Finally in a fresh set of 'green' hunting gear, and with his regular head wraps back on, Reid opens the door to the written examination room. Inside he finds everyone patiently waiting for him.
Stella sits in the far corner of the room by herself, clearly not interested in the conversation to come. Varen and Maycellia both sat behind the desk at the front of the room, intending to take charge of the upcoming conversation. Sitting in the first row of seats were Aron and, to Reid's surprise, Anna.
"Anna!? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you still be resting?!" A mixture of excitement and worry filled the boy's voice.
With a smile on her face and her thumb in the air she answers the boy.
"I'm fine. Stella used some special healing magic on me, so I'm feeling good as new!"
"Oh, that's good!" Reid was incredibly relieved to hear the good news. "But what are you doing here?"
"I'm not really sure, I was just resting in the clinic when the guildmaster suddenly showed up and told me to come here. Surprised the heck out of me!"
"Haha, he surprised me too. I was so confused when he suddenly showed up after the test."
"Test? What kind of test were you doing."
The two teens were lost in their own little word, completely oblivious to everyone around them.
"Ahem!"
The guildmaster fakes clearing his throat to get everyone's attention.
"Go ahead and take a seat next to your friend and we'll start this meeting." He starts
Reid rushed to sit down down as the guildmaster stood up. Once all eyes were on him he began.
"Now Reid, you are probably curious about why we brought you here, and why we decided to test you in such an unorthodox manner. Is that correct?"
"Yes." The boy answered plainly.
"And Anna you're probably curious as to why we brought you here as well."
"Yes guildmaster."
"To put it simply, the guild would like to invest in you two."
"Invest? What do you mean?" Anna asks.
"Do you know of Lord Enzius?"
As a new arrival to the city, Reid had no knowledge about the local nobility. Thankfully, as a resident, Anna was more informed.
"Yes guildmaster. He's the Lord in charge of the city." She answered.
"That is correct. He is an incredibly talented and ambitious man. In the future he plans to expand his influence and raise his noble rank, but there are many who would rather see him fail."
Reid looks on in confusion, wondering what a noble lord could possibly have to do with their situation.
"You see, Lord Enzius is quite a forward thinker. He believes many controversial ideas, making him a target to the less… benevolent nobles. In time, when he tries to rise in power, they will undoubtedly call many of his ideas into question as an attempt to discredit him. To avoid this, he is attempting to build a solid base of proof to support his claims. And that is where you two will come in."
The young hunters don't say a single word, they simply look back at the guildmaster as if he's crazy.
"There are two of his policies that I must explain to you. First, Lord Enzius is one of the few nobles who supports interspecies relations and is calling for an end to the discrimination against half blood and mixed blood individuals. Second, he believes that it is a nobles' responsibility to ensure the prosperity and happiness of those who serve under him. As such, he is a firm believer in having well funded humanitarian programs. The orphanage is a good example."
"That explains a lot. I was wondering why the orphanage was so well off." Amadeus speaks up in everyone's mind.
"Ahh! Who was that?!" Anna begins to frantically look around for the phantom voice.
"Apologies, I forgot you weren't there when I introduced myself. I am speaking to all of you telepathically. My name is Amadeus, we'll explain more later, but for now you can consider me a friend of Reid's."
"O-Okay, it's uh, nice to meet you…" Her voice was shaky as she was still freaked out by the disembodied voice talking in her mind.
The guildmaster continued. "Getting back on track, those two policies are likely to be the most debated and refuted points amongst the nobility. They will undoubtedly call the mixing of blood to be a vile act that only produces abominations, and that the humanitarian efforts are a waste of time and money. They will make claims that it's well below a nobles station to care for such people."
Both Reid and Anna look down, saddened by the reality behind his words.
"Now let me ask you, what do you think would happen if two extremely talented mixed blood orphan hunters were to suddenly show up?"
Reid thinks for a bit on the guildmaster's words before suddenly realizing what he meant.
"Then they would be proof that the Lord's policies work!"
"Exactly right, dear boy!" The guildmaster shows a small grin as he continues on.
"And that is why I say we want to invest in you both. Based your character and potential strength, we believe you two could become shining examples for the city. We plan to help you grow into your potential as hunters, and all we ask in return is that you achieve merit in our lord's name."
Reid looks at the guildmaster skeptically. The deal seemed far too good to be true, in his mind there had to be some sort of catch. As he thinks through the guildmasters offer word by word he had realized something; he had said there were two mixed blood orphans, meaning Anna had been hiding who she really was this whole time! Not that he could blame her since he always wore head coverings to hide his ears.
