Chapter 1568: Departing Hassen
Hassen City
The City’s academy, Hassen Academy, was located at the nobles’ circle within the Inner City, which was quite near the palace, the town center, and the other central functions of the territory.
Here, the young nobles and royals of Hassen would congregate to learn about various subjects together.
It was an all-boys school teaching etiquette, literature, history, fighting, and survival. Girls were tutored in their homes by established noblewomen. They would be taught womanly arts like crochet, singing, arts, and so on, depending on their age and aptitude.
Of course, this was only half of its function.
The main function of the academy was also for socialization. This was for networking, creating connections, and training them as a precursor to adult social situations.
This function has nothing to do with Marcus, though.
The fourteen-year-old just took advantage of their access to the parchment library and read what he could.
It didn’t matter if his peers either ignored him and pretended he didn’t exist, as long as they didn’t outright bully him like what his brothers and cousins tended to do.
Today, he studied a bit about the history of Hassen City.
Hassen City was established more than a millennium ago. It had been a village for about a hundred years, a town for a few hundred more, and had been a City for a little over a hundred years.
Since its creation, Hassen has been through hundreds of direct wars, and countless other indirect ones. However, over the past few decades, it suddenly... stopped
"Curious..." he mumbled, though the rest of the material didn’t say anything of interest.
Then he moved to the next book.
This one had to do with Hassen’s metallurgy expertise. Naturally, there were plenty of things not said in the work, but the basics were there.
Hassen’s adoption of the industry coincided with the first dwarves they captured back then. It didn’t say so, but he could surmise some things.
It so happened that black metal was not uncommon in this area, so the innovation for them was good. There were varieties like special black iron or improved black iron that were a few times sturdier than the usual black iron. The majority of the weapons built for nobles, royalties, and their guards were made of these.
These topics might not be useful for him, but he found them interesting regardless. Hassen was, for better or for worse, his home and the place he lived in his whole life, so he was naturally curious how it grew like this and how his experiences were shaped by the place.
He stayed for a few more hours and was planning on staying a few more when his library stay was cut short. He blinked as his aether letter alerted him. His aether letter would only receive messages from his family and, since his sister was no longer there, it could only be from his mother.
[Come back home. We’re going on a long trip.]
...
While Marcus headed to his mother, Octavia was currently sitting on her sofa, looking out the window in deep thought.
Octavia actually received approval to go to the wedding from the Lord. Of course, she had to go through her husband first; Otherwise, he’d be offended that she bypassed him.
For Piddes, he was busy with his new women now. She simply had to tell him that she missed home. It wasn’t like that man would miss her anyway.
The Lord also found joy in seeing Zinnia depressed (something Octavia implied as she requested it). If looking at the house she grew up in, without anyone of her blood, she would definitely be depressed.
She had also promised to bring back a few sets of aether blueprints for the Lord.
The catch was that the servants they’d be taking were the Lord’s so they would be unfamiliar with most of the maids and guards coming with them. Of course, neither of them dared to complain and just let it be. It was an understandable move anyway, and seeing Lady Zinnia unperturbed by the news made Octavia wonder if she had been overthinking.
Octavia was naturally suspicious so while she agreed, she did think Lady Zinnia was planning something. Was she really just there to see her old home and her daughter?
Then again, what could a woman do in that situation? Octavia couldn’t really think of anything, so she simply dismissed it.
She, too, wanted to see the Gold’s old home anyway.
...
The next day, the group headed towards the Teleportation array. Zinnia, Octavia, and Marcus, as well as a few of the Lord’s servants, had arrived. On the bright side, they were allowed to take 1 trusted personal servant per group, while the rest would be filled up by the Lord’s. In their case, Silva came with Zinnia’s group, while it was Esstia who went with Octavia’s.
Marcus was especially excited. He has never been outside of Hassen before. He was also very happy about the fact that he wouldn’t see those peers for at least a few days!
The array lit up, and they felt a little dizzy as they were displaced. Seconds later, they were in a place thousands of kilometres away.
Octavia sent a post before, so when they got out, servants and Margaery were waiting for them. They were standing still in front of the array, and brightened at the sight of them.
Margaery was a bit tired but still beautiful, and she immediately sobbed when she saw her family, running to embrace them.
"Mother!! Wuuu—"
The movement was so sudden that Octavia, who was standing right next to Zinnia, had to take a step aside.
"There, there, still a little girl," Zinnia said with a smile, patting the woman’s back. She was so gentle, and it was like she was visibly patting away the younger girl’s anxiety.
Octavia’s eyes flickered at the interaction, but she simply looked away and moved forward.
As she stepped out of the array building, Octavia looked at her surroundings. Once familiar, it now felt a bit distant.
Hassen City would never be her home, but how come Bleulle didn’t feel like it either?