"Name?"
"Lily Merlin"
"How old are you?"
"17"
"Date of birth?"
"May 15th, 907 PD."
"Any complications with your health? Blindness, deafness, or episodes of insanity."
"No."
"Gender?"
"Female."
"Occupation?"
"Princess of the Merlin Kingdom."
"Is this a visit planned by the king or is this a formal application?"
"This is a formal application. I, Princess Lily, wish to obtain a Hunter Pass."
The interviewer leaned back in his chair sighing, "Well, this concludes the confirmation stage of your application. Your first task as a hunter is to-"
Before he could continue with his sentence, the princess dropped a heavy bag full of gold onto his desk. The sound of coins clinking echoed throughout the empty room. He looked up at her with a brow raised, "What," she asked. "Am I going to have to count this, or..." She rolled her eyes, "I'll count it."
"Oh, no no Princess. Let me count it. I can't have our glorious politician doing my work."
"Glorious? Don't flatter me," she said blushing.
"Anyway, this money needs to be processed by the Guild. Most people who pay up front aren't usually the fighting type, are you going to actually be safe out there?"
"Why of course. Who else is going to make sure your son doesn't become a hunter."
They both chuckled.
"Thank you again for getting your father to approve of that law, but I already see another issue with the system."
"What happened?"
"A day ago, a slave submitted an application."
"That's fine, I'll just emancipate them."
"That's not the only thing. They came from the Truman Farm. A guy by the name of Allen Z. Truman. Real charmer, freaky eyes."
"I feel like I've heard of him before. If he's from the Truman Farm it means that he's off limits on emancipating."
"Bingo. The kid seemed very lost to me. I've seen a lot of hunters in my days, but he just seems, I'm not sure. Off? I wonder if he hunted that zebear."
"You accepted his application?" Lily exclaimed as she slammed her hands on the desk and stood up coming eye to eye with the interviewer.
"Listen, Princess," his condescending voice boomed throughout the empty room they sat in. "Do you honestly believe that I would jeopardize my career as an interviewer just to satisfy my personal wants? I am not the villain for this. If anything you need to go back to that damned castle of yours and demand for more change; or will it take another 3 years just to get a single new law passed?"
Lily fell back down onto the three legged stool. She sat there in silence as thoughts sloppily raced through her mind. "I'm sorry Princess for my language, but down here this is where hunters, no humans, are grounded in. Out there Princess, you can die. There is no knight that can save you. No king to help enforce new laws on people that bother you. It's just you and the beast that is trying to defend themselves."
Silence rose between them as Lily could not keep eye contact with the man in front of her. She averted them any chance she got, and took a glance every other chance.
"Princess, do you still want to become a hunter?"
"Yes, I do."
the interviewer leaned in, "Why?"
On the 15th day of the 5th month on the 907th year after the first dragon was slain by a hunter. Lily Merlin was born. Her father was a successful man in life. As a little prince he was trained to be a knight by his father and older brothers. However at the age of 13, he applied to be a hunter. He was a hunter up until he turned 18, where he returned back to claim the throne. His brothers died a mysterious death. From there he ruled the kingdom with a fresh and young take on politics, which lead to the kingdom becoming a leading powerhouse in the world. He also became the first Merlin King to have multiple wives. Not much is known about Lily's mother.
Some say she was a highly capable witch and charmed the king. Others say she was but a simple peasant that caught the young king's eye. Some even believe she was a childhood friend to the king. Wherever she hailed from wasn't important to the ears of the people. For she is only known as Merlin's concubine. The people saw her behind Queen Merlin when the king gave speeches and addresses.
Behind her was Lily, King Merlin's 6th child and 3rd daughter. She has in total 8 other siblings from 3 different moms including her own. Her only full biological sibling is her older sister, a witch by the name of Irene Merlin.
