With my words as a reminder of debt and seeing how easily I destroyed the charm I myself created without reserves, nobody was really willing to go against my word.
But I knew this couldn't possibly be an acceptable outcome. I didn't want these fools to fear me, I just wanted to be respected.
"I'm not going to haul all the kills in the dungeon dive, artefacts are cool and all, but it wouldn't be fair to have you all waste a day for my personal gain."
They looked at me with clear confusion and I really understood them, but there wasn't much I could do.
It seemed the law was involved with the regulation of informations and I wasn't really ready to overthrow the world government.
"I meant it literally, we are going to the artefact mall and each of you will buy me something. Of course we will go after the dungeon. Yom can you show us the way?"
Everyone exhaled with relief, buying me a general artefact certainly was better than have me haul a bonded artefact from a dungeon.
Well almost everyone.
Juste was watching with horror the broken mirror in her hand almost ready to cry and Niven was trying to console her.
"It's not fair… it wasn't my choice to begin with!"
"We'll ask him to make a new one, I'm sure he'll understand the gravity of having one of the main runes corrupted by the beyond."
I held back a chuckle and stomped my foot.
Yes I was copying the only other high humans I knew to dispel my own illusion.
The cracked mirror was replaced by a perfectly fine pocket mirror with a gavel sanding decoration and Juste screamed in that same moment.
"Let me be clear. The punishment was for your mother. There is no need to break your mirror, I put in a lot of effort for everyone to be at least a little safe."
Juste nodded happily and promised not to tell her mother when I said that the punishment was meant for the big gun and not the little bullet.
"The ban on the mirror hall remains. You still call me mutt behind my back, that I will not tolerate."
With the main issue resolved, we made our way towards the entrance of the estate where the biggest limousine I've ever seen in my life was waiting for us.
It made me think of why they'd use a carriage instead of this when entering the academy, but attributed that to the dramatic effect and simply boarded.
Yom was explaining the detail of the dungeon that we were allowed to enter and while I was more or less listening to him, I had another issue in the shape of a 6'3" silver haired young man that decided clinging to me in public was acceptable.
"Cael, you have 3 seconds to leave my personal space."
"I'm still recuperating, you owe me for the mental trauma your mirrors left on me."
"How is clinging to me helping you?"
He looked at me with doubt, it was clear he too wasn't sure about things.
"Can you release a little bit of your presence and mana my way?"
I wasn't sure how that could help, nor if I was able to control my presence at such levels, but I tried nonetheless.
For a moment everyone looked at me frightened by what could have tickled my anger, but with my eyes closed and focusing on my spark and the shape of Cael being enveloped by my mana, I was able to retract it.
"Is this good enough? Can you move a little away now?"
He happily obliged and went back to listening to Yom's explanation, or tried to. Everyone was starring at me and Cael.
"Are you claiming the Heir of Storm as yours brother?"
"Why would you think that? I just did what he asked me to do, he says it calms him."
This time the one answering was someone else.
"So he is making you claim him so easily? Is it that you're too generous or simply stupid?" -Seraph
"I don't understand, the man is used to my mana when I work, if it helps him calm down after the shock of the mirror hall, so be it."
Everyone looked at me dumbfounded, but a glare I didn't notice effectively shut up everyone and they resumed talking about the dungeon.
"So, to recap: this dungeon is a pocket dimention that holds a labyrinth expanding 5 floors underground." -Yom
"Each floor has a particular habitat and traps along the labyrinth, of course different types of monsters as well." -Eira
"And the particularity of this dungeon is that each floor gives a bonded artefact." -Marin
"Also, your family has cleared the schedule for us completely, so we can stay until Sunday evening." -Juste
That last piece of information was actually worrying for me, I couldn't possibly keep up the doppelgängers for so long.
"Aurelia, can you check if your maid is with my doppelgängers?"
She didn't bother with questions and called immediately, once she confirmed that she was indeed waiting for the clones to give back the books she had brought them, Aurelia ordered that it didn't matter and passed me the phone.
"Crowling squad. 10 minutes till death, run to the room."
I heard chairs scrambling and my own footsteps running away. It was quite funny.
"Why do you use the term death? Aren't they just mana constructs?" -Aurelia
I knew she was fishing for information, but she also gave me mnemonic magic to study, so I could spare something to give back.
"We share consciousness, how would I be able to know everything they know? But most importantly, is an exercise to keep up a clear separation between reality and fakery."
I then turned towards Yom and pointed my eyes.
"Brother, if you ever wish to follow my research, don't just run with it. Ask me before, there are some exercises that are needed to stay sane."
Curiosity was gnawing at everyone, but they all knew they couldn't really ask things. My research was a guarded secret by house Morvane, unless the duke wanted to share it, they needed to eat their curiosity.
When the ten minutes passed, I snapped my finger and the expected headache arrived with unnerving fury.
The information on mnemonic magic was finding home in my brain and it was a lot.
Cael noticed my frown immediately and being familiar with the after effects of my spell, he was ready.
From his inventory he took out a wet beanie, he put it on my head and started to manipulate the wind to keep it cool against my overheating head.
The effectiveness of that simple act was almost unbelievable.
"Thanks Cael, like always."
I couldn't see anyone, but I felt his hand gently massaging my neck and I gave in like a cat that found the perfect spot under the sunlight.
"I need to find a solution to this shit, can we even expand our brain capacity with magic?"
"I'm pretty sure Aurelia's father, the Duke of Wisdom, has a way, but I don't really have a solution." -Cael
"We also have something brother, you should ask Dad later."
The travel towards the unknown destination continued with me leaning on Cael's hands, blindfolded by a fresh beanie and in blissful silence that allowed me to archive all the details of mnemonic magic and still feel alive even if I didn't directly go to sleep like I was used to after a full day of clones studying.
I got back to an acceptable degree of clarity right before we arrived at our destination.
That was also when I noticed something interesting.
"Oh, you all have armors!"
Of course they all had armors and except for Juste and Rovan who had the world government emblem on their chest, every other heir had their families crest engraved on the chest plate.
"Don't you also have an armor?" -Cael
"I don't like it, it's ugly and uncomfortable."
"They are not meant to be comfy, just to save your life…"
Comfy? Did Cael always talk like that?
Either way, I wasn't about to wear armor, it really didn't bode well with me and the movements my body would make.
"There's no need, I had the seamstresses of house Morvane enchant each and every suit I possess."
I pointed at the silver embroidery on my suit and they all noticed that the unnoticed detail, was indeed an enchantment.
Of course those enchantments had nothing to do with protection, it was merely [repair], [clean] and [thermostasis], but they really didn't need to know that, did they?
"Also, I will act as a mage, so focus on protecting my ass and there won't be any problems."