I was a bit early, specifically because I needed to meet Vanessa before she left her dorm. I walked fast and made it to the female dorms, just as all of the girls flooded out through the doors. I stepped aside and occasionally called Vanessa's name, in case she somehow slipped by me.

Suddenly, the flow was interrupted and the girls parted to allow the dorm manager to step out from behind her desk. She walked into the group of girls in the small lobby and seemingly plucked Vanessa out of it. She walked her over to me and as soon as they were out of the way, the flow of girls started up again.

“I see you have another crate of potions.” The dorm manager said.

“Vanessa needs them to mix with the crate I made last week.” I said and looked at Vanessa. “You only need about three quarters of a dose per vial of mix; but, there's no point in trying to measure out that much each time. Just drink the whole thing when you take it.”

“Three quarters of a dose?” Vanessa asked in a whisper as she picked up one of the vials. “You were right. This is significantly weaker than the original.”

“It's weaker because of the weaker ingredients, and I even used my distilling technique to make two separate ingredients into a more concentrated form.” I said. “It's still much better than anything else available and it also still has the same multiple use characteristics.”

“Will it be a little longer in taking effect?” Vanessa asked.

“Thankfully, no. It just takes more to achieve the same result.”

“That's a relief.” Vanessa whispered and turned to the dorm manager. “I request an escort back to my room.”

The dorm manager smiled, because just then the last of the girls left. “I assume you're going to be using these more often?” She waved to the stairs and put her arm through mine.

“Combined with the ones I still have, they should last me just over a month and a half.” Vanessa said as she led us up the stairs. “I'm going to beg David to help me make more, if you can see to approving the potion setup for my room.”

The dorm manager shook her head. “I can't approve a dangerous apparatus in a personal room, nor will you be allowed to light a fire inside, even if it will be a controlled and closely monitored flame.”

Vanessa sighed and we went up to the top floor and down the hallway to her room. I put the crate down right in front of it when she opened the door. She gave me a smile as she pulled it into her room without shutting the door. She struggled a little with it as she bent over at the waist to pick it up. Her skirt seemed to be a little shorter than normal and I saw most of her thighs from behind.

“You shouldn't do that.” I said and she let the crate go to look at me. “You need to lift with your legs. You'll hurt yourself if you lift with your back muscles.”

“Oh! I thought you... um...” Vanessa blushed a little. “I'll try it.”

The dorm manager and I watched as she bent at the knees before grabbing the crate, then she stood up and grunted loudly. She took one step forward, wobbled, and plopped the crate onto her bed. It bounced a little and settled, so she knelt on the floor and pushed. The crate pulled on the blanket as it moved to the center of the bed.

“I'll... worry about... making the bed again... later.” Vanessa panted.

“You need to exercise more.” The dorm manager said. “If a crate of potions exhausts you that much, your endurance must be horrendous.”

“I did... exercise.” Vanessa whispered and stood up as she wiped a bit of sweat from her forehead. “In fact, the instructor said I overdid it and would be weak for a couple of days.”

“Why didn't you say anything?” The dorm manager said and entered her room. She fussed over Vanessa for a few moments while chanting something, then she nodded. “All right, I agree. You need to relax and not strain yourself. I'll put you down for light work and send word to your teachers to not give you too much to do.”

“N-no, that's all right.” Vanessa said and waved her hands in a clear sign of denial. “I'll get by. I always do.”

The dorm manager gave her a stern look, then she nodded. “Okay, I'll take your word for it.” She took Vanessa's arm and led her over to me. “Mr. Drake, please let her depend on you for today.”

Vanessa shut and locked the door before taking my arm.

“It's Lord Drake now.” I said and both women caught their breath. “The king granted me the full title yesterday.”

“Wh-what... no, how could you meet...” The dorm manager mumbled.

I put my hand on the hilt of the short sword to bring her attention to it. Vanessa's eyes were huge as she looked down at it.

The dorm manager held her breath as she knelt on the floor in front of me. “That... that really is...”

“The castle's ceremonial short sword.” I said and pulled it out enough to show the royal emblem that was emblazoned on the metal. “I also have the signed document of my Lordship if you need more proof.”

The woman's fingertips lightly touched the scabbard and then she stood. “You must have the royal family's favor if they gifted such an ancient relic over to you.”

“I do.” I said and she nodded.

“I believe I have more to tell everyone on the staff than Vanessa's weakened state.” The dorm manager said. “You need to walk quickly if you want to arrive in class before the bell and be careful of the woman on your arm.”

