Chapter 11- Your Mother’s a Hunter!

The closest analogy Cael could muster for describing his current situation is that it’s something akin to standing before your teacher when an assignments due all the while knowing full well you have nothing to hand in. Following such an example Cael decided to opt for the act like nothings wrong approach and work from there.

『Ah~ yep, my name is Caelus Flynn and I totally accept this request. Hundred percent I have the will to protect the peoples of Eden yes siree no doubt about that Mr Emperor … sir~』

Despite doing his best impression of someone harmless to both people and animals alike he could see that the Emperor was entirely unmoved at least if he was reading his expression correctly. From Cael’s perspective the silver haired man appeared to be almost trying to compete with him by doing an equally skillful impression of a constipated person; well either that or his plan was not working out as well as he had hoped.

『Thank you, I have certainly received your “feelings” however young Alexander was not the only one I heard about from high priest Veyron.』

Hearing that Cael levelled Gandalf the flattest stare he could manage on short notice. Upon feeling the eyes boring into him the priest coughed lightly and suddenly found the wall much more interesting than a few seconds prior.

Despite having some minor misgivings Cael knew it wasn’t really Gandalf’s fault so turning back to the man in the crown he tried his hand at a different strategy only this time deciding to take a page out of Alex’s book.

『All good things I hope.』

『...』

Incomprehensible, why am I now the one on the receiving end of a stare flat enough to make paper consider going on a diet? Such was Cael’s sincere thoughts as he seemed to forget the other golden rule of nobody liking a smartass.

After clearing his throat and reapplying his regal countenance the Emperor soon continued where he had left off.

『Yes, I have indeed heard about your circumstances Caelus the Hunter.』

Weirded out about the way he was being called; Cael decided to throw out some alternatives that were a bit lower on his personal cringe scale.

『It’s fine to call me just Caelus or rather you can even call me Cael if you prefer y’know~』

『I shall keep that in mind Caelus the Hunter.』

Channelling his teacher once more Cael felt his brow doing the samba at the Emperor’s complete disregard for his words.

『Isn’t the way you’re calling me strange though? I mean you’re not called Damian the Ruler, are you?』

Selene’s father gave him the side eye at that not before lightly opening his mouth as if realising something.

『Ah I see, it appears you are unfamiliar with the naming conventions of this land. When referring to someone without a family name it is tradition to use their given name in conjunction with their class as substitute to prevent any kind of confusion. Using yourself as an example the likelihood of another named Caelus who just so happened to be a hunter as well is so small that it is sufficient for use in court or filling out formal documents.』

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Cael was given some slight clarity on the matter but soon realised the crux of the problem was again his status.

『My name is Caelus Flynn though; I have a family name what does it matter what it says on my status sheet when I’ve been called like that my entire life.』

Rubbing his chin the older man replied solemnly.

『It is indeed a problem but you must understand Caelus the Hunter that a name without recognition is worth nothing and therefore no one will call you by it.』

『What recognition?』

『Yes, this also ties in with the problem of your class so I shall allow high priest Veyron to explain the manner by which status magic functions. It is my hope that this explanation will enable you to understand why it is that you alone are the one person that I cannot allow to take on the title of hero no matter what kind of inherent talent you may possess as a otherworlder.』

At the Emperor’s behest Gandalf stepped forward to the centre of the room to begin his sermon on the intricacies of status magic.

『Status magic, under the branch of order exists to transcribe information about mortals taken from the aether into more recognisable ways and mark it permanently across a medium in most cases this is a sheet of paper.』

After a breath Gandalf continued his long tirade.

『Direct information on physical parameters such as essence capacity, level of existence, blessings, strength, endurance, agility and vitality can be read by shining the magic through the target. These are easy because the aether automatically records such information anyway and as such it must merely be found and translated into simple to read terms or numerical format.』

At this time Gandalf’s excitement was almost palpable as a fervour previously unseen by the wizened man practically radiated off of him in waves. Cael found the atmosphere the old man gave off at such a time to be reminiscent of the famed Akiba warriors discussing the various releases of the latest anime season.

『The difficult sections however are dexterity, class and surprisingly name; this is because they require more comparative information that takes the entirety of Pleiades into account. At this time I will not go into the complexities of dexterity but as I had said previously class is the vocation the world most recognises as yours this is also true for names following the same system the question then becomes, what is recognition?』

With bloodshot eyes the priest looked back and forth almost as if to check that everyone was as filled with suspense as he imagined; following this he finally got to the meat and bones of the story.

『After much study by generations of my predecessors at the temple, the conclusion is that recognition is a hard value based on a variety of factors. Each person in this world has a certain amount of “importance” for example a peasant may have an importance of 1 and a king an importance of 100. As such if say 10 peasants know you as Jack but 1 king knows you as Steve your status would say you are Steve but on the contrary if 200 peasants knew you as Jack even if the king believed you to be Steve you would be Jack.』

Hearing this everything began to fall into place for Cael. The strange emphasis by which Aria called his name as simply Caelus means that she as a god does not recognise his family name of Flynn and this was reflected on his status.

Despite Cael’s thoughtful state Gandalf didn’t wait and continued.

『When talking about recognition this only entails the denizens of this world so the class of hero would be the result of those present recognizing you summoned individuals as such. The fact that you boy are not recognised as a hero can only mean that either many insignificant people of this world believe you to be a hunter or some very influential individual believes this. Based off of your testimony the only possible candidate is the goddess lady Aria, if she believes you are a hunter and not a hero directly contradicting this statement would potentially offend her and mighty as the Severin Empire is we do not have the ability to resist the wrath of a god.』

As Gandalf finished the Emperor chimed back in.

『Do you see now Caelus the Hunter why there is nothing I can do?』

Cael understood completely and was no longer intent on causing a fuss knowing full well most of it was Aria’s fault but there it was again that phrase that irked him so being shoved in his face over and over again. Having gone through countless ups and downs all day he finally snapped when he heard that cringe inducing title for the nth time.

『I get it! I get it already! But Caelus the Hunter, Caelus the Hunter, Caelus the Hunter; you’re a hunter, your mother’s a hunter!』

Unable to resist any longer Cael scolded the Emperor causing an unparalleled silence in his wake. In that frozen world the only noise that could be heard was the sharp clapping caused by Alice’s face meeting with her palm so fast it echoed throughout the hall.