Reid starts. "If that's all that you want, then I think that's fine, but I feel there's gotta be a catch somewhere. What do you think Anna?"
The girls eyes dart around as she struggles to think of what to say.
"Oh, uh me? I-I'm not really sure since this has nothing to do with me. Nope, not at all!" She quickly looked away from the boy, unable to meet his eyes.
"Anna." Reid says calmly while removing the wraps on his head. "I understand why you're nervous, but you don't have to keep it a secret from me."
"Secret? What secret?" She looks back at the boy, doing her best to feign ignorance. When she sees his ears, her eyes go wide in surprise.
Her hand slowly reaches up, gently touching and moving between his wolf and elven ears. "So then you're also…"
"Yeah."
The two spent a long moment in silence, unsure of what to say to each other.
"So, what do you say?" The guildmaster's voice cuts through the unusual atmosphere.
Despite his misgivings, Reid couldn't think of a good reason to refuse. "… I'm in."
"… Me too." Anna agrees.
The two young hunters hesitantly accept his plan.
"So what exactly is this plan? We have the general idea, but I would like more details so I can adjust my own timeline accordingly." Amadeus speaks up in everyone's mind.
"Amadeus yes? I heard from Aron that you were a cold calculating type, I'm glad his report was correct." Varen states calmly.
"Is that so? I was under the impression that cold and calculating types were generally disliked."
"Perhaps to the average person, but I prefer working with people on the same wavelength as me. It makes it easier to understand them. Plus having two young hunters off on their own would fill me with worry. I'm assuming you can be there as a voice of reason to keep them on track."
"I can certainly handle that much, though I should warn you not to count on anything more of me in that regard. I have no talents in more personal matters, like mentorship for example."
"Really? Well that's a shocker..." Reid voice was deep with sarcasm.
Varen continued. "Moving on, the plan will have four parts. First is our initial train up. For the next three months, the two of you will report to the guild everyday where one of our employees will provide training and instruction in anything and everything relating to hunting. The goal of this step is to have both of you qualified as D rank hunters."
The guildmaster looks at Reid before he continues. "Now Reid, we plan on promoting you to D rank today, however that rank only applies because you and Amadeus exist as a pair. During the training we expect you to qualify for D rank without his assistance."
"Wait really?!" Reid was equal parts surprised and excited.
Anna, however, was not sharing his happiness. "W-Wait, you want us both to be D rank?!?"
"Yes"
"But… I can't even pass the E rank test, how can I make it to D rank."
"I know it might sound impossible in your head, but that's only because you've been going at it alone, without the proper guidance. Given proper tutelage, three months is more than enough time for you two to make D rank." The guildmaster explains calmly.
"Alright, you are the guildmaster. If you say we can, then I guess we can." Despite her words, her voice was still not confident.
"Good, now that brings us to step two. This step is about making a name for yourselves and getting real world experience."
The guildmaster reaches into the desk drawer and pulls out a small bound book which he promptly tosses to Reid. The thin, brown, leather backed book had beautiful golden writing on its front. It's title was 'Forterra: The Labyrinthian City, By: Cole Augustine'.
"The labyrinthian city?" The boy asks in confusion.
"Yes. We'll pay for your travel and living expenses, that way all you two will have to focus on is hunting. Specifically hunting in the dungeons depths."
"Just the two of us?" Anna worries.
"Don't worry, we're not throwing you to the wolves here. We'll be sending you in with a veteran party to start. Once the veterans decide you have enough strength and experience, you'll start heading in with a party of your own.
Our plan is to have you two reach the final floor of the barrows dungeon by the time Reid turns 15. Oh, and feel free to expand your party as much as needed to accomplish that goal."
"That's a lot to ask for in such a short amount of time... By the way, why does it have to be done before he turns 15?" Anna asks curiously.
"Because he'll be joining me at the Royal Mages College of course." Maycellia speaks up for the first time in the meeting.
"The whole reason I came here today was to see if you were qualified to join the ranks of the royal mages, and I am pleased to say that with talent like yours, I am willing to offer you a full scholarship!"
"Seriously?! I thought that place was only for nobles. Will I really be able to go there?" Reid asks, confused.
"Don't worry about things like that, dearie. It's my school after all. Besides, your skill in rune magic alone is enough to qualify you to attend, and that's not even considering the unique spells you showcased. I would be an utter fool not to accept you!"
"This sounds like a great opportunity to learn more about magic, but I must ask, does being a royal mage make you beholden to a king?" Amadeus asks the group.
"No, there is no such obligation. The 'royal' part of the name is to denote the prestige and honor of our institution. But if you do wish to serve a king, graduating from my college with honors can certainly make that a possibility."
