A few hours later, Cerion and I accompanied Michael to the academy, where he would be completing his examination over the course of a few hours.

We looked around in wonder as we entered the ornate white building, which was situated at the edge of a central district used exclusively for this academy.

There were several in the city, but none were as prestigious as the white oak royal academy, the school that served to educate royals, nobles, and the most talented commoners alike. The guild had managed to give a spot in the examinations to Michael, as a reward for his outstanding intelligence stat and hard work.

We weren’t allowed to spectate the written tests, but there was an interview afterward that we were allowed to spectate. In reality though, Michael just needed a little boost in confidence, because the stress he exhibited was immense.

“Listen, Michael. You’re going to do fine.”, I said, “And if things don’t work out, you can always join a normal school back in Reito. The end result will be the same, even if you join one of the royal academies, anyway.”

The little kid turned to me and glared.

“I’ve been studying for months now, on top of what my father taught me! I’m not giving up!” he replied fiercely.

I raised my hands in surrender, trying to de-escalate.

Thankfully, Cerion intervened.

“Of course, of course. What I believe Arthur meant is that you don’t have to worry about their approval, only about your performance. Whether they see your talent for what it is depends on them.”

That seemed to calm him down slightly, though a stubborn frown remained present on Michael’s forehead.

“I’m not worried about my performance. I’m just scared people will think less of you, Arthur, if they don’t like me.”

“What in the seven hells are you talking about, Michael? None of these people will even recognise me. I’m a nobody!” I whispered, trying not to draw attention from the other visitors to the academy grounds.

We currently found ourselves in a large garden leading up to a domed, white building. The pathway that led up to the as of yet closed examination center was busy as can be. We were surrounded by people wearing expensive clothing, strange warriors with eccentric armour and a few sagely old men, wearing long robes and carrying staves. The diverse group all had two things in common, they accompanied a small child Michael’s age, and they looked rather influential.

Turning back to me, the brat countered my earlier argument.

“Yeah, but you won’t be for long! When the seeded participants get announced, everybody will know your name! If someone remembers you accompanying me and I fail…” he finished sadly.

I sighed. The chances of that happening were low in and of itself, and if somebody judged me by somebody else’s achievements, that person wasn’t worth knowing anyway.

With a smile, I told Cerion as much, after which he quieted down. Cerion supported my argument.

“As much as I’d like to claim that this is a momentous occasion, Arthur is right. There’s just no way anything important will change for him depending on whether you pass or fail. Focus on your own progress, not on Arthur’s.”

“Exactly.” I echoed.

With that, Michael seemed placated. For a moment, I wondered how he had even gotten that notion into his head, but after a few seconds, I remembered. A few months ago I told Michael he might be discriminated against in the academy if he was associated with me because of my affinity. I supposed he had somehow turned that into both of our reputations being interlinked. The poor kid had been stressing out about that for a while. With a grimace, I promised myself I would be more careful with what I told kids in the future.

The three of us waited in the courtyard for another half hour. Since we were served refreshments as we waited for the examination to start, we weren’t exactly complaining. None of us knew any of the other people around, so we mostly kept to ourselves. Our little group was in a strange situation, where we knew several of the country’s tier 6, but almost none of the other, weaker influential people. Politicking wasn’t for me, though, so it would stay that way if I had anything to say about it. After the tournament, I was running for the hills, that was for sure.

I smiled, staring into space, as I considered heading back home to practice my skills for a few months before tiering up. My little sibling was on the way, my mother being 6 months along by now if memory served. With the tournament and festivities taking about a month, I felt like a break from combat afterward wasn’t exactly a bad idea. Still, those were matters for the future.

Eventually, another one of the academy’s teachers appeared, this one more elderly and sagely than any of his predecessors. With a beard dragging behind him on the ground and eyebrows that had somehow grown to be half as long, he asked for our attention by knocking his cane on the ground several times, quietening the crowd.

“May I welcome you all to the white oak royal academy’s annual entrance examination. I am Solchandres, a tier 5 [Master Impact wizard] and the principal, or headmaster if you will, of that very academy. Forgive this old man for not greeting you all properly, but we haven’t the time. If the aspiring students could please follow me into the hall? The rest of our guests may follow the vice principal to the atrium for entertainment while you all wait for your charges to be interviewed. Please keep in mind that exploring the rest of the academy is strictly forbidden for non-students here. Good day to you all.”

The elderly wizard finished his short speech rather hurriedly, showing a clear lack of patience for someone so old. Still, I appreciated him getting right to business. With a shove, I shooed Michael to the gathering group of kids near the headmaster.

“Good luck, Michael. Keep a cool head and stand proudly.” I encouraged him.

He smiled back at me, before walking briskly to his group. Before we knew it, the kids had entered the examination center, following the principal.

A few minutes later, Cerion and I found ourselves in the atrium, a large open space near the center of the academy. A reception had been set up, with a buffet along the side of the hall. Though it might have been impolite, I wasted no time getting some of the tastiest looking roasted meat and fish and piling it all onto a big plate. Cerion seemed to cringe at my display, but couldn’t stop himself from joining me in my debauchery for long, much to the apparent distaste of some of the more prudish guests, who simply bid to ignore us.

