“So, Cherilyn, these are the otherworlders the Magic Guild has summoned?” the King says. 

“Yes, they’ve all adjusted to the situation very well so far. They don’t have the slightest intention of betraying us, of that, I’m sure.” Cherilyn continues to speak in English. Can she not speak the native language? I guess with an ability like her’s you’d never need to. I’m not jealous or anything, I swear.

“I see, that’s good. You’ve informed them of their purpose here, correct?” 

“Yes, I have.” 

“Then, what do they intend to do from now on?” What? What is the King talking about? We’re just supposed to make sure the country doesn’t go into civil war, right? 

“Unfortunately, Runicez interrupted me, so we didn't get that far. I’d prefer to discuss that with them in private.” Uh, seriously, what’s happening? I don’t understand. 

“Why would you need to discuss that in private? Surely there’s nothing preventing them from speaking their mind.” Runicez speaks up, and I hate it. Please don’t make me speak. 

“They’re all young people who’ve lived relatively privileged lives up to now. I don’t want to thrust the stress of deciding on their life paths in front of a King out of nowhere.” Cherilyn responds. Yes, make sure I don’t have to say a word! I love you, Cherilyn! Let me kiss you, and reach into- no, stop getting ahead of yourself! Focus on what’s happening, it’s important!

“I suppose that’s alright. They can figure it out by themselves.” 

“With all due respect, Runicez, I’d like to discuss that with them myself.” 

“I’m sorry, Cherilyn, but you won’t get the chance to.” 

“What?” That “what” from Cherilyn is the first time I’ve ever heard her concerned, and that worries me. Blood eyes guy and the cute boy both noticed as well, since they both looked up.

“I do believe the plan was for me to watch over the first half a month of their growth before I handed them off to you. What are you talking about?” 

“Oh yes, the plan has changed. I’ve talked with his majesty about this and he’s agreed.” 

“What!?” 

“Cherilyn, please calm down.” OK, I’m starting to get incredibly nervous now.

“Just what favor did you do for Conquitus to get ahold of these otherworlders?” 

“You dare speak his majesty’s first name? Also, I’ll have you know I did no favor, and I won’t be taking over ownership of those otherworlders, now or ever.” Cherilyn looks a bit more relieved after Runicez says this but I know it’s not enough for all her stress to go away.

“Just what is the new plan then? If his majesty agrees to it, I’ll try my best to go along with it. Within reason.” 

“The new plan is to give the otherworlders slave crests so that they cannot even think about betraying Uclait, throw them out of the castle, and leave them to their own devices.” 

“I’m sorry, what!?” Cherilyn’s starting to sound really angry at this point, and I can understand why. I don’t know what a “slave crest” is yet, but it doesn’t sound like anything good. 

“Don’t worry, neither of us will be looking over the new otherworlders. Iryis will be the one in charge, and he’ll be taking a completely hands off approach to managing them.”

“Don’t tell me you’re in on this too, Iryis! More importantly,they don’t need slave crests, they’re loyal, I guaranteed that! Don’t you believe me, Conquitus!?” Cherilyn is sounding less angry and more desperate at this point. 

“I do believe you, Cherilyn. But I can’t trust three privileged young people who I’m about to throw onto the streets of Heafdes.” The King speaks up for the first time in a while.

“Then just go along with the original plan then! Surely it would be better to keep them loyal to you through less underhanded means!” 

“Cherilyn, loyalty to me doesn’t matter. I’ll be dead within the next ten years and whichever candidate takes my place will mold the Kingdom to fit their visions. No matter how much they come to despise me or my Kingdom, neither will exist for much longer. Not in our current forms anyway. That’s why I just have to keep them from betrayal until the Royal Selection concludes.”

Cherilyn slumps down, defeated. “Arcana Iryis, just how involved were you in this?” 

“Hm? I didn’t know anymore than you did until earlier today. This is something Runicez and his majesty discussed completely by themselves.” 

“And you’ll be watching over them?” 

“I plan to have a few of my lower ranking subordinates take care of that.” 

“So, if any of them takes your interest? Will you be willing to take them as a student?”

“Excuse me?” Runicez rises up in concern. Iryis looks interested and the King looks neutral. 

“That depends. Just what are they intending to do when left to their own devices?” 

Cherilyn looks back at us, with a face full of desperation. “OK, I know this is incredibly sudden, but what do you three want to do with your lives? If you were given enough money to do anything, what would you pursue? Keep your purpose in mind.”

