We three dutifully follow the uniformed man as he walks us through the large campus until we reach a nice, but very old building. It appears to be so old that it is in a completely different construction style than the rest of the campus. I infer that the campus is much older than even the Alrius kingdom, or at least there was something here before the kingdom came to be. I really can't help but notice the very... Frontiersman style of construction as well, while I can't think of a perfect analog to any of the cultures I know, there are features I recognize, first and foremost is the freestanding dome.

We enter the building and walk through the ornate halls. The walls are decorated with paintings of what I assume are either alumni or past staff of the college. We are shown each to a separate room and are told to wait. I take a seat on a soft couch and lean back and relax. I find it very easy to relax without Mekare around, just her presence puts me on edge and I still don't know why. Maybe because she is a sort of informant for the Duke? I haven't a clue but I'll keep her at arm's length for now.

My wait feels quite long and during the wait, the entire building shakes as I hear large explosions nearby. The first one startles me but when I check outside the room and see some staff ignoring the loud booms I relax once more. I assume it's something to do with magic. After what feels like a few hours I am called and follow a different uniformed man through the halls once more.

I am led into the high-roofed auditorium. The dome above, to my disappointment, is bare and simply shows the stone it is made of rather than a fancy mural of any kind. I notice scorch marks on the tile floor and can't help but feel a lump rising in the back of my throat. In my past life, I've given many pitches in front of very powerful and rich people and no matter how prepared I am I always feel nervous and got that lump in my throat, but as I did in the past I swallow it and face the five people in front of me.

In a short description, they all look like wizards. All five are old as hell, the men with long, white beards, and the single woman with thin gray hair that appears to reach the floor behind her. All but one are wearing some kind of long robe with the outlier wearing a cape instead.

The center man stands from his seat and speaks to me in a calm and somewhat quiet voice,

"I am the headmaster of this wonderful university. My name is Grand Wizard Marcus Holt."

When he announces his title I nearly break down laughing because his long robe is snow white and he is also wearing a tall pointy and white hat. I manage to hold my laughter and keep my smile to a minimum. I do my best to make it look like a polite smile and catch myself at a singular body seize. The Group stares down at me for a moment until I realize I'm supposed to introduce myself. I reply,

"I am Isa Hasslerouge..."

This seems to be enough for the headmaster who smiles and takes his seat once more. The woman on his right then speaks,

"Now Isa... you are before the five heads of this university, a privilege only reserved for the higher nobles, and those of exemplary talent. Despite your clear non-blood relation to the Hasslerouge family, you have been granted this privilege along with your impressive entrance exam.

This meeting here along with any other tests we may give is not graded and you cannot be kicked from the University should you leave us unimpressed, and you will also face no disciplinary actions for anything you do so long as it is not a direct attack on the five of us here.

Now what this does affect is your standing within the University. Your standing will affect your time here overall, in classes taken, treatment from other students and staff, and many other privileges. Simply put you will be ranked against other students based on many different factors. As a high noble, this puts you at an advantage for ranking, but due to your... bloodline not being of the Hasslerouge family and you being a... Frontiersman as I believe you call yourselves, you will be at a disadvantage."

I frown at this revelation but quickly get over it because this university appears to be mostly for magic training or whatever they do for magic. Frontiersmen, as a whole, cannot use magic so it would make sense that I would be placed lower than someone who can.

I nod toward the woman showing I acknowledge and understand everything she said and she gives me a thin smile. Then the man to the left of the grand wizard speaks,

"Now onto the examination.

First I will announce the results of the entrance exam. You will be already placed much higher than most due to you being one of the first people to get one hundred percent on the exam, you even correctly answered two arithmetic problems that haven't been solved in a decade. Most impressively you even showed work to the side allowing us to come to the conclusion you did not receive outside help. This is most impressive.

Now the part I wish to have answered is how you were able to answer the questions asked about magical theory and other similar topics?"

I nod and respond,

"In Frontiersman society magic does not exist at all. Once I was brought into the Hasslerouge family I was interested in magic and did lots of research on the subject in the library in the household. I assumed magic worked in a similar way to arithmetic so I began researching the basics and slowly worked my way to more advanced topics. Unfortunately, as you correctly assumed I still cannot perform any form of magic, but I do have a firm grasp on the topic."

The man nods seemingly accepting my answer. Then the man in the cape speaks,

"As a Frontiersman, I assume you are at least competent in martial subjects. Although the conquest of your people was easy. Please explain to me how this is so. How can we be sure you are a competent warrior if your kind were so easily conquered."

I grit my teeth for a second but bite my tongue. I realize this may be a test, either of my patience or maybe he is honestly curious, it's not like there is internet to get an in-depth understanding of the conflict. I clear my throat and answer,

"I am of the Stella Coyote, so I can only answer for them. Elsewhere I cannot say how they were defeated as I heard some had been defeated by their greed and willingly joined the Alrius Kingdom.

