I was scolded.

I was tired of being treated like a child. The old lord disapproved of me making use of his name for my own convenience. Not only was I grounded,but I also had to supervise a class for another batch of students instead of experimenting on gun powder. They took the sulphur and niter away from me as I, “had no ground to make such a requisition.”

I tried to explain what I was making and how it was going to change the world but my resistance almost prompted Shizu to spank me and I didn't insist further. For the time being, I'll just play it cool, look repentant and wait for them to give me back my raw materials. Worst case scenario, I'll just have to buy some. I had been putting money aside for quite some time now and should have enough for a demonstration.

I tried to explain the concept of explosives a thousand times but they brushed it off as nonsense. Charcoal burned, on that they would agree, but making it explode was beyond their imagination, it was the realm of “magic”. I thought by now they would've gotten used to me bringing up strange new things but I was wrong. They would only believe it once they saw it.

Only Gelcaria believed me. She often looked at me like some crazy nonsense spiller but at least, right now, she wasn't doubting me.

There was a meagre consolation: the latest batch of students was an interesting one. There were no more blades or free citizens, only commoners. This is the end game I had in mind from the beginning and I was glad it was happening faster than I ever thought it would.

There were a lot of sailors, beast grooms, and other peddlers among them. My guess was that they were meant to be spies sent away and writing back reports.

None of them received much education, a few know little ideograms.

It pained me to say that they were not very smart, to keep polite. They were older than the average in the other batch and they weren't used to studying.

Only good point was that they thought I was some kind of fancy rich kid and are respectful to me.

I believed only two thirds of them would be able to write; all should be able to read enough. This wasn't as good as I could have wished but it was a beginning. The officials we trained were currently teaching younger commoners and those should be more successful.

Fortan and Tupu were with us this year. The Summer was dry and warm as it should be and the first harvests were good. The Shieldlord threw a small celebration to thank the gods for their protection.

There was a fair in town, which was a good way to invigorate trade and the shops that suffered last year. Town criers announced it in town for days. Apart from the feast, at the expense of the blades; there were small competitions organized by blocks. Most were competitions with a martial background, running, lifting weights and throwing them, archery competition, and wrestling.

Winners would get rewards: food, money or prizes. It was both used to bolster the morale of the citizens but also to scout talents to recruit in the army. The winter expeditions had taken their toll and fresh recruits were in demand to fill the ranks.

In the palace, there was a ball, a gathering of blades and important denizens in the outer palace's reception wing.

For a week servants were swarming all around like ants, decorating the whole wing in Fortan's colours: sky blue and mud brown, for he could drag you to both. The outer palace garden was also transformed to accommodate the guests.

I was “invited” with the rest of my friends. We were to be part of the princess's entourage. Although we were young, each of us was exceptional in some way and we were going to be used by Moatimu to make a show of her influence.

Melodi and Gelcaria were both Chi users and had promises of talent in the magical field too. Gel was also a god touched one and Mel was a Beastkin and both were truly rare finds. I was the “genius kid” who taught a new way of writing to the next generation of the high society and Balout was, well, Balout. I was harsh with him, in fact he got as much attention as I do since he was “teacher” Balout.

There is no real respectful word to address a teacher in this world. Some will call you mentor or master, only a few would call me senior with how weird it was considering our age. Sadly there won't be any Telerios-sensei for me.

* * * * *

The party took place on Fortan's celebration, nightday on the 24th of Cropist, the third month of Summer.

For the occasion, the princess had party outfits made for us. Balout and I got a shirt and pants set, made of green and blue silk with silver embroideries near the joints. Those were the princess colours.

Of course, her crest was also stitched on our outfits, we were to be flaunted as her property and our belonging was to be clear for all to see.

Her sigil was the Kirinavati's three waves and horned circle with a slight variation: four lilies were blooming at the cardinal points of the crest. It was the symbol of her late mother.

