Ning finally thought he understood what was happening. He understood the reason why Clara was being targeted so much and why everyone that did so believed that she was the man that had escaped this place.
'They must not be aware that she is a woman then,' he thought. 'I will have to get this information back as soon as I can.'
"Sorry?" the girl next to him spoke. "My name is not Clara. Its Bella. It's written right here."
"Hmm? Oh right. Sorry," Ning quickly said. He quickly pushed the snacks toward her. "Please have some."
He picked some food himself and started eating them. The drinks that he had randomly ordered had turned out to be alcoholic, so he only drank a little bit.
The drink was more juice than booze, but even then it was enough to get him tipsy, so he didn't go for much.
The girl seemed to be able to stomach alcohol a lot better than Ning, so she drank without stopping.
She started asking Ning who he was and where he was from as well as what he did. Ning had no reason to hide anything so he answered everything.
He asked the girl questions as well and she answered what she knew too.
It turned out that the girl had actually been sold to her parents when she was just 11 years old to a noble from a city over. They had a bad year of crops, so they couldn't pay back the noble and had to instead sell their daughter.
The noble had then sold her to a brothel, but because she was so young back then, the brothel owner only made her work as a servant of the brothel house.
As she grew, she was taught what most courtesans were taught to prepare herself. However, when she was given a chance to transition to becoming a courtesan, she instead chose to leave the brothel house.
She had earned enough money by then to buy herself her own freedom.
She went back to find her parents, but her parents had already fled to the village after not being able to pay the noble for another year.
After that, she had come to this city, but without much knowledge or skills, she couldn't find work in many places. As a result, she had to find another Brothel to find work.
However, to her luck, she had instead found an entertainment house where she did not have to become a courtesan and could instead just be a normal entertainer.
She believed that she had used up all of her luck on that day. Since then, she had been working under Jenna and entertaining guests.
In half a dozen years, she had become one of the best in the house, but she still had ways to go before she was the best. She believed that she could do it and she had been trying her best ever since to achieve it.
Ning was impressed by her drive and determination. Even if what she wanted to achieve wasn't something respectable in most people's eyes, he still had to commend the girl on how hard she was working to get what she wanted.
"I'm sure you can do it," he told her. "Just keep trying your best."
"Thank you, sir," the woman said. "I'm sure your school will end up winning the tournament that you came here for."
"Let's hope so," he said and continued eating. As he ate, he sensed something peculiar from outside the room.
Multiple people with different Essences had gathered outside the room and seemed to be doing something.
Ning frowned and stood up. "Something is happening outside, I'll go check," he said and walked out.
The moment he came out of the door, he saw Jenna standing in the corner holding onto a few girls that seemed terrified at the moment.
Ning then turned to see Kaleb with an awkward face not knowing what to do.
In front of him stood a tall, long black-haired, thick bearded man that wore robes with gold engravings all over them. He had his hands crossed together and had a rather angry look on his face as he stared at the ground below him.
It was only then that Ning realized that next to the man's feet was a crouching Tenn who seemed to be kneeling as low as he could.
'What's… going on?' he wondered.
The girls didn't seem scared, so much as they didn't want to get involved with whatever was happening.
"Please forgive me, uncle," Tenn said. "I had no other intention in coming here."
The man stared without speaking and simply gave a small scoff to imply that he didn't believe him.
'Uncle?' Ning thought. 'One of the Foremans?'
"Believe me, uncle. I came directly to this place because my friend wanted to come here, I wouldn't have come here otherwise," Tenn said. "Please don't tell my parents."
"Someone tells me my nephew is in the city and when I search for him, I find him in this place. You came here directly without going home. You still want me to believe that you didn't want to come here?" the man asked.
"No, I'm telling the truth," Tenn said.
"He's not lying," Ning spoke up. He walked next to Tenn and stood by him. "He didn't want to come here. He's only here because I needed to come here."
"Hmm? Who are you?" the man asked.
"My apologies. My name is Ning. I am your nephew's friend in the academy," Ning quickly introduced himself.
"And are you trying to take the blame for him because you think I won't punish you on his behalf?" the man asked.
"I don't know, senior. I've never met you, so I can't tell what you might or might not do," Ning said. "All I'm doing is telling you the truth that your nephew isn't here for any other reason than bringing me here. That's why I was in a separate room from these two."
The man stared at Ning for what felt like an entire minute and sighed. He looked down toward Tenn and nudged him with his leg.
"Get up," he said. "I won't scold you, but you're not off the hook just yet."
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