The Vanteri Family

The trip to the Vanteri Family province is much more relaxed than Palandri's trip from there in the first place. What took Palandri several weeks of hard riding turned into nearly a year.

During this time, Palandri and Haalfrin hardly talk – only breaking this unspoken rule between them whenever they need to discuss the details of their next destination.

Manni, on the other hand, is glued to Haalfrin's side. He's shy enough at first to just linger around corners and watch him nearly to the point of creepiness. Soon enough, he asks a few shy questions, and after Haalfrin answers them amiably enough, Manni gets more bold and starts striking up casual conversations here and there.

From Manni's point of view, he's becoming a great friend to Haalfrin! Though, from Haalfrin's point of view, he's just humoring a child.

Most of the things Manni asks about are where he learned his techniques. Haalfrin avoids talking about how he's a god-candidate (hence, the great powers in his Names), since he doesn't want to give Manni any more reason to pester him. Instead, he just talks about how he learned from his Master – a mage called "Kalastros."

"Oh!" Manni exclaims. "I've heard of that man! I read a book detailing the dragon Dakka's exploits in this world. They say that the first time he was bested was when he attacked Kalastros's tower. The second time, he was defeated and slain by the Vanteri soldiers in the Pit."

'Ah,' Haalfrin silently realizes, 'so the imperial family chose to keep my involvement in Dakka's demise a secret, huh? They gave all the credit to the Vanteri Family. No doubt, the emperor didn't want to give any of his rivals any reason to come looking for me.'

For this, Haalfrin is grateful. If everyone had known that he'd slain a 4-horned dragon personally, the nobles would be 100x crazier in coming after him.

Haalfrin then looks at the long, wrapped-up bundle that's strapped to the side of his horse. 'I'm glad I keep Dakka's ax wrapped up. I'd hate to have to explain that to this annoying kid.'

Just like that, they make the long trip.

…And by the end, even Haalfrin had talked so much with Manni that he's at least not annoyed with him anymore.

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Once they cross the Anduin river, Palandri tells them that they've arrived in the Vanteri Province. This province is the smallest of all the duchies, though it was, historically among the most powerful.

Judging by the worn out roads here, Haalfrin can already tell that they're suffering some financial hardships.

Palandri notices Haalfrin's discerning look, and he smiles awkwardly, "I apologize for the state of the road. My family isn't as powerful as we used to be."

"That makes sense," Haalfrin says thoughtfully as he puts a hand on his chin, "since the Vanteri Family got most of their wealth and Status from being the owners and keepers of the Pit. With the Pit reduced to rubble, the emperor probably thought your people were redundant."

Palandri nods in agreement. "Yes… The only reason we got to keep our title was because we got the credit for slaying the dragon. Other than that, most of our private military was confiscated bit by bit, and our imperial subsidies were diverted to other places."

"Huh, what're you guys good for, then?"

Palandri's face freezes over. "Um… We do have some farmlands?"

Needless to say, the Vanteri Family isn't that important anymore.

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Once they stroll up to the Vanteri mansion, Haalfrin sees that the place's size is certainly befitting of a classic duchy; the front gate on its own is nearly a hundred feet high, and the display garden is several square miles large. The mansion itself is about as large as the Alastan royal palace – that is to say, it's as large as a small city.

However, it's eviddent that most of the old garden is overgrown with weeds in some places and completely shriveled and dry in others. It's clear to see that the Duchy doesn't have the means of taking care of such a large mansion anymore.

Haalfrin expects that if he were to explore the inside of the mansion itself, he'd see that most of it was closed off and left neglected.

Palandri is oddly silent during their trip past the front gate and to the mansion; no doubt, pointing out how dismal this place looks would only be an insult at this point.

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Haalfrin finally steps into the mansion, and there's a single pair of maids waiting for them with their arms behind their backs. "I'll take that for you," one says as she steps forward and takes their coats.

"There's horses out front," Palandri says to the other maid.

"We already have someone taking care of it," she says as she bows her head.

