Location: Magicon Empire; Magicon System; Terra; Imperia; FBC

Tuesday goes by rather quickly. First, I've got another lesson in The Empire's history, where Professor Bishop forces a strained smile when the lecture hall keeps getting emptier every week. Now, more than half of the students are constantly missing.

The professor keeps up her interesting lecture and I listen with rapt attention. We're already 6,500 years into The Empire's existence, and things still don't get boring. So much has happened over the years in our nation and Professor Bishop can even make the most boring things like a tariff treaty sound interesting. The older woman is one of my favorite professors here.

I tried to convince Lisa to join me at today's lesson, but unfortunately, she declined and invited me to another get-together at her place. As I'm her retainer now, I can't really decline her invitations, and so I find myself inside her private jump room right after the history lesson.

When Donnie falsely identified me as the pizza guy for the third time in just that many weeks, it became something like a running gag between us. As always, he's the first one to arrive and opens the door of the jump room for me. "Hi, Sara," he grins.

Then he turns around and shouts. "Guys, pizza girl is here!"

Laughter erupts from the main room, and I follow Donnie inside to greet the others. We laugh and talk until the real pizza guy arrives shortly after.

Things wind down when most of the others have to leave for their classes which leaves me alone with Lisa. First of all, she apologizes that her mother forced her into our Earth team. I wave her off and tell her that I don't mind. She looks happy after this. Afterward, we discuss a few more details until I have to leave for my Secondary Utility course.

It's nothing special, as I keep on practicing with one of the countless vanity spells. I already know a lot of them, but this one caught my eye right before we left for our Exploration week. It's called Gloss and adds a bit of a glossy sheen to any other make-up I'm wearing, be it normal stuff or spell-based. It's nothing I absolutely need to know, but I didn't find anything else that's necessary for me at this point, so why not?

I'm able to cast the spell for the first time right when the lesson ends, so I exit the lecture hall with a glossy smile and head home. I've put it off long enough today…

Time to call my parents!

I lock myself in my room and lie down on my bed. Then I start casting my Video Call spell and aim for Mom. It takes a few minutes but then her face appears before my mind's eye.

"Hello, Sara, how are you?"

"Hi, Mom! I'm fine, thanks. Uhm, could you add Dad as well, please?"

She looks a bit surprised but nods. "Sure, give me a moment." Her head turns to the side, and I can see her mouth moving in a silent shout. Silent for me at least. She turns back to look at me and concern enters her features. "Is something wrong, dear?"

I shake my head. "No, not at all… It's just, I have to talk to you about something important. Something I forgot when we met on the weekend…" I blush a little as I'm now feeling kinda dumb. Why didn't I think of it when we all were in the same room?

Mom chuckles at my discomfort. "Don't worry, that's why we have magic, right? Also, Dan's gonna join us any minute now. Ah, there he is."

A new presence enters my Communication spell and adds itself to it. Then the screen in my mind splits and now shows Dad's face right next to Mom's. There is still so much I have to learn about Communication spells…

"Hi, sweetheart, nice to see you again!"

"Hi, Dad! Nice to see you too." After a little more small talk, I clear my throat and focus on both of them. "So with everything happening during my Exploration week, especially the encounter with the T-Rex, I thought a lot about mortality… I know it doesn't make me immortal or invincible, but I think now is the right time for my longevity treatment."

Mom looks understanding. "Yeah, I can see that. I think it's a good idea to get it sooner rather than later… There are no downsides anyway. You're not getting younger after all." She winks at the end.

Dad on the other hand trembles with barely contained laughter until he blurts out. "Don't tell me you found your first grey hair!"

I scowl at him in mock outrage but his laughter is too infectious, so both Mom and I join in. It takes a while, but then Dad gets serious again.

"You said it yourself. The treatment won't protect you from violence or foolish decisions. You still have to be careful."

I nod in understanding.

"That said, we both were anxiously waiting for you to ask about it. You're still our daughter and we can't have you look older than us! Anyway, you have two options now. Option one is you come home, and Doc Philipps will do the actual treatment. Option two is you reach out to Lisa and have one of her family's doctors do it. It's your choice, though we both would prefer to be with you when you get your longevity treatment."

My choice is obvious. While I do like Lisa, I see her more often than my parents. So why not use the opportunity and visit them even if I just saw them a few days ago?

I smile at them both. "I'm coming home!"

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Mom flashes a toothy smile. "Great! Also, if you want, you can ask your friends as well. While we can't gift them the whole deluxe treatment, we can at least start them on the longevity road and slow down their physical aging… This won't prolong their actual lifespan, but they will stay young-looking for a long time. Anything more, they have to buy for themselves whenever they can afford to."

"Why not more?" I ask in slight confusion.

"It's the same reason why I didn't advance all of them to Grandmaster when we were at the doctor's the last time. I don't want to coddle them too much and bring out bad tendencies. I'm probably over-cautious, but I don't want to risk it. It's better that way, trust me."

"But what about me?"

Dad takes over with a sad smile. "We lost you for 20 years. Hell, you basically lost 20 years of your life. You deserve to get them back and more. Also, you're our daughter and you deserve to be spoiled by your parents! And don't tell me you will suddenly stop pushing forward just because you can live longer."

Huh, well, that's true. I don't plan to ever stop. I also still need my A&D core. And while I don't think my friends would slack off either, I can understand Mom's concerns. Also, I can buy their treatments myself once I graduate, so nothing to worry about.

"That's true, Dad. I will never stop! I'll go ask my friends then, see you soon. I can probably make it by Thursday morning if I push things, bye!"

I cut the call before they can reply and smile. I can play their game with the last word too.

