Now, this sauce in particular struck me as odd. For this sauce had tomatoes in it, but the tomato was nowhere to be found. It was liquidized into a red substance. This was where I thought it odd. Why place a liquidized tomato onto a meal that is already topped off with tomato? Why not just add another tomato? If one desires a tomato so eagerly, then just add as much tomatoes as needed to satiate ones desires, no?

Odd.

And when I took a bite of the thing one of the ladies called a “Burger”, it felt as though I transcended into another universe!

I truly understood it all; I understood the very meaning behind the mixture of toppings!

The juicy, succulent meat, topped off with the crispiness of the buns, but not too crispy; no, the fresh lettuce added that extra satisfying crisp, is brilliant! And the tomato that oozed its faint and sweet juice with each bite, serving to further strengthen the juiciness of the burger, worked wonders. The cheese and sour cucumbers balanced out the sweetness with a delectable bitterness. The sauce, I learned, called “ketchup”, is exactly like the tomato; sweet, but this sauce, this thing called ketchup, is far tangier and perfectly complimented the burger meat.

I was so engrossed into my burger that the stares of the women whose eyes were filled with a sort of avidity; the sort of avidity that people feel when coming across a cute cat, whose fur calls out “pet me!”, hadn’t at all affected my eating.

‘This burger is a brilliant concoction! Whoever made this deserves 1000 gold coins – no! They deserve their own country! A country flourished with riches and, of course, burgers! Aah, this person must speak a transcendental language to have thought this!’

 The girls asked a few questions about where we came from, and what we were doing in Krumore. We – actually, Tadashi answered as I was busy dealing with something of more importance… far more importance. Tadashi made up a story that he is doing guard work for the Allen family while I stay at their manor. They believed his words and said that they were acquainted with the eldest daughter, Mary. They even gave us information on how to get to the Allen manor.

“What do you girls do?” Tadashi asked, taking sip of his water.

“We all go to the Krumore academy.” Answered the girl with short black hair that, like a good Samaritan, paid for our food. Her name is Rosanna, and she was wearing a light blue buttoned up shirt that highlighted her pale blue eyes; her skin was a cool ebony.

‘Krumore academy? That name sounds oddly familiar. If I’m not mistaken, I recall hearing about it. One of the villagers, a girl around my age by the name of Lillia, had told me about Krumore academy from when she visits the city with her parents. She told me that I should attend because of how talented I was at martial arts.’

“That’s the school that allows people from other kingdoms to enroll, right?” I asked before taking a big bite of the burger.

The first ever school to allow student enrollment from other schools. The most prestigious school in the world: Krumore Academy.

“Yes!” A girl with absurdly big breasts – nearly breaking her white buttoned up shirt, and wavy blonde hair exulted. “That’s the one!”

Her name is Isabelle. The sudden motion her, um, chest region made, would make any man tempted to look; but not a man with enough self-restraint like me. After all, self-discipline and restraint were some of the things I’ve learned during my two hellish weeks of mana training.

Tadashi was simply too unbothered to look.

Truly a dense individual.

Tadashi wiped the ketchup off my cheek while I attempted to flail my way out of his grasp. “All of you must be pretty talented.”

“That’s what most would think, but no.”

“Hmm?”

“There are two main programs at Krumore academy,” Isabelle continued. “General studies, where you learn things that are needed for everyday living; arithmetic, history, even researching into other professions. Then there’s Mage Craft.”

Rosanna picked up where Isabelle left off. “Mage Craft, also, does general studies, minus the research over other professions. Most who take Mage Craft are usually trying to become soldiers or adventurers. They hone their magic and fighting skills to become exceptional fighters.”

“And those people are also extremely talented.” Isabelle added. “There are some that are so strong that they become high ranking soldiers as soon as they reach grade 1. We, on the other hand, are all apart of general studies. I did the enrollment process for Mage Craft and it’s impossible.” Isabelle languidly sighed, as if just the thought of the enrollment process tired her.

“I see.” Tadashi said, cleaning the minor mess I made. “I apologize if I came off as rude.”

“It’s not so bad, though.” Said a long black-haired girl with a red ribbon wrapped around the ends. Her shirt is that of a black collared shirt with black frills lining the middle. Her name is Carina. “When studying in general studies, students usually find their vocation while in school, amazing, isn’t it?”

Tadashi nodded.

Carina’s hair, as I mentioned before, is long, but is also neatly done. The other girls hair are also neatly done, but Carina’s hair in particular was much more elegant, I suppose. Perhaps her calling is that of a hair stylist?

“Oh, yeah. You said you were doing a guarding job, right? You must be pretty amazing, Tadashi.” Isabelle said flirtatiously.

She had been, since we came to the restaurant, actively attempting to flirt with Tadashi, but it didn’t work. Largely because Tadashi didn’t catch on to the flirting. Or maybe he did but chose not to take the hints.

My older brother is such an open book; like father like son.

“Oh, no, I’m nothing special.” Tadashi dismissed. “I’m only grade 5.”

Tadashi is actually a grade 0, but that would cause an even greater stir than our noble title. After all, there’s probably only 100 or so grade 0’s in this kingdom. May seem plentiful, but the power a grade 0 holds is well known to even civilians who have nothing to do with magic. A grade S, like my father, is one of 20 in the world.

There are probably a lot more grade 0’s or Grade S’s but they’re not documented; otherwise known as rogue mages. Kingdoms like to assure themselves of those who could potentially threaten the status quo. They do so by documenting every person at birth, when they get a job, and when they die. There’s little marks, here and there, that are also documented to see the progression of a person. However, those who failed to become documented at birth are considered rogue mages, even if they aren’t affiliated with magic.

When I heard about the Great Kingdoms little safety measure, I always thought of a newly born baby, fresh out the womb, whose parents forgot to mark that they were, indeed, having a baby. Then the baby and the parents suddenly get arrested and branded as rogue mages.

And rogue mages are treated as people who committed treason. The one thing about this world I can barely comprehend is how absurdly patriotic everyone is.

Funny, isn’t it?

Isabelle continued to bombard Tadashi and I with questions, but I left Tadashi to answer them as Carina and Roseanne continued to buy me burgers; both of the girls stared at me for an uncomfortable duration of time. I felt that should I attempt to talk to them, they’d bombard me with questions, and potentially even embrace me in a suffocating hug.

Their eyes practically leaked their intent!

But who am I to go against a freshly bought burger? That’s just ungrateful!

Tadashi, after an hour of repeated questioning, look extremely drained. His face had suddenly turned weary; his erect, firm, and solemn posture had slowly slouched from the weights of exhaustion. Tadashi, then, after my fifth burger, pulled onto my sleeve as he continued to listlessly keep the conversation going with Isabelle.

‘Makes sense. Tadashi keeps to himself, and only shows his real side around me, father, and mother.’ I sighed in my head. ‘I guess I’ll take the initiative for my tired older brother.’

“Big brotherrrrr,” I whined, pulling Tadashi’s sleeve. “I’m sleeeepyyy.”

“Ok.” Tadashi said, standing up. “I’m sorry girls, but I should get to the manor and put Albus to sleep.”

“Aww. Ok.”  Said Isabelle. “It was nice talking to the both of you.”

Before we walked away; nearly turning a corner, we both bowed and said thank you. From there we went to the manor.