After a couple of months of training and learning, Emperor felt like he wasn't as ignorant as he was before. He couldn't be sure that what he felt was the truth but at least, he was confident about his progress. He also felt much stronger than before. When he first arrived, he had to bring buckets of water from the river one by one, almost dragging them on the floor, but now, he could easily lift three or four if he could find a stick solid enough to old them up. The Great overburdening hammer was truly impressive.

Over the course of his stay, they had both gotten used to the presence of the other. One didn't want to see a soul and the other didn't know a single one but in the end, they got along just fine. Emperor didn't know how to do a lot of things so Chinui had to scold him often but even if he was a little grumpy in general, he wasn't that bad of a person.

All in all, Emp had a great time and enjoyed his stay until the day of his departure came. Unaware of what day it was, Emperor just slept peacefully on the wooden floor like usual. Chinui, also like usual, kicked him weakly on his side to wake him up.

"Hey lazy kid, how many times do I have to tell you to get up with the sun! Stop sleeping and get up!"

Emperor had found out that he had the bad habit of not wanting to go to bed. It was because he had so many things he needed to do to get better at everything. On the other hand, once he fell asleep, he had an incredibly hard time to get back up. He just wanted to stay asleep and laze around all day long. He pretended he didn't hear Chinui and moved his arms more comfortably under his head hoping to fall back asleep.

"Once you get to the school I won't be there to kick you awake anymore. You should have taken the habit of waking up early by yourself. Get up already! Today is the day you go, you have a long road ahead of you, no time to waste sleeping here."

Being reminded of what day it was, Emp felt his heart suddenly race and all his sleepiness disappeared like smoke in the wind. He was partly excited at the idea of exploring the world and meeting new people and partly worried about leaving the place he had gotten used to.

He opened his eyes sharply and somehow managed to get up. Once upright, he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands and awaited patiently Chinui's explanation of what he had planned for him today. Since it was the day of his departure, it was also the day Chinui would tell him if he would give him the money or not. As expected of Chinui, he didn't wait long at all to tell him.

"I won't beat around the bush, you won, I will give you the gold."

Emperor answered with a big smile, unable to find words expressing his gratitude towards this generosity.

"There is still a lot of things I want to tell you before you go. Go wash your face and we'll talk during breakfast. "

Emp quickly ran to the river, washed his face with its cold water to wake himself up completely and came back to the table in front of Chinui. There was only one chair in the house so Emp had always used a big log in place of a chair. He sat on it and smelled the smoked meat and the fruits on the table. He started devouring the food without waiting any longer while Chinui talked to him seriously.

"So, listen carefully, it's important. To get to the school, you need to go through two entire kingdoms, many towns, mountains, swamps and of course forests. You will need around forty days of travel to get there if everything goes right. Are you even listening?"

"Yes, I am." Answered Emp, his mouth full

Chinui seemed exasperated but he knew how well Emp remembered everything he said so he continued his explanation without minding it too much.

"First, you will need to follow the river down through the hills until it crosses another one. That other river, you will have to follow it back up instead of down, all the way to the mountains."

"Will I need to get to the other side of the mountains?"

"Yes but don't worry, while following the river, you should eventually come across a road that goes through them. From there, follow the road through the mountains and continue straight forward. Ignore any branches of the road and any intersection you come across until you reach the lake of the Bloody lynx. There, you will take a right and follow the shores of the lake. "

"Why is it called the lake of the bloody lynx?" Asked Emp curious.

Chinui waved off the question with his hand and took a big bite of smoked meat.

"No idea and it doesn't matter. You are paying attention right?"

"Yes, yes, I won't forget anything." Reassured Emperor. "Once at the lake, what do I do?"

"The lake is in between the kingdom of Dugo and the kingdom of Windbow. If you follow the road on the right, it won't take you long before you get there. Continue on that road until you reach the city of Red-water. From there, you need to take the north road to Starfall village. Then, take the road through the hills that goes towards the low-woods. There is only one road through the hills so you shouldn't get lost, same for the low-woods."

"What are the low woods?"

"It's a forest that looks like a plain. The trees that grows there are so crooked towards the ground that they form a great carpet. In fact, it's so dense it's even possible to walk on top of the forest on all its length without falling through."

"Really? That's impressive."