Blood eyes guy and the cute boy freeze. I know what my answer is but I also freeze. 

“I don’t know.” says the blood eyes guy. 

“Yeah, sorry, I don’t have a clue. I guess I’d do a whole lot of nothing.” follows the cute boy. 

Cherilyn’s face contorts into an expression of despair. “What about you? What would you do?”

Oh God, she’s talking to me. I can feel the stress welling up in my veins. I so desperately want to get away with not speaking but I can’t. I’m so nervous… no! You already know your answer, there isn’t anything wrong with it, so just say it! That’s much easier said than done, though… no! No hesitating! On the count of 3 say it! 3… 2… 1…

“Magic.”

That’s followed by silence. I’m not paying attention to the blood eyes guy or the cute boy, so I don’t know what their reaction was to that. Cherilyn looks relieved. Runicez has an expression I can’t read. The King looks as neutral as ever. Iryis seems to be very interested in me and has begun rubbing his beard while looking at me. No one’s said a word, do I keep going?

“I… haven’t seen it much… but I know it’s there. I want to learn everything about it. I saw that summoning circle and I was so entranced by its beauty… I want to be able to draw something like that… I want to learn just how it functions in this world…” I’m speaking nothing but the truth. Something so beautiful that can even bring back the dead is so endlessly captivating to me.

“See! Would you be willing to take her as one of your students, Iryis!?” Cherilyn yells. 

“I suppose that’s fine, assuming it’s alright with her and Runicez.” 

“I’ll allow it. We’ll just go with the story that you managed to scout out a prodigy.” Runicez unexpectedly is totally happy with letting me study under Iryis. But he said he only would if I was OK with it. 

“So I can get her as one of your students but the other two are off the table?” 

“I have no need for students with no direction after being given a second chance at life.” Iryis responded 

“And I’m not allowed to watch over them at all?” 

“No, you are not.” Runicez responded 

“Then can she still remain in contact with these two?” 

“I’ll allow it.” the King responded.

“Then all that’s left is to make sure she’s OK with studying under me.” Iryis says. Oh God, you’re actually going to make me make a decision, please don’t. 

“Well? What will it be, young lady?” Oh God, oh God, oh God.

“Let’s start with this, how much do you know about magic?” What do I know about magic? Let’s think… practically nothing. But I can’t say that, how do I put this… oh God, the stress, the stress, the stress… Just tell him what you’ve seen! 

“I’ve seen healing magic… purple fire… and that magic circle…” I really don’t want to mention that light in case it was actually a dream and saying that would have embarrassed myself. At least I got that sentence out. But I still have a whole bunch of this conversation to get through… 

“I see, so next to nothing then?” 

“Sorry…” 

“Do not apologize for your own ignorance. As long as you are aware of it it’s fine.” Phew, Iryis doesn’t seem like he’s the type to easily get angry at me. Thank God.

“Let’s begin with just what magic is in this world, and then we’ll discuss you studying under me, is that alright?” 

“Yes… sir…” 

“Alright, magic strictly speaking is a method of communication. In order to even begin using magic, you must either be able to forge connections with powerful entities and locations throughout the world or be able to know your own soul well enough to forge a connection with it, preferably the latter. Magic in this world is all about connections.”

With that short explanation from Iryis, I start to fall into despair. Both of those things would be incredibly difficult for me. I wouldn’t even know where to begin. What am I supposed to do in this situation?

“The latter is why I have no need for students who have no direction in life. But you are different. Even if you’re learning magic just for the sake of it, if that desire is strong enough to forge the connections you need, I’ll wholeheartedly assist you.”

But… but… I don’t think I can do that… maybe if someone was going out of their way to help me… but I also don’t want to waste Iryis’ time by forcing him to help me talk to people… but there’s also blood eyes guy and the cute boy I need to worry about. Since we’re allowed to stay in contact I could probably help them out in that position, but what if I wind up failing and they end up disappointed in me? Would they be disappointed in me if I said no? Oh God…

“I need… time to think…” Is all I can get out. 

“Hm, there’s going to be a bit of an issue with that.” Runicez says, filling me with dread. 

“W- what?” I say, barely suppressing my own tears.

