It was hard to formulate the proper words that described the situation I was in. The passing individuals of the exam were quickly given their papers and rushed to the door to be greeted by a mass of recruiters.

Little did I realize, but the combat exam was one of the harder exams to pass. Anyone that passed was immediately swarmed with offers from guilds, protection agencies, merchant protection services, and you name it. I was overwhelmed by the mass of voices that shouted at me at once. My heightened hearing plays to my disadvantage at the volume of conversations that I overheard.

Quickly, I found myself with my hands pressing against my ears, desperate to cease the noise. It was to no avail, as I struggled to focus on each shout of the recruiters in my face.

“How would you like to join the freelance swordsmen guild?” A human dressed in formal clothes called out from a lower stand.

“I think you’d be a perfect fit for our personal protection guild!” A woman dressed in a uniform announced.

“You benefit handsomely from the Trane West Protection Agency!” An older man failed to climb over a row of seats, nearly falling on his face.

There must have been ten surrounding me. My head pounded at the overload directed straight at me. All I could do was shake my head, as I pushed past the herd and towards the entrance to the stands to find Jamie. He was sitting on the lower stands, beside the cloaked figure that belonged to the prince. I sighed, pushing past the remaining recruiters and towards those two. They didn’t seem to notice my arrival, as I flopped down in the seat beside Jamie, plopping my license papers on his lap.

“They said to check over the papers, but I have no idea what to do,” I informed him, his body jumped. He placed a hand over his chest in surprise, exhaling loudly after noticing it was just me.

Just a dragon from the demon race! No worries here.

Edwin nearly jumped out of his seat, his hood barely managing to stay intact to cover his face.

“What’s wrong with you?” Jamie spats once again, as he did a thousand times before.

I shrugged. A lot, but who’s counting?

“Seriously!” A groan came from the human prince beside us.

That reminded me, I looked up at Edwin.

He met my stare in confusion, “What?”

“Should I kill you for lying to me?” I thought out loud, earning a snort from Jamie, who carried on flipping through my papers.

I was half-lying, half-serious. Like I won’t, but I wanted to.

The prince gasped, looking offended at the comment. I pretended to ignore the stares of obvious undercover guards around us in the stands. I’d only care if the mage was here, considering he wasn’t….it was free game.

“I’ll inform you now. But threatening the royal family of Trane is a crime punishable by death.” He stated, holding a pointing finger, seemingly for no reason.

Blankly, I looked up and just nodded.

“Duly noted.” I blinked. If my identity didn’t matter, I’d inform him that in Hellion anyone who looked in my direction had the chance of being punished by the black flames of the Morningstar family.

Sometimes, it would be for no reason. Actually, most of the time it was for no reason. I’d admit that.

In fact, I’d like to see them try to kill me. I provided no real reaction to the human prince. It felt like talking to my second brother, a more useless version of him.

He rolled his eyes, now opting to lean over the stack of papers of my combat license, “If you flip to the back, you’ll be able to see if there were any offers from recruiters.”

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Jamie flipped my stack of papers to the back. I watched over his shoulder, glancing at the list of agencies marked in ink. My eyes scanned down the names. No ARC. I clicked my tongue. Well, I guess that would be too easy. I would have to find another way to gather information about them.

Edwin took the papers from Jamie, spinning them around to my view to point out a few names, “I can vouch for Trane West Agency and the East Guild. They’re good opportunities for combat license holders.”

My hand rubbed my chin, “Ah. Is that so?”

If ARC was considered the epitome of agencies, I doubted any of these offers would work in terms of climbing to a point where I could observe them. Human guilds were more freelance if I remembered correctly. That was out of the question.

Maybe the academy was the best route. I turned to ask, but before I could, a gloved hand snatched the papers from the prince’s hand. Looming behind us was the lead instructor of the exam. The big, bulky man sporting imperial wear, started to flip through the papers himself. Jamie peered up in confusion, trading looks between the three of us. It was an awkward silence.

Edwin turned back, his eyes registering the man entirely. He stood up, a smile on his face, “Is there a problem, Sir. Serlon?”

They must know each other. Not surprising, considering that Edwin was a prince. As much as he barely acted like it. Not that I acted like one either. If my father didn’t revoke my title, at least.

“Ah. Jamie. Asta. This is the head guard for the imperial family, Sir. Serlon.” The prince extended a hand to introduce the focused knight.

The knight flipped to the last paper, frowning. He went to hand the papers back to me, reaching his other hand for a shake.

Wearily, I grabbed the papers and met the shake with my other. It didn’t take a genius to not pass a questioning glance at the man who grabbed my papers. But he was in a good position in human society. I’d let this slide.

“Asta. I’m Sir. Serlon, royal captain of the Trane Imperial Guard. I apologize, as I wasn’t aware you were friends with his highness.” His shake was strong, his hand rough from the countless hours of training. A solid soldier.

