The smells of Milas neighborhood made his mouth water as they got close. Every block had someone preparing food of some sort and it didn't matter what time it was. The masses needed to eat.

  Milas neighborhood would feed everyone within reason. He got the sense that no one went to bed hungry on purpose.

  Mila was not studying. She wasn't even pretending to study. They found her outside her parent’s villa.

  Mila was sticking things to the wall. Heavy stones dotted the wall going up and down wherever she could reach.

  It took them almost two minutes to get her attention. Ludere had to physically stop admiring her handiwork. It was some trick of Will Magic.

  "I count about ten rocks that she's stuck to the wall? Is that correct? Did anyone have a different number?" Ludere said.

  "I was thinking the exact same thing."

  "Rek. That's one way to get my attention," Mila said. The stones all dropped at the same time.

  Erebus and Cire stood back.

  "Can I see how you did that?"

  "Let me show you. All you have to do is think sticky thoughts. Visualize that and you're halfway there. Then imbue the stone and make the argument that it needs to stick to the wall. It's always been stuck to the wall."

  It wasn't a hard argument to make. He told the stone what to do and somehow it was sticking on her wall.

  Erebus grabbed a stone and did the same thing. "Thanks for that information. I'm Erebus, Luderes rental boy manager. I'm of the impression that you're representing us at the academy?"

  Mila was the only person that was from the same class that Ludere was from. Up until he arrived, she was there solely based on merit and test scores. When he arrived because he had done so much for the Empire, it was almost an afterthought that he wasn't one of the perforated. He wasn't the sign of referee. His father was a soldier who did his twenty years and then went to work for the government.

  Milas father worked at the shop down the street, making food for whoever could afford it. Her mother helped out as well. Due to how smart she was, they had been the recipients of many special stipends. The Empire wanted its best and brightest in the top spots. It just happened that she had her recognized to somebody who could go far at a young age. Her parents can never afford a private tuner but because she was so intelligent, she either didn't need one or in some cases the state provided one. The gap between the average person and the average person at the academy was wide.

  Ludere stood in that gap and laughed at it.

  Cire attempted to check as well and they found themselves talking as they stuck rocks to things. They talked about the academy and told Erebus about what he was missing out and then explained the will construct to Mila. Explaining it drew more questions which they were happy to answer.

  Erebus just took it all in, reveling in the attention of the two women who just wanted to hear more stories about Ludere.

  "You're saying he knows a lot about numbers but you're not really telling us much else are you. I'm really not certain that he ever was rental boy but if you keep saying that I might start believing it."

  "Oh it's true. How else do you think that he got the eye of your father?" Erebus rock fell.

  "I need you to understand that my father is not like most of the prefereti. He's more like the emperatus."

  Both men turned to her.

  Ludere was the first to speak. "Are you telling me that your father only likes women?"

  "Is that so weird of a thing to say? I know you only like women. It's such a weird tradition to hang ones toga on."

  "Just because I have a girlfriend doesn't mean I don't like men," Ludere replied. "I don't, let's be clear but that's only because no one's ever going to live up to how gorgeous Erebus is."

  Erebus tucked his hair back and winked at his friend. He made kissy faces for about ten seconds before he began to laugh.

  "Men," Mila said, now stacking rocks two high perpendicular to the wall. "Why did we ever let it get to this?"

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  "Your guess is as good as mine," Cire said. "If it helps, the prefereti men are about the same in every regard. They're all going to be like these two."

  Mila smirked. "So I won't be missing out if I don't get a prefereti husband?"

  They talked about that for a while. Neither one wanted to admit that they had any sort of attraction to any of the boys in their class. But just the same, they couldn't avoid the issue entirely. Senators Salazar would probably want to arrange a wedding of convenience for her, his daughter. Having her mold the Future Leaders of the Empire and also be the glue between a brand new deal of some sword had to be enticing. She knew that, they all knew that. Having a Regnicus within her entourage was inviting.

  "Hold on. If anything, we're all part of Mila's Entourage. That's the only thing that makes sense. She's the one that got in to the economy just on her home merit without having to defeat a horde of demons," Ludere said.

  Mila blushed. The four of them had sat down in the atrium and Milla had waved off her parents from bothering them several times.

  Each time, they tried to give her bread and he could hear her stomach rumbling.

