“Oh, right. This is about our organization isn't it?” Sylvester asked for clarification, to which the girl who presented herself as Karmen gladly clarified.

“Yes, now please come in. we have a few things we need to talk about.” She replied as she brought out a few stacks of paper.

“Come, take a seat.” She smiled.

The group didn’t talk any further and did as they were asked, sitting down on the couches at the center of the office surrounding a small coffee table.

Karmen then started searching the papers she brought out, hurriedly looking for a particular one that seemed to have been buried in it. After a few moments of sifting through the mountain, she finally found what she seems to be looking for, taking out five pieces of paper from the large pile and proceeded to stand up from her seat.

She then walked up to Sylvester and his friends, handing one paper each to Artian, Rossa, and Estelle while Sylvester was given two.

The group then immediately read the contents of the papers that were given to them and was surprised to see their pictures printed over there. The piece of paper given to each one of them seemed like some sort of application paper, but upon skimming through, it sounded more like a contract.

“Uh so, what is this exactly?” Artian asked in a perplexed tone. “I know this is some sort of official business but I am kind of weary of sketchy paperwork.” He explained.

“Yes, I would like a clear explanation before I sign my name into this.” Rossa seconded Artian’s demand. To which Karmen simply smiled in return.

“Of course, I was planning to elaborate the details to all of you anyway since this is rather sensitive.” She paused as she walked closer and stretched out her hand towards Estelle.

“Can I please borrow your document?” She politely asked.

“Uh, sure!” Upon which Estelle willingly responded in kind.

“Thank you.” Karmen then placed the document in front of her so that the four of them could all see.

“This is a special, or more accurately, a modified application paper for joining organizations. We took the liberty of adding your pictures here ourselves since the headmaster was kind of rushing us to finish this. I apologize for this rather intrusive measure.” She began her explanation. As she continued, the four realized that despite her very small stature and childlike appearance, she acted like a professional that has been doing her job for years.

“Modified?” Sylvester asked.

“Yes.” She then paused to look at Sylvester. “You see, creating an officially recognized organization is a long and tedious process. It’s more than just being an Adept and deciding to make one yourself one day. If it was as easy as that then we’d have so many at this point we would lose count.” She continued, but her eyes were glued to Sylvester.

“Why does it feel like she’s blaming me for all of this? Well, I guess this is technically my fault.” Sylvester thought as he Karmen started to talk again.

“Long story short, aside from a minimum Adept rank, you would need to have amassed a great following of other mages, while also raking in the achievements so that your actions alone would be enough to justify the existence of your group.” She then returned the paper back to Estelle.

“And then after that, you need to be approved by Inanis Orbis and then send out memos to other outside groups of interest and yada yada bureaucracy, it’s boring and contrived but in modern times we have no choice but to follow protocol. After all this is the one way to distinguish between friend from foe.” She continued.

“Now given the special nature of your organization called “The Magician’s troupe” all four of you will be considered the founders and as such be categorized in the database as such. So please, read through the entire contract and sign your name.” She then looked at Sylvester once again.

“Oh and we’ll deal with that other paper after you’re done signing.” She said while smiling.

The four nodded and began to read the ink more thoroughly. The document itself was short, only detailing some responsibilities like “Member responsibility” and a few legality explanations. Overall it only asked them to accept their role as leaders and that they are responsible for their own actions.

With a much clearer view the four had no trouble in signing the document and then proceeded to hand it over to Karmen once they were done.

“Excellent.” She said as she placed the papers on her desk. “Now, for the other little contract we have there, please I would like for all four of you to take a look.” She then gestured for Sylveter to give her the paper.

“You can think of this as a leasing document for your base of operations and doubling as a contract for the “Magician’s troupe” to be a subsidiary yet independent organization under the student affairs or student council.” She declared.

“Wait, subsidiary? I thought we would go legit?” Sylvester asked in a surprised tone.

