The boy gave a slight bow and the girls gave a curtsey. "Welcome to our home, cousin Skymender."
Hidden behind their tones was obvious disregard and a faint hint of disgust. A normal person his age would have never caught on to it, but Skymender was not a normal person his age.
He could tell in an instant.
They underestimated him because of his age, but that would only benefit him.
Skymender nodded. "Hello, cousins. I hope all of you have been well."
They smiled. "We have indeed been well. I assume you have too."
Skymender nodded again. "Of course."
Aunt Skyless gestured for Skymender to come. "I'll show you around."
Skymender followed his aunt, and his cousins followed them as well.
This house was much larger than their house. There were nearly 30 rooms, just as many bathrooms, and various other rooms, most larger than a normal bedroom.
Skymender was led to a guest bedroom, which was far more elegant and fancy than even his parents bedroom back in the Sky Barony.
It wasn't that his parents couldn't afford it, it was just completely unnecessary.
"You can put all of your stuff in here. This is where you will be staying while you're here." Aunt Skyless said.
Skymender nodded and Li Youcai left to bring his bags. Only Li Youcai would be his servant in the house. The rest would do other things while at the capital, though most of it involved him in some way or another.
"When will I see my sister?" Skymender asked.
Aunt Skyless donned a troubled expression. "Just a few days ago, she said that she had to leave for some surprise issue. She also said that she will return within a month."
Skymender inwardly groaned. In other words, he would be on his own for a month in the Imperial Capital.
Of course, his Aunt and his cousins would be here, but it almost felt as if they were enemies instead of family.
'I guess this is how families in the Imperial Capital are.' Skymender thought.
It wasn't necessarily that they were actually enemies, but that Skymender was unused to such inner coldness towards family members.
Regardless of their inner thoughts, they were still family, and everyone here recognized that.
Of course, that did not stop anyone from looking down on Skymender.
Eventually, Aunt Skyless and his cousins left. Li Youcai eventually brought all the bags to his room. He then set up in the room next to Skymender's. It was much smaller, about the size of the Servant Quarters at Skymender's house.
There was a door leading outside of the room, as well as a door leading to Skymender's room.
For the rest of the day, Skymender stayed in his room and read, with only a brief interruption during dinner time.
Eating, he seemed like a true country bumpkin. He did not even recognize half of the utensils.
It had to be admitted that the Sky Barony almost completely ignored the teachings of elegance imbued into most nobles, even those outside of the Imperial Capital.
Wait, no. Skymender seemed to remember these utensils before. Perhaps they had tried to teach him, but he simply ignored them. Yes. Probably that.
It was an awkward sight, seeing Skymender eat so inelegantly.
Nobody could even keep a facade when he grabbed a chicken leg with his bare hands and ate it.
You'd think they were watching a murder.
Well, Skymender was indeed murdering the chicken leg.
Aunt Skyless and his three cousins seemed to lose their apetite as he got up and left.
Skymender called this Dominating the Battlefield.
Or perhaps a hit and run.
Regardless, they would look down on him even more now.
Night passed and morning came.
Skymender was awoken by the sound of Li Youcai entering the room.
He looked up and saw him carrying a tray of breakfast.
"Am I not eating with them?" Skymender asked.
Li Youcai was speechless. He had been there when Skymender had eaten that food. It was an interesting powerplay. Eating the chicken leg with his hands was one thing, even Baron Sky occasionally did that.
It was when he began to eat mashed potatoes with his bare hands that Li Youcai had to look away.
"No, Master Skymender. They seem quite fearful of you after yesterday. I imagine that you will not be attending any more meals with them for the rest of your stay."
Skymender sighed in relief. "Good. All of those utensils were really terrifying. You know me well, Li Youcai."
Li Youcai looked down at the tray of breakfast. There was only a fork, a knife, and spoon.
The spoon would not be used, nor the knife.
After that day of rest, Skymender was ready to go out.
His fatigue from the long carriage ride had been washed away overnight.
He put on some clothes. They indeed showed his nobility, but they were also much more casual than what anyone in this house was wearing. More importantly, it was comfortable.
Skymender stepped out of the house with Li Youcai behind him. "Let's go make a fool out of myself."
Li Youcai heard him mumble, but did not make out the words.
He was, however, curious as to why Skymender had said to carry a sword.
Stepping out of the carriage, Skymender found himself in a large market. Thousands of commoners moved around.
This was the biggest open market in the Imperial Capital. It was said that if you could not find something here, it was almost impossible to find it elsewhere.
He instantly stood out among the crowd. His clothes bore the crest of the Sky Barony.
A path cleared for him and he received some stares, but the traffic never stopped moving.
After walking around for a moment, Skymender bumped into someone.
The person was far heavier than him, but unbalanced.
The person fell over.
Skymender looked at the person as he got up.
"How dare you bump into me! My father is the owner of the Fugui chamber of commerce. You better apologize rig…h…t…"
The words slowed to a stop as the person looked at the crest on Skymender's clothes.
"A noble. Heh heh. My bad. Forget what I said."
Sweat appeared on the person's face as he moved to the side.
Skymender pointed at him.
"Show me around, Fatty."
The person paused for just a moment before nodding.
"Sure. Sure."
Skymender walked forward. "I'll call you Fatty from now on. Is that fine with you?"