After a while, however, somebody actually came up to us. I didn’t need to wonder why for long, because when I looked up, I found a large grisly man with a smile that was all teeth, carrying a filled plate of his own.

“You fellas mind if I join ya?”, he asked humorously, “You two don’t seem as uptight as the other folk.”

Still busy eating, we simply nodded and welcomed our guest by gesturing at an empty seat at our table, which the person in question shoved aside, instead deciding to sit on the floor itself. Somehow, we still had to look up to greet him.

“So who are you, big guy? Did you accompany your kid here?” I asked in between bites.

Laughing uproariously, he spit some small chunks of meat around, causing me to wince in disgust.

“I’m a mercenary! I came here to drop off my son. Talented little fucker, if a little too scared to make mistakes…” he finished gruffly.

“Well, he’s not alone in that. Me and Cerion here are witch hunters. We came by to bring our little brother in arms, who has similar issues.” I replied.

“Well, that’s why they are kids. They’ll learn.” Cerion added, speaking up for the first time.

With us all falling silent to focus on our food, the giant seemed to take a closer look at the both of us.

After we finished all of it, he snapped his fingers, as if remembering something.

“Wait a minute… aren’t both of you seeded fighters in the tournament? Tier 2 right? Hah! That means that you’ll probably come across one of my juniors! Come say hi if you see me in the stands, yeah?”

Cerion was the one to answer.

“Yes, we are. We read about the two mercenary fighters on our list. An oil user and an assassin, right? We look forward to facing them in battle.”

“You better! Karon might be an arrogant sod, but he has the right to be! I’ll tell him to watch out for the two of you!” he replied with a big grin, before sauntering off to talk to some other folk.

The two of us just shrugged, laughing internally at the absurdity of the conversation.

A few hours later, a member of the school staff, a young man carrying an elegant sabre, entered the atrium with a scroll. Slowly, he started to read out the order of the interviews. We found out that Michael’s would occur near the end of the day.

Apparently, the interviews would be held by the principal, along with the teacher in charge of whatever class the student would specialize in. For Michael, that meant an elderly witch that used pyromancy.

A few hours later, we were called into a small room that had an upper balcony, obscured from the lower floor by magic. As we entered and sat down, we saw the principal, accompanied by an old woman covered in a large red hat, as well as the man that had previously guided us to the atrium. He was wiry, with a set of round glasses and a large book filled with notes in front of him. After a moment, I remembered that the headmaster had described him as the vice-principal of the academy.

A moment later, the wiry man started to announce Michael’s arrival for us all to hear.

“Next up is a young man simply called ‘Michael’. He’s been sponsored by the witch hunter’s guild and apparently gets along well with the seeded participant that is representing the guild at the tournament this year. Despite this, his teachers claim his raw talent would have gotten him sponsored on its own as well. He wished to enter the academy and specialize in fire magic like his late father. His test scores were outstanding on all fronts, though his intelligence statistic is the most remarkable out of all of his scores, which is remarkably high for his age. Reaching twenty in the stat before his awakening is a realistic possibility.

The principal nodded along slowly to his introduction, before turning to one of the men standing beside his table.

“Attendant, you may escort young Michael into the room.”

A moment later, a familiar figure that I recognised as Michael entered the room at a steady pace, before sitting down in the chair facing his three interviewers.

Honestly, the interview was about what you would expect. All the questions on the theory had been asked and graded through magic in the past few hours, so what remained were questions like ‘What do you want to do with your power in the future?’ and ‘What are your current goals?’.

Michael’s answers boiled down to him wanting to become stronger and become a witch hunter in the future, defeating those that treat other people’s lives like they’re worth nothing. His answers were a bit on the nose, but I felt that he had done a good job showing them his discipline and conviction.

Only one question stood out throughout the entire interview. Coincidentally, it was the only question the elderly fire witch asked. At one point, she lost her lazy outlook and placed her focus on Michael.

“What does fire mean to you?” she had asked.

Michael had pondered for a moment, before turning resolute.

“To mean, it symbolizes something to hold on to. Something to light up the dark, wash away fear and cleanse evil.”

I winced. It seemed that stint in the dark had influenced his mentality more than expected. Unfortunately, I still didn’t feel like I had had any other choice at the time.

“Are you scared of the dark?” she had followed up.

“No. The dark can be both comforting and scary. The same way fire can both destroy and protect, I guess.” he replied, clearly in reference to me compared to the necromancer that had killed his father. I was happy Michael had a measured outlook when it came to those topics.

The elderly witch seemed to nod slightly, satisfied with his answer.

A moment later, the principal wrapped up the interview.

“Thank you for participating, young Michael. We will deliberate your possible entry into the academy over the coming days. Expect a letter to arrive in at most 4 days. Have a good day, young man.”

Michael nodded and left, Cerion and I following a nearby attendant back to the atrium simultaneously. After a few more minutes, we all gathered to leave the academy. I, for one, was confident Michael would be admitted.