"Named yourself?" the witch laughed. "How could someone name himself?"
"Happens when that someone's parents runoff, quite the popular phenomenon if you ask me," Nier said, with an unconcerned tone.
"Poor you,"
The witch's curiosity rose levels along with her eyebrows, as she flicked her wand, heaving a book out of the desk's drawer.
She grabbed the book, opened it, and then looked back at Nier with eyes as subtle and as dark as caverns.
"This a Cognosco, a well-known book to identify stray wizards," she said. "I will be needing your blood little one,"
She waved her wand again, as a little sharp feather wafted all the way to Nier's hand.
Nier willingly unwrapped his palm, he also was very interested in knowing his parent's names, it might even help him get some clues about the grade 6 curse inflictor.
The feather punctured Nier's finger, as a drop of blood surfaced above the skin, Nier saw the witch, direct his finger toward the book, stamping it, right in the middle.
The book page sucked the blood dry, making a 3-dimensional miniature whirlpool sink deep into the page.
After 3 seconds, the whirlpool stopped spinning, as the page bitterly coughed out the drop of blood, making funny twitchy motions as if it's cursing the witch for feeding it such corrupted blood.
The witch saw the drop trickle down along the now stone-hard mirrored page, as it plopped on the ground.
She was dumbfounded, even though the book was only a copy of the original one, to this day it has never failed to identify a wizard or a witch.
The witch uttered, "That's... Weird," which Nier regarded as the second time she recited the same exact sentence.
"What's so weird?" Nier interjected.
"The book rejected your blood—I have never seen that happen before," The woman said, looking baffled.
"I have been eating rat meat since I can remember myself, maybe my blood turned to that of a rat," Nier said sarcastically.
The women dismissed his words as simple child reasoning.
"Do you remember anything about your family?" the woman said, surprisingly showing some concern.
It simply did not sit well in her brain, how could a healthy magical boy even if he was possibly a bastard child be thrown in the streets, the wizardkin was as proud and as scarce as dragons, nobody would shun such a future asset in this manner, especially since the number of unmagical children born in ancient wizarding families has taken a huge leap this last few centuries.
Nier waved his head in denial, still hearing the White wand's loud howls loudly buzz inside his ears.
At that moment, a million assumptions have been triggered inside the witch's mind, as she asked, "How come you did not seek help?"
Sob*
Nier of course could not and would not tell her that he had just arrived in this world about 3 hours ago, so he took the route of feigning complete ignorance.
"The streets have taught me one thing and one thing only, never trust a witch nor a wizard, particularly from Margon alley,"
Sob*
The witch unexpectedly laughed, "The streets have indeed taught you well," she looked beyond the door onto the now packed alley, "this place serves no righteous wizard,"
"What did you come here for then?" she put down the book on the table and crossed her hands.
Nier oversaw this question all along, as he summoned all the naivete this body allowed him to showcase, explaining, "I wanted to try doing magic before the town's hags turn my body to a brewing cauldron,"
The black-cloaked witch again burst out laughing, though, her curiosity hadn't ebbed down yet.
"Go ahead then," She said, "I'll allow you to break the rule today,"
Nier felt the sinister aura shrouded by her sweet voice. "You sure I won't need to sell my soul?"
"Tempting, but I'm not the kind of witch that dabbles with souls"
Sob*
Nier hid his surprise, moving straight towards the weeping blanched wand.
Sob*
"Alright shut the fuck up, Daddy came to pick you up," Nier muttered to the irksome wand.
"Did you say something?" the witch said.
"Not at all"
She watched him with an amused face, go for the most withered wand in the shop, this wand has been treated by every customer as if it's completely invisible, it all started from her grand grandfather failing to sell the wand, then the wand was entrusted to her grandmother, then her father, and now was her turn to try and sell the wand.
None of her family knew of what material the wand was made, all that her father had said to her is that the wand fends off any suitor. And as every wizard would know, the wands choose their holders, not the way around.
