Heavy snow fell in thick flakes. Morning classes had ended, and the students of Fifth University poured out of their classrooms. The air was rich with the smell of food, especially the mouthwatering aroma of sizzling bacon. The students lined up in neat rows and headed toward the cafeteria along the freshly cleared paths.
Apart from the military academies under the Military Command, all the other schools in Berely University City were run along semi-military lines. Most students followed the rules, and their daily lives were strictly regimented. So they marched to the cafeteria in formation, moving with all the discipline of soldiers.
Lin Qi stood on the dormitory balcony with a bottle of liquor in hand, watching the students march past in the distance. He burped.
Wherever people made rules, there were naturally people who broke them. Lin Qi was undoubtedly one of those who made a specialty of breaking rules. He raised the bottle and took a swig of hard liquor, then mumbled, "That bastard Father Balin. I'm going to make him answer for that protective charm. He nearly got me killed—the bastard nearly got me killed!"
Patting the bulging money pouch at his waist with satisfaction, Lin Qi laughed heartily three times. Although he'd risked his life, he'd made it out of the Master Tower alive. And not only that—he'd earned a handsome thirty gold coins. With the winter break only a month away, thirty gold coins would be enough to make his life unbelievably comfortable until then.
And with Mr. Grong's personal promise, he didn't have to worry about the year-end exams, either. He and his brothers would all be able to advance to their fourth and final year with top marks. Those results would be a huge advantage after graduation, whether his brothers went looking for jobs in the Empire's administrative departments or became advisers to the great nobles.
"So I hope there are a few more hot girls in that Gissian traveling troupe! The old geezer Gelang likes that sort of thing!" Lin Qi exhaled a satisfied breath of liquor, swayed his hips, shook his bottom, and sauntered back to the dormitory.
The once reasonably tidy single room was now a complete mess, with dark rum bottles scattered all over the floor. A small square table stood in the middle of the cramped room, covered with sheets of oil paper. On them lay the remnants of a feast: smoked meat, sausages, roast chicken, steak, and other delicious meats, with only a few pieces left.
Enzo sat on Lin Qi's bed, his legs propped up on the bedside table as he contentedly picked his teeth with a toothpick. Beside him sat a tin mug of black tea, sweetened with sugar and milk. He narrowed his eyes and hummed in comfort. "After eating and drinking your fill, nothing beats a good cup of tea. That's the life of a noble lord!"
Yu Lian sat on the desk, his belly just as round from overeating and his fair face glistening with grease. He held a palm-sized mirror, checking himself from every angle as he carefully wiped the last trace of food from the corner of his mouth with a white silk handkerchief. Hearing Enzo, he rolled his eyes. "Enzo, even among noble lords, not everyone gets to eat this well, drink this well, and then brew themselves a pot of fine tea!"
After letting out a satisfied burp, Yu Lian stared at the smoked chicken wing left on the oil paper, torn over whether he should finish it, too. He was stuffed to the gills and couldn't eat another bite, but why did that chicken wing look so adorable?
With a wistful sigh, Yu Lian shook his head. "Before I met the boss, I hadn't touched a drop of tea in the University City for at least three years!"
Enzo gazed thoughtfully at the ceiling. "Of course not. You're a fallen noble. But Yu Lian, I'm different. I'm going to use my sword and military service to earn a noble title! Nothing too grand—a knighthood for valor will do. Then I'll have a manor of a few hundred acres, a rich forest, and, preferably, a small lake full of freshwater fish—or a stretch of river!"
Yu Lian glared at Enzo in anger. He really had come from a fallen noble family, and Enzo had just rubbed salt in the wound right to his face! If he hadn't been so much weaker than Enzo, he would have made sure Enzo was incapable of being a man for the rest of his life.
Yu Lian cursed Enzo viciously in his mind. Maybe losing that ability would make him give up on becoming a noble? After all, they'd been drinking buddies for years, and everyone knew why Enzo was so determined to become a noble. His reason might well be the strangest in the world.
A little drunk and swaying on his feet, Lin Qi went over to the square table and generously tossed more than ten gold coins onto it.
"My dear treasurer, make sure the brothers are well provided for. Give two sets of thick clothes to the families of the few brothers who are really struggling. And for the brothers with kids, winter won't be easy. Send each family's children a few sturdy breadsticks. That'll make it much easier for the brothers to get through the winter!"
Besides Enzo and Yu Lian, the last person in the room was Gram, seated by the table and still working his way through the food. Gram wasn't very tall, but weighed twice as much as Lin Qi. He had the classic physique of a Fifth University accounting student—a parasite. When he settled his bulky frame into the cramped dormitory, he immediately took up half the room.
With a pig's tail in his mouth, Gram spotted the coins Lin Qi had tossed down. His small eyes, squeezed nearly shut by the fat on his face, suddenly sprang wide open. He swiftly scooped up the gold coins, affectionately rubbed them against his face, and finally managed to swallow the little pig's tail.
"Boss, don't worry. I won't waste a single copper!"
Gram had no fighting ability whatsoever, but he was the treasurer trusted most by everyone in the Iron Fist Brotherhood.
Gram was a character, an absolutely one-of-a-kind character. Lin Qi had met him after a pair of thugs from the Military Academy tried to extort him. The two unlucky thugs searched Gram from head to toe and found only two copper coins. The instant those two coppers left his pouch, Gram—whose combat ability was zero—leapt up as if possessed by a demon and crushed more than thirty ribs between the two hulking warriors.
For such a glorious achievement, Lin Qi had regarded Gram as a living legend, and from then on, Gram had become an indispensable member of the Iron Fist Brotherhood.
With Gram, who loved money as dearly as his own life, managing the Brotherhood's finances, everyone felt completely at ease.
As Lin Qi watched each gold coin slowly disappear into Gram's money pouch, his heart clenched violently. The intense pain nearly brought tears to his eyes. He muttered under his breath, "My lovely Ooh-ooh-calls, you're leaving me!"
Just as Lin Qi's heart was aching, someone violently shoved the dormitory door open.
The fat Father Balin squeezed through the doorway, wiped away his sweat, and shouted in distress.
"Damn it, this has nothing to do with me! Lin Qi, your brother Vik was taken by the Round Table Knights!"
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