Elysa Kingdom was of minor importance to the Dalia Kingdom Magic Academy in terms of the talent it could bring to the kingdom. Most of the real magical talent is inherited through superior genes, thus low tier kingdoms with mostly normal human n.o.bles in power would not usually produce a startling magic genius. As such, the representative from the academy was a low-end teacher from the Water Department. His name was Harrison Eldred. He was the illegitimate 6th son of a branch of the Eldred Family. While the Eldred Family was a fairly powerful force in the Dalia Kingdom, Harrison was illegitimate and his father was the third son of the current Head. Sadly for Harrison, his talent was not outstanding and so the family did not support him. As much as that was true, he still was able to push himself to the advanced level third stage at his current age of 40. The Snow Country as a whole was cold and full of water element mana, thus the amount of water magicians in the country was the largest by far. Harrison"s presence, in such an enormous Water Department at the academy, was small. Therefore, he was always the first to volunteer for recruitment missions outside the academy since there was no shortage of families willing to bribe him. He would always gladly pocket their money for his personal funds and if the amount was enough he wouldn"t mind doing some favors as well.The shopkeeper read the information on Harrison while a smile grew larger and larger on his face. He began laughing loudly once he finished reading while a plan was already forming in his head. These types of men were the easiest to use as long as one had wealth.
Harrison ended up arriving in the capital two days before the exam started. Per usual, many aristocratic families came and bribed him with all sorts of rare magic herbs they found or with gold. Harrison kept a genial smile in his face, but, if one looked close enough, they would be able to see the sharp disdain in his eyes. He accepted their money and made empty promises to help their children, however, he would never help them in reality. If their talent is inferior and he brought them back, the academy would be able to spot the discrepancy immediately. These families were all weak but they still made a lot of money as the local lords. Normally, magicians from higher tier kingdoms wouldn"t pay attention to the magic herbs and gold that the low tier kingdoms provided, but Harrison had no other way to receive more funding for himself. He just treated these foolish families as money bags and when he broke his promise later he would just use his ident.i.ty to pressure them to not speak out about it. In reality, he wasn"t robbing them of too much money anyways so most of the families would just keep quiet about it and think of it as a gift to make connections.
The night before the exam, Harrison received an invitation to that same magic items shop. He arrived on time, curious as to what the shopkeeper would want from him. As a store, they did not have children they wished to pa.s.s the exam so Harrison was confused as to why they would invite him. He was led into the meeting room and saw the shopkeeper waiting for him. Although Harrison wasn"t a fan of shady people like the shopkeeper, he still sat down to listen to the request.
"Ah, you must be Lord Eldred, pleasure to make your acquaintance." The shopkeeper obviously lowered himself in front of Harrison.
Harrison felt disdain for such people, but still cordially responded, "Yes, just call me Teacher Harrison. I"m not anyone important in the Eldred family. I don"t dare let myself be called Lord."
The shopkeeper could sense his dislike, but continued anyways, "Teacher Harrison, you are too humble. As a powerful magician, you deserve anyone"s respect..."
"Just get to the point. I don"t have time to listen to pointless flattery." Harrison firmly interrupted him as his ears were worn out from all the flattery he has listened to lately.
The shopkeeper"s eyes flashed with anger slightly, but he reigned it in as he knew that Harrison could kill him in an instant. He widely smiled, "Ah, yes, you are very straightforward. I really admire this trait. Then I will be straight with you in return. I wish for you to definitely fail one of the exam partic.i.p.ants. I"m not completely sure of his talent level, but I have found out that he"s from a rural area so it shouldn"t be too amazing. If his talent is pretty good, I hope you would still fail him. I"m sure it"s not that big a deal since Dalia Magic Academy has so many amazing geniuses."
Harrison paused in thought before responding, "I guess I could accomplish this as it"s not a big deal. Plus, unless he is an amazing genius he would only suffer at the academy anyways. I would know best at how those with only above average talent are treated. They are a dime a dozen. Failing him would be doing him a favor."
"Fantastic! Here is just a small token of my appreciation." The shopkeeper pa.s.sed a storage bag to Harrison which contained a large amount of gold and magic items. Harrison peeked in using his magic and was very pleasantly surprised at the wealth this shop was in control of.
"Hmmm... not bad. I hope we have a pleasant cooperation." Harrison smiled and shook the shopkeeper"s hand before leaving. The door shut behind him and there was silence until the attendant next the shopkeeper spoke out.
