Wealth (1)

"It would have been nicer if we took the train," I wanted a new experience.

Inside the familiar self-driving car, we were slowly making our way through the unpaved roads. The insulation was impressive, barely feeling any impacts from the rough rocks. It was my first time in this life to see hills of large railed fields of plants, used for agriculture. Many houses were created from simple tiles, splattered upon each other to create the ceiling, mostly wood surrounding the rest of the exterior walls. Unlike the first district, not much glass was used, giving a higher sense of privacy.

Once the car stopped at our destination, Alex frowned from studying my grandma's house. While Luke was busy with our suitcases, I knocked on the door, wondering if we were early. I stepped backwards when I was confronted by an unfriendly elderly woman, her hair tainted by streaking silvers. Her forehead was scrunched with annoyance, eyebrows scurried together, lips pulled down. Did I get the location wrong?

"Excuse me, do you perhaps know where this house is?" I showed her the note.

"You're at the right place. I'll call August," she rudely left us.

"We should return to the first district. We're not welcome here," Alex tried to convince me.

"It's only been one minute so far," I pointed out.

"Rika," my mom warmly greeted us.

"Everyone else has already arrived, come inside," she gestured.

We walked to the living room, creaky floors and tiny plastered nails for our feet to avoid. The smell of raw wood drifted into my nose, and the old wallpapers slightly rolled down towards the edges caught my eyes. Sitting down on an old cushion, lacking feathers, I faced the small square table with its legs unbalanced. Alex stiffened when he spotted some tiny bugs crawling in front of him, and instantly shifting away. What did he expect? We were inside the countryside.

Turning to study Luke, his face was expressionless, meaning he equally didn't like this place. Other than rarely sleeping in the basement in school and going to missions, we slept in luxurious rooms. Meaning, it had been more than a year since we suffered through bad accommodations.

My parents' house wasn't like this, nicely cleaned inside a smaller space. I considered this to be a camping trip, recalling memories from my previous life.

"Would you like some tea?" My mom offered.

"We're fine," Alex declined for all of us.

"There's a bug on your shirt," I teased Alex.

Alex slightly shuddered, barely able to maintain his polite smile, using his mana to create an unnoticeable barrier. Did he really have to take things this far? I was surprised when Luke followed him, surrounding the both of us with the same shield. Meanwhile my grandma was silent, observing us as we did to her. Trying to spin this in a positive light, I could catch many bugs to eventually make Ethan my slave.

"I can show you to your room," my grandma broke the silence.

Rising to follow her, my eyes wandered to the small room provided for all three of us to use. It was the pitiful size of my bathroom inside the dorm room. The lights under the ceiling flickered in and out, its energy close to dying. The floors were covered with thin mattresses and blankets, the pillows flatter than a normal book. Alex appeared devastated, unfamiliar with this treatment. He could see the bugs and faint hints of dust swirling around the air.

"Do you have any complaints?" She found us frozen.

"You have been more than generous," Luke hid his discomfort.

"I thought you people from the first district would complain. Since you're satisfied, I won't have to change your room with anyone else," she left us.

Once we entered the room, Alex placed a sound-proof barrier around the entire space. The next second, he exploded, "how can we stay here for a month? This was originally an empty storage room. I looked at the other rooms and she gave us the worst one. Let's go back to the first district Rika, I can swear on my family name I'll be more lenient towards you."

"It's the countryside in an undeveloped district. Did you expect it would be like your usual mansions?" I wasn't going to leave.

"Alex is right. You never slept anywhere like this before," Luke supported him.

"How do you know?" I refuted.

"You've been with us for your entire life," Alex found it obvious.

"Maybe I visited before I was three," I bluffed, not knowing the truth.

"You don't remember your early childhood," Luke knew.

"I slept in much worse places when I was kidnapped," I lied.

I wasn't going to return to the first district, helplessly confined and stuck with his family. My body shuddered from the thought, the experience from recently escaping from the tutors, preparing us for high school. Since we were going to be faced with the brute force of the point system, Alex was desperate not to land in the shack. He requested his parents for more lessons instead of taking time to relax during the family celebration. In other words, Increasing my grudge against him as I suffered through the new schedule with them.

However, they couldn't do the same here, there was nowhere to properly study. They had to treat me nicer in front of my family, following basic etiquette and manners. This place was the perfect vacation spot, if not being in the middle of nowhere. I could sweep the bugs away and remove the dust, similar to cleaning the competition room. Although the space was cramped, it was better than the time I had to share a single bed with them.

