For my other courses, I decided to go with three more.

“Personalized Spellcasting” was a class where I would be able to make my own customized magic tool and learn how to cast personalized magic with it.

“Advanced Magic Control” was a class for practicing to control magic of gigantic proportions. It was a class that was impossible to take unless you had mastered basic and standard magic control.

“Culinary Therapeutics” was probably the most interesting class I had chosen. In this class I would learn recipes to make any guest feel at ease. Not to mention each drink and dish would be healthy for the body as well as soothing for the mind and soul.

I decided to take the second option and fill out the form in an empty room before turning it in to one of the headmaster’s assistants. Before I could go anywhere I was caught by one of the headmaster candidates, Alois. He was someone I saw from time to time, and I suspected he was probably one of the capture targets Autumn had warned me about.

“Hello, your queenship to be,” he said, with a sly smile, “Have you been told yet?”

“Told what?” I asked, slightly distracted by the fact he had a sudden fancy eyepatch that had definitely not been there last week.

“About the factions,” Alois replied, “Everyone will be split into ‘factions’ or ‘kingdoms’ and I want you to join mine.”

“But the headmaster said there was no such thing as ‘queen candidate’ in the school and I should spend my time finding connections.”

“Well, there is no such thing as queen candidate. In Nobility, you will likely be treated as the queen of your faction, and I the headmaster. Let’s join up.”

“Why is a rare headmaster candidate recruiting me?” I asked.

Alois held his hands up in surrender. “Even a headmaster candidate needs to have good connections, you know,” he said, “And the success of the faction has a lot of influence on the success of the individual.”

“So Nobility has that kind of system,” I muttered, “And, what is with the eye patch? It wasn’t there last time I saw you.”

Alois grinned. “We are entering Nobility soon. I thought it was time for a fashion change.”

He was definitely hiding something but I decided not to push it. “Who else is in your faction?”

“So far just myself, Caleb, Keane, and possibly you,” Alois reported.

“And they are?”

“Caleb is a head magician candidate and Keane is the apprentice of the head of medical research,” Alois explained, “So if you agree we still need to find a king.”

“So a faction must have a queen, a king, a head magician, and a headmaster?” I asked.

“Close, but since headmaster candidates are rare that one is not required.”

“And then just by being a headmaster candidate you have a great selling point,” I concluded, “But why are they called factions? Are they trying to get us to fight each other?”

“A wonderful question,” Alois replied, “The answer to which… I do not know for sure. My best guess is that we are supposed to learn to compete while still working together.”

“That sounds complex, but this is for the future of the country so it isn’t unreasonable,” I agreed, “If I can get along with Caleb and Keane I will join your faction.”

Alois grinned. “I will turn your form in and then introduce you to them. Wait here.” He took the form and darted off before I had a chance to reply.

I decided to wait for him anyway, and he didn’t take long. “Ready to meet your new faction?”

“I haven’t decided on it yet.”

“You will,” Alois replied with confidence.

I had heard that Alois was a genius and a good judge of character, and he had done nothing to prove those rumors wrong so far. It would be interesting to see what kinds of people he was collecting.

Alois led me to a room in the magician division that looked like it was often used for meetings. I took one look at Caleb and remembered exactly who he was. “Mr. Book?”

He looked up. “Ms. Cookie?”

“Am I missing something?” Alois asked.

Caleb ignored him as he glared at me.