We all file into the auditorium to take our places as the formal ceremony begins.
To be honest, this ceremony was actually delayed unexpectedly. The actual ceremony was supposed to take place two years ago, after my… tenth birthday.
I sigh when thinking back to that day.
I decide to take a seat in the front, where all those of similar age are seated, and Alice goes to sit with the twins at the back.
I basically settled on a random available seat near the end of the rows because I wasn't exactly sure where to sit.
"Oh my god! You're the fifth prince!" After a short moment, I hear someone's surprised voice from next to me.
I turn to my right to see a young black-haired girl with long bangs that cover her forehead, a short, boyish haircut, and blue highlights at the ends of her hair. She has fair skin and eyes that are dark blue.
She has a small chest that can't quite be highlighted by her black turtleneck sweater she has on. Additionally, she wears black stockings, short-length shorts, and dress shoes.
Damn, she's really cute. I shake my head at the thought.
"Ahem, sorry. My name's Lyra. Lyra Bridgett. Nice to meet you." She grins while holding out her right hand.
"Ah, yes." I reach out my right hand to shake hers, "Raine Knightford, nice to meet you, Lyra."
Her face becomes bright red and she looks away, "Th-thanks. Hey, since you're part of the royal family, you get to pick out two geas', correct?"
She quickly changed the subject out of embarrassment, this must be my 'Goddess' Charm' passive ability at work.
I've experimented with the skill on a variety of individuals and animals over the years. I've come to the conclusion that this is a talent that magnifies my already exceptional charisma to insane proportions, increasing my likelihood of being acknowledged.
Apart from that, I think both men and women like me more because of it.
I feel bad for ignoring people's ability to choose and forcing them to like me right away, but this is nothing new in the world of fiction. The main character is favored by the author's writing and many situations that are created.
In Aaron's instance, the plot allows him to amass a harem of ladies that, realistically, wouldn't exist. I can be as disappointed as I want, but that won't change the fact that this ability will be important to helping me and saving lives.
"Yes, picking two different geas' is one of the perks of being born into royalty."
Members of the royal family are permitted to select two geas, as opposed to typical nobles who only get one.
Cassie made this point very obvious when she just challenged me to a spar a couple years ago. My body, which was unskilled in sword fighting at the time, had very little chance, especially because no magic was permitted.
Even with my combat limited training, I was able to keep up with Cassie when she only had her first geas, a long one-handed sword that negates magic strikes and amplifies the users speed and strength. Then she pulled out her second geas, a dagger with the ability to release force that it absorbs.
Obviously, she won, and I was quite upset by the outcome.
"Rumor has it that you read the entire selection of books in the royal library. That means you read through the books on geas', right?"
I nod.
"That's incredible, if that's the case, do you have any recommendations for my geas?" She smiles while asking and my heart skips a beat for some reason.
I think for a moment before replying, "Well, that depends on your skill set and what you're talented at."
She looks up in thought, placing her index finger on her cheek.
Who was this girl exactly? I ponder for a moment. Did the novel really have people like her as mere background characters? That would be a terrible waste. I've already concluded that she would be deserving of a role in the main cast throughout this conversation.
"Oh, I know!" She finishes thinking and speaks, "I want something long-ranged, but with a trigger. I'm not very strong, so I can't choose a bow or throwables." She briefly had a sad expression and I felt bad.
I give it some thought, mentally searching the geas scrolls for a weapon similar to that before I discovered one.
A geas is a timeless object, therefore it could appear in either an antique or futuristic form. As a result, the author incorporated a variety of contemporary techniques within their book.
"Try asking for 'Auris Verti'. It's a long-range sniper rifle with no bullet drop-off and an infinite magazine filled with magic-piercing rounds capable of going straight through an earth dragon. It has a scope capable of seeing heat sigs, infrared, an-"
"Uh, Raine, it's fine. You don't have to go that deep." My explanation is interrupted by the soft laughter of Lyra, "If you say it's good, I'll use it."
"Oh… alright." I feel my face becoming warm.
What the hell is wrong with me today? Why am I acting like this?
While I struggle with my complex emotions, everyone in the auditorium finally gets seated.
I look around to see that nearly every seat has become filled with nobility about my age. I sit upright as the lights in the auditorium suddenly cut off.
All of a sudden, lights begin to flicker on and shine onto the large stage.
Smoke begins forming and a tall man appears out of nowhere and creates a floating microphone out of thin air. He is sporting black and blue magi robes with golden trim and has a stunning face. His sparkling blue eyes gleaming brightly and his silver hair was pulled back.
A wall of flames appears behind the man as he raises both of his arms.
It's Jacob Knightford, the second prince.
"Alright! Who's ready to be able to do that? Show me some hands!"
The crowd's hands surge up all around me, including Lyra's. I hesitantly extend my hand since I don't want to stick out in this crowd.
Whose idea was it to have Jacob emcee this year's geas ceremony? I'm not exactly complaining, anything that man does will be lit.
"That's the spirit! Okay, you can all put your hands down now." Everyone immediately put their hands down.
Jacob Knightford, who is currently 22 years old and ought to have graduated from Knightford Academy a couple years ago. He is currently the 14th first-class official wizard in the kingdom; the 13th was Karl, who received his diploma last year. Both of them are formidable foes that neither Aaron nor I have a chance of defeating at this time. But I wonder if Mitchell could defeat them.
The fire is extinguished with a flick of his wrist. He raises his right palm, and a large wall sprouts from the ground.
This feels oddly familiar.
