The warriors and magicians walked around the room in a tussle. Some had hard expressions and others were smiling, the warriors in particular were ecstatic about something.
Few eyed the small boy next to the secretary, most writing him off, but some gave a small nod in his direction.
The woman behind the desk sat up straight and spoke softly, "Please come with me, Lord Thaddeus." And then she stepped lightly around the room as if she was unsure about her place in the matter.
The woman took a small turn and they passed a new corridor that Eddy hadn't seen, 'Magic?'
He shook his head for a moment and they arrived at a large black door that had not been there before.
The secretary knocked thrice and out popped a little old lady with a crackling voice, "How may I help you, young lady."
Sarah leaned in to whisper to the matron and they nodded to each other in silence.
Sarah turned around and introduced Eddy to the old lady, "Lord Thaddeus Blackstone, this is matron Emily of Whitemarsh. She will be assisting you during your selecting."
Eddy was confused, "Ah, thank you, uh..."
She picked up, "Sarah." Then she smiled wonderfully.
Eddy nodded, "Thank you, Sarah, you have been of great help."
He was smiling like a fool but both of the older women could see there was more intelligence behind his eyes than he let on.
The matron grabbed his shirt, "Come, boy. There is much to do." Then she waited for a moment.
As matron Emily pulled him inside, he noticed a band of energy pass from her hand to his clothing and down his body.
'Huh, anti-intruder magic?' Eddy questioned.
He looked around and he could see rows and rows of books open with young women studying, most were young, between 10-14 but some were actually older at around 20-26.
They had black quills in hand, but no inkwells could be found by Eddy. They just wrote and lettering appeared, 'Ah..FUCK, I have to relearn reading, AGAIN!!!'
A scowl ran over his face and some ladies were put off but said nothing and had no reaction.
The matron stopped, "Why the mean look boy?"
Eddy was thinking and answered honestly, "I can't read. I was dreading it, but it must be done."
He was looking out at the sea of women. 'Where are the dudes at? Aren't butlers like...male? That was sexist. Ah shit. I'm canceled in another world.'
She yanked on his shirt, "Boy? What is that look on your face?"
Eddy smiled, "Just curious, about something."
The matron laughed, "Well it better not be about tits. These are dignified women. Most of noble standing of some sort. The lot of them would be cherished in any Kingdom, let alone Empire. These are the best. They are trained harshly and they perform excellently."
Eddy had a weird look on his face, "For the record, I was not thinking about tits." Then he walked past the old woman with a smile.
Eddy noticed there were a lot of these women planting herbs and running numbers with an abacus, 'Magical research assistants? What the hell is this place, Hogwarts?' Then a look of giddy washed over him.
He ran up to an unoccupied abacus and tried to figure it out.
'So, 10 beads for decimal, but 16 and 24 for major numbers?' The number system was strange.
Maybe they used a multiple of 2 variant for larger projects? Eddy wasn't a math wizard, but he knew his way around a Texas Instrument. 'But where does 24 beads come into play? OH, a quick tax system. They used just raw fractions of whatever in the past in our world....but they have magic?'
The matron was watching him add small numbers and was impressed, but he failed to understand the crop yield to failure ratio on the Agricultural abacus.
Eddy eventually placed it back down and noticed the room was vacant.
She looked at him with a smile, "Well, I guess you are nonstandard as a business man. Most would have followed me to have tea. Now, come." She walked off in the direction of a grand archway.
He noticed that many of the girls had beautiful handwriting, it was standard.
As he walked through the archway, he saw many colors. Blue dresses, red, green, and every color in between. Even mixed, black, and white colors could be seen.
The older women were at the back in a huge semicircle around a small stand in the middle of the room, then the tallest and usually the shortest were at the front.
The matron clapped once, "Welcome, Lord Thaddeus Blackstone."
The women repeated, "Welcome Lord Blackstone!"
There had to be over two-thousand girls here.
'This is weird.'
The older woman gestured for him to ascend the tower and he did.
It had tomes at the top, each with an insignia. He placed his hand on the outside and immediately knew which one to pick.
It was like a whisper calling to him, but loudly. It was a yell...the book was yelling at him.
He placed his hands on another book, 'LISTEN HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT. YOU NEED TO PICK SOFIA ARGENT. SHE IS PERFECT FOR YOU, YOU ARE DUMB AND SO IS SHE.'
'Jesus.' He shook his head and continued.
The next one was silent. But it agreed with the first and second.
The fourth tome also agreed.
He searched for her face.
Each tome had imparted a fragment of knowledge, it wasn't much, but it was taking shape. She had a rare gift to remember everything perfectly and could recall it in an instant. However, she was never picked?
"Why wasn't she picked?" Eddy spoke out loud.
The fifth tome responded with a series of burning images.
Sofia Argent was an Heiress of a noble house. It was destroyed. Forcefully. And nobody ever wanted her.
'She is 24 years old. Strong is all subjects, obviously, but she is never competing? She has a Royal debt of 3,000 Crowns. That is a lot of money, but not inconceivable. She is in no active courses.'
Eddy climbed down the stairs. The Tomes were magical, and he actually agreed with them. The sassy one was a moron, but he had intelligent brothers.
Eddy needed knowledge. And there was a girl locked in an Imperial College. And she had a perfect memory.
'She is gonna' be my bestie.' He smiled, thinking about his old friends.
He eyed Sofia for a moment, but she either didn't care or she didn't expect to get chosen...ever.
Eddy walked up to her, she was tall.
He spoke, "How do you make the common metal of the Empire?"
Sofia did not reply, instead the girl next to him did, "My Lord? Um, the iron produced from the mines is-" Eddy interrupted her, "Uh, not you, sorry."
Eddy looked back at the girl on the end.
"So, Sofia. How?"
She blinked, "The common metal in the Empire is a loaded question, incomplete, but I would assume that the young Lord is referring to the most popular sold by Tons. Then the most popular would be the tin and copper utensils that are used by every person in the Empire."
The girl next to him butted in, "That is incorrect, the most popular metal is Iron and then Steel."
Eddy nodded.
"Define. Common." He asked her.
She blustered.
"Sofia is correct." The matron Emily leaned into the conversation. "But, copper and tin are of little importance when compared to Iron, memorization is barely helpful."
Eddy shook his head, "It was the memorization. She qualified my ignorance. How does one know what question to ask in a sea of their own ignorance?" Then he mused, "Perhaps this is the divide between genius and others..."
He waved his hand, "Sofia, would you work for me?"
She winced slightly.
The matron was about to strike her, it was the standard for when she drew attention during a showing.
But the strike never came.
The matron was looking over the shoulder of the boy. Sofia turned to see and noticed...a crown?
"My King!" The women exclaimed and fell to their knees.
The matron, Thaddeus, and High King Jeru were the only ones standing.
"Oh, hey Erickson!" Eddy turned to greet the King with a huge smile.