The Duke house of city of Basilicia, Kingdom Thievens
This was the beautiful city of Basilicia, one of the biggest cities in the demon territory after capital Thiva. One could say it is the second capital of the kingdom too, and as magnificent the city is, even the renowned duke is talked about a lot.
The famous Duke belongs to the Amaymon Family. The family is one of the wealthiest and strongest, both in status and man-power, and has been since the end of the Great War. It has been given the province of Eretria, where the city of Basilicia stands strong. The specialty of the Amaymon family is their beautiful silver white hair.
"Look at that child, such a weakling"
"Is he really the son of the duke?"
"He doesn't even look like them"
Though the Amaymon family has been offering strong members down, one day, the 5th son was born.
But he was weak, fragile, and only his white hair told the story of his origin. Not only did the citizens of the city question him, he was constantly suppressed within the family too, by his own parents and siblings.
"We don't need a weakling like him in our family; he will only bring shame upon us."
At the age of only 3, he was sent off in a wagon, far away, to a smaller family of some baron. The family of the baron were not wealthy or strong, and almost no one knew about them, but they accepted the child as their own with open arms. His name was changed, and he became Gen Gueson.
Though at first Gen was weak and fragile, he had developed immense potential for magical aptitude over the coming years, which his previous parents overlooked. He trained every day, every hour, and whenever he had the time to rest, he would train using his magical power. His new parents were not wealthy, but they did everything to support their new son with what little they had.
At the age of just 8 he had enough magical aptitude and mana capacity to rival an apprentice mage from the Sorcery Theocracy of Thiva. At the age of 11 he was held the 2nd rank in the youngest magiscus event, in which children from the age group of 10-13 from around the whole kingdom participate to compete in magical aptitude tests and duels.
Even after these many accomplishments, he was not appreciated simply because his previous parents from the famous duke family didn't want him to be successful, as it would be too humiliating for them. But no strong individual is ever unseen by the Thieven's Sins High school, and therefore at the age of 17, he was given permission to enter the prestigious school.
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Part II
The auditorium's huge double door was kicked opened, and the figure behind the doors made the whole room dead silent.
"Ah I see, so that's why you are here"
Aliana said that after she noticed the person who barged in.
"Everyone, the orb is malfunctioning; I believe most of the students have received their houses, you all can leave now alright?"
It was Miss Eveline Flauros, the head of medical department of the school. She looked as if she ran all the way to here, and with her order, everyone except Layn and Aliana left, even the other three council students left.
"Miss Flauros, fancy seeing you here. Is there something wrong with this orb?"
Aliana casually asks Flauros about the orb, but it was clear that she meant to know about the whole situation of Layn.
"Sigh... there is no point in keeping it a secret from you, sooner or later you would discover the half-truth and fall into weird suspicions."
Layn was just standing there with both of them, quietly like a mannequin, while Flauros started to explain Layn's situation.
"This kid's case is pretty strange and interesting, he shows magical energy such that I have never seen or even heard of... to be honest, I'm myself not quite sure what is up with him"
"A strange case you say. Hmm, as the vice-president of the student council, I must monitor and research him thoroughly."
Layn felt a cold shiver down his spine when Aliana made that comment while staring at him. He had many thoughts going on inside his head "research? Monitor? Am I going to be a lab rat?!" like thoughts.
"Calm down kiddo, we definitely won't harm you, for all we know; you might even be one of the sin holders"
The Sin Holders, a term that was made up 3 centuries ago during the establishment of this school. Every 100 years after the Great War it is said that one of the true demon lords/generals will be awakened into this world. According to the myth, there are 7 demon lords, each of the corresponding 7 sins. This school was primarily made to find, or awaken this great power. But it has been almost 300 years, and only a single demon lord was awakened, who is actually the current ruler of the Demon Continent.
So in other words, the sin holders are the 7 strongest or capable individual from each house who could acquire the awakening.
"Also Aliana, I know this is a given, but this must be kept as an absolute secret. No one should know about this okay?"
"Of course, who do you take me for? But-"
Aliana replies with a cold look
"There is no way I'm not going to tell this to our president."
"Yeah I know that, in fact he should know, but-"
Miss Flauros then replies with her own deadly look
"You do know what would happen if you oppose the Head Master right?"
