Paul glanced at Weiss with an apologetic look but he was ignored. "Okay, Ms Sandra I shall grant your wish if you do your job correctly."
Sandra looked up at Weiss with a surprised expression, "Thank you, your lordship. Thank you very much."
"Do away with this formalities."
Sandra nodded repeatedly.
Paul also heaved a sigh of relief, "Good, but where is this little fellow now?"
"I asked Camilla to clean him up, he appears to have spent a night in the forest."
A gentle knock was heard on the door.
"Come in," Paul called out.
Camilla opened the door and ushered in little Chiyo who was all cleaned up and dressed in a pair of leather pantaloons and a cotton tunic. He looked around curiously and ran up to Weiss upon finding him.
"Haha, little brat didn"t I tell you I"ll take you to visit a beautiful sister? This is big sister Sandra, say h.e.l.lo." Weiss pointed at Sandra and spoke to Chiyo.
Chiyo looked up at Sandra following his finger and was immediately drawn towards the kind and gentle pair of golden eyes. Those were the most beautiful pair of eyes this fellow had ever seen, he inwardly judged them to be better than Weiss"s piercing grey eyes.
Looking at his expression, Weiss chuckled and said, "Ms Sandra looks like even this fellow is mesmerised by your beauty. Rightfully so, I must add."
Sandra smiled towards Chiyo and cupped his cheeks gently.
"What is your name, young sir?"
She found the little fellow very pleasant to her eyes. It could be because of his small oval face that perfectly fit in between her palms, round and dark eyes and his smooth black hair that fell to his brows. Or simply because he was her only chance to become a junior apothecary.
"He does not speak Kapro," Camilla hurried to answer.
Sandra recalled that Weiss had already asked her to teach this cute fellow Kapro. She had ignored that piece of information in her surprise and joy. She patted Chiyo"s head and told him affectionately, "No problem at all. We will slowly learn to speak, read and write."
Paul opened a drawer to his right and pulled out a big register. "So let us finish the formalities we need to follow."
He opened the register and started filling in the date and other general information. Then looked up from the thick book and asked Weiss, "What is his name anyway?"
Weiss didn"t know himself so he stared at Chiyo wondering how he could find out the little brats name. Seeing Weiss silent for some time, Sandra sat on a chair and made Chiyo face her.
Pointing at herself she said, "Sandra."
Then pointing at Chiyo she wiggled her eyebrows. Doing it a couple of times, she got her answer. Chiyo pointed at Sandra and articulated slowly, "Sandra," then pointing at himself he said, "Chiyo."
Upon hearing that Camilla spoke up, "Chiyo? What does that even mean? The Almighty Father said to his sons that, "You must only support and do things that you understand". We can"t call him something that we don"t the meaning of."
Paul thought of this as a small matter but looking at Camilla"s stern face, he dared not suggest otherwise. Weiss thought for a bit and said nonchalantly, "Since we don"t know the meaning of his name and it is a mystery now. let us call him Arca, which means mystery."
Camilla nodded and said, "Your lordship is as intelligent as ever. Arca is a beautiful name, we can surely use it."
Paul was not comfortable with how casually Camilla and Weiss changed a person"s name, so asked for confirmation.
"Shall I write done his name as Arca?"
Weiss suddenly said, "Write his name as Arca Weiss."
The three adults sitting around him fell into shocked silence. Looking at their surprise Weiss curled his lips into a mischievous smile and added, "Record his father"s name as Ryan Weiss."
After digesting the information, Paul nodded slightly and hunched over the large register to complete the record. Looking at the gradually filling up page Weiss"s smile grew wider, it appeared as if he was thinking of some interesting matters.
After stamping the page with his signet, Paul stored the register in its original place. Thinking through some things he asked, "You want to train Chiyo as a hunter?"
Camilla frowned upon hearing Paul using Chiyo instead of Arca, but she decided to not interrupt the conversation.
"Yes, but I want him to do his schooling from the Royal School in Lakeden city."
Paul frowned a bit, "It"ll be difficult, but I"ll try my best to make a deal with a n.o.ble and get him enrolled."
It was Weiss"s turn to frown in confusion, "Why do you have to make a deal with a n.o.ble? I can pay for his tuition."
Paul was lost on what Weiss was talking about, realisation dawned upon him soon though and he explained to Weiss carefully.
"Twenty years ago the King pa.s.sed an order stating that the two Royal Schools in the kingdom will only serve the n.o.bles. Commoners were barred from direct admission and can only enter and study with the ident.i.ty of a current n.o.ble student"s follower.
But it is not a big problem, many lesser n.o.bles and even viscounts find sponsoring the tuition fees for all their children heavy. To ease the financial strain they take along children from rich merchant families as followers."
Pondering over Paul"s words, Weiss inquired, "What about the cla.s.ses? Followers certainly won"t be allowed to study along with n.o.ble children."
Paul recalled carefully, "I have heard that n.o.bles are taught by separate faculty and they also have speciality cla.s.ses."
Weiss sighed and said, "Forget it, you don"t have to worry about deals and whatnot. If I am not back by the time Chiyo needs to get enrolled. You take him to Lakeden City and ask Rayner Walker to decorate him as a n.o.ble. This way he could attend all speciality cla.s.ses and won"t lose out any training."
Paul almost gave out an exasperated sigh but he controlled his expressions and slowly said, "Duke Rayner Walker has answered Father"s call. His eldest, Duke Hadley Walker is the current master of Lakeden state."
"Oh, that fellow is dead already? No matter, I"ll write a letter and leave it with you. When you visit him, give that to him. He"ll surely arrange things the way you ask him to."
Paul could only nod to that declaration.
After finishing with what he wanted to say, Weiss stood up and began walking out.
"I shall not hold up your work. You can continue with whatever you were doing Paul."
As he walked out of the room, Chiyo ran up to him and held his pants. Looking down he saw the little fellow was gazing at him with a concerned expression.
"Hehe little fellow, are you not going to follow around big sister Sandra?"
Patting Chiyo"s head, he motioned him to follow along as he walked downstairs. Sandra and Camilla also walked downstairs, they had a bunch of kids to look after.