Synopsis: A soul that failed to properly reincarnate resides inside Rexar's body. The soul's sweet whispers about otherworldly knowledge are almost worth the bizarre price it demands in exchange. But whispering is not all it can do. Over the years, it has irreversibly changed Rexar's personality and flesh to better fit its needs. Nevertheless, the bodiless soul still dreams about a body of its own... and has developed a desire to make Rexar's younger sisters its. But for now, the two souls in one body are cooperating to make the best of the situation they had found themselves in, an unexpected nomination to become one of the fifty candidates for imperial adjudicators. None of those fifty candidates will be able to leave the Imperial Academy of Adjudication for at least a year. Of course, there are exceptions from this rule, for example, the death of the candidate. Chapters: Imperial Adjudicators Forty-one Seven out of three The chest Minus one hundred points The first point coin Too late Ankyloses Bronze hourglass Game changer Spoiler: Chapter 1 Fifty young people were standing in neat rows inside a big audience hall. The most numerous among us were nobles, but there were also soldiers, merchants, commoners, nomads, serfs and maybe even a slave or two. Not only our social standing was vastly different, but judging by the nobles’ emblems, the countries we came from were spread all over Altanea. On top of that, mixed within the group were three members of the rumored ma’gan race. Although I had never seen a ma’gan before coming to Dove Island, their bright red eyes, sharp pointed teeth, and movements that were somehow inhuman made them easy to recognize. Such a bizarre mixture of races, cultures, social standing and old feuds should have had exploded right after we had been gathered inside this spacious room. However, only gazes full of contempt and hatred were exchanged above the heads of those who tried to remain unnoticed. Other than that, everyone maintained a perfect silence. This state was partly caused by the legionnaires standing around us, each fully equipped with vifer armaments, and partly by the imperial adjudicators who were sitting on ornamented chairs placed in two rows on the granite platform opposite to us. [I feel kind of sorry for that redhead girl, she looks as if she is about to cry.] A male voice shattered the oppressive silence. Its calm tone felt entirely out of place in this room filled with tension and for the first time in a very long its sudden appearance made me flinch. This voice belonged to Teacher, and it sounded from the yellow topaz adorning my silver necklace. I was the only one who reacted to his words and quickly found the mentioned girl. [That one? She looks like a commoner… but is acting way too scared to be one. I bet she’s a serf.] [A serf huh? The poor girl is surrounded by nobles, no wonder she’s terrified. This world is messed up in this matter. And don’t even get me started about those three lolis. They don’t seem too disturbed, but aren’t they at least three or four years too young to participate in all this?] Like a hawk, Teacher managed to pinpoint every young girl inside the room whose height was under one hundred and fifty centimeters. The so-called ‘loli’. It was one of the many terms that I had involuntarily learned after listening to Teacher for years. After I had to leave my younger sisters behind, I thought that Teacher would be willing to lend me his knowledge without making any more strange demands, but it seemed that I still was too naive. He was already looking for new targets. [Don’t try pretending to be concerned, Teacher. I know you’re happy to see them here. Anyway, it’s about to begin. We will talk later.] [Sure.] [And thanks.] In comparison to half of the people around, who were either covered in sweat, trembling, pale, grinning madly, about to cry or all of the above, my mental shape was much better thanks to Teacher. He not only focused my attention on someone who was clearly in a way worse state than me but also followed it with his usual silly talk. At the same time, he reminded me about my sisters for whom I was willing to go through all this… not that I had much choice in the first place. An order signed by the emperor was something that caused you to throw away EVERYTHING and obediently follow the legionnaires who had ‘magnanimously’ gave you an hour to say goodbyes to your family and pack your things. The most important looking person among the imperial adjudicators, an older man surrounded by the air of authority, stood up from his decorated chair and took the central position on the platform. He had a black cape which contrasted with his short white hair. On top of his luxurious garments was a single piece of armor, an ornamented silver breastplate on which the seal of The Grand Crimson Empire’s imperial family, the burning crown, was engraved. The seal’s color was golden which meant that he was even more important than I thought, probably the head imperial adjudicator himself. It was strange that the imperial protocol was entirely ignored and there was no master of ceremonies who would open everything with a round of courteous introductions, but if this gathering had been following the protocol, then two-thirds of the fifty people standing in rows would have never been allowed to step inside this place. Add to it the armed legionnaires, and I felt more like a criminal who was about to be judged. “I wonder, how many of you know the true reason behind being brought to this place?” Started the head imperial adjudicator in a booming voice. By no means he was a tall man, yet at this moment his presence was bigger than any of the people inside the audience hall. “There are sixty-two imperial adjudicators working directly under the emperor. It may seem like a lot if you think of us as the extension of the emperor's will, or as the people who can freely order around the rulers of the vassal states, but in reality, it’s far from enough. That’s why you were chosen among tens of thousands of potential candidates. You were chosen as the candidates to become new imperial adjudicators.” There were more people shocked by this revelation than I expected. Some lowborn idiots were even gaping at the man on the platform as if they wanted to ask him if he wasn’t mistaken. At least no one was brain-dead enough to voice such a question. On the other hand, I wanted to ask, were those guys truly the handpicked elite candidates? After I had arrived in the city of Fallice on Dove Island, I still had to wait over a month for the remaining candidates. Then several more days before we were finally gathered in this room. Although soldiers had been watching us closely during that period and hadn’t allowed to meet with each other, it had been more than enough time for Teacher and me to deduce the reason behind this summon as well as gather some basic information about the selection of imperial adjudicators from the locals. “Being allowed to attend the Imperial Academy of Adjudication is a great honor in itself. Nevertheless, your families have also received a generous remuneration for sending their precious children to fulfill their duty towards the empire. As for our guests from The Te’Sha Grandate.” He briefly looked at each of the three ma’gans. “In accordance with the treaty signed by both empires, as of this moment, each of you is granted the title of a baron and become a part of The Grand Crimson Empire’s nobility. Shall you survive till the end of the selection, then no matter its outcome, you will be elevated to the rank of a count and given a plot of land inside the empire. At the same time, you’re stripped of any and all of your previous privileges and titles granted by The Te’Sha Grandate.” Two of the ma’gans, a tall girl with orange hair and a much smaller one with blond curly hair, didn’t seem to be surprised by their sudden change of citizenship. The petite girl bowed courteously with a big smile showcasing her shark-like teeth, while the other only nodded slightly without any visible change in her blank expression. The third ma'gan, a red-haired young man, was biting his lip hard and dark red blood dribbled down his chin. “I’m the second prince of Ra’Sha Marchia…” He whispered through his sharp teeth and looked as if he wanted to reject this demotion to a mere baron, but was smart enough to realize that it was neither the time nor place for that. Those who had heard him paid it no attention, we were more concerned with the ominous phrase ‘shall you survive’. After observing their reactions, the head imperial adjudicator resumed his speech. “However, the status of a candidate for an imperial adjudicator is just below that of a junior judge. This temporarily elevates you to a position above that of a ruler of an empire’s vassal state and makes all fifty of you equal. Any actions deemed as an abuse of authority will immediately result in expulsion and loss of all previously held titles. Such is the will of the emperor.” If someone else had told us this, then I doubt many would believe it. Yet here, no one dared to deny those words or treat them as a mere fantasy. Every single one of the head imperial adjudicator’s sentences carried an unbelievable weight. It was almost as if they became a part of the imperial law upon contact with air. I could already tell from the sour expression that appeared on many faces that a lot of the nobles detested the very idea of having to treat slaves, serfs, and commoners as equals. Especially that pair with pale skin and black hair, bearing the emblems of the house of Raven. Their family was no different from royalty in Raven’s Oligarchy and was infamous for inhumane treatment of their subjects. However, there were also a few exceptions, like that person I knew well who looked thrilled with this turn of events. He was Ordius Lunera, the third prince of the Lunera family ruling over the kingdom of Verluna, the place I hailed from. “The five imperial adjudicators responsible for overseeing the current selection are High Judge Kyle Blackdust, Judge Romiel Andronicus, Judge Vera Raven, Junior Judge Hector Umbric, and Junior Judge Neriell di Isabella. I leave the fate of the candidates in their capable hands.” The head imperial adjudicator finished his short speech and immediately started walking towards the exit of the audience hall. One after the other, the imperial adjudicators stood up and followed him in the order of importance until only the mentioned five remained sitting on the podium. [That was Supreme Judge Gabriel Alexandrius? I’m a bit disappointed, his paintings looked more intimidating.] [That’s because you’re unable to feel his overwhelming presence and piercing gaze, Teacher. It felt as if he could ruin my entire life and turn my sisters into criminal slaves with an offhand gesture… the worst part is that he actually could do that if he wanted to. I’m glad that we aren’t worth more of his time.] When the man second only to the emperor left the room, the atmosphere became much more bearable. The fifty people standing in rows weren’t the only ones who could finally breathe a sigh of relief, the legionnaires relaxed their stance as well. I shot a glance at the crying girl from before and saw the exact moment she fell on the floor. For a short while every person inside the room turned towards the source of noise, but after it became apparent that she had merely fainted, everyone lost their interest. The girl was left alone on the cold stone floor. The legionnaires couldn’t touch her without an explicit order since she had just been elevated to a status high above theirs, the imperial adjudicators ignored her entirely, and none of the candidates was willing to risk helping a potential rival in a place where our every move was probably closely watched and evaluated. I also didn’t move, unwilling to sabotage this precious chance to obtain the authority required to free my sisters. “Excuse me, High Judge Blackdust. May I request one of the legionnaires to help her?” Proved me wrong a skinny noble who looked to be in his mid-twenties, one of the oldest candidates. I couldn’t recognize the emblem of his house, but his tanned skin meant that he was probably from the kingdom of Holnest. “And you are?” Responded a man with a trimmed beard and a stern face. He was the only imperial adjudicator who remained sitting in the first row of the chairs placed on the podium. “The candidate for an imperial adjudicator Maximus Eulogius.” “Permission denied. Those soldiers have their responsibilities and orders, I will not disturb their duties with minor requests. However, you have my permission to help this candidate personally.” “Thank you, your honor.” The minor noble swiftly moved towards the unconscious girl. Without the slightest sign of contempt or disgust for the girl who just yesterday had been a serf, he took her in his arms and carried towards one of the benches set against the wall. Then he carefully placed her on it and sat down himself. A second later his rescue operation was completed, the girl had her head lying comfortably on his lap. Maximus failed to hide his satisfaction with this situation and even began stroking the hair of the pretty teenage girl. I watched all this with astonishment and aversion, wondering if he was one of those people who saw members of lower classes as outlets for their base urges. [The only decent person among the wicked.] Teacher’s opinion was as unorthodox as ever. “The Crimson Kingdom, Xertia kingdom, Verluna kingdom, Holnest kingdom, the Raven’s Oligarchy and the Triangle Protectorate.” The high judge began his speech after he moved to the central position of the podium. Each of his words was accompanied by an energetic hand gesture. “So many different states, but we can’t forget that they’re all a part of a single, powerful empire, The Grand Crimson Empire! Once, we didn’t need all that unnecessary division, the entire humanity was united under the banners of The Eagle Empire, fighting to regain our rightful place in Altanea that was stolen by blood beasts. However, as we all know, The Eagle Empire gave too much freedom to its citizens and collapsed internally. Now, the role of humanity’s flag bearer has been entrusted to our glorious empire! But the autonomy of each region is too high, the emperor’s brilliant ideas and edicts are met with illogical resistance and delay. How is the empire to stand united against the blood beasts that still persist deep inside the mountains when some of its vassal states scheme to gain independence?! How is the empire to help The Te’Sha Grandate with the war in the far north when the empire’s nobility is busy with petty feuds and quarrels?! How is the empire to stop further division and weakening like the emergence of the wretched Laverox Federation?! The answer to all those questions is simple, the imperial adjudicators.” The high judge lacked the air of authority possessed by the supreme judge, but he tried to make up for it with conviction and passion. [I already told you a better answer to this problem. Care to enlighten him?] Proposed Teacher. The speech that the high judge continued to deliver wasn’t anything new to me, he focused mostly on repeating a few propaganda slogans like the unity of the human race or the glory connected with serving the empire. All that sprinkled with the importance of the imperial adjudicators, who were akin to the extended will of the emperor. I kept listening to it half-heartedly and shifted my focus to the internal discussion with Teacher. [Let’s say that after using an ungodly amount of luck I will manage to get the high judge to arrange a meeting with the emperor. After that, I will somehow convince the emperor to reform our entire society, then what? Should I dedicate the rest of my life to help with making it come true? Will I even see the result of my hard work? How long did you say it took to abolish feudalism in your world, a few centuries? Why should I bother with all that? I’m the second son of a marquis, with a chance to become an imperial adjudicator, and I happen to like my current perspectives.] [Buuu! No gunpowder for you! And with my help, it would take a few decades at most!] [You’ve said yourself that the situation here is different to the one you know, the empire doesn’t exactly follow every rule of that feudalism of yours. We’ve got a standing army in the form of imperial legions, there are no knights or cavalry, more than half of the human countries are included into The Grand Crimson Empire, and the remaining ones are still independent only because the emperor wants to stabilize the internal situation first.] [Yeah, so big and strong. Until a rebellion happens and suddenly you’ve got five new countries, four in the form of the Laverox Federation that took a massive chunk of the empire’s east coast, and one buffer zone called the Triangle Protectorate. Why does exactly The Crimson Kingdom, the beating heart of the empire, needs a buffer zone cutting its southern borders from its biggest vassal state and the allied ma’gan empire?] [... alright, the situation could be better.] [That’s why you can’t treat winning this selection as the end goal, always remember that it’s nothing more than a stepping stone. Otherwise, you will be wasting precious time by playing the role that for sure is going to be swamped with meaningless work. You should establish a country of your own and modernize its every aspect from the ground as soon as you free those adorable tiny devils you call sisters.] Teacher was serious, he truly believed that it was something I could accomplish as long as he acted as my guide. [But where? And how?] [I’ve got a few ideas. For now, focus on making the best out of the current situation. Even if they’re ‘only’ second or third sons and daughters of their respective houses, there’s still a bunch of royalty and nobles standing right next to you. Go and make as many friends as you can, they may come in handy later. Prioritize the three lolis, I won’t teach you anything else if you don't befriend at least one of them. Also, become an imperial adjudicator if you can, then we will go back to making as much money as possible. I will tell you later about a few more things that are easy to mass produce and will help to make you rich.] [More stuff like graphite pencils, chess and all those tasty things you can turn potatoes into?] [Better. Just remember to keep your promise after earning one hundred thousand gold coins. But let’s end our discussion here. I think the necklace’s battery is about to-] Teacher’s voice suddenly disappeared, the small vifer core inside the yellow topaz had run out of energy. I shifted my attention to the high judge who finally finished his lengthy introduction and began talking about more important things. “... into several stages. The first of them last for a year and is dedicated to making sure that all of you possess a similar level of knowledge and the right attitude towards this position. During that year you won’t be able to leave the academy grounds. Don’t worry, everything required to live comfortably will be provided to you. However, that also means you will have to leave all of your personal belongings behind. They will be sold, and the entire profit will be used to cover a part of the academy expenses. This is a standard procedure, and no objection will be tolerated. Also, there are many special cases among you who were accepted despite failing the initial examination, so the current selection is... highly experimental.” High Judge Blackdust made a small break during which he called for one of the servants waiting outside the audience hall to bring him a cup of water. At first, I didn’t understand what he meant by initial examination, but then I remembered those people from the merchant guild who had been persistently collecting information about me inside my family’s marchdom. At that time, I was convinced that they were simply trying to find out if the patents I had sold to Verluna’s merchant guild were truly my original inventions, but they might have also been checking if the genius child of the Gaure family was a valid candidate for an imperial adjudicator. The other revelations, the fact that we were going to be kept here for a year and that our things were going to be seized, were something that I had already taken into consideration, but a few candidates were more than unhappy with it. Especially the two muscular guys wearing nomadic robes who moved to leave their place in the row. But right after they made a single step, they were stopped by the sound of unsheathing gladiuses coming from the legionnaires closest to them. It seemed that an attempt to leave, no matter the reason, was going to be judged as treason towards the empire, and this verdict had a tendency to end with detaching the offenders' heads from the rest of their bodies. They unwillingly returned to their places. After watching this, other candidates refrained from voicing any complaints. “As you may have already deduced from my introduction, the main characteristics of a perfect imperial adjudicator are lack of prejudice, impartiality towards everyone other than the emperor, willingness to act together with other adjudicators no matter their background, and lack of interest in using the authority for personal gain.” The high judge continued to speak as soon as that minor commotion was resolved. “Achieving all this is always the hardest part. Raising young children to become perfect imperial adjudicators robs them of the ability to act independently and creatively. On the other hand, a more mature person is usually unable to entirely cut himself off from his family, country, culture, and the feeling of power that comes together with this position.” He was stating the obvious, though I couldn’t truly condemn the part about brainwashing children. “Anyway, I won’t go into further details as there is a possibility that you won’t remember any of it, so let’s move on to the next part of today’s schedule.” He finished his speech with a rather offensive statement that resulted in a few cases of unhappy grunts. High Judge Kule Blackdust sat down in his ornamented chair, and another person took his place. This time it was a young woman wearing a modest but elegant dark green dress that covered everything except for her hands and head. Her dark brown hair was braided into a long braid that fell over her left shoulder. Unlike the previous speakers, she held some document. “I’m the imperial adjudicator, Junior Judge Neriell di Isabella. I’m going to read your names in a random order. Please exit through the door to the left of the podium as soon as your name is read.” Junior Judge Neriell spoke in a mechanical and monotone manner. “One of the servants will guide you through a series of rooms where you will be asked to leave your personal belongings, put on the prepared uniform, and go through a round of check-ups. If you notice that there was a mistake in the uniform’s size, please inform about it any of the nearby servants. Finally, you will be led to your room in the dormitory. The rest of today and the entire tomorrow is going to be a free time during which you are to get acquainted with the Academy and its facilities. Be ready to start the reformation process from Tenday. That’s all. The candidate for an imperial adjudicator Rinne.” After the junior judge read the first name from the list, one of the little girls who had caught Teacher’s attention started walking towards the indicated exit. She had interesting hair. When she stood in shadow, it could be called black, but as soon as some light shone upon it, its hue changed to a more violet-like. One of my sisters had once told me about a similar effect that could be obtained with skillful use of cosmetics, but I didn’t think that was the case with this girl. Anyway, a noble bearing the blank emblem wasn’t someone I should involve myself with. I was looking forward to getting out of this audience hall, but soon it became apparent that my patience was going to be tested. There was almost a five minutes period of silence before Junior Judge Neriell read the second name. The same situation repeated after the third, fourth, and fifth person was called. My hope that this wasn't going to be the norm died when the remaining four imperial adjudicators quietly stood up and left the room. If by any chance I was the last person on the list… that meant almost four hours of waiting. Other candidates had also realized this. There was a brief storm of poorly concealed heavy sighing, a stealthy wave of angry glances directed at the junior judge, a few envious looks at the girl who was sleeping happily on the bench and her caretaker, and a single unbelievable guy who threw away his dignity and sat down directly on the floor. Even though he wore merchant-like clothes, he was one of the few candidates who I was unable to put a label on. For sure that sitting guy wasn’t a merchant, the poorer ones were hardly different from commoners, and the richer ones tended to act like minor nobility. He also didn’t look to be a member of any of the lower classes, they were too terrified to pull out something like that. Neither was he a noble because not only I didn't find any emblems on his clothes, but also no proper noble would ruin his reputation with such a breach of etiquette. Nor did he belong to the angry nomads who had their pride and could remain standing for days. He wasn’t just an idiot brought here by mistake… right? ************** “The candidate for an imperial adjudicator Aeriell Raven.” A beautiful girl from the infamous house of Raven was the ninth person called. Her perfect posture was further enhanced by long wavy black hair that swayed lightly with her every step. But almost no male candidate paid any attention to her hair as she had other, more eye-catching, bouncing elements. Judging by the number of awestruck expressions, Aeriell gained an admirer or three. Although, I couldn’t fully understand them. My libido had been literally sealed by Teacher, and at most, I sometimes felt a desire to hug a huggable looking girl. … “The candidate for an imperial adjudicator Av Mao.” The ma’gan little girl with blond curly hair no longer had a wide grin on her face, it was replaced with an expression of relief that she was the twelfth person called. Despite her exotic name, she wore a long light blue one-piece dress that was a rather ordinary choice among the young noble girls in most of the empire’s regions, though it didn’t have the emblem of her house sewn on it. I curiously observed her and realized that Av Mao's movements were a bit predatory as if she was always looking for prey. … “The candidate for an imperial adjudicator Altarius Sereni.” This time it was the turn of one of the nomads who had been stopped from leaving the audience hall. Altarius wasn’t someone who I wanted to get acquainted with. The southern tribes had almost no political power outside the kingdom of Holnest and were treated like unwanted pests. Surprisingly, this musclehead was shorter than me, and I was only one hundred and seventy-five. Still, my height was enough to immerse my sisters in an embrace, and that was all I needed. ... “The candidate for an imperial adjudicator Ateia Faustus.” Number twenty-one was an average looking girl dressed in a fancy silver ball gown. Eyes full of tears, she firmly held something with both hands. Her face looked as if she was gathering the courage to fight for the right to keep this particular item. If this was a memento or something, then the poor girl was going to be devastated, but maybe I could use this situation. If I successfully consoled her, then she would feel obligated to repay me, a rare win-win situation. … “The candidate for an imperial adjudicator Marcus Geta.” Upon hearing his name, a tall guy from the first row saluted briefly towards the junior judge. Though there wasn't much point in him emphasizing his military background since he only had a small sheathed dagger attached to his belt. On the other hand, that guy with a stupid looking face standing on my left was way too accomplished for someone who was at most twenty. Not only was he allowed to bring a goddam gladius, but it also had the symbol of the seventh legion ‘Scorpio’ engraved on its sheath. … “The candidate for an imperial adjudicator Charlotte Kartagra Icaros.” This particular name succeeded in temporarily chasing away the growing boredom and disappointment that were nourished by not being one of the thirty-five people who had already left. It also made me feel ashamed since I had actually failed to recognize a royal emblem, though it belonged to a fallen royal family whose kingdom had been the only human state erased from the maps by ma’gans. This teenage girl with rusty-blond hair, who had the no longer existing kingdom’s name included in her own, was no different from a rebellious element openly declaring insubordination towards The Te’Sha Grandate and its ally The Grand Crimson Empire. It was impossible for Charlotte to be a citizen of the empire as she would have been long dead if that were the case. But then, why the supreme judge didn’t mention her when he had been talking about the citizens of the ma’gan empire? If she was going to remain a subject of The Te’Sha Grandate, was she to be sent back after the selection? What was the point of Charlotte’s participation? Thinking about this was a good way to pass some time. … After nearly four hours of waiting, and one case of a girl who had to be woken up, there were only four candidates still standing inside the audience hall. Despite not exchanging a single word, a strange competition had somehow developed between us, though there were two different sets of rules. At this point, I wasn’t going to be satisfied unless I obtained the title of the most unlucky one among the candidates. And the closer I was to it, the bigger my smile became. My playmate, and at the same time the only rival, was a rather short, gray-haired girl. The occasional challenging smirk she sent in my direction and the countdown on her fingers that decreased with each name were enough to understand that she also aimed for that jinxed title. This amusing girl easily became the first person in this place who I genuinely wanted to become friends with. Besides, she was a noble, which meant that there shouldn't be any strange awkwardness between us caused by different backgrounds. The other two candidates were the third prince of Verluna and a young man from the house of Raven. They were using a set of rules contrary to ours. Neither of them wanted to be the last one to leave the room, and they were evidently bored out of their minds. Ordius visibly frowned every time the junior judge read a name that wasn’t his, and the other guy looked at the girl and me as if we were retarded for getting a kick out of this situation. “The candidate for an imperial adjudicator Nero Raven.” A muffled snort reached our ears, and the pale young man swiftly walked out from the room. The girl watched this with a look full of pity and then turned to me searching for approval, to which I nodded. We both failed to understand what caused Nero to think that he was better than us only because he left as the person number forty-seven. Nevertheless, our contest continued. I hoped that Ordius would be the next one, all three of us would be happier this way. I pointed at the third prince of Verluna and politely gestured him to get lost. He was not amused. The grey-haired girl was quite shocked that I did something like that towards a member of the royalty. However, after a few seconds, Ordius slightly shook his head and calmed her down with an 'I don't care' shrug. She looked at each of us, drew some kind of a conclusion, and giggled voicelessly. I knew I could count on my childhood friend to act as my wingman. A few of the legionnaires watched this exchange, and one even showed me a thumbs up. He probably misunderstood the situation, but it was fine. The girl took an interest in me, Ordius was given an excellent topic to annoy me, and I was glad to find a potential person to do stupid things with. Things looked good. “The candidate for an imperial adjudicator Rexar Gaure.” The junior judge read my name. It wasn’t the outcome I hoped for, but it couldn’t be helped. I started walking towards the exit. Ordius released another heavy sigh, I bet that he wanted to trade places with me. The girl stealthily waved twice and smirked for the last time. She was the winner of our competition. Everything after leaving the audience hall was just as it had been described. While following a servant, I left all my personal belongings in the first room, changed into the academy’s uniform in the second, and lost all memories deemed as obstruction towards becoming a perfect imperial adjudicator in the third. This definitely wasn’t our lucky day.