Irene is an exceptional witch, she was the second youngest witch in training in Merlin history to have performed a teleportation spell. The youngest being a witch in training with a last name that starts with z. Lily was inspired by Irene's proficiency in magic and her deteriorating determination of self improvement. Irene would frequently confine herself to Lily despite being 6 years older than her and with more responsibilities than she could ever imagine.
"Lily! These witches are bitches," Irene would exaggerate her body movements as she would start her usual venting session. Her expression was familiar to Lily, but it failed to grow stale to her. She laughed every single time.
"Stop laughing," Irene said pitching her voice up, "You gatta understand this shit. The way these bitches talk. Augh. Upsets me." Irene would begin her charade pacing around the girl's shared room. She put her arm behind her back as though she was a professor, then she used her other arm to point her finger at Lily. She wagged her finger as she pitched her voice down, "Mana application is for mathematicians. Magic is for literary scholars." She changed her voice again as she hopped into the air and shook her butt, "You need to read to use magic. You need to use math to apply mana. If you can't even perform basic arithmetic, what are you doing wielding magic."
Irene would laugh as she hopped over to Lily who sat at her bed, keeping eye contact with her as she performed. "Lily! Why do I need to memorize a multiplication table to throw fire at someone. Like can I just block a fireball by just reciting." She gestured Lily to pretend to throw a fireball at her. Lily would climb onto her bed, and pretend to use whatever magic Irene asked her to use. Lily would chant, "blah, blah, blah, Fireball!" Lily would put her hands forward as though she shot something out of them. Irene would put her hand up as though she had brought up a shield and chant, "2 times 2 equal 4! 4 squared is 16! Ha! You can't stop me."
They would both explode into laughter after the whole charade ends and each time Lily would say, "I can't wait until I can become a witch." Irene would usually just laugh it off saying something along the lines of, "You're just too young."
However one day, just a few days after Lily's tenth birthday, and 2 months before Irene's 16th birthday. Irene changed her answer, "Why wait? I'll teach you something about being a witch tomorrow."
"Really!"
"Yes, really. Wanna learn some magic?"
"Oh my god, thank you, thank you thank you," Lily squealed as she dreamt of all the things she could do as a witch. She could teleport, float, have a personal fan, heater, and many more quality of life spells. She could hardly hold back her excitement the next day, as she waited in the courtyard of the castle for Irene to get back from witch training. Irene only had a few minor lessons to attend before she officially graduated to being a witch. Lily's mother had yet to enroll her into the witch program.
Her reasoning couldn't reach the ears of the people, as many criticized her for impeding the development of a Merlin child. Even Lily protested against her mother's actions, but deep down she knew something that she wouldn't realize until she got older. "Listen here Lily dear, for I will not tell you this again. As long as the natural color of your hair is purple. The color that marks you as a Merlin. I will protect you from this cruel world."
Lily's mother told her that on her tenth birthday. It was the first and last time her words would reach the ears of the people. She would ponder on her mother's words for years to come, but the first instance of her understanding them came when Irene returned home. Her long beautiful purple hair was messy, her purple eyes were like an endless void staring back at you. This was the first time Lily had ever seen Irene like this. It frightened her.
"W-Welcome back Irene," Lily said as Irene walked past her sitting on a bench in the courtyard. Just after passing her, she would stop, "Yeah."
"Irene how was your lessons today?"
"Does it matter?"
Lily attempted to say something, but the words couldn't find their way to her mouth. They jumbled up inside her brain, as she confined in herself. Irene turned around, and looked down on the young Lily who felt the overwhelming presence of Irene. She avoided eye contact as much as possible, the air around them was suffocating. "Do you still wanna become a witch?"
Lily glanced up at her, and saw an endless mist of misery and regret within the eyes of Irene. "Y-yes."
"Great, I'll tell you everything that you'll have to go through. So your timid ass can understand just how deep this shit goes." Irene lifted the sleeves of her dark blue bedazzled dress, Lily hesitated at first but took a look. "The very basics of magic spells. The enchantment of words. Be it your own words, or that on parchment or any other writable surface. Applying mana to those words give life to spells, curses, and blessings."
