"Are you going to stay lying there forever?" Lorien's voice sounds frustrated, making Theo and Sarah laugh while they are still on the ground. He gets off her and stands up before offering his hand to her. Sarah smiles warmly at him while accepting his help to stand up.
The pair look around and see that despite the explosion of the Mana Sphere, most of the arena seems intact, except for the few meters at the very center, where there is a crater in the ground and a lot of bright dust like golden glass fragments around it. Alaric is standing right in front of the crater, staring at the hole with a shocked expression.
"Professor Alaric?" Sarah makes a regretful expression. "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to break your Mana Sphere. I know it was a true treasure. I will pay for all the damage, of course."
"Damage?" Alaric gives Sarah a gentle smile. "There is no damage here. The Sphere was only an old tool, but it can be easily replaced. Something much more valuable to the Academy is having a young lady as talented as you, Lady Malveryn."
"Of course!" Lorien comments mockingly, but Theo gives Sarah a proud smile, leaving her radiantly happy. But no one seems as excited as Alaric, whose eyes are on Sarah, shining with expectation. "What just happened? I have only heard stories about things like this in legends…"
"I think I got a little more excited than usual," Sarah says casually, making the old Professor laugh. "Hahaha! You are truly exceptional, Lady Malveryn. I am sure that your and your friends' season at the Academy will mark our history forever; I am eager to see what feats you will be capable of achieving."
"I am also eager for that," Sarah responds respectfully, and then Alaric sends his assistant to get another Mana Sphere in the castle while he fills in the trio's test results. Theo and Lorien receive bright white parchments with details about their elemental affinities and high magical potential. But Alaric prepares a unique parchment for Sarah, which he himself uses magic to turn golden, which draws everyone's attention when the trio leaves the arena.
"Where to now?" Theo asks, and Sarah points in the direction of the center of the square. "We already have the aptitude test results, so we just need to register at the enrollment desk; with results as good as ours, they will receive us with honors."
"Great," Theo and Lorien follow Sarah through the crowd of nobles to the main registration area and find several tables and desks with several people filling out parchments for the students divided into several lines.
"It seems much more time-consuming than the aptitude tests." Theo cannot help but comment and glances at Sarah with an expectant smile. She winks at him before going to a guard and showing her golden parchment, which obviously opens a path through the lines for the trio.
Each of the three goes straight to the first position in one of the corner lines, and while Lorien and Sarah start talking with the professors in charge of their enrollments, Theo faces a middle-aged man with gray hair and a severe expression on his face.
"Next!" The man exclaims in an irritated tone and casts an inquisitive look at Theo, even somewhat hostile. "That's me," Theo quickly approaches and hands over the results of his tests. The professor grabs the parchments from Theo's hand abruptly and without any care. "Let's see what we have here…"
He starts reading the test results, which makes him frown with a suspicious expression. "Perfection? What, was this written by a child? Exceptional results in magic as well?" Finally, the ill-tempered Professor notices the big L at the end of the physical aptitude test, making his expression even darker. "A recommendation from that fool?"
"Who the hell are you?" The Professor turns his gaze back to Theo, who only keeps a calm and cold face. "Theo." As soon as he says it, the Professor seems to get even more irritated. "Theo what?"
"Just Theo," he responds casually, and the Professor lets out an impatient sigh. "You're the joking type, aren't you? I don't give a damn what those old men think, if I mark your name, you will never set foot in the territory of the Lyskarra Kingdom again!"
Theo gets confused by that Professor's hostility and ends up looking to the side, in Sarah's direction. She is also looking at him with the same gentle smile as always and lightly shakes her head, leaving him more relieved. He turns his attention back to the Professor in front of him and tries to put on an honest face. "Look, I grew up on the streets of Kriegfall; I don't have a noble family name or a crest, maybe that's a problem to you?"
"Boy…" The Professor looks at Theo with an even more annoyed expression. "The halls of the Academy are full of filthy commoners because of the Duke's foolish policies…" When he says that, many people around make strange expressions, but the most upset is certainly Sarah. Yet, the severe Professor does not stop, pointing a finger at Theo in an accusatory way. "So that is not the problem, but rather that your lineage is clearly of noble origin since you have so much potential."
Theo gets confused about why that man seems to have something against him, and then the Professor continues keeping a hostile stare at him. "Why are you trying to hide your true name? Perhaps you are a criminal of the Empire, trying to hide in the Academy? As a Professor, I have to ensure the safety of all the students."
"But I told the truth," Theo explains. "Theodore is the only name I remember having. I don't know what else you expect me to tell you." He speaks with an honest expression, but the gray-haired Professor keeps a harsh look over him. "Fine, if you prefer the hard way…"
The Professor extends his hand over his desk until he reaches a small dark metal box, then opens it and takes out an old-looking gray feather from inside. When Theo sees the feather, a flash shines in his eyes, but Sarah widens hers and throws an outraged look at the Professor. "You can't use that on him!"
