The meeting (1)

He'd not asked the kids their names. Hopefully he'd not be seeing them again after today. In the novel, by the time the academy starts in about a month's time, the kids should already be back in their village. 

Sneaking back into his room was not the hardest endeavor either. He could fly now. The thought filled him with a giddy sense of exhilaration. He lay on his bed, and then the fatigue really hit him.

A soft knock at the door woke him. He started, looking out the window to note that it was later than he'd intended to get back home. He had to be back in time to attend dinner with his family.

That was one of his first goals for improving his relationship with his family. He only had about thirty minutes.

"Sorry, young master. It's not like you've used up the whole sum you paid to use our facilities, but you did say you planned to sleep only till a bit late in the evening."

"Ohh. Thank you. I have plans for this time. I will be out of your hair shortly."

James only gave the fat man a minute's head start before he was also grabbing his new cloak and rushing out. He only graced the man with a nod as he passed him. The man, a bit shorter than him, stared up at him, then his eyes widened in shock. James had no time to puzzle out the cause of the man's reaction.

"Who are you, really? Why are you sneaking around the city wearing transparent disguises and paying hefty amounts of money to do the most suspicious things? Like holing up in a room doing nothing all day?"

James made to sidestep the brown haired boy, but the boy wasn't about to allow that easily. 'Who is this guy? The secret police or something? Do they even have a secret service in this world? Certainly influencial people have information networks and the like, but a spy for the good of the country?'

"Sorry, can I get past you? I have an appointment I have to be at in a few minutes."

"That doesn't answer my questions, friend," the other boy smiled wolfishly.

James lifted his hands in a gesture of frustration. "What people do with their time and money is their business. Has no one taught you basic courtesy?"

"He-he is right, you know," the cashier was now wading toward them. "He has done nothing wrong, so I too don't understand what it is you hope to gain by..."

"Stay out of this old man. I'm just trying to find out what my friend here was up to. Nothing to concern yourself with."

The man's pudgy face reddened in fury. "This is my shop. I'll have you know—"

"Yeah, yeah. Go and scurry on behind your counter. I don't intend any kind of trouble."

"You're a tad arrogant, aren't you?" James asked.

"A blunt assessment," the boy laughed. "Most people dance around the matter, call me a bully and the like. You, however, came right out and said it. Its true that I'm a bit arrogant, but you'd be too if you were quite as accomplished."

There was a subtle stir in the air, a sign of mana being manipulated. Blue sparks snaked along the boy's body, and lit up his eyes. James all but smiled in realisation. No wonder he'd always hated the protagonist. He remembered all the hate he'd gotten on reddit for suggesting Jason Kon had more makings of a villain than James Halden. But power corrupts. This arrogance, this pride, because he was the strongest.

"Jason Kon. I see the whispers about your special techniques were accurate."

Jason reeled back in shock. James was already taking precautions. Jason's character in the first books had been of a disaster just waiting to happen. He didn't really have a way to protect himself from an electricity attack except by forming a vortex around himself. It would level the tea shop, and probably kill everyone within, hence painting him as some sort of villain. Even if Jason survived, people already had a bad image of James, so he couldn't convince them of his innocence.

By the grace of the heavens or some other unknown cosmic force, Jason did not decide to attack, instead releasing his spell and staring at James with a more wary eye.

"No one knows about my special techniques. Who the hell are you?!"

James shrugged. "I don't have time for this. I'm already late for an important meeting. We'll meet again tomorrow."

Jason grabbed him with a callused hand as he made to step past. The grip wasn't as hard as James would have expected. 

"I have something to do tomorrow. I have a meeting—"

"With the Duke? Yeah, I know."

The grip slackened, and James felt a pair of light green eyes stare a hole in his back until he'd turned a corner. Those were not the only eyes that watched him, and the other three followed him all the way to the servants entrance of the mansion. He'd realised as he'd stared side long at a glass window that some of his hair dye had faded, revealing some of his white hair to the world. 'No wonder that tea shop guy realised what was up. The fool was always sharp.'

**************

"Good evening everyone. Sorry I'm late."

James was almost ten whole minutes late for dinner. The first course was already well underway when he started scooping food onto his plate.

"I thought you were going to stay out the whole day today?" Duchess Viola asked.

"Yeah, I did. I spent the day at a tea shop in town. Isn't that right Gray?"

James smiled innocently at the butler. His mother looked up at the man with puzzlement, but his father tried to look anywhere but directly at James. 'Hmm, so you were behind the whole thing old man?'

"We shall talk all about it in private later, right father?"

"No-o.... I think its fine... You already told us about what you were doing the whole time."

"If you insist father. Hey Gray, there is a young servant I'm interested in. His name is Benisen I believe."

Gray opened his eyes, his dark eyes taking in the practiced looking smile James now wore. The Duke was also now staring. He turned towards Gray, and though few on the table noticed, Gray gave the subtlest of nods to the Duke. Only Crest apart from James seemed to realise. Muscles in the Duke's jaw seemed to be working at more than chewing now.

"What is it you'd like to know?" Gray sounded wary now.

"I want him to escort me to the academy next month. Does he not have some kind of sister?"

Perhaps this was a little bending his rules, but information was his greatest strength. With the few tweaks he was sure to make to the plot, getting new information wouldn't be the worst idea.

"Yes. Her name is Mary."

"Good, good. Have them sent to my room tonight. I'll give them the good news in person."

"Are you sure about this son? They are a bit..."

James smiled at his father, all teeth this time. "I understand quite well what they are father. It's either them or no servants at all."

"What?! No! You're the son of a duke now, you must go with a whole entourage of servants."

"Don't even worry about it mother, those two will suffice."

James thought it weird that she didn't try harder to convince him. He didn't see her reel back in shock when he'd called her mother, or his father looking at him with a slack jawed expression, or his brother Crest considering him with a hint of wariness.

********************

Jason sat on a plush sofa, facing a middle aged man and slightly younger woman, and a boy he didn't think was older than thirteen. It had been his understanding that he'd be meeting the Duke's son who was his age. The boy wasn't here. All reports about him had been of an irresponsible, and even spoilt brat, who'd taken to the bottle at a very tender age.

"...and the academy can be more of a challenge for someone as talented as you, you know?"

"Sorry," Jason interrupted. "Am I going to go there as a student, or as your son's guard?"

"By the way, where is this son of yours?" Jason's father asked. "It was my understanding that he was going to be here."

"And you understood right. I just had to have words with the butler here. I gave him a few instructions last night that he didn't follow through on. Let the meeting proceed."

Jason reeled back in shock as he met those deep blue eyes, that white hair the hints of which he'd seen the night before. That confidence even his forced slump couldn't quite hide. That plastic smile that said, 'I know everything about you, and there is nothing you can do about it.'

'"We'll meet again tomorrow... "'

Even Jason's father was now staring slack jawed. His mother was looking from one to the other in confusion.

James, the noble boy sat on an armchair in a position that would have been the head of a table if they weren't sitting around a small round table. He grabbed a plum from the table, every action seeming well calculated and choreographed. The butler he'd come with went to stand behind his two already seated masters, which made James stop putting the tiny fruits in his mouth in favour of leveling a flat stare at the man.

The man moved to stand behind James instead. The boy swallowed his fruit, popped another into his mouth and studied his visitors with a bored expression.

" Soooo, you were saying?"