the subject and thanked Harriett as well.

"Thank you as well, you did a great job today. I don't know what I would have done for all that list without you."

"It is my pleasure to be of use master." She said with a beaming smile.

She would have loved to be of assistance in that fight as well,by bringing back the guards for example but she she saw her master win instead, she wasn't upset.

With that, he said goodbye and went to sleep.

(1) I didn't realize there would be so much racism when I first started writing this story. It isn't supposed to be the main focus of the story but it's an easy point to start conflict over. Once Emp get's a mind of his own instead of always following what others says, I promise to have better plot points than "it's a filthy cursed-blood."

() Also, EU article 13 sucks! Do something Europeans, stop this madness!