1.18 The king's representative

"Good morning Nara," Ria said when she saw me coming down towards the dining room.

It was too early for Ria to wake up since Diane let her sleep till late. I used to wake up late too but ever since I came to Singha city, I started waking up early. I usually do this when I am in a new place.

"Good morning Ria, you woke up early. Is there anything special today?" I asked.

She gave a bright smile and said, "Nothing special, I just wanted Mom to teach me how to cook."

It looks like she wants to help her Mom with work at the inn. Diane did most of the cooking and cleaning work so she was busy most of the time but she still made time from her work to look after Ria. I think this was why she was trying to help her mother with cooking.

After saying that Ria went to clean the tables that were left dirty after customers finished eating.

Diane who was busy inside the kitchen came out and looked towards Ria who was cleaning the table and said, "she is a good girl, isn't she? Her father passed away in a demon attack while traveling back from his home village before she was even born. He left her and this inn with me. I was barely able to hold my tears when she came to me saying, 'mom please teach me how to cook' yesterday evening. She probably looks up to you kids."

"No, I think she looks up to you. She didn't want to be knight and magicians like us but instead wanted to help her mother. She is a really good girl," I replied with a smile.

As we were talking, Ronald and Andrew came down. Since their work here was over, Jabal probably planning to sleep until late today. They were going to return to the village tomorrow morning since the harvesting season was about to start.

I greeted them with a "good morning" to which the replied with same. I then turned towards Andrew and asked, "Andrew, what are you going to do today since your work here is done?"

"Oh, I think we will go to the trade district to buy some souvenirs for everyone back home," he replied.

After everyone, including Jabal, joined us we had our breakfast. After breakfast, Andrew and Jabal went towards the trading district and we went to our rooms to prepare for the result announcement ceremony today.

By what I had heard, it was going to be a normal ceremony. I was a bit freaked out since duke who is the next highest-ranking member of the nobility after the king would also be there.

After everyone was ready we decided to head out. We were wearing normal dresses since we were not told about the dress we had to wear during the ceremony.

When we reached the Academy we were directed to proceed to the same hall where we were waiting for our numbers to be called during the test. We waited until all 64 candidates who had passed the practical test came. I had heard that anyone rarely failed the writing test after passing the practical part and since our practical tests went good, I wasn't very afraid about the results.

After a while, the green-haired lady instructor who was there during our Magic skill test came in. The magic skill test was the one where we had to hit the target.

"Everyone who is at the back please come forward. I am here to deliver instructions," she said from the stage of the hall.

After she said that, we all stood from our seat and moved towards the front row. When we were moving towards the front row, I noticed the blonde guy who gave the written test with me was also there. I ignored him since giving attention to him meant inviting trouble.

After all of us moved to the front row the lady started speaking again, "So, first let me announce that all 64 of you passed. The combined score will be given to you on your first day at the academy."

'Guess this shows how the nobles here are.'

There were some among us who sighed in relief and some who acted as if it was obvious.

"You all will be given your Academy uniform which you need to change into to go to the ceremony. The ceremony will be at the duke's castle at Noble's district."

'What! this isn't what we were told before'

"What do you mean by that? This isn't what we were told," the blond guy stood up from his seat and spoke.

"Yes, but there has been a change in plan from above," The lady replied. The above she is talking about here means higher authority.

Everybody started talking to one another since this was a sudden change in plans. First, we were told that duke and the other nobles were coming at the academy for the ceremony but now the whole ceremony was being organized at duke's castle which has never happened before.

There was a mixed reaction to this among us. Ronald, Arica, and Sistina had a calm reaction while Marina and Nina had shocked reactions in their face. Even though I was freaked out inside, I acted calm outside and asked, "why are you guys acting so calm?" to Ronald. He replied with, "Us going to duke is better than duke coming to us".

'Well, if you see with that logic it's indeed better.'

We were given Academy dresses by the other instructors and sent to the changing rooms. There were many changing rooms and the male and female changing rooms were on different sides.

The male dress was a short black overcoat over a white T-shirt-like dress with a black pant. While the female dress was a white T-shirt-like dress with a black skirt and overcoat over it. Knights were also given other training materials like swords with the dress.

After we were changed, we had to walk to the duke's castle. Since it was close to the Academy area, we reached there quickly.

After we reached there we were taken to the waiting hall in the castle. The green-haired instructor was saying something so we turned our attention to her.

"Now before I begin to tell you about the ceremony part, I would like to announce two students who took the test privately and will be joining us in the ceremony...."

"HEY! What do you mean by private tests? I am the duke's son and nobody told me about this," The blonde-haired guy who appears to be duke's son interrupted the lady while she was speaking.

But the lady continued while ignoring him, "They are, Princess Anna and Princess Eliane."

The blond guy got back on his seat with a shocked reaction on his face after hearing her. The two girls came to the stage from the door and gave a light bow together. They then climbed down from the stage and joined us by sitting on the front seats.

'This may just be my imagination but it feels like they are looking at me.'

Princess Anna had long light-blue hair with a cute face and slightly developed chest. She was wearing a blue gown and it looked very good on her. Princess Eliane had blonde hair and pointed ears. They were indeed not human ears but they were certainly not as large as elves. She was wearing a green gown and had a big and developed chest so much so that it was hard to believe she was of the same age as us.

'Considering she called her princess, she is probably the elven princess though. I have a feeling that the change of plans is because of the princesses over there'

"We will now enter the ceremony room where we will greet the duke and the king's representative," the green-haired lady continued.

We then entered the ceremony room. The duke and the king's representative were seated in the throne and the nobles were standing on the side of the red carpet that led to the throne as if waiting for someone. There were two maids standing behind the throne and a thin old man with white hair who looked like duke's butler was standing close to the duke.

The duke was a middle-aged man with a well-trimmed beard, wide shoulder and large body. He was wearing Armor instead of robe which is uncommon for nobility. And the king's representative was a woman with red hair who looked like she was in her early twenties. She was wearing a red one-piece dress and had dark tanned skin.

When the princess entered the room everyone bowed except the duke and king's representative. We were following the princesses and the instructors and when we reached before the duke, everyone excluding the princesses bowed and so did I.

After duke said "be at ease", we got up. The butler who was near the duke started speaking, "you may be curious why we invited you here instead of the usual ceremony at the academy. That is because the king's representative and the duke have decided to do another test and that is going to happen here and now. This, by no means, will affect your enrollment at the academy. Please follow me."

'What now? there are too many twists in a single day.'

We were taken to the open ground in the center of the castle inside the inner walls. The duke and other nobles were watching us from the balcony. It was just us in the ground since the butler went back after leaving us there. The main thing I was surprised about was that even the princesses were with us. Their reaction was as if they were going to do something amusing.

At that moment, I felt something heavy on my shoulders. I looked around and saw that everyone around me was already on the ground. Marina, Nina, and Sistina were barely managing to stand by clinging on me while Arica and Ronald were standing with the support of their swords. Surprisingly the princesses were able to stand but their faces were showing that they were having a hard time doing that.

In the balcony, duke and his butler were still standing but the rest of the nobles and maids were on the ground. I passed more mana to my mana cloak and looked above. The red-haired woman who was supposed to be the king's representative was floating in the air as if she was standing on the ground. There was a dark aura coming out of her like black smoke. It looked similar to the lesser demon but it felt different and much much powerful.

She looked towards me and smiled. Then, she floated down towards us and said, "So there are some decent ones among you. The ones who are still standing come with me. The rest of you can enjoy this little boring party of yours".

Next Chapter: Surprise!