Nier yanked the wand off its barren forgotten throne, brandishing it in his right hand.
Before long, the boy's veins grew alight, beginning from the hand tightly grasping the wand, and plummeting down until the base of his feet.
On the other side, the white wand was exhilarated, it had toured numerous lands, experienced different eras, overweeningly vetoed the filthy hands of semi-decent talented wizards and witches, yet never once sensed such foreboding hunch of future glory which all came in the hands of a little street brat.
And so it condescended to cry and weep for the kid to take it, which evidently worked.
Therefore, the wand proceeded to trigger something somnolent inside him.
The witch has felt the air wildly shifting around her, as the white bark of the wand started to splinter, shedding the whiteness away, and replacing it with a jet black crust, chained by 3 serpentine red streaks.
"Did the wand just accept him?" she grumbled, retracting back from the blinding light.
[Magical power detected]
[Wizard grade 0 achieved]
[Quest 1 completed]
[15 points rewarded]
Nier felt as if he could grow wings and soar to the sky.
"I feel it now, the magical power is streaming inside my body!" Nier thought.
Nier was empowered by boldness, as he decided to try and cast a spell, "Uhum, Let's see. What was the word again?"
Nier concentrated on the power roaming his body, trying to direct it towards the wand.
"If it works it works,"
He looked one last time at his wand, as he flicked it, reciting: "Cappio."
The witch felt something band her wrists together, although the force applied was only equivalent to a thin elastic string.
[Grade 1 spell have been learned]
[Mastery: 70%]
"Yeet," Nier said, sprinting out of the door as fast as his short legs can take him.
The witch observed the kid run for the door, still astounded by the fact that her own spell has been used on her.
Still, under Nier's spell, she clicked her fingers, igniting a concealed barrier shielding the entrance.
The barrier would not let any wizard cross over unless he possessed and mastered a grade 4 obviating spell.
Nier heard the click and noticed something like a thin sheet of paper slightly flicker in the entrance just a second before it looked again entirely the same.
Nier reached the entrance, tried to trespass outside, but the barrier was as unshakable and as hard as a bolder made of Diamond.
"Where are you going so soon," The witch lightly said, her hands already free and ready to cast a spell.
"Shit," Nier thought, turning around.
"I can explain,"
"As I said earlier a wizard holding a wand should not be trusted, it's the norm in Mortemhill remember"
"So you saying your actions should be applauded?" the witch said, glancing the boy up and down.
"Did this kid just cast a grade one spell on the first try?" she secretly thought.
"Exactly!"
The witch sighed, Nier could tell she did not practice the dark arts as most of Morgan's alley witches did, although he was sure that she must have killed a lot of people. Perhaps that's why he's trying so hard to impress her.
Nier then bowed, "I don't have a home to come back to, nor money to pay for this wand, and so I will pay with my labor,"
"Labor?" the witch uttered, perplexed.
"Yes, for the sake of Marlock shadow please take me as an apprentice," he said, stooping his head lower.
A quiet tense moment ran between the two of them before the witch sighed, waving her hand in dismissal, "Very good,"
Without much negotiation, she walked up to Nier, handed him a broom, told him to sweep the floor as clean as a polished goblet before noon, or he would have to face the utmost severe punishment.
Nier saw her go back to the cabin, as he hurried to add, "Wait, you did not teach me how to bewitch a broom!"
The witch ignored him and kept striding to the office.
"Can I sleep here from now on?" Nier shouted, in a pleading tone.
The witch groaned which meant she agreed to his request.
"What about food? I don't think a dignified lady such as yourself would let her apprentice eat rats for dinner," Nier tried to fix all his crises in one day, hurling request after request.
The witch already settled down in her office, grumbling in a severe voice, "My name is Eleanor, for you, it's 'lady' Eleanor, now hurry and sweep before my patience runoff,"
Nier did not dare to talk again, as he immediately began his task.