Chương 126: Book 3 Chapter 4 - Graduation Ceremony

After a moment, once Zoey had recovered, they talked through the implications.

"We'll need to take care with how this is used," Dustin said thoughtfully.

"If the servants see us coming and going, word might spread in a way we don't intend." Kiara nodded.

"I don't intend for us to travel back and forth daily or anything, but it will be handy for emergencies. I also plan to loop in Ron and Gentry, so if we need to relay them instructions at any point, we can do so without alerting any of the other staff." Dustin pursed his lips in thought.

"It might also be worth displaying your speed and invisibility to the estate staff on both ends, Shian. That way, any sudden appearance you make could be chalked up to quick travel times between the two cities, with your invisibility accounting for how you made it into the estate without anyone noticing." Zoey quirked an eyebrow at Kiara.

"Invisibility?" Kiara smiled, then activated [Invisibility 2], completely disappearing from sight. Zoey's eyes lost focus as she activated her magic sense, and she scrunched her face in concentration. Then she whirled in a circle, her face a mask of disbelief.

"What? How?" Kiara touched the archway, and it also vanished, being encapsulated by the effect. Zoey gasped in surprise, then stepped over to touch where the archway had been. It was still there, obviously, just invisible to her senses, and the moment she touched it, both Kiara and the archway reappeared as Zoey's contact broke the effect. Zoey stared at her in surprise.

"That's incredible! I couldn't even sense you, it was like you had vanished altogether. How did you get so good at illusion magic?" Kiara smiled softly and shook her head.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that." Zoey bowed in a quick apology.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to pry…" Dustin cut her off with a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright, Zoey. I don't think that she doesn't want to tell you, but literally can't. I believe she is bound by some sort of soul oath, although she hasn't been able to verify that for me either." They both stared at her questioningly, but she couldn't do anything other than stare back at them. Even the thought of trying to signal to them in some way if they were on the right track caused a small pain in her chest, and her throat began to tighten up.

This was the World Engine's way of ensuring she didn't overshare. Dustin sighed after a moment, then said to Zoey.

"It's always like this. She can't tell us too much, and she can't say why." He faced Kiara again.

"Are we to assume that these warp gates are another thing you can't really tell us about?" She smiled at his understanding nature, then nodded.

"Yeah, I can't really talk about where they came from, either. I have one more, but don't really have anywhere to put it for now. Maybe if we set up shop in a third city at some point we can deploy it there." Dustin looked thoughtful.

"Can you get more?" Kiara shrugged.

"Unclear. For now, let's assume that we're limited to the three."

"How does it work?" Zoey asked, tracing the runes again with her finger.

"Could an artificer create a fourth one for us?"

"That… is a good question," Kiara replied.

"I don't really know, to be honest. However, I don't think we should show this to anyone else for the time being. I plan to inform Ron and Gentry, plus Jaden so he can keep an eye on that room in Easton while we're gone." Dustin nodded.

"I think that's very wise." * A few weeks later, they all attended the graduation ceremony at the Portish Magic Academy, greeting many of that year's graduates. Many of them were children or grandchildren of wealthy nobles and merchant families, and already had jobs lined up for after graduation. Those that didn't participated in a small job fair immediately following the graduation ceremony, where they could meet potential employers in the area.

Dustin had to pay to reserve an employer booth, and the three of them stood there awkwardly while the students walked around, asking questions at each booth. It was quite different from their previous interview processes they'd been through, but was a good way to meet all of the graduates in one go before they got snatched up by other businesses and houses. The students that didn't already have jobs lined up fell mostly into one of two categories.

Either the nobility in their family was so many generations back that their immediate family was no longer part of the main show, meaning they needed to branch out to secure gainful employment, or they were in the same situation that Zoey had been. Some of these students had parents who were not all that wealthy themselves, up and coming merchant families or business owners, for example, and they needed to seek employment with a wealthy family outside of their own. That was exactly how Zoey's situation had been.

Those students were very few and far in between, however. Most of the students they met acted very spoiled, if Kiara gave them an honest assessment, and she didn't trust them to be loyal to House Yountal. Quite a few passed by their booth with their noses in the air, not even sparing them a second glance. Kiara was secretly thankful, as they weeded themselves out on their own, saving her the trouble of talking to them. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

Zoey pointed out that the students that had jobs lined up after graduation with their families tended to be on the young side, seventeen or eighteen. They would come to the academy early to build up their power base and begin their journey advancing through tiers while they learned their role in the family empire. Those that knew they needed to find their own employment after the academy generally waited a few years before attending, making themselves a more viable prospect for hire right out of the academy.

The older crowd was mostly who had come to the job fair today. Ideally, Kiara wanted to hire one or two tier 3s out of each year's graduating class and slowly build up House Yountal's strength and ability to defend itself from outside threats. Dustin assured her that there would be threats as they gained a larger foothold in Portish, and even more so as they continued to grow.

