15th June, 1470SR
At Rauda empire, southern state, in front of the 6th stadium, Grand Colosseum, northern screen.
A brilliant day with clear skies and a gentle breeze greeted a hundred thousand applicants of that year's Grand Entrance examinations. A tensed atmosphere was easily identifiable. It was much quieter than what could be expected from a gathering of such large scale.
A pair of gleaming brown eyes beneath crescent moon shaped brows stared at the ginormous screen which was screaming for attention. The bearer was slightly tanned with obsidian black cat fur fine hair and somewhat lean yet straight with pride demeanor. His handsome features were hid beneath his brown t-shirt which looked too big on him and a pair of lousy trousers.
Stirring the motionless silence, the huge speakers placed beside the screen came alive, "Boys and girls, please pay attention. Today, we have gathered here for the first day of the Grand Entrance Examinations. This examination will consist of 4 tests in total: Magical power rating, Written test, Pill formation test and lastly the Battle simulation test. The scores in these tests will be crucial for admission in any of the schools across the empire! "
The matter was not as simple as the announcer made it sound and the audience was fully aware of it. Most of the applicants' future was heavily dependent on the result of one single test. Ideally, things shouldn't work like that, should they? For practicality reasons though, this is the best a state can do to assure equality to its citizens, and ideal cases are mere dreams anyway.
The announcement continued, "For admission in the 'military' department, the magical power rating test, written test, and battle test are mandatory, whereas for the 'support' department, written test and pill formation test is imperative. One may seek to apply for both the departments. The registration for all the examinations are still open but please hasten, as the events will begin starting tomorrow. Aspirants born only in between 15th June 1457 SR and 16th June 1460 SR will be allowed to take part in this years examinations. Participants are strictly not allowed to be accompanied by their spirits in any of the tests. Violation of any of the rules will not be tolerated. The participant will not be allowed to take part in the examinations this year or ever after if they are caught cheating."
" With this, the introductions are complete."
Everyone was familiar with the details, nothing had changed regarding the rules since the past 10 years. Yet, call it excitement or nervousness, the mood had undoubtedly intensified. It was like the sudden surge of feelings when one realizes that the moment they had anticipated for such long time, was finally to arrive.
"I would like to welcome among us one of the most influential and valiant warriors in our kingdom, this year's esteemed guest, the King of the Southern State, titled 'Violet Shadow' King Kath!"
Before the crowd could get a grasp on the situation and realize that the announcer just calmly dropped a bomb of surprise, a celestial figure appeared on the giant screen amidst a blinding light.
"Lets uphold the spirit of the competition! I would request everyone to portray disciplined behaviour and become a true example of a model citizen first. Nervousness never yields the result you deserve. Give the best of your caliber. Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn. With this, I am delighted to announce the commencement of the event! "
The chatters spread, and it became noisier with each passing second.
An extremely pretty looking girl quietly snuck up from behind. Her neatly tied pony tail caramel brown hair reached as low as her waist. Her calm composure complimented her fair as cream smooth skin. Dressed in a long top and pants, she quite perfected the balance between her princess-ly looks and a modern fashion.
"It finally became lively again, didn't it? Just a little while back it was as quite as if we were attending a funeral."
Standing shoulder to shoulder, neither were looking at each other. Finally after a long pause and awkward silence between the two, she gets a reply.
"Me?"
"Yes you. New here, aren't you?" She continued "You just looked so out of place and isolated that I couldn't helped but randomly start a conversation"
"Ah. It's my clothes, isn't it?"
"Not just your clothes. Look around, do you find anyone who is standing alone and still glaring at the screen as if they were planning to take it down? The screen's blank now you know."
"It was quite fascinating to witness a person not even be physically visible and still make their presence felt."
He quietly turned around and tried to walk away but the girl scooted in front of him and with a cute smile said "What say, want to join my team?"
"Excuse me?"
"Oh yeah, before that, my name is Rin. May I know what can I call you?"
"I am Riko."
"So Riko, as I speculate, you aren't from here, which would mean you might be staying in a hotel or a relative's place. Why not join my group and stay at our place till the examinations are over?"
"I don't think I am quite comfortable with that. Now, if you let me." Saying this Riko tries to walk past Rin but she keeps following. Maintaining a constant two feet distance approximately, Rin did not utter a word, just quietly followed him through, till Riko snapped finally.
"Will you let me alone please?"
"At least let me know why you are not even giving it a thought, will you?"
"If you randomly walk up to a stranger and strike up a conversation out of the blue, you can't blame me to be suspicious and not make much of your insensible proposal. As much as I try to be polite, I don't think it's possible."
