The hall was loud with murmurs when Borin finally cleared his throat.
Three sheets fluttered in his hand like verdicts being read aloud.
"First… Kael Ainsley. Passed."
Kael didn't scream — he exploded.
"YES—! I mean— uh— yes."
He clutched his head like his brain was too shocked to stay inside.
"Andrea Hall. Passed."
Andrea shut her eyes, whispering,
"Finally… thanks god…"
Her shoulders slumped in relief, a faint tremble in her fingers.
"And… Rion Alder. Passed."
Rion simply stood there. His gaze didn't sharpen, his posture didn't change. He simply blinked once, as if Borin had announced someone else's name.
For a moment, his emptiness felt heavier than fear.
Kael blinked. Andrea blinked. Even the wind stopped.
Borin squinted.
"…you may smile, boy. It won't kill you."
Rion blinked once.
"…I see," he murmured.
Borin snorted. "You three may explore the city. But be at the station by four. Try not to get lost—or arrested."
Kael saluted dramatically. Andrea nodded politely.
Rion just dipped his head, like a curtain falling.
---
Borin flopped onto a bench.
"Andrea Hall…"
He skimmed her paper.
"Brilliant. This girl thinks faster than I breathe."
Kael's paper made him choke.
"…ten questions… two barely correct… one wasn't even his doing… gods help him."
He rubbed his forehead. "If that boy survives the first week, I'll donate my boots."
Then Rion's.
"…four answers. But each neat, calculated. This boy doesn't waste energy trying to show off. He fires only when sure. He doesn't know everything… but he knows what matters."
He leaned back.
"A dangerous kind of clever."
---
Rion walked through Rosegate, letting voices blur into background noise. Lamps clinked in the breeze, merchants shouted, children chased each other.
But his mind wasn't here.
Four questions, he repeated silently.
And I didn't even know if those were right. All because of those suggestions I muttered to myself last night… and cramming till dawn.
A faint ache tugged behind his eyes.
Still… I passed. Somehow. Maybe luck does exist.
A shout cut through his thoughts.
"RION—! WAIT—!"
He turned.
Kael barreled toward him like a horse with loose reins.
"WA—WA—IT—!"
Before Kael could grab his arm, Rion simply stepped one pace aside.
Kael slid past and strumbled to the ground.
"...are you alright?" Rion asked, expression unchanged.
Kael shot up instantly. "I—I'm amazing! Totally fine!— and thank you!"
"For what?"
"For saving me!" Kael grabbed Rion's hands dramatically. "If you didn't whisper that thing, I would've failed so hard the examiner would've retired!"
Rion blinked. "It wasn't a big thing."
"It WAS a big thing! I passed! Do you know how insane that is?!"
"…a little," Rion admitted.
Kael puffed out his chest. "Anyway, I'm Kael Ains—"
"I know. They announced your name."
Kael froze mid-pose.
"Oh. Right. That… makes sense."
They stood for a long second.
Kael scratched his cheek.
"So… you helped me. Let me repay you. Anything! Just tell me."
"No need."
"But I insist!"
"No."
"But—"
Rion's stomach growled softly.
Kael's growled louder.
Both stopped.
Then they burst into laughter—Kael loudly, Rion quietly.
"…food?" Kael asked.
"…okay," Rion nodded.
---
The tavern smelled like roasted garlic and warm bread. They took a small corner table.
Kael dug into his bowl like a starving wolf.
"You know… for someone who looks like he hates the world, you're not that scary."
Rion took a slow sip of broth. "…I don't hate the world."
"Then you just look like that naturally?"
"…apparently."
Kael laughed so hard he slapped the table.
"So, where're you from? Some guild work, huh? Your hands look like you fight."
"…sometimes."
"And you walk like someone who had to grow up fast."
Rion paused.
Kael's smile softened.
"Sorry. That was too much, huh?"
"…maybe."
Kael quickly changed the topic.
"So, I was thinking," Kael said between bites, "what if swords could be made from monster bones? Like a Dragonbone Knife? No, Dragonbone Spoon. Think about it—"
"No," Rion replied instantly.
"But why?!"
"Because spoons are not weapons."
"They CAN be! If you believe hard enough!"
"…Kael. No."
Kael sighed dramatically as if Rion had crushed his lifelong dream.
Somewhere behind them, Andrea sat alone, trying to read…
Trying.
She took out her notes, placed her cutlery neatly, and—
Kael's voice exploded across the room.
"…And then I told him—NO, THAT'S NOT A CHICKEN, THAT'S MY HAIR!" Kael shouted.
Rion nodded seriously. "Reasonable."
Reasonable?
Andrea pressed her fingers to her forehead.
Kael leaned closer to Rion.
