7 True Noble

Vil's face was very white, the colour of a moonbeam, or an ivory carving. His hands, too, were bone-white, as pale hands often are. He looked like a porcelain doll--you worried that he'd shatter if he fell. But underneath it all, anger boiled deep in his system, as hot as lava. It churned within, hungry for destruction, and he knows it's too much for him to handle. The intensity of this boiling sea of anger would cause him to say things that he did not mean, or to express thoughts he had suppressed for weeks.

"I-if my Lord is willing to wait, I could-"

"Enough."

Vil had already crossed the Grand Hall in a few of strides towards the stairs leading down to the backyard of the castle. The lake mirrored the sky above, both of them the kind of blue that paints those impossibly bright tourist pamphlets. Vil closed his eyes. The moist early summer air was fragranced with the pine trees that surrounded the lake, growing so close that some had toppled in and others dangles cobra-thick roots into the water.

Vil struck one of the pine trees around him with his fist causing his hands to bleed but he did not care. The blood has concentrated on his knuckles making the usually pale creases dark. He let out his scream, brief and short. When he was done he sat on the sand and waited for the long-away dusk to come...

"Boy, what a scream it was. It made my hair strand straight up on the back of my neck." said a familiar voice with a little chuckle. Vil lifted his head to see the owner of the voice and went into surprised.

The man saw the shock that register on Vil's face before he could conceal it. A small smile played on the man's lips, Vil guess that person gets that a lot. "I could help you."

Vil tilted his head while looking at the person's expression. It wasn't about what he said though, it was just that his words were like vanilla pudding, sweet in their ordinary way, it was the richness of his tones – luxurious and warm. "Don't worry. You could give the answer later," said the man before leaving with a chuckle. Vil said nothing, he was thinking.

******

At the same time, Aure just got out of the library feeling defeated. It seems he'd found several books, which mentioned about the neutral attribute civilization. But what he discovered so far was that at some point, all the civilians with neutral attributes were missing without trace. Until then, the civilization has been removed from the history since no one had ever been born with the attribute. And the same damn paragraph keeps repeating the same word in every book he has found so far.

"If no one was born with that kind of attribute then why I am suddenly become one?" grumbled Aure to himself as he paused at the library's entrance.

"Maybe it comes from your long lost noble bloodline?"

Aure gave the young man a dagger, for some reason he felt the man's tone sort of accusing him rather than a question. The young man pull another apple out of his hoodie. Where did he get the apple anyway?

"That being said, why did they called you a lowborn noble, noble?"

Aure was startled for a moment when the question was suddenly posed to him. He then took a right turn and walked along the corridor followed by the young man. After making sure no one was around, he said, "I wasn't what they considered…er, 'true' noble…" It's not that he tried to keep his identity as a secret, he just hated people's reaction. He still remembers the moment he told another nobles (when he was much younger), they started to keep away from him. Some give him the look of disgust -some sort of bad, filthy blood in his vein, some looking down on him (including his bully, Vil Fabian) and some giving him a fascinating look as if he were a new creature that had just been discovered, and then give a pity smile or doing nothing (the expression that goes with 'I don't want anything to do with this person').

"So what does a 'TRUE' noble mean then?"

Aure was sighing. Is the young man really don't know anything? Well, he's a ring after all. He can't go around without his master, Aure guesses. But what most annoyed Aure is the flat tone that came out of the young man's mouth. It's always felt like there's some sort of other sense behind his question or response.

"What do you mean by the question? Are you really don't know or I don't know…sarcastically asking the meaning of noble?," replied Aure who almost flipping out but he held back in a trembling voice.

He gives Aure a scornful laugh before he shrugged. "It's a general question. Take it as you want. Well?"

"My father was a commoner before he became a knight," Aure saw the young man's fingers pause a little as he carefully observed the apple he was holding. "After some achievement, he was married by the King to my mother as a reward."

"I see. So your father is the real dark horse, huh?" concluded the young man before he pierced the apple's filling with his teeth.

Aure just nodded. Yes, he and his father are the only ones to be named a lowborn noble of the House of Licorne. Mother was a widow until she met father (her ex-husband was died in a war). In other words, Patch and Fresia are his step siblings. But then both of them are quite close to his father (Patch was two years old and Fresia was one at that time), so you could say that his father and mother are raising all of them.

While they were talking about 'Aure's life', they eventually arrived at the Upper Grand Hall. The ceiling glass must be twenty feet high – you could see the amber glowing sky outside (Aure not sure whether it was created by magic or the actual weather). It supposed not to be that late, he thinks. Though, he may have been too focused reading books in the library to lose track of time. Fruit and flowers design can be seen carved into the moulding and tiny, flying pixies that illuminate the whole Grand Hall from their body, gazing down at us from every angle. There are many earthy terracotta pots all over the place with many colourful flowers, all the more beautiful for its unadorned confidence.

Aure is looking down and saw the main Grand Hall behind the mahogany trail. Usually, the main hall was empty or rather spacious with the King's throne but now it's filled with people on the long table. They've got to be a Knight, Aure thought. This is because he could see a variety of scarf color on them – the red scarf represents the Paladin, the blue scarf represents the Alchemy and the yellow scarf represents the Soldier.

"Hello," Aure greets the woman behind the counter desk with a smile. The woman looks up and greeted him back. There's a word of golden thread sewn on her robe saying her name, "Misty Robinson."

"I would like to apply for the Alchemy Magic Knight!" said Aure nearly shouted due to his excitement.

Misty did her paperwork as fast as she could before she received a small Gozac paper. "Please enter the second room on the right. They held a test in there. Good luck!"

"Thank you," said Aure.

Aure crossed the twin doors, walked along the corridor and entered a room on the second door with the words: examination in progress. What he never realised was his 'ring' – the young man is no longer behind him.