The girls also had their own fancy dresses. Melodi was looking fierce in a sleeveless shirt with a short silvery skirt. Both were letting her grey furry body show at her advantage while her hair was braided like short dreadlocks, it was the traditional headdress of Beastkin fighters. She was also provided with a golden necklace that was matching her cat's eyes.

Gelcaria was cute in a purple silky long dress. Two bracelets with amethysts were adorning her wrists.

I can tell the princess must have had a lot of fun playing dolls with the girls.

The princess was the most dazzling of all. She was young but was showing promises of becoming a beautiful woman and whenever she wanted, she could become serious enough to look more like a late teenager than a kid.

She opted for a quite martial outfit: a short sleeveless top matching Melodi's, a long skirt split on the side to show off her muscular thighs, and a fancy feathered tiara that made it look like she had two kirin horns. As royalty, she was allowed to wear weapons and had her silvery sais strapped in the large belt wrapped around her waist.

Hamy was the only one to wear armour and weapon on, she was her official bodyguard and in such a crowd she will have a lot of work to do.

Apart from a few guards of the Shield's family and the highest blades, no one else was allowed weapons. My dagger was taken away since long and I haven't even tried to bring it back in the palace since It would be snatched away at the first body search. The rules about weapons in the inner palace were stricts.

For the first time, I saw the weapons the girls were using. Gelcaria had two sais, just like the princess, she was training to fight like her. Melodi had some scaly hands and forearms protections. She was meant to use her claws and the forearms protections had bladed edges. Both would let them aside for the party but it gave me mixed feeling to see their weapons.

On the one hand, it was worrying me that my friends were armed at such a young age and were trained in close-quarter combat. On the other hand, I was relieved they were armed and trained: no one could tell when the next monster tide would hit us and I'd rather have my friends able to face the unexpected.

I just wish I could provide them with better weapons, like firearms. That would keep most dangers at bay.

* * * * *

The party was less fun for us than I expected.

Sure, there was a flock of pampered ladies, strong looking officers and richly garbed merchants. I even think I saw the typhoon from afar but he was too busy discussing with a blade that he didn't notice us. A few performers were on a stage, showing off with light-bending magic or having a firebird do tricks at a simple whistle.

My friends were eager to go watch the show but as followers of the princess, we were to stick with her at all times and she wasn't having much fun. No binge eating the delicacies around or dancing for her.

Instead, she had to greet everyone and show she remembered them, have a nice word for each and everyone. She was part of the Shield's diplomatic staff in some way.

For a girl who couldn't remember a few ideograms she was doing amazingly well with faces. Rarely did Hamy have to whisper a reminder at her.

She was having either idle discussion with some, sharing gossips and discussing the latest trends in the Empire, I didn't knew this side of hers. With others it was technical debates about trade, military positions, or the taxes on the next batch of shovels. Only now did I understand why her grandfather wanted me to translate so many books for her.

She was constantly gauged by each interlocutor. I don't know if it is an effect of my blessing or just my wisdom of my past life but I could see that few were honest with her. Their eyes were betraying either contempt, jealousy or avidity, they all wanted something from her and she knew it.

Only when we were having a break in the gardens could we have a glimpse of how demanding this was for her. When she dropped her “princess' mask” for a second to take a breath she looked strained. Nothing like the carefree and battle-hungry princess we knew of.

On this field of battle she had to watch her every word to make sure she wasn't saying too much, or not enough, not irking or flattering the wrong people.

I now understand why she wants to become a strong warrior this much, it will provide her with both freedom, security and respect. She will only be able to escape the intrigues by getting stronger and out of reach of most.

I didn't envy her.

In the middle of the party, the Shieldlord took the centre of the stage for a speech. Nothing really worth hearing. It was my first time meeting him up close. I saw him from afar at Kosho's trial after the mess of the monstrous tide.

