The jostling of the horse's hooves resounded in his ears as the morning air of Marnier slipped through the velvet curtain into his nostrils. He took out a comb and a mirror in his pocket which he used to fix his hair.

While its softness was always a welcome come-wash time, the other children at the orphanage constantly made fun of him for it. He paid no mind, or so he’d hoped, but he wouldn’t exactly be paying attention to it if it didn’t bother him.

The worn look of the mirror in his hand and the several missing teeth of the comb were further telling of the feelings in his heart.

“Mother Jayne said it was cute, so what’s the big deal? Stupid kids,” He grumbled as he adjusted his well-trimmed, black bangs as his blue eyes trailed the direction of his hands as he carefully tried to adjust his unruly hair.

He sighed, closed the mirror, and then placed it back into the pocket of his newly bought khaki pants. It cost a fair price back in Raise but according to the shopkeeper, it was the best price anyone could get even across all the other Orange Districts. He wanted to doubt it but it was fair after all. The shopkeeper wasn’t one to cheat others.

Furthermore, since he was recommended by the professors at the orphanage, they being professionals with experience in many affairs, it wasn’t like he could lie.

He trusted them and it bled over to the shopkeeper, so even if he had to clench his somewhat bruised wallet Maithe Belle couldn’t be dissatisfied with the situation.

He leaned back into the luxurious seat of the custom carriage sent to bring him to his destination. It wouldn’t be long before he arrived at the station and then he would take a train ride into the Heart of Zoran.

“I’ll be riding a train for the first time, hehe. Even if I fail the test, I still have something to brag about,” He rubbed his chin.

He yawned and then dozed of a little as he counted the time to keep himself unbound by boredom. Unintentionally he had fallen asleep, which wasn’t an unexpected situation as he was awake for most of the time in these past few days due to nervous excitement.

It did decrease the time he had to wait by a large margin as he could no longer notice its passage during his sleep and by the time near his arrival, he was awoken due to the bells on Gerould’s Tower.

By the time he had awoken a voice spoke to him. It was gruff and weathered, likely by the harsh air of the lower Districts. Belle suspected that he too would be this way in the future if he were to travel to those areas.

“Hey kid, freshman?” The carriage driver asked him as he adjusted his straps, his gray shirt rolled on his slightly tone body. He stretched and moved his body. The driver looking through the space at the front, likely deducing his affiliation from his attire.

He had a scarf on his body that contained a strange emblem of 5 stars on a mountain that was surrounded and hidden by phantom clouds. Lines converged and diverted in strange ways about and beyond the stars which had tangible symbols engraved within them.

A hammer upon an anvil, a six-pointed leaf, an eight-shaped ribbon, a brain filled with paper, and 4 pairs of small leaf-shaped wings.

“Nope. Placement Exam,” Belle gave the man a short answer unwilling to say more but found it rude to not tell the truth or ignore him.

“You must be pretty talented huh? To take the Placement Exam instead of the Entrance Exam,” the driver looked surprised but smiled when he saw a potential new powerhouse.

“Hup! If I don’t pass the test, it wouldn’t matter how talented I am right? There’s only one chance after all,” Belle lifted his bag onto his shoulders as he jumped off the Heavy Carriage, the outside of it lined with stable alloys.

“I’m sure you’ll pass. Children from a Saint’s Orphanage are rumored to do well,” The brown-haired man with grey eyes looked at his pocket watch and stroked his beard with a sigh, saying, “I wish you luck in the Placement Exam. No matter what grade you’ll be going for.”

He waved as he commanded the Aydian Steed which stood over 3 meters tall with its impressive muscles and armor to move forward. As he watched the man and his carriage go away Belle looked around before walking in the direction of the station as he analyzed the situation of the area along the way.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Buildings of immense stature, elegance, and fortitude littered the square which had a crystal fountain with a woman the size of a palm sitting on top of a flower. She curled up delicately as she held a gold ball in her small palms, guarding it. On the bottom of the fountain was an epitaph.

-To our great mother, guardian of our freedom and integrity, our fair lady, Dame Ten.-

Belle bowed his head as he held a hand to his heart before he departed from the square. He joined the various people who roamed the streets, going to and fro as the morning rays peeked through the clouds to shine down on the square. Belle shielded his eyes as he hurried his pace, he had to get there before breakfast.

