“Uhm… well, welcome to the Magic Association, so… how am I supposed to start that..?”, Umbrum, being on the ground floor, was in front of two dozens of peasant that were incredulously watching him. They seemed not to believe that the person in front him was welcoming him, he was so… awkward.

“Alright, so, first, I will introduce myself, I am… Umbrum, part of the Magic Association’s responsibles, under the supervision of our Chairman, Drake. I am a mage since my childhood, so first… well, why are you here? To learn magic? To become stronger?”, instead of a conference or an one-sided talk, the mage thought it would be better for it to be a discussion.

“...are you really a mage?” , that was the first question, he needed to prove his identity as a member of the Magic Association, he did not have the choice. Otherwise, Drake would be branded as a liar. First, he preferred to clear any doubts and misconceptions they may have.

“So… first, I am an… unusual mage, what I mean is that the spells I use are not common, so what you will see is something you will probably never see again if you become a mage as well, that is.”, afterwards, he decided to show his signature spell, the one he used the most during his whole life, one that simply devoured the existence of something. Edax Umbra, a spell that only him could use, that only him knew.

“This spell is only known and usable by me, if you do not understand, I will explain later on, for now, please, just watch.”, exhaling and inhaling deep breaths, the young man seemed to be quite stressed and then, after a few dozens of seconds, under the eyes and gazes of the peasants, both of his arms disappeared, as if they never existed. Seeing this, a few screams ensued before both of his arms come along with his voice explaining as quickly as possible.

“This is my spell, it erases the existence of things overall, or so we could say. But that’s temporary, basically, it doesn’t hurt anyone, I need to be in physical contact with the person for it to work, And… well, I need to use my mana, how to say… you see when you are… keeping your breath underwater? At a moment, it will run out, and mana is similar I suppose?”, as he was trying to explain, midway, he stopped.

Why? Because, seeing their reactions, he thought they needed time to digest what they have seen, some seemed to be astonished, excited, terrified, anticipated, but none of them seemed to be doubtful anymore, they were believing in him.

“...do we need time..? Perhaps you want to eat something, so as we are waiting, I can ask you a few questions and perhaps… well, give first-hand advices for if you want to learn magic that is…”

Trembling, Umbrum was slightly afraid, around a meal, the atmosphere would usually be more familiar, so, more embarrassing and awkward for him as they might begin to tease him about what he might do. However, despite everything, in spite of all the flaws he has shown, it seemed that he has done a good work considering the smiles he could see on their face, it was the best he could do, he could just bring those smiles. .

The meal seemed to be creamy chicken with mushrooms, it was something Umbrum never ate, chicken he already did, although, what was this strange cream? And those slice vegetables, it seemed to be as thin as leaves. Using a fork, he pierced the chicken and cut it with a knife before eating this piece accompanied by cream and mushroom, slipping between his lips, he felt surprised by its substances, it seemed that it will melt into his mouth, it was just so…

“Delicious!!”,Umbrum almost screamed as he ate this. The people that were invited stared at him before laughing so loud that nothing else but laughter could be heard in the ground floor, the mage they just met was really just a normal kid, he just had magic in more but personality-wise, he was a child, he could even be their son or little brother according to them.

After a little hour or two, they finished their lunch, happily and cheering for the young mage who was feeling more and more stressed as time continued to flow, to go forward like a river. He was back at his previous seat, standing straight and reluctant, he wished he could not feel stress. In front of them, he still needed to talk, however, he was not good at explaining, he just seemed to be someone that people liked to hang around with, afterwards, taking him as a mentor would not be appealing to anyone considering his personality.

“Anyway, now that you are convinced by magic, I have a question… do any of you know how to read?”, strangely, more than half of them knew how to read, Umbrum felt that it was strange, he thought that none of them would be able to read. It was rather a good news, a little smile crept on his face as his heart seemed to be more at ease.

“I will be honest, it will be really, really hard for you to learn magic without being able to read. As it requires a lot of studying, so, first, I will be honest, it might be a harsh requirement… but you need to be able to read.”, some seemed to be perplexed as they felt quite odd, so, if they read they can use magic.

“After… on top of the studying, there is the practice and the need to have a mentor to initiate your training unless you are really lucky. The studying will probably take… at the very least before beginning to use magic… one year? Then, to use practical magic that can be utilized commonly, that will not be useful, two years? I don’t know, it is rather uncommon for people to have the same way of learning, same abilities and so on. Everyone is different after all. I can’t give something precise or an average that will not help, you can consider this as a gamble, it’s risky, it might be not worth it… as for me, I lost and won things, it’s not only benefits.”