Spoiler: Chapter 2 At least they hadn’t lied when they had told us that we were going to be provided with everything we could possibly need to live comfortably. The room that I now called my own was spacious and fully furnished. Naturally, everything inside it was of high quality, but two things had far exceeded my expectations. The first of them was a big window. Unlike most of the windows, which were made out of many small pieces of glass held together by an extensive lead frame, this one had only four nearly transparent sheets of glass. It was probably the famous Firoan glass, known for its transparency, size, and price. The second thing was lying on the floor, a luxurious rug made out of softened blood beast fur. Just those two items were enough to empty a minor noble’s purse, and that wasn’t all this room had to offer. A comfortable four-poster bed, an entire wardrobe filled with spare uniforms and other high-quality clothing articles, elegant cabinets containing undergarments and various items necessary in daily-life, a mahogany desk on which were placed writing utensils, a sturdy metal chest with a lock, a bookcase full of expensive tomes, and more. I would definitely enjoy living here if not for the fact that those bastards had messed with my head... well, I was still going to enjoy this place, which was probably the empire’s way of softening the blow connected with memory manipulation. I already knew that the situation was bad. Actually, it was so bad that I had almost failed to realize what was truly wrong with it! The freshly injured back of my left hand's palm had been occupying most of my thoughts, and my guide had almost convinced me that some sacrifices were only natural since I had agreed to become a candidate for an imperial adjudicator. Only the unexplained fury that was smoldering inside me since the time I had left the entrance building had forced me to scrutinize the entire situation from a different angle. One question of ‘why?’ had led to another, and since I wasn’t able to recall basic information about myself it hadn’t taken long to find the most probable cause behind this feeling. The empire was trying to turn me into a perfect adjudicator, and they had already made their first move. After locking the door to the room, I lied down on the soft bed, careful not to allow the back of my left palm to touch anything. Now was a good time for a round of self-analysis. It was something that I had a lot of experience with, though I could hardly remember why. First thing I had to do, was to find as many blanks in my memory as possible and pinpoint the most damaged areas. However, if the empire had a tainted who was able to not only remove memories but also plant fake ones in their place… then I was imperially screwed. But if such were the case, then I wouldn’t have had realized anything in the first place. An hour of intensive thinking was enough to discover a lot. It wouldn’t take even that long if not for the persistent throbbing pain. Gone were the memories connected with my family, friends, goals, dreams, the place I came from, and probably some other things I wasn’t aware of at the moment. On top of that, I couldn’t remember my own name. However, that was it. After replaying a significant number of scenes from the past in my mind, I concluded that my current self would have behaved practically in the same way in nearly all of those situations, which meant that my personality should be mostly unchanged. The only worrisome difference was that I failed to understand the reason behind some of my more irrational actions, like that time when I had hired a tailor to make a bunch of peculiar frilly dresses and strangely long socks. The method they had used to brainwash me was far from perfect, and I could easily bypass a part of it. For example, learning that I came from a noble family wasn’t hard at all after taking into account my level of education and many of the remaining memories, such as the way random people had been treating me. The kingdom I was born in shared a border with Helial Desert, in other words, it was either the kingdom of Verluna, Xertia or Holnest. But my skin wasn’t tanned which ruled out the last possibility. After adding to it the memories of swimming in the Shielded Sea, talking with sailors from the Raven’s Oligarchy, and the time I had spent on a boat before reaching Dove Island, I narrowed down the place of my birth to the south-eastern part of the kingdom of Verluna which was the domain of… someone. I stood up and went towards the desk. I kind of hoped that among the writing utensils would be some graphite pens, but there were only inconvenient feather quills. Nevertheless, an empty sheet of paper quickly turned into a simple map of Verluna which was next divided into its individual territories. Then I began assigning each domain to a noble house until I got stuck. It was strange that I was able to list all of the noble families above the rank of a baron inside that kingdom, and yet, I was unable to tell which one of them ruled over one particular area in its south-eastern part. It was also the only territory I didn’t know the name of. “Heh…” A satisfied smile appeared on my face, but it was quickly replaced with a frown. Despite discovering all this, the empire’s goal had still been achieved. I didn’t feel even a tiny bit of emotional connection to the place that was probably my home. I shook my head and leaned against the desk. This train of thought was depressing, and there were other things I had to think about. It would also be nice if that throbbing pain in my hand had finally stopped. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much I could do about the memories connected with particular people. For sure such people existed, a few of them were extremely important, not being able to remember them made me feel anxious, furious, and heartbroken, but that was everything I managed to recall. Surprisingly, the presence of those negative emotions actually made me feel better. As for trying to recreate my internal image of the people important to me, I decided against it. There was a big chance that the end result would be false and that I would confuse individual people with each other. This would end badly both for them and me, and I had this feeling that there was no need to do that in the first place, though I couldn’t tell exactly why. The last on the list of things I had forgotten were my goals and dreams. This area was the hardest one to pinpoint. I stumbled upon it after noticing that I had various memories of trying to gather allies and coin, but I didn’t know what for. This, in turn, led to a series of questions about my life goals. After realizing that there weren’t any, I finally deduced the primary objective of the first step of this whole indoctrination. After all, someone without any plans for the future was a much easier target to turn into a fanatical imperial adjudicator. The smoldering fury within me was on the verge of erupting, but something was forcibly pushing it back. It wasn’t a pleasant experience, yet I was fine with it since it felt kind of natural and allowed me to retain the clarity of mind. So what if I had no goals and dreams? Making new ones was easy, and for sure becoming a puppet-like judge wasn’t going to be included among them. Nevertheless, there was a big possibility that they would make me go through a more intensive round of brainwashing had they realized that the first one had the opposite effect. I didn’t like it, I didn’t like it all. Especially the part about being locked in here for a year. I had to focus on maintaining a low profile. Any further speculations would only result in a headache, so I did a bit of light stretching connected with thinking about my next move. The sun was setting, but it wasn’t dark yet, and the academy had a lot of vifer lamps. The number of servants required to saturate all those vifer cores had to be considerable, or those servants were elites with enormous reserves of radiance. Anyway, I decided to go out and take a look around. There should be forty-nine other candidates for imperial adjudicators here. I was wondering how they were coping with this situation, and I was looking forward to meeting my fellow inmates for the first time. Stopping one step before the door, I raised my still hurting left hand and took a look at the back of its palm. The number XLVIII was freshly burned on it. “Almost like a slave. Tsk.” Obtaining this brand was the only memory I was glad to be gone. Behind the door was a wide corridor along which were placed four other rooms similar to mine. Earlier, I had been too busy thinking about my lost memories and pain to pay it any attention, but each door had its own number. Starting from the left: L, XLIX, XLVIII, XLVII, XLVI. I sighed deeply after verifying that the number on my door was identical to the one on my hand. Since there was no one on the second-floor corridor, and I didn’t feel like knocking to someone’s door only to find a confused mess of a human behind, I went downstairs. It would be nice to talk with someone who had more or less arranged his or her thoughts already. The first person I found didn’t fit this category at all. On the dormitory’s first floor stood a single small girl. It was my first chance to see the female version of the academy’s uniform and I had to say that it was rather fancy, but still within the scope of something that a highborn would wear for everyday use. The uniform's centerpiece was a long dress, which color started crimson at the top and slowly got darker until it became black at the bottom. The dress wasn’t overly complicated and ensured freedom of movements, at least in theory. The one worn by this girl was too big. Her hands drowned in the long sleeves, and a portion of the hem was being dragged on the floor. The long silk sash that should be worn only around her waist was wrapped around her entire torso, from the shoulders down to the hips, and it was probably the only thing that stopped this ‘unique’ creation from falling apart. The girl’s long white hair looked as if comb and gravity were foreign concepts to her. For some reason, I really wanted to throw her into a bath, arrange this hair full of potential into some great hairstyle, preferably twintails, and dress her properly, but I quickly got rid of this ridiculous idea. “Hey there.” I started since she was just standing still in front of the door with the number XLI on it. She reacted to my voice and slowly turned around. I involuntarily took a step back the moment I saw her face. It bore no visible wounds, but I recalled seeing such empty eyes and expression devoid of hope at various slave markets I had frequently visited. That wasn't the face of a kid who should be at most twelve. This girl's mind probably had more scars than a veteran legionnaire after years of blood beasts extermination. For some reason, the words ‘this world is messed up in this matter’ appeared inside my head. “Hello.” She said and turned her head questioningly to the side, probably wondering what I wanted from her. This single word and gesture went against my first impression of her. I didn’t expect her to reply at all, and for sure not in such an innocent manner. Was I mistaken and her mind hadn’t been irreparably broken? “Umm… did you lose your memories?” Not the best way to start a conversation, but I wanted to check something. After hearing this question, she looked at me as if I helped to resolve the biggest problem of her life. This brief show of emotions gave me a lot to think about. Maybe it was still possible to teach this slave how to be human, or maybe her circumstances were not as bad as I had imagined. “Yes, I think so.” “How much… no, nevermind.” There was no point in satisfying my curiosity at her cost. “Do you have a number on your hand?” I switched the topic to something safer and showed her the brand on mine. “Yes.” I waited for a minute, but that was her entire response. “Can you show it to me?” “Yes.” She was about to mimic my previous movement and raise her left arm but realized that something had to be done with her oversized uniform first. I had accidentally touched my fresh brand a few times, and it hurt like hell. And yet here she was, quickly rolling up the sleeve of her dress, her movements efficient but far from delicate. For a second I thought that maybe hers didn’t hurt that much, but then I noticed that tears began forming in the corners of the girl’s green eyes. It was too late to say that she didn’t have to show it to me, the burned wound in the shape of XLI was already visible. Just as I expected, it was the same number as the one on the door she was standing in front of. “Forty-one, huh?” “Yes.” The small girl’s gaze was switching between my brand and hers, but she didn’t move nor said anything else. For the next three minutes, we were standing in awkward silence until I decided that she was too much for me to handle. Some servant was probably going to take care of her later. “That room is yours.” I pointed at the door, and her gaze obediently followed in that direction. “All the items inside it are yours, you may do whatever you want with them, you may go in and out of that room whenever you want.” I told her just in case. Even the loss of memories wasn’t enough to remove the things that had been carved directly in someone’s soul. “Understood, but I don’t understand.” The girl seemed really confused by her own answer. “Just remember my words and think about them hard.” “Yes, I will think hard.” The candidate number forty-one replied in a slightly happy voice. That said, she remained standing in front of the door to her own room. I wanted to turn around and walk away, but seeing that she was about to roll back her sleeve, I added: “And try to avoid touching that brand before it stops hurting.” The girl’s hands stopped mid-motion, and she looked at me surprised. “Umm…” For some reason, she was lost for words. “Don’t worry, speak freely.” I wanted to find someone more capable of normal conversation, but I could spare her a few more minutes of my time. Checking the ground floor could always be done later. “... may you please tell me whose orders should I prioritize in this place? I can’t remember…” She said in a tiny voice, as if afraid that someone was going to overhear her. “Of course.” I replied both to her and to myself. It seemed that ‘the chain of command’ was burned deeply into this girl’s mind. “First of all is anyone who bears the seal or emblem of the imperial family, but I don’t think that anyone other than the supreme judge will ever visit this place. Then the rest of the judges. You can recognize their importance by the color of their imperial adjudicator seals. If the burning scale is crimson, then you’re dealing with a high judge, golden means judge, and silver is for junior judges. And that’s it, you don’t have to listen to anyone else. Our status as candidates for imperial adjudicators means that even the rulers of vassal states can’t order us around, not to mention normal adjudicators.” “I… I understand, but… I don’t understand. Are all imperial judges my masters? But what if two judges of the same standing give me opposing orders? Who should I prioritize in that case?” The white-haired girl was totally lost. Her question was logical, but she entirely missed my point. I bet that the fact that she had moved from the bottom of the social ladder to its top didn’t register in her mind at all. Though I wasn’t much different. I still found it hard to believe that among millions of the empire’s citizens there were less than two hundred people who were above us in status. No wonder that despite paying full attention to my every word the girl had troubles with digesting this information. “Just remember, YOU ARE a candidate for an imperial adjudicator, and all candidates are equal. Don’t listen to other candidates' orders, and don’t listen to servants, and don’t listen to soldiers. Got it?” I wanted her to take this part to heart. The chances that any of the imperial adjudicators would abuse this gullible girl were low, but the same couldn’t be said about anyone else. “I don’t understand!” Her raised voice took me by surprise. “This order is contradictory. If I follow your order, then I can’t follow your order… please tell me who’s my master.” The petite white-haired girl was trembling from fear and confusion. An irrational urge to pat her messy hair until she calmed down appeared in my mind, but I quickly dismissed it. I had been slightly mistaken, this girl wasn’t a simple slave. Her vocabulary, way of thinking, and most of all her presence in this place meant that her background was more complicated than that. I could provide her with an easy answer to her question, but it would mean having to take care of her from now on. I pitied her, but that was it, I had no reason, nor wanted to, to do anything more. “You should go inside your room and rest.” I told her. After dodging her question and expectations, I turned around and started going down the stairs. A single look back was enough to ascertain that the girl’s face had defaulted to the initial soulless state, almost as if all the emotions she had shown were nothing more than carefully crafted illusions. In the middle of the stairs, I was attacked by a sudden and powerful wave of sleepiness. Unable to withstand it, I fell asleep in mid-step. ********** “Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Damn it hurts!” Complained an average looking teenager who had irritated his fresh wound in the shape of XLVIII while trying to prevent himself from falling down the stairs. He continued to puff on it gently until the pain became somewhat bearable. “Goddamn empire, I put so much love and care into Rexar’s upbringing, and they dared to make him ignore a loli in distress, unforgivable. Simply unforgivable.” He mumbled while going back to the first floor. Still standing on the corridor was the white-haired girl. Just like before, she was facing the door to her room. Without any warning, Teacher walked to her and put his hand on top of her head. Her hair was sticky and stiff, but he continued to pat it gently while thinking how much more pleasant it would be for both of them if she took a bath. “Hey there, still looking for a master?” He said, trying to sound as friendly as possible. The small girl slowly raised her head to look at the face of the person who she thought was going to assault her. To her unpleasant surprise, it was Forty-eight. A twinge of disappointment appeared on her face, out of the few people she saw in this place he had been the first one she previously judged to be a valid person to become her master. Forty-eight hadn’t ignored her, hadn’t openly showed disgust, had even given her some advice, and most of all, he hadn’t tried to touch her. Until now. “No, I’m not.” She refused his offer and moved to maintain some distance between them.
