Rayne shook his newly filled pouch and grimaced at the paltry wage of his clerical job. Three and a half silver wasn’t a bad haul for a day's work, but after that adventurer had come by to claim six silver for half a day’s work, it had him feeling just a tad inadequate.

  That had been hours ago. By the time Rayne got off work, if the adventurer pushed himself, he might be able to complete a whole new mission since then and receive almost thirteen silvers in one day!

  Rayne sighed and affixed the pouch to his waist. It wasn’t a wholly fair comparison since their job saw them facing death more often than naught. His own desk job kept him and his sister fed and with a roof over their head, but that was all it did. Between rent, their food expenditures, taxes, and anything else that may arise, they barely had enough to make it through the month. If he wasn’t so fond of the way his head sat on his shoulders, he might have been tempted to take up adventuring himself.

  With that thought to keep him company, Rayne made his way through the market with the end day rush in full swing. One hand keeping a grip on his coin pouch while the other navigated him through the throng of bodies, he made his way to a familiar stall. He was rewarded for his efforts with the very unwelcome view of a short and portly man smoking over his collection of what Rayne knew to be stale bread.

  The man nodded to Rayne and grabbed two loaves for him. “Forty copper.”

  Rayne paused as he was grabbing his coin and looked up to the man. “Forty copper? It’s been thirty copper for the past two months. Why’s it up ten coins?” he demanded.

  The man shrugged in response. “That’s the price. You don’t want it, don't buy it.” With that, he made to pull the loaves away.

  Gritting his teeth, Rayne reached into his purse and fished out the copper. He hated to do this, but they had to eat, and there was no way one merchant would raise prices if the others had not.

  With unwilling fingers, he handed it over and grabbed the loaves in return. Whatever hopes he had possessed that the price increase would mean fresher bread were dashed by the very weapon-like qualities they appeared to possess. The bread was hard as rock, and likely tasted only marginally better. Giving the man one last scowl to make his displeasure known, Rayne headed off.

  The bread might have been stale and overly expensive, but it was still food, and Rayne kept it close to his chest as he made his way through the market, mindful not to let it stick out and be torn from his hands by a passerby or an opportunistic beggar.

  Thankfully, the streets outside the market were much less busy. He made sure to keep a hand on his coin and a good grip on the bread, but he could feel himself relaxing as his feet took him to the nicer parts of the city. Here, the dirty cobblestones and rickety wooden houses were replaced by stone paths and brick construction. It was officially called the Old Quarter, owing to it having been the only ward to survive the fire that had nearly brought Torid to ruin two centuries ago. But these days, everyone called it the Noble District.

  It was an apt name. The only ones who could afford to live here were nobles and those merchants and administrators who had managed to defy the odds of their birth and accumulate enough wealth to live beside those fortunate enough to be born from a noble lady’s loins.

  Statues were everywhere, depicting heroes, gods, and famous figures from the city’s history. Carefully cultivated bushes lined the boulevard, and large trees provided shade every dozen feet, their trunks perfectly round from the city green mage’s tending.

  It was a little slice of paradise, and Rayne hated it. Hated what it represented. Hated the nobles for living there. Hated the fact that he could not provide such a home for his sister. Such thoughts were not productive, though, and he exhaled as the Academy came into sight. It had been a long day, but at least it was finally nearing its end.

  The gates of the Academy were enormous, easily fifteen feet high, and the intricate wrought iron fence towered over its surroundings, preserving the valuable knowledge inside. Or at least, that was what those in charge wanted people to believe. In actuality, it was to deny it to those they deemed unworthy, to prevent them from ever rising above their station. If spitting was not illegal in the Noble Quarter, Rayne would have spat at the feet of the mighty gate. Instead, he joined the throng of similarly dressed people milling around outside as he searched for Issa amidst the crowd.

  Commoners were not allowed inside the Academy’s hallowed halls, except for those lucky few who were allowed to attend, and thus Rayne was forced to wait outside to collect his sister, along with the loose collection of parents and siblings of the other commoner students. Though their children might attend, no further commoner boots would dirty the marble floors of the Academy, not even its vestibule, blood ties be damned.

  Scanning the crowd, Rayne gazed at the gathered commonfolk. His sister did not appear to be waiting for him, but he did spot a familiar, bald head, and he approached with a friendly wave.

  “Professor Iain,” he called, moving to greet the man.

  Hearing his voice, the bald man turned and gave him a small smile of recognition at his approach. “Mr. Rayne, it is nice to see you again. I assume you’re here for Ms. Ysseus?” he asked.

  Rayne nodded. “That I am. She’s probably just in the library, too engrossed in her studies to remember the time.”

  The professor chuckled. “She is a most diligent student. It would not surprise me one bit if ten years from now we were hearing about the newest addition to the lord’s cabinet. Of course, that is not to say that you were a bad student. But Ms. Ysseus is truly formidable, one of the brightest minds I have ever had the pleasure of teaching.”