"Well... Let's just say we are short of people."
Riko picked up his pace steadily while beginning to reply "There isn't any group participation in any of the tests. At least try harder to come up with an excuse, not that you can find a valid one considering that we are practically strangers and there are practically thousands of strangers around here who might still be standing alone. I say you would be better off finding another stranger to fill the shortage off people. Bye then, Rin."
By the time he finished, Riko was running and Rin was barely managing to somehow trace his trail. She adamantly chased Riko but it became harder as time went by. "Come on, at least check out where I am staying. If you don't like the place then you can just say no. Won't that work?"
"What if you have secretly planned a trap to ambush me and maybe steal me or something?"
"Wouldn't I go for a richer looking person if I had planned to steal money?"
"Hmm... Then what if you kill me and sell my body parts?"
"What??! Are you kidding me? Well but then it would make sense that I did not go for wealthier looking person. Wait, that's not the point!"
"Don't casually admit it, I was just joking. Still, I don't want to trust you, whatever you might be up to."
"Okay!" Running out of breath, she yelled "You know the reason don't you? Anyway, I don't plan to hurt or threaten you for that, just please stop for a second."
Riko looked back, gave it a second thought before coming to a halt. "So, let's hear your reason"
Still heaving Rin gestured him to wait for a while till she regained her breath. "Damn, after running that much you still haven't broken a sweat."
"Can I know the reason now?"
"Fine. Lets go to somewhere less crowded"
"So, you plan to kidn..."
Interrupting Riko in between, Rin reassures in an irritated low tone "No, I am not planning to do any harm to you, just listen to me once"
They continued walking along the same street they had unknowingly reached. The street was glorious in its inception. The sidewalks were smooth grey stones, square shaped tiles laid perfectly and evenly. A row of lush green bushes separated the the sidewalks from the road and the shops on either side. Benches at regular intervals with beautifully decorated street lamps made the street look more like a tourist destination than a regular street. The street was wide and uncrowded. Who would like to go through the street on a vehicle than walk through it?
After walking a little, they found a cafe named "Telmen Cafe".
A look at the menu was not required to make a guess that the restaurant was insanely costly. The entrance door of the cafe was as tall as the ceiling of a regular cafe, and it looked as royal as the entrance to a palace. The palace type theme continued in the inside as well, even the ones who could afford to have a meal there daily would feel out of place with those extravagant decorations and over the top chandeliers.
They did not order anything, not that they were worried about the cost, but they were too invested in their own problems.
After taking a seat, she continued, "I noticed you yesterday, when I was with my friends yesterday. You overheard our conversation, didn't you, when we were talking about we all being from a different empire and yet appearing for the entrance examinations in Rauda. We know very well that it is not legal to do so, but we have our reasons, you know. We do not plan on spying or anything. We just have no other feasible option."
"I know nothing of this."
...
"Wait what? I am pretty sure it was you! I can't possibly mistaken, can I? Near the Imperial Cock tower around 11 yesterday night! "
"Well I was there surely but I did not hear anything, nor do I remember seeing you before."
"Oh thank God. That just means I was just worrying for nothing."
"No, I am pretty sure you have something to worry about now."
...
"HAAAAAA!"
"Well just assume that I heard everything yesterday and continue with your reason."
"Uaah, let me first digest my blunder. I should have noticed when you showed no signs of bringing that matter up."
"That was some really dumb stuff I witnessed right now."
Looking bluntly depressed Rin just went ahead and explained rest of the details to him. Her usual energetic tone died down, realizing that she just shopped her leg with her own axe.
"So you say that you were aware of the corrupt nature of Troy's government so you did not want to take part in their schools which would eventually force you to work for their army, huh."
"Yeah. That's why we planned to take part in Rauda's entrance examinations."
"What does this explanation have to do with you chasing me?"
"I wanted to request you to not utter this to anyone and in return I would allow you to stay in our place free of cost."
"Okay, I take you up on that offer. Don't dare trick me. Actually, were you purposefully dumb so that I..."
Rin interrupted him before he could finish.
"Can you not remind me of that again? I am not planning to kidnap or ambush you in any way."
With a slightly lowered voice, Rin continues
"We need at least one more person to claim the lodging from the state anyway, so we decided to let you stay rather than a random person as you knew of the secret beforehand... or so we thought."
"Well it's okay now, isn't it? I will protect your secret, and in return you let me stay. Sounds like an even deal."
"Fair enough. Come on then, let's get going."