Spoiler: Chapter 3 How did I get to the ground floor without breaking my neck was a mystery, but I really hoped that this wasn’t going to happen again. The last thing I needed was some nasty side effect of the imperial brainwashing. Going back to my room and resting would probably be a good choice, and I was planning to do just that after taking a look around this floor. Unlike the first and second floors which contained only five bedrooms each, the ground floor was a shared space. It was divided into rooms such as the entrance hall where I found an information board with a posted notice saying that the door to the dormitory would remain locked till tomorrow morning; the recreation room filled with pillows, various board games such as the game or ur, water pipes, and a small drawer full of herbs; the dining room that I for now decided to ignore; the group study room that had quite a collection of great philosophers’ works like the famous masterpiece ‘unification of language’ by Kalisto; a storeroom with many small barrels of wine, some dried meat, snacks, and other preserved food supplies; lavatories, unfortunately there were no aqueducts on Dove Island, but at least I found bronze basins full of water and could wash my hands that for some reason were all sticky; and something that probably was an annex for the servants, but I could only guess since the door to it was locked. Strangely, I had yet to spot a single servant after my guide had left. Anyway, it looked that only ten candidates were housed in this dormitory and that some of them were having a lively conversation inside the dining room. Before I joined them, I used one of the small mirrors placed on an ornamented table in the corner of the corridor to make sure that there was nothing wrong with my attire and hair. In comparison to the female version, the male uniform was composed of a pair of elegant black pants, white shirt, a crimson doublet with silver buttons, and a leather belt with two handy pouches attached. There had to be some great secret involved in the creation of this outfit since it caused even my painfully average face to look a little bit more handsome. After I managed to get the last strand of my short brown hair exactly where I wanted it to be, I walked into the dining room. Inside, three men were sitting around a big round table. Each was older, probably taller, and for sure more handsome than me. The best-looking one had short silver hair, a face that a statue of a hero from the past wouldn't be ashamed of, robust body, and an aura of leadership. Two chairs to his left sat a second guy whose appearance was definitely less athletic and more sophisticated. He had medium black hair gathered in a ponytail, a cold expression that seemed both intelligent and calculating, and unbelievably pale skin. The last person sat opposite to the others, and unlike the previous two who were calm and composed, his pretty face was ruined by a look full of distress and anxiety. His short brown hair was similar to mine, but the same couldn’t be said about his muscular body. Actually, I felt stupid for even trying to make a better first impression by putting a bit of effort into my deficient appearance. This caused my confidence to take some damage, but more importantly, it also made me lose the initiative. “Oh!” The silver-haired one stood up upon noticing my entrance, he moved quickly, and we were shaking hands before I even grasped the situation. His grip was solid and powerful. “A fellow candidate joins our small gathering. Good to know that we aren’t the only ones who want to socialize. How should we call you? By number? Or have you thought of something else already? By the way...” He showed me the back of his hand on which was the number L. “... call me Fifty, I’m perfectly fine with it.” He practically pulled me towards the table and forced to sit down, the big smile on his face didn’t waver even for a second. As for his question, I had already thought about the way to introduce myself, and since I didn’t want to be called Forty-eight, I had picked a new name - Rex. It meant both ‘king’ and ‘monarch’ and my gut feeling told me that it was the right choice. I raised my left hand for everyone to see. “Forty-eight, but call me Rex.” Their response was far from what I expected. Fifty couldn’t contain laughter, and the pale guy looked at me as if I was retarded. “Sorry, but if you want to choose that name, then you will have to be satisfied with Rex Number Three.” Said Fifty while shifting his gaze between the ponytailed guy, the muscular guy, and me. “... seriously?” I asked to which he nodded. “I’m Rex.” Said the pale guy coldly. It wasn’t possible to tell his number because of the pair of white gloves he wore. “Pick something else, and this guy over there.” He pointed with his chin at the depressed person. “He doesn't deserve to be called as such, even if we add 'number two' to it. If he isn't able to collect himself, then his name will be forty and four. All that drama over a few sealed memories, pathetic.” A loud bang reverberated in the entire dining hall. Forty-four smashed his fist into the table. “What the fuck do you know?!” He yelled at the top of his lungs. “Come on, calm down, there’s no point in taking your anger on us.” Fifty immediately intervened, but it wasn’t enough. Forty-four hit the table once more and abruptly stood up, toppling his chair over. In response, Fifty quickly rose and was ready to forcibly persuade this guy to calm down, a grimace of frustration broke through his previous static smile. Rex remained sitting and continued to derive joy from the whole situation, his shoulders rose up and down in quiet mocking laughter. As for me, I was good at providing support from a safe distance, and that was exactly what I wanted to do. However, the enraged guy remained unmoving, hot air bursting out of his nostrils. He probably had enough self-control left to realize that ‘we’ wouldn’t allow him to pummel Rex’s face into oblivion just because of a petty insult, or he didn’t want to hurt his chances to become an imperial adjudicator. Ultimately, after a few seconds of this standoff, he only kicked away the lying chair and walked out of the dining room. “Ha… haha... hahaha!” Rex erupted with laughter so loud that it wouldn’t be strange if Forty-four decided to come back here and fight despite the odds. “He didn’t even try to punch me? Is he a lowborn scared of the noble me?! What a loser!” “Why are you doing this? It’s the second time. I will seriously help the next person who wants to hurt you.” Said Fifty, irritation was seeping into his voice. “Well, it’s fun. But more importantly, I’m looking for suitable allies.” Rex responded nonchalantly. “Allies you say? Doesn’t look that way to me.” Replied Fifty and grabbed a cookie from one of the bowls placed on the round table. He examined it from every side and ate in a single bite. “Your way is flawed.” I joined the conversation and caused them both to turn their heads in my direction. “Even if you will find someone who’s not controlled by emotions and-” “Oh shut up Forty-eight, will you?” Interrupted Rex. “You’re talking as if I didn’t know this already. Cold efficiency and perfect cooperation in spite of mutual aversion are what I’m looking for. Got it? Or did the sealing procedure fried your brain, Forty-eight?” “Ekhm!” Interrupted Fifty while extending a hand holding a cookie to each of us. “So, you want to remain Rex Number Three or…?” “No, of course not. Call me Faust.” I accepted his attempt to change the topic, took the cookie, and picked the first good sounding name that came to mind. “What about Faust the Third? Think about it, it’s a perfect fit for a third-grade noble like you. Wait, are you even a noble in the first place? With a face like that...” Surprisingly, Rex also accepted the cookie and ate it, not that it changed his attitude. “Oh come on…” Fifty sighed deeply, thinking that another fight was about to break out. But Rex’s provocations were lost on me. True, they added to the smoldering fury deep inside, but it still wasn't enough to overpower that something which was holding it back. Instead, I chuckled and shook my head. The pale guy’s expression slightly changed, he was waiting in anticipation for my riposte. I continued to chuckle. I had to buy more time to think of something witty to say. Why my brain always, ALWAYS, stopped working when I needed it the most? Heavens, there had to be something I could reply with! But this guy had no openings to exploit except for his pale skin, and for sure I couldn’t win this with ‘are you so cold and white because your mother had an affair with a snowman?’... dammit, that was the best I could think of. As the pressure from Rex, and Fifty’s growing realization that my chuckle wasn’t a sign of an incoming riposte, became too hard to bear, a sudden impulse caused me to grab a fistful of cookies and threw them at Rex. “W-what?” “Why?” As the cookies harmlessly bounced off Rex’s uniform, they both looked at me as if I had grown an additional pair of arms. “Just feeding animals.” I said the words that appeared vividly among my thoughts. Rex’s face, that was quickly turning red, and his visibly hostile posture signaled that he wasn’t going to leave it with that, but I was faster and added: “Please don’t say anything and make us hit you, that would be animal abuse.” I hardly knew what was wrong with abusing animals, but I sure made it sound as such, and Rex wasn’t going to admit that there might have been an imperial law he didn't know about. He started massaging his temples, and his flushed face slowly returned to its initial pale state. I guessed that was the end of our short exchange. Was that how sudden inspiration felt like? Well, it was similar to the strange urges that had appeared while I had been talking with that small girl, but I didn’t reject them this time. Anyway, I loved the effect, and so did Fifty who jovially patted my back. “Are you satisfied? Can we talk about something serious now?” Fifty asked Rex. “A wannabe hero and… Faust. Could be worse. At least you two don’t stink like that filthy rat upstairs.” One thing was certain, cooperating with this guy wasn’t going to be pleasant. It would be best to get as much information out of him as I could and look for a more agreeable company. “Don’t call her like that. She’s quite intelligent, you know? Just a bit unapproachable.” To my surprise, Fifty interceded for the girl number forty-one. But Rex only snorted and decided to ignore him. For the next two hours, we talked about various topics. Of course, we started from the selection of the adjudicators itself. It turned out that both of my temporary companions had more or less realized the same things I did. Less in the case of Fifty, as he only knew that our memories were erased but couldn’t tell which areas were affected. More in the case of Rex, who had a theory that those memories were not erased, but simply sealed. He said that if one tried hard enough, then it should be possible to regain them. In support of his thesis, he shared with us the single memory he had managed to recover. Apparently one of the other candidates was his twin sister. If we managed to confirm her existence, then it would be a huge step forward. Armed with this knowledge, I hypothesized that the empire may use unsealing our memories as bait for further indoctrination. Though Rex agreed, he didn’t see anything wrong with aiming to become an imperial adjudicator as long as he could remain himself. Fifty was more hesitant, but in the end, he also saw this selection as a precious chance. Next, our topic shifted towards the candidates. It seemed that they had separated us into five groups of ten candidates each since Fifty said he had counted five identical dormitories on his way here. I had to admit that paying attention to your surroundings was quite an achievement when your mind was occupied both by throbbing pain and overwhelming confusion. Our dormitory housed candidates with numbers from forty-one to fifty, and we began enlisting all we knew about each of them. Forty-one was the white-haired girl standing on the first floor. It was pretty obvious that she had used to be a slave or something similar and that was more than enough of a reason for Rex to refuse to tolerate her presence. We failed to convince him otherwise, even after using the argument that they had separated us in order to make all ten of us cooperate as a group. Forty-two remained locked inside the room. Forty-three was possibly a noble, but he hadn’t taken the loss of memories too well. He was the first guy who Rex had managed to piss off. Fifty said that he had to beat that guy into submission and drag him to his own room. We agreed that there wasn’t much point in talking with Forty-three until he calmed down and sorted his thoughts. Forty-four was the second guy who Rex had pissed off. Although, he had more self-control than his predecessor. Possibly a noble, but there was a chance that he had a military background. It wouldn’t hurt to get to know him better. Forty-five remained locked inside the room. Forty-six remained locked inside the room. Forty-seven was Rex’s number. He hated the brand and said that he would never take off his gloves in public. Of course, he also claimed to be a high noble. As for the place of his birth, it was the Raven’s Oligarchy. After hearing that, it wasn’t hard to guess that this pale skinned, black haired guy with superiority complex was probably a member of the house of Raven. However, he didn’t care much about it, saying that his indifference wouldn’t change even if his memories were to return. How much truth was in his words, I didn't know. Rex claimed that becoming the imperial adjudicator was the only thing that truly mattered. Forty-eight was me. They asked me a few questions about my skills and background, but other than that I had nothing special to say. I also felt that it wouldn't be wise to share too many details. Forty-nine remained locked inside the room. “Not anymore.” A sudden voice interrupted our discussion. It belonged to a short girl who just opened the door to the dining room, quickly becoming the center of attention. Her grey hair was made into a side bun, emphasizing her big forehead, held together by two amber hair sticks. A few strands of hair on the opposite side of her head were left alone, partially covering one of her azure eyes and adding some messiness to this otherwise neat hairstyle. A smug smile gave her pretty face a rather wily look. She also tried to show us that when worn properly by an appropriate person, the female uniform was indeed a sight to behold - but failed. While there was nothing wrong with the somewhat loose bottom of her dress, the tight top allowed us to count her ribs easily - this girl was terribly skinny, it was almost as if she hadn’t eaten for days. Nevertheless, she happily waved to us, making sure that we all saw the number XLIX burned on her left hand. “Arranging hair took so long you almost starved yourself, Forty-nine?” Started Rex. He released a few strands of hair from his black ponytail and moved them to cover his eye. The girl ignored his words and scoffing gestures, she focused on taking a quick look around the dining room. There were two empty chairs between each of the three of us, yet out of all the possible choices she moved to sit down next to Fifty, sending him a warm smile. “Don’t mind him, just throw him a cookie if he spits too much poison.” The most handsome among us was quite pleased with this development. “I’m Fifty, this is Faust and Rex. What about you? Do you want to be called by your number or…?” “Hmm~, good question.” The girl crossed her arms on the table and rested her head on them. “I’m curious Forty-nine. Your skeletal body is painful to look at, but with that face of yours, it should be still possible to earn some coin. Do you remember how many clients you sucked before coming to the Academy or were those mem-” It happened in an instant. One second Fifty was sitting calmly with his usual smile, the other, his fist was burying itself into Rex’s face. The pale guy flew back quite spectacularly, though it was mostly because of his own reflex to avoid the incoming object than the force behind it. “I warned you, and I’m doing you a favor. Even if she’s not of noble birth, right now she has equal status to ours. You’re walking on thin ice, you know?” The evident satisfaction in Fifty’s voice revealed that he had wanted to punch that guy for some time now. “... umm… I know I may not look like it, but I’m preeeeety sure I’m a noble. Not that it matters much in this place...” The short girl scratched her head awkwardly while distancing herself from those two. She ended up sitting right next to me, inspected my fed up expression, and whispered: “A hero and a villain, and you are?” “The inventor of many potato dishes.” I replied without caring for the volume of my voice and took a second look at the girl. Though she was short, her age shouldn’t be far from mine. The girl’s reaction was instantaneous, she began laughing loudly with hands on her belly and tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Fifty, whose attention had been focused on Rex, looked at us not understanding the situation. He expected a constant stream of praises coming from the gray-haired girl, yet she was busy with moving her big forehead up and down in an uncontrollable fit of laughter. On the other hand, Rex’s angry expression was replaced with a smirk as he watched the whole situation unfold. The pale guy wiped the blood from his dissected lip, dusted off his clothes and said: “Your ‘damsel in distress’ is dying of laughter, shouldn’t you help her with your fists full of justice, Wannabe Hero?” Rex released another portion of words coated in venom and briskly walked out of the dining room. “Hahahaha! S-sorry, hahaha! I c-can’t… haha!” Forty-nine struggled to catch her breath, and Fifty continued to pressure me with a gaze that demanded an explanation. “What? It’s true, give me a potato, and I will show you the power hidden within.” “Just… ehhh… whatever.” It took over fifteen minutes for Forty-nine to calm down, and it would have taken even longer if Fifty didn’t ban the usage of the p-word. Then we shared our information with her and decided to go back to our rooms. It was already late, and it didn’t seem that anyone else was going to come to the ground floor today. But just as we were about to leave the room, Forty-nine abruptly stood up and announced something unexpected. “My name! I almost forgot. I like you guys so I will give you a chance to name me. But you know, giving a name to someone is important, like reallyyy~ important, that’s why you only have two chances each. But, the prize is worth using all your brainpower, and maybe even some radiance if you know how to imbue a name with it, not that it’s possible, but well, a radiance-imbued name now that would be something! Anyway, like I’ve said it’s an important issue, and the prize is… becoming my father! Yes-. Hey! Don’t look at me like that!” She shot a glance full of reprimand towards our completely confused selves. “Who else can name someone other than that person’s father or mother? Or wait… you want to become my mom? That’s kind off… well, you know... let’s stick with a father, alright?” I placed my hand on Fifty's shoulder. "Congratulations, it's a girl." And quickly evacuated myself from the room... ... or at least tried to, but before I noticed, Fifty's iron grip was fastened around my wrist.
Spoiler: Chapter 4 A bizarre situation was taking place in the dormitory’s dining room. A handsome man was joyously jumping around as if a deposit of vifer had been discovered in his territory. On his back was a short girl who clung to him for dear life as each of the young man’s jumping steps threatened to send her body flying on a collision course with a wall, floor, or maybe even the ceiling if she let go at the right moment. “I was only joking! Put me down already, pleeeeaaaseee.” Protested the gray-haired girl who had made the mistake of asking her new ‘papa’ to spoil her. Since I was only the observer, their behavior looked more stupid and embarrassing than fun, but they seemed to be having a blast. “Maya! I never was much of a father to you, well you know I was only like two or three when you were born. But now I’m ready to take responsibility, I will shower you with lots and lots of love and attention!” Despite his initial reluctance, Fifty definitely enjoyed playing his new role. He had first captured Maya in a bear-hug, then twirled her around multiple times, and now was giving her a wild piggyback ride around the room. The petite girl never stood a chance and could only beg for mercy in the rare intervals between her squeaks. Fifty had mentioned that next on his fatherly list of things to do was eating dinner together, telling her a goodnight story, and holding her hand till she fell asleep. I watched their cringeworthy bonding session with a lukewarm smile. I had to say that Maya’s taste in names was rather poor. How could she have picked Fifty’s ‘Maya’ over my clearly superior ‘Eriell’ or ‘Rubiell’? Nevertheless, since this matter had been resolved, I wanted to put a closure to this day eventful day. “See you guys tomorrow.” I stood up and moved to leave for the storeroom, bringing some food and a barrel of wine to my bedroom wouldn’t hurt. A pity there were no non-alcoholic beverages in the dormitory, but those tended to spoil too fast. Still, there had to be a well or something outside, so I should be able to get a servant to make me some tea tomorrow. I also wanted to check up on a certain little girl on the way back. “Wait, don’t go! Help me first, brother!” Captured Maya turned to me for assistance. Apparently, I became a part of their family before I knew it… which immediately shattered my good mood. And it wasn’t just a simple case of a ruined mood, this sudden negative influx of emotions continued to develop into something much worse. Fifty said something as well, but I wasn’t listening to them anymore. Maya’s request for help, or more like her specific choice of words caused colors to drain from the surrounding. It felt as if an endless bog appeared beneath me, a dark bog from which a stream of memories erupted. ‘Brother, help!’ ‘Brother, it hurts.’ ‘Ni’chan, help me…’ ‘Brother, do it again!’ ‘Ni’chan, tell me another story, please.’ Two identical voices kept ringing in my ears, dragged from the depths of my mind. Upon hearing them, my disgust for the still hurting brand grew stronger, but there was a slight sense of unity mixed within. Mine was tangible, theirs was not. My head hurt as if long, red-hot nails were being hammered behind each of my ears. Before I knew it, my hands were tightly clenched, shaking uncontrollably. ‘Brother, does father hate us?’ ‘Brother, what is wrong with us?’ ‘Ni’chan, why --- and I are like that?’ ‘Ni’chan… you really want me to wear this?’ ‘Brother, stop putting sour candies in the red candy box!’ Recalling some of those words was no less painful than it had been back then, others made no sense at all, and some were warmer than laying on a soft blanket during a sunny summer day. But that wasn’t all... that for sure wasn’t all there was to it! Mixed within those shards of memories was the knowledge that had been hidden from me, the knowledge that I had someone more important to me than my very life. Now it had returned to its rightful place. ‘Brother, it’s pointless.’ ‘Ni’chan… I HATE YOU!’ ‘Ni’chan, get out of my bed.’ ‘Brother... it hurts... it hurts... it hurts!’ ‘Ni’chan, help me… or do you like --- more than me?’ ‘Brother… stay with me for a little longer, just a little…’ I knew that the empire was rotten, but for them to dare to use a tainted despite everything they did to them in public? This had to be some kind of a sick joke. However, without recalling everything, it was hard to say why exactly I felt that way. ‘Brother… you promise?’ ‘Ni’chan… you promise?’ And there was this promise I had made… or were there two of them? But no matter how much I tried to remember, the content of those promises remained sealed. I had been foolish enough to think that making new goals and dreams was the correct answer while following down this path would cause me to betray everything that made me the person I was! Thankfully, regaining those shards of the past changed everything, starting from my attitude towards the lost memories - I had to get them all back. The inside of my head was filled with suffering as I tried to dig out more of the shards from the depths of my mind. A wave after wave of terrible pain interrupted my thoughts, and the smoldering fury within me was about to burst out. That something, which held it back till now, agreed with my desire for revenge on the empire. My palms became sweaty, breath ragged, and heart continued to beat like crazy. Quickly increasing anger kept looking for an easy way to manifest itself. Someone’s hand touched my shoulder. Just what I needed. “Hey, are you al-” Maya’s words were brought to halt after I raised my face and showed her the furious expression painted on it. Fifty saw it as well, because he quickly swapped places with the girl, hiding her behind his back. “Faust? You look terrible, what’s wrong?” Though he tried to maintain his smile, it was evident that he was wary of me. How I wished Fifty would give me the final push needed to overpower the remains of logic that screamed not to attack this guy without a weapon. On the other hand, I didn’t want to act like an idiot without a good reason. Damn, if only Rex were here. “I’m just sick of your goddamn face and your stupid family play.” “Come on, it’s not that bad, is it? We have to relax when we can, or I don’t think we will last long in this place.” “Papa’s right! Oh wait, are you jealous? Sorry~, but as long as I’m Maya, Fifty will remain my father. But cheer up! I wanted to make you a younger brother, but if you really want to, I will let you be the older one.” The grey-haired girl’s voice was as cheerful as ever, she wanted to come closer and pat my back, but Fifty stopped her. This double-faced bastard treated me like some kind of a wild animal. “So that’s how it is? As soon as a girl with a pretty face gets all chummy with you, you don’t care about anyone else? Want to keep her all for yourself, huh? Wannabe hero indeed, already building his harem, just remember to feed her regularly. Heh, at least Rex showed us up front what he’s like and what he wants in return. And you...” I pointed at Maya. “... don’t you fucking dare to call me brother. It’s already disgusting enough to hear you call this guy ‘papa’.” “Seriously, what’s your problem? One minute you’re acting perfectly normal, the next you’re looking for a fight? Are you really jealous? That’s disappointing, I thought you’re a better man than that. The sad part is that you’ve brought Rex as an example, but you’re completely blind to yourself.” Fifty’s opinion of me continued to plummet without even the need to answer his questions anymore. He moved a step away from me, dragging Maya along, and gestured towards the exit with his chin. “I think you should rest, you can apologize to us later. And if you really have some problem, then maybe tomorrow I cou-” “Apologize? For what? Stating the truth?” I interrupted before he started patronizing me. Fifty shook his head and continued to shoo me away. As the realization that he was confident it wasn’t possible for me to win against him hit me, I began searching for something sharp. A knife or a fork would do just fine. But before I grasped something suitable, Maya freed herself from Fifty’s grasp with a sudden quick movement and distanced herself. “I think all of us should rest. It’s been a hard day, and it took its toll. I’m going first. And forget about this whole family stuff, it was just my stupid joke that turned out worse than I expected, so let’s go back to being normal acquaintances tomorrow, ok?” She showed us a glimpse of a genuine expression of guilt and sadness before she swiftly turned away and left the room. Not sparing me a second glance or another word, Fifty followed right after her and I was left alone in the dining room. Their misunderstanding of the whole situation irked me somewhat, and I knew that they did nothing wrong, but other than that I didn't really care. Overall, it was already a big success that only a small portion of my anger managed to seep outside and that I stopped myself from doing something really stupid, not that I was proud of being unable to control my emotions. Worse, there was still the risk that given a proper reason, I would explode with a self-destructing fit of rage. I remained on the ground floor for a few more minutes to cool down, surprisingly no items were destroyed in the process. Partly because the dining room's chairs proved to be sturdier than expected and throwing them around was tiring, partly since I was unable to bring myself to shatter any of the more fragile targets like those expensive, decorated vases. I would sooner resort to stealing them than mindlessly breaking. After regaining a bit of composure, I took some supplies from the storeroom and went back to my room. To my relief, the white-haired girl wasn’t standing on the corridor anymore. One more thing occupied my thoughts on the way back, I realized that even though most of us seemed to be nobles, we were far from behaving as such. Culture, etiquette, manners, behavior, and so on, all of us were much closer to children displaying their bare emotions than proper nobility. Was this the result of possessing only the knowledge, but forgetting the circumstances in which we had obtained it? If yes, then I sincerely hoped it was only temporary. My last thought before I fell asleep was to check tomorrow if the food I brought wasn’t rotten, something stank. ***** “He surely took his time.” Complained Teacher while dressing himself. There was a mountain of things he had to do, but taking control while Rexar was awake could end badly. Not only his pupil would end with strange holes in his memory, but there was no guarantee that the takeover would be smooth. For example, there was the risk of falling down the stairs since Teacher could only initiate the process but wasn’t able to predict when exactly it would be complete, and such emergency takeovers could easily be broken. “Four? Nah… three. Three hours.” It was the time limit Teacher set for himself for today's night. The body they shared still required at least the minimum amount of sleep. They had learned this the hard way, during hellish four days when they both stubbornly refused to let their body rest and became no different from an irritable, hallucinating wreck of a human. His uniform back on, teacher sighed heavily and moved to open the sturdy metal chest that stood in the corner of the room. Though a small silver key was inserted into it, the chest wasn’t locked. As he lifted the heavy lid, a worrisome sight entered his view. Curled up on a big pillow inside was a little girl whose blank green eyes reflected the moonlight and followed his every movement - the same white-haired girl that had stubbornly refused to enter her own room. After she had turned down Teacher’s request to become her master, he tried quite a few different ways of reasoning with her, worried that someone would have no qualms about taking advantage of the girl, but nothing worked until he gave up on persuasion and issued a strict order. Surprisingly, the girl obediently listened to him, but despite his best efforts, she failed to comprehend what it meant to be the master of her own life and only did the things that were told to her in the form of orders. Though she sometimes seemed to twist the meaning behind them in her own peculiar way. In the end, he took her into his room and ordered to rest. The result was entirely different from what he expected as the white-haired girl took a single look around the room and without hesitation went into the chest as if it was the most suitable place for her to sleep. Since Rexar was close to regaining control, Teacher only stuffed one of the pillows underneath her and had to leave. Which led to the current situation. “Slept well?” “...” The girl remained silent, unwilling to talk with someone who had kidnapped her. She might have felt obliged to follow orders, but that didn’t mean she was devoid of emotions. And right now, Forty-one was quite pissed at the man who had been ordering her around without her consent. Her default soulless expression turned into a frown, and she even puffed out her cheeks in a silent show of resistance. “Fine, we will do it the hard way. This is an order, eat and drink until you're no longer hungry and thirsty.” Ordered Teacher while pointing at the food brought by Rexar. He had just finished inserting a small wooden tap into the wine barrel. The name ‘wine’ was misleading, as the alcohol content of this watered grape juice was kept to a minimum required to prolong its shelf life. It was nearly impossible to get drunk on this stuff as Teacher had learned long ago. Forty-one shot him a glance full of murder, that made her look as terrifying as a small hissing kitten, and moved to comply with her order. Inwardly she swore that if someone ever ordered her to bring harm to this man, she would carry out that task with some extra zeal. In the meantime, while chewing on a piece of dried meat, Teacher sat down at the desk and began writing a letter to his pupil. His goal was to establish a communication with the current Rexar called Faust. Initially, he thought about using a vifer core taken from one of the lamps, but their quality was too low and even after fully saturating with radiance the most they could do was to produce some light. He would need a military grade core or better if he wanted to construct a second necklace, and until finding such a thing, his options were limited to using other people and writing. The former were unreliable and risky, making the latter his only viable option. There were many things he wanted to explain, but no guarantee that Faust would take him seriously if it sounded too far fetched, that was why Teacher only hinted about the existence of some matters while focusing on the topics that were going to be hard for Faust to ignore. The letter turned out a bit long, but after rereading it, Teacher decided that it should be fine. When he saw that the white-haired girl, who sat on the floor, was trying to drink directly from the wooden tap, he grabbed an empty mug from one of the cabinets and wanted to pass it to her. “Here, use this.” “...” “Yeah, it’s an order. An order to make your life easier.” She reluctantly took it. “You know what? I’m rather good at telling stories.” He said and sat down opposite to the girl, for a moment they ate in silence. The food wasn’t bad for something that was made with long shelf-life in mind. “High up on the steep shore was a small dark forest. In it stood a very old oak tree. It was four hundred and forty-one years old, but all that long time was to the tree almost like the same number of days might be to us. You and I wake up and go to sleep every day, but it was different for the tree, it had to stay awake for three seasons of the year, and only when the winter came it could finally rest. On a warm summer day, a little fly landed on the tree, tired by its nonstop flight. The fly’s life was short, merely a day, but it was content with it and enjoyed its every minute. But the tree would always say: ‘Poor little creature! Only a single day of life, how very short. It must be quite melancholy.’...” In the beginning, Forty-one listened only because she had no other choice, wondering at the same time what was wrong with this man. She wasn’t going to speak unless ordered, but couldn’t ignore his words in case he would mix an order within. At least for now, the commands she had received were still camouflaged as kindness, but she knew this state wouldn’t last long. And so, she unwillingly continued listening to the rather simple story, yet there was something charming in it, something that with each minute made her focus more and more on the story itself instead of the order to fill her belly. She listened as the tree and the fly talked about the different ways they perceived time. How the fly was happily using each of its countless little moments of life, while the tree was convinced that its own life was much more fortunate since it would last longer than the fly could imagine. Then the fly's time to live ran out, and it died, but the tree continued to exist, repeating the same conversation with countless flies every summer. Each time the winter came, the tree fell asleep, lulled by storms that crackled its branches. And many years came and passed. The story lasted for a few more minutes, telling more of the tree's experiences and thoughts. By that time, Forty-one only mechanically moved her mouth to chew while her eyes and ears followed each gesture and listened to every word that came from Teacher’s side. “... and then, during a very stormy winter, the tree dreamt what was about to become its last dream. As it slept, the furious wind broke its branches, tore its roots and finally managed to overturn the tree. The rest isn’t important since it’s too religious for my taste. The end.” “Huh? That’s-” The girl exclaimed surprised by the sudden ending, but quickly realized what she had done and fell silent in the middle of her sentence. Teacher watched with pleasure as the white-haired girl quickly turned red from the anger of being tricked. She didn’t seem to like it when he touched her, so he restrained himself from poking her puffed cheek with a finger, but the mocking smile on his face had to be among the widest he had ever made. “Ok, I see you’re done eating. Time to do something about this… distinct smell of yours. This is an order, go to the bathroom on the ground floor and wash yourself thoroughly, there are basins with water over there and soap, use them. This is also an order, if you meet someone other than me, turn back immediately, or hide until that person is gone, then come back to this room.” I added the last part since it wasn’t hard to predict what this little girl was planning to do in case she spotted someone. “Just remember, if you don't scrub yourself properly, I will personally give you a second bath.” “...” The girl silently stood up and left the room. Anxiety and fear were building up inside her, the only way of discouraging others from getting close to her was about to be removed. More than ever before she wanted to have her memories back, for sure they contained the information who was her true master, and maybe if she had them then it would be easier to reconcile with her fate. She also resolved herself never again to let that man fool her with a fancy story. Teacher waited precisely thirty seconds before following the white-haired girl, but his final destination was different. After making sure that there was no one on the way from his room to the lavatories, and that the girl went inside without any problems, he turned back to the first floor and without a second though opened the door on which was the number XLI. The room’s furniture and most of the items within weren’t any different from his own. The only exception was at the same time his goal. Teacher began rummaging through the room’s content in search of a new set of clothes for the small girl. For a moment he thought about ordering her to do it by herself but decided against due to the same reason why he made her stay in his own room. He simply liked the idea of taking care of that girl and wanted to see her happy. The only problem was convincing Faust to do the same, but he had already stated this as one of his demands in the letter. Armed with the smallest uniform and undergarments he managed to find, Teacher went back to his room where he waited for the girl’s return. But after half an hour of killing time, he realized that he had only ordered her to wash but never said anything about coming back unless she met someone. Taking into consideration the girl’s antipathy towards him, it wouldn’t be strange if she remained there for hours. “Heh, damn she got me.” He sighed and went to retrieve Forty-one. But as soon as he placed his foot on the corridor of the second floor, he heard some steps that sounded too heavy to belong to a little girl. Some other candidate was climbing the stairs. Teacher strained his ears while walking in the direction of the stairway. Whoever it was, he or she stopped on the first floor and then went inside one of the rooms. Excluding Forty-one, out of the four remaining candidates from that floor, two were the guys who had been angered by Rex, and two were unknown. However, there was no need to go and search for the white-haired girl, as she had returned by herself a moment later. Apparently, she had seen someone and was forced to follow through with her orders. Her movements were reluctant, and for some reason, she was totally naked. Water dripped from her wet hair and body, each of her steps left behind a small damp footprint. She looked devastated, and her mood was rock bottom but there no sign of the previous layer of dirt and that unpleasant smell. The girl's clean state of being revealed her potential to be incredibly cute and huggable... as well as many long thin scars concentrated around her hips and chest that were probably left by a whip. “Look at you! It’s almost as if you’re a water phoenix reborn.” Teacher tried to reassure her by not acting awkward in her naked presence and show her that to his eyes she was no different from a normal kid, but it had little effect. The rest of Teacher’s remaining time after they returned to the room number XLVIII was spent on ordering the little girl to dress up and comb her hair properly. At first, he wanted to help her with it but quickly changed his mind as she was almost like a different person after coming back from the lavatories. The girl’s body tensed up each time Teacher came close to her, in addition to remaining silent, she also tried to keep her eyes shut and avoid any unnecessary movements. Watching her shake in terror pained Teacher's heart, but his goal remained unchanged. He wished to convince the white-haired girl that no harm would befall her from his hand and planned to slowly reduce the distance between them until it became evident that all he wanted was to pat her head and see her sincere smile. However, for today that was enough. As soon as he had told her that it was time to sleep, she practically escaped inside the chest without waiting for him to finish saying the rest of the order, which only consisted of ‘good night’. Convincing her that he really had no ill intentions was going to take a lot of time, but it was possible… as long as Faust agreed to cooperate. There was also the problem of managing Faust’s negative emotions that were no different from a ticking bomb, but Teacher decided to postpone dealing with it for tomorrow’s night.
Spoiler: Chapter 5 My peaceful sleep was interrupted by someone’s knocking, it was so loud that perhaps I shouldn't have called it knocking but banging instead. This wasn’t a good sign, and a stern male’s voice coming from behind the door had further strengthened this belief. “By order of Junior Judge Hector Umbric, all candidates for imperial adjudicators from the class number five are to gather in their dormitory entrance hall! Failure to accomplish this task in one very small hourglass of time, or appearing in an inadequate state will result in an appropriate punishment!” Multiple other voices saying the exact same lines reverberated like an echo in the entire building, I bet that someone was standing in front of each of the candidates’ bedrooms. One very small hourglass meant that I had less than five minutes to comply with this order. Still, that should be more than enough time to get dressed and move to the ground floor, it also left me with a bit of a leeway to lazily stretch. An unexpected creaking sound, followed by something heavy hitting the wall, instantly dispelled the remnants of my sleepiness. The sound came from the corner of my room, and I reflexively turned in that direction. But what I saw over there was high above my current threshold of comprehension. I couldn’t believe my eyes as I watched a small white-haired girl emerge from the big metal chest. I could swear that I had checked the chest before and there was no such girl inside. It took me a few good seconds to realize that I knew her, it was the same small girl from yesterday who had been standing on the first floor, but her image had changed dramatically. She had made a lot of corrections to her uniform, and it no longer resembled an expensive oversized sack for potatoes. The silk sash had been shortened and was now neatly wrapped around her waist, the crimson-black dress seemed to be a bit smaller and had both its sleeves and hem adjusted to fit this petite girl which in turn made the high-quality leather shoes and her dark socks visible, and akin to a finishing touch, two light-orange ribbons were adorning her white hair. Moreover, the hair itself was smoothly flowing down her back up to the waist, no longer a tangled mess, and the girl’s skin had gained a few degrees of brightness after the layer of dirt had been removed. Overall, she would look like a proper young lady from a good house, if not for her disturbing expression and blank eyes. Still, she was quite adorable, but her sudden change in appearance had nothing to do with my gaping mouth and lack of understanding. “What are you doing...” I didn’t manage to finish this question before she ran out of the room without even sparing me a single glance. The legionnaire standing on the other side of the door was more than surprised when the escaping little girl nearly bumped into him, then he saw me, sitting half-naked on the bed with a stupefied expression. But he was a professional, no visible contempt appeared on his face. He had probably judged the young girl and me to be of equal status, which meant that either it was consensual or that I was going to be in deep shit after he had made his report. The only problem was that we hadn't done anything in the first place, or at least I had no recollection of it. Damn, if only she had still been a slave then such minor incident wouldn’t even be worth mentioning, now I had to find her and make sure she wasn’t trying to frame me, which made little sense as the consequences would be devastating for her reputation as well… or maybe she simply didn’t care as she wasn’t of noble birth to begin with. The situation we were in was way too bizarre. So many people with different backgrounds were suddenly given equal social standing that it made predicting their behavior and the outcome of any incidents nearly impossible. On top of that, there was also this partial memory seal to worry about. “Three and a half minute remaining.” Announced the legionnaire in an extra harsh voice. I had this feeling that he wished for me to be late, if only he knew how I wanted for someone to explain to me what just happened. “Take notice that there’s no blood or anything and that she was fully dressed.” I told him while putting on my uniform. There was no more time to think about this, I had to hurry. Except for the legionnaire who came to get me, there were two more on the corridor of the second floor. The resident of the room XLIX seemed to be still inside as one of the soldiers stood directly in front of it. As for the other soldier, he kept an eye on Fifty who leaned against the wall and was probably waiting for Maya. Both legionnaires held a very small hourglass in one hand and made sure that the sand falling inside was visible for everyone interested. As for Rex and the person number forty-six, they were already gone. Fifty saw me as soon as I had left the room but didn’t do or say anything, he only watched with arms crossed on his chest, flexing his substantial bicepses. Yesterday’s little quarrel was my fault, and it was me who should do something about it when it still wasn’t hard to mend our relations. A good first step in that direction would be to greet him, and that was precisely what I did with a small nod, but to my surprise, he didn’t respond in kind. His posture remained far from relaxed, and his static smile was entirely superficial... and that was when I realized that it was impossible for him to miss the little girl who ran out from my room a moment ago. Things just kept getting more and more complicated. The only saving grace was that after a night’s rest my negative emotions were like a surface of a frozen lake, far from allowing some small pebbles to make ripples on it. Some legionnaires were on the first floor as well, but I didn’t pay them much attention, time was running out. When I got to the entrance hall, I immediately took place among the five candidates who were already standing in a neat line. This was the most spacious part of the entire dormitory, largely due to the fact that it had to contain the massive entrance doors which now had two servants standing on each side responsible for opening and closing them, and the beautiful staircase made out of a bone-white granite with onyx speckles mixed within which was like a mini version of the ones usually found in castles and palaces. Even after adding to it a few marble busts sitting atop square pedestal bases, two leather sofas placed on the sides, the information board standing in the corner, and some other furniture and decorations, there was still enough space for all candidates from this dormitory to stand in a single line without having to intrude upon anyone’s personal space. Moreover, the dozen or so of legionnaires easily spread around the entrance hall without making me feel as if I was surrounded by them. The seventh candidate joined us, an exotic ma'gan girl who I hadn't met yesterday and whose movements were strangely... fluid? Her joints seemed to work a little too well compared to what should be possible for a normal human. Opposite to us, standing at attention, was someone who I quickly identified as the junior judge thanks to the silver brooch in the shape of the burning scale that doubled as the clasp of his elegant dark cloak. It wasn’t the official seal of imperial adjudicators, but I would dare anyone to wear a brooch shaped like that in a room full of legionnaires without the right to do so. It was probably Junior Judge Hector Umbric. He looked to be in his early thirties and was about ten centimeters taller than me, but the first two things that inevitably drew everyone’s attention were his bald head and square jaw. Literally a second before the time run out, Fifty and Maya joined our line. The junior judge had an hourglass similar to the ones held by the legionnaires, but his was made out of gold, he intently stared at the grains of sand falling inside it, until the last of them finished its short journey. “Time’s out.” He said and followed our line with his gaze, from left to right. “Nine out of ten? And only eight are in a presentable state. This is not good. Soldiers, remove all clothes from the candidate number Forty-four.” He ordered. Forty-four was the chair kicking guy from yesterday, and he was no less shocked by this sudden command than the rest of the candidates. It didn’t take long for everyone’s attention to focus on him, mine included, and it turned out that he had put on his crimson doublet inside out. He also realized this silly mistake and tried to correct it, but it was too late. “Wait plea- ugh!” His mouth was forcibly sealed by a fist, and two soldiers grabbed him by arms while two others unsheathed their knives and waited until Forty-four was dragged out in front of us. “Resistance, both verbal and physical, will force us to take appropriate measures.” Said one of the only two legionnaires in the entire room whose helmets had silver plume attached. After another punch to the face and a painful hit with a knee to his stomach, Forty-four stopped trying to explain himself. At least he knew that it would be even worse if he decided to rely on his muscular body, then it wouldn’t be strange for him to end with broken bones and many nasty burns. The legionnaires’ sharp knives easily cut through the unfortunate guy clothes, and in no time he was left kneeling naked in the middle of scraps that used to be his uniform and underwear, even his leather boots had been removed and cut into pieces. However, the victim himself was mostly intact except for the few shallow cuts, swollen face, and the exasperating feeling of disgrace. “What are you waiting for, Forty-four? You already lost five points, go back to the line if you don’t want to lose more. That tardy candidate