On Monday morning, the orphans got ready for school. Bacha gave Adimia an energizing potion to get rid of the deep dark bags under his eyes. It still had the side effect of him shitting aggressively, but at least he'd be able to avoid getting a detention for sleeping in class for the fifth time since last week.
"Thank you, I feel so much better," He said, though his eyes were still dry and red.
Madella was the only one to send them off. Teerom had no work that day, but he was still asleep upstairs. That morning, Jurie struggled to get out of his tight embrace, forcefully peeling him off her.
They sat down for the first class, and Paley noticed writings on his desk. They were insults, obviously by the nobles. They were things like: Your life has zero purpose, Show-off, and, Kill yourself. Paley thought it was a bit extreme to tell someone to suicide just because they got a higher score than them, but brushed it off.
There were comments on Dillie's desk too. They weren't much better, calling her a whore and slut. Paley silently rubbed the writings off by generating water at his fingertips. He glanced at Adimia, who was rearing to fight the nobles, and shook his head, signaling that he shouldn't do that.
The nobles were watching him, not trying at all to be subtle. He gave them a frightening glare until they looked away in discomfort.
"I'm sorry, Dillie. You're getting dragged into this." He apologized as the teacher walked into the class.
After class, the nobles didn't bump shoulders with Paley in the corridors or push him. They walked by with looks of frustration. Paley knew that they weren't done being assholes. If it was that easy, then he would've glared at them like that a long time ago.
His doubts were confirmed the next day, at lunch. He sat in the magic club, discussing ideas for new spells and devices. They came up with an idea for a heater, where they put wires of fire runestones inside the walls. You'd flip a switch which would be the condition to activate the runestones.
Of course, they didn't take into account that if the spell didn't have a limit, the room would get too hot and burn. And the fact that the idea already existed and in a much better way.
"So, Paley. What's your magic type, again?" Nova asked.
"All of them," He joked, getting a gullible silence from the club (apart from a smile from Dillie), "I-I'm joking." He reassured, and they sighed in relief.
"Oh, almost had me there. I thought I was looking at a Quimnia." Ponna slapped his back.
"Haha," Paley laughed awkwardly, "Right. I'm an Earth-type, by the way," He said, regretting that day he made an Earth runestone. Schools only need to know your magic type after Stage 5, so Paley planned to tell the school he was a Fire-type once he reached Stage 5 because the fire was his strongest magic type. But he ended up making an unexpectedly strong Earth runestone that made teachers assume he was an Earth-type.
"Okay, interesting. Any ideas for a new spell for Paley?" Nova asked the group as a whole.
"You could make people," Megora, the one who leans forward a lot, suggested.
"Already done that," The words slipped out of Paley's mouth, getting them all excited.
"You have? Do it!" They urged him on. He hesitated but decided to humor them, sighing and standing up to perform the golem spell.
"Rise-" He put his hand to the table and was about to summon an Earth Golem if Amasha hadn't burst into the room crying. He ran to Paley and hugged him tightly.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Paley hugged him back.
"The nobles, they-" Amasha looked up at Paley, revealing the bruise on his left cheek. At that moment, everyone in the room felt a momentary furious pressure weighing on them.
"What did they do?" Paley asked in a cold tone. Amasha began, "They were looking up Jurie and stuff's skirts, so I told them to go away, but they hit me!" he cried.
"It's okay, buddy." Paley crouched down and felt his bruise, "Let me heal you." He began wrapping the bruise in the green light of Healing magic. Soon, the bruise had vanished, and Amasha stopped crying.
"You can use healing magic!?" Diz became excited and approached him. But one look at his face killed her excitement. Even the Facimut Pulveris couldn't hide the icy glare he had.
"Come on, let's go." He took Amasha's hand and began walking.
"Paley," Dillie followed him, "What're you going to do?"
"What I should've done a while back." Paley arrived outside where Adimia and Reben were going to fight the nobles.
"Oh, Paley! About time you came. We're just about to teach these-" They paused in worry when they saw his real face coming through the Facimut Pulveris. Bacha panicked and approached him with the powder on her fingers, but he put his hand up. "It's fine, Bacha." He began approaching the nobles.
It was the same noble with the neatly combed hair that threatened Dillie and her family. Paley was itching to break his arms and face, but he managed to maintain an unsettling exterior calmness.
