Chapter 1556: Noble Politics Within The Academy

"Aster... I mean... Lady Aster... Is it ok to be friends?"

I looked up at the girl who had approached me at the end of our Astromancy Class.

I... Honestly wasn’t ready for this side of the spectrum after the rumours about me being the heir of the Nilm Family got out...

Sure, I was totally prepared for the students fearing me and being absolutely terrified of me. Sure, I was also totally prepared for people like Patris who were convinced that it was all fake and wanted to expose me. And sure, I was also prepared for people who didn’t believe it but still treated me like normal.

But I completely forgot that there was a possibility that there might be people who believed those rumours and wanted to be my lackeys or followers because of it...

Hello? People? Did you forget I’m supposed to be the bad guy? You remember me beating people up right? Like I just beat up your seniors during the first week of school? Are you sure you want to be associated with me?

Then again... I guess most would overlook all that if it meant a chance to be associated with the Nilm Family.

I pretended to be uninterested in them as I tilted my head slightly, "Do I know you?"

The girl was completely unfazed by my bluntness and lowered her head slightly in a bow, "Ah... Ah... I’m E... Eirivelle... Eldest daughter of the Thornewyck Family..."

Ah crap... I don’t have Katsuki with me so I don’t know how important this Thornewyck family is supposed to be...

Should I be more respectful? Are they allies of the Nilm Family? Are they rivals? I have absolutely no idea.

That’s why I’m at a complete loss on how to deal with this...

The girl looked nervous and she was fiddling with her fingers that were held in front of her while her two friends remained behind her, both of them hanging back a polite distance away so that they were close enough to support her but far enough to give us a semblance of privacy.

She looked sincere enough and she was quite petite which kind of made me feel like I was looking at a small animal.

Her demeanour definitely gave away the fact that she was a noble even without her admitting to it, especially the fact that her hair had two braids that wrapped behind her head and was held up by a rather impressive looking brooch, something that a commoner would not do.

It took me a moment before I could decide how I should respond to her.

"Lady Eirivelle, I’m afraid I do not really know you well enough to make such a decision. And are you really sure you wish to associate yourself with me? You do know about my reputation here, right? If you’re just approaching me because of those rumours about me being the heir of the Nilm Family..."

Surprisingly, she quickly shook her head, "Ah! No, no! Not at all! I’m just... I really admire you, Lady Aster. You’re our age and yet you’ve already accomplished so much as compared to us. I... I really look up to you!"

I blinked at her, realising that she was serious.

I’m guessing she had already wanted to be friends with me since even before the rumours were being spread around after she saw me, but I guess she only managed to gather her courage to approach me now.

Which honestly was pretty bad timing for her but she must have decided that she didn’t want to wait anymore so she just approached me anyway.

I then shifted my gaze to the two girls behind her, "What about them? Are they also here for the same reason?"

Eirivelle stepped aside and smiled at them, prompting them to come forward and introduce themselves in turn.

"La... Lady Aster... It’s an honour... I am Veyselle of house Morcant... Thank... Thank you for meeting us. Umm... We... We would be honoured if you would be our friend too..."

Hmm... This girl looks familiar...

Oh! I remember now! She’s also in my Iatromancy and Lumenmancy class! Not that I spoke with her before but I remember seeing her seated in the class at least.

"Hello! Nice to meet you, Lady Aster! I’m Calethis! You can call me Cale! I’m the third daughter of the Brume family! I’d like to be your friend as well!"

Ah, I remember her. She’s in my Geomancy class. Funny how she’s completely different in attitude as compared to the other two.

I nodded at them, "Well met."

Eirivelle turned back to me and looked quite hopeful, "Umm... So... Would... Would it be possible for us to be frie--"

"Oh, what’s this?"

We were interrupted by another voice coming from the doorway.

All of us turned to see Patris standing there with her group of followers, the Nyarel smirking in our direction.

What the heck does she want this time?

She stepped inside the now empty classroom while smirking at the three girls in front of me.

"Is this what I think it is? Three lost girls who are trying to cozy up to the... Hehehehe... The heir of the Nilm Family?"

Eirivelle and Veyselle shrunk back, looking quite intimidated by the senior in front of them.

On the other hand, Calethis stepped out in front of them, activating as their shield while frowning at Patris.

The blue scaled Nyarel completely ignored them and turned to me, "Hello there, lady Aster. I didn’t think someone of your position would be... How do you put it... Frolicking with lesser nobles like these?"

As if to make sure that everyone knows who she was talking about, she turned back to smirk at the three girls again before turning back to me, tilting her head slightly to wait for my response.

"Why does who I associate with matter to you? Do you think you are someone who can determine who I can or cannot talk to?" I asked, putting a little edge in my voice.

She paused, surprised that I would actually challenge her like that.

I could see that she might have even mentally questioned if I was actually who the rumours said I was for a moment there.

To her credit, she managed to recover quickly and smiled at me, "Ah, of course not. I would not dare to tell the heir of the Nilm Family what they can or cannot do. After all, they would probably give me a fate worse than death if they ever found out."

She could not be any more transparent with her insinuations if she tried... She’s literally just saying that I wasn’t the real one because the real one would have killed her or something by now for what she had said so I could not be the real one.

I didn’t feel a need to argue about it so I just changed the topic instead, "So what do you want? I highly doubt you came all the way here just to tell me who I can or cannot associate myself with, right?"

She smiled a little wider, "You are correct. I came here to give you this."

She reached her hand behind her and one of her cronies deposited a small roll of parchment in her palm that was tied with a rather expensive looking silk ribbon.

The Nyarel then handed the rolled parchment to me. Or rather, she tried to hand it to me by holding it out but I just stared at it before looking at her with a questioning tilt of my head.

Calethis giggled at the sight but quickly covered her mouth to muffle her laughter, which only made Patris look even more silly.

The Nyarel frowned, "Well? What are you waiting for?"

"I am not used to being handed things that I don’t even know what they are supposed to be."

Patris rolled her eyes, "This... Is an invitation to the tea party that I will be hosting. Which I believe I had told you before? You are only allowed in if you possess this scroll so I suggest you keep it carefully lest you get turned away at the gate. Because I have to play by my own rules so there’s no exceptions, not even for you, ’lady’ Aster."

I shrugged and took it from her hand, unfurling it for a moment to see that it was indeed what she said it was, where it was an invitation to a tea party with Patris at her own residence within the Academy and the bearer of this scroll was allowed to attend the tea party.

The timing of the party was supposed to be next week and it requested that all participants be dressed formally.

I furled it again and nodded, "I shall be there."

"Of course you will, "She agreed vaguely, turning to give those three girls another smirk before walking off.

Oh good... At least she’s leaving without making any more fuss I suppose...

Now what should I do with the original three girls here?