who I have to punish should be here any moment now.” Told him the junior judge. A small chuckle came from one of the candidates when Forty-four stood up, displaying his naked body for public scrutiny, and with a lowered head returned to stand among us. Contrary to my assumption, this chuckle didn’t originate from Rex who was on his best behavior and maintained a neutral expression. Most of the other candidates either followed Rex’s example or were visibly uneasy, only two people acted differently. Although Maya was nervous, she still curiously paid attention to the naked muscular man next to her, but she wasn’t the source of that mocking chuckle. It came from the exotic ma’gan girl. She was taller than me and had shoulder-length orange hair with neatly trimmed bangs. Out of the three girls standing in line, the academy’s uniform fit her the most as her body wasn’t like the undeveloped Forty one’s, nor like the skeletal Maya’s, hers was seductively balanced. Especially her breasts that were well-shaped, perky, tightly bound together by the scarlet top of her dress, and tipped towards the big side. But the core of her exotic beauty lay elsewhere. Her slanted red eyes with their vertical pupils and sharp teeth that appeared each time a smile crossed her face gave her a charming aura of wickedness that no human girl could ever possess. It was her who caused the most damage to Forty-four’s pride. While we were waiting for the last candidate to join us, I tried to analyze Forty-one’s behavior, wondering what this little girl was planning to do. Was she waiting for the right moment to ruin our reputation in front of everyone? Or would she try to blackmail me later? No, the legionnaire would report this… actually, wasn’t he doing it right now? I watched in terror as the legionnaire who had woken me up continued to whisper something to his decanus who in turn moved towards the junior judge. The soldier with a silver plume signaled that he wanted to report something to which Judge Umbric nodded. Luckily, the decanus kept his voice low, and we were unable to hear his exact words. “Forty-one.” Said the judge after listening to the whole report. “Did Forty-eight forced himself on you?” This luck didn’t last long. “Not yet.” Replied the white-haired girl without any hesitation. I was relieved that she denied it, but... couldn’t she have just said ‘no’? Why was she making me the target of all those painful stares? I didn’t do anything to her! I wanted to protest, this was clearly a misunderstanding or a hostile act against me, but the junior judge ignored my raised hand, and tasting someone’s fist by speaking without permission was rather high on the list of things I would prefer to avoid. “Why do you think so?” He continued to question her. “Because he ordered me to come to his room, eat, take a bath, comb my hair, adjust my uniform, and sleep.” She stated all those things as if it was evident that those were the prerequisites to raping her. A few of the candidates released quiet sounds of understanding when they found out the reason behind her sudden change in appearance, Fifty’s was the loudest one. After hearing it, I lowered my hand, there was no need to defend myself anymore. “... I see.” The junior judge shook his head and scrutinized the girl number Forty-one from top to bottom, she had to be at most twelve. “So you’re telling me that he ordered you to do all those terrible things? What a tragedy, I order my daughters to do almost the same each time I’m home.” The irony in his voice was wasted on this little girl, she looked at the Judge Umbric as if he was some kind of a monster. By now I understood where lay the problem in their incapability of communicating with each other, but for sure I wasn’t going to explain it to them. “Forty-eight, I give you one point for looking out for the less ‘capable’ candidates. Forty-one, you lose two points for wasting my time, be glad that I didn’t make it twenty for trying to damage another candidate’s reputation. You better realize soon that one candidate cannot order another to do anything, and report this problem with your uniform to any of the servants as soon as possible.” The junior judge swiftly closed this matter and saved me from infamy. Only Forty-one stood with her cheeks puffed out as if the whole world turned against her. I seriously needed to talk to her later. But what points was he talking about? Finally, the last candidate for an imperial adjudicator entered the entrance hall, or more like was dragged inside it. One of the legionnaires pulled him by the leg, down the stairs, and the candidate’s head hit each of the granite steps on the way down, one by one, leaving behind a bloody trail. A very unpleasant smell of blood and burned meat had appeared in the air. Maya turned almost as pale as Rex’s default state when she imagined how close she had been to a similar fate, while Fifty looked more concerned for the unconscious candidate. “I see that the punishment has been already executed, a bit too hastily, don’t you think?” The junior judge asked the soldier who brought the last candidate. “Your honor.” The man swallowed his saliva loudly and nervously continued.” Forgive me for my insolence, but the candidate number forty-five not only failed to follow your honor’s order but also tried to steal my gladius.” The legionnaire’s words froze the air around us, even the ma’gan girl composed herself. “According to my instructions, in such situation-” “Stop.” Interrupted the junior judge. Next, he went to inspect the bloodied, burned, and unconscious candidate number forty-five. It was a sturdy man who looked to be in his early twenties, but more importantly, his tattooed face and brown skin meant that he was most definitely a member of the southern tribes. “I see, a savage failure. He’s more of a test subject than a proper candidate, no big loss.” Junior Judge Umbric put his hand on the legionnaire’s shoulder. “You did well, I heard those savages are hard to bring down in unarmed combat.” “I only did what is expected of me, your honor.” The soldier thumped proudly on his cuirass. After this display, no one dared to mention that the smell of burned meat coming from Forty-five meant that no such epic struggle took place. Most likely that nomad had personally experienced why legionnaires equipped with vifer armor were sometimes called ‘untouchable’. And this particular soldier even wore chain gauntlets. Not many could withstand being hit by a fist wrapped in iron heated to a few hundred degrees. And, judging by the amount of blood, there was no guarantee that a sharp weapon hadn't been used. “But this is a good chance!” The junior judge pointed at the Forty-five whose unconscious body was being dragged to the middle of the room. If nothing was done about his state, then he might not live to see another day. “This candidate not only failed to comply with an unwritten order from the imperial judge, for which I deduce twenty-five points, but also brutally tried to steal a weapon from the soldier loyal to the empire, and that’s a very heavy offense which cost him one hundred points. He thought nothing of the prestige and honor connected with being chosen as one of the candidates and instead picked the most foolish of routes. The route to his own demise as any candidate whose points fall below minus one hundred is to be disposed of as a threat to the empire. You may think it’s unfair, or be unnecessarily stressed by it, but that’s wrong! Why? Because it’s simply impossible for any candidate who’s working hard for the empire and is loyal to the emperor to have his points fall that low, so you have nothing to worry about! Study hard, work hard, be just, be loyal to the empire, and follow the law, and before you realize your starting zero points will change into tens if not hundreds of them! A good example is the candidate number Forty-eight who has gained a point simply for helping others. Yet, if you will deliberately act in a disgraceful way that will force other imperial adjudicators and me to deduce your points, then you have to realize what is waiting at the end of that rebellious route. Such is the will of the emperor.” Junior Judge Umbric finished his piece and received a gladius from one of the decanuses. He checked the blade’s sharpness and its vifer core while giving us the time necessary for his words to sink in. That was bad, very bad. Minus one hundred points was a death sentence, and Umbric had just removed one hundred and twenty-five of them as if it was nothing. And that naked guy over there had lost five only by putting his doublet wrong! “Who among you wants to earn ten points? All you have to do is to personally enforce my will which is no different from the imperial law. You must also realize that being an imperial adjudicator means that each of your words can drastically change someone’s life, and not a single life, I’m talking about thousands of people who will die if you order so. And there’s no better way to realize the weight behind such authority than enforcing the law with own hand.” The junior judge took the gladius by its tip and extended its hilt towards us. “I won’t force you, not yet. Anyone who wants to experience it before the rest and earn some points while at it, take a step forward.” We all knew that there were people in the empire who were always above us and influenced our lives, for some they had been their masters, for others their kings, but in most cases, we were protected by the consequences those people had to bear for their actions. Of course, the lower in standing you were, the less of such consequences existed. But for Imperial Adjudicators, everyone other than the emperor was no different from a criminal slave. The fact that they could really do whatever they wanted with us still didn’t feel real, and I doubt many of the candidates had met one of them before coming to this place. But now, our perception of what it meant to stand in front of an imperial adjudicator was being forcibly changed from fantasy to reality. All those points and such were a farce, a bloody and dangerous farce that we could do nothing about. Nevertheless, it wasn’t a surprise that a few among us simply liked to earn points.
Spoiler: Chapter 6 The first one to step forward was the ma’gan wicked beauty, her eagerness reminded me of various rumors I heard about her race. The most popular three said that their negative affinity rendered them unable to feel emotions, which I could already dismiss as false after watching her for a while; that they could command blood beasts, but this one was probably born out of The Eagle Empire’s historic loss at the battle of Ulvia; and that they were fascinated with humans. The more I watched her, the more I was sure that the third rumor wasn’t entirely groundless. The beautiful girl kept observing the half-dead candidate number Forty-five with undisguised curiosity, she seemed to be enchanted by the blood puddle slowly forming on the stone floor, and meticulously scrutinized his mangled body while bending towards it as much as she could without being seen as rude. The attention of many legionnaires gravitated towards her well-shaped assets despite the practically nonexistent cleavage of the academy’s female uniform. The second one to step forward was the pale skinned, black haired member of the house of Raven. Rex looked annoyed by the fact that the ma’gan girl managed to make the decision to take someone’s life ahead of him. But in contrast to her, he was probably only concerned about the promised ten points and just wanted to quickly get this over with. According to the stories I heard about his infamous house, such behavior was only to be expected. In comparison to rumors about ma’gans, those stories were less of wild guesswork and more of simply stating that every horrible thing a human could possibly imagine had been already done and mastered by the house of Raven. But the imperial adjudicator didn’t pass the gladius to any of them, he was still waiting and silently putting pressure on the rest of us, sensing that some candidates were wavering and a slight push was all they needed. Right now, the junior judge’s bald head and square jaw were far from funny. His face was slowly turning more and more severe as if he wanted us to realize that we were going to pay if we made him stand with his hand outstretched for too long. The pressure was additionally strengthened by all those fully armed legionnaires who looked approvingly at the two candidates in front of the line. This situation lasted at most for a few minutes, but it felt much longer than that. All the while there was this dying man in front of us, at this point it would be more merciful to spare him the suffering that was bound to come if he regained consciousness… more merciful for him and for us. The stench of blood and burned meat was disgusting, Maya seemed to be on the verge of vomiting. Finally, one person broke and stepped forward, this sudden movement caused another candidate to make up his mind. The one who moved first was similar to me in age and build while his many bruises and a black eye told me that it had to be Forty-three, the guy who had been beaten yesterday by Fifty. That single step cost him greatly, huge droplets of sweat dripped down his chin as he tried to calm himself down by taking deep breaths. This black haired candidate probably saw accepting the junior judge’s offer as the only way to survive in this place. The person who moved right after Forty-three was a short trembling boy with blond hair. He didn’t look that much younger than me, maybe two or three years, but his hunched posture and uncertain movements betrayed a severe lack of confidence which made it hard to treat him seriously. He seemed to regret the decision to step forward as he unconsciously kept shaking his head in denial. I took notice of how weak he was to pressure and how this could be used in the future. The number XLVI was burned on his left hand. I had yet to see the number of that orange-haired girl since she wore gloves similar to Rex's, but since I already confirmed the numbers of everyone else, there was no need for that. Each number from forty-one to fifty had been finally connected with a specific face: the white-haired little girl was forty-one; the exotic ma’gan girl was forty-two; the guy with a black eye was forty-three; the shamed naked guy was forty-four; the half-dead man was forty-five; the trembling boy was forty-six; Rex was forty-seven; I was forty-eight, Maya was forty-nine; Fifty was fifty. It would be nice if all those remaining numbers turned into proper names soon, that would make everything easier. Focusing on this matter was also a good way to cope with my growing nervousness. I never killed anyone or at least had no memories of it, but being prepared to take someone’s life was only natural, especially if it was to protect the ones dear to me. Nevertheless, I wasn’t in a hurry to experience it, and if possible, I would prefer to avoid staining my hands with blood entirely. The candidates standing next to me also had their own reasons, and the five of us refused to budge. Imperial Adjudicator Hector Umbric probably decided that four out of nine was good enough for now and returned the gladius to the decanus, then he relaxed and smiled. “Soldiers, provide each of those four with a dagger.” Four short, sharp daggers were given to the voluntary murder squad, in comparison to gladiuses they lacked vifer cores. “It wouldn’t be fair if you took turns, and stabbing a corpse would miss the entire point. Soldiers, pick him up.” Two legionnaires quickly grabbed the nomad by arms and kept him standing. Bloody bubbles and foam were coming out from the unconscious man’s nose and mouth with each of his shallow breaths. “Two stab him from the front, two stab him from the back. Any place is fine, just make sure to plunge the blade up to the hilt, and I will give ten points to each of you. However, if even one person fails this task, then all four of you will lose ten points. You have three minutes, starting now.” The junior judge took out his very small golden hourglass and with satisfaction observed both the show unfolding in front of him and the falling grains of sand. “Move.” Rex slapped the back of the trembling boy who in turn almost dropped the dagger, then he continued to hit him in such manner until they moved to stand in front of Forty-five. “Just close your eyes and stab forward when I tell you to.” Rex’s voice was hardly different from his usual tone, but to that boy it must have sounded really reassuring, he even had his posture corrected to avoid any incidents. “Oh? Good job Whitey.” Praised the ma’gan girl from the other side. “On three?” She asked the candidate standing next to her to which he nodded while biting his lip and clutching the knife with both hands so hard his knuckles turned white. “Relax, you will only make him suffer if you won’t do it properly.” She tried to imitate Rex’s guidance. “Two minutes.” Said Junior Judge Umbric. “Alright, I’m starting. One!” The tip of the girl’s knife pointed at the lower back of their victim. “Two!” She continued the countdown, her voice full of anticipation. Rex held the knife with his right hand, aiming at the heart, while his left was on the blond boy’s back, both supporting him and making sure he didn’t chicken out. “Three!” Up to this point, the five of us watched in silence, but when the actual moment of killing commenced, only me and Forty-one didn’t look away. They stabbed. It was terrifyingly anti-climatic. There were no screams of pain, no fountains of blood, no sudden judgment. This ‘clean’ outcome was mostly due to Rex who skillfully stabbed into and then twisted his knife inside the poor man’s heart - it was the last straw required for Forty-five to pass away. The remaining weapons were only a second slower, but the man was already gone by the time they were plunged up to their hilts. Forty-six left his knife buried into the corpse’s stomach and unsteadily walked away two steps before vomiting on the floor. Next, he dropped to his knees and quickly turned into a mess of tears, snot, vomit, and sweat. Maya avoided similar fate only thanks to keeping her eyes tightly shut and Fifty’s hand holding hers. The ma'gan girl’s behavior went far beyond the act of killing and entered the realm of performing a dissection. She continued to cut and stab fervently, trying to cut out a piece of the dead man’s spine. At one point she even grabbed the already visible bone with her fingers, to stabilize it and make her disturbing work easier. Only when the two legionnaires moved the corpse away from her, while giving her looks full of disbelief and disgust, she realized that she wasn't supposed to do that. She cleared her throat, wiped out the blood from her face with a handkerchief, and was about to obediently step away when she saw something that made her slightly apologetic expression change into a one of wrath. “You…” She squeezed that one word through her clenched shark-like teeth, the vertical pupils of her red eyes were focused on the only knife among the four, that remained clean. “The candidate for an imperial adjudicator number forty-five, Levy Darkwater, has been disposed of as a threat to the empire. Other than that, the rest was disappointing, only Forty-seven managed to behave properly. But my word is law, and law cannot be easily taken back, all four of you lose ten points because of Forty-three’s inability to act.” Concluded the junior judge. “I-I c-couldn’t, t-the knife, m-my hands j-just… I couldn’t, i-it’s not m-my fault.” The black haired guy remained frozen with the knife ready to strike, his eyes unfocused and legs shaking. Suddenly, he was slapped with a pair of bloodied gloves that a second ago were on the slim hands of the ma’gan girl. Since there was something wet smeared next to his lips, he reflexively licked it and literally tasted someone’s blood before realizing what he had done. “Oh? I didn’t expect that, you like it?” Said sweetly Forty-two to the terrified guy, but then the tone of her voice dropped and became ice-cold like the eternal winter in the far north. “Just wait, I will shove your own intestines down your throat.” Rex only clicked his tongue and returned to the line following after the fuming ma’gan girl. In the meantime, due to the junior’s judge gestures, one of the legionnaires dragged the still crying Forty-six closer to us, while another forced the petrified Forty-three to move until he was back in the line. All four knives were confiscated, and the corpse was taken away. “Forty-seven.” “Yes, your honor?” “I give you ten points for being a good role model for other candidates.” “Thank you, your honor.” Rex virtually gained nothing, and he knew it, yet he still looked to be in a better mood after having his effort recognized and points returned, at the same time, the hatred emanating from the orange-haired girl towards Forty-three grew twofold. “This place is awfully filthy.” Said Umbric and snapped his fingers. Six servants immediately came into the entrance hall from behind the door to the corridor and started cleaning. “Anyway, this was only an unplanned distraction. We can finally move on to the main matter, but we will do that in a moment. First, a break. You’ve got five minutes, use them however you want.” The junior judge sat down on one of the leather sofas and again took out his very small golden hourglass, he must have really liked it. The naked muscular guy immediately went upstairs, fed up with his shameful state, though no one paid him any attention anymore. Fifty guided Maya to the lavatories with one hand while with the other he grabbed the crying boy by his collar, forcing him to go with them. I was quite impressed by that silver-haired hunk devotion to being a good guy. The rest of us was lost deep in thought, refused to accept reality in case of one particular guy with a black eye, or tried to remain composed by distracting themselves with the ongoing cleaning. As for me, I was wondering what in the world Forty-one was thinking about. She showed almost no reaction during the whole execution and even now looked as if she had more important problems to deal with that someone’s being killed in front of her. I had this strange urge to whisper a few orders to her, and for once I wanted to act on this desire and see what would happen, but I postponed this for after the junior judge was gone. He was going to go away soon, right…? There was a limit to how much stress and death I could take in a single day. Of course, I wasn’t a naive kid and knew that the act of killing was a rather common occurrence that most of us would experience at least once in their lifetime or die. But making a show out of it and forcing others to participate? No, thank you. The price of authority was a step one indeed, and I was already sick of being in this academy. However, I had this feeling that I was forgetting about something, it was most certainly caused by that seal on my memories, and was extremely irritating. But there was no more time to think about it, the break given to us by the junior judge was almost over. Imperial Adjudicator Hector Umbric put the golden hourglass back into his pocket, did a quick head count, and unnecessarily clasped his hands to gather our attention. “My name is Hector Umbric, I’m an imperial adjudicator, and my standing is that of a junior judge. This is the dormitory number five and that makes you the members of the class number five, I have been assigned as your main tutor and mentor. Relax and listen carefully while I will give you a brief explanation of the rules of this academy and tell you a few important things about living here.” His sudden introduction took us by surprise which was soon replaced by increased wariness. “See? That’s how it should be if all ten of you had just complied with the initial order. But nothing is lost yet, don’t cause any trouble and I will personally make sure each of you becomes a splendid imperial adjudicator. As a sign of my good will, you’ve got my permission to call me Baldy.” He chuckled and happily patted his shiny head a few times. “Come on, anyone wants to give it a try? Maybe you Forty-two?” “N-no your honor, I mean, this is too much of privilege for a simple girl like me.” It was officially confirmed now, ma’gans could sweat bullets and go through a small nervous breakdown when faced with a sudden offer to commit suicide. “... but if your honor insists… t-then can I have your honor’s words, that I was given permission and told to do so, in writing with your honor's seal on it?” Composing this answer drained the ma’gan girl both physically and emotionally and before she knew it, she was using Rex’s arm for support while internally asking herself ‘why me?’. The pale guy tried to look reliable and silently helped her, but time after time he glanced at the top of her head, probably annoyed that the girl was a bit taller than him. Seemingly content with the beautiful girl’s reaction, the junior judge continued. “Calm down, I was only joking. Everyone, listen carefully now. As you should all know, the imperial law is your god no matter which part of the empire you're in; however, the situation here is different when it comes to the vassal states laws, none of them is enforceable on Dove Island. The written law is the same as always and remains valid, but thanks to your status as the candidates for imperial adjudicators you don’t have to worry about the unwritten law. You’re also outside the scope of the military law, but of course, the same can’t be said about any of the legionnaires. You may give them orders, but in some cases they have the right to forcibly subdue you, so treat them with respect.” He gave us the basic rundown. Though in theory, the imperial law was always more important than vassal states law, in practice it rarely was like that outside The Crimson Kingdom, especially when there were no imperial adjudicators nearby. This was a tricky situation because many vassal states tended to have the law that had a lot of common points with the imperial one, but the details could be different - making us vulnerable to unexpected traps hidden within our own knowledge. I just hoped that the group study room had enough copies of the imperial law codex for everyone. Otherwise, there was going to be a bloodbath in there today. “There is also something called the special law of the academy, and it is only applicable to the candidates for imperial adjudicators.