[Jack's POV]
I smiled, seeing the fight.
"The both of them have come a long way," I said.
"Terra is strong! I didn't realize how good she was!" Orin said.
"Haha, yeah. If she wasn't the heir to her house, she probably would have become a military mage or adventurer. Hells, she probably would reach A rank in a few years if she could, or even be offered a place in the Mage's Tower or as a city Arch Mage."
Zek looked up at me and asked, "Speaking of her house, the Rondo's grew massively in power over the past few years, right?"
I turned to Zek and asked, "They did, but what specifically are you asking about?"
Zek looked at me curiously and said, "Well, after I met her, I asked around and read some books on her family in the library.
Her mother, Miranda Rondo, the current head of the house, was a baroness up until around 8 or 9 years ago. Then their ranking steadily increased every few years. Most believe it was because of things like trade, an abundance of resources, and military power."
"And you believe differently?" I asked, noticing Ark and Orin listening in.
He nodded. "Admittedly, it's all speculation, but didn't you move to the Rondo house around ten years ago, shortly before their ranking started increasing?"
I smirked. "True, but a commoner can't raise a noble's ranking. That's not to say I didn't have any involvement, but it was more them taking advantage of opportunities. I can confirm that their rise in power was mainly because of Miranda's planning and the help of a few of her relatives."
He looked at me suspiciously and asked, "Ok, now that you gave the answer to protect your involvement, can you put up a soundproof barrier and tell me the real answer?"
I stared down at him and laughed. "Hahaha, I'm sorry, I can't. I promised I wouldn't say anything about the Rondo's movements."
Zek looked disappointed.
Sensing something, I smiled and said, "However, that doesn't mean you can't get answers, just not from me."
Zek looked back up at me and asked, "Then who?"
I smiled and turned to the side, showing Terra sneaking up behind me, clearly trying to scare me. Araki trailed a little behind her, curious and amused.
She looked at me, shocked, before standing up straight and pouting.
"I thought I finally had you," she said.
I smiled. "Assassins can't hide from my senses. You know that, so what makes you think you could?"
She shrugged. "Figured I could give it a try now that you have friends to talk to. It's not like you had any growing up that could distract you, so I had to try."
I stared at her and shook my head.
'It's not like she knows I have multiple minds allowing me to multitask.' I thought.
"You didn't have any friends?" Ark asked, surprised.
I turned to him and gave a weak smile. "Not exactly. I did have a couple back in Thornbranch, but many of them died during the attack. Since then, I have kept my distance from most people I didn't already know. It's also partially why I could never find a proper adventuring party."
Ark looked sad, but I could also see a sense of familiarity in his eyes.
I walked over and hugged him.
"It's alright, I have you guys now. Plus, it's not like I didn't make friends later on, it just took a while."
"A-are you sure?" he asked.
I nodded. "It was a defence for myself growing up. It was my mind trying to protect itself from losing anyone else. But I got better over time and met a lot of good people who helped me out."
Ark nodded, still feeling bad for me.
"Hey." I pulled his chin up so he looked me in the eye. "The past is in the past. Let's move on into the future, alright?"
He nodded and hugged me again.
After a moment, he let go, a little embarrassed as he realized our friends were watching.
Orin, Araki, and Zek thankfully pretended to ignore it and give him some space, but Terra, on the other hand...
"I was wondering when the two of you would get together," she said smugly.
I stared blankly at her and, faster than she could react, I flicked her head.
"Ah, what was that for?" she pouted again.
I stared at her some more before I gestured to Zek. "I think he has some questions for you."
She glared at me before shaking her head, knowing that is how I am, and turned to Zek.
"What did you want to ask?" she asked.
Zek looked up to her, a little nervous since she was technically a high-ranking noble and the questions were serious and possibly sensitive information about her family.
"H-how did your family grow so quickly and rise in the noble rankings so fast?" he asked.
She paused and glanced at me, silently asking if it was ok to tell them about certain things involving me.
I nodded and subtly waved two fingers.
Seeing my actions, she nodded and smiled at Zek.
She then began to explain, "Well, after the events that destroyed the village of Thornbranch, and Jack arriving and warning us of the attack, we sent soldiers and search parties to chase off the orcs and search for survivors.
Thankfully, the orcs had already left the village by the time they arrived, so they began searching for survivors both inside and outside of the village.
While that was happening, we helped Jack, who was seriously injured, recover. Meanwhile, some soldiers from the royal army arrived. They were on their way to a port city to handle another matter. When they heard of the attack and that the village was in the general direction they were originally heading, they agreed to help.
The next day, and with Jack recovered by then, my father, Jack, and I journeyed to Thornbranch to assist in the search."
"You actually went back?" Orin turned to me in shock.
I nodded. "Yeah. I knew the area and where people might hide during an attack, so they brought me along."
Terra nodded. "And thankfully, when we all arrived, Jack led us to several ruins outside of the village, and we found several survivors. This is also where we found Rirki, Araki's father."
Everyone turned to Araki, and he nodded.