The Fatty smiled with resignation. "That's what my father calls me, of course your esteemed self can."
Skymender stopped in shock. He looked at the Fatty with sympathy before continuing forward.
Besides Li Youcai, there were now a few other servants and guards with them. These were the Fatty's.
He seemed to be from quite a rich commoner family. However, no commoner family was truly equal to even the lowest of nobles.
Even with that, the Fatty may not be so kind to any other Baron, but the Sky Barony was different. They had a special status, especially now with a potential Sword Master among them.
Skymender walked around for a minute before spotting another noble.
"Fatty. What family is that?"
The Fatty walked up to his side and spoke. "That should be the Grayn Barony."
"Do nobles usually come to these places?" Skymender asked.
"You can usually see one or two. After all, even nobles can find things of use here."
Skymender began to think.
"Fatty, what level of nobles are they?" Skymender asked.
The Fatty wasn't sure. "What do you mean by that?"
"Compare them to the Sky barony in terms of status."
The Fatty thought about it for a moment before speaking. "Technically, your families are equal. However, the Sky Barony gets special treatment and has a long history. It wouldn't be unreasonable to consider you a level above them."
Skymender nodded. This seemed fair.
He walked towards the noble as the noble looked at some items from a shop.
This was obviously one of the more popular shops, but everyone cleared the way for the noble.
The noble was a bit older than Skymender, probably 14 or 15.
As they got closer, Skymender heard the noble speak. "What is this item?"
The vendor responded. "That is an unknown badge. There is a design on it, but we aren't sure where it came from or what the design represents. It could be from some ancient family lost in history, or perhaps some old toy made for kids."
The vendor did not hold back any information when dealing with the noble.
The noble nodded. "How much is it?"
"Young Lord Grayn, you can naturally have it for free if you want it."
The noble snorted and spoke. "Do I look so lowly as to take a freebie from a commoner. Give me a price."
The vendor hesitated before speaking. "One silver."
The noble nodded and reached into his bag.
At this time, Skymender arrived.
"Hello noble boy."
The noble turned around with a frown. He saw Skymender come towards him. The entire area around him was cleared, with commoners leaving a sort of circle around him, but Skymender entered this area.
Following behind him was a fat boy and a bunch of servants.
The noble looked at the crest on Skymender's clothes, and his expression lightened slightly.
"Who are you? How dare you call me that."
Skymender inwardly sighed. He hated forcing himself to cause trouble, but it really had to be done for the sake of the future.
Skymender ignored his words and looked at the badge in his hand. "That is mine. I'll be taking it now."
The noble's frown deepened.
Before he could speak, Skymender snatched out of his hand.
He opened his mouth, but Skymender kicked to the side. His foot landed on the noble's stomach. Although the noble was older than him, and their builds seemed similar, Skymender's sister was a potential Sword Master.
He had been beaten up by her a lot, and he was far better at fighting than the vast majority of people.
Although he was just a weak small child to her, to everyone else, he was an unnaturally skilled child.
The noble clutched his stomach as his eyes widened.
He coughed, barely stopping himself from falling on the ground.
The vendor's eyes widened. Not just him, but so did the Fatty's, all of his servants, and even Li Youcai.
Even the surrounding people stopped moving. Such violence among nobles was unheard of.
Without a doubt, under usual circumstances, Skymender would face punishment from his family and the noble's.
However, Skymender had a trump card. His sister.
"You dare hit me!" The noble screamed.
Skymender tossed a gold coin at the vendor while speaking. "I don't keep money lower than gold. Keep the change."
He ignored the noble and walked off, even as the noble's servants and guards crowded around him.
Nobody had ever expected such a thing to happen.
As Skymender walked away, the Fatty and Li Youcai regained their senses.
They looked at each other for a moment before catching up with Skymender.
The Fatty instantly began to praise Skymender. "Your actions are incredible, sir. I am in admiration of you."
He spoke but Skymender did not listen. He was thinking about the results of that small action.
"You did well, Fatty. I'll see you again in the future." The Fatty, seeing this as an opportunity to leave, said goodbye and jogged away as fast as possible.
This left Li Youcai and Skymender.
Li Youcai spoke. "What was that for?"
Skymender responded after a moment. "To set the future stage."
Li Youcai could not understand why Skymender had done it, but seeing him deep in thought, he felt as though Skymender truly wasn't some random nine year old noble.
Upon their return to Aunt Skyless's house, they were instantly greeted by her raging face.
"What in the hell is wrong with you?! You can't go around hitting other nobles. If you want to beat someone up, at least find a commoner."
"Sorry, Aunt Skyless. He was provoking me."
Aunt Skyless took a deep breath, clearly knowing he was lying, before speaking.
"It seems you truly know nothing about nobility. I've talked with the Grayn Barony and they have let this matter pass on the condition that I punish you. So, for the rest of your stay here, unless your sister needs you elsewhere, I will be strictly teaching you what nobility is."
Skymender inwardly sighed. It had somehow worked.
To advance smoothly, he needed to get into the "Noble Circle". However, being viewed as a country bumpkin, his Aunt clearly did not want to bring him into it.
The only logical way for him to get her to bring him in was to prove that he would damage their reputation even more if he was not brought into this circle.
Skymender's first ever plot had succeeded, and his confidence grew.
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