With that reply even Aliana had sweat running down her cheeks. Both of them were giving out deadly aura, the atmosphere felt impactfully heavy and it looked like they could start fighting to death at any moment
"Haha you both seem to be really close"
Layn tries to break this atmosphere by interfering and laughing. Though they were annoyed by his casual attitude, they knew this was for the better good. And then, when things seemed to have settled down a bit-
"By the way, what is that symbolic diagram on his hand? You do know about it right-"
Flauros stopped her question with her eyes. Just by her look Aliana could tell this was not to be discussed here.
Layn for a moment narrowed his eyes towards them both, out of instinct or not, he himself wanted to know about this symbol.
"Anyway, for now we have to assign Layn a house... what do you think Layn? Which house would you like to go?"
"I... I would like to go to-"
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Class I-A
The classroom was huge, luxurious, and gave out an expensive aura. It looked like a king's room and Layn, who was from the country side, was in awe. He was amazed by every single detail in the room, furniture, windows, curtains, the marble floor; the whole room seemed to be designed over 3 colors of blue, yellow and purple. There were three flags behind the class with three different sigils, each having different colors.
"This place is amazing! I never imagined going to school would be like this!"
Layn couldn't hold his amazement inside and spilled out his thoughts while entering the room. There were 12 students in the room including Layn and Gen, and it was quite noisy as everyone started to exchange words.
"hmph, this is to be expected, any lower standards than this and I would have never accepted this as the prestigious Thievens Sins High school."
Gen entered right after Layn and gave his own thoughts while looking around the room for something. But as soon as Gen came, the whole atmosphere changed. The room fell silent, everybody's eyes went towards Gen. Layn was just besides Gen and he felt that this situation wasn't good, they glared at him with ill intent. And just before things could get any worse, someone entered the room-
"Alright everyone sit down, find a seat. I'm pretty sure this room is big enough to fit 4 times your numbers."
It was Miss Evelyn Flauros.
There were 3 sections of long seats with 5 rows increasing in height from the 1st row to last. Layn and Gen took seats in the middle section, Layn sat in the first row and Gen, behind him.
"I am your class teacher, Evelyn Flauros, feel free to call me miss Flauros. Now I will head straight to the importance of this session."
Indeed, this year's session will be different since there are very few students who passed.
"First of all, there are only 2 Classrooms. That means you have to compete only against one class."
That is good news. Since there is only one other class besides them, they can concentrate on overcoming only that other class though naturally, it won't be easy.
"Now I will explain to you how the 2 classes have been divided. Your class, 1-A, will have 3 houses merged together, Pride, Gluttony and Sloth."
Everyone in the class started to whisper to each other. Layn noticed this but didn't give it a second thought.
"Hmm, I knew it. They somehow had to divide this small number of participants. This has its own merits and flaws though."
Gen who was just behind Layn said that. Though Layn was not sure who he was talking to, he still wanted to ask Gen about what he meant. But-
"The other class is divided into the 4 remaining houses, Wrath, Envy, Lust and Greed. Now before you start to question me as to why they have more houses, it doesn't matter since both classes have almost the same strength."
There were 12 students in this class, so that means 13 students in the other class. But what did Miss Flauros mean by almost same strength? Was it in terms of power or number? Layn had these thoughts, and Gen was also murmuring something to himself.
"Anyways, the houses of each class are in alliance with each other. Meaning, The houses of Pride, Gluttony and Sloth are in an alliance, against the other 4 houses."
Looking around the class, Gen says something behind Layn
"Hmm, it seems there are 3 from the house of Pride including me, while 5 from Sloth and 4 from Gluttony."
Layn is still not sure whether Gen is talking to himself or to him.
But Layn does not favor this division, not only does the rival class have another house, but they have one more student than us. But does a single more student really make a difference?
"Alright everyone quiet down. Since I am your teacher, your loss is my loss. I can assure you that we are not at a disadvantage; after all, we have some great individuals here"
Miss Flauros states that last statement while looking at Gen, and everyone in the class whispers in agreement. But then Layn raises his hand and asks-
"Uhm, Miss Flauros, what do you mean by losing and winning against the other class? How do we compete?"
Miss Flauros smiles after hearing the question.
"Well, to answer your question-"