Palandri then turns to Haalfrin. "Sir, were you wanting to get settled in first, or were you wanting to meet your student?"

"Eh… It's only noon right now. Let's just go meet your sister first."

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As they walk through the long halls, it immediately becomes clear that the mansion has a large, outer wall-like structure that's decorated with windows and large hallways that guests can peruse through.

Just inside the walls are several rings of huge, apartment-like buildings.

"That's where the descendants live, as well as a few lines of extended family," Palandri explains when they pass it by.

From what Haalfrin can see, these apartments are surrounded by rather ordinary-looking people. There are even huge play areas full of children.

"Since the head of a noble family is always a mage, they often live to see their great-great… well… a lot of greats grandchildren. That's where they live."

Haalfrin nods. "That makes sense."

If Haalfrin had been younger, he'd have asked, 'What's the point of keeping so many of your descendants around?' At this point, the Duke has thousands of descendants, so keeping them all housed becomes a little obnoxious.

However, Haalfrin has seen enough noble families to recognize a pattern.

Becoming a mage has nothing to do with bloodline; the child of a peasant is just as likely to become a mage as the child of a king. Plus, mages have a harder time having children.

If this is the case, the nobles would have to get creative if they wanted the main family to be full of mages. When you think about it, the solution is pretty obvious.

Just keep close watch over all of your descendants – perhaps even your siblings' descendants too. You give them all a place to stay and give them identity tokens detailing their exact relation to the Clan head.

Since there aren't enough seats of power in a noble family to accommodate thousands of people, the obvious choice is to give them comfortable, but not luxurious, lives. Let them learn simple trades and live like middle-class families.

Because these people are of a recognized noble lineage, yet because they're not really treated as nobles, they're commonly called "pseudo-nobles".

Then, whenever one of these pseudo-nobles awakens magic, they're taken to the main family and adopted into whichever line they came from. If they're the Duke's direct descendant, then they become the Duke's child. If they're the Duke's brother's descendant, then they become his nephew instead.

With this in mind, it's actually very possible that Palandri's sister isn't his literal sister; she COULD be just another one of his adoptive father's descendants. They could even be distantly related.

Knowing all of this, Haalfrin chooses to stay silent. Instead, he briefly glances at the children playing in the fields, and their parents watching over him.

He feels his heart start to sting when he sees these happy families, and he quickly looks away.

Even now, Haalfrin is still feeling sour that he never got to experience this particular joy with Tanya.

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Soon enough, they cross the apartments, and they step into the main family's mansion. This place is, obviously, far grander than the residents of the pseudo-nobles. The halls reach high up, and the walls are plastered in light shades of blue and green.

The halls themselves are mostly empty, as either the servants are hidden from view, or they're simply so sparse that Haalfrin can't notice them.

They trek further into the mansion and finally arrive at a large set of double doorways. "Step back, please," Palandri says to Haalfrin and Manni.

As soon as they edge away, Palandri knocks on the door. A few seconds later, they hear some rustling and footsteps, just before the door swings open. On the other side, Haalfrin sees a young woman with blond hair and blue eyes.

She appears to be a 14 or 15-year-old girl, but Haalfrin had learned by now that she's actually a 1st Gate mage. This would put her around 70 years old.

"Eli!" Palandri calls out cheerfully, "This is the man I told you about!"

Eli looks at her guests with a bedraggled look on her face that says she's either suffering from a hangover, or she'd stayed up too late. "Which man? You tell me about a lot of people."

"The Spirit Mage, Haalfrin! Remember?"

"Oh!" Eli looks down and notices how awful she looks. With an embarrassed face, she slams the door and finishes changing out of her nightwear.

Haalfrin, Manni, and Palandri stand there for about a minute before Eli opens the door again. This time, she's wearing a blue dress.

Eli immediately steps out of her room and gestures to the hallway. "I'm sorry. Can we speak in the garden?"

Nobles are pretty strict about men and women not going into each other's rooms, which everyone here is well aware of. Naturally, Haalfrin can't teach her in her room, no matter how convenient it is, and no matter how many people are with him.