“Oh, we’re not friends.” I corrected him, ignoring the rebuttals from Edwin and laughter from Jamie, “He’s just someone that wouldn’t leave me alone.”

The guard sighed, nodding, “I completely understand that.” His eyes were empathetic. Despite not feeling much empathy in general, we met with understanding looks.

A comrade.

“Wait. What’s that supposed to mean.” The comment was drowned out, in the scheming of two combat freaks.

The knight cleared his throat, glancing down at the papers, “You showed tremendous skill in the testing. Congrats on passing,” Another glance at the papers, “I noticed that you had various recruitments. Do you plan on taking them?”

So that’s what this is about.

Honestly, I wasn’t. From the types of offers I got; I doubted it would be beneficial to my actual goal. But I knew better than to not understand what was going on.

“Depends, I was thinking about it.” I lied, noticing the slight smirk on the guard’s face. So, I was right.

“Why?” I pushed further; both our intentions were written on our faces.

At this point, Jamie and Edwin struggled to follow. No, they looked slightly concerned, watching the exchange. The guard and I continued.

He cleared his throat, eyes playfully narrowing, “Well, I would like to extend the offer of joining the imperial force that served the royal family.”

Bingo. Immediately, this was the best offer that I could have hoped for. It was the red zone of enemy lines, otherwise known as the best place a spy could be.

Still, I needed to feel the offer out. We both had things we wanted, and it was clear that this guard had already set his mind to my recruitment. Judging from the way he approached this interaction; we were similar in that sense.

“I’m only sixteen.” Which was the truth, this human body looked only sixteen.

“I’m aware.” He replied, his arms crossed. The intense atmosphere of the collective scheming was at its height.

“Does Trane scoop up teenagers and employ them to fight?” I teased, not peeling my eyes off the agitated guard, who recognized the intentional bait.

________

From below us were whispers from Jamie and Edwin, “Do you see flames around them? Or am I just imagining it?

“No, I think I see it too…”

“Should we say something?”

“Trust me. Stay quiet.”

__________

He rolled his eyes, “Last time I checked, most teenagers don’t humiliate the duke’s son known for his fierce temper. Not to mention, you broke his arm on the impact.”

Fuck. So that’s who that little shit was. That explains the cheers then. I had no sympathy for humans, especially stupid ones. Well, if he bulked up his arms instead of his thunder thighs, then maybe it wouldn’t have snapped. Again, not my fault.

He was just weak. Were they on good terms with the duke then?

I sighed, “Am I in trouble?”

He shook his head, “Of course not. It was an exam. So, that means it was a simple sparring match without the formalities of status. You won, fair and square.”

“But…” He continued, “That’s not to say that he won’t try to give you a hard time, wherever you go.”

“What are you trying to say?” I glared. He needed to get to the point.

He leaned down, “Go to a place where he wouldn’t dare mess with. What do you say?”

I could just kill the loser, but that would cause some unasked-for trouble in easily blending in with the human kingdom.

I groaned. I was already planning to accept the offer, if any place would be high enough to ARC, it was royalty. The imperial touch could get you anywhere. I knew this firsthand.

“Fine. But on two conditions?” I held up two fingers.

“Are you in a position to place conditions?” The guard scoffed at the absurdity.

“Do you think that I’m only capable of breaking another arm if the duke’s son comes after me?” I replied curtly, my glare affirming my statement. As much as I dodged, the simple fact remained.

I easily avoided the attacks and (unintentionally) one-hit him. It was valid to say.

He seemed to register this small threat. As long as it wasn’t pointed toward the royal family, the guard didn’t seem to care. At least, that’s what he showed.

“Continue…”

I reached my hand to pull out the lava rock necklace that Dagon had given me,” First, I need someone to revive the mana in this magic item so I can get in touch with my friend.”

He nodded, glancing at the necklace, “That’s a magic item?”

I nodded. As for the last thing…

“Two,” I looked down at Jamie, who was laser-focused on the scene unfolding before him, pointing at his transfixed face, “He works in the castle too.”

The guard’s stern expression broke, a hearty laugh escaping from him, “That’s it? I was expecting something more. All right, kid. Yeah, we can do that.” He reached out for another shake, this one carrying more weight.

It wasn’t a gesture, but more so - an agreement. Wasting no time, I met the human’s hand firmly.

_______

Again, below us, the two carried on another conversation.

“Uh….So….I guess, I’ll be seeing you.”

“As the prince, I feel like I should get a say in this.”

“They look like two scheming masterminds.”

“I feel like my soul just got sold.”

__________

“Welcome to the imperial guards, son.” He chuckled, evilly.

I matched his sinister smile, “Take care of me.”

Laughter and concerned comments ensued.