To those wondering what Umbra will look like, look up Ranga from That Time I Reincarnated as a Slime.
Rook looked at his friend with some concern. The sudden visit of Cater's sisters two days before the portal to return to the school had caught them off guard, but even more surprising was how Cater had handled the situation.
He had shut them down, hard. It was almost painful to watch as it was clear the girls were used to bullying their youngest sibling around, and were unused to the fact Cater had developed a shiny metal spine out of the blue.
Cater had zero sympathy for them at this point. They had been spoiled and pampered by their mother, while he had been left out in the cold and ignored.
Candence immediately turned on the waterworks. Cater was unmoved.
"Cay-cay, why are you being so mean to us?" she simpered.
Cater stared her down, eyes flat.
"Really? You really have to ask why I want nothing to do with the family after all the years of bullshit I've had to put up with because our mother is raging bitch?" said Cater, glaring.
"What?" said Prudence, surprised. She had never heard Cater swear before.
"Let's play a game, shall we? Why don't you find ten of our relatives who know I exist and that I'm your brother. If you can do that, then I'll be willing to talk. And tell dad he has to do the same but with his co-workers instead," said Cater snidely. "Until then, don't count on me answering any calls."
"Why are you being like this?" sighed Prudence.
"When you finally figure it out, then ask me that," said Cater flatly.
Cadence tried to change tact.
"Why are you still wearing those second-hand clothes? You used to love clothes shopping with us."
Cater's glare doubled.
"Maybe because I can't afford new ones? I'm not wasting my limited food budget for new clothing when second hand is just as good," said Cater flatly.
"What do you mean? Did daddy cut your allowance?" asked Cadence.
"More like I haven't gotten it at all," said Cater flatly. "Not for the past year anyway."
That caught them off guard.
"Wait... you haven't gotten your allowance for over a year?" said Prudence. "I noticed you had lost some weight, but I thought it was because you were on a diet or something."
Cater said nothing, he simply stood up and started to walk away. He had said what he needed to in order to get the ball rolling. If his sisters wanted to maintain a relationship with him, they'd have to show they were willing to put in the effort.
Later that night...
Rook's mother had a look of understanding after hearing what happened.
"I thought as much. Very few teenagers would go camping in an area like this with minimal gear without a good reason," she said. "Let alone learn how to hunt and cook an animal with only a few tools."
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"From the sound of things, your friend is acting out in an effort to get attention from his family," she explained.
Rook thought back on what Cater had told him, during the rare, rare times he mentioned his family. That plus the way his sisters had interacted with their younger sibling.
From the way the middle child had acted, it was clear she expected Cater to cave to her whims because he had done so previously. And the way Cater had told them to find ten family members who knew about the fact he was their brother...it didn't paint a happy picture at all. Far from it.
So he brought up the fact that his sister's had mentioned an allowance instead.
"I used to get an allowance...but then I started noticing weird transactions on the account. I tried to get them resolved, but they refused to do anything because I'm still a minor, so I emptied it out and closed it. I also tied up my trust fund in investments to keep it safe until I'm able to access it freely," said Cater.
Rook was fascinated.
"Wait...so how does that work?" he asked.
"You mean the trust fund?" he asked. Rook nodded. "Basically the way it's set up, I have to have permission to access it until I reach a certain age... however, there are no restrictions to using it to invest in long-term plans that will pay dividends once it matures. So I found all the stable long term investments that would pay back into the fund once I'm of age to use the money without restrictions."
"Sounds complicated," said Rook.
"My dad is a banker, and he set up the accounts that way. My sisters have some too, but they had theirs deposited straight into their accounts once they came of age," said Cater.
"And the allowance?" asked Rook.
"Direct deposit into my account. Dad is almost never home, and my mother was the co-signer on my account so she has access. Several of the odd transactions were to stores she frequents pretty regularly, so I don't think it was a coincidence," said Cater. "I doubt dad even noticed the funds being rejected and sent back into whatever account he uses for it."
"What about the tuition?" asked Rook.
"Paid in full, and it's one of the few things I can use my trust for without having to ask permission first," said Cater. "I made sure of that before I closed my old bank account and set up a new one."
He was not suffering through that headache twice.
Trein sat his phone down rather calmly. Inwardly, he was seething.
Sixteen years. She had lied to him for sixteen years about his nephew. He couldn't understand why his sister, who he loved dearly, would do such a thing to her own flesh and blood. Worse, she had led not only him, but the majority of the family to believe the child lost and kept them in the dark about the boy.
And the only reason it was being exposed was because his nephew, the same ginger-haired teen he had chastised about not eating enough, had had enough and was acting out in a desperate bid for long overdue attention. And had given his elder siblings an assignment that was slowly opening everyone's eyes to what she had done.
Either way, he was going to have a long overdue talk with his student...and his brother-in-law.
Trein pet his familiar Lucius to calm down before he said something that he would regret. Once he had calmed down, he dialed a number he never thought he'd have to use.