I nodded and led Vanessa down the hallway.

“A lord. You're a lord now.” Vanessa breathed and she trembled under the fast pace I used going down the stairs. At least, I thought it was the pace. I would have to do something about it.

“Yes, I am.” I said and dug out one of the three remaining vials of strength potion I had. “Take a sip of this.”

Vanessa didn't even ask me what it was and drank a little bit of it. I gave her some healing potion next to settle the straining feeling of her muscles and she took in a huge breath.

“David, I don't know what to say.” Vanessa whispered. “I never imagined...” She paused as we left the dorm and I picked up the pace. “I thought you had to wait to become a lord after your marriage.”

“With the size of the land that the Henrietta Longshore Estate is on, I was probably going to become a lesser lord like a baron.” I said and glanced at her to make sure she wasn't straining or breathing excessively. “I was granted ownership of the marsh I grew up in. Drake's Marsh.”

Vanessa didn't say anything and just stared at me. We walked on and reached the main student classroom building and went inside unimpeded, because no other student was around. We had enchanting and runes this morning and we stepped into the classroom just as the bell went off.

“Well, it was nice of you to show up. I was getting a little worried that you were going to take my warning last week to heart about this class being a quick one for you and just staying away.” Mage Black Montgomery said with a chuckle. “I'm glad I was wrong.”

“I was delivering a crate of potions to Vanessa's dorm and it delayed us in arriving.” I said and led Vanessa to her desk and sat beside her. “I would send word or have word sent if I wasn't going to attend.”

Black nodded and waved at his wife. “I'm going to allow half an hour of rune instruction by my wife to make sure that I didn't lead some of you in the wrong direction.”

A girl put up her hand and he nodded. “Is there any trick to it? How can you get the symmetry exact without spending so much time measuring and plotting the shape?”

“Unfortunately, it takes time and practice to get the shape right. Since there are so many runes, there's no generic trick that can assist you in prepping for the drawing.” Mage Heather Montgomery said.

I glanced at Vanessa with a smirk on my face and she gave me a huge and brief smile in return.

“It's the same with carving, I'm afraid.” Black said. “Time, practice with the appropriate tools, and patience. Without those, nothing you do will work anywhere near as well when you add your blood to invoke the enchantment.”

Again with the blood? I thought and looked at the teachers as I schooled my face to remain impassive and not show my surprise. They don't use the enchantment potion? How do they evenly distribute their magic throughout the carving without it?

Heather stood up and gave everyone a smile. “Please take out your practice sheets from last week and I'll come around to check your progress.”

Another girl's hand went up and the teacher nodded. “Do you doubt your husband's ability?”

“Wh-what? Goodness, no!” Heather said, quite nervously. “No, I want to see your work, not his. His instructions have always been clear and precise. I would never doubt him.”

That had a lot of the girls nod their head and Black gave us all a reassuring smile.

“She really does want to check how far along in the rune's recreation you all are before I show you the enchantment that uses the rune.” Black said. “Like I told you last week, the enchantment won't even accept an infusion if the rune, the main ingredient of the enchantment, isn't as perfect as you can make it.”

I barely stopped myself from raising my hand to correct him. I knew, from years of practice, that you can be a bit sloppy and even make blatant mistakes. All you would do is ensure that the enchantment would drop in efficiency. It would still work as long as it was complete. Almost as if he knew I wanted to say something, he gave me a glance and a wink with a slow shake of his head. No one else noticed and I slowly nodded in return.

Everyone brought out their work from last week and I took out the piece of wood that Vanessa and I had used and my tool sets. Heather didn't look surprised as she saw the wood on my desk and she went around to everyone as Vanessa took out the paper sheets she had practised on. I took my lone sheet out with just the one marking on it, that I had drawn as soon as I saw the rune, just in case the teacher wanted it cleanly on paper first.

Heather did want that and looked pleased with what she saw on Vanessa's papers and then her eyes widened at my clean one. “Where are your practice sheets? I need to see your progress...”

“That is my practice sheet.” I said and tapped the piece of wood. “These two carvings are mine and those are Vanessa's. She's done really well.”

Heather turned the wood around and lightly touched the carvings I had made, one the size of the example and one the size that it would be in the enchantment. She looked at Vanessa's and her head nodded as she looked at all six of them and their progressive improvements.

“These are well done.” Heather said and put the wood down. “Mr. Drake, If you would be so kind, I'd like to speak to you during the break between morning classes.”

“It's Lord Drake now.” I corrected and a collective gasp came from the other girls.

