webnovel

Prologue 1

As the sun rose, it symbolized the day was about to begin, and everyone was waking up to get ready for one of the most important days of their life. It is time for them to show the academy what the teens of Musytar are made of. The children of nobles around the capital have been trained all their life for this moment. But for this particular year, everyone is allowed to take the test. It doesn't matter if they are from a noble bloodline or not. Some of the nobles despise this idea, but they can't do anything about it since this idea came from the king himself.

As the academy was filled with teenagers from all across the capital. The teens from the orphanages were getting a bit of a special treatment all thanks to Duke Yuriel. In the Hearth Warm Orphanage, which is one of the orphanages that he helped, everyone was excited for the nice treatment of Duke Yuriel. But the excitement leads to them accidentally forgetting about one person, Chuck.

They did forget about him, but it seems like Chuck also didn't remember the event. The boy didn't have a lot of time for himself since he was the one who had been helping the orphanage out through the money he earned from working his life off. The money that he earned mostly went to the orphanage, and left a small portion for himself. It was hard at first since kids from the orphanage are usually looked down on since they were left by the one who gave birth to them. Some nobles even called them indisposable trash.

Though that thought changed when he surprised the society with an unbelievable result. Through it, he earned respect from the society and the attention of Duke Yuriel. The duke showed his attention by raising the money that would be given to the Hearth Warn Orphanage. But that doesn't stop him from working hard to help the orphanage. Even though sometimes the caretaker would tell him to take it easy ever since the money they got from tax was raised. The caretaker felt terrible for not being able to help him with anything, so he gave Chuck his own personal room so that he could get uninterrupted rest.

As the teens from the orphanage were sent to the academy, the caretaker finally was able to clean up the place. Like always, he would start by cleaning the living room first, the kitchen and lastly the boy's room. As he was cleaning the kitchen, a loud horn noise came from the academy. Following it, a noise came from the second floor as if something just fell off. At first he thought it was from the kids, but then he remembered all of the kids were playing in the yard. So he quickly went upstairs just to find out that Chuck was the cause of the noise.

The caretaker was shocked and furious at the same time. He couldn't believe Chuck wasn't with the other. The furious take him over as he yells at Chuck to get to the academy as quickly as possible. As he yells, Chuck told him that he didn't want to go to the academy and continued on living like he always had. And that only makes him more furious at Chuck than before. But this time it was more like an order. He said "I don't care whether you want it or not. What I do care is that you try to be accepted by those in the academy." As he said that, Chuck knew whatever he do won't change the caretaker's mind. So he did exactly as he was told.

The moment he was done changing, the caretaker immediately kicked him out of the orphanage with bread prepared for him to eat on the way there.

On the way there, he had a lot of opportunities to skip the entrance exam and not suffer for a couple of years just to be recognized by the nobles. But he still went to the academy. However, he had something else in mind. On his way to the academy, He noticed that he wasn't the only person who had arrived this late. He reached a couple of minutes earlier before the other people came. Just as he was convincing the gate guard to let him in, a carriage came from the direction he came and stopped just, so the carriage owner would only make Chuck annoyed. The reason he has been trying not to go to the academy has something to do with the carriage.

The person who came out from the carriage first was the manservant of the owner of the carriage. He asked permission to allow the young lady to enter the property. And, of course, the gate guard didn't even hesitate to open the gate after seeing the crest that was on the side of the carriage. As they were given allowed to enter the property, the manservant also asked the gate guard if Chuck was allowed to enter the property as well. Although he wanted to decline, he had no other choice but to enable Chuck to enter the property as well. The manservant also invited Chuck to join them in the carriage.

Surprisingly for the gate guard, he didn't expect Chuck to decline such a prestige offering. And this time, he didn't want to allow Chuck to enter the property, but he could no longer afford to dirty his name. He didn't even question the decision of the person in the carriage and allowed Chuck to enter. As Chuck was given permission, he was invited to company the carriage owner. The guard was thinking to himself about how Chuck would accept the invitation, saying that Chuck was the same as others who took all the opportunities they had to increase their status in the society. But when Chuck refuses it and continues to be on his way, the guard has his eyes wide open. He couldn't believe a person with no family name would refuse such a prestigious invitation. At that time, Chuck was deemed rude by the servant, but he gained respect from the guard

Just as Chuck arrived at the hall where people waited to be tested, he could see some were excited, and some were nervous about being tested. As he was waiting for his turn, some was crying, and some were celebrating as they went out of the test room. One after another, people come in and out of the room. After about ten people got in and out of the room, he noticed something weird. "There is a pattern?" is what Chuck thought to himself. Every three failed attempts would always follow by one success. He immediately started to count the number of people and predicted whether he would fail or succeed based on the pattern. Just as the time for him to be tested, he walked through the door with a feeling of relief.