The competition here in Portish would be much stiffer, as the businesses were larger, the families were wealthier, and their roots ran deeper. They wouldn't take kindly to House Yountal stepping into their profit margins. After two hours, they'd met all of the students they could, and Kiara was pleasantly surprised. There were a few tier 1 and tier 2 graduates that had seemed responsible and level headed, rather than spoiled and entitled.

They recognized what jobs would be available to them at their current tier, and were looking for guard jobs at a respectable house, and seemed eager to make a good impression. Dustin hired a few of them on the spot. They had also met another tier 3 that seemed promising, named Yeager Nelson. He admitted to feeling stuck at tier 3, that he likely would never advance past that point, but he was pleasant and easy to talk to.

His parents were the seventh-great-grandchildren of a previous countess's brother, and his family had lived in Portish for generations. With his family's wealth dwindling, and his parents not having a strong family business to pass down to him, he was eager to find a good house that he could devote his service to. After a five minute conversation with him, Kiara had offered him a job, which he'd gladly accepted.

There were plenty of other businesses and houses here today, but none that he'd clicked with quite so readily. He was eighteen, a bit on the short side, and had a thin frame. Yeager, and all of the tier 2s that would be serving at the estate, had agreed to take soul oaths as part of their employment.

Kiara felt much more comfortable in her ability to handle a rogue tier 2 or even tier 3 now, but for the guards at the estate, she wanted to make sure that they all would be loyal to Dustin as well, as he didn't share that same luxury that she had.

She trusted that Zoey could keep everyone safe in her absence, as proven by her victory over Ugor, but she couldn't think of a good reason not to have them take soul oaths of loyalty to House Yountal, especially since they could quit at any time with a 48 hour notice and rid themselves of the oath. The academy, which hosted the job fair, also offered to perform the soul oaths for those that required it, for a fee, of course.

Their tier 4 staff attended the fair, and were available upon request for this exact purpose. They were shown to a private room, where the headmaster himself greeted them. He was a wizened old man, not unlike Belliston in both age and appearance, minus the wizard's hat. He had a long, white beard, the top of his head was bald, and the sides of his head were doing their best not to lose any more ground to the baldness than they already had.

"Ah!" the headmaster said as they began filing into the room.

"Esteemed guests, we thank you for attending this year's graduation and job fair. Welcome, welcome, I am headmaster Yong." Kiara and Dustin both bowed respectfully as they entered. [Magical Sense 4] confirmed to Kiara that Headmaster Yong was a tier 4 mage. Headmaster Yong gestured to Yeager.

"I see that you've decided to hire Yeager, one of our more talented students from this year." He raised an eyebrow as they were followed in by not just Yeager, but eight other students as well, all tier 1 or tier 2.

"You're hiring quite a few of our students, it seems. Well, I suppose there's nothing wrong with them watching as we perform the soul oath with Yeager." He cocked his head to the side as Zoey came in.

"Young Miss Trellen, welcome back. It's wonderful to see you again." Zoey bowed low.

"Headmaster, it's an honor to be back." He smiled at her like a grandfather might their granddaughter. Dustin had brought along copies of the contracts they had used previously, written out beforehand, with the names of the new employees filled in. He handed the one with Yeager's name on it to the headmaster, who had Yeager and Kiara sit across from each other on soft pillows on the floor. The soul oath ritual was much less ornate than when Victor had performed them previously.

There were no runes painted on the ground. His eyes and the contract still glowed a soft white, but not nearly to the extent that Victor's had. When Kiara accepted her half of soul contract, she was once again filled with knowledge of the intent going into the oath, and it felt quite lacking. The entire experience, in comparison to what Victor had done, felt like someone was handing her a toy sword, after she'd already experienced a real one.

The soul oath, bound to the contract that both her and Yeager had agreed to, felt flimsy and inadequate. Headmaster Yong looked flushed and drained after the ritual was complete, and he wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

"Whew, that always takes it out of me!" he said with a weary smile.

"Quite draining, soul oath rituals. It's a good thing you only hired a single tier 3, or I would have had to bring some of the other professors in to perform the other rituals. I'll need to spend some time recouping my mana before I could do another one." Three of the other new employees were tier 2, and Kiara fully intended to have them also take a soul oath, but she kept it to herself. After going through the process with Headmaster Yong once, she knew that she'd much rather have Victor perform the other rituals.

She shared a silent look with Dustin and Zoey, who both nodded their unspoken agreement. She smiled politely, thanked the headmaster, then paid the small fee they charged for the service. The fee was, admittedly, much cheaper than they would normally have to pay for such a service, since they were hiring an academy graduate. They made their way out of the academy, then worked their way through the city to Victor's artificing shop.

Yeager, the only newcomer with the ability to sense how strong other mages were, got wide eyes once they reached the shop and he sensed Victor inside. Dustin chuckled and patted Yeager on the back.

"Shian, why don't you head inside while the rest of us wait out here?" Kiara nodded, and made her way inside. Victor was standing inside the shop facing the door when she walked in, almost like he was waiting for her. She supposed he must have sensed their group outside or something. Once the door swung shut, he bowed to her, much lower than was expected or appropriate.

"Lady Yountal, you grace me with your presence. As always, it is an honor."