“You... you're kidding.” Heather whispered, her face worried.

“No, the king himself granted me the title yesterday, as well as the entirety of Drake's Marsh between the Gulf Kingdom and the Eastern Empire.”

“Oh, my god!” “By the Son's Light!” “No way!” “That's not possible!” “He has to be lying!” The various girls in the class exclaimed at the same time.

“Mr. Drake... Lord Drake.” Black said as he addressed me. “I assume you have proof for such a claim.”

“I have a copy of the signed documents.” I said and slowly stood. No one had noticed the short sword on my left hip, so I slowly reached for it with my right hand and drew it. The sound was distinct as the sword was released from the scabbard and I held it up.

Gasps and two squeals came from the girls and Heather's face was completely pale as she stared at the bared ceremonial sword that had the royal crest emblazoned on it.

“Yes, I believe that's proof enough of the royal family's favor.” Black said and the smile on his face wasn't forced. “I assume it was a recent development?”

“Yes.” I said as I put the sword back into the scabbard and sat down. “Last night after we ate supper together, in fact.”

“You even spent personal time with the whole family?” Heather asked, clearly surprised.

“Just with the king, the queen, and their two daughters... plus the guards and multiple maids when we went to the wine parlour to talk.” I clarified for her and Vanessa gasped. “Yes, the first princess was there.”

Complete silence fell in the classroom and they all stared at me with various emotions on their faces. Disbelief and dismay were on some, shock on a few, envy on a few, and the last was desire. It was the girl that had fancied me the first day of classes and two girls beside her. Their faces were flushed red and even from this far away, I could hear them panting a little.

After a few minutes, Mage Black Montgomery cleared his throat. “All right, we've slacked off enough for this class. Take out new paper and do your best to recreate the rune on the board.”

His wife Heather shook slightly, as if coming out of a trance, then she started her slow circuit as she walked around the classroom to give advice to the other students as they worked.

Black came over to my desk to whisper. “I assume I don't have to give you any wildwood.” He said and handed me the enchantment he would be teaching us in the second class of the morning.

“Only the daggers when you think it's appropriate.” I whispered back and he smiled.

“Carry on.” Black said with a nod, nodded at Vanessa, and went back to his desk.

“Do two more drawings on the wood and carve them.” I whispered to Vanessa as I took out two small squares of wildwood. She did as I said while I cleaned the little squares of the preliminary carvings and then I examined the enchantment that Black had handed to me. It had clean lines and the rune placement was just where I had imagined it. The reserve magic channel and the circulation paths were slightly different, however.

Mine was a lot more efficient and I looked at the teacher with the question on my face. He came right over to me and bent down to pretty much hide me from view of everyone, except for Vanessa right beside me.

“I know what you're going to ask.” Black whispered with a smile. “Yes, I intentionally made the enchantment weaker.”

“You're keeping your deeper family secrets.” I responded and he nodded. “You know I fixed this already, don't you?”

Black had a hard time not laughing as he took out another piece of paper. “Does it look like this?”

I glanced at the paper and saw the difference. I took the paper from him and used my pencil to add the magic reserve command on one of the magic channels and added a secondary flow path that ran counter to the one he already had that used the reserve as a power source. I handed the paper back to him and he stared at me with his mouth open.

“Now it's fixed.” I whispered. “Depending on the magic used when activating it, you can double the effect for two strikes.”

“By the Son's Light.” Black whispered. “This can give someone a bonus on a forward swing with a weapon and then on the back swing.”

“Actually, that would be the best use, since the magic would discharge within a few seconds of the first strike anyway.” I replied. “If the wielder is careful, they can repeat it as many times as they want, even if they only have a small amount of magic.”

“With the reserve, you can even pre-charge it.” Black said, thinking about it.

“I'd say five minutes prior and no more. The channels aren't large enough to hold the magic much longer than that.” I said and pointed to the enchantment. “If you sell that, I want a cut of the profits.”

Black looked surprised for a moment, then he chuckled. “Oh, no. This isn't being put out for public use. After I talk to my father, we'll have a few test swords made up. If this works even half as efficiently as I know it will, my family will have something that no other family has.”

“I hope you won't mind if I play with it on my own.” I said and he put a hand on my shoulder.

“As long as you don't do the same thing and sell it. If everyone had it, no one would have that first surprise advantage in a battle.” Black said. “Go ahead and carve one up for yourself, then do the weak one for the class. We can compare the two when they are activated.”

I nodded and got to work as he went back to his desk. Black sat there and started writing something, then kept writing for the rest of the first morning class.