"Hey, hey—do you think dragons prefer spicy food or sweet food? Because my uncle said—"
"I don't know," Rion replied. "I've only eaten part of one."
"YOU WHAT—?!"
She closed her eyes, inhaled, and let out the longest exhale of her life and watched them for ten seconds.
Ten seconds was enough.
"…Disgusting," she muttered under her breath.
She closed her book and whispered a prayer under her breath—slightly too loud:
"…Alright. Whoever is listening," she murmured under her breath, "I don't usually pray. But please—please don't let these two end up as my roommates. I'm already surrounded by idiots in my life. I don't need two more. One is loud enough to wake the dead, and the other… the other thinks eating part of a dragon is a normal sentence."
Andrea looked up again.
"Please… PLEASE do not let these two be my roommates. I beg you. I'll study harder. I'll do extra assignments. I'll even be nice to people."
She paused.
"…Okay, not NICE-nice, but less rude. That's fair, right?"
She glared as Kael laughed so hard he choked and Rion patted his back with the emotional intensity of a stone.
"See?! Look at them! One looks like he didn't get enough brain cells at birth, and the other looks like he sold all his emotions for a discount price."
She pressed her hands together harder.
"I am not strong enough to live with these creatures… I mean students. I'll go insane. You don't want that. I don't want that. So please… please… PLEASE—just give me normal roommates."
She opened one eye, checking if the gods reacted.
Nothing.
Andrea sighed.
"…Great. Even the gods have abandoned me."
But she still prayed again, whispering like a desperate noble girl negotiating with fate:
"If they become my roommates… at least give me noise-canceling Spell Art. Or temporary deafness. Or courage. Anything."
Then she stood, brushed her hair, and walked away with elegant confidence
---
Outside the tavern, Kael waved wildly.
"We meet at the station, okay? Don't vanish! I'm serious—don't disappear like a ghost!"
"I won't."
"Good! Bye!"
Rion watched him go.
A strange, unfamiliar warmth lingered in his chest.
So this is… friendship?
He continued walking, the city lights reflecting in his eyes.
"The more I see, the more I learn, more I realize how little I know," he muttered under his breath. "This world… it's nothing like what I imagined."
When I first arrived here, I thought in simple shapes—kings, kingdoms, knights, the usual picture a foreigner paints of a medieval land.
But the truth was older, stranger.
Centuries ago those things did exist. Small crowns, fragile thrones, endless border feuds—until the Monarchs appeared.
They reshaped everything.
To end the constant wars, the Monarchs crushed the old kingdoms and divided the continent into vast Lands, forging a structure that no petty king could oppose. A few stubborn kingdoms refused to bow, clinging to their pride… but that didn't last long. One by one, even the independent states surrendered, merging into what became the Holy Empire.
And then my father betrayed them.
His treachery ignited a war so devastating it shattered that mighty empire in a single generation. The Holy Empire lost, collapsed, and was finally absorbed by the Land of the West—its crown reduced to a memory, its glory swallowed by history.
And Kael said something interesting today…
He remembered their earlier conversation.
Mage, swordsman… both branches of the same origin. Sorcerer.
If I want to stand there… I need both.
He breathed slowly.
Now he stopped in front of the bank.
The bank looked old but proud.
Thick stone walls. Copper frames. No flashy banners. Just a simple sign:
Stonewell & Ember — Secure Trust
Rion stepped inside.
"Good afternoon, sir.How may we assist you?"," the receptionist greeted.
He nodded, handed his identity token, and The employee nodded and guided him to the spacious vault room.
When Rion unlocked his drawer, light glimmered off the gold coins stacked carefully inside.
He touched the edge of the first pile.
"My parents'… and my own…"
His voice tightened slightly.
He gathered the coins carefully.
Monster blood contracts…
bounties…
guild tasks…
None of it had been easy.
But he had survived.
And now…
"…I'll use this well," he whispered.
Not for luxury.
Not for glory.
For the road ahead.
A long, uncertain, dangerous road—
But finally his own.
His chest warmed—
a quiet, subtle ache that wasn't pain.
Something like…
hope.
He collected the coins, closed the drawer, and stepped out.
He didn't smile.
But his steps felt lighter.
When he stepped out of the vault, the air outside felt strangely still.
He paused.
Something brushed his awareness—not sound, not presence, but a warmth that curled around him like sunlight through clouds.
He turned slightly.
There was no one there.
But he felt them.
Not ghosts.
Not illusions.
But the echo of his family's love he carried deep inside himself.
They weren't truly standing there.
Yet something in the air felt occupied, like their silhouettes were stitched into it.
And the feeling spoke to him without words:
Go Forward.
Don't hesitate.
We're with you.
Always.
Rion drew a slow breath and stepped into the street, shoulders lighter than before.
And for the first time, the world felt a little less vast…
and he felt a little less alone.