"What?!" Vega had a feeling when he saw the place but he didn't know the capital had a special place dedicated for a noble. Dion told him where he was from but certainly not from the capital. Do they have different places for nobles? He thought to himself a little confused with all the complexity.
"Yes. See that building?"
Several statues stood alongside neatly trimmed hedges in the garden. The building had a clean grey wall, different from the previous building he saw with some dirt that had been accumulated for a long time. Several trees lined up perfectly making a sense of privacy between one building to another. The places were massive, reaching almost ten times the size of a regular house. From his place, he saw only four buildings, yet four of them had different statues in their garden. Even though a bit blurry, he squinted his eyes and saw a statue of hammers crisscrossing each other on top of a fountain. From their edges, water sprouted and watered the garden. The house looked like it had a specific rain that helped them to keep the garden filled with several different green plants healthy.
"With the hammers?"
Dion nodded. "The Goldenhearts' symbol. There one I know belonged to the Skidbladnirs."
Vega followed the finger and saw a similarly built house. This one had a different feel to the place, built with wood, the house resembled a ship rather than a house. Especially with the statue of a huge anchor chained to the roof creating a simple pathway for the winding vines growing from the garden.
"Are they from the same families?"
Dion nodded. "Both the crafters and the shipwrights were pretty influential, even as the minor nobles. They probably had the most knowledge of crafting and some said to exceed the extinct Eight Flame Clan. Make sense when you think about it. We have to travel from island to island here, so no wonder they had the money to compete with the major houses. Even in my old place, the Skidbladnirs monopolize the ships business but also create a lot of workplace for people."
After a long way walking admiring the different-looking buildings seemingly to overdo one another. The grasses felt soft and he actually made a simple jump on them to feel the flexibility. But he stepped away when the guards shouted, "Step out of the grasses!" But even though he couldn't feel the carpet of grass anymore, he admired the money spent to create a blanket of plants in the middle of the capital. Especially one of the houses had a garden bigger than the building itself. It reminded him of a hut stranded in the forest, especially with a pond in the corner creating a serene atmosphere for the ones who lived inside.
The lanes changed, from rocky to a clean-cut rock put together in a delicate balance creating a massive pathway that could fit two houses. Instead of being used as a safe space for building more houses, a garden stood in the middle of the lane. The garden wasn't big, but it was a long one creating a line with some animals inhabiting the place. In the middle of the garden, the pond had a flock of ducks drinking and swimming happily quaking to one another. From the trees, a shadow of a squirrel occasionally jumped around. Even a deer lifted its head and observed them. The movement made the butterflies who perched on its body fly about and moved toward the sea of colorful flowers. Along the lines, only four houses stood facing each other. The house looked similar yet still with their signatures statues located on their personal garden.
"It must be the major nobles. And probably that building belongs to the crown." Dion kept his gaze on a building in particular.
"So Princess Vin lives here?"
"Yes and no. We still don't know if the crown agreed to join the guild or the tower, right? But from the closeness of the capital with the guild probably the guild. Which means my family will also choose to join them. But I'm not sure. It seems like there are two different nobles' quarters located on different islands. That house actually belonged to the Brighthorns."
"As in your family?"
"Yes. I don't know why but the symbol had several differences. Yet the important parts are still there which means they are really the Brighthorns."
"Should we visit your family?"
"Let's find out what their knowledge about the war and also the guild. They can't force me to join them, right?" Dion nervously walked toward the house and observed his surrounding carefully. A knight appeared and stopped them before they went closer.
"Dion Brighthorn," He introduced himself while taking out a simple knife he always kept with him. The metal bore the symbol of the Beighthorn family. After tapping the blade three times, the sound changed and the gate shook open.
Even after passing the gate, Vega felt the hair on his arms stand when he passed by the formation surrounding the building. The mana inside became several times more intense, and even felt thick making him hard to breathe. Controlling his focus, he kept his posture straight and used the sigils to absorb some of the mana around. The mana felt hot but when they adapted and joined his source, the intensity lesened.
"Probably they have a special formation here to convert the pure mana from the outside. Fire elements always appear within any of our bloodlines."
"But how about someone born under the Brighthorn but had a different element."
"They are forced to join the minor houses. They kept the bloodline to marry the other houses and kept the best for themselves. At least, I can probably find several Brighthorns acted as a concubine for the Lords and Ladies of the minor houses. But as you know even with the right bloodline, not everyone has the right talent or dedication to keep practicing the harsh life of being an adept. That's probably the reason why some are sent to the island with commoners."
Vega nodded. The advancement was not a simple matter. The pain was unbearable. Without the will and perseverance, his soul automatically registers the doubt and in turn, would be harder for him to even absorb the mana.
The door slid open without making any skidmark on the marble floor. A figure popped out from behind and scanned them. The pressure was a little high making the area around them became hotter but because the figure was also a high-level apprentice, it didn't affect them too much.
"Finally another member of the Brighthorn has returned." But after looking at the wheelchair, the guy's eyes twitched, and led them inside.