“You may enter.” The King says. Then three people wearing long white robes, hiding their faces with hoods come walking into the throneroom. The one in the front is carrying a large intricate briefcase. Cherilyn doesn’t seem happy about this.

“Already!? You were planning on doing it here!? Couldn’t you give her more time to decide!?” Cherilyn practically screams. 

“They have a very busy schedule, you know, Cherilyn. It would be very rude of you to make them wait.” Runicez replies. I’m really starting to hate this guy. 

“I’ll allow her five minutes. Then they’ll have the slave crests put on.  If she decides to study under Iryis, she’ll be exempt.” Says the King. I’m allowed five minutes to make the first major decision at my new chance at life… I feel like I’m going to throw up.

><><><><

When I first saw that girl, my first impression was nervous. She was shaking as Cherilyn led her up to the King, she tried to make herself as small as possible, and every word that came out of her mouth was lathered in uncertainty. This nervous girl who can’t read our language, who can barely even speak, is considering studying under me.

You can’t help but wonder if she’s even capable of using any sort of magic, with a constitution like that, even if she is an otherworlder. But that’s where I was wrong. Whereas the other two had no direction in life, she resisted her own anxiety and stated that she wanted to learn magic. When her answer was met with silence, she forced herself to explain it.

Using my magic to look into her soul, I see that she’s a woman absolutely obsessed with anything that causes her to feel joy, but is far too nervous and unstable to actually pursue anything. Given the proper tutelage, considering the fact that she’s an otherworlder, it could be possible that she could even surpass me and Runicez. To tell the truth I desperately want her.

The other two don’t catch my interest in the slightest. Perhaps they could eventually become fine mages when they find their purpose in life, but eventually is not now. Looking at that woman’s soul makes me so happy that I learned to do such a thing. I would do anything in my power to convince her to join me.

Unfortunately, the turbulence in her soul makes it so that her magical potential will be stunted if I’m even a little bit forceful, so I just have to hope she’ll accept. The silence as she thinks is deafening. Then she looks up, with a look of nervousness. Her soul itself is shaking. Just what are you going to say?

“I don’t want to study under Iryis. Please give me the slave crest.” Huh, it seems I’ve been refused. Man, that stings. Let’s just hope that Runicez’ approach allows her to become adept at magic.

“Huh!? Are you really sure about this!?” Cherilyn isn’t as calm as I am. She’s much more concerned about the average person than I am, and it’s possible she feels a sense of comradery with her since they’re both fellow otherworlders, but adding doubt onto her decision will only shake her soul and hurt her more. 

“That’s enough Cherilyn, she has made a decision and I plan to allow her to stick to it. There’s no meaning in forcing a student under me against their will.” Cherilyn looks defeated, and the otherworlder’s soul begins to shake noticeably less. 

“You’ve heard him, Cherilyn. Begin putting the slave crests on them. My King, if you will.” Runicez speaks up, trying to cause Cherilyn as much emotional pain as possible. 

“My King, if you will provide your blood. It would be unthinkable for these three to be anybody’s slaves other than yours.” 

“Of course.”

The slave trader with the box walks up to his majesty and begins opening the box. He takes a canister of water and pours it into a bowl. Then he takes a needle and reaches for his majesty. The majesty outstretches his finger and his blood is drawn. The royal blood is then diluted into the bowl of water.

The slave trader then walks back to the three other worlders. One of the other grabs the woman, much to her dismay. They pull her robe down slightly and begin writing a magic circle onto her chest. Once she realized this was for the slave crest and not anything else she stopped resisting. Her soul even started to tremble less and she became very interested in just what they were doing.

It didn’t take long for them to finish drawing the magic circle. After that they retrieve a small piece of paper from their box and dipped it into the bloody water. This was stuck to the otherworlder’s chest, and then the spell was cast. She suddenly screamed out in pain, but she stopped quickly.

Taking the paper off, a burn mark was left on her chest. 

“The wound will completely fade within 5 minutes.” Said the slave trader as he and his assistants moved on to the next otherworlder. This process was done quickly & efficiently, and after that they were all escorted out of the castle by armed guards.

According to Runicez, they were given enough money to rent an inn for a month, but other than that and the clothes on their backs they have nothing, much to Cherilyn’s dismay They can’t even read or write. I’m sure their lives onward will be much harder than whatever they were used to.

I’ll remember that girl with the black hair and purple eyes. I want to know the reasons for her decisions, but now is not the right time to be asking those questions.