The day went on as usual and Timothy was able to catch up with some of the other students he normally got along with. Other than his two brothers, he had ten different real friends and they would normally interact with the trio during out of class times. There was no way for any of them to cause his roommates who he was extremely close to now trouble because all ten of his friends were commoners and were also independent like he was from any force.
Since Timothy was clearly a stand out compared to all of his friends, he made a point to tell them that he will always try to assist and protect them if he had the ability to do so and his ten friends on separate occasions chose to have a toast with him solidifying a true brotherhood until it was randomly mentioned in a group setting. At that point, everyone took an oath of brotherhood and vowed to help one another in the future.
Both Andrew and Ian did not mind that Timothy was technically now building out his own little force even if it was not an official force. In retrospect, Andrew was actually thrilled because if there was no way for Timothy to directly help them out once he graduated, such a task would be given to him. Timothy made sure to treat his friends very well, but he also made sure to keep very few friends. The group of ten's overall potential was rather good, and if there were no mishaps, all ten would possibly be able to graduate from the Grey Imperial Academy at a decent age.
Once the last of his classes ended, Timothy headed back to his room in order to change into a somewhat more formal uniform so that he appeared to be more respectful towards Nora and since everyone present would be staring, it was best for him to use every small advantage he could for the situation at hand. Still, he had not a single ounce of expectation when it came to solidifying even a friendship with Nora, but he would not be opposed to one.
Soon it was finally dinner time and Timothy was sitting at a small table off to the side alone. At first everyone present somewhat mocked him because not everyone heard about his arrangements with Nora for the night. And of course it was just his luck that Nora was the type to be fashionably late in order to maximize off of as many people being present as possible. With her reputation being higher than even some accomplished teachers or retired elders, she felt that she had to uphold what others would expect.
Several more minutes had passed by and Timothy began sipping on his glass of ice water as he was trying to decide whether he should cut his losses and to head over to where all of his friends were on the opposite side of the room at a big table, or to remain and put himself in a potential losing situation. These thoughts however quickly evaporated as he finally saw Nora entering into the room wearing an expensive looking dress that was not over the top, but would draw an endless amount of eyes towards her.
Given what he knew about her background and exchanging some words with her earlier in the day, Timothy was not taken aback, but was becoming somewhat annoyed. It was very possible that Nora had done this to help draw more eyes on them, but why did she have to go all out? Accompanying her were two middle aged looking individuals one a man and the other a woman. This was not strange since Nora's father requested that she would be accompanied by some guards if she were to go out into the city for her own protection, but it was confusing since here she was on campus which was completely safe.
Every student knew since day one of attending the Grey Imperial Academy, that the Dean in charge who normally did not make any appearances and rather would hand over those types of responsibilities to the Vice Dean ruled over the grounds entirely. It was so much so, that the Dean was handed down different artifacts that in coordination with several seals and inscriptions across the campus, allowed the Dean to keep tabs on everything that was occurring at any given time without wasting an ounce of energy.
"Ah, Timothy I am sorry that I showed up late but I just had to settle a matter before coming here. You do not have to worry though, these two made sure to finalize the original arrangements for us and luckily the cooks have begun making our meal a few minutes ago. Oh speaking of, it looks like we can begin eating right away!" As Nora sat down with the help of the two guards, one of the cooks personally brought over two large trays of exquisite dishes that would be able to be shared between the two of them.
"Before we begin our night, I would like to introduce you to these two seniors of mine. This is John and he is an elder of Twin Peaks, and as you may know they are an organization that more or less is at the top of the chain when it comes to Branch Village, a large and very prosperous village I may add. He heard about that match you had close to two weeks ago and after hearing through the grapevines that you are now officially a rank two dual expert at the age of thirteen, he just had to rush over to meet you."
"And this other senior is Ida and she is an executive at Silver Wind Mercenary Group. They are a B rank mercenary group who specializes in transportation services for merchant groups as well as exhibitions in dangerous areas where there would normally be an endless amount of treasures just waiting for a lucky soul to discover them. She wanted to speak to you about any future goals you may have and has told me that she would even want to offer you a badge to symbolize that you would be welcomed as a guest in their headquarters whenever you chose to visit in the future."
For the next thirty minutes or so, Timothy and the two seniors exchanged words in conversation and Nora just sat quietly eating her food with a big smile on her face. The only reason that Timothy did not reject the two seniors, was because both the Silver Wind Mercenary Group and Twin Peaks were completely independent forces who did not have any rivals or enemies. It was almost as if Nora personally picked the two forces out in order to assist Timothy since she must have seen some sort of value in helping him.
After Ida handed him a badge and John handed him a token symbolizing Timothy as an esteemed guest to his force, the two seniors excused themselves after thanking Timothy and Nora. After they exited the room, Nora let out a soft chuckle as she passed Timothy a small common storage ring. Taking a look inside, Timothy saw eight hundred gold pieces! "I reached out to both of their forces and explained that you did not want to make any enemies so you chose to remain locked away without wanting to make any outside world contacts. Since you are as young as you are, both forces sent the two you had just met along with fifteen hundred gold coins as a thank you to me for making the introductions."
"In the future when you have some time, you need to visit both of their headquarters in order to sincerely show them face and if you plan on creating your own force in the future, that would make for some great partnerships in the beginning. Take these eight hundred gold coins as a down payment from me since my own reputation is now on the line since some small promises were made including you personally heading over when you wanted to head outside of the academy to temper yourself."