Hearing this broke the legend of magic they had in their mind, they thought that immediately once they learn magic, their lives will become innumerably better, however, even if the person in front of them seemed pretty unreliable, he was still someone who knew how it works since he is a mage who probably struggled.

“So… err… my friend might scold me for saying this but… those who are ready to sacrifice something in order to gain something should stay while the others… well, you are not fit to be here? You should live like you always did and be happy, just remember the most important is to be happy.”, hearing those last words, they felt odd, He seemed to be wishing them luck in life, however, he was telling them to leave as well, was it not a paradox? Wouldn’t you wish people to be happy and stay with them afterwards? Unless you are sick and going to die, but he was not, he was young. Nevertheless, his words seemed like he was disappearing. Afterwards, only a few people were left, only six stayed, among them, four knew how to read, it was rather unexpected in his opinion. It was still above his expectations, he thought that he deterred them enough to make all of them flee, although, some stayed. Four girls and two boys stayed, all of them were of different ages and social classes it seemed. He guessed he will have to ask the identity of each of them turn by turn once Drake comes back, first to establish if they really have the will to go forward on this way, or if they are just pretentious.

“Well, I will have to interview all of you one by one, turn by turn, in private… and say report to Notitiam and Drake… oh, and just in case if you don’t know it, Drake is the chairman, he seems to be rather young despite what you might think since he is basically the founder of this association… while Notitiam, you might or might not have heard of him, he is not a mage or anything, he is… good at gathering informations I suppose?”, he did not know how to describe them, at a moment, he desired to speak about how impulsive they were and how they were so easily influenced by their emotions, nevertheless, he quickly shut his mouth after rethinking it twice or thrice. It will ruin even further the image they had of the Magic Association.

Descending, some footsteps could be heard, the stairs seemed to be grinding for some reasons, it was disturbing, on top of attracting attention, everyone’s eyes turned toward the people going down.

“When we talk about monsters…”, hearing this, they understood what he meant, they immediately discovered who they were. It was the chairman and the informant, it was quite quick, once he spoke about them, they descend the stairs, was it not suspicious? More than half of them were thinking this while two seemed to be fascinated by the two coming down, just like children, it was cute in its own manner.

“Greetings, my name is Drake, the current chairman of the Magic Association, or to be honest, this association has not been founded yet, it is a project for the greater good, for everyone to joins it under lighter requirements and more open-mindedness as we wish to differ from the Esoteric Syndicate. I will let Notitiam, a rather reliable person you can count on.”, people might not have noticed, but clearly it was a sarcastic comment on Notitiam’s inherent nature to take advantage of people and their naivety. As well as to manipulate them to get more informations, to get more power and so on, basically, he seemed like a gentle person who was the contrary of his looks.

“Drakecor V. Aesitla is his full name, however, he completely dislikes it. So if you call him like this, he will basically low-key ruin your lives and souls at the same time, your morals will be destroyed in little pieces, stomped and thrown in an incinerator, after, he would throw the ashes in the se-”, before he could even finish his sentence, he felt a sudden pain, his stomach seemed to have gone deeper into his body, or to be blunt, Drake punched his belly with a wide smile that could be seen by everyone.

“Notitiam, next time you want to badmouth me, can’t you just do it when I am not here, I don’t mind, I just have troubles imagining your life worse than what it is currently… so it’s fine.”, Drake’s sarcastic tone lightened his words, as in they did not take it seriously, if they did, they would obviously escape from this building as quickly as possible. Obviously, Notitiam’s life could be worse, so they thought they were just fooling around.

“Anyway, let’s get back to the point… since you are six and we are three, each of us will take two people to interview, and each of us will go into different rooms, I will stay here as for me, Umbrum will go to his bedroom to interview you, while Notitiam… well, let’s just throw him outside. Just kidding, in my office.”, Notitiam shook his head and climbed the stairs, Umbrum hesitated and decided to follow him, he felt like something was wrong with what he said, making an interview within his bedroom? Why? Wouldn’t it be a bit too awkward for both of them? Or was there something in his bedroom? Did they do something while he was on the ground floor?

“Aaaaaaah…”, a long sigh escaped his mouth as he felt hesitant whether to really do it or not, perhaps, while he chooses who goes to which room, he could clean a bit the place to make it look a bit more professional?

At the very least, he could try, succeeding was another question.