I noticed Lyra as I turned to gaze to my right. She appeared to be in a daze as she watched the show in complete admiration.
I momentarily allow a smile to escape onto my mouth but immediately catchit. I quickly turned my head away before catching Jacobs' eye. I turned my head away from him as he grins at me.
I look around the room in search of something to divert my attention from the circumstance. I then spot four notable people seated side by side. Two blondes and two people with green hair.
Holy shit, did they just skip a hundred chapters of their character growth?
"For our first ten individuals to receive their geas! They will be the chosen out of the most remarkable youths of this year!"
He waves his hand once more and a hologram-like projection with a list of names appears. From there, he proceeds to call out the names.
"Nathan Kingsley!"
Nathan rises to his feet and makes his way through the crowd toward the stage. While moving, he waves to the cheering audience.
"Nerah Kingsley!"
Nerah, who was sitting right next to Nathan, stands up at almost the exact same time as him. She keeps her head down during the walk.
"Reginald Leviathan!"
A demon boy with purple hair and a formal black and purple suit rises and makes his way through the crowd. In the novel, he was known as 'The Lilac Blur', a skilled user of twin hook swords.
Stella Leviathan's entire extended family was given special privileges for battling the other demons, hence why he is living here as nobility.
In an instant, he races to the stage, leaving a purple trail and afterimages of himself in his wake.
"Jackson Crawford!"
The son of Arthur Crawford, the second most powerful magic used on the continent. He has a standard brown head of hair and a dark robe. He has great potential as a mage and is also a long-time friend of Reginald.
He, as the basic bitch that he is, just walks normally onto the stage.
"Tessa Alariea"
A minor disturbance was caused when a girl with short red hair nonchalantly leaped over the crowd.
She is wearing casual clothing, consisting of a red jacket, shirt, and shorts. She had been a commoner like Liara, however, a noble house without an heir had taken her in. For her position, she must have put in a lot of effort.
Another member of Aaron's pointless harem as well. She was your typical 'fiery hot headed' red haired character. Kind of pushy and a little tsun, which reminds me of a character from a show I used to watch…
She approached the stage with a confident strut.
"Sylvia Goldenwind!"
A girl with short white hair rises from her seat. As with most women from the Duke's household, she has a cold, distant expression.
She is the second daughter of the Duke and this kingdom's very own ice princess. She becomes known as the Goddess of Ice in the future, rising to Aaron's first rank. Aside from that, she was formerly Raine's love interest, but her love was rejected.
I don't plan on following in those footsteps.
Thankfully, due to the nature of both our families, we've had the chance to meet on many occasions and her opinion of me should already be high.
She moves quickly and exuded complete power as she did so.
As she is walking, she spots me and waves with a small smile, and I return the cute gesture.
Nyx Aurora!"
A petite, boyish looking girl with short, lavender hair and long pointed ears stands up from her seat. She had been donning a black long sleeve top with a cutout in one of the armholes. Additionally, she wore shorts and knee-length sandals.
The child of the Elven King, also here as a representative of her race. While the elves were not officially acknowledged as part of the demon race, unfortunately, some people see it that way. She was a minor member of Aaron's harem who was frequently undervalued and underdeveloped throughout the book.
She left the novel halfway through to return to her kingdom, but she died during an invasion that destroyed her home country's forest and birthplace.
She moves toward the stage in a timid manner.
"Lyra Bridgett!"
Lyra was next up on the list, she stands up and awkwardly scoots past me with a little smirk causing me to look away in embarrassment.
She tosses a coin-shaped item at the stage. She disappeared and reappeared with her hand atop of where the quarter had fallen. She was standing on her hand and did a backflip into her position.
"Next up, my very own younger brother and fifth prince of the kingdom, Raine Knightford!"
I get up from my seat with complete assurance.
I decide to put on a little show as I wave at the lively audience. I left my seat and teleport to different spots all around the auditorium.
I appear in front of several different girls and use earth magic to create them flowers.
I finish up and teleport over to Lyra on stage before taking a bow to wrap up my performance.
Even more applause erupts from the crowd.
"What a show off." Lyra turns to me with a chuckle and I return a smile.
"And finally!" Jacob stops the applause with just one sentence, "last but certainly not least, Aaron Leonhart!"
Few people in the crowd were clapping. Only his butler and his mother's applauding could be heard when I turned to look around the room. His father was nowhere to be found.
Story of my past life.
I sigh as Aaron stands up. The audience as a whole becomes silent as, with each step he takes through the crowd, a tremendous amount of pressure is released.
The pressure of what he's releasing was palpable to me and the other ten people on stage. This person has already advanced past second-class and was now a first-class mage.
I think about releasing a bit of my own pressure to counteract his own, but it seems he takes notice of the audience and lowers it considerably. The crowd all exhale in relief as he finally takes his place beside Nerah on stage.
"Alrighty then! Now that that's out of the way, it's time to open the gate!"
He waves his hand once more and the wall he had erected previously morphes into a gate and opens. It reveals the inside, which is a giant black empty space with ten podiums within it.
"You ten shall enter at once and make your way to a podium. Once you enter, your aura will immediately be unlocked. You shall search through thousands of different geas' and pick out the one that is right for you! Time inside flows differently than out here, so take as much time as you need."
He finishes speaking and gets ready to allow us in, but then speaks to us without the microphone, "When each and every one of you has exited, make sure to stay in the auditorium, as I have something special for you all."
Hmm? I never heard about this in the novel, but oh well, must be Mitchell's meddling. I and the other nine stepped into the time chamber simultaneously, ready to pick.