“ Complicated the situation further the junior judge. “As you may have already guessed, it is connected with the point system. Only the imperial adjudicators may freely give and take those points, but some people are permitted to reward or punish you in accordance with the rules we’ve established. Which actions will earn you more points and which ones will cause you to lose them? This is up to you to discover, I must admit that I’m a bit jealous of the fun you’re certainly going to have while at it. Now, the most important thing, you may exchange your points for various rewards. For example, two hundred points can help to refresh your memory that for sure is a bit clouded right now.” Umbric’s words caused a stir among us, but he ignored it and gestured towards the two decanuses to distribute something. Memories, for two hundred points I could get them all back. Shit. They got me. The frozen lake of my negative emotions cracked loudly under the strain of this revelation. So what if I knew that it was a trap which aimed to motivate me to work hard and obediently let myself to be indoctrinated? I had to get those memories back no matter the cost, there were people who had their full faith in me, and letting them down was not an option. Imagining a situation in which I returned to those two and was unable to recognize their faces and recall our promises filled me with dread. The empire was going to pay for it, but for now, I had to keep a low profile… I also had this feeling that everything was going to be fine if only I read something, which was true, memorizing the imperial law codex should significantly help with earning points. “Two hundred… two hundred… no, two hundred and two…” Murmured the white-haired girl, she wanted to regain her memories no less than me. “One hundred ninety-nine for me.” I whispered a challenge into her ear, causing her to flinch. In response, she looked at me as if I was her worst enemy, which led to a discovery that teasing this little girl was a great way to unwind. The others’ reactions varied, but there was no time to pay much attention to them, the legionnaires moved around busily, received something from their respective decanuses, and in no time one of them was standing directly in front of each of us. Those soldier clad in steel emanated an imposing aura of power, the flame motif engraved on their shoulder plates meant that they belonged to the second legion “Scorch”. If they were ordered to activate the vifer cores in their cuirasses, then we would literally burn to ashes, there were rumors that even their dicks were capable of ignition. I had to admit that this situation was even worse than when the junior judge had tried to put pressure on us. Another point was added to my internal list of things to do - obtain a military grade vifer core for protection. Not having one made me feel awfully defenseless. “Those are your badges.” Stated the junior judge and the legionnaires solemnly put necklaces with the symbol of bronze burning scale around our necks. “Wear them proudly and treat with great care. Losing a badge is equal to losing your life, and I’m not even talking about the points. The legionnaires outside the dormitory are ordered to kill any of you who is found moving around the academy grounds without this precious symbol. And you Forty-eight...” Each time I heard my number being called by this junior judge, it definitely shortened my life a bit. “... you’ve got the honor of being the first in your class to obtain a point coin. This will be noted.” The legionnaire standing in front of me gave me a coin the size of a standard empire’s gold coin with the number I engraved on it. Its pure light green color, metal sheen, and the fact that it was really warm to the touch meant that it was made out of unprocessed vifer which was as far from being a proper core as wheat from bread, but nevertheless, just holding it made me feel a little better. “Thank you, your honor.” I said and put the coin into one of two pouches attached to my belt. “As I’ve said you can exchange those for various rewards at the item house, you can also use them to remove the negative points. The list of all candidates and their current amount of points will be available for everyone to view at the fountain plaza. But let’s say that someone lost one point coin and you picked it up, in such case it has to be reported as soon as possible to the item house, because each time a point is given or deduced is being officially recorded, and if due to some unfortunate misunderstanding your points won’t match the amount you should have then one of the imperial adjudicators will be forced to resolve such problem personally.” The junior judge told us that stealing was a terrible idea. But what was the point of giving us those coins if they were going to keep an eye on our points balance anyway? The morning assembly already lasted for more than an hour, and some of us were growing tired and sick with it. Besides, this faint smell of blood permeating the air was a constant reminder of what happened to Forty-five, and that made pretending to forget harder. But we persisted and tried not to look too discouraged in front of the junior judge, maybe except for the Forty-three who remained standing only thanks to some ‘merciful’ legionnaire. However, contrary to our expectations, Umbric indulgently wrapped up the rest of his explanation in the next few sentences. “Next matter, monthly special rules. Each month there will be a one or more special rules that will be either a blessing or a curse for you. They are to teach the candidates that following the law is always necessary even if the law itself seems funny, unneeded, or straight out harmful, because that law may be a part of a greater scheme that you’re unable to perceive. But those rules are also a good chance to earn some points. There is no special rule for this month, but since today is Nineday of Third-Aprius, in two days the first set will be posted in each dormitory. Lastly, remember to take a look at the information board every morning, your schedule is already posted on it. That is all for now, the rest of today is free time. In case any of you have interesting questions or ideas, you can find me in the imperial adjudicators living quarters.” Said the junior judge, took a last long look at each of us while smiling warmly, and left the dormitory. Following after him were the legionnaires while servants probably decided that it would be wiser to remove themselves from our sight, especially since the nine of us were about to explode in a flurry of unpredictable emotions. Only the two unlucky ones who had to open and close the main doors remained. I was the first candidate to move towards the mentioned posted schedule, gathering information was more important than venting my anger or idle chatter. “You’re dead!” Exploded the anger of the ma’gan girl who was about to throw herself at Forty-three. The ‘traitor’ was still out of it, and now when no legionnaire supported him, he simply sat down on the floor. “Because of you, I lost ten whole points! I heard that you humans are cowards because you’re spineless, but he had a spine! Why then? Just a single stab! Such an easy thing to do! Maybe I should check your spine?!” She screamed at him and then brought him down with a punch to the side of his head. There was quite a lot of force behind it, and Forty-three’s head bounced off the stone floor after hitting it with a sickening dull sound. He either lost consciousness or lacked the will to pick himself up. “Hey! Hey! Hey, come on, calm down.” Interfered Fifty and grabbed the girl by the shoulders as she was about to begin stomping on the lying guy. “Killing’s not as easy as you make it sound, everyone’s different, and he wasn’t ready to cross this-” “You’re going to lose more points if you further damage this trash.” Interrupted Rex. In comparison to Fifty’s ineffective attempts, his words were like a bucket of cold water, instantly calming the orange-haired girl. Still, a low growl kept coming from behind her clenched sharp teeth. Rex didn’t watch the rest as he was en route to the information board. “First day and you already tried to win the heart of the littlest among us?” Maya’s jokingly poked my side with her finger, trying to lighten the mood, she didn’t seem concerned with my yesterday’s outburst but was far from looking alright. In response to her words, I searched for Forty-one, but the little girl was already gone. In addition, there was no sign of Forty-four and Forty… that was it, I had enough. “Maya, I’ve got an important mission for you.” I said with all the seriousness I could muster, to which the grey-haired girl raised her brow. “Yes?” “This is a matter of life and death, and me being sick with all those forties. Grab Fifty and go with him on a holy mission to bless every nameless person in this dormitory with a name.” It was high time we did that. “If anyone refuses to talk with you, then just give such person a random humiliating nickname.” “Ha! I knew you were a funny guy.” She responded with a smile and patted gently the place she poked before. “Leave it to me, I won’t rest before conquering every single one of those forties! Right, Fifty?” She turned towards the handsome guy who was walking in this direction after ordering one of the doorkeepers to take care of Forty-three, but before Fifty replied to Maya, someone else spoke. “De Mora, and it’s my real name.” Interjected the wicked beauty from the side, she also came to check the information board and take her mind off the source of her anger, but it didn’t seem as if she was going to say anything else. “Well, one less person to name I guess?” Said Fifty with his usual smile while I took note of the 'real name' part. “Yeah... and sorry for yesterday.” My voice was small, but the friendly duo accepted it with a nod. "Anyway, leave that white-haired girl to me, I will find her and give her a proper name personally." "You want to become her papa?" Asked Fifty, there was a small warning hidden inside his words. "Shut it, she just has to answer a few questions for me." I moved my attention to the posted notices. There were two pieces of paper attached to the board that hadn’t been there yesterday. One was a simple map of the academy, the other was our lessons schedule: Everyday: 7.00-7.45 Exercises - training grounds; 12.00-13.30 Dinner - class V dormitory or main building banquet hall; 17.00-7.00 - Free time; Oneday: 8.00-17.00 Imperial Law - main building room II; Twoday: 8.00-12.00 Effective Law Enforcement - main building room II; 13.30-17.00 Vifer Manipulation - vifer workshop; Threeday: 8.00-12.00 Basic Tactics - main building room I; 13.30-19.00 Basic Self-defense - training grounds; Fourday: 8.00-12.00 Written Law - main building room I; 13.30-17.00 Unwritten Law - library; Fiveday: 8.00-17.00 Military Law - main building room III; Sixday: 8.00-12.00 Theory of Law - main building room V; 13.30-17.00 History of Law - main building room V; Sevenday: 8.00-12.00 Etiquette and Heraldry - main building banquet hall; 13.30-17.00 Etiquette and Heraldry - library; Eightday: 8.00-17.00 Vassal States Law - main building room IV; Nineday: 8.00-20.00 - Projects and Achievements - main building lecture room; Tenday: 8.00-12.00 Flaw Correction - correctional house; 13.30-17.00 Basic Logistics - fountain plaza; Unsurprisingly there was quite a lot of subjects with the word 'law' in them. This was also the main topic of ongoing conversations around me. No one talked about the dead guy. There was no point in ruining the mood that was finally starting to recover. At least for now.
Spoiler: Chapter 7 A tall orange-haired girl was browsing through the content of a thick book she held in her hands. With furrowed brows, she continued to put together individual letters into words, then combined those words into sentences, and finally focused on figuring out the meaning behind them. After repeating this process for a few times, she reached the conclusion that this wasn’t the thing she was looking for and put it away. “Damn it, there’s not even a single copy.” Stated De Mora after checking merely five books. “Impossible.” I flatly denied. She, Rex and me were in the group study room, searching for the imperial law codex. In the middle of the room were nine small tables, each with two chairs, that could be easily moved and joined together accordingly to the candidates’ needs, while along the walls stood many bookshelves filled with various books, scrolls, and manuscripts. There was also a single, slightly big desk on which were prepared various writing utensils, sheets of linen paper, and small vifer lamps. The problem was that none of us could find the thing that simply had to be here. We had started the search individually, but there was not only a lot of material to go through, but also many of those books had no title written on their covers and had to have their content checked one by one. This process was slow, annoying, and made me curse the lazy scribes who made those copies, because of that, Rex’s proposal to divide the room into three parts and notice the others if any of us found the imperial law codexes had been accepted. This led to a new problem. I had noticed that there was only a single copy of each title, which meant that even if Rex or De Mora found the thing we were looking for, there was no guarantee they wouldn’t keep this discovery for themselves. Somehow I just couldn’t imagine the three of us sitting shoulder to shoulder, reading it together... well, maybe the ma’gan girl could still be convinced, but that pale guy? Very unlikely. “I give up.” I said after checking four filled to the brims bookshelves. “Hmm… what did you find anyway?” Asked Rex while looking at me suspiciously. “A lot of old maps, a whole section devoted to blood beasts, strange manuscripts with outdated mining and agricultural methods, and the records of Helial Desert expeditions. Any luck on your side?” “No, but better than you.” He replied. “Heh, so that’s how Whitey’s truly is? How old are you Whitey? I usually don’t go for guys younger than me, but I think I can make an exception for you. I always wanted to have some fun with a human.” Said De Mora with a bewitching smile. She tossed to the side the sixth book without even bothering to open it and began to slowly stretch, emphasizing her inborn charms. “Both of you are more useless than I thought, well I didn’t expect much from this poor imitation of a human that can barely read, but you Faust?” Rex didn’t spare a single glance at the girl. There was no need to explain myself to him especially after the answer he gave me. And I didn’t even have to say anything in the first place since De Mora quickly reacted to his insult. “Oh? I would love to see you read something written in my language, Whitey. Now that would be fun.” She said and sat down at a nearby chair. Rex chuckled. “Why would I do something so pointless?” “What do you mean by that?” “What indeed? Just think about it, is it us humans who learn your language or the opposite? Do I have to explain it any further or can your small brain-like-thing comprehend this already?” “Oh, that’s right. Sorry, I forgot that you humans are incapable of comprehending two languages at the same time. But we ma’gans are magnanimous and understanding-” Her riposte was cut short by Rex’s voice oozing with false pity. “You poor animal. Can you truly not see the difference between the lack of intelligence and overwhelming cultural dominance?” At this point De Mora lost her composure as well as their verbal exchange, she already forgot that it was her who started this with a boorish attempt at messing with Rex and openly showed hostility. A low growl was being emitted from behind her clenched sharp teeth, and there was a dangerous gleam to her slanted red eyes. She stood up and slowly moved a step closer to Rex, like a predator cornering its prey. It was time to give them some privacy. “You… damn human trash. I can kill you with my bare hands.” “Heh, come on, growl some more,*hehehe*, and maybe I will change my mind. It may actually be fun to tame you and put a nice collar around your neck. But don’t count on anything more, I’m not interested in bestiality.” Replied Rex and returned to his search, his back was turned towards the ma’gan girl in an obvious attempt to provoke her more. Though the servants tried to remove themselves from our sight, this place was filled with them, there was a big chance that De Mora would regret it greatly if she fell for this bait. And I bet that Rex would use me later as a witness in front of an imperial adjudicator. Luckily for her, De Mora didn’t try to take it any further and turned to me, noticing that I was about to leave the room. Our eyes met. “What are you staring at?!” She switched the target of her ire, probably because I looked easier to intimidate, and I missed the chance to leave uninvolved. But yesterday’s incident with Rex gave me a good idea of how to quickly turn the tables on her. “Here, catch.” I took out the round object from one of my pouches and threw it. Surprised by this action, De Mora easily caught it and took a closer look at the green thing, her lack of understanding temporarily surpassed her anger. In exactly five seconds she realized the dire consequences of holding the point coin that wasn’t hers and let it go with a squeak as if it was going to explode in her face. Next, she looked with reproach at Rex whose shoulders rose up and down in quiet mocking laughter, no longer pretending to continue his search, and then at me. If we really wanted to, it wouldn’t be hard to frame her now. I walked towards the ma'gan girl and picked up the green coin without saying a word, it was cold. The girl breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it back in my hand, but then she was hit by a wave of various strong emotions. “You… you… you humans are mean…” De Mora couldn’t find anything else to say, and tears began to form in the corners of her slanted eyes. She sniffed loudly, holding them back, and left the group study room. I had to admit that this unexpected turn of events had slightly changed my perception of this orange-haired girl for the better. “I guess even dogs can cry.” Rex shrugged his arms. “Let me know if you will find anything in the library, I will certainly repay the favor.” “Yeah, maybe.” I replied and walked away. Rex’s guess was correct, the library was one of the buildings that were marked on the academy’s map posted on the information board. I could simply ask one of the servants working there to find the imperial law codex for me, but I had come here first since it wouldn’t hurt to know what exactly was stored in our dormitory’s group study room, though I hadn’t expected this place to be so hard to use. All those books and manuscripts cost a small fortune, but it was almost as if they had been stuffed in here as an afterthought since there was an empty room to spare. I stopped in the middle of the corridor, my urges yet again rose from within and demanded to change my priorities. Well, the library wasn’t going anywhere and the faster I explained everything with that white-haired girl the better. Only… where was she? A quick round around the ground floor bore no results. Though I met Forty-four in the storeroom who told me to call him Julius, which was much better than Rex the Second and still had a ring of glory to it thanks to Julius Steelfire the Fatebringer - the hero king who began the reconquista of the mainland a few centuries ago. We exchanged a few pleasantries, and Julius turned out to be a rather ordinary guy when he wasn’t venting his anger on furniture or exposing himself in public. All in all, he was just overwhelmed by the situation he found himself in. It seemed that he had caught a glimpse of the crying wicked beauty running to her room and wanted to bring her some food. I told him to be nice to her and wished good luck, then I went upstairs to check the place with the biggest chance of finding the little girl - the room number XLI. I met Fifty and Maya on the stairs; apparently, they were going outside. The short girl whose gray hair had been rearranged into that fancy hairstyle of hers reported to me that: ‘We talked with Forty-six and decided to call him Remus, he’s resting in his room. But Forty-three has closed himself and refuses to meet with anyone. I don’t understand, he did the right thing by refusing to kill and yet took it the hardest of all, why? But this place really is crazy, just thinking that they want to make all of us stab someone makes me sick... anyway, let’s call him Albus for now.’ She cut her report short as it was about to involve things that were better left alone. In return, I told them about Julius. Now the only person without a name in class five was the same person I was looking for. Fifty told me that they hadn’t seen her, but they had also skipped checking her bedroom. Still, Albus? I had told her to give a humiliating nickname to any uncooperative person, and she came back with something that meant ‘white’ or ‘bright’. This kind girl was a good fit for Fifty, she only had to eat more and make herself look at least half as good as De Mora, or at least stop making people wonder how was she able to move around in her starved state, maybe then the small sparks between this two wouldn’t be extinguished by time and grew into something big and dazzling. But no matter how optimistically I looked at it, I saw no other possibility for her chest than to remain a magnificent anvil. “Hmm?” Asked Maya after noticing that I was staring at her. The handsome guy was already a few steps below us, both waiting and silently telling her to hurry up, but most importantly he was out of range of my whispers. There was something I wanted only Maya to hear, which doubled as a good smokescreen for staring at her tiny bosom. “I know this may be personal, but do you remember why you’re so thin?” “Nope, not a clue, but I’m working on it. The food here is good, so don’t worry, I should be back in form in no time. And don’t act so distant, I’m not a fool, just say out straight ‘rest in peace Maya’s breasts’ or something, I’ve already accepted my flat future.” She whispered back with a smirk and delivered a small punishment in the form of pinching. The smokescreen wasn’t nearly as effective as I thought, which forced me to silently receive the painful justice that was being enforced on my sides and upper arms. I had this feeling that she was thinking about pinching my nipples but hesitated, unsure if this was a line that could be safely crossed. “Want to come with us?” Fifty's question put an end to our silly game. “No, just tell me later if you discover anything interesting.” “Sure.” Replied Maya and cheerfully ran down the stairs, causing the silver-haired guy to follow after her in a hurry. There were no more additional stops on the way to the white-haired girl’s room, there was also no answer to my knocking. I pushed down the door’s handle, and the door opened effortlessly. At first glance, she wasn’t here, but there was a suspicious chest in the corner. I slowly approached it while sorting my thoughts. This morning, the little girl had been in my room inside a similar chest, but later, when the junior judge asked if I had done anything to her, she denied it; yet next she lied about me ordering her to do a lot of little things which in turn achieved the effect of increasing my reputation. I considered the option that she wasn’t trying to frame me but to help in a very clumsy way, or an unexpectedly clever one if I looked at it from a different angle. However, this theory was quickly rejected, I didn’t have to be a genius to realize that Forty-one saw me as an enemy and had been genuinely disappointed by my lack of punishment. All of this didn’t make any sense, I honestly hadn’t done anything to her except for our short conversation yesterday. Or maybe she was angry because back then I had dodged her attempt to make me her master? I put my hands on the chest’s lid, hoping to receive some answers from within. “If you’re inside, then I order you to remain calm and answer all my questions.” I followed the idea that popped up in my mind and opened the chest. The chest was empty. “Seriously… where is she?” I was starting to get worried. After sitting down on the bed, I began wondering what would I do if I were in her shoes. She had no master, no allies, no friends, no one to turn for help. I also had this feeling that she didn’t treat this room as hers, actually was there anything that was even slightly important to her or that caused her to show emotions? Except for the negative ones connected with me. Since I hardly knew her, it wasn’t possible to answer this question by my gut feeling alone, but I could still recall the more important things she had said and base my assumptions on them. ‘... may you please tell me whose orders should I prioritize in this place? I can’t remember…’ ‘This order is contradictory. If I follow your order, then I can’t follow your order… please tell me who’s my master.’ ‘I… I understand, but… I don’t understand. Are all imperial judges my masters? But what if two judges of the same standing give me opposing orders? Who should I prioritize in that case?’ ‘Two hundred… two hundred… no, two hundred and two…’ A ridiculous thought appeared in my head, and I hurriedly stood up and left the room. This thought told me that the little girl went to the imperial adjudicators living quarters since they were clearly in a position of power. She probably acted accordingly with what Junior Judge Umbric had told us about coming to him with questions and ideas. But did she realize that just entering that place was like putting your head into the lion’s maw and counting on its good mood and a full belly? But that wasn't all, this girl was either going to ask one of the imperial adjudicators to become her master or to give her two hundred and two points. Both options were borderline suicidal or at least would end badly. Correction, she had probably done that already... she had gone there right after our morning assembly, and it was close to noon now. At this point, there wasn’t much I could do to stop her, but the more I told myself that it was pointless, the faster my legs moved.