Tears fell onto the carved words embedded into the skin of her arm like a splash of oil into water. "With this curse," Lily looked up toward Irene, whose face was drenched with sweat and tears. The mist was weeping away the little light it had. "I've become nothing but a dog to the coven. I'm supposed to be a princess right? So why have I become the slave?"
Lily choked on her words as Irene wiped her tears away. From that day forward, Irene stopped talking to Lily. While Lily became more political, Irene left to join the coven once she turned 16. Not a single child of Merlin saw her again. The profits she would earn for herself from the activities she did as a witch were sent to a peasant friend she and Lily made when they were children. It is also where Lily was able to obtain 10,000 gold.
So to answer why she decided to become a hunter, she held her hand tightly as she locked her eyes to the interviewer's. "Why? This world is cruel and some individuals' words cannot reach the ears of the people. I am one of them. I will not succeed my father, I am destined to become a slave. Either through becoming a witch or being forced to marry some prince from a neighboring kingdom. Why not become a hunter? My father did it even when it went against the words of his own father. I can do the same and be my own person."
"Great answer Princess," the interviewer said, "I'm sure you will become a great person. You may leave now and wait in the lobby. It may take up to a few hours, but your application will be reviewed and your hunter pass will be given out to you. Thank you for applying, and happy hunting."
Lily rose from the stool, smiling, "thank you." She walked away from the desk, and open the door that led out of the empty room. Once she opened the door, the interviewer yelled, "Next," the next hunter wannabe in line sighed with relief, "Finally." He quickly walked up the door, as he noticed the short purple hair of an unhooded Lily Merlin. He took a step back, "Oh my goodness. I'm sorry for not noticing you earlier princess!"
As the word "princess" left his mouth, all the hunter wannabes waiting in line, turned their attention to the front of the line. Her eyes were like a lighthouse, the glistening purple captivated everyone in the line, man and woman. The first hunter wannabe to take notice of her, bowed before her, "Please forgive me princess." The rest of the line followed, bowing before her and almost in unison welcomed her with utmost respect.
Lily tapped the shoulder of the hunter wannabe in front of her, "Raise your head," she then looked towards everyone, "everyone raise your heads!" All the hunter wannabes raised their heads slowly, as whispers erupted among them.
"What is a princess doing here of all places?"
"Is this some kind of inspection?"
"She wouldn't become a hunter would she?"
"She seems too weak to become a hunter."
"Too sheltered honestly."
The whispers overwhelmed her for a moment, she brought her head down. She mumbled something at first, but lifted her head shortly after. "You hunters," she yelled, "I am but a simple hunter like the lot of you. Please, you don't have to bow before me anymore." The hunter wannabes were speechless as she walked away from the line and toward the lobby of the Hunter's Guild.
Once she left, her words spread like wildfire.
"Your majesty! Your majesty!" King Merlin sat on his throne as he ate a block of cheese and bread, "Hm? What is it Matthew." Matthew was the King's advisor and best friend from his knight days. He also joined the King in his ventures as a hunter. "Sire, your daughter has become a hunter."
"Which one?"
"Uhh, Lily sire."
"Is that the timid one?"
"Yes, sire," Matthew said sighing.
The King crushed his block of cheese, as veins appeared on his forehead. He slammed his fist into the arms of his throne, "Damn her! First she sends one of my beautiful daughters to the coven and now she lets another become a hunter. Is she trying to sabotage me?"
"Your highness, what are you thinking right now."
"Divorce."
"You know you can't divorce her. The princes of the Xyoinia already agreed to marrying one of her daughters."
"Well then, advise me on what I should do."
"Simply bring her back, convince her to retire early."
The king laughed, "A child is bound to listen to their father. Give an order out to the knights," he got up from his throne and began walking down the steps that led up to it, "Tell them to bring my daughter, Lily, back to me."