I looked at Caelum with curled eyes and trembling lips. The poor boy was the last one to be pranked that didn't bribe me and he knew it.
His expression stayed stoic, like he was determined to not let this affect him in the slightest, but it was already too late.
I guess it's time for some false hope.
"Now, since we're done with the fun, can I ask a few questions?"
Everyone directly looked at me with raised brows, clearly my shifted demeanour left them speechless, but I really didn't care.
"So, I get that we are all gonna go to the same freak school, but how does it work?"
"You didn't think to get some information beforehand?" -Niven
I looked at the returned Heir of connection and just shrugged my shoulders.
"Man, I literally was at the bottom of the bottom of society just 6 months ago and had been doing nothing but training, studying magic and pretending to be interested in etiquette lessons."
"It shows." -Juste
I focused on her sarcastic comment and a glint passed through my eyes.
But my trusted butler nudged me from his invisible shadow state and I let it go.
"Whatever, I guess I'll ask my butler Gary later."
"There's no need, the academy is very straightforward, 3 years and you need to be at least a Pathfinder (step 4) to graduate, even better if you're a Trailblazer (step 5)." -Yom
"WAIT WHAT?!?!"
The heirs were dumbfounded. In their books my reaction didn't have any sense and that made me angrier. I stood up and directly went to Juste.
"What?"
"Why does the government keep this information a secret?"
I was angry. The poor only knew about up to step 4 of paths of power, but from how they spoke, these heirs knew much, much more.
"What are you talking about? That's very basic information everyone can get." -Juste
"Are you actually ignorant or you're just trying to save your ass?"
"The fuck do you want man!? I even gave that invaluable scroll!"
"That will be able to track whatever answer I seek for if I don't mess it up with a ritual clearly above my capabilities, now answer."
Juste and everyone else were shocked, some knew and some doubted, but nobody imagined I would understand the trick she had tried to play on me.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"I see, I guess you haven't informed your House you gave up this scroll just yet. Marco, cut out all communication trying to leave this room for the next 10 minutes."
At my order a dense wave of black mana erupted at the corners of the hall cutting us out from the rest of the world.
I then took out a pen from my inventory and unraveled the scroll.
"Let's see what happens now… yeah this will do."
"Magic to conceal or resolve pregnancy safely without my parents knowing."
"No! You can't!"
But her plea stayed unanswered. As soon as the 10 minutes in silence went by. Juste's phone started to ring. It felt like the hymn of doom for everyone in the room.
"Mom… it's not-"
"YOU BETTER SAY THAT SOMEONE HAS KIDNAPPED YOU AND STOLEN ALL YOUR GOOD OR SO MAY THE GODS FORGIVE ME BUT I WILL KILL THAT BOY AND THE CHILD YOU KEEP."
At her threat I immediately noticed how Niven had blushed slightly and Juste paled considerably, that's when I couldn't hold it in anymore.
I exploded in laughter, Yom joined me and so did most of the Heirs.
"WHAT? WAS THIS A PRANK? JUSTE!!!!"
"Oh no! Hahahaha lady Law, this is not a prank at all, it is a point."
"Who are you? And what's the meaning of this? Shouldn't my daughter be at the heir's banquet?"
"She sure is, sitting with the boy you mentioned before, looking real close if I do say so myself."
Niven became as red as a cherry and this time Juste wasn't able to keep up appearances. To think there was this kind of drama behind the scenes.
"Either way, the point is that I showed some interesting magic, and your daughter tried to bribe me with a tracker."
"So what? Do you think you can do something against the World Government (WG)?"
"Oh I definitely cannot, but this bears the question, how does your daughter have access to confidential documents of the WG, well, not my problem I guess."
Juste wanted to shut down the line but at that same moment vines grew from the table to entangle her, I looked at Eira who just smiled and told me to continue.
"So if you know you can't do shit, what's the point of this?"
"Well, I needed information that your gracious daughter wasn't willing to give and I decided to just bypass her."
"I don't have time for this childish nonsense, I'm ending this call."
"Aren't you curious in the slightest?"
"Ahhhhhhh, fine. Out with it."
"What are the steps of the paths of power?"
"What stupid thing to ask: Walker, Runner, Trailer, Pathfinder, Trailblazer, Seeker, Weaver, Herald and Keeper; and each path has their own ritual to progress."
That's when something clicked in lady Law's brain, nobody from the nobility should need to ask this question.
"Who are you? No member of the nobility should need this answer. How could you infiltrate such a banquet! I'LL HAVE A WORD WITH LORD DISORDER."
"You are welcome to talk to my dad as much as you want, but my question was: why does the government restrict such informations from the masses."
The line fell in that instant. But I was not mad about it.
I looked around and saw how someone was proud of my antics, mainly the problem kids like Yom and Seraph, while others were conflicted.
I didn't give a fuck, I had gotten plenty of information, now however the problem was how to get a hold of my rituals.
Is there a way system?
[from step 1 to 3 the system will grant the path of the Error rituals as compensation for quests, that is why you haven't received anything for completing the 1st quest. You need 5 quests for the ritual of the Runner.]
That was fair in my book so I let it go. Now the issue was how to survive the rest of this banquet, I really had no motivation to stay here with these pompous bastards.
"Well, this is getting boring, maids can you get me something to drink? Something strong, I am barely surviving this boredom."
"Me too." -Yom and Seraph
"Me three." -Eira and Rovan
"Of course young Lords and Lady"
That's how after a little while, the five of us were drinking and chatting about useless things while the rest of the heirs looked at us with doubts and hyper awareness.
"He is dangerous, not only is he not born nobility, but his magic is absurdly powerful and precise." -Selan
"He doesn't play by the rules." -Juste
"You and your rules, if you just answered him honestly, nothing of this would have happened. Didn't you see he doesn't care about shit? If you just said that a weak population is easier to keep in check, he'd probably just laugh it off. But no, you needed to make a statement." -Caelum
"You know, that is half right, I would have laughed it off, sure, but as someone who grew up with nothing but the information given to the masses, I was a little angry."
"That's fair, but see he said he'd still laugh… wait." -Caelum
He looked at me, then looked at the me drinking with Yom and looked at me again.
I exhaled and snapped my finger, removing the fake me from existence.
"Happy now? Either way, Lady Juste I just discovered something really interesting you know?"
"What?"
"Since the government likes to hide things I directly asked my brother, he can't wait for you to try and execute the ritual to become a Runner!"
Realisation dawned on everyone, they all knew the requirement for all their paths and the requirement for a runner on the path of law, is to not break the laws.
"I have not broken any laws!"
I just smiled. Winked at Caelum that seemed to have understood my intentions and left.
As soon as I was out of hearing reach he immediately asked.
"Niven, Juste, have you two had sex?"
Niven blushed furiously, but Juste was indignant.
"That is none of your business!!!"
"IT IS JUSTE! IT'S ILLEGAL TO HAVE SEX BEFORE BEING 17 YEARS OLD AND I KNOW FOR A FACT YOU HAVE BEEN TOGETHER LONG BEFORE 2 MONTHS AGO!"
Not a single sound escaped them, reality punching their guts and my curled eyes in the distance haunting them from afar.