He was looking as regal as he did back then with his long black braided hair and short black beard. He wasn't in armour today but his red garb was almost looking like a military officer's outfit and was outlining his muscular body. The golden embroideries, diamonds and gems adorning him were his ranking insignias and the collar made of monster teeth was his medals. There were teeth of every sizes and colours, showing that the man was the bane of monsters.

His crest was a bit different, he had the horned circle of the Kirivanatis but instead of the waves, his had a flame inside. The current Shieldlord, Moatimu's father, was the son-in-law of the old lord.

The former shield, Lord Iroto, had quite the tragedy with his children. He had three sons and a daughter. His firstborn died during his first military expedition. It was against the roving tribes of the far west. The young lord was overconfident and got overwhelmed by the fierce warriors in the plains of stumps.

His second son died while fighting monsters. He was decapitated by a claw swipe and none of the magical healers on the field could do anything against that, powerful healers could regrow a limb but not a head.

His youngest son died of disease. Moatimu was unclear about what kind of disease could take the life of someone who had access to priests of Fusaad and the best healers of the Shieldom. I suspect he was poisoned but that is my pure guess here.

That left the old lord with only a daughter, Moatimu's mother. To avoid successions issues he scouted for a suitable husband: our current lord.

Lord Katou was a general in the free cities, a highblade and famous fire magician. He agreed to be adopted into the family and change his family name.

Alas for lord Iroto, his last surviving daughter died after giving birth to her fifth child: the fifth princess, three years ago.

To avoid conflict, the mourning lord Iroto stepped down from power to let his son-in-law become the sole Shieldlord. The two men were in good terms and the old lord still had a lot of influence but he was also happy to fade away from the power play and nurse his wounds.

The second half of the party was both funnier and unsettling.

The third princess had to face suitors and rebuke about a dozen marriage demands, including the young lord of House Duarch: Luatotsi. Not heartbroken in the slightest the young man even came smilingly to converse with me a bit. He was the most good looking of the princess' suitors. With his straight chin and tight outfit outlining his iron butt, he could turn the heart of any lady, except our princess.

He was praising my writing and how easy it had been to teach to his siblings and cousins.

I was still on cold terms with his house but the money and his forward attitude made it hard to blame him for his father's misdoings.

He was a smooth-talker too, always had a smart pun or a nice compliment to make to either me or my comrades. Maybe I should consider getting on good terms with him? He was going to become the next blade in charge of protecting my family and he had enough money to finance my researches. He also had ties with the paper dealing around here. If I had to think long term, at some point I'll want to produce paper here, both because I was planning for printing and mass literacy, but also because I knew of guncotton and would require an industrial supply of cellulose for it.

Then came the dancing part.

Most guests were quite inebriated by then, making the dance floor a mess. You could have as much Chi as you want to have fast and precise reactions, it wouldn't help if you were drunk. At least for most. The strongest blades could move without problem, including the old lord who was dancing with a middle-aged free citizen who reminded me of Ms. Tarina. Maybe strong blades gets the power to purify toxins?

I've never been a good dancer. So dancing a foreign dance on exotic tunes was out of my league. There was a small troop of musicians, flute players, drummers, someone pinching strings on what looked like a bastard of a piano and a zither; harpists making crystal like sounds with an instrument made out of translucent bones and a strange spinning apparatus that was humming like howling winds.

The princess only danced with her brother, the second prince. Leaving her suitors in the dust.

The girls wanted us to follow suit but I firmly refused. I had to look like a serious kid to enforce my public image of a genius scholar, not make a fool of myself in public.

In the end, Melodi convinced Balout to come join her. I must admit my colleague is far defter than one could imagine at first look. He was even able to keep up with the frenzied polka-like that the Catkin dragged him in.

They were both laughing and giggling, having a lot of fun. Gelcaria was beside me, also smiling and enjoying the peaceful summer night.

Among all the horrors of this world, I was glad to find these brief happy times that were making the rest worthwhile.