“We all heard of a time when the title of a mage was something exclusive to the nobles, the knights and the wealthy. The only way for the citizens and below to become a mage oneself was through luck. They needed luck to find a World Shard and they also needed luck to survive its powers. And of course, even then, they were never accepted as mage by the rest.”
Everyone knew of this story, one that probably everyone in the kingdom listened to at least once in their life. And of course, a story that Evin would listen to a hundred more times if he could.
“But all this changed with King Roland’s new decree,” Leanne exclaimed proudly, as she pointed at a mural depicting the king holding up a scroll in his hand.
Even kids like Evin knew about it. He could also confidently say that out of all the kids in the kingdom, no, in the whole Empire itself, he probably had the most knowledge about Roland Arcwall’s epic history.
Granted, he learned most of it due to the voice in his head, who somehow knew of the situation and narrated everything to him. Evin hated listening to the voice and its pretentious ‘life lessons’, but secretly, he loved listening to the voice speaking of the late King.
“But of course, it wasn’t all . Due to this new Law of accepting every mage, the late king received heavy backlash from the corrupt and evil nobles under his control, with the situation reaching the point where the people were even considering the possibility a civil war. But since Roland himself was one of the most powerful mages at the time, the opposing nobles couldn’t just mount an attack on the capital.”
“They knew that if the King wished to, he could easily wipe them off the face of the world. He just didn’t have a good enough reason to do that. And obviously, the nobles weren’t willing to give the man that excuse with the revolution.”
‘It must be so awesome to single-handedly prevent an entire revolution just by existing,’ Evin thought wistfully.
“But of course, things didn’t end there. The evil nobles managed to hire a group of the most powerful mages at the time in hopes of assassinating the king while he was alone. Six mages who were second only to the Demigods were sent towards his way, but not only king Roland manage to fight them to a tie, he even convinced one of them to switch sides and fight alongside him. A young prodigy by the name of Urven who is now our country’s Mage King.
“After this incident, King Roland executed the heads of the noble families responsible for this treachery, though he couldn’t make himself kill their children, as he was a righteous person who knew that the children didn’t bear the sins of their parents. The surviving offspring were only stripped of their noble titles, but aside from that, they were free to do whatever they wanted. King Roland wasn’t afraid of another revolution staged by these remnant children. The people of the kingdom loved him to the core, so any kind of rebellion was practically impossible to mount.
“Next, king Roland consolidated his rule and introduced many different policies that helped the kingdom’s people. It was said that the 21 years he ruled were the most prosperous in the kingdom’s entire history. During this time, our kingdom’s influence was strengthened greatly inside the Empire, life inside the kingdom became easier for everyone, and finally, after 50 years of a stalemate, we’ve started seeing signs of the Southern front being pushed back against our enemies.”
The children gasped. Even if they’ve heard of this story a million times, there was none among them that didn’t feel awe.
“But unfortunately, as the natural law of the world dictated, in the year 1486, King Roland Arcwall met his end at the age of 130. He prolonged his mortal life to almost double the amount of normal people, both through magic and his own hard work, but in the end, the Empress’ arrangements put an end to his glorious life.”
Evin still possessed bits and pieces of those memories. Blurry visions of his father and mother’s loving smile, Evin’s own joyful laughs as he climbed atop their shoulders… visions that Evin sometimes didn’t dare believe in.
“Though we will forever miss the King, his legacy still lives on, with the number of mages in the Western Kingdom soaring to a number so high, that even those dreadful Southerners have started to implement some of the late King’s rules. Perhaps it is finally the sign of the Empire’s unification,” Leanne reached the last mural.
It depicted a drawing of the now old king, kneeling in front of a tall, unfathomable woman, who was wearing a loosely fitting black robe, decorated with dark gold accessories. She wore a veil across her face, so the only thing the onlooker could see from above her neck was her silky black hair which shined with tiny white lights, representing the starry night sky.
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The Ruler of the Four Nations, Allmother of the Twelve Races, Immortal Goddess of the world of Alvox.
The Final Empress.
Everyone around, even the adults sighed as they stared at her depiction, with eyes filled with fear and awe.
‘Speaks the voice who can only depend on me to survive…’ Evin thought smugly, before focusing on Leanne.
The woman smiled at the sight and continued.
