On the way back the entire family was gathered around Ajax as they intently listened to how he spent his time in the capital. As all of them listened to everything that he had gone through they congratulated him on all that he had already managed to achieve. All of them had been left speechless as the idea that the title he was gifted would most likely be upgraded into a ducal title in a decade but overall this was a great opportunity for the family.
Judy and Alana were especially happy because it was a known fact that when a new noble house was promoted and they tried to establish an organization most other noble houses would look to help, or at the very least made sure the commoner organizations didn’t actively disturb them for at least a few months.
Not everything was turning out better because of the new title granted however. As much as the title would help Judy, Alana and Silvia as well as grant some piece of mind to the whole family there would be a few repercussions. While it was common for all nobles' houses to send any one of their members that showed any talent to the Healing Union to train, the same could not be said about the guards.
Tom’s career into the guards had just taken a sharp turn that will quickly reach a road block. Despite some of the guard officers taking some bribes from the nobles it was a rule that anyone openly attached to a noble family was prevented from climbing too high in the chain of command. It was a trade off Tom was more than happy to make but it would inconvenience him slightly.
Getting inside the city was a whole other mess for which Ajax simply sat at the side and offered his physical strength as Alana and Judy dealt with logistics of getting the entire caravan past the gates. Silvia had offered to handle their personal carts and let Judy and Alana head over to the warehouse and at least take a look at it before they arrived at their new home.
With all the merchant affairs out of the way, Fluffy instantly became the focus of attention from the guards once they heard that not only was Tom going to be joining them but that the massive shadow cat was as well.
“Do make sure to get her registered before you even register yourself.” was the advice all of the people gave him since a non-registered bond was not allowed to set foot in the barracks.
As all of their wagons had finally made it into the city and Ajax led them to the two adjacent houses he had built for his family he was met with a massive surprise. Waiting for them by the gate he saw four different couriers, one belonging to each of the Archduke families and one carrying the sigil of house Manashaper.
Each of the curious publicly approached him and loudly offered a letter of congratulation for his new title from their masters. Ajax was shocked that they were so quick to move on all this considering he hadn’t even formally been given the title as that only happened when he would also be given his last name.
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“Thank you so much for the help.” Ajax said as they started moving everything into the two houses. “But there really was no need to come all the way here to help us unpack.”
“The unpacking is more of a gesture done for show.” Alfred said. “The main reason for this is to show the allegiance between your house and that of Lady Luna.”
While Ajax had picked up quite a bit of political movement while at the Academy that was true only when it came to individuals and not whole houses. As such Alfred had taken it upon himself to see him educated.
“So what was the meaning of the couriers then?” Ajax asked.
“They were a show of support and acceptance. It is also expected that you will invite all of the houses who sent congratulatory messages for your inaugural party, receiving a courier and not sending an invitation in return is seen as having a public disagreement.” Alfred explained.
“What is the inaugural party?” Ajax asked, confused.
“All nobles are expected to have a party marking their and their family integration into the noble landscape. If the land you are granted along with the title is barren it is expected to have the party outside on said spot to bless it for good luck.” Luna said. “ I remember how confused I was during my own inaugural party so don’t worry about anything too political happening at it. Mostly it will be a place where you can meet all the houses that are looking to have a friendly relationship with yours.”
“Look at us helping you move into these houses already.” Alfred said as he pointed at the servants wearing Luna’s sigil. “This is an open declaration that our your houses will be strong allies as the day after the offer was made we were here to help you.”
Ajax had no issue making his friendship with Luna public. He owed the woman a lot for all the help she gave him ever since he arrived here so if she could get anything out of simply making their contact known he was happy to help. Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵✦𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖✦𝙣𝙚𝙩
While Ajax was being given a crash course in politics the rest of the family was gathered around and admiring Hatchet’s new arm. Fluffy was the most shocked of them all as for the entire time that she had known Hatchet the man had only had one arm.
“Easy there Fluffy, yes I know I didn’t have it last time you saw me but that is no reason to try to pull it off.” Hatchet complained with a joking tone as Fluffy pulled on the regrown appendage. “You sure have gotten bigger since I last saw you.”
As the family started to get settled in it was decided that Tom and Kate were going to be taking the bigger of the two houses and share it with Ajax until he got his new land and started building a mansion on it. July and Alana would also sleep there while Silvia and Sam would take the smaller house that came with a smithy attached.
As he stepped out for one of the final times to grab the remaining luggage Ajax caught a glimpse of his grandparents standing off to the side of the road and simply observing the procession. Both parties knew that this wasn’t the time for an introduction to take place but the two of them couldn’t help themselves and wanted to catch a glimpse of Silvia again after all this time.
As soon as everything was placed inside the houses the whole family came together for a big dinner that everyone made quick work off before they headed off to bed as they were all very tired from the long weeks of travel. While everyone else went to sleep Ajax took a walk over to see his grandparents and see their reaction to his newly gained title.
“Congratulations are in order, Baron.” Aurora greeted him as he entered the room.
“Thank you.” Ajax simply responded.
“I have to admit this wasn’t something I had even taken as a possibility.” Elija praised Ajax. “When I set everything up for them to come here so quickly I thought that you becoming a noble in the future was a possibility but I couldn’t have guessed that you were sitting on a sure way to achieve it.”
“I had hoped to keep that discovery to myself for a little longer but I wanted to make sure that any decision mom took wasn’t influenced much by external factors.” Ajax admitted. “Tomorrow I will be taking all of them to see my small patch of land in the morning, in the afternoon Judy, Alana, Kate and Tom will be busy setting themselves up so I will bring mom and dad to see you both then.”
“It’s been a pleasure doing business with you.” Elija’s words rang out as Ajax left the room. Regardless of tomorrow's outcome Ajax and his grandparents would no longer be business partners.
“Now I have a party to worry about, not only a sigil, why do none of the stories people tell their kids seem to ever have any of these details.” Ajax quietly muttered under his breath as he made his way back home.