In most kingdoms, there are very few people that are of high enough rank for them to befriend the royal family. This often causes the children of royalty to be lonely and think of others as less than humans. In most countries the various princes and princesses have two choices if they wanted to have friends, one was to be friends with their siblings, and the other was to befriend the royalty of other countries.

However, this is difficult in the country of kilayen. They are located on an island, it is admittedly a large island spanning nearly 800 miles length-wise. nonetheless, it is still an island and that makes it hard to frequently visit other countries so the kilayen royalty could only befriend their siblings.

This once again brings up a problem because in kilayen the laws of succession do not immediately go to the eldest, but instead fall to whichever of the current kings or queen children have the highest level. This causes the princes and princesses to constantly be enemies and never gives them a chance to befriend anyone. Almost all of the royal family were coldhearted and thought of other people as something less than they were.

The only current exceptions to this rule were queen elaine who was not born into the royal family. Prince Derek who is the 6th and youngest child of the royal family. He is only eight years old and hasn’t quite realized that his siblings aren't his friends. The third and final exception is Natalie. Natalie is the third child of the current queen and king and would have ended up like all her other siblings if it hadn’t been for Ros and Lustro.

Ros and Lustro are the sons of the vice-head of the magistrate who was close friends with the king. Because they were around the same age, Natalie had been allowed to befriend the two boys and they had become fast friends. This had happened when Natalie was six.

Two years later Spencer's family gained prominence in kilayen. his father .who was a merchant, had suddenly become very wealthy and often met with the king. This gave Spencer a chance to become friends with the royalty and so he became the third friend that Natalie had. The four of them would hang out very frequently and would often get into trouble.

One day they had decided to leave the castle and sneak into the city. While they were in the city they got hungry and started to look for a store that sold food. After searching for a while they found a bakery that they recognized the name of.

The bakery was run by a husband and wife duo and was known to have the best bread in the capital. After they entered Natalie who didn't know how stores worked started eating some bread that was on display. Aghast the wife ran up and started berating them. once Natalie understood the situation she was understandable embarrassed and gave the wife a signet ring and said that she could bring it to the castle and get the money there.

Shortly after leaving the bakery the four of them were caught by the guards and returned to the palace. The next day a small girl around the same age as Natalie showed up at the gates with the ring held tightly in her hand. When she showed it to the guards and explained how she got it she was brought to Natalie.

After the two talked for a little they started to become fast friends, but before long the girl, who was called Olivia, had to leave. After that, the group would often sneak out of the castle and go find Olivia who sometimes worked around the bakery with her parents. then the group that was now 5 strong would play games until either the guards found them or Olivia had to go do chores.

This went on for another few years until the year that they all turned 14. That year would be the last year that Olivia could see the other four. They were all going to the academy and Olivia who was the daughter of a baker simply couldn’t afford the entry fee. In the midst of a tearful goodbye, Natalie had what she considered a wonderful idea.

Natalie convinced her parents to sponsor Olivia and Olivia was able to attend the academy. However, having her parents pay Olivia's tuition brought up its own set of problems. The king and queen insisted on either being paid back the money through a loan which Olivia's family could not pay or having Olivia become one of Natalies official retainers.

Olivia's parents were incensed at that offer, a retainer was little more than a servant to most nobles and they did not want their daughter to have that life. Olivia who was set on going to the academy had different ideas and accepted becoming Natalie's retainer.

Though that should have fixed all their problems it did not. What had used to be a bond of friendship now had to share space with a bond of servitude and that greatly affected the way that the two friends interacted.

In an attempt to fix the fading friend group Ros and Lustro made the admittedly brash decision to also become Natalies retainers. Though the decision seemed foolish, in the end, it did end up fixing the problem. Olivia who was a shy but naturally kind person was now able to have some friends that had a similar social status as her this caused her to be less stressed and more open to her friends, and Ros and Lustro who was always intensely loyal to both each other and their friends were now able to constantly protect and be with their friends.

Spencer never ended up becoming one of Natalies retainers but he didn’t need to. He was always mostly friends with Natalie and hardly noticed the changes when Olivia became Natalie’s retainer. Natalie for her part was used to always being talked to as if she were slightly more important than others and was fine being treated differently if that meant she could keep all of her friends.

thus the small squad that had been formed around Natalie made it through their preliminary years at the academy and even through most of their first year as official students. Currently, they were sitting around their campfire.

The academies camp was set up like a military camp. There were long rows of tents and between every other tent, there was a fire. Each group was allotted two tents and was told to bring their own provisions.

