Who wants to join your Mortem guild?

A beautiful crystal chandelier shone over a very spacious room, the floating lights surrounding it added softness to the luxurious office. It was clear special attention was paid to the overall ambience, its atmosphere was carefully constructed to represent an understated elegance with a touch of comfort in its details. 

Such was only proper for the office of the principal of Harvey Preparatory School and if Mr Werner is asked the star of his office, he would gladly point out his chair. Although it sported a minimalist look and had an unusual combination of leather, chrome pipe, and wood, It felt like soft bread when sitting on it and it provided ample mid to lower back support. It was a truly elegant chair which made the picture more disturbing.

Mr Werner attended to the man on his favourite seat trying his best to keep what he felt out of his mind. 

"What is this?" Kaku said

"Risan tea. It can only be found in the west bamboo forest. I believe you will enjoy it, Mr Kaku." He said as he continued to pour the clear green liquid into a dainty teacup.

Are you mocking me? was written over Kaku's face as he clenched his jaw, how on earth was he met to carry his teacup that looked like it would break in one touch? "Take this nonsense away. Don't you have any wine?" 

He can't believe Captain sent him to this prissy school just to recruit a student. If he had known that coming to Cloud City for training would have made the Captain give him this mission, he would have happily stayed back in the capital to train. 

He watched the principal smiling at him in a flattering manner, he hated dealing with this type of people the most.

He was holding a bottle and he tipped it into a glass. Kaku watched as the principal stopped pouring when the bottle was less than half. He stood up and wrenched the bottle from the principal's hand, filled the glass and downed it in one shot. 

His face flushed as he murmured, "Good wine!" After two more quick glasses, the wine in the bottle finished. He turned to the principal whose face was in shock. "Do you have any other bottles left?"

"Any other bottle left?" The principal said in disbelief. He quickly collected himself. "Sir, this is 3722 Chateau Cheval Blanc. You could only get this in an audition. How can I have two bottles?" 

'If not that you are the vice-captain of the Alpha team, how would I bring out this wine.' were the thoughts in the principal's mind.

"You don't have good food, you don't have enough wine. Aren't you just wasting money? Get water for me"

The principal face was black as coal, food, wine, this is a school, not a restaurant but he still smiled, "Of course, Mr Kaku" 

He didn't ask the man the kind of water he wanted to drink. His only desire was to get a big barrel of water and place it in front of the man. His professor, Mr Stonal was right, your class really does affect your personality.

***

Zane was surrounded by some of his classmates. Those who were not fawning over him were enticing him with offers. 

Most of those who attend Harvey Preparatory School were Cloud city richest, their families owned huge businesses and guilds. What they needed the most were talents and Zane's new status as Cloud city number one means he is greatly desired.

"Enough! Stop clustering! Zane and I already have an agreement and you know what they say first come, first served."

Zane looked at Cassandra torn between asking her, 'We do?' or just being grateful for her assistance.

Cassandra turned to him, smiled then winked at him and at that moment, every gratitude Zane felt was thrown off the window.

Recognizing the close relationship Zane shared with Cassandra, the second young lady of the Orlen family and the Carter family's young master who was looking at them with mocking eyes; five of them left.

They moved to call their family members who they were sure could handle this better, leaving behind Pieri Ferucci who likes to be referred to as just 'Pei' and Brian Maxwell. Pei's family ran a business of mineral resources and Maxwell's father was a notable researcher who belonged to the Innovative Server Foundation. 

Brian pushed up his glasses, "Of course first come first served is justified across a range of compelling scenarios. First, there is a duty of fairness prohibiting line cutting where a sufficiently just queue exists. Second, where candidates are in relevantly similar circumstances, allocating by waiting time is efficient, time is prior mentioned to maximize distribution equality in order to approach an equiprobable fairness but this situation is not one of them, do you know why?" His tone was a bit arrogant and gave off the feeling that they were looking down on Cassandra.

The sudden silence and the mocking stares made her frown. What she hated the most was people looking down on her.

She was about to give Brian a piece of her mind when Zane cut in with a smile, "Because there is only one of me. If you are to equate me to a product, then there is no need for a queue when there is just one. Furthermore, there is no concept of equal circumstances meaning you were not told the time, place or position I will be distributed. Being I am just one person, the moral ethic of first come first served can not be used."  

Brian's eyes shone before he said, "Zane, you need to choose Innovative Server Foundation, to choose any other place is an insult to your intelligence." 

Ren rolled his eyes if Zane was a star, then Brian would be his biggest fan. From the stars in his adoring eyes, you will never be able to tell that this was the school 2nd ranked student or the Alliance 5th ranked one. His eyes moved to Zane and he narrowed them pondering.

Zane chuckled, "I need to talk to my mom first then I will get back to you guys alright." 

Just then a voice came in from the door, "Mr Zane Black, the principal would like to see you."

Zane nodded and stood up before following the teaching assistant to the escalator, the young man looked about twenty years old, and his face was stern. 

Before they reached the principal's office, he whispered, "Congratulations!" and sent him in. 

The principal looked at him, his face was all smiles, "You have really done us proud, Zane. Now we can raise our heads high among other schools in the city." He pulled Zane closer, his actions very affectionate as he led him to the table.

A scruffy, bearded man was sitting at a table drinking water from a premium crystal glass, the aesthetics were so contrasting it almost brought laughter to Zane's lips but he dared not. 

The man slouched in the principal seat, the warmth and openness of his body language showed off his self-confidence. 

Zane knew of very few in Cloud City that would treat the principal's office as their own room, which means either he was one of them or he came from the capital city, Beva. Only people there would get the news of the Alliance ranking before it is released.

Recently Zane had been learning to be the kind of person who knew how to take advantage of his charming appearance. He would faintly smile whenever he met someone. When he laughed, the corners of his eyes and brows curved lightly, exuding a sense of sincerity.

The principal quickly introduced them, "This is Mr Kaku, he is the vice-captain of the Alpha team of the Mortem guild. Mr Kaku, our star student, Zane Black." 

Zane's eyes widened, the Mortem guild was one of the top guilds in the capital city.

"Mr Kaku, it is an honour to meet you." 

Kaku looked at the young man. Every movement he made was neither snobbish nor pretentious, he carried his own style, subtly unveiling a somewhat free and unfettered spirit. It was a breath of fresh air after spending time with this suffocating principal. The more he looked at the boy the more he liked him so he laughed loudly.

"Not anyone can join my Mortem guild? Why should I choose you?"

Zane refused to wrinkle his brow. This mad man! Who wants to join your guild?