  Rayne beamed at the praise. His sister really was the pride of their family. Before their parents’ passing, they had always talked about the value of education, but even they would have never dreamed of what their little Issa had grown up to accomplish. Before he could press the professor for more praise, he spotted a familiar set of brunette locks rushing down the library doors.

  Slowing her step, his sister came to a halt beside the duo with her eyes wide and full of guilt. “I didn’t keep you too long, did I?” she asked nervously.

  Rayne laughed softly. “Relax, Issa, I’ve only been here a few hours.”

  Both he and the professor laughed as she rolled her eyes. She turned to the professor and bowed respectfully. “I apologize if my brother has kept you, sir.”

  The professor waved her concern away easily. “Worry not, my dear, it is always a pleasure to speak with former students. I shall leave you two to return home. Ensure you are ready for the end of semester tests, Ms. Ysseus.” He gave them a final nod before turning and walking off.

  Issa’s eye twitched slightly, and Rayne watched her sympathetically. Her parents had given her the name Ysseus, pronounced iss-ee-us, after the minor goddess of knowledge in the hopes that she would grow up intelligent. That had certainly worked, but she hated her full name, and insisted everyone call her Issa.

  However, a professor wasn’t someone she could afford to correct, and Professor Iain wasn’t a bad person, just one who liked his old-fashioned sensibilities such as only using proper names. And so she was forced to go by the name she disliked in his presence.

  As the man in question disappeared into the academy, Rayne turned to walk home, handing off a loaf of bread for his sister to hold as he did.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “What were you two talking about?” she asked, her fingers pressing into the loaf to test its staleness.

  “Nothing important, we only got to talk for a minute or two before you ran out,” he replied.

  She nodded in understanding as they continued their walk in silence. Together, they walked through the wealthy part of town where the Academy was located, past the now almost empty market, until they reached the outer ring of the city—the Dregs, as the nobles derisively called them.

  The cobblestones here were worn down, with muck and grime everywhere. It was hard to believe they were the same rocks as those used in the Noble District, but they were. They simply lacked maintenance, just like most other things in the Dregs. Lampposts of dark iron stood tall, their lamps flickering within their bowls in their attempts to activate, the rune formations used to power them old and worn. Several would not turn on at all, and simply stood there, dark sentinels that watched over the crime and filth as they slowly rusted away.

  Old leaves rested in the gutters, still here from last fall, their gray forms stained with blood, sludge, and all the other residues that flowed throughout the Dregs. A few bums rested among them, their eyes bleary after another day spent begging in the wealthier parts of the city. Some did their best to save what little coin they got, hoping to eventually turn their fortunes around. Most simply spent it on the bottle, the numb grip of alcoholism a better balm than facing reality in such a place.

  It wasn’t yet dark enough for most of the criminal elements to be roaming around, but Rayne did notice hungry eyes following them as they walked through the narrow streets. The watchers wouldn’t try anything, he was too big a target for them to try and rob for some stale bread and a few coins.

  But if Issa had been alone… He chased the thought from his mind. That was why he never let her come home alone. Every day without fail, he headed to the Academy to fetch her and escort her back to the apartment they shared. And every day, they made it there safe.

  Nevertheless, a sigh of relief escaped him when they finally reached their apartment, the shabby building just one of many that had all been piled together in a great heap, like a group of houses that had been smushed together and then abandoned here to rot. Still, home was home, and pulling out the key, he quickly unlocked their door and ushered Issa in before slipping inside.

  Here they were greeted by the cramped and narrow hallway that led into their apartment proper. On one side, a rickety staircase led upwards to their bedrooms and the single bathroom in the house. On the other, the hallway continued, leading into their dusty, mold-infested kitchen, the last remnants of sunlight that drifted in highlighting a cockroach quickly running out from the pantry.

  It was not as if they didn’t clean. But between work, school, and the general lack of cleanliness in the Dregs, there was only so much that could be done. And it wasn’t good to clean too much either. Houses that stood out were prime targets for burglars, an experience they’d both gone through a few times now.

  Issa sighed as Rayne went to work preparing a bowl of stew for the both of them while she struggled to cut them a few slices of bread from the freshly purchased but certainly not freshly-baked loaf Rayne had bought. When they sat down at the table, Issa frowned, her eyes darting from her bowl of stew to his.

  “You gave me more again,” she said with a slight tinge of disappointment. “You know you’re not eating enough.”

  “It’s fine, Issa. As one who has done both, believe me when I say that you need more energy for learning than you do as a small-time clerk.”

  Her eyes narrowed at his excuse, and she made to give him some of her bread. He used his spoon to fend it off.

  “None of that. That bread was half a silver, and I won’t have you wasting it on me,” he said matter of factly.

  Her frown deepened. “Half a silver? Can we afford that?” she asked with a hint of concern.

