My name is Judah. Only Judah Judas. I have no family. I am a simple orphan who today is his last day as at the Orphanage because I am ten years old, and from this age, you can no longer live at the Orphanage because you have reached the age of a person who can work as a scout, farmer and garbage collector. other small trades that do not require you to be over sixteen years of age.

I am in the room where I have lived for seven years and I look at the paintings on the wall that I will forget later. One shows children playing in the woods, and another shows an armoured knight fighting wolves with his squire. Then I look out the window and watch the sunrise from its hiding place and decide to get out of bed, take my backpack and go to my old friends and the ladies who took care of me to say goodbye.

The first people I visited were the nuns who took care of me during these seven years. When I arrived in the living room where they were still talking to each other, who was coming for someone who wanted to adopt a child, or they were calming down when they had a hard day. When I entered and looked around I notice a nun sitting at a desk waiting for me. Usually, there were two or three, but when there is only one nun there it means that something is really rotten in the middle. But it's probably not my business because today is my last day as a free child.

The nun there, who was sitting at the table and writing on parchment, asked me:

"Are you, Judas?"

"Yes. I am" I tell that nun who is at the office and completes that parchment. "Today is my last day and I have come to apologize for the trouble I have caused, to thank you and to say goodbye."

"You don't have to apologize," says the nun, leaving her goose feather back in the inkwell "You didn't do any harm or much trouble while you were here"

"I-I don't understand you. I think you forgot what happened four days ago when I destroyed my pillows in the room by mistake."

"That was just a harmless spell like the other twenty you've done all the time you lived here."

"Wait?! ... How do you know I can wield magic?"

"Because you are not the only child who has crossed the threshold of this house and who cannot completely handle magic. We know how to deal with such attacks and how to control children who cannot cope. Before it was hard to be a magician, but now ... Now you can easily escape execution because magicians have become free".

"Really ?" I ask that lady who took great care of me in those six years.

"Really ... Before, you were beheaded if you mastered magic, and now they let you alive because magicians have become useful in everyday life ... Tell me. Have you thought about where to work while you lived here ?"

"P-Probably a scout."

"Very well." says the Mother, smiling at me and taking a parchment from a drawer. "Good choice because a magician scout can earn a lot of money and can be useful in certain missions."

"Thank you," I say, looking at the parchment that the nun gave me. "What is this ?"

"Departure sheet. All you have to do is sign it and you can happily go wherever you want."

"I see."

I take the feather from that inkwell that Nun used to complete the parchment a few minutes ago. I use the feather to write my name where it should be, then I put it back on and hand that parchment to Nun, after which I ask her:

"Don't be upset. B-But ... Do you know what kind of magic I use?"

"Of course we know." says the Nun looking with a smile at me and taking the parchment I signed and put it back in its place: "How long have I noticed. You can control spells like the destructive ones to the helpful ones. For example, that time when you cure Adrian of the flu."

"I did that ?"

"Yes. You probably wished Adrian will be alright tomorrow or to be alright after some medicine."

"... I see. What kind of helpful speels I also have ?"

"Healing, slowing down, spells of this kind that help you and your friends in combat. Anyway. Take care of yourself there, Judah."

"Thanks for everything.". I get up from the table and I'm heading at the door. "Goodbye! We will meet again."

"Also, Judah."

I'm leaving that room. I keep going to the door of the building and I'm asking myself, "So can I really handle magic?", "Does that mean that the night dreams I have could really mean something or are they just stupid dreams?"

Sometimes I had the same dream that shows an old man dressed strangely and with two sticks on his back, one made of metal and the other made of wood with a dark green aura. If I remember correctly ... Most of the dreams I had were just that person performing a strange dance and attacking big wild animals. That person could not be the wizard who made me because he most likely died in his cell after being arrested for ten years of dark magic or he most likely escaped and fled from the Kingdom. Apparently, back then it was a crime to execute magic, especially the black or the mystical one who could even end half of the entire world.

I leave the Orphanage, I'm walking down the stairs and some little girls and boys playing hide-and-seek and fighting with sticks that they think are swords in the orphanage yard. I take a few more steps and I notice a few children leaving the games and coming to me to tell me in a tone that people say when I see a loved one who has left you for a long time in their lives:

"Don't leave us, Judah?" says a little girl to me.

"When you are coming back to us ?" ask a guy who is probably five years younger than me.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

I looked at those children in front of me with a sad face and I said to them:

"We will see each other out there soon. Now... Do you have to take care of this house? Okay?"

Some children start to cry, mostly little girls, but some boys were trying so hard to hide their tears and others just smiled at me with jealousy. I looked at everyone around me and I hugged everyone. After a few seconds, I looked at them and I said to them:

"I will miss you guys. I will never forget anyone from here."

"I hope we will see outside pretty soon." says a guy who is one year younger to me.

"We will miss you, Judah!" says the children to me while I was walking forward to the exit of the orphanage.

When I left the orphanage and their range of vision, I started to cry while I was walking because my mind started to show me some flashbacks of them and I playing games, joking around, talking about girls, and laughing at each other mistakes at writing, reading or helping the nuns at cleaning. I fell so sad leaving them, but I can't go back there, I'm not a child anymore because now I'm ten years old and I have a new objective, to find a job as a scout and paying the kingdom to keep me alive. It sounds sad, but I cannot leave this kingdom because of two reasons. One, the other kingdoms hates people who use magic, and second, I am way too young to leave the kingdom. There is another law here which says I can leave the kingdom to leave in another when I have sixteen years old, also, I have to pay them fifteen coins as a tax to leave the kingdom.