For my kind... we were betrayed by another hound. By that I mean we were betrayed by a relative group. We had good relations with this group so we allowed them inside our walls. They then left a hidden passage open allowing two other groups of Frontiersmen to enter and begin a sudden battle in the dead of night. This fight saw many slain, and it wasn't until the fight was nearly over that the troops of the Kingdom arrived. By that time we were tired and had lost most of our combat-capable people. I was forcibly captured but I know many were made to surrender.

That is all I can say because I was unable to speak to other groups since then."

The man nods and replies,

"I see. It had not made sense when I heard how few losses we took against the Stella Coyote and a few other groups. It would make sense that they had been defeated before our troops even arrived."

It's good to hear that he was truly interested in the subject rather than just trying to get a rise out of me. The final man then speaks,

"Now with those questions out of the way. Is there anything you would like to show us that may sway our decision on where you are ranked?"

I think for a moment. I can't use magic, I don't think they'll appreciate me just sorta pretending to swing a sword or something. I think the time for talking is over so I am stumped. Then I remember. I reach down to my leg and pull up my pant leg. I retrieve the small knife I had strapped there.

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I inspect the rather shitty knife I had made a while ago. I make sure the runes I had carved were still intact. It was one of my better-made runes, one for hardening the steel. I used the steel we had on hand, not my good stuff. I really only know the Mohs hardness scale, so this steel is probably around 3.5-4 on that scale normally. Maybe even a 3 considering how shit it is, but after the hardening rune, it was able to scratch glass. I don't know how good glass is here, but it should be around a 5 if it's not as hard as modern glass. So that means the knife is incredibly hard, but unfortunately, it makes it less tough. With high hardness, comes ease of shattering and cracking, but since it's a knife all that it needs to do is hold a sharp edge or stab something which high hardness is decent for, just can't use it as a hammer.

I walk toward the man who asked me to show him something. I hand it to him and explain,

"I managed to get ahold of an empowered tool. Here I copied a rune I found in a book. It makes the metal of the knife harder than the normal steel it is constructed of. That's all I can really show."

I take a step back and the man inspects the knife. His eyes go wide as he continually inspects it. He eventually sets it down on his lap and asks,

"May I keep this knife for further study?"

I nod and he smiles thinly. The Grand Wizard then stands and says to me,

"If that is all, then you may now leave."

I nod and turn on my heel and walk out of the room. Once outside I take some deep breaths my nerves calming down rapidly. Standing at the door is a uniformed man who escorts me back to the villa where I promptly sit down in a chair and close my eyes for a moment and mull over the examination in my head and break down the entire conversation. I think about what I could have done to be better if at all possible.

My daydreaming is rudely interrupted by the front door slamming open. Zandra and a very angry-looking swordswoman come through the door. I stare at them as they come inside with my eyebrows raised and eyes squinted I ask,

"Who pissed you off?"

She puffs loudly and shouts at me,

"Those bastards who are running this university wouldn't know talent if it bit them on the nose! I showed them all I can and they seemed unimpressed and kept telling me how much worse it is than my sisters! When obviously I am far superior in every way."

I nod noncommittally and reply,

"Are you sure they weren't just trying to frustrate you so you perform better?"

This makes her pause for a second while she ponders the thought then angrily yells at me,

"Why would they do that? You are stupid! This whole place is stupid!"

With that, she storms off and into her room. Zandra sits in a chair nearby in the lounge her expression still neutral as always. I ask,

"I assume yours didn't go that badly?"

She nods and replies,

"I simply showed them what I have researched. That is all."

The conversation stops there as always with her as she pulls a book out of somewhere and begins reading. A chill runs down my spine and Mekare is suddenly behind me and says,

"Master! You are home. I am so happy. How was your business?"

I reply,

"Fine. Nothing of note."

I feel her get close to the back of the chair and I stand up and walk to the back patio of the villa and away from the woman. Once outside I can't help but wonder what ranking I'll be. It really means nothing to me, but that tiny bit of competitive spirit inside of me really hopes to be ranked highly, despite the minimal chances of such.

Mekare pokes her head out of the door behind me and says,

"Master Isa... you have a visitor."

I sigh and go back inside. To my surprise standing on the threshold of the door is the grand wizard. I immediately straighten up and say to him,

"Uhhhh, please come in and have a seat. Can I get you anything?"

The old man nods and walks slowly and painfully to the couch and takes a seat. Zandra has gotten rid of her book and is sitting upright and respectfully. I take a seat across from the old man and he starts by asking,

"Did you create the empowered tool you have?"

Zandra looks at me confused. I had neglected to let her know I actually created one. I look the headmaster in the eyes and reply,

"Yes, I did. Is that a problem?"

He shakes his head and then asks,

"I would ask you to make more, but first is the biggest question. Where did you get dragon blood?"