"I see. In that case I have no issues, in fact I am quite interested in learning all I can about this world's magic. What do you think Reid."
"Well to be honest, I'm kind of nervous. I know it's a great opportunity for us, but I've seen how nobles treat people like me. Can't say I'm looking forward to it." Reid looks at the headmistress reluctantly.
"I understand your concern. We try our best to eliminate prejudices within our school, but there are always a handful of hotheaded students causing a ruckus." She admitted.
"Honestly I don't see that as much of an issue."
"Huh?" Reid asks while everyone turns to the boy in confusion.
"We're meant to become the champions of a group many consider to be an abomination. Without a doubt, we will become the targets of scorn and ire. That's what it means to accept this deal in the first place. It's bound to happen, attending the mages college would only change where we encounter it."
The rooms goes quiet at the harsh reality Amadeus was describing. Anna felt the weight of his words more than anyone in the room, save Reid. The plan she was completely invested in just moments ago was now an uncertainty in her head.
The guildmaster, refusing to let his chance go, began to sell the plan once again. "All the more reason to accept this plan. This is a chance for you to make a place in this world, not only for yourself, but for others like you. You won't be the first to face discrimination, and you wont be the last, but this could be the start of real change."
He lets his words hang in the air before continuing. "Any concerns with the plan?"
"I have no issues so far, though I do believe there is one more step correct?"
"Yes…" The guildmaster answers hesitantly. "Lord Enzius is planning to fight for the title of duke during the next Valiris tournament. Its going to be a hectic time for all of us, but your only concern will be entering the combat tournament on his behalf."
The whole room is shocked by his declaration.
"What?!" Reid shouts.
"You want us to enter?!" Anna jumps to her feet.
Even Aron felt the need to chime in. "Do you really think they can be ready by then?"
"Is this 'Valiris tournament' really such a big deal?"
The guildmaster answers. "Yes, it is. The Valiris tournament was created as a way for human nobles to fight for power without having to resort to direct bloodshed. The tournament tests a nobles capabilities in three areas, economic power, cultural influence, and military might. Based on the results, nobles who enter can either gain or lose rank."
"Okay, I understand its importance but why was everyone so shocked about us entering the combat portion?"
"Cuz only B rank hunters or mercenaries can even enter." Aron cuts in. "The next tournament's in 5 years, that's a hell of a tight schedule."
"I understand your concern, but I believe in their capabilities." The guildmaster retorted.
"I appreciate the support, but I don't know if its possible for me." Anna answered.
"Don't worry about that. While Reid is away, I have a mentor lined up who is willing to train you. Three years under their care, and attaining B rank will be no problem."
With that statement the guildmaster stood up and walked over to the young hunters' desk.
"Well, I think I've talked your ears off enough for one day. We'll have plenty of time to sort out the small details during your daily training. Let's get you your new guild cards so you can go home and rest."
The guildmaster promptly put their new guild cards on the table, one blue card in front of Anna, and for some reason, two bronze cards in front of Reid. The boy picks up the metallic cards in front of him to admire his new ID when he notices something strange.
"Why did you hand me a blank?" The boy asks.
"That was actually my suggestion dearie." Maycellia stood up with unexpected pep in her step.
"I've never heard of a person being 'dual souled' before, but it got me thinking. Does that talent mean you are two separate beings bound into a single vessel? And if it does, then do you have separate mana pools? Are you both constantly trying to fight for control over the body?
I had so many questions I wanted to ask you, and that was before I learned of your strange rune magic. With all these burning questions I had to learn at least one thing from this visit or I wouldn't be able to sleep at night! That's why there is a blank card in front of you, I wanted to know if it's possible for each of your souls to have a unique identity on the guild cards."
As Maycellia finishes her speech, she arrives in front of Reid. She pulls out a familiar silver slab and quill. With a quick glance, Reid notices that runic spearman class and D rank are already etched into the surface.
Not one to waste time, Amadeus takes control. "That is an interesting hypothesis, I'm glad to see the Headmistress of such a prestigious institution is such a curious soul. Let us find the answer together, shall we?"
Not willing to wait for a response, Amadues puts his hand onto the divination tablet. It begins to glow a mystical blue as his information slowly appears.
NAME: Amadeus Caesar
AGE: 6,572
GENDER: Male
RACE: Primal Spirit
TALENT: Dual Soul, Runic Magic, Enchantment, Alchemy, Usurper
CLASS: Runic Spearman
RANK: D
PARTY: None
Upon seeing the updated slate, Maycellia looks up at the transformed man for the first time and immediately drops to her knee while bowing her head. The unexpected intensity of the gesture confused everyone in the room.