"Sir, can we trust him? What if he just takes everything without doing anything?"
"Hmm... I"m not sure, but he should follow through. It"s easy to fail someone, unlike those others who are bribing him to help their children pa.s.s. Anyways, this is just to make sure that he does not pa.s.s. Someone with his background probably would not be talented enough to join in the first place. Even without me meddling, his chances of pa.s.sing are small. Once he doesn"t pa.s.s, he will probably head home and I can use that opening to kill that brat." The shopkeeper"s eyes squinted with viciousness as he thought to that day"s embarra.s.sment.
"Hmph, stupid brat. He will regret messing with me."
...
The next day, the sun rose s.h.i.+ning into a large bedroom. Sunlight brightly lit up the tiny sleeping face of a young boy. Feeling the warmth on his face, Greyson"s long white lashes twitched before fluttering open. His eyes came into focus only to see another face staring right at his only a couple inches away. His eyes widened in shock before jumping backwards in surprise.
He sighed wearily before he rubbed his eyes while groggily yawning, "Catherine, I believe we have spoken about coming into my room without permission."
The cute face on the little girl didn"t match her obviously arrogant att.i.tude. She pouted and whined, "I told you to call me Cathy, plus you"re just so pretty and cute when you sleep so I can"t help but want to sneak a peek. You"ll also eventually be my husband, so why can"t I look at you?" This young girl, Catherine, was Claude"s cousin. She was 8 years old and the only girl born in Claude"s generation thus far in the Devereux family. As the only daughter, niece, and granddaughter, she was the apple of everyone"s eyes. With her cute looks added in, her family members couldn"t resist spoiling her rotten. Unfortunately for Greyson, she grew up extremely possessive and under the impression that anything she wants could belong to her. The moment she laid eyes on the pretty Greyson, she was obsessed with him. After finding out that he was talented at magic, she declared that she would marry him. She had been following him around and pestering him the entire week he had been waiting for the exam.
Greyson was seriously irritated by her and helpless towards her unhealthy obsession for him. None of the Willow Town girls ever acted this crazy before, nor did they talk about marrying him. Why did this girl seem so stupid on one hand but on the other mature fast enough to already think about her future husband? He avoided her at every turn and even Lucius disliked even looking at her. She loved the beautiful kitten as well and would always try to smother the cat with kisses and cuddle with him. Lucius felt sick every time he saw her face and would run away whenever he heard her approaching. His exact words were: "I don"t want to catch her idiocy. It"s contagious. I feel like I"m losing brain cells just breathing the same air as her."
Greyson furrowed his eyebrows before clarifying, "Catherine, we are not getting married. I do not like you. Please just leave me alone. Claude and I are friends so I don"t want to do anything to his cousin, but you are seriously bothering me and interrupting my magic meditation."
"NO! My husband will be YOU! You have to marry me! You"re mine!" Catherine started throwing a tantrum and stomping her feet. At this point, Claude finally arrived at the room and heard his cousin screaming. He also felt annoyed and disgusted with her insistence. He used to think she was just a cute little girl who was a bit too willful, but after this situation started he realized that she had a serious issue.
"Catherine! Stop this at once! You are bringing shame to Uncle, acting crazy like this. You are only 8 years old, there is still many years before you are betrothed to someone then officially marry. Cease this nonsense now." Claude walked in and loudly reprimanded her. Catherine was in shock that her cousin who had always treated her nicely would suddenly yell at her like this.
She began to wail before running out of the room screaming, "Cousin, I hate you! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you! You"re being so mean to me!"
Claude covered his ears sighing, "sorry, Greyson. I don"t know what devil has possessed her lately that she is acting so crazily. Well, today is the day of the exam and once you pa.s.s it you"ll be headed to the Dalia Kingdom anyways. Then you won"t have to deal with her ever again. She doesn"t have any magic ability, so I doubt she will ever get the chance to leave this kingdom."
Greyson waved his hand saying, "You don"t have to apologize. It"s definitely not your fault. I just don"t understand her obsession with marrying me. I have no interest in her or girls like her. She"ll probably quickly forget me once I am gone."
"Hmmm... well you"ll definitely be a looker when you grow up. It"s just way too early for any of that. Forget it, let"s not talk about that girl anymore and bring down the mood. Today the exam starts in the morning, so let"s have a meal first before heading over!"
"Yeah, okay!" Greyson quickly nodded as he finally started to feel jittery over the exam. He threw that crazy girl to the back of his mind and concentrated on bringing out the best of his ability later.