The entire area was silent for a moment, before the adults quickly arrived onto the scene. The Town Lady, Garad’s mother, was quickly upon the scene, but so was Dalia, Damien’s mother.

“What happened here?” Dalia Storm Fist asked, checking up on Mika, brushing the dust out of his hair.

“Garad punched Miki,” Ami said, her lower lip trembling as she fought off her tears.

The Town Lady brushed Garad’s face. “What happened, my sweet?”

“I was just trying to grab his shoulder and he turned around,” Garad admitted.

“He was bullying Miki,” Ami said.

“I’m sure it was just an accident.”

Mika sat up, coughing from the dust, his face covered in it. He shook slightly, trying to stop himself from crying. “The young master kept calling me a cripple, but when I was walking away, he punched me! Even if I’m a cripple, you cannot treat me like this!” Mika declared, bursting out into tears.

“I expected better of a Wyrm Silver,” Dalia said, embracing Mika closer to her chest.

“I’m sure it was an accident!” Lady Wyrm Silver stated.

“Will you say that Mika walked into his fist?” Dalia asked.

‘Yes!’ Lady Wyrm Silver thought. She swore she had seen the boy turn and take the blow, flinging himself away, but how could she say such a thing in front of all of them. “Garad, you should apologise.”

“I did not punch him!” Garad declared, his face scrunching up as he made to cry. “I did not!”

“I saw it!” Damien stated, firmly. “Vasher, did you see it?”

“I did,” the boy said, avoiding Mika’s gaze. He would say he had seen that, but he certainly did not see the other thing, surely not.

The two girls of the opposing faction, the Ox Fist and Ram Horn families, also agreed that they had seen it, while the Lunar Butterfly girl stated otherwise.

“He definitely walked into the fist!” she declared, proudly, backing up her family. The others gave her a side eye, and her cheeks flushed. She withdrew to her father.

“Garad, you have to apologise,” Lady Wyrm Silver held onto her son. “You must do so in front of everyone, my sweet. It’s okay, it’s okay.” She tenderly brushed his hair.

“I.. I…” Garad sniffled. “I’m sorry.” He clenched his fists, annoyed he had to apologise. It wasn’t fair that he had to apologise when he did nothing wrong.

Dalia held onto Mika, still holding his head into her bosom. “Are you alright, little Mika.”

Mika sniffled. “Yes, aunt Dalia…” ‘I knew I could trust in you.’ He paused. ‘Did you gain weight, aunt?’

‘What a crafty little boy,’ Dalia thought, certain she had seen that Mika had been hit on purpose. ‘How could you do something like that?’

Dalia cleaned his face up, before taking him with her to their little section to eat and drink. She exchanged a look with Vilia, who said nothing, sipping her tea slowly.

The results soon came out, with the teachers passing out those within the top ten of each type of examination printed on each paper, as well as the children’s personal results. Of course they picked the top ten in order to include all of the big noble families names, plus three others to appear as though they merely wanted to know the top ten of the best.

“Miki!” Ami gasped, looking at the paper. Typically, there would be a handful of children who would reach 80 or 90 for the exam, but Mika was the only one to beat 90, earning a 92, whereas the next highest was 74. Such a gap was unheard of.

‘Did I show off too much?’ Mika thought, wondering how the gap was so wide.

As the teachers approached with the personal exam results, many of them waited until Mika had been brought his, before they all swarmed him.

“Congratulations, young sir, you scored a perfect score on alchemy theory!”

‘Ah,’ Mika thought, realising how he had managed to gain such a high score in comparison to everyone else. He wasn’t able to score below a perfect score in the alchemy theory, even though he so badly wanted to fail the last question.

“Miki!” Ami hugged him close.

Mika smiled. “Hehe. Elder Yan said I would be a good alchemist so I tried my hardest to work on my alchemy.”

Garad had heard his cue, and as he opened his mouth, he felt his mother brush his hair, and he quickly shut up. He had just gotten into trouble, so if he opened his mouth, he’d get into greater trouble.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

As the teachers showered him in praise, Mika shyly rubbed the back of his head. ‘That’s more like it! Praise me more!’ He laughed deep within his heart, enjoying his time in the spotlight.

“Well done, Mika,” Dalia said.

“Mother, look,” Damien said, pointing at the sheet of paper. Damien was second on the top ten list in the physical exam, directly behind the Town Lord’s son, but only because they tied and the teachers put Damien’s name second.

“Yes, Damien, you did so well,” she said, reaching up to brush his hair.

Vasher also did well, managing to get fifth place for his physical test, tied with the Lunar Butterfly girl, and fifth for the written test too.

‘He’s great at both,’ Mika thought, seeing that no one else did as well as him for both tests.

Mika could hear the others talking about his test scores, especially his alchemy score. ‘Perhaps I should have lowered my score for the others?’

Eventually, the children scrambled away back to their homes, with Dalia escorting Mika and Ami first. Damien walked near them, though he was dragging himself.

“What’s wrong?” Ami asked.

“I promised father I would get at least an average of thirty in my written tests…” The boy glanced to the side.

“You did your best,” Ami said, patting his back gently. If the alchemy test hadn’t been sprung on him, he would have managed a 32.

‘Thirty? Is that all?’ Mika thought, having not expected that Damien was so stupid. ‘He didn’t appear to be the sharpest sword on the rack, but even so.’

