The choice is clear. They have to pay for the cost of six years of pills, the cost of mats, the salary of teachers, the cost of uniforms, the cost of paying servants to clean the mats and uniforms, and other costs.
It is either that, or they work for the Dyson family for the rest of their lives.
It is also clear that these graduates can't afford the price that the first option demands of them. It will probably take them a decade of dangerous work outside the family before they can pay it off.
Be that as it may, the two options are actually considered fair choices by most people. Plus, the graduates want to work for a powerful family like the Dyson family because the chances of getting employed by an equally powerful family or organization are slim.
So the graduates were all happy when they made their oaths. Despite it sounding like slavery, the oath will change some of their lives for the better. It will give them a chance to climb higher in society and help their children become better than them.
He wouldn't be happy to swear the oath, and he is sure that there are other trainees like him who didn't want to swear it too.
But the ones that wouldn't have been happy to swear the oath didn't attend the ceremony. They were the bastards like him who were given a free pass by the family regarding the choice of employment with the family.
Because they are bastards, training at the training facility is free for them. They don't need to work for the family as guards, and they don't need to repay the family if they refuse to work as guards.
But if those bastards don't have a better choice, some of them will still have to work for the family in one way or another. Instructor Canes is one such example.
After the swearing in was some music and dance. But that was mostly for the trainees of the training facility who attended the graduation. The parents and older guests would use this time to leave.
Lady Vena also chose to leave now. But first, she went to see Lady Delia and bid her farewell.
Arthur followed her back to the scene of the crime. Luckily, no more murders were committed at the graduation ceremony by his mother.
Lady Vena only came to have one last victory dance and show off her genius boy one last time before leaving. After having her fun, she left with Arthur.
Arthur got into their carriage with his mother and the two maids. The ride hike was silent. Lady Vena was smiling most of the time, which creeped everyone who didn't know why out.
When they got home, Arthur decided to speak to her about his plans during dinner.
Dinner was after his evening exercise. He sat at the dining table to eat before he would take his pills and go to sleep.
Ruff was sitting on the ground beside him, looking at him and occasionally whining. His whining prompted Arthur to occasionally drop meat from his plate to the ground, which Ruff gobbled up before it reached the ground.
He waited until Lady Vena had had some wine. He wanted to make sure that her judgment was impaired a little bit, as he could do with the help.
Then he said to her, "Mother, I've decided not to get an allowance. But I need your help starting a business. With the business, you can be sure that the money you give me won't be spent to buy bread to give to others. So I won't be giving your money away."
To himself he thought, "At least not directly."
Lady Vena paused her eating to consider his words. Then she said, "What business do you have in mind?"
"Wine making. It will be done here at home. I'll have a workshop built in the backyard. So you can see what you're investing in."
Lady Vena scoffed. "Mighty plans for a small boy. Winemaking is not a joke, boy. It is a difficult work that might end in failure."
He said, "I can't give you reasons why it will work out. I can only say that I will try my best, and you can count on me."
She shook her head and laughed. "An eight-year-old winemaker. Who has ever heard of such an outrageous thing?"
He chuckled and said, "An eight-year-old sixth transformation body forger. Who has ever heard of such a thing?"
"I'll tell you who hadn't up until this morning. It was Lady Delia, my stepmother, who was swindled out of 100 grand pills earlier today."
That remark made Lady Vena laugh. She laughed for a long while before sighing and wiping a tear away from her eye.
She said, "We got her so good."
Eventually she said, "Fine. Fine. What's one more outrageous achievement? You will get your investment."
"Yes," he exclaimed.
Then he said, "Thank you, mother."
She shook her head. "I have a feeling that I will regret this."
He warned her, "You have to have faith in me since one of us has to."
She glared at him which made him chuckle.
He was joking, of course. He has some faith in making wine because it was one of his many businesses in his past life.
He started out as a farmer. Then he began buying produce from the farmers in the county and transporting them to areas where they were more expensive. He sold them in those areas for a profit.
After a while, he began processing the products himself before selling them. Winemaking came about when his business expanded to France.
He wouldn't consider himself an expert in making wine, but he has studied how many types of wines are made, including grape wine, apple wine, rice wine, and many more.
He also knows how to make other alcoholic drinks, such as beers and spirits. He plans to dabble in all of them to increase his chances of success.