"You'll see. There is almost nothing worth going there for, aside from the sight. Nothing interesting or useful grows there, the terrain is too treacherous to lead an army through but too thick to let people hide inside. Most don't have any reason to go there. After the low-woods, continue until you reach the howling hill, you'll see, it's impossible to miss. The howling hill is a crossroad and also the border between Windbow and Artefine. You need to take the path that goes to Dark-glint from there, it should be indicated on the signpost. At that point, your trip will be almost over, you just have to continue on that road towards Bêtéclair, that's where the school is." (1)

"That doesn't sound that bad, I should be able to do it."

"If you are lucky yes." Said Chinui with a mocking smile.

"What do you mean?"

"The chances of you encountering monsters on the way are high but sadly I have no weapon to lend you. My blade is broken and I still need it, you will need to fend for yourself."

Emp burst out laughing.

"I'm sure if you really wanted to give me a weapon, you would find something to lend me. You should just admit that you want me to pass the test. You want me to beat a monster without help."

"Maybe a little bit of that I admit but that isn't so important that you should risk your life for it. If you get in an advantageous situation sure take it but don't throw yourself in the jaws of a night crawler for the test. Your life is way more important. If you do manage to kill something, don't forget to harvest as much as you can from it, each pieces has a worth."

"Yes, yes, I know, you told my so many times already. I won't forget."

"Good. Aside from that, I will also lend you my family name."

"Your name?"

Emp was taken off guard. What did he mean?

"Yes, you will keep Emp as your name but use Muracier as surname."

Chinui seemed to not mind it at all, as if it was a normal thing to do but Emp wasn't convinced at all that pretending to be in the family of the great general Muracier would do him any good.

"But isn't it a really well known name? If I use it, won't it bring me a lot of trouble?"

"Of course, if you abuse our name to do anything dumb it will but just using it as normal should be fine. If you tell everyone you don't have a name, first of all, people will think it strange, even orphans have a family name and second of all, you will stand out way more in the school without a name than if you use Muracier. You won't have a choice, you will have to use a surname eventually. I even wrote a letter for the ancient in charge, you'll only have to give it to him once there."

Chinui got a letter sealed with wax from his pocket and placed it casually on the table. On it, Emp could clearly see Chinui's crest stamped in the wax.

"Be careful to not open it or the ancient would never believe you."

"You would really let me use your family name?" Asked Emp, still confused about how to answer this gesture. "Is that not strange?"

"What other name would you even use? You can't just make one up, everyone will know easily and if you just take an existing one, you will get yourself an endless amount of trouble for using one that doesn't belong to you."

But was it not the same for that surname? thought Emp. What if I get across another Muracier? Emp was not an expert in laws and rules at all but, was it not a terrible crime to impersonate a member of such an important noble family? Without Chinui there to help him, what would he do?

"Or is it just that you don't like my name? In that case you can just refuse to take this letter." Said Chinui with a menacing tone and frown.

"No it's fine, I got it, I will take the letter." said Emp half scarred of Chinui's look and half scarred he would take back his generous help.

"Good!" Said Chinui, obviously pleased. "Aside from all that, don't forget to buy provisions once you reach a town."

Chinui picked up a bag of money that he placed on the table just beside the letter and focused on his meal. He did not say a word more. Emperor was a little surprised that he had nothing else to say. Usually, he never stopped talking, he always had something to tell him to do, to remember or to stop doing.

"Is that all? Do you not have any more advice?"

"What do you mean is that all!" Exclaimed Chinui, almost throwing his whole plate at him. "I've been explaining things to you for months now! I'm dead tired, I have helped you more than enough already you little scoundrel."

"You are right, I'm sorry, I need to do things on my own as well, I can't rely on you forever."

"Exactly, now get out of here and go see the world! I can't wait to get my silence back again."

"But I haven't finished eating yet."

"You never stop eating."

Chinui bent his body over the table and snatched the half emptied plate in front of Emp. He ignored the pleading look of Emp, started eating what was left in the plate and showed him the door. Emp made a small disappointed sigh, picked up the letter and the money and stopped in front of the door.

"Well, good bye then, see you next time."

"Mhn, later." Answered his mentor.

Neither of them was used to farewells. Emp got himself outside and closed the door without turning back. He walked to the river and finally started his journey to the great school.

(1) Bêtéclair means "Lightning beast" in french. It's an horrible name in English but sounds great in french. It's supposed to be said as Bite-hey-clair.