"Hello Richard. Does the name Cater Diamond mean anything to you?" he asked simply.
Trein could only wonder at the nasty shock his brother-in-law was about to have once he found out exactly what his wife had been doing behind his back.
Cater was in disbelief at the proposal Vil had given him.
"You want me to be the Vice Housewarden. Why not Rook?"
Vil smirked at him.
"Simply put, Rook would be more useful as the left hand rather than the right. Though I have no issue if you shared your duties with him so long as things are kept in order. Besides, did you really think that it would escape my notice the way all the other freshman looked to you first, rather than the housewardens last year?"
Cater had over the course of the last year turned himself into the unofficial big brother figure. To be fair, he had already graduated and knew a ton of tricks and tips for the younger freshmen to use to navigate more smoothly. Not to mention he was used to dealing with Riddle's temper tantrums despite not having the position Trey did.
Dealing with Pomefiore's freshmen was cakewalk to that.
"What did Rook have to say about the idea?" asked Cater.
"He was the one to suggest it, actually," admitted Vil.
Cater thought over his options, and decided why not.
"Sure," he said finally.
Watching Riddle being sorted into Heartsabyl was nerve-wracking, as the memory of his Overblot had remained fresh even years after he graduated.
Since he also remembered most of that was due to Riddle's mother being a micromanaging Gothel of a woman, he would have his work cut out to prevent it from happening a second time.
Cater sat next to Rook, and the two soon had a quiet game of guessing who went into what dorm. So far, Cater was winning by a landslide. He was unashamed of the fact he was cheating slightly, as he had a pretty good memory for who went where last time.
Once everything was over, Cater planned to help the new kids settle into the dorm.
Vil came out of his new dorm room and it almost made Cater publicly drool. He knew Vil was beautiful, but right now he put out as much regal aura as Leona or Malleus. He was every inch a King and he damn well knew it.
Rook nudged him slightly, and Cater remembered he had to get ready as well.
Vil had given him a few things to fix himself up and make himself presentable as the vice housewarden, and he refused to do the model a disservice by coming out frumpy looking.
Once he was done with his dorm uniform, Vil came to inspect his appearance.
"Not bad, but we will have to do something about how pale you are. It wouldn't do for my vice housewarden to look like death warmed over," said Vil.
Cater obediently sat down and let Vil fix his make-up. He was a bit surprised the model said nothing about the familiar diamond he had painted out of habit.
Vil inspected his appearance.
"A diamond suits you. Though perhaps to avoid confusion, you should use colors that suit our dorm instead next time. You're a member of Pomefiore, not Heartsabyl," said Vil.
"I'll keep that in mind," said Cater. Vil turned to Rook, and aside from some minor adjustments, they were ready to make a lasting impression on the freshmen.
By unspoken agreement, Cater took Vil's right side while Rook walked by his left.
He would admit later, it felt good seeing the way the freshmen and even a few of the upper years looking at him with such respect.
Then again, the older students had seen Cater's will to live personally, and had heard his stomach grumbling on more than one occasion. As the dorm that embodied the spirit of tenacity, no one fit the image of their dorm more than him.
Vil only got the housewarden position because Cater hadn't bothered to go after it, and his own display of tenacity had impressed the previous one who was now on his internship.
Cater was so used to dealing with Riddle's tantrums that he had no problem placating Vil's sensibilities while at the same time allowing the freshmen to have a breather...without having to get up.
So you could imagine his surprise when Vil brought out some fruity wine to celebrate his ascension to Housewarden and to welcome the freshmen.
Cater was baffled as to why Professor Trein had asked for a private meeting the second day of class.
The moment the door closed, he felt the privacy spell go up. That...was not a good thing in his personal opinion. Usually when people used spells like that, it meant shit was about to get real.
Trein stared him down, his cat Lucius doing the same from his arms.
"A strange thing really. I received a call from my two nieces about a brother was I unaware had in fact survived shortly before the school year started. They were quite puzzled as to why I was unaware of his existence," said Trein. "Even more strange is that my brother-in-law was rather baffled as to why I was under the impression his only son was dead."
Wait...what?
"Your...nieces?" said Cater slowly, not sure what he was getting at.
Trein stared him down, and a chill went down his spine.
"Prudence and Cadence were very put out that their youngest sibling was treating them so coldly...though considering the fact my sister has apparently gone out of her way to lie to the rest of the family about the fact her son survived, I'm starting to question her motives."
Cater could have been knocked over by a feather.
"Wait...are you telling me that you're the uncle that Prue and Cadence always go on and on about?" said Cater in shock.
Prue and Cadence loved their uncle, but his mother forbid him from ever going on their visits with him. She had always claimed he was too willful and would cause untold damage to the fancy antiques the man collected. After a certain point, he had simply stopped asking.
By the time Cater left, a lot of things had been cleared up. Still, finding out that the history teacher he had always respected was actually his maternal Uncle this entire time...