Now that I have become a free child, it is time to look for a job and a home. As I walked through the streets of this kingdom I had no idea where to make some parchments for employment. Why is this kingdom so big? So I decided to venture through the city for a few minutes, then ask a person who seemed friendly.

As I walked through this kingdom, I came across many people who did not seem friendly, some bad, sad, or funny. I walk a little more until I reach a Market, and at that market, I notice a child who I think is three years older or less than me.

"Hey!" I said to those children.

"Hello! Can I help you?" asked the boy looking at me.

"I need to know where is the royal palace."

That kid looked at like I'm some kind of a bad guy, but he looked at his left and said to me:

"Go straight ahead till you see a fountain and go left fifteen meters, then thirty steps to the right and one hundred steps to left..."

After a few seconds, I looked at him and asked:

"That's it."

"Yes. That's it, kaibigan."

"What ?"

"Kaibigan means friends in my natal language."

"Oh. I see. Thank you very much."

I left that guy who helped me and I followed the steps he told me. I go straight ahead till I saw a fountain decorated in silver, then left, right and again left. That guy was right, after a few minutes I have arrived at the Royal Palace without problems.

I was very surprised by how it looks because it is huge, protected by strong guards at the gates and archers at the top of the towers. I was looking at the palace a few minutes, then I take some courage and going straight ahead to the entrance of that Palace to find a job. I didn't take a few good steps when I arrived in front of the huge door of that castle and I am stopped by two guards who block my way by putting my swords in front of me:

"The name and reason you want to enter." says a guard pointing to me one sword and wearing a bronze mask.

"Judah and I came to look for a job as a squire," I say, taking two steps back and talking to those two knights.

"Surname?" asked the same guardian.

"I have no family, sir"

"I see... You can go ahead."

The two guards withdraw their swords to make room for me to enter the Palace. I go ahead, I thanked them and walk normally in the Palace. I open the second door of the palace, which I think measures more than three or four people in height, with difficulty because it was made of very heavy wood and I'm still a "kid". When I opened the door completely, I'm going inside that palace and look for that room that needs to be inscribed with "Human Resources.". That room could help me find a job as a scout and other jobs for my age. Thank Lord the nuns have taught me this thing a few days ago at the classroom.

After I arrived there, I saw a crowd of kids in front of me. Some of the people there are at my age or older. There aren't many, but it was a crowd who lasted just fifteen minutes. When the last person who was a lizard man who had to sign a parchment to be given a piece of wood that is engraved with charcoal the address of the place where he should go, it was my turn. I entered the "Human Resources" and the person there saw me and told me:

"Hello! How can I help you ?"

"Hello! I am Judah and I came here to find a job as a squire." I said to the man in front of me.

"Okay. How old are you?"

"Ten years."

"Oh, good. I thought you were eight or six. Anyway, are you an orphan or with a family?"

"Orphan."

"I see." said the man after he takes a blank parchment and started to note a few things. "I'm sorry about your life."

"It's nothing," I respond thinking that man he felt sorry for me being an orphan.

After a few seconds, he looks at me like a nun looked at me when he started to ask some question in the class:

"Species?"

"Human," I respond directly because I am sure I'm human.

"I see..." said the man in front of me starting to write something on parchment. "Man or Semi-Man ?"

"Man."

"House address?"

"I don't have a house at the moment."

"We write here as a squire who asks for accommodation then ... So, the weapon you have?"

"I don't have a weapon at the moment. But I can use magic."

"Alright. What kind of spell you use?"

"...Slowing and healing." said after a few seconds thinking of what that dear nun explained to me after I left the house.

"So ... preferences for what kind of person you would like to be their squire ?"

"Not. I have no preference."

"So... The salary ?"

"What is the most used term ?" I ask after a short break when I was thinking about the salary.

"They usually ask for one hundred coins every three weeks, others even ask for two hundred or even five hundred, which makes finding a job as a squire very difficult and impossible if we are to tell you the truth."

"Then... One hundred coins every three weeks."

"Okay ... now you just have to sign and tomorrow morning we'll give you the verdict."

"What verdict?"

"Well... This was the first round, the completion of your working contract. Tomorrow, if you pass, we will post the ad in the entire kingdom to the Taverns, Market zones or the residential zones."

"I see."

The man hands me the parchment and the goose quill, I take those things and I begin to sign the place where he asks for my signature. After I signed, I said goodbye to the man and I thanked him for helping me. After that, I left this palace feeling relieved that I had escaped an obstacle and I stand still watching the world around me going where they had to go. After a few minutes standing still and looking at people goes at their business and I decided to explore the kingdom because I still have time till tomorrow to see if I get a job.

After a few minutes of walking through that Kingdom, I noticed a lot of people who live in certain houses and receive all kinds of people, who come in and have things from there and hand money to those people who received them in the house. I think those people are known as sellers if I'm not mistaken. But I also noticed something strange when I was walking, some adventurers sitting at some tables in front of a building that says "Misu's Tavern" and drinking from a very large cup a yellow liquid with white foam. Being at the Orphanage and the age of ten, I never saw this strange thing. Seeing those four adventurers drinking that yellow liquid with white foam, talking, laughing and playing a card game made me jealous of them. Of course, at the Orphanage, I played cards, joked with my friends there, but I never drank that liquid because I never saw it in the Orphanage.

An adventurer gets up from that table and goes inside the building. I wait a moment to look at that tavern, then I see that adventurer who had entered the building coming out dressed in the armour of a knight of the Kingdom and running to the Kingdom. I looked at that gentleman for a few seconds, then I continued to walk again.

"It must be nice to be a knight," I said to myself while I walk down the street to nowhere.