An Appointment

"Actually, I've always been curious—how are you so good at foreign languages?"

Since the holiday began, aside from doing her summer vacation homework, Nia had spent nearly all her remaining time practicing foreign languages with Albert. Luke and Sansa had joined in the family chats as well, preparing for their upcoming trip to the East.

"Maybe I'm just exceptionally gifted in that area," Albert said without batting an eye.

Nia clearly did not believe him, because Albert spoke a whole host of foreign languages.

Even if someone was exceptionally gifted, no one could be that exceptionally gifted.

A language had to be used frequently before one could master it fluently. These recent practice sessions had made Nia keenly aware of that, yet Albert clearly had never had such opportunities.

"Why don't you think highly of the subcontinent?"

Casually flipping through books Herb had brought back from the Far Eastern colonies, Nia found another topic. "The subcontinent has quite a large population too, and plenty of British people still live there."

"There are very few real people on the subcontinent," Albert commented simply. "It's filthy, chaotic, and unfriendly to women. People who aren't used to it can easily fall ill there."

"You seem to know a lot about it." Luke smiled. "Did you get that from books?"

"I looked into it before," Albert said softly. "If I hadn't become a wizard, I probably would have considered earning some money at home first, then using it to go to the United States or the Far East. You should know that economic crises break out in cycles. They're disasters, but they're also opportunities."

"All right, I'm not an idiot. I get what you mean." Nia knew Albert had clearly sent their parents to the Far Eastern colonies because of this.

It was an