Tap. Tap.

Dylan leaned in and tapped his pencil on Sequencee’s paper with an adorably puffy pout.

Sequencee wanted to retort against how feminine his action was but couldn’t– simply because Dylan really did just look like a girl– a legal loli in fact.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to become the hero's companion?” Dylan poked.

“...”

2 months from now, another summoning ritual will take place in capital of Equestria Empire. The last time that happened was 500 years ago, known as the Last Era. It was during this era where Demon Lord Rizal’s reign had pushed the human race to the brink of genocide.

“Then write that!” Dylan exclaimed.

“You want me to embarrass the hell out of myself?”

Hero Rika from 500 year ago was summoned to this world, and together with her companions, she set off on a journey to subjugate the demon lord along with his demon generals. As cliche would have it, the hero returned triumphant; humans win in the end, curtains close.

Unfortunately, for every day comes a night. Underneath the celebratory flames of victory, people overlooked the fact that Demon Lord Rizal had a son.

“That’s your dream right? Be honest!”

“Then you be honest!” Sequencee yelled back.

Bartonn Arch. A demon nobody fathomed would become the despair of the human race 500 years later.

And as history would repeat itself…

“Fine. I’ll write about my dream to be rich and have many wives, you write about the dream to become the hero’s companion, deal?”

Sometimes Sequencee wondered what was inside Dylan’s brain. He sure was imaginative for a kid who knows nothing about ‘real’ society.

“Ahem. Excuse me boys, please stop talking and start writing.”

“”Yes Miss Suzy!””

The teacher in class, Suzy heaved a sigh and walked past their aisle. The other students nearby also began to tune out as they refocused their attention towards their work.

However extreme their dreams may be, she would try to accept it– provided that it was within moral bounds of course. She understood very well the kind of past they had.

All students in this class, were once children that had either lost their homes, families, were slaves, or victims of some disaster.

After the war of the Last Era, education for the commoners was proposed by Hero Rika. She began drafting a school system which would provide children that were not of a noble upbringing a chance to improve their lives; to learn the fundamental knowledge necessary in understanding the world in a better light.

Many people thought that this project would end the monarchical ruling. But to their surprise, the education system only reinforced the hierarchical system. Royalty, nobility and the populace all hold responsibility in the reformation of the empire despite their differences.

Of course, it goes without saying that revolutions and conflicts in interest have sparked because of what Hero Rika did. Nevertheless, these revolts have given rise to a better, more sustainable nation where commoners, nobles and royals live together as united Equestrians. The productivity this project brought to the human race was impeccable.

Tap. Tap.

Thumping the pencil on the table, Sequencee closed his eyes and thought deeply.

Tap. Tap.

He opened his eyes and wrote something down.

Rub.

Scribble.

“Hm..”

Rub. Scribble. Scribble. Rub. Scribble–

Sequencee wrote and erased, over and over again.

He knew what to aim for, he knew his purpose in life. And to become the hero’s companion was one of the prerequisites to achieving that purpose.

Just that..

“Are you not done yet?”

Three hours had passed since. Sequencee raised his head to find that he was the only one left in class.

Suzy, after arranging the essays of the other students into neat stacks, came over to his seat.

“Oh gosh, what did you do?” she gawked with a grimace.

“Sorry.. do you have another fullscape?”

The repeated erasure had burnt a hole into the paper.

“Haah.. here you go. Really now, what’s the matter with you today?” Sliding a new paper under Sequencee’s hand, she muttered in a gentle tone.

“I just don’t know how to put it in words..”

“Hm.. then how about speaking it out? That’ll help clarify your thoughts, won't it?”

“I.. don’t think it’s appropriate though?”

“Why wouldn’t it? Your friend Dylan actually wrote about building a harem of 10 wives as his life purpose you know? That’s until I caught him and told him to write something else…” a shadow loomed over her eyes.

Sequencee held back his urge to laugh.

That ‘trap’ admitted that his life purpose was to create a harem? Oh boy he must be serious about winning at life.

“I know you have a clear aim. From the way you work and the routines you’ve set up for yourself.. what exactly is troubling you my dear?”

Suzy looked at Sequencee with an expression of deep concern. He looked down at the blank paper once more.

He shook his head and picked up his hands and wrote two sentences. Should he receive any more sympathy from her, he might really go on and reveal his inner thoughts.

– I’ll enroll in Riestallia Academy.

– And become the heroes’ companion.

Suzy did her best not to show the surprise on her face. She had known that Sequencee had big dreams in his heart, she just never expected it to be something so radical. She didn’t want to discourage him by saying that it was impossible either.

“Can this do?” Sequencee passed the paper to Suzy.

With a sigh, she said, “Fine. I’ll give you a passing grade. Only this time, okay?”

Three years has passed since the calamity struck Sequencee’s life.

She showed a bitter smile on her face.

“Thank you.”

===

“Please line up!”

“Slowly now, it’s quite hot.”

The canteen was bustling with students of various sizes and shapes. The bustle was a common sight for those that lived in Mane’s home for disaster children. Like obedient sardines, students adhered to the disciplinary regulations that had long become a tradition everyone followed whenever it was meal time.

Don’t do that, and food will be off your plate.

Sequencee thanked the purveyors of the provision and left for his usual seat.

‘She’s not here again.’

He sat on the bench alone.

A metal tray with curry rice, some vegetables and fruits, he placed his food on the round wooden stump.