“Yes you guys are legitimate but, let’s face it, the four of you do not have the resources and manpower to run a full fledged organization as of now. You do not have facilities outside and you most certainly won’t be given a plot of land to build your own base since there’s like four of you at the moment.”

“Plot of land?” Rossa asked.

“Oh right I forgot to mention that.” She then paused and gave back the document to Sylvester. “Being given a plot of land and creating your base is seen as leaving your own mark in the history of mages. While it is mostly just for show here in Inanis Orbis, it is a way to give prestige to those who were successful enough in carving out their own following.”

“But that’s the more trivial side of things. The real issue would be documentation, as the mere act of accepting and then finishing a mission needs to be catalogued and recorded in the archives. Unless you would want to do that yourselves, you being a subsidiary of the student affairs means you don’t need to worry about all that since we would be sharing a bit of manpower with all of you.”

“This, this feels like special treatment.” Estelle cracked a joke.

Karmen then turned her head towards Estelle and smiled a rather stern smile.

“Because it is.” She said in reply.

“The place that will be leased to the four of you would be an unused room here at the student affairs building. Once you’re done signing that I can lead you to it.”

Before she could continue talking Sylvester raised his hand, wanting to ask a question.

“Yes?”

“Uh, where exactly is here? Do we need to take that weird elevator everytime we need to come here?” He asked.

“Well yes you do need to go through that elevator express, otherwise it would take you a day of walking to get here. The student affairs building isn’t physically inside the campus area of Inanis Orbis. You can think of this place as a different site.” She explained, causing the four to have shocked faces.

“Excuse me?” Rossa asked.

“Inanis Orbis is much stranger than you think. Even people like me who have been here for quite a long time don't fully comprehend what exactly my two feet are standing on, much less you guys.”

Rossa’s eyes seemed to brighten up but she maintained a composed stature.

“I see, thank you for your explanation.” She replied.

With that out of the way, Sylvester eagerly signed the document and handed it over to Karmen. She then walked back to her desk and opened her laptop, quickly typing in something and then returning back to Sylvester.

“Good, now please follow me.” She said as she went outside her office with Sylvester and the rest following closely behind.

They then went inside another elevator but this time, there was no combination of numbers needed as Karmen simply pressed the number 10.

The elevator then jittered and moved like a regular elevator would, catching Sylvester off guard as he was expecting another teleportation-like deal.

The group then ended up on another floor still filled with people running about and doing their tasks. The place didn’t look like a magic related facility but rather it was like a regular office building at this point.

It seems that mages have really caught up with the times, in a rather depressing way admittedly.

Karmen then led Sylvester’s group into a room at the far end of the hall and was instructed to use the key given to him by the twins.

He then did as we were told and what dawned on him was something he didn’t really expect. It was a dusty room with four tables and chairs and a bunch of junk thrown into it. A small window can be seen at the far end of the room overlooking a busy street.

"Where are we? In some sort of commercial or office district?" Sylvester thought to himself as Karmen started speaking again.

“Sorry for the mess, but this was once a storage room really. We didn’t have any other openings. Now that you’re here I’m guessing you should all know by now what you need to do next.” She declared as two expressionless men walked towards them carrying cleaning supplies like brooms and mops.

“We are giving you special treatment, so you cleaning up your own space isn’t too much to ask right?” Karmen said with another stern smile.

Sylvester and the rest could not really complain and simply resigned to their fate. Even Rossa dejectedly agreed.

“Yes we understand.”

--

Inside another office located in an undisclosed location within Inanis Orbis, was the headmaster Leonardo Da Vinci deliberating over something as Mona Lisa stood by in wait.

“I guess it’s time right?” Leonard asked as Mona Lisa simply nodded.

“Yes, the Neophytes have been here for quite a while. I think it’s ample time for them all to move forward.” She explained.

“Alright.” Leonardo then stood up. “From this point onwards, the Mage Missions will now be available for the Freshmen!” He declared in a loud voice.