The selection was nowhere near as important an event as I imagined it to be. We were brought to the main temple of Gera in Jenusia dressed even more fancily than we were during the first ceremony, after which the old man who we were told was equivalent to a ‘pope’ spouted some nonsense about the Goddess bestowing upon him the likenesses of the most powerful divine messengers, which she told him are to be made protectors of the faithful on Euphelia.
The whole affair felt very insincere, and it took a lot of effort on my part to not viscerally cringe at the long-winded speech of the Grand Prelate. Back during the first outing on horseback I remembered hearing Kuvira clearly use the word ‘selection’ when talking to Sir Grant. I thereafter noticed that many of the guards that were assigned to us were keeping watch not only for external threats but observed our training in great detail, as if evaluating our abilities for some purpose. I dialed back my efforts in swordsmanship and horse riding training even more, much to the chagrin of Janis. I was no longer aiming to be dead-average, but instead to be below average among the students.
The grand prelate spoke for quite a long time, too long by any reasonable measure and it almost felt like he was making up new things to say on the spot after a while, with some contradictions here and there in his fanciful tale about the greatness and magnanimity of his Goddess. About one and a half hours after we were led into the temple, and told to stand in neat orderly rows behind the big shot nobles who had chairs reserved for them near the front, the main event of the ‘selection’ began.
The grand prelate called up the names of 12 students, some of which were all too familiar to me. Three people dressed in similar attire to the magi at the Magisterium but were actually from Earth and nine people dressed in almost identical clothing to myself were called up and walked gracefully up the stairs to the podium where the old man stood. The most surprising face among these was Kevin, who I had not seen for over a month now ever since he passed the aptitude test. He looked like someone straight out of a fashion magazine, with great efforts being made to make him look presentable. It was odd that none of those who had their names called showed surprise on their faces, perhaps the Jenusians notified those who had been ‘selected’ in advance, and the name of this ceremony was entirely farcical.
I had spent quite a long time last night theorizing what exactly the process of this ‘selection’ would be with Max and Louis, with both of them worrying about what herculean tasks the Jenusians would put us through once again, but it seems that the ‘winners’ of the selection had been predetermined all along. Surprisingly not only students from the school were selected, but a teacher as well. Mr. Hendricks was one of the supposed ‘guardians’ that was going to be selected today, and it made sense with how having 12 unruly teenagers being given a lot of power would result in some of them letting it get to their heads. The government of Jenusia probably thought it best to have a more mature person keep them grounded, which is a logical conclusion to make even if Mr. Hendricks didn’t meet the criteria they were looking for.
The twelve people who had their names called out received special bracelets and necklaces which had the symbol of an ‘ouroboros’. This was a symbol all too common on Earth as well, of a snake eating its own tail, a fitting image for what we were taught in class was the Goddess of Fate and War. The newly-anointed guardians stood proudly in front of the podium, facing the assembled audience with smiles on their faces, Kevin’s being the widest of them all.
The Grand Prelate then began to chant a spell, a surprising development since I thought only those affiliated with the Magisterium were capable of such feats, and as he finished a wind began blowing towards us from the direction of the podium. This spell was not as scary or powerful as the one Magister Kenner demonstrated on the day of the aptitude test, but I could still feel a sort of magnetism from the direction of the Grand Prelate, as if something was pulling at my core from his direction. The assembled priests and nobles began to applaud enthusiastically once air calmed in the temple hall, clearly this was the end of the ‘selection’.
The ones selected were 11th and 12th graders with the exception of Mr. Hendricks of course, which meant that despite the two groups being in one place for the first time in a while, I did not get to see and speak to Leigh. The atmosphere during dinner that day was one of confusion, with many not understanding the precise meaning of being a ‘guardian’, myself included. This confusion turned to elation the next morning however when Sir Grant came to the compound, and announced that the schedule by which we had been living up until this day was going to be changing, for the better.
We would still have two days of classes with our teachers, one day of physical plus swordsmanship lessons, and one day of horse riding, but three days a week would from now on be made free at our disposal. Sir Grant did not come alone either, over 200 horses were being moved from into the up-until-now empty stables at the compound. Apparently the Jenusians were going to be relaxing the restrictions on our movements which was surprising, and that on our three days off we were free to go wherever in Krilos and in the vicinity of the capital as long as we returned to the compound before sundown. Apparently we now had a curfew, great.
This news was met with great enthusiasm by the students, and those that were mulling over the events of the previous day, and people began making plans for the day off that we would have soon. This news was accompanied by my first introduction to the local currency, which was quite out-dated by modern standards. The Jenusians were going to be giving us an allowance every month, so that we would be able to go out and buy some things which we would want to get, and that allowance consisted of five silver crowns. The currency in Euphelia differed from place to place but in Jenusia and its dependent states they used the coins minted by the crown itself, hence the name. One gold crown was equivalent to ten silver crowns, and one silver was equivalent to ten copper crowns which was the main currency used by the commoners of Jenusia.
