Rose and I made our way back to the mansion.
Right when we got there, Rose made her way to the staff rooms to change back into her maid uniform.
I had often seen Rose in casual clothes, or other outfits than her maid uniform, but she always said that we had to be in private or off duty for her to do that.
And since she was off duty to take the test, she wore her normal clothes.
I had a number of worries about Rose and my retionship, but I never voiced these to anyone before.
The biggest of these was the fear that if Rose no longer worked for my family, would we stay friends?
I made my way to find mom and dad, to tell them we had finished taking the test.
We had gotten lucky that our tests overpped.
Eventually, I found mom and dad in the garden outside. Dad was working, but it seems that mom had dragged him outside to spend time with her.
I had noticed that mom got very bored without me to do stuff with. So on days when I was doing sword training with dad, she often bugged the maids a lot more than normal.
There had even been talks of her going back to do some adventurer work once in a while.
Dad wasn’t against it, but when they talked about it, he seemed sad he wouldn’t be going with her.
While I was growing up, I had noticed time and time again just how much the two of them loved each other.
I walked up to the two of them.
When they noticed me, their faces lit up.
“Nyx, your home. How did the test go?” Dad asked, accepting the chance to put his work down.
“Well, I think. At least my combat test was good” I say.
“Really? Most students can’t usually judge that one” Dad said.
“Well, I beat the knight that was testing us, so” I say.
Mom and Dad stared at me bnkly when I said that.
Then dad burst out ughing. “Ha, that newbie knight probably didn’t see that coming” he said.
“Newbie?” I asked him.
“The knights used for the testing are usually low ranking newbie knights from the commoners. Based on your training, no wonder you beat him” dad said.
“Oh, I didn’t know that”
“Yeah, since they are picked right from basic training, they normally have a lower proficiency then regur service knights, and they are all low level as well”
This made sense. It was not impossible to beat the knight during this part of the game. And beyond that, it was possible to beat basically any monster with basically nothing in game.
They give you the basic things you need to beat everything during the tutorial. A guard skill and dodge roll.
I had seen people beat the whole game without gaining levels before, using a modded version of the game.
You needed a lot of skill with the movement, which over the st 4 years, I gained.
“What about your duel against the other students?” mom asked me.
“That one ended in a draw. He was a strong magic user. And it showed me I need to get better at a medium range, or at closing the distance” I said, thinking about my match with Aric.
“So you lost that one, thats fine” Dad said.
“Oh, no we drew in the match, though I was about to win” I said back.
“Ha, well then there is no need to worry.” Dad said, and mom smiled.
Soon, Rose came back out, now in her maid uniform.
“And how did you do today, Rose” Dad asked.
“Quite well, Master Hadron. The only point where I will miss any points will be the written test, though it is only a small chance I am not in S css with Master Nyx” she said, very matter of fact.
This was strange, since I wasn’t positive I would make it into S css yet.
“Well, that is good to hear” Mom said. “Nyx, how about you rest for the rest of the day. Same with you Rose”
“Thank you Misters Cordelia” Rose said.
“Yeah” I said to mom, going back to my room in our capital mansion. I didn’t have anything to do for the rest of the day, or the next month until school started.
∴
The king and queen were having dinner with there twin sons, Micheal and Oscar. They were talking about there pcement test today.
“So, how do you both think you did” the king said.
“Alright. My test for the research css was interesting” Oscar said.
Micheal did not respond.
“What did you have to do for it?” The queen asked. She was very interested in her son’s life.
“There was a lot of alchemy and magic items. Both making them and basic knowledge on them.” Oscar said.
“And how about the written test for basic csses?” The king asked.
“Quite good. No doubt I am going to be in S css.”
This gets Micehal to speak up. “You should be. Same as me.” He said.
“Is that confidence or…” The queen asked.
Micheal had cimed from a young age a form of prophecy, including things about the school.
“Both. I know how smart my brother is, and I saw it coming.” Micheal said.
“So, how about a test of your abilities. Who will be our css’s top student” Oscar asked.
He and Micheal got along well for the most part. They were very different people, with different interests, but still got along.
Micheal had actually taken a concern with Oscar learning to fight, and convinced him to join the research css instead of combat.
“It should be Aric Voidwalker. In fact, he should be the only person who scored a perfect score on the written test.”
“And what about his combat test?” the queen asked. “There is no way he did better then you my dear” she said, in haughty derision towards anyone who dares be better then her son.
“I would have said that originally, but I believe someone is going to tie his score.” Micheal said. “And no mother. I am not as strong as him yet. But, it is only a matter of time”.
“Oh really? But if someone matched the famous son of the voidwalker lineage, who might it be.” the king asked. The voidwalker were not only famous in Stardom, his country, but several others as well.
“I believe her name was Nyx von Blut. THough, I have never heard of her before” Micheal said.
“Blut is a count family” the queen said. “Micheal, if you show an interest in this girl…”
“Mother, now is not the time for that” Micheal said quickly.
This conversation also silenced Oscar. As much as the two of them got along, this was a sore subject between them.
“Alright. But, I do wonder about that family.” the queen said. She was not a fan of Hadron, since he had decided to marry Cordelia.
The queen held Nobel blood in high regard, and his choice to marry a commoner girl was repulsive to her.
But his daughter being a second or third wife to her son would be fine, as long as she was not the main wife.
∴
Emily was eating with her mother.
She had expined about the day before, without mentioning seeing Nyx again.
The topic of Nyx had always been a sore subject between them, since Sharon loved to tease her daughter about him.
And at the end of the conversation, she asked her mother a question.
“Do you know where the Blut family mansion is?” Emilt asked her mother.
Sharon got a huge smile on her face from that.
∴
After returning to his home in the capital, Aric was greeted by no one.
The only other people in the mansion were maids and butlers, but none of them greeted him.
That was not the voidwalker way.
A clear line was made between the family and the servants.
And he wasn’t with any of his family currently.
They had sent him to the capital in stardom completely alone.
They only had one expectation from him.
To become strong.
When he walked through the halls of the mansion, he remembered his fight against the boy earlier.
He knew Nyx was a boy. He couldn’t expin it.
He was always good at telling things like that.
He was interested in him during the written test. He saw him finish the test really quickly. This was interesting, since he finished the test before Aric did.
And on top of that, Aric was pretty sure that some of the questions were not supposed to be answered. He had gotten them.
But he thinks Nyx got them as well.
In all of the room, he thinks only them got the answers.
Then they fought.
He had done a good job against the knight. Better than anyone else in their group. Borderline better than he did.
He didn’t have a chance to ask more questions about what level he was in anything.
But then they had their fight.
He showed off even more during that one. He was completely incapable of doing any damage against Nyx. He reacted just too fast, and was able to dodge every attack.
He also knew that if their fight continued, he would have lost.
And now back home, he knew something.
For the first time, he had an interest in someone else.
He knew it wasn’t love, like the princess thought it was.
Just interest.