"Hey." He breathed, staring at him and his cronies, "We never really got a chance to talk, did we?"
"What is there to talk about?" The noble replied.
"Do you respect women?" Paley glanced at Jurie, who was holding down her skirt uncomfortably.
"Of course, I do. They're just the best, aren't they, guys?" He laughed, and so did Paley slightly. If Teerom knew what they did to Jurie, he would beat them ruthlessly.
"I challenge you to a magic duel," Paley said suddenly, making the crowd that formed around them whisper intensely.
"A magic duel? With me, a noble? Don't make me laugh,"
"I'm serious," Paley used Lightning Magic and appeared right next to his ear, catching him off guard, "Or are you too scared?" He whispered mockingly.
"Me, scared? In your dreams, orphan." He pushed Paley away, making the panda chain he wore come out from under his shirt, "Nice chain," He said smugly and ripped it off, "I'll be taking that. I accept your duel. If you win, I'll be taking this. If you lose, you shall be my slave for the rest of your life." He smacked Paley across the face with the chain.
"If I win. You will stop bothering us and Dillie's family will no longer have to pay you whatever debt they have." Paley negotiated.
"Fine, deal?"
"Deal." Paley smiled. It was a sinister and impatient smile. The bell rang and the noble barged him aside and made his way back into the school, swinging the chain.
"Oh, and my name is Libon. After the great hunter." He added before disappearing into the building.
"Paley!" The orphans ran over to Paley.
"Are you okay?" Jurie checked on his cheek where Libon smacked him with his chain.
"I'm fine." Paley knew it was going to stay bruised for a while. Healing magic didn't work on him, apart from the fireflies in the mana zone. He walked with them past the crowds of teachers and students and into the school. Luckily, the Facimut Pulveris began working again, and no one could recognize his face from the wanted posters hung around the city.
That night, Libon, after spending his afternoon and evening watching movies (on magic projectors) in his big mansion outside of Gouon, approached his father, a man with a thick mustache, in his study.
"Father?" He knocked.
"Come in, Libon." His father seemed uninterested but let him in anyway.
"Could you get an official duel set up for me?" he asked.
"Why? Who are you fighting?" His father asked.
"This peasant orphan from school," Libon said spitefully.
"Why would you need an official duel for that?" His father set his pen down and sat back in his chair, "Is he powerful?" He realized that Libon must be terrified. An unofficial magic duel means that there are no rules, and you keep fighting until one of you surrenders or drops dead.
The way that Paley stared into Libon's soul still frightened him. Libon would not only lose in an unofficial match against Paley, but he would definitely die. He'd be safe in an official match because a third party decides the rules, and most times you are not allowed to kill each other.
"I will do that for you. I'll ask them to set safe rules too, okay?" His father was eager to get him out of his study.
"Okay, thank you." Libon nodded meekly and left to go to bed. He barely got any sleep that night, as if he just watched a horror movie instead of the comedies he actually watched. He kept tossing and turning, opening his eyes to check if something was there. If Paley was there.
The orphans returned home that day and told Madella of what was happening.
"No!" She protested, "Do you know what they do to win? And if you lose you will be his slave for the rest of your life. Do you know what that means!?" She was furious but more worried for Paley.
"Mom. I will not lose. Trust me. If it's an unofficial magic duel, they'll try to backstab me or something. In that case, I can just summon my Earth Golems to aid me." Paley didn't want to tell her of the microneedle Earth spell that he had up his sleeve too, "If it's an official match, then I'll win no matter what. I'm stronger than him in every way."
Madella hesitated for a moment, but she could tell that Paley was sure of himself. Unlike before when he acted on impulse, causing a noble to go braindead. (No one knew of the slave traders that still lie in the warehouse. They weren't moving anymore, of course.)
"Paley..." She rubbed his shoulders affectionately, "If it gets too hard, you will run away, okay?"
"Okay, mom," They hugged.
"Paley," Teerom approached and whispered in his ear: "Throw in a few punches for me," He walked past him and to Jurie. He was strangely calm.
"As long as you're okay, I'm happy." They hugged, and she kissed him on the cheek.
That night, Paley went to sleep on the grass more peacefully than usual, whereas Libon was still shitting himself in fear.