I was confused. I had been trying to cooperate with this teacher to the best of my ability, sadly that effort had been for naught and had instead caused a few confusing reactions in the teacher. Was I missing something or was the teacher just mad? Either way, I seemed to have broken her as she was called to the Headmaster’s office after her last reaction. Apparently the last word was one that she was not supposed to speak in class. How did the headmaster find out about it though? Were we being spied upon? Had Meemauy arranged for some sort of spying system? Maybe she was watching to make sure that I wasn’t eating waffles? I must check!

I looked around the classroom, looking for any of the telltale signs of a formation. According to Almarte’s Mysteries of Okinawhal, formations had several signs that could last for up to three days after they were set, presuming that Meemauy had set the formation today, it made sense that I would be able to detect it.

I tried for about five minutes but found no trace of any formation, there was no telltale shimmer, none of the objects appeared translucent or seemed to shift to a certain position within the room, in fact they didn’t shift at all. What did shift were the other kids in the room, they seemed to be whispering all around me, creating a buzz in the air that seemed to, for some reason, surround me. The children seemed to love glancing at me, and talking while looking at me. Perhaps one of them knew about the formation? But how would I ask? Nevolar’s The Prince and the Pauper said that school interaction took place only among people of a certain strata in the school system. Apparently I would know what strata I would fall in, what were the exact words again?

When you come to a new school, you immediately know where you fall in its hierarchy, the faces of your classmates, the amount of hellos you receive tell you where you fall, and I knew that I fell in a strata that belonged to only me. The Strata of the Pauper that became a Prince.

So...I should judge by the hellos? I had received none, so what strata did I fall into? The lowest? Or the highest? I looked around to perhaps gain some insight from my classmates' faces but was unable to discern anything, what I did see though was that I was being approached by a girl, Man something or the other? Either way she was heading towards me.

The girl curtsied in an extremely weird fashion, or were curtsies done differently in this world? After the curtsy, she got up gingerly, assumed a very specific posture and walked up to me in a weird manner that somewhat resembles a cat walking.

“Your excellency”-she bowed her head and offered her hand to me while once again performing her weird curtsy- “It is a pleasure to meet you this fine morning”- she raised her head and attempted to lower her hand, I patted it just in case I was supposed to do something- “I am Manulise Arinion, daughter of Masurine and Alquare Arinion.” Manulise then stood still, clearly expecting something.

Not wanting the situation to be any more awkward, I introduced myself,” A fine morning indeed Miss Arinion, it is a pleasure to meet you too.” I mimed the words of High Noble Arnuion when he introduced himself to the still pauper Queen in The Unlikely Coronation. This fact was not missed by Miss Arnuion as her eyes immediately widened and she exclaimed,” Are you also a reader of The Unlikely Coronation, your excellency?”

“Yes, Miss Arunion, I find it to be an extremely useful source of information regarding the conduct of a Royal court.”I replied

“I was not aware that the Coronation was accurate”- Manulise summoned herself a chair- “Is this truly the way a court conducts itself?”

“I must admit to being wholly unaware of how a court truly conducts itself, but I must admit that the court glimpsed through the Coronation is likely accurate, especially given that its still unknown author is also responsible for the running of several gossip magazines in several countries. Clearly they have access to such information.”

I was looking forward to continuing this most interesting conversation when we were interrupted by a nearby student, “Would the two of you stop yapping in that oldie speak of yours? We haven’t had Royal courts for over 17,000 years. We have Parliaments now, not corrupt courts full of nobles that do nothing but eat and drink while their subjects suffer.” he said

“Silence Anu! The Arlfords were the ones that established the Parliamentary system, so you have no right to reprimand them. You and your commoner friends shall never understand the subtle charm of The Unlikely Coronation.” Manulise said, apparently offended.

“You are forgetting Miss Arinion that despite your fancy surname, you and your entire family are still commoners, just like me and all of those people you look down upon. Perhaps you should go see if the administrator is taking more clerks, if you work hard you may earn yourself a title by the time you are 80.” Anu replied, his frame turning in our direction and sliding forward in his chair.

“There are better ways to get a title than to go work for an acting administrator, Anu. College for example. I personally plan to go to the Elizabeth school of Governance, created by Donald Arlford in honour of his Queen from his previous world.” Manulise’s face had a look of wonder by the end of her declaration, clearly she was a fan of this College.

“What College will you be attending at your excellency?” Manulise asked.

“I do not know, it will likely be decided for me.” I answered, wondering what Meemauy had planned.

“What do you expect us to believe that the heir to a literal County has no opinions? Or are you just a puppet, your excellency?” Anu said, showing remarkable hostility.

“Why would I be a puppet? I am clearly sentient.” I answered, confused

“What?” Anu said, seemingly confused, why in all the worlds was he so confused now? After all, it was his question that did not make sense in the first place.

“I was saying that you were just a puppet for your family”Anu said. His explanation completely useless

“But I am sentient! Puppets by their very nature, are not!” I exclaimed, somehow causing Manulise to giggle behind me. What was so funny?

“I do not think his excellency understands your colloquialism Anu, not everyone spends their time reading useless books. Some of us prefer useful ones.” Manulise said “ A puppet here refers to a person being manipulated to do something, they may be sentient but their will is not their own. But instead they are being controlled by someone.”

“Ah…” The conversation might have taken a confusing turn but somehow it had cleared the hostility. Perhaps I wasn’t that low on the school hierarchy after all?

Raina, the Bunker

As soon as Raina stepped into the room she found herself the target of an extremely powerful magic sense, clearly the transmigrator was ready to defend his family from her.

“May I know where my daughter is?” Raina asked, approaching things more diplomatically may have been the wise choice but she was beyond caring for that. All diplomacy could wait until she had her daughter in her hands.

Before the conversation could progress any further, she was suddenly interrupted by the coming of a middle aged woman who she presumed was the mother.

“Stay away from my family!”The mother screamed, hurtling herself at Raina.

Having no wish to harm the mother, Raina simply put up a defensive barrier around her, deciding that even stabilizing the mother’s unstable hurl was an unwise decision. Besides, the transmigrator was likely powerful enough to save her from any injuries. As predicted the woman found herself landin on a fluffy, oversized pillow. Too bad it was still embarrassing.