There was a huge crowd outside a tall tower just a few blocks away from the main palace where the emperor of the Santok Empire lived. In this tall-looking tower, lived around 50 people, most of whom were Apprentice Rank Magi, with just a single Rank 2 Mage.
All those who successfully reached Rank 1 had graduated from the Santok Mage Tower and would generally either become Lone Magi or would join the Santok Empire in some way or another.
On the other hand, all those who remained as an Apprentice for over 6 years were forced to leave the Santok Mage Tower to fend for themselves. Of course, anyone who wanted to would be welcomed by the Santok Empire's armed forces, but they were not sought after like Rank 1 Magi.
This maintained the number of individuals living in the Mage Tower at any particular moment to be restricted to between 50 and 100 people, depending on the number of talented individuals arising each recruitment session.
"Get in line, everyone! Everyone will get their turn with the Testing stone." A youth dressed in a grey cloak was instructing the public, who followed the orders like cattle at a farmhouse.
"Sigh, it has been three hours since I have been waiting in line for my son's testing. Yet I have only moved forward by around 20 spaces. At this rate, it will not be possible to get him tested today." A bearded man in the line sighed as he waddled forward slowly with his son in tow.
"Hey! Why is there a carriage here? And why is it breaking the line? Is it the nobles again? Do they really think their nobility is something to show off at the Santok Mage Tower?" A disgruntled voice spoke out from inside the line.
"Yeah! These nobles just don't seem to ever learn their lesson. Almost 80% of the Mage Apprentices inside are commoners who dislike Nobility. Why would they allow the nobles to trample all over them now that they are in charge?" An enraged person yelled from within the crowd which had yet to line up.
At this moment, a carriage rattled through the cobbled path and headed straight for the entrance of the Santok Mage Tower, ignoring the line and the Apprentice Magi who were ensuring safety and security in the region.
"Shh! Do you want to get yourself killed?" one of the people in the crowd pulled yelling away from sight.
"What is it?" he cursed back.
"Do you not recognise that carriage? It is the carriage of the First Princess; Ms. Rachel Santok!!"
"…" The man who was initially yelling in anger suddenly became the silent man shivering in slight trepidation, and enormous guilt. How could he have cursed at the first princess of all people? If he needed to curse someone, the other royalty were the perfect targets, even if he might get killed for it. However, he most definitely could not curse at Ms. Rachel, not because of any punishment from the Empire's soldiers, but because of the punishment from his own conscious.
The carriage stopped at the entrance and Yu immediately got off and ran to the other side to open the door for the Princess. Rachel got off the carriage in an elegant manner which stunned the watching crowd.
Immediately, the faint squeals of anger were snuffed out as a chant began to wash over from the crowd behind the line.
"Princess Rachel! Princess Rachel! Princess Rachel! Princess Rachel!"
Rachel waves at the crowd for a few seconds before heading inside the Santok Mage Tower, not a single person stopping her along the way.
The tower was built using simple stone, and the gate looked relatively simple as well. The inside of the tower looked just as simple, a complete contrast to the flashy residencies of all the princes and princesses.
The line continued on the inside, and Rachel and Yu just walked alongside it.
"I am the head disciple of the 2nd Batch, Hans. How may I help you, Princess Rachel?" A gentle-faced man around the age of 15 walked up to Rachel and bowed before asking.
"I would like to get him to take the recruitment test, in an unbiased way." The Princess stressed greatly on the latter part since if she wanted to, she could get Yu into the Mage tower with just her connections alone, even if he had zero talent.
However, she did not want this, as not only would she be using up certain important connections, but also create the opportunity for her brothers and especially sisters to intervene with Yu within the Mage tower since he had got in through connections and would not be able to grow any further as a mage.
Instead, if Yu was truly talented, he would be able to grow stronger as a mage, and the possibility of him turning into a Rank 1 mage was there. In such a case, they would rather just avoid Yu instead of pushing him to the point that he was forced to escape, only to come back later as a stronger opponent raring to destroy them.
"Right this way~" the brown-haired Hans bowed once more and he lead the way to the testing stone.
"What is your name? We need to register everyone even if they are unsuccessful. If course, we can do away with these formalities for the princess…" Hans whispered probingly, trying to understand if she truly wanted unbiased testing or was just putting up a front when people were around.
Hans was also a noble, being the third son of a Viscount. However, being the third son, he had no chance to inherit the title and land, so instead, he left for the capital, and 2 and a half years ago stumbled upon the recruitment of the Santok Mage Tower. Somehow, he had quite a bit of talent, and got in, quickly becoming the head disciple due to his rapid progress as well as genial attitude with everyone.
This was why he knew certain things about royalty and nobles and was unsure of how to proceed.
The princess gazed at Hans with a gentle gaze as she could tell he was only trying to make sure he was doing as she wanted and not making a fool of himself or her with a misunderstanding.
"A genuine unbiased test. If he gets in, then well enough. If not, then it is alright as well. It is just that he wished to get tested so as to never doubt his future path." The princess smiles and stopped walking, motioning her hands for Yu and Hans to continue alone.