  There was something about being home that set her off and he was trying to figure out what it was until he saw her eyes darting all around. She was just doing her best to keep her situational awareness of this location going.

  She hadn't even had Will Magic when she left home last time. And now she had it and she was probably looking at some of the things around them with all new eyes. He had to talk to her about that. She was standing out very well

  “Are you doing okay?” Ludere asked her. “You look like you’ve been through something.”

  Her eyes were even more sunken in than he had initially thought. Was she going through will strain? Being in the loops had stopped him from the worst effects of overdoing it.

  Mila didn’t have that opportunity. She had to put in the work. He gave her the skill but she was the one that had to learn everything about it and put it into practice.

  “I’ve been making up for lost time. I don’t want to feel that way again.”

  His voice softened. “You don’t… it’s not your job to kill demons.”

  “I know but I was there and even knowing that we were on high alert, I almost died. Our people almost died. I can’t… I couldn’t live with myself.”

  He wanted to reach out. Erebus and Cire had gotten into a lengthy discussion of how to improve skills and were not paying attention.

  “Mila. The weight you are carrying is too heavy to carry alone. I should know. The Oracle does everything practical to share the burden. Can I carry water for you?”

  A hint of a smile appeared on his face. “I would be honored if you helped. I don’t know what you can do but… thanks.”

  “It’s the least I could do.”

  She leaned over to whisper to him. “You see this though? I don’t know where this was missing in my life, but I need more of this. I knew she was competitive but I like this.”Erebus stood up, stripping off his toga. He tossed it towards Ludere. “You’re the judge.”

  “Bring it.” Cire folded her Toga neatly and placed it by the center of the atrium.

  Both took off their sandals, which took nearly a minute. Ludere tried to remember if he’d swapped unarmed combat with Erebus. He was reasonably certain that he had done it.

  Gia was an excellent teacher and wouldn’t have let the man languish. He had only been gone for six weeks. Had it been six weeks? It felt like Erebus and Gia had stood still without the advantages that he’d been given.

  Erebus and Cire both squared off in front of each other. His stance was neutral and he let one arm drift closer to her as he turned his body. She took the same stance.

  Ludere sighed, rolling his eyes. “Ready. Begin.”

  Cire feinted. A jab thrown slightly too slow missed her opponent.

  She stepped in. The two exchanged feints. Neither committed to an attack. For some time they stared each other down.

  Then Cire made the first move. She lunged in attempting, against all good sense, a take down. Erebus' flashed surprise before allowing himself to be taken to the ground.

  He fell hard. "Oof."

  Ludere winced. That would hurt.

  In the brief moment between the push and the initiation of ground combat, Erebus threaded his legs around her.

  Cire tried to grab his collar. He held her back with his manly thighs.

  Then he bucked his hips into the air and they were briefly airborne before they landed with him sitting astride her stomach. He easily reached her neck and she tapped his arms signaling the end to the match.

  "That was... How did you do that?" Cire said as they got up. "That should be impossible. My unarmed combat is at twenty."

  "I had a good teacher. I didn't just sit by while my friend went to the academy."

  "But still...? For a brief moment there I felt like prey."

  Erebus adjusted his toga. "That would be because my unarmed combat is thirty."

  Ludere couldn't contain his grin. This had to be Gia. She was getting her aggression out with him. It probably didn't help that neither of them could work.

  "Had a lot of free time, I take it? That sounds like what's happening."

  The arena being closed shut down their activities to put bread on their families table. They would be fine in the long run but the role was feast or famine during the festival season. People came and they spent dinarii like it was going out of style.

  It felt like those were the days that ruled their lives. If the betting was good and the markets were good then they would do well. It was not great that they depended on the patronage of people with more money than cents, but that was exactly what propped up the industry. If interested people with the money to open and maintain the arena didn't exist then they couldn't just fabricate them.

  They controlled who got jobs and who didn't.

  Unfortunately they but weren't spare proof and they definitely weren't the best at unarmed combat. At least if they went by what he just seen, it wasn't important to them. He was certain that if he had any children that he would teach them unarmed combat. The idea of having children in this world didn't interest him that much though. He would have to kill a lot of demons before he felt like he was sufficiently safe to raise somebody up.

  And then there was the issue of having to serve in the military or government. That was enough to tie him up in indecision for the rest of the day if he lingered on it.