The splendor and the beauty were something that Vega had expected from a noble house. The hall lit up with several chandeliers emitting a slight mana fluctuation from around them. Two grand stairs in the middle reach another story with several pictures depicted on the ceiling. Even the marble floor clacked when they walked around following the apprentice leading them. Because he was too focused on admiring the painting on the ceiling he didn't realize when he tripped from the carpet that suddenly covered the floor. Luckily, Dion caught him and he scratches his head a little embarrassed for his clumsiness. Even though a lot of people thought that he was a noble, he didn't grow up learning a similar etiquette lesson to the nobles.
"I apologize," he said while keeping his expression straight contrary to his beating heart.
The guy laughed. "No worries. A black hair and that feature. You resemble the Westerners. But because we're at war probably that was just your ancestor."
"He's my friend from the Shoal Blue Sea Academy."
"Ah, no wonder." He stopped talking when a servant came out bringing them some refreshments. "What do you need by coming here?"
Dion took the cup slowly with a grace Vega had never seen before. An enticing aroma of floral tea reached his nose and made him gulp but because no one offered him anything, he stayed quiet. After quite a long time enjoying the cup, Dion finally looked back and thanked the host stating his reasons for coming here.
"Normally the academy will have a graduation ceremony for any apprentices reaching a high level, but in the current state, I guess it's impossible. As for that matter, the guild sent us several invitations to join their rank. But unfortunately, we filled the quota for our younger members. It's really rare to find out external member had one successful enough to join the adept rank. I heard even the crown received one additional member. I must inform the head about the changes. Probably we need to pay more attention to the external house." The host replied back.
Several things were clear, the nobles were divided into internal members and external members. Dion was probably one of the external members who managed to earn back the bloodline to join the real House of Brighthorn.
"No problem. As an outsider who bears your family name, is there any chance for me to rejoin the family?"
"Sure, sure. But our standing as the Brighthorn focus on knighthood. We're sorry for your predicaments, but I'm afraid it's difficult."
Vega opened his mouth but Dion put his hand stopping him. "I understand. Do I get any benefits from bearing the symbol and the name of the family?"
"Yes, in fact. As one of the major houses around the adept circle, the other houses won't really care about your condition. So if you can gain entry to the guild bearing our name, you're one of us."
"Thank you for your hospitality. The sword is our shield."
"Yes, yes. The house is our shield."
Vega clenched his hands so hard feeling his friend's rejection when they finally out of the building. The dismissal was abrupt but they didn't own the house and can only follow the host. Wondering how a family can treat their own as a mere tool. He never had a family on his own but he would do anything to keep them safe and sound like his adoptive grandfather. The cold gesture from the host didn't really feel nice making him a little angry.
"We may be different from the nobles in the outerland, but somehow it's only a facade to keep our reputation intact. Probably the external house has different practices, but they are the main house. I'm sorry for stopping you earlier, but we're already considered outsiders even by the adepts, and adding more problems won't help us."
Vega nodded. After getting away from the nobles' quarter, they were back at the bridge and crossed toward their original places. Even when they were located in the capital the nobles and the commoners were treated differently. His expectation toward the nobles was never great, to begin with, he was glad that his friend was unlike the other noble he met. Excluding the Goldenhearts and the Skidbladnirs who regularly work with the commoners he still wouldn't trust any nobility.
The pathway felt different the instant they went back outside the quarter. The normal smell of a city reached their nose making Vega scrunched up his nose from the sudden onslaught of weird smell. Even the wall on the previous building he thought to be the cleanest looked dirty. The stone pathway was uneven making him push the wheelchair harder. The heat from the sun made some people crankier and even some guards stationed outside bigger stores to keep any criminal from escaping. It was noon already and they felt it was better to retreat back toward their inn to get some refreshments.
Inside an inn, Dion comfortably ordered a table by the window. The light breeze from the window made eating the steamy meat bearable. After finishing their cold mead leaving a sweet yet refreshing aftertaste after the heavy meal. With their stomach full, they were ready to explore the capital back and went toward a bigger store.
It had items with exorbitant prices listed even for a simple staff. After buying some of the necessities, they visited the library by paying a small fee to get inside. Because he didn't need to copy everything, Vega read faster than he used to in the academy. While Dion was meditating, he finished his book related to some more history of the islands and the adepts society. The Brighthorn's host didn't tell him anything and he hoped that any knowledge from the dusty books will help him to give more ideas about the situation in the capital. But instead of talking about the nobles, it had some descriptions about how the practitioners became their enemies.
Without a real monarchy, the West kept its hierarchical structure led by money. Similar to noble houses, they used money to solve their problems causing different sides to fight over any treasures. Especially during the war when each had their losses and blamed the other side for killing their families. It sparked the first assassination of the prominent members and made the others believe that they had been duped by the others. Slowly and adventurer's guild started to appear creating a long-lasting mission to reward anyone who can kill the other.
When the losses became too great to bear, the guild and the pavilion started to create a counter measure and stopped the war. But even without a war, parents told their version of the stories to their kids and the hate grew bigger. That was when all things became too difficult to bear and all the newer adepts started their retaliation and demanded their revenge. The start of another war. It wasn't in the book yet, but Vega was sure that when the coup started to reach its climax, it will take over many lives similar to the previous war. Especially when he knew the nobles had their traditions to keep their hate intact even with their own family members. His visit to the Brighthorn house opened his mind to a reality that he probably had to join the war before he advance to an adept. Somehow he wanted to give up and retreated back to his old life.