It was a lavish meal for a kid like himself. If not for the directives incited by the hero 500 years ago, this wouldn’t have been possible.

He munched on his food as he thought up his plans for the future.

He was now 17, which meant that he’ll have to leave for the streets to earn a living for himself very soon.

The home for unfortunate children like himself only permitted those below 17 to stay. After the basics have been provided, they will be sent out to become productive members of the society. This was something everyone had to face, Sequencee was no exception.

In light of this, there wasn’t a simpler direction to do so than to become a mercenary. Heck, some of the braver kids in the bunch had already begun racking up cash doing odd jobs at the guilds.

Though it was a popularly lucrative field most orphans would try for, it was also one of the most dangerous. The casualties were undeniably high.

It wasn’t that Sequencee feared death, rather, his thought was that this path to advance towards his goal wasn’t all that effective.

Becoming a mercenary was one thing, achieving his goal was another.

He can’t achieve his goals alone, he understood that well. For the sake of his growth, hanging out with mercenaries wasn’t really the best idea. Unless he had some insane luck by his side, it was unlikely he would meet any decent people around to mentor him, as his experiences would warn him.

It is said that you are the average of the 5 people you hang out with. So if Sequencee wanted to have a shot at winning, he would need to surround himself with strong people. It was also this principle that led him to believe that he should avoid hanging around with most people in the home.

That said, he was aware that the critical need here wasn't strength, nor teammates.

It was fate.

Sequencee noticed Dylan with his gang of friends over at the next table. A somewhat lonely feeling crept up in his heart.

Finishing up his meal, Sequencee tossed the tray into the wash bin before going off.

He headed to the dim garden near the dorm as he would every evening. The moon was peeking from beyond the dark clouds, the star flickering weakly in the sky.

He came to a dark corner of a broken shed, sat down on the rocky ground and flexed his knees.

He released the illusion spell he had casted, revealing the black horn on his head.

Then.. a small red bead appeared.

Following that, a green bead, yellow bead–

Earth, wind, fire, ice, water, darkness, light, lava, nature, glacier, summoning–

Magic was simply an extension of everyday life. Everyone possesses the capability to generate a fireball or create ice. There is almost no limit to what one can do with magic, no rules saying that there were fixed elements to choose from.

Rather, magic is so vast that people came up with limiting classifications to explain them.

If one created a fire dragon, would that fall under fire element? Or would that fall under creation magic? Or summoning?

These are merely semantics used by scholars to help people grasp the concept of magic fundamentals. Without the fundamentals, the magic would come out crude and unstable. Concurrently, following only the fundamentals will limit the magic which can be created. True magicians know that you must first learn the rules to know how to break them.

Sequencee had his eyes closed, juggling the myriad of colourful beads floating around him. Tens of hundreds of them, each representing the fundamentals of each element of magic.

Most of the time he kept them hidden as he brought them with him throughout the day, just left unnoticed because of the illusion mask he put on them.

It was during this short window of time after dinner that he had the chance to relieve himself of the burden of having to hide how he had corporeal magic floating around him and..

The beads came to a halt, Sequencee opened his eyes.

Spatial magic reacted to a presence. The black half-horn on his head disappeared.

He turned his head to meet her eyes.

“You’re here again?”

“Where were you?”

The beads resumed moving.

She sat down a distance away from him. Her shiny grass coloured hair looked bleak under the dark sky. One eye reflecting the colour of ruby, the other was aurete. It was a ghastly combination.

“We’re going to leave the school soon,” she said a little tense.

“I know that. So where were you?”

“Where are you going after this? Are you seriously going to go to Riestallia Academy?”

“Answer my question.”

Leticia.. something. She never told Sequencee much about her past except that she was someone who got out of the slavery by some unruly luck.

She arrived at this home about 2 years ago, one year later than his own arrival. Since then, they’ve had a sort of affinity with each other. Like himself, Leticia was someone who pursued ‘real’ strength, not for the purpose of fame or riches.

Some internal trauma in their hearts that have imprinted the need for power to save and protect. It was for a reason Sequencee could somehow relate to despite not knowing the full context of her past.

“Why Riestallia Academy? Do you even have the money?” Leticia found it hard to believe he would go somewhere so prestigious. They were freaking orphans.

“I don’t.”

“Then?”

Leticia who was seeking a similar path to strength and the reconciliation of her past was naturally drawn to him. She had him teach her magic every so often, and was one of his closer companions. Nevertheless–

“Then?” he dropped his tone a few notes.

“...”

Leticia gripped her hands into a fist.

It was rare that she approached him after obviously having outright avoided him from the past few days. She surely had an ulterior motive.

Silence ruled the area. The chilly winds of the night blew.

Leticia began to conjure magic herself.

A water bead that looked more like a bubble, a fire bead the size of a match flame, an earth sphere the size of a tennis ball.

Trying to keep these three simultaneously activated was hard enough. Yet somehow, there was a monster capable of conjuring more than ten times the number she could, and compressing each element of magic to a greater degree than anything she could ever achieve.

She grimaced at her inferiority.

“Leticia.”

“Yeah what?”

“What’s going on? I’m asking for the last time.”

“Aren’t you worried about life outside?”

The answer to her question was obvious.

“Of course I am.”

“I’m worried.”

“So what has it got to do with you avoiding me the past few days, huh?”

Leticia lowered her head.

“Are you really.. really going to Riestallia Academy?”