Unsurprisingly, it wasn't only me who had these thoughts. After cleaning the room, Luke immediately replaced the bedding and had a few of the furniture he packed taking its place.

Actually, it would be odd for Luke to not be prepared. I approved of my usual fluffy pillows being placed near my section of the bed. Near the end, the room was given major renovations, the old items neatly placed outside. Other than its poor size, it was decently livable. Luke started to unpack our stuff, knowing I wouldn't give into them.

When my grandma came to check up on us, Alex explained, "we thank you for your generous accommodations. However, as Rika has poor health, we made changes to this room. If it isn't too much trouble, we would like to return your possessions."

"I can take them to the spare storage room," she stared at our room.

Taking the old furniture and items with her, my dad came to help her with the move. Like my grandma, he was equally stunned. The walls were sparkling, the silky bed sheets and blankets occupying our floors, new shelves built to help organize the space. Automatic lighting was installed, which was easy to adjust on our marbles. Meanwhile, our brilliant collections of watches, rings, bracelets, various headbands and clips twinkled from the faint hints of light.

"No wonder they weren't complaining," she mumbled.

Once they gave us some space, I watched them continue unpacking, curious what Luke brought with us. I was surprised when he began to organize a month's worth of our meals, wondering when he had the time. He never considered accepting my grandma's food from the beginning. Various sets of expensive plates and tea sets were taken in and out of his inventory. It seemed Luke and Alex were in charge of different things.

"Did you really have to bring this much?" I wondered.

"Do you think we could accept anything they offer us? This was the backup plan," Alex revealed.

"And don't you dare touch any of their things, you'll get sick," he predicted my next words.

"Did you include the strawberry shortcakes?" I tugged Luke's sleeve.

"There's enough for dessert," he had an entire course.

When we were called for dinner, we sat around a larger table, big enough to tightly fit all of us. Although there were plates full of interesting cooked meals, Luke instantly pushed them away. Reaching my hands towards a dinner bun, he lightly hit my hand, not letting me near them. This was when my mom got the sense to remove the food in front of us, and Luke sent her a thankful look afterwards. With the empty space, he recreated our usual set meals.

My grandma's eyes went wide, looking at the dazzling plates laid in front of me. Suddenly making her cooked meals seem poor in comparison, having a lack of artistic arrangements. She didn't know I would rather eat the meals made by her own hands. However, I was under the eyes of two strict people who wouldn't let me go for this. Since I was used to Luke passing me bite sized cuts of everything, it took me some time to notice others watching us.

"You're only using a spoon," my grandma noticed.

"It's a hybrid," I showed her.

"He's doing all the work for you, he's personally feeding you," she spat out everyone's thoughts.

"I'm eating on my own," I got a little offended.

My hand hovered over Alex's knife, trying to show her I could eat by myself. Tapping my finger on the cutlery, I soon shuddered from the memory of one of them creating a hole inside my hand. It made me give up on eating, placing my spoon down. I ate three bites of the appetizer anyways, and wasn't completely skipping a meal. But I had forgotten what Luke usually did when I didn't finish the provided portions. I shrank from my image plunging, even Evan agreeing with grandma from Luke's actions.

"One bite Rika, and I'll move onto the main plate," he urged me to accept the spoon.

"I'm not hungry," I glanced at Alex's knife.

"One bite of the appetizer, five bites of the main dish, and at least half of the salad finished before moving onto dessert," he reminded me of our deal.

Why did he have to make such a big deal over a single meal? Since I was attracting attention, I gave into him, slowly feeling more humiliated. Until he gave me the strawberry shortcake, using it to comfort myself, I enjoyed each precious bite. My mom apologetically smiled at him, "thank you for taking care of Rika. I can make sure she eats from now on so you can enjoy your meal."

"I don't mind, I have been doing this for over ten years," Luke declined.

"What are you planning to do with her leftovers?" Grandma stared at the barely touched plates.

"We usually put it inside the compose, would you like them for your fields?" He offered.

"Are you treating us as if we're lesser than you? You always throw them out?" She turned to me.

"They don't taste as good as they appear," I argued.

I was stunned when she took a bite of my leftovers, sampling each plate. I hid behind Luke as she targeted me again, "you throw these precious foods out? This high-quality meal that I have never touched before. This is an insult towards me as someone who grows the ingredients."

"The ingredients are sourced from the first district," I mumbled.

"Are you sure she is your daughter?" Grandma turned to my mom.

"Look at her, she appears very similar to the boy beside her more than she impossibly resembles you," she pointed out.