By the time Erwin emerged from Professor Hawk's office, it was already close to midnight. In contrast with how lively and bustling the eastern section of Sarus's inner city was, the western section of the city was far more quiet. There were barely any pedestrians and carriages on the streets, and most of the people out and about were the guards patrolling the city. Most of the guards were familiar with Erwin due to the fact that he was the son of the count, so no one approached him for being out this late at night.

Erwin yawned as he walked along York Street, then took a few turns before arriving at the count's manor. The guards at the entrance of the manor were also quite accustomed to seeing him return so late.

The count had never been very involved in the parenting of his own son, and Erwin's mother had passed away when he was quite young. Thus, Erwin's childhood was spent mingling with the likes of Larwood, Kaiba, and Chase, who were all sons of other affluent families. Thankfully, all of them were only interested in money and women, so they didn't get themselves into too much trouble. After Erwin grew up, his father turned a blind eye to his tendencies to visit all of the mansions in the eastern part of the city, and there didn't appear to be any problems with him aside from some slight physical frailness. After all, this was also how the count had spent his youth as well.

Erwin returned to his own room. His brain had been loaded with information from Professor Hawk, so he was feeling very sleepy, and after doing some simple washing up, he went to bed and promptly fell asleep.

He had no classes the next morning, so he slept until noon before getting up. As a result of oversleeping, his head was still feeling quite groggy. After he got up, he began to contemplate how he was going to speak to his father. It was only the middle of the month, and he had already used up all of his spending money in the Rivers Mansion. However, a staff was something that he had to buy, and he was struggling to think of a way to ask his father for more allowance.

He knew that his father very rarely left the mansion, and he made his way toward the study while continuing to contemplate what the best approach was.

At the moment, Count Friar was seated behind a large and lavish desk, flipping through the pages of an atlas of the Effer Kingdom. As Erwin made his way into the study, Count Friar looked up to take a glance at him, then lowered his head and directed his gaze back to the atlas.

"Father, Professor Hawk told me a few days ago that he wanted me to participate in the upcoming edition of the Pillow Sword Tournament," Erwin said with a serious expression. 

"That's a good thing. Make sure to prepare well and not embarrass the professor," Count Friar replied as he raised his head again to take a casual glance at Erwin, seemingly completely unsurprised to hear this.

Erwin knew that his father was fully aware of his lackadaisical nature, so he couldn't help but wonder why his father wasn't surprised at all that he was being asked to participate in the Pillow Sword Tournament.

"Um... Father, I have to... buy a good staff for myself." Erwin finally began to cut to the main topic.

"And? Didn't I just give you 300 Loonies at the start of the month?" Count Friar asked as his brows furrowed slightly.

"That's true, but I, uh..." Erwin stammered with his head lowered.

"Did you spend it all again?" Count Friar's voice immediately spiked up a few octaves.

Erwin could only nod feebly in response.

"You little shit!" Count Friar closed the atlas before slamming it onto the table. "Do you know how many cottages 300 Loonies can fetch outside the city? You should be studying hard at the academy! What are you doing spending so much money so quickly?"

Every time Count Friar scolded Erwin over his spending habits, he would always refer to Loonies in terms of the number of cottages they could purchase outside of Sarus.

"You can live like this because I'm still the head of the family, but what are you going to do when you take over from me? Our farms outside the city can't generate money fast enough to fund your lifestyle!" Count Friar yelled.

Erwin's head was lowered with an embarrassed look on his face. He had already honed this performance to perfection.

"It's not my fault, Father. I don't want to go, either, but Professor Hawk specifically recommended me, and I couldn't just refuse," Erwin said in a low voice.

"Is that what I'm talking to you about? Do you not understand why I'm so angry?" Count Friar yelled. "If you keep living like this, I'm going to need to go mine for gold in Fooz! Otherwise, our manor will go broke!"

Erwin lowered his head even further.

After yelling for a while longer, Count Friar took a drink of water to soothe his own throat. It seemed that Erwin was readily owning up to his mistakes, and the anger in his heart gradually subsided upon seeing this.

"Professor Hawk has always had a good eye for spotting talent. Make sure you make him proud," Count Friar sighed as his demeanor softened a little. "Go and take 200 Loonies from the steward. That should be enough for you to buy a staff, right?"

"Yes, Father," Erwin replied with a fawning smile.

Count Friar didn't want to look at him any longer. He gave Erwin a dismissive wave, then sat back down and continued to inspect the atlas.

Erwin wore a shameful expression as he quickly backed out of the study.

After receiving the money from the steward, Erwin put on his sheepskin satchel and rushed out of the manor to the academy with a spring in his step. In contrast with his normal get-up, he was wearing the full set of accessories that he had taken from Professor Hawk.

There were no lessons with the students from the martial techniques division for the entire afternoon, nor any supplementary lessons with Professor Hawk. Thus, Erwin had no one to chat and joke around with, nor any teachers that he respected enough to give his attention. Thus, he was extremely bored and uninterested as he sat through the afternoon magic potion class.