“Thank you, Lady Dalia,” Ami said, bowing respectfully once they had reached their home.

“Thank you, Lady Dalia,” Mika repeated after his sister, also bowing his head.

“Give your mother my regards,” the woman said, before bowing her head, leaving to home.

Mika watched after her, noting that something was off. Damien was still dragging himself away, and his mother had slowed her pace too. ‘Hmm?’

Meanwhile, Amon and Martha loomed over a map of their mine, which had been dug out some ways, but had been emptied a few months ago. They were trying to find out where they could dig for more gems, but they hadn’t found much luck. ‘Where would we find more gems? There’s no way there’s no more gems.’

It had been a near abrupt end to their mine, which, on the surface, appeared to have a great amount of gems, but they had mined it all within a decade. They thought they had at least a few more years, but the quest to try and heal their children had taken quite a bit of their money.

‘We can’t keep relying on the Head,’ Amon thought. ‘He made me his Right Hand because he trusted me the most, I can’t just be a dead weight.’ A thought passed through his mind. When Mika had been crippled, he had thought about it, just for a moment, though it had passed. The amount of gold they had spent on Mika had been quite large, getting all manner of doctors, scholars, and alchemists to check up on him. They had bought a few pills to help him, but nothing had worked. Then, when Ami’s meridians were at risk, they had spent piles of gems to try and deal with the issue, and somehow she had healed.

‘Are you mocking me, oh Heavenly Empress?’ Amon frowned.

“Right Hand, Miss, the young miss and young sir have returned,” a guard said.

Amon sighed, watching as his wife quickly left. He rolled up the map, placing it aside. ‘No. I can’t regret it.’

“Welcome back,” Martha said, placing a hand on Ami’s head, before noting the dishevelled appearance of her son. “What happened?”

“I did well, mother,” Mika replied.

“Why are your clothes ruffled, my dear?” Martha asked, rubbing the boy’s cheek, noting it was ever so slightly swollen.

“Garad struck me across my face,” Mika said.

“What?” Martha gasped. “How could he do such a thing?”

“He was saying terrible things about Miki, mother!” Ami frowned.

“Mother, I did well on my tests,” Mika said, revealing his score.

Martha smiled. “What is this?” Martha brushed his cheek. “First in the written tests?” She kissed his forehead. “What a smart young sir you are.”

“Yes, mother,” Mika said, feeling his insides fill with a warm buzz. He pushed away the feeling.

“First in the written exams?” Amon asked, glancing between his children. A small smile appeared on his face. “Those books were good for something, weren’t they?”

“Father, Miki scored well in the alchemy test!” Ami said, too excitedly as she tried not to bounce.

“Alchemy test?” Amon threw his wife a look, before they looked to the guards, who nodded. “A new test? They didn’t tell us.” Amon then looked at the score again. ‘Did they not include the…’ He noted the huge gap between the first and second place, before his eyes fell to Mika. “What was your score?” His voice held the slightest hint of hope.

“One hundred,” Mika said, smiling wide.

Amon looked to his wife, whose eyes were also full of shock. Martha wrapped her arms around her son, and he could feel how rapidly her heart was beating. Amon looked out towards the distance, dazed by the statement.

‘One hundred,’ Amon thought.

“Mika, you did so well,” Martha said, barely able to gain the strength to speak.

‘One hundred.’

“You did so well.” Martha repeated, unable to form new words.

If there was an alchemy test, it meant that the alchemists were looking for someone.

‘One hundred.’

If Mika had scored perfectly, then it meant that Mika had a chance, a very good chance, of becoming an alchemist. The lowest rank of an alchemist, a page, was already a decent life, but if Mika truly had any skill in alchemy…

Amon lifted his son up, staring up at him. Mika looked down at his father confused, since he had never been picked up like this before. Amon placed the boy down.

“I will go inform the Head,” he said, quietly.

Rogue listened intently to his Right Hand’s words. He remained silent for a long while, before finally nodding his head, and personally making his way to meet with Mika.

Mika was eating more cheese than he had ever ate in a single day, even the future stash which had been stored for Ami. There was a red cheese he was particularly delighted about, though he cut some for his sister.

Rogue did not say a word as he picked up the scores, noting how poorly the boy had ranked on his test. ‘There was someone who ranked below Mika?’ he thought, but he pushed the thought away, seeing that Mika had also managed to rank first in his written tests, and then his alchemy score.

‘One hundred,’ came the thought, the Head staring at the sheet of paper. Slowly, Rogue’s mind began to stir. There were some unexplainable things when it came to Mika and Ami, but one of those things suddenly became less unexplainable. Except, how? ‘Did you heal her meridians?’

“You have done well, Mika,” Rogue said. “You deserve a reward.”

“A reward?” Mika asked.

“What would you like for doing so well?”

Mika remained silent for a long moment. “I would like sister to have more.”

“More?”

“More things to help her train,” Mika said. What did he need? Nothing. However, Ami needed more to become the greatest Black Hand.

“Okay,” Rogue said, nodding his head.

“Are you sure you don’t want something for yourself?” Martha asked, brushing his cheek again.

“No, I’m okay,” Mika said.

Rogue fell silent again. ‘How did you heal her?’