  He tried to smile. “Don’t worry about it, I’m not going to waste our coin on substandard bread. Besides, this stuff was a bargain, name another meal that can be used to beat a thief off.” He said it with a smile, but his sister was unimpressed.

  “Don’t joke around, Rayne. I’ve heard rumors that tuition might be getting hiked as well. If everything keeps getting more expensive, then maybe I should just drop out of school and get a job like you did,” she said, the concern in her eyes such that Rayne felt his own smile falter.

  His shoulders fell. “It’ll be fine, Issa. If need be, I can take a job at night to earn a bit of extra coin.” He went in for a spoonful of stew before a thought came to mind. “Worst comes to worst, maybe I’ll become an adventurer. One of them came by today for close to seven silver from a single job! We’d never need to worry about stale bread again.” He took a sip of his stew and looked up to see his sister wide eyed and still.

  “Don’t even joke about that,” she uttered lowly. “Mom and Dad died. I can’t afford to lose you as well.”

  Rayne looked troubled. “It was just a thought. And it’s not like adventuring is only fighting. There are plenty of adventurers who do other jobs as well. Or so I’ve heard.”

  Issa pointed at him, her meal forgotten. “You’re not going to become an adventurer! I’d prefer to sleep on the streets than to lose you.” Tears pooled at the corners of her eyes, and her fingertip trembled as she pointed at him.

  Rayne was not used to hearing such worry from his sister, not in the last few years at least. She had largely been unflappable since she’d stopped having night terrors around her fifteenth birthday. To see her freaking out so badly caused him to instinctively stand, and he walked over to wrap her in a hug.

  “It was a joke, Issa. You know I’m not going anywhere.”

  She seemed to calm down a little from his words. Still, he didn’t let go until her breathing returned completely to normal. The rest of their dinner was spent in relative silence, and Rayne felt like he was walking on eggshells as he grabbed their plates to clean them while Issa pulled out her books to begin studying.

  ~

  The next day was significantly more boring than the previous, and this time, there was no adventurer coming by to break up the monotony of his clerical work with something slightly novel. Thus, it was with no small relief that Rayne left the moment five bells sounded, skipping through the breakroom to grab his things and heading out before anyone could accost him.

  Unlike the day previous, he did not hit up the market, having no need for any more groceries quite yet, but instead headed straight for the Academy. When he arrived, Professor Iain was waiting for him once again, but the moment he saw him, Rayne could feel that something was wrong.

  “Professor Iain?”

  Clapping eyes on him, Iain seemed to wilt, a guilty look appearing on his face. “Ah, Mr. Rayne,” he greeted him, a nervous smile etched on his lips. “I am afraid I have some… poor news to share.”

  The professor looked away as he said this, and Rayne felt his heart become gripped with fear. They weren’t expelling Issa, were they? Surely not, she was a prodigious student, the professor had said as much himself just yesterday. Taking a few quick breaths to calm himself, he responded.

  “What seems to be the issue, sir?” he asked while trying to keep his voice even.

  “The lord's council has seen fit to increase tuition for the academy. Starting next semester, costs will increase to eight gold coins per term,” he said, an air of regret around him.

  Rayne could barely believe his ears. They couldn’t afford that. Eight gold coins was nearly double the current tuition. Were they mad?

  "What about her scholarships, surely those will be rising to meet the new costs, won’t they?” he asked, hoping his desperation would not be so apparent, but the wince from the professor indicated he had failed in this.

  “I am afraid scholarships will be remaining as they are. No new ones will be issued either.” As Rayne’s face fell, the man shook his head sorrowfully. “I am terribly sorry. You would likely have been receiving a letter in the next week or so informing you of this change, but I wanted to give you advance warning, for whatever it may be worth.” The professor patted Rayne’s shoulder sympathetically even as his words shattered the young man's world.

  He couldn’t help but chuckle at the callousness of it all. Clearly, the city lord had decided too many of common birth were attending the academy and had seen fit to remedy the situation. Rayne might have been able to understand if prices were just set to go up by a gold coin, or if additional scholarships were being offered, but as it was, this was just a clear move to kick the commoners out of what the nobles and the wealthy saw as their halls.

  Seeing the obvious turmoil within his former student’s expression, Iain withdrew his hand from Rayne’s shoulder before he continued.

  “The costs will be due at the beginning of next term. I may be able to grant an extra week or two as Ysseus is a gifted student, but anything further and it shall be out of my hands. I truly wish you well, Mr. Rayne.”

  With these closing words the professor solemnly walked away, leaving Rayne to grapple with the sudden revelation. It was there that his sister found him some fifteen minutes later, still with an empty look on his face as he contemplated their future.

  “Is everything okay, brother?” she asked with a look of concern.

  Suddenly noticing the appearance of his sister, Rayne put on a brave face. “Y-yeah. Sorry, Issa, I just had a long day.”

  He patted her head and forced a fake smile before they turned to walk away. The news haunted him as they made their way home, and his mind raced with how he could possibly raise eight more gold coins in only five months.