Spoiler: Chapter 8 The Imperial Academy of Adjudication? A fancy name for a prison. But there was no time to enjoy the views and the warm spring weather while contemplating the various methods of keeping us inside. I only glanced at the numerous patrols of legionnaires from the second legion ‘Scorch’; the tall brick wall surrounding the entire area of the academy; multiple watchtowers placed at equal intervals on the wall, each manned by two archers and two crossbowmen; the row of five huge cages standing on something that seemed to be training grounds… and stopped dead in my tracks after realizing what exactly was chained inside each of those cages. “... blood beasts, for real?” And not just any blood beasts. The massive bodies of those five were covered in overlapping layers of black carapace with a metallic sheen to it. Protruding from their sides and top were short but deadly bone spikes, but their primary weapon seemed to be something else. Each of them had a tail with a hammer-like ending that was capable of turning a human into an unrecognizable pile of meat with a single strike, not that being bitten by their triangle bone-crushing jaw would be any better. However, I read that the stout legs of those particular monsters and their own weight made them unable to run fast and jump. In other words, the ones in front of me clearly belonged to the heavy armored type of blood beasts that took ages to kill even for an entire centuria of legionnaires not equipped with their scutums, like the ones all around this place. I just hoped their shields were stored somewhere close in case one of those monsters somehow broke free from its sturdy metal cage and the soldiers had to cook its insides. At least those five blood beasts were relatively calm and rather small compared to what I read in the books about this species, the biggest of them was at most three meters long, not counting the tail, and about a meter and twenty high. Still, the empire’s law clearly stated that any attempt at keeping an alive blood beast in a cage was punishable by being thrown inside the said cage… or were there some exceptions to this rule? I couldn’t tell, finding the imperial law codex was a must. Nevertheless, the border between a prison guard and a reliable protector was surprisingly thin, just a matter of perspective and the direction soldiers were facing, and if the empire was using those monsters as a source of common threat aimed to replace our first negative impression of this place with the feeling of being thankful that it was so secure, then it was damn effective. Of course, logic screamed that everything was the empire’s fault since they had brought those monster here and wouldn’t allow us to leave, but if anyone relied purely on reasoning, then the promised prize of becoming an imperial adjudicator waiting at the end of this thorny road must have been irresistible. Many of the candidates who went to take a look around were stunned by the sight of those cages and the things they contained, but there were also a few more interesting reactions. “... the empire’s mad… they fed a corpse...”; “Yeah and not only…”; “... what about escaping?”; “How? … and then?”; “We ... I guess?”; I managed to overhear some bits and pieces of a conversation between two older candidates standing nearby. Near the cages, a well-built guy with a stupid looking face was talking with the legionnaires, gesturing widely. But it didn’t seem as if they were going to listen to his demands. “I wonder if I could ride one to battle...” Said a small ma’gan girl with curly blond hair who passed me on the road. She also mumbled something about their tails and how cute they were. But the one that stood out the most was a young boy with long ginger hair who excitedly jumped all around and shouted: “Whoa! Five mini ankyloses!” He made sure that everyone around knew the name of this particular species of blood beasts. I shook my head, refocusing myself on the thing I had to do, and moved forward in the direction of the imperial adjudicators living quarters. A short paved path diverged from the main road. It was surrounded on both sides by apple trees that provided shade in summer and led to an elegant portico which stone roof was supported by four white composite pillars - the entrance to a building that was like a bigger and more luxurious version of our dormitories. Two centurions, whose helmets had silver and gold plume attached, were guarding the main entrance to the imperial adjudicators living quarters. Their harsh expression, bulging muscles, and suspicious gaze caused me to reconsider the entire plan. Maybe I was mistaken, and the little girl never came here? I entirely forgot to check other places in our dormitory where she could be hiding, like my own room. Or maybe she had simply gone outside to breathe some fresh air, and I was unnecessarily worried. Or perhaps I was demonizing the imperial adjudicators who in reality weren’t half as terrible as I thought and nothing bad happened to her… Those and many other excuses went through my head one after the other until I decided that it wouldn’t be wise to proceed any further without some good reason to explain myself. If I had one, then I could disguise the question about the white-haired girl as nothing more than mere curiosity or something. Actually, there was one thing that should serve as an interesting enough topic to talk about with the junior judge. My position didn’t require me to greet the centurions first, and they had already halfheartedly saluted, so I just walked forward, wanting to ask them if I could go inside. “Halt!” Stopped me with his pilum one of the soldiers as soon as I placed a single foot inside the portico. The tip of his spear was dangerously close to my neck. Only after confirming that I wore the necklace with the bronze burning scale he slowly took away his weapon and crossed it with the one held by his comrade on the other side. “State your number and the goal of your arrival.” This unexpected reaction and the ‘X’ created with spears in front of the main door nearly caused me to say ‘sorry, mistake’ and turn back. “C-candidate for imperial adjudicator number f-forty-eight.” My voice shook, and a hot wave of nervousness emanated from every corner of my body. “I request a vi… an a-audience with Junior Judge Umbric in o-order to talk-” “The goal of your arrival is to arrange an appointment with the mentor of class five Junior Judge Hector Umbric, is that correct?” Interrupted the other centurion and gave me an example of a proper formula. I made sure to remember the face of this good man. Next, I took a deep breath and confirmed. “Yes, that is correct.” “Please go inside, one of the servants will take you to the waiting room.” Good, the hot influx of stress was already being replaced with a soothing wave emanating from within me. A bit of waiting was exactly what I needed to shift my gears and prepare for the meeting with the judge, I wouldn’t allow myself to be caught off-guard again. Though I had to admit that I was starting to wonder where all those sudden unexplainable urges, random ideas, and other various things affecting my mind and body were coming from, was it always like that? Or was there something wrong with me? On the other hand, it felt natural and was helpful, so maybe I was just overthinking the situation. Once inside, one of the servants bowed to me respectfully and led through the marble corridors to the waiting room. “My lord, please wait here until someone comes to get you. Also please refrain from venturing into the main corridor without a guide, but feel free to use any facilities contained in this section of the building.” The servant, a woman in her fifties, bowed deeply yet again and left. “And please get ready to spend the rest of today in here.” Mocked a loud voice from within the waiting room. A bored looking guy was lying on a leather sofa, trying to stifle a yawn while scratching his chest. “But man, I’m so glad to have someone to play with.” He shifted to a sitting position, then pointed at a nearby table on which were spread various board games. “Even if you don’t feel like it now, you will change your mind in an hour or two, trust me I’ve been here since morning.” This brown-haired guy was both slightly older and taller than me, but his lack of tension and obvious annoyance directed at imperial adjudicators made me wonder if he had made the right choice by coming to this place. But that was his own business, and I shouldn’t interfere with it unless he was next in line to jump out the chest in my room. “Forty-eight, but call me Faust.” I decided to take his invitation. “Sure, I’m Draco. As for the number, I would love to complain how much those three single lines of mine hurt but seeing this behemoth of a burn on your hand made me realize that I was rather lucky. Ha! Now that I think about it, they must have run out of space when dealing with thirty-eight or used a smaller set of metal numbers.” He paid no attention to our surroundings and talked as if we were standing far from each other, outside, during a windy day. We shook our right hands and sat down at the table with games. “As for what I would love, it’s for you to speak more quietly, the voice carries way too well inside those stone walls.” I picked the simplest of the games in front of me since it didn’t require too much attention. “Dice, huh? Fine, but I will set the rules. We roll one dice and add points from each throw to our respective scores, the first person to reach one thousand wins, you may begin. One more thing, it’s boring to play without some kind of a wager, any ideas?” He actually listened to my advice and lowered his voice. “Not a thousand but a hundred, otherwise I can already imagine one of us forgetting his score, and what do you say that the loser has to answer any three questions of the winner?” If he truly had come here in the morning, then he should know if the little girl had been here or not. Well, it didn’t seem as if he would refuse to answer if I simply asked without using this whole game as an excuse, the problem lay on my side. I was still unsure if I really wanted to involve myself with Forty-one as much as this unexplained feeling told me to, it was dangerous and went against the idea of keeping a low profile, which led to the decision of leaving everything in the hands of fate. As the saying said ‘when in doubt, let the gods decide’. “A bit lukewarm, but alright. Wait, we can talk, right? If you’re just going to throw the dice silently, then there’s no point to it.” Asked Draco while tossing the dice from hand to hand. “Yes, of course.” I swiftly caught it during his next toss and immediately rolled on the table. I rolled - 3 “Hmm… but what to talk about? I know! You’re in class five, right? Any nice looking ladies over there?” Draco rolled - 1 “A kid with issues, a skeleton with fancy hairstyle, and a crybaby ma’gan girl.” I rolled - 6 “Crybaby ma’gan girl? Skeleton? Give me some details, but you can skip the kid, there’s one strange brat in my class as well. ” Draco rolled - 4 “If you prefer a kind and funny girl, then the skeleton may turn out nicely if you feed her well, but there may be some competition. As for the ma’gan girl…” I paused for a moment to think of how a normal boy my age would describe De Mora if his libido was working as it should. I rolled - 2 “What about her?” Draco rolled - 1 “... she’s smoking hot, tall and curvy in all the right places, especially her breasts, there’s something in them that just makes you want to grab each with one hand and personally check their perkiness. Add to it the lovely combo of her exotic face and silky orange hair, and for sure you won’t be disappointed.” I rolled - 3 “Nice! Now we’re talking. You see, there are three girls in my class as well, but one’s a kid, one’s like an adorable blonde doll, but still a bit too young for me, and there’s this perfect raven-haired beauty.” Draco rolled - 2 “Hmm? What’s the problem then? Go for the third one, or are you afraid of competition?” I rolled - 1 “That’s not it. Trust me, the third one’s really great looking, but her personality's horrible. She’s distant, cold, hostile and has a superiority complex. When I tried talking with her, she called me a ‘horny barbarian’ and said that if I opened my mouth in her presence once more, then she was willing to lose a few points in exchange for castrating me. The beauty in your class isn’t like that, right?” Draco rolled - 4 “...” I rolled - 6 “Why aren't you saying anything?” Draco rolled - 6 “Well… you see, there’s this little problem. Are you willing to risk waking up without a bone or something in exchange for putting your hands on the ma’gan girl from my class?” I rolled - 1 “What? Why?” Draco rolled - 5 “Stuff happened. I would prefer not to talk about it.” I rolled - 3 “Alright, but mind you I will ask about it if I win. By the way, do you think it’s possible to pay with points for the castration of another candidate?” Draco rolled - 6 “No idea, I have yet to check out this whole item house, maybe there are some 'special' services available.” I rolled - 3 “She surely made it sound like it, even though it was just after our morning assembly.” Draco rolled - 4 “Don’t you think she had in mind castrating you with her own hands and losing a few points as a penalty for it?” I rolled - 6 “Oh.” Draco rolled - 2 The current score was 34:35, Draco was winning by one point. Since we’ve exhausted the current topic, or because my opponent was analyzing the things I told him, we made the next few rolls in silence. Draco rolled - 2 I rolled - 3 Draco rolled - 6 We played mechanically, each submerged into his own little world. I was glad that I no longer had to pretend to be interested in talking about girls. This wasn’t my forte nor a field of interest unless we were talking about who you wanted to hug the most - and yet again a strange thought had popped up out of nowhere. I rolled - 2 Draco rolled - 4 I rolled - 6 Draco stood up for a moment to pour himself a cup full of wine, judging by the smell it was stronger than the stuff in our dormitory. Draco rolled - 2 I rolled - 1 Draco rolled - 2 I wondered if it was still possible to cancel the whole appointment and leave. I rolled - 4 Draco rolled - 1 I rolled - 4 “Hey.” The rhythmical sound of the rolling dice was finally interrupted by Draco’s voice. Draco rolled - 1 “Yeah?” I rolled - 4 “Now that I think about it, one kid from your class came here earlier. I think it’s the one you’ve mentioned, a cute white-haired girl, right? But she was lucky and didn’t have to wait even an hour before…? Why are you looking at me like that?” “Are you a fucking god?” I snapped while giving him a death glare. “Huh? Where did that come from?” This whole game just lost its entire meaning. Though Draco still rolled his turn and tried to pass me the dice, I ignored him, there was this strange ringing in my ears that sounded almost like someone's laughter. But if such was the will of gods then so be it, I was going to take care of that little girl, no matter if she wanted it or not. Though it would be nice if she were still in one piece by the time I found her. “Hey mate? You alright?” Draco put away his cup and tried to shake my shoulder, but I stood up and moved to sit down on a nearby leather sofa. It wasn’t his fault and taking it out on him, especially in this place, would achieve nothing or worse. “Yeah sorry, just tired of this game. Don’t mind me.” I replied so he would leave me alone and engrossed myself in all the thoughts that until now were sealed with the excuse that she hadn’t come here. “Alright, I remember our scores so just tell me when you’re ready to resume.” Said Three with a smile, emptied the cup in one gulp, and moved to lie on a leather sofa opposite to mine, only this time he also took off his boots and filled the entire room with the stench of his sweaty socks. Until the time one of the servants came to get me half an hour later, I remained silent. My brain was focused entirely on conducting imaginary disputes with the junior judge, trying to predict and prepare for as many different outcomes as possible - involving myself and the little girl as well as the fortunate and the unfortunate scenarios. “Junior Judge Hector Umbric is awaiting the candidate for imperial adjudicator number forty-eight in his study. Please follow me.” Said the same older woman who had brought me here. “What about me?” Asked Draco with a hint of hope in his voice. “My lord, High Judge Kyle Blackdust has just been informed about your request to meet with him. Please be patient.” The corner of Draco’s mouth twitched as he quietly kept repeating the word ‘just’ over and over. “My lord, may I suggest to take a bath in the meantime? I will send one of the younger serving girls with a batch of fresh clothes, she may also assist with the bath if requested to.” The servant skillfully tried to take care of two problems at the same time. This instantly pacified Draco, and he replied with a sleazy grin. “Indeed, it’s a bit hot today, and since this is unfamiliar place assistance may be required.” I shot him a look full of pity, he had yet to realize that for a fifty-something old woman, a younger girl was a very broad definition. And this woman didn’t look like someone who would send an innocent lamb into the maw of a stupid wolf. This was the last clue required to conclude that Draco was of a rather humble origin. However, despite his severely lacking manners, he seemed alright, and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to talk with him from time to time, having an acquaintance in another class could come in handy. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and followed after the servant. It was time to meet with the mentor of class five.
Spoiler: Chapter 9 Hourglasses - it was the first word that came to my mind after entering Junior Judge Hector Umbric's study. Dozens of them were separated into three sections, each consisting of a big display cabinet. "Which one do you like the most Forty-eight?" Asked the imperial adjudicator before I had a chance to open my mouth to greet him. He sat behind a small desk placed in the corner and seemed pleased that his collection was the first thing that grabbed my attention, which was only natural since the entire study was structured in a way to provoke exactly this reaction. "Your honor, thank you for using your precious time to meet with me. May I take a closer look?" "Of course, just don't touch anything." He said and resumed reading some document. Either he was testing me or wanted to show off his hourglasses and hear some praise. It was a rather good beginning. Logic stated that the display cabinet placed in the central position of the room had to contain the part of the collection which the junior judge wanted to show others the most. Displayed inside were many hourglasses made out of precious metals and decorated with gems, most belonged to the popular one-hour size and looked similar to each other, but among them were also more sophisticated ones like the one with big silver wings. However, after a few minutes of watching I noticed that besides being expensive and showy, they lacked the main thing valued by nearly every collector- uniqueness. It wasn't hard to make something out of gold, attach a figurine or two on top, and put some rubies in it, anyone with coin could obtain an hourglass like that. "Those look good…" I said slowly to test the waters, and just as expected, a hint of disappointment showed itself on Umbric's face. "... but I personally prefer something more original." "Ha!" The bald man put away the document he was reading. "I say the same thing each time someone gives me one of those tasteless goldies, only less politely. But I just can't bring myself to throw them into the treasury without giving each hourglass at least five minutes of glory, so the newest ones are displayed here until some other foolish noble tries to buy my favor. In exchange, I gave them the best place of my study." He smiled widely and began paying me more attention. This conversation was far from the ones I had been practicing, but for now, it was still fine. Well, my hands shook slightly, and my heart rate wasn't normal, but those hourglasses were a good topic to get a little used to talking with the junior judge. I moved to take a look at the second cabinet, placed to the left from the central one. The hourglasses displayed in it had more finesse and were much more varied. The smallest of them was the size of my fingernail, purely decorative in function unless someone required an hourglass to count three seconds, while the biggest was over a meter high and stood next to the display cabinet. Another's frame was carved out of a single piece of bone, and the sand within it was dyed bloody red. There was also an interesting set of four hourglasses connected with a single metal frame, each was held by a pair of crude iron legionnaires and was able to turn separately from the others. But the most impressive among all of them was an elegant black hourglass. Not only it had two legendary events from human history masterfully carved on its wooden frame, the escape through the Helial Desert, and the discovery of Holy Lake, but also, unlike the rest, it wasn't filled with sand but with a combination of different liquids, probably water and colorful oils, neatly separated in pretty layers. It might not have been the most precise time measuring tool, but for sure it was a wonderful work of art. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Said the junior judge who moved to stand behind me when I was admiring the black hourglass. "Did you notice the vifer cores?" "No your honor." I replied honestly. "They're a bit hard to spot when inactive, look." He took the hourglass and showed me the barely visible small metal circles, one on the top, one on the bottom. Next, he held the hourglass in both hands and started imbuing radiance into the cores connected to those metal spots. They turned out to be of the light emitting type and were placed inside the glass part of the hourglass, illuminating the intricate movements of colorful liquids and giving them a very fascinating hue. Some oils allowed the rays of light to freely pass through while others blocked them entirely, leading to an ever-shifting mystical dance of light and color. Umbric put away the active hourglass on the shelf, and for a while we enjoyed the mesmerizing show. I could only imagine how nice it would be to watch it in the evening with a cup of hot tea in hand. "Your honor, forgive my rudeness, but I think that my answer as to which one I like the most won't change even after checking the third cabinet." I said, convinced that this had to be the crowning piece of the entire collection. "Good eye my boy, this is my second most favorite one, it not only looks great but is also surprisingly precise. Though it's a pity that I don't have its white twin." Replied satisfied Umbric, and gestured softly to sit down at the cushioned velvet chair opposite to his desk. There were two other chairs next to it, but only now I paid them enough attention to realize that while the first was a simple wooden one, the second was made out of steel and its seat was lined with rows of sharp spikes. And to think that I had almost relaxed. Thank gods those spikes were still clean. "So, what brings you here?" Asked the junior judge after we took our respective seats. I put the green point coin on his desk. "This, your honor. I don't understand the system behind it." Somehow this has surprised Umbric more than it should, and with a furrowed brow he asked: "Is that all?" Then leaned against the chair's back and crossed his arm. "Of course not, your honor. By saying that I don't understand I meant that the joint system of using the point coins while at the same time maintaining strict control over each candidate's points balance is unnecessarily complicated and flawed." The conversation finally moved to the part I had practiced, remaining calm was the key to victory. "Hmm… continue." "First, the monetary system is used practically everywhere. Why? Because its biggest advantage is the ability to easily and quickly use coins in various exchanges, be it trade deals, paying wages, lending to someone, or other agreements, but at the same time, this is also its biggest drawback. It's impossible to keep track of every transaction when tens of thousands of them occur daily in a single city. This results in many unwanted types of transactions taking place among which are stealing, bribing, and extortion. On the other hand, when a group is small, like us - the candidates for imperial adjudicators, it's possible to keep track of everything that was received, spent or lost without the usage of a physical medium. This effectively eliminates all unwanted types of transactions I can think of at this moment, but requires an authorized person to record every single change, which in turn takes time and may not always be readily available." I skipped a lot of things such as taxation and varying value of coins with the same nominal, those issues didn't apply to the situation in the academy. "Your point?" Junior Judge Umbric relaxed his posture and leaned towards me. "You honor, the point system used by the Imperial Academy of Adjudication is ineffective. Let's say that someone will give me five point coins, but before that person also notifies the item house, which as I presume keeps all records of such exchanges, then the amount of coins I have in my pouch won't match the amount I should have. This may potentially lead to a situation in which I'm accused of thievery, of course this problem will be resolved right after the person who gave me them clears my name. Next, if I'm not wrong then to spend my points, I have to go to the item house where all records are kept anyway, in that case, what's the whole point of using coins? Their biggest advantage of swift and easy exchanges is lost the moment everything has to be recorded, and we can't do anything with them before that happens, but coins can still be lost or lead to other problematic situations." I threw this long stream of words at the junior judge and awaited his reaction. After a minute of keeping me in nervous uncertainty Umbric scratched his square jaw and moved to take out something from one of the desk's drawers, but as if remembering something, he stopped mid-motion and turned to me. "... I see. So you're basically saying that we should either focus on the quick but easy to exploit point coins, or resign from them entirely and focus on recording every change in the candidates' points balance? Which one is it and why?" That was exactly what I was waiting for. Well, there were some ways of adjusting the current system, but why complicate the entire situation when it was easier to cut off the unnecessary elements? "Yes, your honor, the second option." I nodded with conviction. "Because it's the only