"Who asked for your opinion?" The Professor throws a bloody look back at Sarah, and Theo gets afraid she might end up in trouble. "It's fine, Sarah, don't worry." He tries to calm her, but Sarah seems ready to jump at the gray-haired man's throat. "No, this is wrong! The current Duke Lyskarra forbade the use of any cursed object on students; he can't use that damned feather on you!"
"Oh, you seem to know a lot about the Academy…" The Professor throws a curious but still hostile look at Sarah. "Yet, you are mistaken. There is a rule that allows senior professors to use 'any' method or tool to ensure the students' safety within the Academy's territory."
"But he is not threatening anyone!" Sarah tries to defend Theo, despite the other Professors asking her to stop confronting that man, who looks at her with increasing hostility. "That is for me to determine. By hiding his true identity, he may indeed be putting all the students here in danger. Perhaps he is a criminal, and you are his accomplice?"
Theo feels his blood boil when he sees that man threatening Sarah, but attacking a professor would not only put him in trouble but also the girl. "It's fine, Sarah, I can handle this." He tries to reassure her, but she looks at him with a concerned and gentle expression. "But that feather—"
"It's not a big deal," he smiles gently at her as well. "Trust me." When he asks that, with his eyes shining with confidence, Sarah lets out a sigh and nods, then he turns his attention back to the severe Professor. "What do I have to do?"
The Professor places the feather on the desk in front of Theo, along with a piece of parchment, and points at it. "Just pick it up and write your true name on the parchment." While Sarah and Lorien look at Theo with concerned expressions, he casually picks up the feather. "I think I'll need ink as well."
"You won't," the Professor says with a cruel smile on his face. "Just hold the feather firmly and start writing." As he says that, Theo does so, holding the feather tightly and pressing its tip against the parchment, which, as soon as it touches the sheet, makes an intense pain arise in his hand.
Theo notices the Professor's gaze becoming more severe at that moment, so he ignores the pain in his hand and moves the feather across the parchment, actually writing his name with a red ink that comes from the feather, his own blood, in fact.
"This is absurd!" Sarah comments angrily, but Theo still ignores the pain, which increases as he keeps writing his name on the parchment. First, he writes Theodore and then becomes confused, but the feather seems to keep moving on its own, sucking his blood to mark the parchment in red with more letters.
Everyone looks with curiosity at the next letters Theo writes and even he becomes very curious to see the result, which begins with the letters V and A, making Theo concerned for a second before seeing the third letter, E, followed by others until forming a name.
"Vaelmont?" Everyone exclaims in surprise, even Theo, who has to quickly hide the smile that appears on his lips, noticed only by Sarah. "I've heard that name before…" The severe Professor quickly starts rummaging through some books on the desk and then grabs a very thick one and begins flipping through it.
"Let's see, T, U… V. Here, House Vaelmont of Kriegfall, vassals of the former Duke of Kriegfall, all reported dead fourteen years ago." The grumpy Professor turns his suspicious gaze back to Theo, who shrugs. "Never heard of them."
"And yet you wrote their name on the parchment…" The Professor looks at the name on the parchment and at Theo several times with a confused expression. Theo doesn't know what to do, but Sarah once again tries to help him. "I also remember that name. Wasn't Count Vaelmont famous for having dozens of concubines? I bet he slept with many women, so it makes sense that he…"
She throws a sorry smile at Theo, but the Professor uses the most mocking tone to speak. "A bastard, of course." When he hears that, Theo feels his blood boil again. That sounds like an insult to his parents, who gave their lives to protect him, but at the same time, he cannot make a scene in front of everyone and ruin the plans he created with Eruina, so he tries to remain calm.
Sarah notices Theo clenching his fist and turning dark for a second before seeming to relax and simply staring at the Professor with a cold expression. The Professor does not notice that as he goes back to reading the book in his hands. "There is no mention here about the number of concubines of Count Vaelmont, but there is a precise description of his appearance: light blond hair, green eyes, very fair skin, medium height."
Finally, the Professor turns his suspicious gaze back to Theo. "You do not resemble your father at all, isn't that strange?" Once again, Theo does not know what to say, and once again, Sarah saves him. "Obvious, don't you mean?" She asks in a sarcastic tone, and when the Professor looks at her with that sharp gaze, she smiles. "Theo's lack of luck in inheriting Count Vaelmont's traits was probably what saved him from becoming a target of the Vaelmonts' enemies, naturally. What should have been bad turned up being his luck in the end."
"Is that true?" The Professor questions Theo, and he shrugs with a mocking smile. "Makes a lot of sense to me." He also glances at Sarah and winks at her with a grateful smile, making the girl smile back.
But the Professor seems irritated and frustrated, continuing to stare at Theo with that severe look. "How lucky, isn't it? The share of children of a nobleman with a common woman who do not inherit all of the father's traits is so low that it is practically nonexistent. And yet here you are… A lucky bastard in the most literal sense possible."