"Yeah. Dad told me a bit about when he returned home. He said he found several survivors and brought them to an underground shelter. Eventually, he ran into some soldiers, and Jack appeared a little later," he said.
I nodded. "Yeah. It was a relief that he survived. Out of all the adventurers in the village my parents knew, Rirki was the one I knew the best—to the point I saw him as family."
Ark raised his hand. "Um, sorry. I know this is a little off-topic, but is there a naming custom among lizardmen? Like how both your and your father's names end in 'ki'?"
Araki nodded. "Yeah. The 'ki' is like the family name for humans. All lizardfolk names are two parts. The first part is like your first name—mine being Ara, my father's being Rir, and my little brother being Rou."
"Wait, you have a brother?" Orin asked.
Araki paused and nodded. "Yeah. I will get back to him later, but let me finish first."
Orin nodded. "Sure thing. Sorry."
Araki smiled and continued, "The second part is from a parent. For boys, it's our father, and for girls, it's from our mothers. The ending of my father's is 'ki,' so it's the same for me and Rou."
Ark nodded in understanding. "Ah, ok... so then your brother is Rouki?"
He nodded. "Technically it is, but he likes to be called Rou."
Orin paused for a second before saying, "Some orcs use a similar thing, but instead of a single name, they call themselves based on the names of their parents of the same gender and whether it's son or daughter. For example, my father's name was Abarok, so if I used that ruling, my name would be Orin Abarkoson.[1]"
Zek nodded. "Didn't humans use the same ruling a long time ago?"
I nodded. "As far as I know, it started during the later parts of the First Era and is still used now in the Fourth Era. Though while it isn't used anywhere around here, it is in some other kingdoms and other continents, but that is mainly for commoners.
Technically, my name also originated from that tradition, though I have no idea why."
Zek nodded quickly and asked, "Now can we get back to the Rondo's growth in power? We got a little off-topic," clearly a little curious.
Ark looked down, a little guilty.
Zek noticed, though, and apologized. "Sorry, Ark. I didn't mean it like that. I'm just a little curious."
Ark's tail lifted slightly hearing the apology and he shyly nodded at Zek.
I pulled him closer to me and rubbed his back.
"It's ok to ask questions," I said. "Everyone gets curious about things."
He nodded, a little conflicted.
Terra smiled and said, "Well, let's get back to it. Now, we found several people both still inside of the village and outside in ruins and the local mine.
When the search party checked the mine, a new cave opening was found with a large deposit of mid to high-grade mithril and magic stones. In the forest, a large field of rare herbs and mushrooms and even a newly formed dungeon.
While the village itself was completely destroyed and even now hasn't been rebuilt, several resources in the area have been found, and that allowed us to grow our trading and military power immensely.
It wasn't long after that that the king promoted us to Counts, mainly thanks to the new trade routes we built, but also our involvement in helping our people with the resources and money we gathered.
Then, after that, the king started watching my family and saw how much we did for our people and the kingdom, despite it not being our responsibility."
Everyone nodded in amazement, listening to the story.
But then I noticed Ark had another question on his mind but was staying silent. I rubbed his back again, letting him know it's ok to ask.
He relaxed a bit with my reassurance and asked, "Sorry, another question, but what are the noble rankings?"
Terra smiled. "There are six rankings in total. In order from lowest to highest, it's Baron, Viscount, Count, Marquess, Duke, and Archduke. There are, of course, alternate names for noble women too.
Many noble families try to get promoted, as the higher your ranking, the more political power one has. While another noble can propose an increase in ranking, only the king actually has the power to do so.
My family was the lowest ranking ten years ago at Barons, but since then, we have quickly risen to Marquess."
"Cool. But was that really all there was? I remember hearing my dad talk about a powerful adventurer in the area—one that chased off a dragon and stopped a massive forest fire in an instant?" Araki asked.
Both Terra and I froze.
He... was talking about me.
The dragon was a mother looking for her child that wandered off, but it was actually captured by one of my former adventuring parties—the one that was killed by that very dragon.
It happened when I was separated from them. The dragon found them and killed them.
When I returned and saw the scene, I acted quickly, releasing the wyrmling from the magic suppression chains, and thankfully, the mother spared me.
As for the forest fire, it was a newly formed fire elemental that I made a contract with to help it control its powers and put out the fire.
But I had no idea Rirki was aware of the rumours about that.
Thankfully, though, he at least didn't know it was me.
Unfortunately, the others noticed our reactions, but thankfully, none of them could guess what exactly they didn't know.
We both looked at each other, worried about what to say, when—
"Jack and Orin, the two of you are the last ones up for sparring. Please step up!" the professor called.
I let out a sigh of relief.
"Let's talk about that another time. Right now, we should finish up class."
Orin nodded and stood up.
But before we walked over, he said, "Before we start a match against a third year, I want to see how I stand against you. Care to spar against me?"
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[1]: This naming scheme was used by people from Scandinavian and Old Norse cultures instead of inherited surnames.