Tale 1 - Hero

........

"Brother...."

"Brother...."

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"Uh. Its that dream again."

It seems like I experienced that dream again.

I know that its a memory from the past, but I never remember when it happened, maybe because it happened a long time ago.

My name is [Yves Altair], 16 years old. I woke up early today since its the first day of school on my new school, [Hachn] Academy. I was from a family of commoners, so attending such high-class school might give me opportunities to improve my family's state of living. When we received my admission letter, my whole family was surprised. My family and friends congratulated me and we hold a little celebration since we don't have that much money to hold a grand celebration.

"Ah! I need to prepare!"

I don't want to be late since it's the first day!

I ate my breakfast and rushed towards the Academy.

[Hachn] Academy is known to be the first Academy to develop magical tools for practical use. Most of the prominent Magicsmiths throughout the continent graduated from this school.

'Master Magicsmith' is a title given to magical tools developer who made a ground breaking breakthrough in the history of Magic Tool Development. [Hachn] Academy already produced 44 Magicrafts since it's establishment.

As I approach the front gate, I see students entering the Academy. I noticed that most of them are children of prominent figures or nobles of high status. Since these people are granted with good education, most of them passed the qualifications needed to study in this Academy. It's a blessing for commoners just to enter this school, who were only given by basic math and language education. Most of the commoners who qualify are geniuses, who obtains background knowledge from books being published by the Kingdom. I could say that i'm not one of those geniuses, so to be qualified itself is much greater than a miracle.

When I entered the school, what catches my attention is the three statues towering in the middle of the the courtyard. From its contents, it says that these three people are the founders of [Hachn] Academy.

[

Verdant Year x400, 5th Day of Goldscale*.

On this day, [Hachn] Academy was created. It was proposed by [Gunther Trignum], creator of Magical Weapons known as Gun's and [Syrene Doll], the chief of Automata production to train future generations in fields of Automata and Gun's production. This plan came true with the help of the present king, the Lionheart [Hachn Crowell], who gave a piece of land and funds to start the construction of the academy. The academy was named [Hachn] Academy to remember His Majesty's goodwill.

]

The statues made of silver were placed in a stage, all of them are seated in their own seats while raising their cups using their right hand, like those in celebrations. In the middle was a man with a crown. On his left is a man with a weapon-looking magical tool. Inscribed on it was the words "Gunther's" and "Model Version 0021". On the right side was a woman accompanied by a dog. In the dog's body a word could be found, "Rolby RSN II". RSN stands for Research Serial Number, which is used to identify all research made within the Kingdom. Before the creation of Automata, these machines are developed to imitate animals. But the energy consumption is too great, they were unpopular until the discovery of [Etrium].

Behind those statues, I saw the main building. It is a wide circular structure with 5 floors. To access higher floors, one could use the stairs or the levitator, a magical device embedded with gravity magic. The lighting within the building is provided by [Citrinite], a glowing substance collected from newly excavated [Etrium].

"This is really amazing!"

My heart's skipping as I proceed to the venue of the opening ceremony at the center of first floor.

As I sat in front, I sensed some stares looking towards me. I waited for the ceremony to start, some male students approached me.

"Hey, poor looking student, who gave you the permission to seat in front of us?"

One plump student said those words to me. He's being followed by two strong-looking students.

"Yeah Yeah! You know, those of your status should take a seat --- AT THE BACK!"

One of his lackeys pulled my chair. Before I know it, my bottom struck the ground.

"Scram, garbage."

As the plump student said those words, his lackey laugh at me. Because of fear, I immediately distanced myself from that place. As a commoner, I always try not to offend any aristocrat. I still value my life and my family. I'll always place those precious things before my pride.

As I sat at the back, the ceremony starts. One middle-aged man walks to the stage.

"I am [Ulysses Farnoch], the present principal of the [Hachn] Academy."

So he's [Ulysses Farnoch], the 44th Master Magicsmith. To obtain such title at young age, he contributed to the Kingdom his design of holograms and long distance conversation. Hologram applies the laws of light and some of principles of refraction and reflection. A special device that compressed light was used to record the actions made during a fixed duration of time. The compressed light was sent through air to its destination. Once it arrives, its being reflected and refracted repeatedly to recreate the image within the compressed light. Long distance conversation uses Compressed air encased with the message. The time lag between the message depends on the distance between the two people holding the conversation. Now, he develops a special type of magic invocation to lessen or to remove the time lag within the conversation. He's one of the modern genius within the Kingdom.