I exit my room and look for the others. Both Lucy and Alina are in their respective rooms. Lydia is out, probably with Olivia. I ask them both to meet me in our living room and send Lydia a message asking if she could come home to talk about something important.

She replies quickly with a yes and asks if she should bring food. I ask the others and when they both voice their agreement, I message Lydia an affirmative.

She arrives twenty minutes later with steaming to-go noodles. We dig in and after a few bites, I start speaking. "Okay, I'm just gonna say it… I'm leaving tonight and flying home to Nua. I'm finally getting my longevity treatment which means you also have a choice to make… Mom offered to get you a starting treatment as well if you want it. But you'll have to accompany me to get it, so you'll miss the remainder of the week in lessons."

Alina stares at me as if her body stopped working. She's completely rigid with her chopsticks halfway to her open-hanging mouth. Lucy and Lydia both wear big grins and are already nodding.

"Of course, we go with you," Lucy laughs and slaps Alina's back to shake her out of it. "Right, Alina?"

She closes her mouth and clears her throat. "I… I can't accept this. It's too much!"

I look her directly in the eyes. "Nonsense, you deserve this, Alina. Also, Mom only promised the basic package that stops your body from physically aging. It won't prolong your life, so no biggie."

She starts eating again and ignores me for a minute. Then, finally, she answers in a whisper. "Alright… I'm coming too, thank you."

Location: Magicon Empire; Valterion Duchy; Valterion System; Nua; Alburgh

I don't quite make it by Thursday morning, but I finish our final teleport right before noon. This teleport leads us straight down to Nua's surface after I parked the Stargazer at one of my parents' space stations.

We arrive in my room in our mansion in Alburgh when a slightly monotonous voice greets me through the speakers. "Welcome back, Sara. I see you brought friends. Shall I announce you?"

I let out an involuntary squeal. "S-57! You're still here! And yes, please announce us. You should already know Lucy and Lydia… And this is Alina."

"I do. Your parents await you in the living room."

They still haven't replaced S-57. That's crazy. Or did he somehow evolve and get a lot smarter? Or is it that they're at home so rarely, that they just don't care? I shrug inwardly. Not that it matters…

I lead my friends through the hallway and down the stairs. Alina mumbles along the way. "It looks so mundane…"

I chuckle but don't comment. After more than half a year she should really come along and finally internalize that we're just normal people!

Anyway, the door to the living room opens automatically, and we step inside. I find my parents sitting on one of the sofas and looking at our entrance. Mom suddenly puts her hand to her mouth and stifles a laugh while Dad looks at us with amusement.

I turn around and see Alina holding her side while scowling at Lucy who wears an innocent expression. Things click in my head and I can't help but smile.

Dad clears his throat. "Hi girls, why don't you join us? We have time to kill since your appointment with Doctor Philipps is tomorrow."

My friends do so and sit down opposite my parents on another large couch while I give them quick hugs. After a bit of small talk, Mom asks S-57 to order some lunch and we continue talking until it arrives.

After we all thoroughly stuffed ourselves, I look at my parents and bring up the actual topic. "So what's going to happen tomorrow? Does it hurt? Do we need to do anything?"

Mom smiles at me. "Relax, nothing to worry about. The procedure is completely harmless. It also only takes a few minutes for your friends. As you're getting the full program, it's going to be more like half an hour for you, but you'll be fast asleep anyway.

"Other than that, nothing will change for you. You'll notice the first signs in a few years when you don't age physically. Once every decade, there will be a quick checkup with a refreshment treatment. The same goes for your friends if they decide to invest in a longer life."

I tilt my head in confusion. "So what's the difference between the treatments we are getting tomorrow? If we all have to do checkups every ten years, why bother? Am I missing something?"

Dad looks at Mom and shakes his head with a sigh. "Told you, she'd get it."

Mom grins slightly and nods. "Fine, you get to decide what's for dinner."

Dad looks smug and turns back to us. "Jas didn't explain everything during our call yesterday. While the no-coddling rule is a good and valid one, it's also not the main reason why your friends don't get the full treatment right from the start. The real reason is a sub-aspect of the Noble Game that targets high-ranking Nobles specifically… As you can probably guess, we do have enough money to buy everything we could ever want… This includes the loyalty of pretty much every person we can think of. You see the issue here, right?"

"So you could basically buy out the brightest minds from basically everywhere and hoard them under your wing… Yeah, I see the issue. That won't go well for long. But how does it work exactly? Do you have a fixed number of people you can directly support? And who's supervising all this?"

Mom is the one to answer. "That's pretty much it. It's also a reason why most Nobles form a group of retainers. They're the ones they can actively support. I won't bother you with the exact workings of how everything comes together as your approximation with a fixed number of people comes pretty close. Let's just assume this is the case right now.

"As for who is supervising all this… We are. Well, the Big Five are. While that means we could circumvent the rule of the Game, we won't do it as that would be very pathetic. Oh, and the actual difference between the two treatments that you and your friends are getting is that you are getting the real longevity treatment from Song Medical, while your friends will be getting a let's call it stopgap version. It's made by one of Song Medical's subsidiaries, so it's fully compatible with the real thing later on."

She looks at my friends with a bit of a sad expression. "I hope you understand."

Lydia gives her a thumbs-up. "No worries, we get it. It's not that I was imagining ever getting any kind of longevity treatment, so this is still a win!"

Both Lucy and Alina nod along while I scratch the back of my neck in thought. I think I get why my parents are doing it this way…

Dad speaks up again with a huge grin. "If you listened closely, you'll see that you don't have to worry at all. You just have to graduate college."

Yep, I'm definitely on the right track. Looks like I get my own allowance of people I can directly support once I'm announced as Sara Valterion.

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