Finally, the lesson drew to a conclusion in the evening, and he picked up his satchel before heading to the entrance of the martial techniques division to meet up with his friends.

After a day of lessons, Chase, Larwood, and Kaiba were all looking completely exhausted, lazily walking out of the academy with their hands folded behind their heads. However, sly grins immediately appeared on their faces as soon as they caught sight of Erwin.

"What's up?" Chase greeted him with a smile. "You wanna go to the Rivers Mansion tonight?"

"You're already good to go again? When did you develop such good stamina?" Larwood chuckled.

"Not today, lads. Even if I wanted to go, I wouldn't have enough money anyway," Erwin sighed.

"That's true for all of us as well," Larwood replied with a grin. "I was about to say that we would be happy to accompany you there, but you'd have to pay for us."

"Two of you have dukes for fathers, and one of you is the son of a marquess! Do you not feel ashamed freeloading off me?" Erwin grumbled.

"What can I do? I have a lot of brothers," Larwood sighed with a resigned expression.

"So where are we going tonight?" Kaiba asked.

"I need to go to Luzen Equipment Shop tonight. Who's coming with me? For the sake of that Pillow Sword Tournament, Old Man Hawk lectured me on equipment all night yesterday," Erwin sighed.

"Quit your whining! You and Larwood get to participate in the Pillow Sword Tournament, while Kaiba and I can only watch." A displeased look appeared on Chase's face as he turned to Larwood through narrowed eyes. "Did you bribe Professor Terry or get your father to speak to him? Why else would he have recommended you to participate in the tournament?"

"Your father is also a duke, why don't you try getting your father to speak to Professor Terry?" Larwood snapped. "In Teedus Academy, no professors will take bribes or care about what background you come from."

Chase thought about this for a moment and decided that Larwood was right. All of the professors at Teedus Academy received additional benefits from the national department of finance in addition to their normal salaries, so their incomes were very high. On top of that, most of the professors were martial artists and magicians of a very high caliber. In the eyes of the king, their status was no lesser than that of the royals and the nobles, so regardless of which advanced academy it was, all teachers who made it to the professor level at those academies commanded a lot of respect from their students.

"Luzen Equipment Shop? Isn't that the one on Haven Street in the eastern part of the inner city?" Kaiba asked.

"It is. How did you know about it? I didn't even know that there was an equipment shop at all on Haven Street," Erwin said with a surprised expression.

"How would you know? We have to take you everywhere, even to mansions," Kaiba teased, and both Chase and Larwood had a good laugh at Erwin's expense.

"Speaking of Haven Street, I remember that there's a tavern there by the name of the Redbud Pavilion. It's quite a nice place, and it has top quality Zam whisky," Larwood said. "It's not as good as the red wine from Joffen, but the coarse and refreshing mouth feel of that whisky... Oh, just thinking about it is giving me the chills! You remember that place, Chase? We went there together once."

"Now that you mention it, I think I do recall that place. The whisky that they sell there really is exceptional," Chase replied as he turned to Kaiba with a smile. "How about this? You go with Erwin to that equipment shop, and once you're done there, you two can go and find us at that tavern."

"That sounds great to me," Larwood said with a smile.

"Why does it have to me?" Kaiba protested. "Why do you two get to go to the tavern first?"

"Hey, why are you getting so worked up? Are you that unhappy about having to accompany me to buy equipment?" Erwin asked as a displeased look appeared on his face.

"You're the only one who knows how to get to the equipment shop," Chase justified with a grin.

"I never said that! I just said I know of the place!" Kaiba protested.

"Will it kill you to come with me to get some equipment?" Erwin grumbled.

"Exactly! We've been friends for so long, will it kill you to get some equipment with him?" Chase was suddenly on Erwin's side.

Kaiba didn't know how to rebuke them, and Larwood was chuckling off to the side.

"Hold on, didn't you say that you had no money just now? How are you going to buy equipment without any money?" Kaiba turned to glare at Erwin with a suspicious expression.

"I don't wanna talk about it. I got scolded again this morning. You know, the same old lecture about how many cottages I could've bought outside the city," Erwin replied with a wry smile.

Kaiba was also quite amused to hear this. Having been friends with Erwin for so many years, the group was already extremely familiar with the cottage comparison that his father would always bring up when scolding him.

Thus, the four of them got into the luxurious horse-drawn carriage owned by Larwood's family, which traveled toward Haven Street in the eastern part of the inner city.

Upon arriving at the entrance of the Redbud Pavilion, Erwin took a close look to find that it really was quite a nice place, just as Larwood had said. The entire front of the tavern was constructed from maple wood, with redbud branches of different thicknesses crawling over its surface, giving it a rough yet still tasteful exterior. It was no wonder that this place was known as the Redbud Tavern. Sitting under its wide wooden eaves, patrons of the tavern could sample delectable wine while looking out at the street scenery in the night breeze. Inside the tavern, there were private rooms separated with screens, and it was clear that a lot of thought had gone into the tavern's construction.