Five silver crowns meant that we would have a spending power comparable to a relatively wealthy resident or Krilos. Max and Louis were interested in going to shops and just seeing what we could buy but my first thought on what to buy was already set. Since the horse that I had been practicing with so far was already in the stable, and would be cared for by the servants of the compound I would theoretically be able to ride out of Krilos just to explore and get a better understanding of the local area. But so far we had only been doing so under the protection of armed guards, and I did not feel entirely safe in doing so alone.
I decided that after getting the allowance from the Jenusians, I would seek out a blacksmith and try to purchase a sword of some sort. This would at least let me feel relatively safe, and from the other questions some of the teachers were posing to Sir Grant I got a better understanding of the rules as they would be from here on out. We would be allowed to bring whatever we want into the compound, but we would have our weapons confiscated and locked up in the armory which was conveniently not far away from the stables, and we would be able to retrieve them when we wanted to go outside.
The class content of that day changed as well, we were no longer going to be learning about Jenusian History and all of the class time we would usually spend listening to Goer drone on about this and that would be replaced with noble etiquette classes, which confused me at first. Didn’t we all fail the selection? I was under the impression that after that we would have minimal contact with the higher ups of Jenusian society, but this sudden focus on etiquette made me worry slightly as to the things we were going to be put through in the future.
Noble etiquette was a much less interesting class than Jenusian History, even if that class was full of a lot of propaganda and half-truths. To teach us etiquette Goer would switch on what some of my classmates jokingly called his ‘noble’ mode. In this mode he was a lot more refined and haughty in his dealings with us, and there was so much repetition involved it felt like some kind of intense noble bootcamp or something.
Nevertheless I pulled through, and tried to remember how the dealings between nobles worked since I didn’t want to be put into a bad situation in the future by offending some noble on his high-horse, whether it be literally or figuratively.
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On the first day off we asked for some directions from the people in the stables after which Max, Louis, and I headed off on foot towards what the Jenusians called the trade sector. We felt it prudent not to ride our horses on our excursion today as that would present its own set of problems and I didn’t want to worry about riding someone over or having the horse stolen while I was doing something else on foot.
The trade sector was a very bustling part of the city, with the usual stench of feces now interspersed with pleasant smells coming from the numerous food stalls, which primarily served the commoners. We were garbed in our usual noble-looking tunics which drew some stares from the people of Krilos, but acting like tourists back on Earth probably played a part in this as well. It still didn’t quite make sense to me that we would be left to our own devices for today by the Jenusians, as things could go bad quite quickly considering we were not native speakers of Rahlian and we were also not entirely aware of how to behave in this strange environment. As we were leaving the noble district in which the compound was located, we passed by a cloaked man who was just leaning on the corner of one of the buildings. His appearance struck me as odd as he was still wearing a hood while it was summer and quite warm, and it was even more surprising to see him again when we stopped at one of the food stalls because Max the glutton couldn’t want to eat something other than the standard ‘noble’ food provided to us for the past few months.
The Jenusian government most likely had eyes and ears all over the city, and the cloaked man appearing always behind where we came probably meant he was assigned to watch over us. This didn’t bother me that much as I wasn’t planning on getting up to anything untoward today so I just took the situation in stride, it was nice to know that there would be someone to fall back on should things go badly. Some parts of the trade district were visibly worse off than others, and the looks I got from some of the men in the alleys between buildings which were focused on the leather coin-purse I had wrapped around my waist implied this was not the best place to come after sundown.
Even though the 5 silver crowns we were provided as a monthly allowance, my roommates had already wasted one silver each on some of the food stalls but also on some accessories. Max bought himself a dark-green hat in one of the stores that was aimed at wealthy commoners, and Louis ever the fantasy-nerd spent his money on a gray cloak that seemed out of season to me. They even tried to get me to buy something at that store too, but I had already told them there was something else I wanted to purchase with the money. The shopkeeper was very respectful to the three of us which made Max and Louis a little uncomfortable but I understood to be the result of the way we spoke Rahlian. Janis had previously commented that the Rahlian we were taught was noble, and since it was thus far the only way we learned to speak it we sounded like some noble kids who just came out for some shopping to the commoner shopkeeper.
I asked the shopkeeper for directions to a place I could buy a sword and he recommended a man he said sold quality items for nobles like myself, but I interrupted him and said I was looking for something a little cheaper which earned me a scowl from the shopkeep. Was he perhaps someone who got kickbacks for recommending that first store?
The place we were directed to was Iron Street, it was the part of the trade district where blacksmiths and armorers set up their stores, and it smelled like it too. The clientele everywhere else in the trade district was pretty balanced gender-wise, but here it was all men some of whom looked like mountains of muscle. The unfriendly gazes coming our way motivated me to jump into the first store I found where the shopkeeper was just as respectful to us as the clothing store.
The prices were a bit larger than what I was expecting, a sword of similar length to the one we used in training cost about 8 silver crowns, which was way beyond my budget. I was hoping to buy a sword, a sheath, and a belt on which to attach that sheath all for five silvers, but it seems that prices were higher for such items. I eventually managed to convince the shopkeeper to sell me a used set of all I was looking for, the price of which was exactly five silver crowns. But the one problem with this was that the sword was a short sword, not an arming sword like the one we practiced with.