I wiggle in my seat and reply hiding the truth somewhat,

"I managed to kill a dragon... not a major one or anything, just something called a brown dragon."

The old wizard's eyes go wide and before he can speak the swordswoman storms into the room and announces,

"There is no way you were able to slay a dragon!"

I shrug and reply,

"Well... I can't say it was easy... and I'm still hurting from that fight... if you could call it a fight."

The grand wizard shoots a glare at the rude girl and then turns to me with excitement in his eyes. He says to me,

"Young man, you don't seem to realize how amazing of a feat that was. Even a brown dragon, which is the physically weakest of all dragons is incredibly dangerous, usually requiring a full battalion of soldiers to slay.

For us who use magic even more so because they emit some kind of energy that naturally disrupts all magic being cast. Since you are a Frontiersman I understand that wasn't an issue for you.

Now tell me of your experience as no brown dragon has been spotted in almost a century. "

I shrug again and explain the full story, including the nudity and drugged-up state. I describe how my killing blow wasn't really mine, in reality, I just broke part of his wing causing an uncontrolled landing and leading to Silus being impaled. Despite this, the grand wizard seems very happy with me and exclaims,

"What an amazing tale... although your curse sounds... very disheartening. From what I can see you have made the best out of your limitations."

He thinks for a moment and then asks,

"Would you be willing to do some work inside the forge we have here on campus? It's where we do maintenance on the student's weaponry as well as crafting new weapons and enchantments. Your runic capabilities no matter how small will be greatly appreciated there."

I smile and nod saying in return,

"Of course, I was going to ask around about finding a smithy to work at anyways. "

The old man nods in acknowledgment before standing up. He looks around the room and announces,

"I will now take my leave. I hope you all enjoy your time at our illustrious university... and we look forward to having you all."

He waltzes out the door and Mekare gently closes it behind him. Zandra is back to reading her book, but the other sister is glaring at me. Her face is red and she is staring daggers through me. She shouts,

"HOW ARE YOU ABLE TO GAIN THE FAVOR OF THE HEADMASTER LIKE THAT? YOU AREN'T EVEN A NOBLE! YOU ARE OUTCAST TRASH WHO FOR SOME REASON FATHER HAS BROUGHT INTO OUR HOME! "

She quickly calms down after this outburst and she starts to speak but I cut her off, frustrated at her entitlement. I say sternly and without emotion,

"You can always come and find out why I was able to gain both the favor of the headmaster and your father, but we will be using frontiersman rules..."

I walk up to her and lean in close,

"... and we use real, sharpened weapons... now tell me... how confident are you that you can walk away unscathed?"

She recoils backward shocked at both my statement and my demeanor. I'm really putting on an act. I am not angry or offended, just really annoyed because she has been nothing but nasty to me since I met her and she still refuses to tell me her name, but I refuse to ask.

After a moment of no response, I stand back to full height and say out loud trying to cut with my words,

"That's what I thought. Little miss spoiled brat. Middle child talking big and acting all mighty. Tell me. What have you done to deserve the favor and special treatment you expect? You aren't an only child so your nobility and status mean nothing in this exact conversation. So tell me... what is your worth?"

She seems to shrink in on herself but her face remains red. She looks ashamed... or something along those lines. She quietly replies, not answering my question,

"I'm sorry for lashing out at you like that...please don't be mad at me."

Any initial frustration disappears as laughter builds in my chest. Try as I might I can't keep the farce up and burst out laughing. My laughter comes from her response, it sounded so infantile, like a four-year-old. I asked a question and all she worried about was me being mad. The absurdity of that response. Why would she care if I am mad? It's so out of character to give a response like that. I only stop when a pair of cold hands grab my arm. Mekare has grabbed me and is shaking her head at me. The now timid girl has retreated to her room during my outburst. I look at the unnerving woman and ask,

"What? What was wrong with what I did?"

Mekare responds,

"It's not polite to make a lady cry like that... she was really concerned you were mad."

I ask with a small laugh,

"And why would that concern her? If I am mad?"

Mekare thinks for a moment and then responds,

"I don't know, just intuition that you shouldn't have done that... you should apologize."

She locks eyes with me, I stare into the fake version of my mother's eyes, I notice the iris move some as we stare before suddenly Mekare lets out a loud and pained gasp before collapsing to the floor while holding her head. I lift her up by the arm and she asks me in a cold and very low tone,

"What the fuck are you?"

I smile and shake my head and I reply,

"I dunno what you are on about this time. Are you alright?"

She shakes me off uncharacteristically and takes a few steps back. She says to me sharply,

"Do what you want. I need to get away from her for a moment."

I nod and she leaves the vila. I look toward Zandra who seemingly hasn't noticed anything that just went on. I start to notice I am quite hungry and the sun isn't low yet, but it clearly is afternoon. I wonder when dinner time is?