"Welcome to [Hachn] Academy. This place would act as your second home during your stay here so please feel free to be at home. I'm not fond of speaking but I'll convey this advice to all of you."

"This school isn't a school favoring discrimination between ranks within our society. It holds dear who pursues wisdom, yet it forsakes fools who pursues something else. We might be a school funded by the royalty, but please remember that this school is another independent institution. We provide the Kingdom what we discover, yet we aren't controlled by the Kingdom. "

"Before I finish my speech, I would like to announce the creation of another department other than LRBW department and Automata department. In its 97th year of existence, we are here to introduce to you... The Adventurer's department!"

As he announce that, most of the people listening to his speech was taken aback. I was also shocked. [Hachn] Academy, which is famous for its contribution to Magical tool's success, creates a new department which is out of their expertise? No wonder everyone will be shock with such notice.

"All of you may think that this is a ridiculous department we created, yet we find it essential to train adventurers before joining the guild. The guild is an institution created by adventurers to solve peoples problems, take requests, etc. but this institution does not train new adventurers before entering the field. This results a large number of fatality on new adventurers every year. This is why we introduced this department. To train these adventurers to be prepared for field work. We will also use them as subjects that would be given the permission to use weapons and tools other departments would develop."

"Don't worry about the qualifications. During the examination, we included a physical and magical test so those who have aptitude will be qualified, we also gave you a questionnaire to answer. Based on your answers and the results, we will decide if you are qualified or not. Even if you are qualified, we would not force you. In fact you will be given a privilege to choose."

"That's all for my address, thank you for listening."

Then the principal descends from the stage. The one who replaced him was a man who was in his sixties, wearing a bishop's robe and has two Gun's buckled on both of his sides.

"To previous students, return to your classrooms for the homeroom. To all new students, you can now open your admission letters."

It seems like when he invoked those words, all of the admission letters was unsealed. As I opened my letter, The words within it shows my evaluation results.

[

Name: Yves Altair

Age: 16

LRBW test: Passed

Automata test: Failed

Physical test: Failed

Magical test: Passed

Conviction: Failed

First Choice: LRBW Department

Second Choice: Automata Department

Overall evaluation:

A person with great potential, but not granted of confidence to show his true worth. Has an average body, but shows signs of undergoing training during his childhood. Automata knowledge also acceptable, yet not on the level of average points to qualify as a student of the department. Shows a great interest on LRBW research, which is peculiar based on other results.

]

As I read my letter, I know myself that those words written on it was right. I might be a person without conviction in the eyes of other people, but I know myself that my conviction is directly on something else. It is to give my family a comfortable life, without suffering hunger ever again.

After I read my letter, a magic formation appeared on it. It made the letter disappear. After all admission letters disappear, the instructor announced.

"Those who were not qualified, proceed to your respective first choice classrooms."

65% of new students exits the place.

"Now, for those who were qualified, go at the back."

All of the new students moved towards the back.

"To all those who were qualified on either magical or physical aptitude, you are given a choice. Those who wants to enter the Adventurer's Department, proceed forward."

After announcing those words, only 20 people out of 200 new students walk forward.

I decide that I....

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*I based my calendar from the Xytegenian Calendar of Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together. For those who don't know the game, here's the calendar.

Godscale 24 days Jan. 1 - Jan. 24

Earthscale 25 days Jan. 25 - Feb. 18

Waterscale 23 days* Feb. 19 - Mar. 13

Shadowscale 24 days Mar. 14 - Apr. 6

Whitescale 25 days Apr. 7 - May 1

Flamescale 24 days May 2 - May 25

Windscale 24 days May 26 - June 18

Goldscale 25 days June 19 - July 13

Stormscale 24 days July 14 - Aug. 6

Darkscale 24 days Aug. 7 - Aug. 30

Seascale 25 days Aug. 31 - Sep. 24

Blackscale 24 days Sep. 25 - Oct. 18

Twinscale 24 days Oct. 19 - Nov. 11

Firescale 25 days Nov. 12 - Dec. 6

Lightscale 25 days Dec. 7 - Dec. 31

credits from: http://www.gamefaqs.com/psp/999440-tactics-ogre-let-us-cling-together/faqs/64586

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Author Notes:

I really need an editor.. Sigh.. :P Thinking while typing is really hard to do, you know :D

-LucidDreamer