“Ah, Zachary. Come in, come in.” Zach gave a bland smile to Principal Jones as he stepped into the office. “I trust the semester hasn’t been too difficult for you yet?”

“Not at all,” Zach agreed. Because it was the truth: none of the classes supplied for general track were particularly difficult in the slightest. “Good evening, Instructor Kingsley.”

The older instructor gave a slight smile over his cup of tea, but didn’t otherwise respond. Zach held back his irritation. Technically speaking his father had given up all rights to the throne so his family wasn’t higher than any other noble family’s. Not even the Kingsleys.

Technically speaking, the king was his uncle. Most nobles at least acknowledged him.

Zach’s cousin was here as well - Instructor Leig - and a few of the other representatives from the prior years. “Rather than a meeting this looks like a start of term dinner.” Zach said after greeting a few of the others.

“You aren’t far off,” the Principal chuckled. “Why don’t you take a seat and we’ll get started.” It took a few moments for the larger group to settle down in the small office. Why couldn’t he have booked one of the larger meeting rooms? Zach was sure he wasn’t the only one who found the arrangement bothersome.

“Now then, as we welcome back our representatives for the new school year there are a few reminders and notices to announce. Just to clarify, this information is not known to the general school population and isn’t to be shared without prior approval.”

There was a small cough from one of the teachers and a few glares and hard looks. It wasn’t hard to guess who hadn’t kept their mouth shut on earlier issues.

“Three parties were dispatched a week ago to clear the surrounding areas of any high-level monsters and to search for any traces of demons. I’m pleased to announce there were no signs of demons, and the high level monsters were easily hunted down. The field on the west side of the school is to be maintained as a beginning hunting ground for advanced sophomores and juniors. Please keep an eye on any group which goes hunting to ensure they do not attempt party creation. Group hunting is permitted, of course, and if any spontaneous party links form please find the nearest adult so we can ensure no trauma occurs.”

Zach tuned out the rest of the meeting; he’d been the class rep for several years now and had heard the same speech enough that he could probably recite it word for word. Instead his thoughts turned inward. The first day back on campus and Torvik had already called him ‘heartless’. Most other times that word wouldn’t mean much. Zach knew he was more focused on maintaining his spot at the top of the class than making friends and appeasing others. He had to prove he was worth rejoining the royal line, after all. Show that he was better than his father. His primary social focus was on potential party members.

‘Heartless.’

Zach thought he carried his heart on his hand, but what if he was wrong? He only had one book from the royal library he could use. He’d returned the others to keep his uncle from thinking something was wrong. And since it wasn’t a book he should have Zach had to be careful about when he pulled it out to find the right spell.

If it wasn’t in there he’d need to visit his aunt again and suffer through a hellishly long list of prospective party members far below his standards.