“His successor and son, Seth Arcwall took on the crown with a vow to never change his father’s arrangements, only to build upon them. Saying that King Roland’s vision was the path to Western prosperity, he introduced the Mage Academies. Its purpose was so that mages between the ages of 10 and 15 could receive guidance en masse, instead of just learning under one master like before."
Gesturing at her surroundings, she smiled at the children.
“This very establishment you’re inside now,” Leanne finished her speech. “Well, that’s enough history for today. Let’s reveal what everyone here is waiting for.”
‘We’re finally going to take the test…’ Evin thought with excitement.
But the woman didn’t really do anything out of the ordinary, as she walked towards a young girl wearing only a brown tunic and simply declared, “One mage here.”
The little girl seemed a bit shocked, before looking at the scrawny woman that was holding her hands. The two looked at each other for a moment, before bursting out in tears.
“There, there,” Leanne comforted the two smilingly.
Evin really wanted to say ‘Shut up,’ but considering the place and company he was in, he could only sigh inside his heart. He was sad as well, but he knew there was nothing he could do. He’d accepted the possibility of this outcome long ago.
1 in 60, those were the odds of a mage being born from two non-mages. It could be said that it was a miracle for this room of 21 kids to have one mage among them.
But just as he was wallowing in despair, Leanne looked at him straight in the eye and said.
“And also, that well-washed and well-dressed young boy over there. Please come over.”
‘Does she mean me? But I’m definitely not well-dressed and the least of all, well-washed…’ a random thought appeared in Evin’s head, ‘But I’m the only one around here, since everyone else is keeping their distance from me.’
Excitement bubbled inside his heart, nay his mana-core, but as he looked at his father he saw the latter making a complicated face, wanting to say something, maybe even protest.
Fear filled his eyes and Evin forced himself to calm down.
‘Calm thoughts, calm thoughts. You can’t show a tear in front of all these people, now, can you?’ he thought to himself, gradually calming his uneven breathing.
“Come on, now,” Leanne urged, and his father walked over to the mage as she had asked, dragging Evin along with him.
“Well, as for the rest of you, I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I could only find two mages among you today,” Leanne said simply after taking one more good look at Evin.
Most of the crowd accepted the verdict, albeit a bit unwillingly. But one woman, a seemingly well-off Citizen, really wasn’t happy with Lorna’s decision.
“Are you sure about it? You just told us a story about the late King, before deciding who was a mage and who was not. Isn’t that a bit irresponsible?”
“If you have any problems, you can pay the extra fee of one Face to the Mage Circle and have another mage check up on your child. But my verdict will stay the same.”
“One Face? Are you joking?”
It really was very expensive. If Evin had a Face to his name, he could even consider moving away from his home, away from his father.
“I know it is way too expensive, but that’s just how it is,” Leanne explained.
“I’ve heard there’s supposed to be a test of some kind, but there really wasn’t anything? I had my child prepare quite a bit for this test, as per the instructions of one man. I’m very upset that none of that was helpful, and instead, two slaves end up becoming mages.”
Hearing himself being called a slave, Evin looked towards his father, but the latter was nodding along thoughtfully, as if he agreed with the woman’s words.
“I know that some people like to call it a test of some sorts for some reason, but all we have to do is check whether or not anyone here has a mana-core or not,” Leanne replied smilingly, but the sarcasm in her voice was obvious, “If you paid someone money for a test that does not exist, then I’m afraid you’ve been swindled.”
“What do you mean I’ve been swindled? The gentleman I spoke to was a trustworthy man!” the woman raised her voice.
“If you asked literally anyone who went through the process before, they’ll tell you that there’s no test involved. The fact that you chose to trust the one person that lied to you… well, that’s not really my fault, is it?” Leanne sighed, “Like I explained a second ago, I only check whether anyone here has a mana-core for a heart, that’s all.”
‘What the hell is a temperature IQ?’
“But you didn’t do anything? If you were searching for a mana-core inside their bodies, shouldn’t there be… you know? Some process of some sorts? Or do you claim to be able to see through our bodies?” the woman asked, still unconvinced.
“I’m glad you asked that. I actually can see the insides of your bodies,” Leanne smiled as her gaze moved down, “Oh… I shouldn’t have looked. What a way to ruin my day.”
The woman blushed, opened her mouth to protest, but how could argue against someone who could literally see you inside out?
With this, the rest of the group departed the Mage Academy, after which Leanne lead the two young mages and their parents to another room.