Ros suddenly stood up and stretched then asked Natalie. “It’s roughly noon right now do you want us to start preparing some food.”

at Natalie's nod Lustro also stood up and the two of them walked into one of their tents. They soon exited with a large pot and some food to cook in it. Once they started on the food the group’s conversation picked up again.

“So where do you think he came from,” asked Olivia.

Natalie put on a thoughtful expression and slowly answered. “As I can see it there are four possibilities”

she held up four fingers and put one down as she named each possibility. “first he was abandoned by the outskirts of the woods which isn’t very likely considering how far away most settlements are from here, second is that he was traveling with a group and something happened, leaving him stranded in the woods, third would be he is from that goblin town Caleb was talking about, and fourth he is from another settlement that we don't know about.” Olivia nodded, satisfied with the answer.

Ros who was currently chopping vegetables looked up from his cooking and added. “That still doesn't explain why he is awakened and is familiars with that wolf.”

they sat there in silence then Natalie asked. “Have you tried inspecting him, Olivia?”

Olivia nodded and said. “Yes, I wasn’t able to which is confusing because Caleb easily caught him earlier when he tried to run away, and as far as we know Caleb is just barely level 25 meaning that the boy is under level 25 and the inspection skill I have is powerful enough to inspect anyone who is in the same rank as me so I should be able to inspect him.”

Spencer who had been sulking out of shame and embarrassment couldn't help his curiosity and ask. “What do you mean by that.”

Olivia gave him a look that seemed to ask whether or not he had a brain. “Your rank is each set of 25 levels so were all rank 1 cause we aren’t level 25 and once we reach level 25 we will be ranked two.” Olivia was right to be confused by that question ranks were something that was common knowledge. even farmers who rarely fought and killed monsters would know about that.

”I know what ranks are.” Spencer said angrily. This reassured the group a little, at least they knew he wasn't a complete moron. “I meant how does an inspection skill be considered more powerful than others.” he continued still slightly angry.

Olivia nodded at this it was a fairly good question. “An Inspection skills power is determined by three things, how many levels above your own can you inspect, how much information you are shown, and whether or not it has a catalog.”

Olivia finished her explanation but seeing Spencer’s curious face she guessed what he was going to ask and continued. “A catalog is something that very few skills have but it is essentially a list of things that you have examined before and it allows you to examine the same thing for free if you want to examine it again.” Spencer nodded satisfied with the explanation.

After that, the conversation moved to less heavy topics, and pretty soon the food was finished. The group started eating and after a while Olivia noticed Cal sitting there quietly and he was quickly handed a bowl and given some of the food. Cal smiled at Olivia and quickly dug in the food was delicious.

After the meal was done the group continued talking and Cal who got bored of just listening to them talk and not knowing what they were saying started playing tag with kaze.

While they were playing Olivia watched them then suddenly realized something. “Hey guys do you think the wolf is also awakened,” she asked her group.

There was silence for a second than Ros said. “I believe so I'm fairly sure it used a skill that weakened me and Lustro.”

Lustro nodded in agreement and Olivia continued her thought. “Then I am going to try examining him.” about a second later Olivia’s eyes widened and she let out a gasp.

“What were you able to see,” asked Natalie.

Olivia was too shocked to answer at first but after a little more encouragement she answered. “My inspection skill is only able to show me a few things about what I inspect so I didn’t learn that much, but...” Olivia paused for a second to gather her thoughts then started again. “I was only able to see three things his level which is 1, his most used ability which is called frozen aura, and his bloodline… which is pure ranked.”

there was a moment of stunned silence that was broken by the expected question that came from Spencer. “My father has a royal ranked familiar who’s is stronger.”

Olivia still in shock answered. “Bloodlines are the equivalent of classes for beasts so the difference would be that of an epic class to an uncommon one.”

Spencer snorted in derision “I knew my father's lion would be superior, it cost over 10k gold and had to be imported from the main continent.”

Natalie sighed and corrected Spencer. “Your father's lion would be the uncommon class in that comparison.” that shut Spencer up his father often talked about how rare and powerful his lion was and if that little wolf was even rarer.

“How do we know that they are familiars,” Spencer asked in a greedy voice.

Olivia who was still reeling at what she had learned answered without picking up on the greed in his voice. “We don't but by the way that the two of them interact we can assume.”

at this point Spencer had stopped listening, he stood up and walked over to where Cal and kaze were playing. The two paused to look at him once he got close and were not prepared when Spencer suddenly bent down and grabbed kaze by the scruff of his neck.

