Tristan saw Velvet looking at the glass shards. None of them were hers, she had already warned Velvet about that.
Even then, she only got five… She thought, worried. Usually, two or three glass shards were useless or ‘rotten’, which would give Velvet only two options.
Siberiald’s laughter made it clear that one was his, and Velvet’s face upon the second also meant trouble.
Tristan waited, hoping one of the shards was a good choice.
…
Winter was happy, and confident in her victory, even more when she saw Velvet only getting five shards.
No one should be able to match my offer. She hummed. The only one that could is the Queen, and she showed no interest in her!
She only asked for ten years of work. Remunerated, of course. Which was a plus, actually, since that meant Velvet would work for the court. And that meant money.
I’m offering almost unlimited knowledge, a stable and high income working place, and a brilliant future! Only a fool would refuse! And, since Velvet is no fool, she is as good as mine already!
Winter smiled with confidence, taking a sip from her tea.
That’s how a real Arhontissian mage negotiates! We are the best continent!
She was so happy with her ideas, she barely noticed Velvet spending too many seconds on the last shard. Why would she? She had already won, of course.
First I will introduce her to Creftalia. The poor girl is too shy, so maybe they do the introvert-extrovert thing and become friends. Later, I can reintroduce her to Igern… they started on the wrong side in the airship, but it’s nothing that can’t be fixed!
Igern… he is almost like a cat, who you need to put close to the door so that he can sniff the other cats first… Oh, it’ll be fine!
Winter watched Velvet put down the last shard, seemingly having decided on one already. Smiling to herself, she played with her tea.
Go, say my name already, prove everyone how great of a nation Arhontissa is!
The Director gave the signal for Velvet to speak.
Queen’s Arsenal, Winter!
“Ceres d’Employed.”
“Eh?” Winter said, her tea freezing suddenly. She must’ve heard wrong.
Yes, clearly, Velvet just said her name. Obviously. Incorporating herself in a fast motion, and getting a stare from the Queen, she waited for her fellow official mages to confirm that she had indeed heard wrong.
“Who is that mage?” One of them whispered to another. He didn’t seem to know who Winter was! Even when he was also Arhontissian! Incredible!
“Ceres…? Never heard of him.”
What Ceres? That’s not how you spell Winter!
While Winter kept on being delusional, Tristan was having her own internal struggles.
Really? Did he get bored of doing nothing? Well, I’m happy for Velvet, Ceres has always been lazy, but he is not bad.
“D’Employed? I don’t remember that being your title.” A voice coming from the upper seats seemed contrary to the decision.
Velvet looked at the owner. An old man with a long white beard, and strange looking eyes that made her feel dizzy. He was looking down to the side, staring at another man.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
That man, who she supposed was C, or Ceres, had loose and simple clothes, brown hair that crossed his shoulders tied low in an unkempt fashion, and a few days beard.
Together with his brown eyes, he looked like a common man one could find in any casino and not a mage.
Ceres made an exaggerated sigh, relaxing more his seating position. “Hm? Seems my ears are a bit clogged, I barely heard what you blabbed, old man.”
Hasdrubal clenched his teeth in an imperceptible manner. If Velvet went with him, he could forget about negotiating for the spells. Not because Ceres was loyal or whatever, but because he was the worst type of person! He was petty, impulsive, impolite, rude, lazy…
If Ceres knew Hasdrubal wanted something from his selected, he would just use it to mock him, and he could forget about obtaining it!
So he needed to make Velvet rethink her choice.
“Your title. D’Employed.” He made sure to pronounce every word slowly and carefully. “It’s not accurate. Your current title is: The Embarrassment of the Mergifari, Ceres the Unemployed.”
“Oh? Is that all you wanted to say? Okay.” Ceres reclined back again, ignoring Hasdrubal stare.
“What I am saying is that there’s been a lie on the offer.”
“So you're saying the Director is allowing fraud. You should've started with that.” Ceres said, making Hasdrubal, and a few mages flinch in panic, their gazes moving to the Director, who didn’t react much.
“I am not implying that, you-!” Hasdrubal cut himself, taking a deep breath. “What I’m saying is that you didn’t tell the whole truth, and she should have the option to reconsider.”
“I’m not changing my choice.” Now it was Velvet’s turn to speak. “The Embarrassment of the Mergifari, Ceres the Unemployed is my Selector.”
Hasdrubal kept silent after those words. If she wasn’t reconsidering knowing that, insisting might be detrimental.
Therefore, the Selection must go on. Now Ceres had to give an insignia to Velvet, one every official mage had, that marked her as Ceres' apprentice.
“Hey.” Ceres spoke to Velvet when she got close to receive the insignia. “Did you get an offer from Hasdrubal?” He didn't exactly whisper, nor spoke harder.
“One for exchanging information. And he didn’t use his All-Knowing title.” Velvet snitched in the same tone of voice, letting several mages hear.
“Ohhh, so he’s pissed, pissed. Nice.” Ceres made a twisted smirk, giving an iron piece to Velvet. “Alright, now go to the Mergifari, you’re in.”
She entered the door to the Mergifari, leaving the Selection room behind.
…
Looking at the piece of iron that was her insignia, which looked like a flat, metallic Udulluay, she walked down a hallway, which seemed to be taking her to the other side of the Mergifari, stopping when she saw a familiar figure.
Alrai Siberetti, who also saw her.
“Oh, aren’t you a fast climber?” He said, getting close to her. “So, who picked you?” He looked at the insignia, but didn’t recognize it.
“Guess. Why are you stopping here like a colorful roadblock?”
“I was waiting for you, my dear Velvatosta.”
“So Ethra still hasn’t entered.” She concluded, watching how Alrai’s smile grew at that. “What about my friends? Have they entered yet?”
“I wasn’t the first, you know… But no, no one you knew has crossed my path.”
The sound of footsteps stopped their chitchat. They came from the Mergifari, not the Selection room, so either a student had come back to search for their companions, or someone wanted to go to the Selection room.
An Arhontissian noble. She guessed, seeing what the guy was wearing. He had golden eyes, Velvet noticed, after he went to the wall opposite them, probably waiting for someone.
She turned to Alrai. “Your dad wanted to select me, you know?”
“Of course! Who doesn’t want you?”
“No one, I tell you.” Another sound of steps made them stop, this one coming from the Selection room.
This time it was Igern, which made both Velvet and Alrai cheer, trying to be annoying.
Igern stopped after seeing them, grimacing. But that was nothing in comparison to the face he made upon seeing the other guy. That one was of pure hate.
It lasted less than a second, but Velvet was a knowledge mage. And Alrai wasn’t stupid.
After pondering for a second, Igern started walking again, apparently planning to ignore all of them and go inside.
“The Queen wants us to wait for the rest.” The unknown guy said.
“If those are the Queen's wishes.” Igern stopped, and, deciding he didn’t want to stay in the middle of the hallway, he went to the wall where Alrai and Velvet were.
Both of them went instantly next to him, surrounding him.
“Who is he? Man, you looked pissed!”
Igern opened his mouth, probably to tell both of them to fuck off and die, but, remembering he was under the Queen, he took a deep breath instead.
“The Chosen one, Dianthus.”