"Isn't it hasty to come to a conclusion at this stage, Lord Hwen? After all, the real assessment of an evocator is when they turn ten.", another voice said.

"I do not gamble when it comes to my people Lady Azhar.", Lord Hwen responded condescendingly.

Lady Azhar let out a sigh. Let the prideful man have the last word, she thought. She was no stranger to Lord Hwen, plus, there was something familiar about the dark animal at the center of the spell circle. She would need to investigate the matter further. If it was what she thought it was, then she would do whatever it took to ensure that the black haired girl became her apprentice.

Hwen and Azhar were both baronies that lay within the Roland Dukedom. The Roland dukedom in turn, exercised control over vast territories that included Greenbay and White Bridge. The Elsher duchy had once been located south of the Roland dukedom. While the Roland duchy had subsumed some of its northern territories, the lands in the south were under the control of nobles that had been allowed to retain their titles by the King.

The fall of the Elsher duchy had led to a political vacuum in the south that the King of Margelia had purposely left untended. In fact, the absence of a Duke in the south meant that effectively, the Marquis of Torbay, a town at the southwest border of the former Elsher dukedom, was the de facto head. The Marquis of Torbay was a staunch ally of the King and a sore on the side of the Duke of Roland, who had initially attempted to take control of the entire area.

The Hwen barony in the north was particularly close to the higher peerage in the Roland dukedom, whereas the Azhar barony in the south was on neutral terms. Their presence at Sherol Academy meant a lot to Edgar Lannis. It was common political practice for higher peerage to send their wards to Cresbel Academy at Faryard, as its patron was the royal family. This meant that parents of talented children were most attracted to admitting their wards to Cresbel Academy. Resultantly, the admissions day at Cresbel was the most sought after "sponsorship" event of sorts. Furthermore, most noble houses could take in only one or two exceptional students as apprentices, due to an imperial regulation that forbade it on the ground that each noble house was "equally deserving of access to talent". This regulation was another measure that had been imposed to indirectly prevent any one house from growing too powerful. While the lesser nobles welcomed this regulation, the bigger noble houses saw it as an obstacle to their growth. An obstacle that could nevertheless, be sidestepped through underhanded means.

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What Edgar Lannis did not know, was that Lord Hwen and Lady Azhar were present, not of their own accord, but at the behest of Duke Roland. In recent years, the barony of Hwen had grown in size and political power. In order to counter this, Duke Roland had directed Lord Hwen to recruit his new apprentices from Sherol Academy, stating that that was necessary in order to further its prestige. He had given the same command to Lady Azhar in a bid to appear egalitarian. The wily Lord Hwen knew this and had accepted it gracefully, though he secretly felt bitter about it.

At that moment another part of the mirror lit up.

The image of a pink haired girl appeared. She seemed to be muttering several incomprehensible words. Suddenly, her image disappeared from the screen.

It reappeared a few seconds later, slightly wet and shivering. The mirror then went blank.

Several viewers gasped.

"Space magic!", Lord Hwen said, his voice rich with avarice.

The audience looked taken aback. Edgar Lannis had a pensive expression on his face. Due to the rarity of space magic wielders, the only teachers proficient enough to instruct them thoroughly were at Cresbel...

Still, he thought, the news that a space magic wielder had originated from Sherol Academy would do much good to its reputation. Furthermore, if Lord Hwen chose her as his apprentice, he would compensate the Academy handsomely in order to transfer her.

The mirror lit up a few dozen more times. Several water, air, fire, earth, evo and sound magic wielders appeared and disappeared from the mirrors. However, most of the viewers in the room were still in deep thought about the pink haired girl. If the space magic wielder had not appeared, perhaps the sound magic wielder would have become the star of the exam...

"Edgar.", Lord Hwen suddenly spoke.