“Initiate the familiar pact you beast,” Spencer shouted at kaze. When nothing happened Spencer felt the embarrassment and shame from before coming back and started to get angry. He violently shook kaze and shouted. “There is no way something like you would become familiar with some random boy so initiate the pact.” realizing that nothing was likely to happen and that his friends would already be angry with him Spencer decided to put down the wolf.

As soon as Spencer had picked up kaze Cal had gotten both scared and angry. He didn’t want to attack Spencer in fear that the more powerful people like Mr. Talon would be angry at him, but this all changed as soon as Spencer started yelling. Cal began to truly get angry and as the anger burst in his mind, he felt his bond with the weapons iclyn and tana begin to stir. Pretty soon a prompt appeared in front of his eyes.

[iclyn and Tana have been repaired and are now usable]

As soon as he read the words he willed something out of his bond with the weapons. Suddenly the air around Cal's hand burst into flame and a second later the flames disappeared and in their place appeared a sword made of a black wood with red veins running through it. Cal who thought kaze was in actual danger stabbed forward without hesitation.

Natalie who had already gotten up to go and stop Spencer was struck dumb by the sight that confronted her. A sword had appeared in Cal's hand and he had stabbed Spencer through the stomach. Things seemed to move in slow motion as Natalie watched. Spencer let out a shrill scream and fell to the floor Cal let go of the sword and caught kaze before he could hit the ground and backed away from Spencer.

A second after Cal let go of the sword it disappeared and Natalie watched as the red circle around one his eyes flashed. Natalie didn’t know what to do for a second then instantly started giving out orders. “Ros go get the teachers, Olivia start healing Spencer and Lustro help me kill this scumbag.” everyone did as they were told, and pretty soon Cal was being advanced on by both Lustro and Natalie.

“You shouldn’t kill him this was Spencer’s fault” Olivia tried to shout but her pleas fell on deaf ears.

“That boy may have just killed Spencer who is not only my squadmate but also my retainer. what’s more, he did it basically unprovoked,” Natalie shouted back conveniently forgetting how Spencer had manhandled kaze.

The two were almost upon Cal when suddenly two more figures seemed to appear in the middle of the camp. One was Mr. Talon who upon arrival immediately began healing Spencer. The other was Hayden who was standing in between Natalie and cal.

“What’s going on here,” Hayden asked in a voice full of anger.

Natalie pointed at Cal and shouted. “He just stabbed Spencer he needs to be dealt with.” with this she began to advance on Cal but once again was stopped by Hayden.

“Why did he do that” Hayden asked.

Natalie who was growing impatient shouted back. “I don’t know, Spencer was just looking at his familiar.” Hayden turned his glare over to Cal but still did nothing.

“Sir that’s not true,” Olivia said from the side. Natalie shot her a look full of venom but Olivia pressed on. “Spencer picked up and shook and shouted at Calaeris’s familiar without warning.” Hayden nodded at the words and looked over at Natalie.

“I understand the situation now,” Hayden proclaimed. “Your friend Spencer is completely at fault.”

“but...” Olivia started angrily but was cut off by Hayden.

“No but’s, from Calaeris’s perspective your friend not only manhandled his familiar but also showed signs of possible violence. I have no doubt that any one of us here would have reacted the same way in a similar situation so calaeris will not be punished.”

it was clear on Natalie’s face that she wanted to argue but her last year of training in the academy had not been for nothing and she had been conditioned to obey the teacher's commands.

Mr. Talon then walked over and brought even more bad news for Natalie's squad “I believe that is the second time that he has personally made such a large error in judgment I believe that I must fail him out of the exam do you agree Hayden”

upon seeing Hayden’s nod Mr. Talon continued. “Because it was Spencer alone that made the mistakes only he will be failing and the rest of you must continue with the examination.”

Everyone in Natalies group’s faces went pale. Failing even one of the exams meant leaving the academy. this caused the caliber of students that graduated their 7th year to be extremely high, but also for there to be few students who made it to that level. Also failing out alone often brought some shame to a family. to fail out alone a single person had to make multiple critical mistakes and this rarely happened but if it did that person's abilities were often questioned.

Natalie and her friends realized that spencers father would raise a storm about this but there was nothing that he nor anyone else could do, once someone failed out of the academy it was final.

While everyone else was still in shock at the news Mr. talon started talking again. “Spencer is still in a critical condition he has stabilized for now but I will need to take him back to the capital to get proper treatment. I will be leaving with him tonight and I will take calaeris with me”