Having a short sword was a preferable alternative to waiting a month to buy a longer one, so I decided to bite the bullet but not before unsuccessfully bargaining with the shopkeeper for a while. Max and Louis were boys just like myself, and were browsing the merchandise on display with great enthusiasm, no doubt making plans to save up some of the money this month and use their next-month’s allowance to purchase something cool.
We spent some more time exploring the trade district, noticing some other students out and about in the process and seeing some shocking things every now and then. The concept of a ‘drinking age’ did not exist in Jenusia, and the provocatively dressed women who were calling out to pedestrians on the street targeted us as well. When Louis shyly informed her of our ages, she persisted in her attempts to visit the tavern she was promoting.
The most shocking thing however, was the presence of slaves at the trade district. Slavery as an idea is revolting to people from the modern age, and seeing chained up dirty people wearing collars and handcuffs was so unexpected that the first time we saw it we just stood still with mouths agape. People, and even children, were being sold at the trade district like inanimate goods, with the people of Krilos acting like this was a normal thing. Louis was the most affected by the spectacle, his fists clenching at the injustice occurring in front of us. Max and I had to literally grab him by his shoulders to turn him the other way and we quietly explained to him in English that this was something we couldn’t do anything about, and that he shouldn’t feel responsible for what was happening.
Witnessing slavery in person killed the desire of any of us to peruse the area any further, and we returned to the compound in worse moods than we had left with this morning. The guard who was at the stable walked up to me when he saw me carrying a sword, and I politely took off the sword belt and handed him my weapon while telling him my name. The rest of the evening was spent in our room comforting the pure soul that was Louis, still dealing with his emotions from seeing the unfortunate slaves.
The next day was a day off, and I invited my two roommates to go riding outside of the capital. They rejected the invitation, with Max saying he didn’t feel safe riding outside of the city walls, and Louis not wanting to go due to processing his feelings from yesterday. I spent most of the morning conversing with the stable workers, with them patiently answering my questions in regards to horses, as I thought it would be a good idea to learn how to actually care for a horse on my own. The black horse that had been my training companion still had no name, with only a number imprinted onto its backside being its identifying mark.
40 was the number assigned to my horse, and I decided to finally give it a name beyond just a number. Naming it something cliche like ‘forty’ didn’t seem quite right, so I decided to call it ‘Sorok’ which actually meant forty in another language from Earth. Even though I didn’t get to see much of my father in my childhood, I still was taught some basics of Russian and even when he took-off I thought that I should still learn on my own, hoping for him to return one day and be impressed that I could speak it.
I was a better rider than my roommates, and from what I saw only some of the girls were better than I was. I kept my pace steady and calm within the confines of Krilos, but as soon as I left the city gates I encouraged Sorok to break into a gallop, enjoying the feeling of freedom that came with finally going for a ride by myself, with no one else around me. I did see a few other travelers on the road, but these encounters didn’t amount to anything more than me waving and them waving back.
Just like arabic numerals, it seems that some things which are considered common on Earth existed in Jenusia, something I haven’t managed to get to the bottom of quite yet. These questions were still on my mind after all these months, but I had some more pressing concerns that kept coming up one after the other which took up most of the space in my mind. The ride on this day off was therapeutic, and managed to give me a lot more pleasure than I originally expected. I rode around the main travel roads, not veering too far off in any direction, and even made it to the Alcala river where I let Sorok have a drink, before returning back to the compound just before the curfew.
In class the next day, I decided to ask Goer a question, something I haven’t done in a while due to trying to ‘lay low’ as much as possible.
“Pardon me teacher, but I wanted to ask you if there was a place to go and read books in Krilos? Where we come from there are places where one can go and read books and they are quite common, but after walking around the city myself I didn’t see such a place” I asked, not knowing the Rahlian word for ‘library’.
“Ah you must be referring to a Library, there is no such place for commoners i’m afraid but since you are divine messengers you are most definitely considered of higher birth than them. I will write you a note that you can hand to the workers in the imperial library which is located in the palace district, with it you should be allowed entry into it, where you can find more books and texts than you would be able to read in a lifetime!” Goer excitedly answered, it seems he liked reading just as much as I did.
On the next free day we had, with note in hand, I walked to the palace district where I was stopped by the guards, but after showing them Goer’s note, and explaining my purpose they were much kinder and even gave me precise directions. The note got me into the library as well, where I was shocked by the vastness of it. The dimensions of the library were massive, like a warehouse where books were piled up all the way to the ceiling, each row having a ladder in it to aid with retrieving things that were higher up.
I got lost in thought as I finally thought I would get the answers I was seeking, walking aimlessly through the rows of books, trying to read the titles of every one I saw, even if they were written in a different alphabet, I noticed that there was someone in the library even earlier than I was.
A girl was sitting at one of the tables reading, wearing glasses which were far too advanced to be made here on Euphelia, garbed in a robe of a magi.