He took a glance up toward Gerould’s Tower that sprawled at the center of the Black District, he surrendered his gaze to the left.

This was where he had to go to hop the train toward Halo Capital, where he had to take his exams to enter the House of Learning.

The stone tiles beneath his feet offered him a stable foundation as he walked forward, as a young man with a stable build and decent looks he didn’t fail to capture attention. Belle, other than paying attention to pickpockets and those with ill intent didn’t expend his focus on anything else.

But the isolated food stall he spotted on the roadside captured his attention and after several seconds of deliberation, he walked over. He absentmindedly listened to the voices of other vendors in the area.

“Abolds squid for sale! Only for 3 Aura Shards!”

“Meat skewers, meat skewers! Come get your hot and fresh meat skewers! There’s even Beilong Pork!”

“Crystal Armaments here! Perfect for fighting against large legions in the Bifrusta Quarter!”

The stall of interest came into clearer view.

The early sun shone down on the stall owner as they flipped, turned, and whipped up their delicacy in a remarkably skilled performance.

Among the several dozen stalls in the stone and steel jungle that was the third Waypoint of Manos, this stall stood out like a captivating bush filled with golden apples to Belle.

‘Why is there no one else here,’ Belle wondered as he watched the people walk right past this stall that was filled with food that was certainly to be filled with delicious snacks along with valuable items of interest. This wasn’t consistent with Zoranist nature.

Belle narrowed his eyes as he waited for the gentled-eyed man to finish his current batch of Golden Jelly Apples. The stall wasn’t small but it couldn’t be called the largest in the area.

It held a large amount of Armaments on the left and precious Alchemical materials on the right. The stall was a plain brown color as it was shaped in a half-circle that didn’t obstruct the alley several meters behind.

Naturally, in the center lay the man with green eyes and silver hair, which was covered by a bandana with a mountain in the center. The man had slightly grey skin the likes of which he had never seen before and he wore a common man’s attire, nothing of the impertinent merchants back in Belle’s hometown.

“What can I get for you, little friend? A golden jelly apple? Emerald chalice or Larp’s Tongue?” The man asked casually as he let himself be examined by the young man of unknown origin Belle narrowed his eyes.

Belle licked his lips as he debated on what to do before he decided to buy something first, “I’d like a golden jelly apple along with these herbs here.”

He pointed at a flower with three wooden branches like snakes, a ball made of wood with a straight face carved from pollen, and the purple leaves that had lines that confused the eye.

“Thrice Embraced Camiliate, Ambrose’s Intent, and Manistosei’s Tongue,” The man recounted the names of the herbs and then looked at Belle with a smile, a smile that was very familiar to him, “You have a good eye kid, do you wish to do Alchemy?”

“Old man you need to stop following me,” Belle rolled his eyes once he heard the familiar line that bounced in his mind these past few days, “It’s creepy for a man like you to follow me around. I’m not even 16 yet!”

“I’m just checking up on my disciple…”

“I don’t remember agreeing to be the disciple of a creepy stalker. You even changed your look the last few times!”

“Not yet,” The man winked before he said seriously, “Be careful during the exam kid. I know you don’t like it but you might have to use ‘that’ thing.”

“How do you know about…” Belle held his head and sighed, he took the items he bought from the man's hand and turned to walk away.

He no longer worried or cared about the anomaly in the area, if that old man was here, then there was no danger to the Inner Regions of Zoran.

In fact, he might have been the one to cause it to attract his attention.

“Hey kid! Don’t trip on the way there,” The old man laughed.

Belle’s eye twitched as he felt an urge to trip descend on his position, a small tug of his tongue and the urge was washed away.

‘Tsk! Landon, that old creep. He always does things like this, making me grasp that here…’ Belle gritted his teeth as he walked toward the train station.

Landon’s smile faded as he saw Belle off and even further as he witnessed his entry into the train as well as his subsequent trip to the Halo Capital. He saw it all and then smiled.

“Eclipsing the power on the level of a Hero, no matter how minuscule while being merely a Mortal,” Landon clicked his tongue as he sighed, “And you wonder why I want to teach him? He’s a freaking Aberrant.”

His voice carried over to the World, it carried the longing to teach and pass on lessons to an excellent talent.

Unperturbed by the lack of response, he glanced at the massive silver-green halo in the distance and evaporated from reality.

In the end, Landon and his stall ceased to be, with no one of mention the wiser of his departure.