As I ate my food on the first floor of the inn, I glanced over to the side of the table where a small ferret was standing up tall, chewing on a raisin. 

“Master, this is delicious!”

Not only that, but the ferret could talk. It felt like only moments ago when this ferret (snake) was trying to take my life. 

“Don’t eat too fast, Rene.”

I wiped off the side of the ferret’s mouth.

After the snake had turned into a Ferret, she told me she was no longer under the control of Nehebkau.

Instead, Faye switched over ownership to me. When I told it it was free, it wrapped itself around my ankle refusing to go. 

‘She cried so much I eventually told her she could stay…’

I gave her the name Rene, once that was decided.

“Oh my, what a cute ferret!” 

Mili, the inn owner’s daughter stopped by our table to refill my glass.

“What’s her name?”

“My name’s Rene!”

The little ferret stood proudly with her chest held high.

“A talking ferret!” Mili gasped.

A talking pet wasn’t anything out of the ordinary in this world, but it definitely wasn’t common. That's because they were likely to be familiars. Familiars were often seen with mages, and they were known for their superior physical skills. Some were even capable of magic.

“I didn’t know we had a mage staying at our inn, what an honor!”

“Haha… I’m just a traveler.”

“So you can’t use magic?”

“Well, I can… a bit.”

“Then you are a mage!”

I scratched the back of my head. It was hard to say I was a mage, since I never casted a spell myself.

“Wait a second- Mother!” Mili yelled towards the kitchen.

Soon after, the owner who was wearing an apron came walking out.

“What’s the matter?” 

“Did you know one of our guests was a mage?”

“Oh?”

The inn owner's eyes glistened as she glanced at me.

“Then are you able to fix this? I was just about to go buy a new one…”

The owner held out a kitchen knife that had a large crack through the middle. 

Unable to keep up with the pace, I stared blankly at the knife.

‘What should I do…’

I glanced around to see if anyone was looking over. Thankfully, most of the customers were sitting on the right side, while only I was on the left. Many of them were deep in their own conversations.

‘Faye, if you could.’

The knife slowly shimmered in a green glow, returning to the state it was in when the owner first bought it. 

The owner picked up the knife and looked at it with wide eyes. 

“Thank you boy, your meals on me.”

Then the owner went back into the kitchen.

Mili, on the other hand was still standing by my table. She walked over and sat down in front of me.

“Have you also come to Sonia to take the Acadia test?”

“…?”

“I hate to break it to you, but the age limit is 14. Even if it’s open to commoners, they probably won’t budge on the age.”

“There’s a test for commoners?”

“You didn’t know? It was a huge event a few days ago. The sword division accepted a commoner this spring semester, for the first time in history. Once word got out, the people complained that the Magic division wasn’t giving similar chances. The complaints had reached all the way up to the princess’s ears, and she convinced them to hold a test each semester to find talent among the commoners.”

This was something that I didn’t know from reading the story. Most of it was told from Ellan’s point of view which took place in the sword division.

As I fell into thought, Mili got back up to work. 

“Master.”

“Hm?”

I looked down at Rene, who was still eating.

“There’s a guy over there who keeps looking at you.” 

I turned my head over, and made eye contact with a guy who was sitting alone on the other side of the inn.

He was wearing a black and red mercenary’s attire, with a long spear leaning against the wall next to him.

His red hair was slicked up, and he had thin slit eyes below his sharp eyebrows. It was a strong and intimidating face.

The most worrying part was that he was grinning.

“Master, should I kill him?”

I felt a chill as I looked back at the cute ferret face. For a moment I thought I saw red in her blue eyes.

I shook my head, while feeding her another raisin.

‘I’m going to have to teach Rene later that it’s not okay to go around killing…’ 

I was too sleepy to think about anything else, so I quickly got up from my seat. Rene climbed over onto my shoulder, as I walked up the stairs. The moment I got into my room, I passed out on the bed.

***

When I woke up the next day, it was already late in the afternoon. I felt a little dizzy from sleeping too much. 

‘I feel like I dreamed of something… but I don’t remember what it was about.’ 

It was a strange feeling, like I was forgetting something really important. 

“You’re up! You’re up!”

Rene jumped up and down on the bed. I pet her head, and she nuzzled her face into my palm. 

Faye floated around and came in between us, asking to also be pet.

‘But you're a book…’

Faye freezes, stunned by my thought and droops down onto the bed. 

‘Alright…’ 

I pat the front cover of the sad book, waiting until its mood recovered.

I looked down at my clothes. I had been wearing the same shirt that I received from Saul yesterday, and it was no longer clean enough to wear. 

“Faye, can you return this to a clean state?”

Faye glowed, and my shirt became as good as new.

“I guess some spells don’t require you to draw a circle?”

Faye nodded up and down.

“And the more you use magic, the more you’ll improve?”

Faye nodded up and down.

“Then I’ll have to ask for your help more often.” 

Faye flew around me with joy.

***

As I went downstairs to eat something, the table I used yesterday was already occupied by the red-haired man. 

When he saw me coming down, he waved his hand.

“Hey! You’re finally up. Come sit down.”

I looked at him speechlessly.

If anyone else heard him, they would think we were long time friends.

I let out a sigh as I walked over to the table, and sat across from him.

Rene climbed down my shoulder, and stood on top of the table. She was glaring at the red-haired man, ready to attack at any moment. 

Sadly for Rene, the cute ferret face wasn’t scaring the man at all. 

“One wrong move, and I’ll bite your neck off!” 

Rene threatened the man as she growled.

The red-haired man looked at Rene and back at me with widened eyes.

“I knew you were special, but this is more than I expected…”

“I’m sorry, do you know me…?”

“Not you personally, but I do know the owner of that shirt you’re wearing. If you look inside the left sleeve, you should see an initial embroidered in.

I looked down at my white top, and checked the inside of my left sleeve. The letters X and W were embroidered in.

“That shirt belongs to my brother, Xalen Winters.”

I looked up at him with surprise. 

“Hmm I expected more of a reaction… he is afterall, a pretty important guy.”

Xalen Winters. He was the Grand Duke of the Northern Country, Dresia.

Dresia had no royalty, and was a country commanded by a group of nobles. They had 5 Dukes, and 1 Grand duke.

Dresia was one of the ally countries of Sonia. When enemy nations attacked from the north, it was always Dresia that stood at the front lines. 

“That makes you… Kale Winters.”

“…I’m surprised you’ve heard of me. People usually don’t know.”

There was no way I wouldn’t know. In the story, he was the reason his older brother Xalen betrayed Sonia. Although the story didn’t have much information about Kale, I knew exactly where and how he would die.