The next few days, Ludwig spent them recuperating his body. Although the healer had healed him plenty, he was still hurt from the fight, maybe it was shadow pain. But he also needed to adjust to the new body, so it was a perfect reason to not do anything the next few days.
The third day after the fight, he was finally taken towards the steward trainee palace. Apparently, all trainee stewards had been chosen: fifteen in total. That number was shockingly few, as Ludwig remembered how there were hundreds of orphans that had come with him to participate in the exam – it seemed to him that the death rate was really as high as rumoured. But it was also good that from now on, besides very special circumstances, not one of them would die.
It wasn't sure whether they would become stewards – no, that was another case. They might be seen as failures of this path and have to switch to become a different servant of the clan, or they might wait for a long time because of a lack of volunteers.
Yes, the teenagers that were opening branches were volunteers. Of course, they still had to go through many tests to see their eligibility, as every child of the clan would have to attend mandatory classes in the ancestral home. But only the top few would be chosen of each batch, they would then get the option of becoming a new branch or staying at the main clan and develop under the care of them.
In truth, the second option might sound much better – but the competition under the clan was fierce. No one could ensure their benefit inside the clan, and only one pause might push you back many steps. This was why, although it was theoretically a better option, some young men with confidence would rather go outside, hunt monsters and build their own branch, fighting for their own benefits on a greater level.
...
In front of a large hall, the plate at the entrance read 'Steward Hall' – Ludwig and fourteen other young children stood in front of the home. Nine were males while six were females: the Stardust didn't care about the gender of their stewards; the numerical difference was only because women had a lower rate of becoming orphans. The reasons weren't pleasant to hear.
Led by an elderly person, Ludwig and the others entered the hall. It was large, huge even. If he didn't know better, he'd have guessed that this was a royal court of sorts. The lack of a large throne made it obvious that this wasn't a court. Still, there was a podium in the far end of the room. The fifteen children were led inside till they were just ten metres in front of it.
Behind the podium stood another elderly man, he smiled and looked like the grandpa from next door, but everyone seemed tense and respectful around the man. After a quick overview of the memories, he received, as he didn't integrate him and they more like an index of sorts, he found out that this was actually the Grand Elder of the Stardust clan.
Every branch had the option of sending an elder that represented them in the ancestral home, most often it was the steward of the branch, and this position was more like a retirement, as other representatives would still follow and the elder had minimal work.
This didn't mean that there were no elders besides the stewards – anyone starting from a certain strength could be nominated if they were from the family, the stewards becoming elders were truly the only possibility for non-family members to become elders. There were of course exceptions, such as the Hall Leaders and their vices, but there were limited halls and each one had only three elder positions, which was also only temporary and bound to their role.
In essence, these elders were called by their title instead of 'elder', they weren't looked down upon, but they were truly only elders while they worked for the clan – it is to be noted that many of those positions are also kept by family members and not outsiders.
The highest role of the elders was the grand elder that reined over all the elders and had a lot of authority inside of the clan, this position was always held by a steward of the family, never a family member, as it was one of the assurances the Stardust family gave their servants. It stood as highest authority together with the clan head.
The grand elder looked at the respectful new stewards that just arrived in and he smiled as he said "Welcome, from today on, this shall be your new home for the next years, or maybe forever. From today onwards, you are officially trainee stewards of the stardust family and are allowed to enjoy the honour and privilege that comes with it. I shall only warn you on this matter: bring no harm towards the family and strife for its greatness, for it befalls also upon you to."
The grand elder then looked at each of them and asked them "What is your name?"
Naming oneself was more difficult for others while some had it easier. In this case, all present trainee stewards were decisive and quickly called out their name. When it was Ludwigs's turn, he said calmly Ludovicus de Anima Occulta, it confused the ones around him, their names were all shorter and… in Ludwig's words, they were simply Chinese while his was Latin.
His last name wasn't like the one before, he didn't care about it. No, his new name took the origin of his name, Ludovicus and added 'Anima Occulta', which meant 'Hidden Soul', theoretically Occulta meant Hidden and Anima meant Soul, so it should be the other way, but Latin had many difficult rules and Ludwig didn't care about being exactly on point here.
The full name meant Ludwig the Hidden Soul, he would keep Ludwig as the nickname, not only was he used to it, he also didn't think people in this world would be able to pronounce it well. Afterwards, although people were confused, they went on till the last one named themselves.
With this, the smiling grand elder stepped down from the podium and went to a door in the back, they weren't sure where it led to, but before they could even think of asking, they were already told by the elder that led them here to follow him.
Soon, they entered a large building three stories tall – it was the teaching building, and they would be coming here every day from early in the morning till late in the evening, it was also free to them to stay longer if they wanted to do so. After a small tour through the building, they were given jade pendants which verified them of their identity.
They just had to drop a blood to leave a mark, and the jade would work as a pass and key to everything they were allowed to – it also had a small map of the Steward Hall. There was a light dot in the residence areas, which pointed out their own home. It was a small two story building, the first floor had kitchen, bathroom and living space, while the second floor had a study and the bedroom as well as what seemed to be a meditation room.
Ludwig was let free, and he went to the residence as he was told. Inside his study, he would find various materials he would need for educational purposes, as well as other small things. He slept the night in his bed, using his soul sense actively the whole time tired him out a lot, and although he wasn't sure whether it was safe to sleep there, he didn't have another option.
Surprisingly, no one mentioned the piece of cloth that hid his eye sockets, but he was sure that if he took it off, it would be too disgusting, so he would keep it on the next few days. And so he did, the following days, he would clean the cloth in the evening and put it back on in the morning, or else it would smell bad.
The first few days were uneventful – they were all taught the basics of the basic. Ludwig understood why, after all, they were orphans who had not learned anything besides the cultivation of the Body Strengthening stage. But with one of the memories he had looked through, he already started learning the writing faster than anyone else, although he couldn't directly, he could see the memories from the first-person perspective.
He wasn't sure why, but the school took the initiative to give him wooden plating's instead of the scrolls he heard others curl up, so he decided to show some talent, which proved to be correct, because he was taught faster than anyone else.