"I used to be a noble," Nulara said in a light tone, it was as if talking about it lifted a huge weight off her shoulders. "Well, in name only. I was brought up as one, but never got the skill."

  Dan listened carefully, it was just him and Ruby, the Bloom-Mancer was just sitting to the side, not interfering at all. He didn't quite expect that this was what his day would turn to, but who would?

  It all started when Ruby and Nulara came to meet him, it was Ruby who spoke first, saying that the young mage wanted to talk to him about something. Knowing that whatever it was wouldn't be unimportant if they came to him directly, he sat down with them. He didn't expect that Nulara would start with that surprising fact about herself.

  "Our household had been in decline even before that," she continued, "But after I was introduced into the system and didn't have the Noble skill, it became official, our house fell.

  "Ages ago, we used to be a Count family, but due to bad management by the inheritors and some bad wars, we kept on falling and falling. Each generation, the noble skill we had kept dropping, till it was my time to get the system and I ended up without even the Baron title."

  Dan watched as Nulara's voice became fainter and fainter, it was clear that she was still having trouble talking about those things. He wanted to comfort her, but he felt that she needed to get it out, and she still seemed to be pushing strong, despite it all.

  "My father was already quite bad at managing our land and finances, after I got my Class and it became known that I wasn't a Noble, even though I was truly of his flesh and blood, he went to the deep end. He pushed himself even deeper into gambling and drinking. Eventually, he died of a heart attack or whatever, I never cared to know.

  "As soon as I knew that he died, I took whatever I could get my hands on and ran." She chuckled as she shook her head. "I knew that our palace and our lands weren't going to be mine, someone was going to come collecting this debt or that, I knew that there was no inheritance to receive. Running was all I could do..."

  "What about your mother, siblings?" Dan couldn't help but ask.

  "I was the last of our immediate family line," Nulara said, "Honestly, I'm happy I ran. From what I've heard during my travels, what I guessed would happen happened. As soon as news of his dying was known, the wolves came running, tearing our estate and all it was worth apart as they struggled to squeeze the last bit of money from it. I'm so happy that I ran, because if I didn't, I'm sure they would have thrown some debt on me, making me a slave to them on paper."

  "I'm sorry you went through that." Dan comforted her from the bottom of his heart. "It must have been hard on you."

  "It was manageable." She shrugged, "It was peaceful at the very least. Not having to worry about what people are saying or thinking about you does a lot for your mental health."

  Dan found it hard to imagine what she had gone through, but he could guess the circumstances. Parents could be quite demanding, blaming things that the child had no control over on them, and that was in their old world with no system-approved nobility or whatever was going on here. Being the person to not get the skill, the one who the family line ended on, must have been pure torture for her, without even factoring in what her father might have been like in that situation.

  "All that aside," Nulara said as she took a deep breath to calm herself, "I brought all that up because I wanted to tell you this. As the daughter of a noble, one who was going to inherit the family, I was raised and educated for that role, and that included some of the shadier parts of being a noble, especially one as weak as us, including black markets."

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Dan raised an eyebrow as the reason why the meeting was happening at all came to light. He glanced at Ruby just for the gentle woman to give him a light nod as she looked at the girl. Understanding what she meant, he focused on Nulara again,

  "I was told by Ruby about you going to Rosereef and for what reason." Nulara too threw a glance at Ruby. "It's just that I've never heard of anything about a black market being around those parts."

  "So you're saying that such a thing might not exist there?" Dan asked as he frowned.

  "That's just one of the possibilities." Nulara shook her head. "I can think of two others at least. First, it's a high-level black market that is only known by high nobles and our house was too insignificant for us to even find out about it. And the second is that it is a true exclusive market, rather than being a normal black market. I heard that those are out there, working almost like exclusive clubs for strong nobles to exchange commodities and favours."

  Dan just nodded as he fell into deep thoughts. From what he remembered, Corgan only said that the market was the biggest on this side of the coast, nothing about it being exclusive, so maybe it was the first possibility she gave. Or maybe it was really just the old islander sending them to a trap. They had to be careful either way.

  "Thank you for bringing this up with us," Dan said as he focused on Nulara again, "I appreciate that you shared your story with me too."

  "There's no reason for that." She shook her head. "I know that trust should be earned, so I'm trying to get some of it."

  Dan smiled at the young woman, he could see that she was trying to get their trust. He had been thinking about their guests these past few days, especially Nulara, as the young man didn't seem to give a fuck about whatever they might think about him, he seemed to be just happy to be on the Voyager, annoying whoever was there to listen.

  Nulara wasn't that carefree. It seemed that she noticed how some of the people were keeping away from her. He might have to do something about that. She and the young man took a great risk to get them the news about the tracking mark, they didn't deserve to be met by suspicions for that.

  As he watched Nulara and Ruby leave, Dan sighed as he held his head. He didn't miss how he was one of the people who acted on his suspicions and might have been pushing them aside from the main crew.

  "Is everything alright?" While he was still thinking about that, he heard a voice coming from in front of him.

  "Oh, William." He was met by the concerned face of his friend when he raised his head. "Don't worry, I was just considering a few things I'm going to bring up with the others later on. Did anything happen? Anything to report?"

  "A couple." William seemed as if he wanted to continue with the first conversation but he changed his mind as he sat down. "You remember the talk we had before? It kept on spinning in my head. You know, the one about the Voyager getting stronger and if that included her as a whole."

  Dan nodded for him to continue, he did remember that.

  "Well, I have been spending some time going around, checking places I knew had some wear and tear. You know, places where a thing was broken or something was off."

  "Oh, what did you find?" Now that was something Dan was interested in hearing.

  "I did find something," William said, there was still a bit of disbelief and wonder on his face, "I started with the engine room. I've kept that place as pristine as could be, but the Voyager was getting on the years. Some of the pipes were leaking, or there were some weird noises from the engine that I couldn't get rid of no matter what. Guess what? It's all gone! It almost feels a few years newer."

  "That's really great to hear, it lifts a huge weight off my shoulders." Dan smiled. With the Classes they had, he didn't doubt that they could fix some kind of fault with the engine, it might need them to have some levels under them, but it could be done. Not having to worry about it at all though? That was another matter entirely.

  "I know." William nodded. "And that wasn't all. I went around to places I remembered weren't perfect, places that needed some touching here and there and it was the same. A window that I'm almost sure was supposed to be cracked, was perfectly new. One of the elevators that we had to close off in our last journey due to a malfunction was operational, not just operational, it was working as if new. The Voyager is truly getting fixed the more levels you get, who knows what that is going to mean for her in other aspects, how strong and sturdy she would be eventually?"

  Dan didn't have an answer to any of that, but he was looking forward to seeing it.