Coat of Arms

Levi resided in a guest room, in a mansion adjacent to the palace. He learned from Thunder that most houses, or 'clans' have their own crest.

They represent culture and traditions. The royal family's crest was a dragon, generally golden.

As for Thunder's family, they were the richest in the realm. Their crest was gold coins, and everything was mainly of a gold color, including the background.

"Alright, when you choose yours, Levi, make sure you have some gold but not everything as that would upset my family," said Thunder.

"Is gold necessary? Everytime we'll need to have it made it'll cost us more for it."

"You're a noble now, if you don't show you have money you won't be taken seriously," replied Thunder as he paced around the room.

Thunder did his best to help Levi with his new status. His smile became faint at times, when Levi was complaining, but he managed to keep his good mood despite everything.

They were in an office that had one large vertical window, every other wall had large bookshelves reaching the tall ceilings.

Piles of books laid around the room, manuscripts and studies from various parts of the world, all layered in dust.

Most of all, there was a lot of content about Heaven's Tower.

The main reason why the kingdom flourished.

"Well, I'm just wondering if this is the best way to use our time..." quietly complained Levi.

"Sure is, this world isn't so easy that everything can be fixed with big muscles and powerful magic. You'll need allies and resources. And sure, the title was given to you for selfish purposes, but you can use this opportunity to build your own clan."

"Yeah, a clan with only myself in it," replied Levi.

Thunder was still pacing around the room, while Levi sat at the only desk, with a pile of paper and ink containers. 

He did his best to come up with a crest for his coat of arms, but had an extremely hard time doing so. 

Levi sighed, as he threw yet another piece of paper toward the bin across the room.

"You know, you're supposed to throw it in the bin," mocked Thunder.

Levi held his forehead, putting his elbows on the desk.

Thunder sat in the chair in front of Levi.

"Alright, let's go over it a bit more," said Thunder.

"Please, because I barely see any purpose."

Thunder took the pen out of Levi's hand, and pulled a piece of paper on his side of the desk.

As he talked, he tried to visually help Levi.

"Crests basically represent a family, but not only. Everyone that works for you under that crest is one of your own. This means, even if someone isn't of your blood, if you get them to work for you they're under your nobility's umbrella," said Thunder.

"But I really don't need any employees man," almost pleaded Levi.

"Okay, here,"

Thunder tapped on the drawing he was doing.

"As a noble, I could go in the streets, take any commoner by the arm and drag them wherever I'd want to. Their family could complain, nobody would listen. Now, do you think I could do the same with someone from another noble's house?"

"...I guess not," replied Levi putting the pieces together.

"So if you 'hire' Syllia nobody would just be able to drag her anywhere they wanted and do who knows what. Nobles care about status a lot, most of them would avoid causing you problems,"

"Most of them, but probably not all of them," continued Levi.

"You're right, not all, but it's a good start."

Thunder smiled, as Levi started drawing again.

"Listen, the crest is no big deal, but it does stick to you for the rest of your life, changing it is not possible..."

"Yes, I know."

Levi's artistic side was screaming, as he did his best to do straight lines despite Thunder saying someone else would do the final design for him.

Thunder simply paced around the room, talking about anything and everything while Levi listened with one ear.

He was focused, like a kid trying to fit building blocks together.

"Alright, I think something like this would work," finally said Levi.

"Alright, let's see it."

Thunder went next to Levi, looking over his shoulder.

"Oh yeah, this will do just fine," quietly said Thunder.

Levi had made some curly lines representing waves at around 3/4s of the height. Under it was assumed to be water, and from the very bottom tentacles went all the way up, breaking through the water line he made.

Those tentacles reached the very top, and outside of that water would be floating embers that would be made of gold.

"The ember being gold is smart, it won't cost as much, and the tentacles and waves all make sense. What color would you want the background? You'll need around two colors minimum for your banners" said Thunder.

"I was thinking all black," started Levi.

"Already taken, sadly."

"Then black and dark blue."

"That would work," nodded Thunder.

Levi threw the pen on the desk, with victory painted all over his face.

"This is perfect, and the only thing that remains would be a guild."

Levi loudly sighed, dropping his head to the desk.

"I need to make a guild now too," exhaled Levi.

"No no, guilds are complicated but for now you could simply join one, so if someone tries something with you there's both the guild and your noble house to take in consideration," replied Thunder.

"Do you have one I can join?"

"Sadly not, you'll have to go guild-shopping. I'll make a letter of recommendation for you, despite you not needing it it'll come across better if it's me recommending you, instead of you asserting you're a noble," said thunder.

Levi sighed.

"I'll find one to join, but I think eventually I'll consider making my own," said Levi.

"Perfectly fine, guilds aren't like clans, people who join your house are expected to remain loyal to it as long as you employ them. I'll give you a small map, whenever Syllia feels better you could visit them together."

Thunder tried to be convincing, grabbing Levi's shoulder and smiling. 

Levi nodded, and Thunder simply took the drawing for the coat of arms, as they both headed for the exit.

"Alright, I'll get someone to make us a few designs following your plan, I'll have them handed to you soon."

"Good."

"Try to get some sleep tonight, Syllia isn't moving anywhere," said Thunder while he exited first.

But Levi had already planned to stay by Syllia's bedside anyway.