way to keep track of the situation if someone's points drop below zero. Also, this system may work even better if changes to everyone's balances were made only once per day, let's say after collecting an entire day's worth of reports concerning received and lost points. However, the records of points spent to buy things should, and could, be brought up to date immediately." There was something else I tried to smuggle inside this proposition - a chance for someone whose points were going to drop below the killing value. "Good, then you can have this." Junior Judge Umbric placed a tiny bronze hourglass in front of me, his previous frown was replaced by a wide smile. "Attach it to your necklace and wear at all times, this is the symbol that you're the leader of class five. Be glad, I was going to think of some way to pick one of you later, but you've impressed me enough to earn it now." "..." I silently took it and attached to the necklace which became kind of heavy since the bronze burning scale was hanging from it as well. All the while I kept my head down, hoping to hide my dumbfounded face. "It's true that law has to be respected and followed, but at the same time, it's the imperial adjudicators' job to find faults within it and correct them. And you coming here the very same day I told you about the intentionally defective system is a great thing! Here, your second reward." He took something else out of the drawer - a green point coin with the number V on it. "A pity you weren't a bit quicker, two candidates from other classes have already reported this issue, and I can only give you five points, but it's still quite an achievement. Make sure to check the information board tomorrow morning, the result of your today's efforts should be posted on it. A word of advice, don't throw out those coins." He winked and for a moment calling him 'a friendly baldy' didn't seem as suicidal as before. It wasn't easy to keep up with everything, and I was temporarily lost for words. The junior judge probably decided that it was the time to call an end to our meeting since he kept moving his gaze between me and one of the doors inside his study. But after I showed no reaction to his courtesy, he sighed and was about to tell me straight that I should go now, which gave me the push I needed. "Your honor, may I ask you a question?" "Only two of three, I've got much to do." "Becoming a class leader, what exactly does it mean?" Even if this wasn't something I wished for, I still wanted to know what it entailed, and it was a good excuse. "Don't worry, this will be explained to you during the first meeting of class leaders, one of the legionnaires will come to get you when the time is right. Anything else?" He shot down this attempt at leading the conversation towards the topic of that little girl, forcing me to ask more directly. "Then one last thing, your honor. This white-haired girl from this morning, I would like to explain the misunderstanding with Forty-one personally, but I can't find her anywhere. But I heard that she may have visited your honor earlier. Forgive my insolence, but may I inquire what happened to her?" Suddenly, Umbric's heavy fist hit the top of his desk, causing me to jump in my chair. But before I had enough time to regret asking this question, he laughed heartily and exclaimed: "Finally! You almost had me fooled for a moment. I was really wondering if giving you that point for taking care of her wasn't too hasty. My boy, you need to be more honest and less crafty, then you will be a splendid material for an imperial adjudicator." Was this merrily laughing junior judge really the same person who had cold-bloodedly ordered the execution of that man? Before more doubts of such nature arose, I glanced at the nearby steel chair and confirmed that indeed it was the same person. Still, It was good to know that this entire mess could have been avoided if I just… oh, dammit. This conversation for sure was taking its toll on my nerves. "Forgive me, your honor, I didn't know how to broach this topic." I said nothing more since Umbric gestured me to stop. "Unfortunately, I must inform you that there are only eight candidates for imperial adjudicators left in class five." Said the junior judge, his face still full of smiles. The discrepancy between his previous words, what he said now, and his behavior left me too stunned to be angry, yet deep within me, something stirred. "Of course the girl is still alive, she has just lost her status as one of the candidates." He added calmly after a few seconds of observing my reaction. "You see, Rusalka was raised from her earliest years to become a perfect imperial adjudicator, but this project didn't turn out nearly as well as we hoped. The kids were too dependant on their masters, unable to judge the situation accordingly, and totally hopeless when it came to common sense. Most of them were sent to a correctional facility where they are reeducated in order to let them live freely as normal citizens, but this didn't work out in Rusalka's case. Being separated from her master and losing her only reason to live was so stressful for that girl that her hair turned completely white in less than a year. I will spare you the details, but the imperial adjudicators are not as heartless as many make us sound, I have two adorable daughters myself. In the end, it was decided that after wiping her memory, she was to be included among you. But the result? More disappointment. She came to me today and begged to be her master." Another loud bang resounded in the entire study, but this time it wasn't caused by the junior judge. I was no less surprised by this sound than Umbric who kept looking at me strangely. Actually… it turned out that my own fist was the cause of it. "You're telling me that you brainwashed a bunch of kids, called them failures, sent them to a brothel or something where they are whipped and raped daily, and after all that, you brought one of them here to test another deranged idea? Thank god you spared me the details, I nearly threw up from all the sweet bullshit you used to wrap this shit in." I felt dizzy and sleepy, but still able to register that I just said something outrageous. However, I was unable to stop more of those words from coming out of my mouth. "But you're right, the cause behind her white hair might have been stress. After all, that little girl is terrified of someone being nice to her, or even of being clean, because even without her memories she can still connect it with only one thing. Just how much..." Near the end of the last sentence, I began shaking my head in denial, slowly regaining control over my own body. After the initial surprise, Umbric didn't give any more impressions of being bothered by my offensive words or bizarre actions. He watched my antics while playing with the very small golden hourglass taken out from his pocket. "I can understand that you find it hard to accept, but you fail to comprehend that no one wants to take care of a bunch of useless brats unless they receive something in return. And this option was still better than wastefully killing them which would have happened if I hadn't done anything. Still, you may want to rethink your words and change your tone. I won't warn you again, Forty-eight." Junior Judge Umbric's voice remained calm and collected, but now, there was a sharp edge to it. I just lost a lot of his favor due to this foolery... Floating inside my head were a lot of thoughts that weren't mine: 'No one wanted to take care of some kids while ordered to do so by an imperial adjudicator? Yeah, right.' 'Simply selling two or three of those golden hourglasses could provide fifty kids with years of good life.' F-fof- forgivs, forgive me." Forming words was never so hard as now, my mouth tried to say two entirely different things at the same time, but the more droplets of sweat ran down my forehead and back, the less dizzy and sleepy I became. "Forgive me, your honor." "It's fine." Umbric quickly dropped the matter, at least on the surface, and leaned back on his chair. "I'm already impressed that you've managed to keep a level head for so long while talking with someone feared even by kings." His own words made him chuckle. "But you need to make sure nothing like that happens again, the other judges aren't as merciful as I am. As for the girl, unfortunately it seems that even after cleaning her memory from filth, she failed to become a good material for an imperial adjudicator. Because of that she lost her number and regained her name, only her name mind you. I decided to permanently forbid unsealing Rusalka's memories as it would be no different from killing her soul, again. But the girl still has her uses, so I decided to listen to her request. What uses you may ask? Well, anyone who buys the right to become her master for fifty points at the item house will also obtain the right to determine those freely. By the way, is there something wrong with your finger?" Umbric's question made me realize that yet again my body was doing something of its own volition. My right hand was clenched in a fist except for its middle finger which was turned towards the judge, thankfully this time it was just a silly gesture. "No your honor, just stress." "I see, let's end this meeting here. Forty-eight, I think you can achieve a lot after you work on correcting your vices." "Thank you, your honor." I bowed deeply and left Umbric's study. As soon as the door closed behind me, I unsteadily walked towards the wall, leaned on it and sank to the stone floor. It was pleasantly cold. The servant who was to guide me outside pretended not to see anything and allowed for a brief moment of respite. Drenched in sweat, limbs trembling, and with dark spots flying in front of my eyes, I wondered what should I do next. Go to the library? Gather fifty points? Become the imperial adjudicator? Discover what the hell was wrong with me? Go back to my room and sleep? Something, and by that I already understood that it was the thing within me that kept messing with everything, told me that resting was a good idea. Since disagreeing with this feeling purely out of spite would be childish, I slowly stood up and went with this option. All the while I kept telling myself that I did that only because some sleep would help me the most at the moment.
Spoiler: Chapter 10 The slim candidate with dark brown hair and number XLVIII burned on his left hand moved the letter from the desk onto the bed’s pillow, making sure Rexar wouldn’t miss it again. It had been upgraded to version 2.0 and now contained a long paragraph explaining the unplanned intervention in the judge’s study. “I’m quite the hypocrite.” Murmured Teacher, but his only recent regrets were that he had put his pupil in danger and that Rusalka had been turned into an item worth fifty points. Still, as long as he acted accordingly, neither of those issues should escalate into something that could never be repaired. Teacher went through the options available to him, thinking where to start. Among them was interacting with other candidates, but Faust was already suspicious of ‘the thing inside’ and creating more troublesome situations could change this suspicion into antipathy or worse. There was also the option of giving control of the body back to Faust and waking him up, which should naturally lead to the discovery of the letter, but Teacher didn’t feel like going back to the bodiless state right after freeing himself from it. Though that state wasn’t that bad, spending the significant part of the last seventeen years in it was a true test of perseverance. Luckily, the contract was close to being fulfilled. Besides, before establishing any sort of contact with Faust, there was another problem Teacher had to deal with. Sipping wine from a wooden mug and eating herbal hardtack, he focused on the ticking time bomb of negative emotions which Faust compared to a frozen lake. There was no need to search for the cause behind them as he already knew it. Rexar’s subconsciousness had erupted in a fit of blind fury right after the memories connected with the two most important people to him had been sealed - the memories of his younger sisters. Though Teacher understood it fully, as he would do the same if their roles were reversed, at that time he had no other choice than to do the thing his pupil hated the most and directly mess with his head and feelings. It had been an emergency situation, nevertheless, breaking a given promise wasn’t sitting well with Teacher, and he wanted to apologize for it personally at the first opportunity. The only positive aspect of that smoldering fury had been the unexpected unsealing of a small portion of Rexar’s memories, but keeping those restrained emotions around and hoping that something like that would happen again simply wasn’t worth the risk. Teacher continued to remove the previously placed constraints, and the sizeable pocket of anger kept steadily decreasing, it was like releasing air from a balloon and was a way better option than waiting for it to burst without any warning. This process might give a nasty nightmare or two to sleeping Faust, but that was all. Two hours later the time bomb had been disarmed, and Teacher sighed heavily. From now on Faust’s emotions would remain more stable and balanced, which should make him less irritable and more open to others. Teacher also made sure that everything else was adjusted exactly as it should. Faust’s lust remained toned down to safe cuddly levels, fear was never going to paralyze his actions, despair would never rob him of motivation, and a dangerous situation would practically double their physical abilities thanks to the perfect hormonal control. Those four points were the ones Rexar had agreed on thanks to Teacher’s subtle suggestions, they aimed to help in keeping a clear head at all times and survive life-threatening situations. There were also a few things Rexar had accepted even if he hadn’t liked them, like the fact that Teacher had been the driving force behind Rexar’s body developing in the best possible way during his earlier years. Although he had sworn not to do that ever again without permission, some features and many minor adjustments obtained due to it remained, like the improved reflexes, or the effective lungs that allowed this body to survive in a low oxygen environment and hold breath for nearly ten minutes. However, this also meant that Rexar’s average look was the pinnacle of his potential... or that Teacher had screwed something badly when he had been learning how to control everything. “Now then, let’s test my luck.” Teachers stretched, bones crackling, and shifted from sitting position to kneeling in front of the bed. Next, he put his hands to pray. He stabilized his breathing, making sure every breath in and out was as even as humanly possible and prepared himself for what could come. This part of his life was shrouded in mystery he refused to explain even to Rexar, except for telling him that it was connected with the reason why this body housed two souls. ‘Let’s hope Desti’s in a good mood.’ Thought Teacher before he started reciting. “Spiritus Dei, qui custos es mei. Anme, tibi commissum pietate superna, illumina, custodi, rege et guberna.” Each word was said slowly and carefully while making sure it had the right intonation. Teacher paid attention to maintaining the correct mental image as there were two guardian spirits interested in his soul, Destivatre and Asvodean, and while the former shouldn’t mind covering the cost of creating the connection between her dominion and this place, in the latter’s case it would be strange if he didn’t demand a hefty compensation even before listening to his request. Although the conditions were far from perfect, it was rather long since Desti last saw him and he counted on her desire to meet. Luck was also an important factor as to which one of them would answer, if any at all, but even Asvo’s high price was something he was prepared to pay in order to survive the stay at the Imperial Academy of Adjudication. “Spiritus Dei, qui custos es mei. Anme, tibi commissum pietate superna, illumina, custodi, rege et guberna.” Repeating the same words for the second time already proved effective. The distance between each piece of the furniture slowly increased until it grew to twice its normal length. Thin cracks and black ruptures, from which a dark red substance began oozing out, appeared on the room’s previously pristine walls and ceiling. The blood beast's fur rug kept twitching and wobbling as if something was moving beneath it. Teacher had already spent Rexar’s entire pool of radiance simply to call out to his guardian spirits twice and was now burning through his own reserves when he felt that it was no longer necessary. Something else took over and began providing the required energy, considerably speeding up the entire process. Those were the first signs of a true manifestation, which was way more than Teacher was planning to achieve. He had only wanted a small opening through which he could enter the respective guardian spirit’s place, now everything got ten times more complicated. The thought that using this solution might not have been the best idea appeared every five seconds, but the one telling him that his guardian spirit would be furious if he forcibly shattered the already forming manifestation easily kept it at bay. However, when the air’s smell changed to a one of mold in which a particular musty scent with a hint of decay could be smelled, Teacher considerably calmed down. It was Destivatre’s true manifestation, not Asvodean’s. She must have really wanted to meet because the amount of mana required to manifest a portion of her dominion in this dimension was huge. The whole thing was going to leave a lot of problems behind, and Teacher realized that it was her way of punishing him for ignoring her for so long. “Spiritus Déi, quí cústos es méi, Anme, tíbi commíssum pietáte supérna, illúmina, custódi, rége et gubérna.” When he repeated the same words for the third time, there was something unearthly mixing within them the moment they left his mouth. The light coming through the big window got dimmer and dimmer as grey tarry substance continued to bleed from the transparent glass, quickly covering it with a thick layer until the whole room’s interior was shrouded in murky eventide. If one listened closely, then it was possible to hear disturbing whispers coming from inside the unnaturally deep shadows. Shivers went up and down Teacher’s back like waves in a stormy night. Eerie sounds of something heavy being dragged on the floor, that always came from outside his field of view caused Teacher to search for their source. But every single time he looked, he only found his chair standing in different parts of the room, even on the table, although when he checked its original position next to the desk, the same chair was standing there as well. With a quiet tinging sound, the door’s handle fell to the floor, cutting off the last escape route. The lid of the chest placed in the corner rose slightly, and as soon as Teacher noticed the rotten bony fingers holding its edge, he lowered his head and closed his eyes. From now on, he had to watch himself and keep them shut until everything was over. He also switched to breathing through the mouth, the stench of decay was already hard to bear, and it would only grow worse. *Squelch* *Squelch* *Squelch*... the sound of someone’s bare soggy feet was coming from the chest direction. Slowly, it moved behind him and stopped. “Nonne tu me deesset?” She whispered sweetly into Teacher’s ear, which reminded him of a wet rag being dropped on the stone floor. “Yes, I missed you a lot.” He replied to the Destivatre’s question, and a pair of cold, squelchy arms touched him from behind. Teacher knew it was his guardian spirit, but feeling up close as tens of fat maggots crawled beneath the patches of rotten meat was incredibly hard to tolerate. Especially when those maggot-ridden rotten arms were affectionately embracing you. “Opus est auxilium?” Desti asked if Teacher needed her help, unhappy that he only called for her when such was the case. “You know me too well, but in exchange, I promise to visit your place and stay for a while as soon as possible.” “Promissum!” She exclaimed and happily rested her small chin on top of his head because while he was kneeling, it was at just the right height to do that. Despite her grimy and terrifying manifestation, he just couldn’t bring himself to detest this girl starved for affection. “But let’s talk first. I’m curious as to how are things on your side.” “Ut bene, pauci sunt velle miscere in me apertis rationibus. Eo tempore corpus habetis ipsius colligere multum potest utrumque simul totum mundum vincit. Ego potest non expectare! Alia experiri incipit, sed puto suus immaturum.” Understanding some of the subtleties hidden within the language used by Desti wasn’t easy for Teacher, but she had more or less reported that things were progressing smoothly and that she couldn’t wait to conquer this world with him at her side. There was also something about others acting too fast in her opinion. “Sed lets loqui non est. Quomodo tibi opem feram?” It was only a small portion of all the things she wanted to say, but she realized that her time here was limited and put a priority on the thing Teacher required help with. All the time she remained glued to Teacher’s back and enjoyed his warmth, while he in return was being soaked with various disgusting liquids and started shivering from cold as his body temperature was being absorbed. “You’re right, your place is better for long conversations anyway. And I really need your help. You see, Rexar’s memory has been sealed, and there’s-” Teacher’s words were stopped by a half-rotten hand that covered his mouth. A bit of decaying meat got inside his mouth, and one of the fat maggots tried to bite his lower lip - the hardtack he had eaten found itself inside his mouth once again, submerged in gastric juices and wine, but with some difficulty, he managed to swallow it. Desti realized that her playful gesture might have been a bit too much and quickly removed her hand, then she gently patted his head to apologize. “Labem remota.” Destivatre’s words were quiet, but the meaning behind them shocked Teacher, she not only helped but resolved one of his problems on her own by removing the tainted power affecting Rexar’s memories. “Ego modicum tempus.” She informed with regret that her time here was running short, this action ate a big chunk of mana she brought to this place. “Thank you, this will help a lot, you’re the best little sister I could wish for.” “Um! Soror ad numisma.” She happily confirmed his words and sat down on the floor, back to back with Teacher, confident that her task was over and that now she could just relax together with the person dear to her. It was definitely less relaxing for Teacher and involved a lot of enduring the cold while trying not to show any signs of disgust and constantly fighting back his gag reflex, but he would sooner knock himself out than admit any of that. Being treated like a normal girl was the thing Desti loved the most, even if the whole thing was just a perfectly obvious farce. Not to mention that he owed her more than could be repaid even if he gave her his entire soul. “... but could you help me a little more?” Since his debt was already this big, nothing stopped Teacher from asking for more. The response he received was a short, cracking noise that sounded almost like breaking of a wet, weathered stick. A second later, Desti began to strongly poke his side with something that easily tore through his uniform, draw a few droplets of blood, and had a sharp tip that couldn’t belong to her rotten fingers. “Auch! Auch! Sorry, sorry! But may I remind you that stabbing someone with own rib isn’t something a young girl should do?!” He could only guess what was happening, but Desti most definitely armed herself with a sharp bone weapon taken out from her own body. “Hmpf.” She grumbled unhappily, unwilling to shorten her remaining time in this place. Whispers coming from the shadows grew more intense and aggressive, and some sticky substance began oozing out of the floor, soaking Teacher’s clothes even further. “Don’t be angry. You know that I also want to spend more time together, but there’s this little girl I want to help. She suffered a lot, and if I don't do anything, she will never learn how it feels to be loved. Don’t you think it’s too sad to leave her like that? And I’m in a place where I may be killed at any moment, I would prefer to defend myself with my own hands instead of relying on your shadows or, god forbid, Asvo’s devils. I know that each time you have to save me, it costs you a lot of power and weakens your position.” Teacher turned around and tightly hugged the small girl sitting there while making sure to avoid touching anywhere below her shoulders. “None of the things you gave me could be brought here, and I just need a weapon or something so I won’t be a burden to you.” “Ehh… suus 'unfair’.” She lightly stabbed him one last time and stood up, freeing herself from his arms. “Et relinquam te et auxiliatus sum ovum fae. Apprehende arma et esse utiles.” Two items were placed on top of Teacher’s head, one of them was Desti’s rib, the other was very small and ice-cold. She had said that it was a fae’s egg but didn’t explain anything else. However, unlike Asvodean’s, Destivatre’s gifts were relatively safe to use. Teacher grinned widely, those two items were the powerful options he needed the most. “... ‘kiss’.” Desti demanded in a tiny voice. “Of course.” The source of small squelching footsteps moved to stand in front of him and leaned forward, while he put aside the two gifts. The moment her soft lips touched Teacher’s forehead in the briefest of kisses, he screamed, unable to withstand the soul-wrenching pain that threatened to devour his entire existence - a mocking version of this scream reverberated from every shadow inside the room. The pain felt by Teacher was physical, as if he was thrown into a hole filled with boiling tar that instantly burnt through his skin and attached itself to his muscles; as well as mental, depression and anguish filled every corner of his mind telling him that never again he would know warmth and rest; and finally it affected his very soul in a way that couldn’t be described other than ‘eternal suffering’. This kiss was the goodbye ritual that Destivatre had to perform in order to fool her true nature and maintain their relationship in its current form. “‘Bye, bye, Charles.’” She spoke softly and gestured one of the shadows to carry his unconscious body to the bed. She stood next to it, watching over him silently with a small smile until her mana run out, and the dominion’s manifestation began to dissipate. Left behind in a ruined room was Charles Werner in the body of Rexar Gaure.