Aronian thought: so this is the strange millstone the nobles have been talking about. Does it really work without magic? And if you looked closely, it was everywhere in this house.
Louis walked up to the lever and pulled it.
Luciela said she did not know how he had come up with it, but Louis had done it all himself. Thanks to this child their lives had become so much easier. But for the director to come to them in person — had the child done something during the exam?
Aronian laughed and said that, on the contrary, he had shown results beyond imagination. He had only ever read about such talent in the sacred scriptures of Gaia.
When humanity was oppressed by the tyranny of the monsters, a genius appeared. Guided by the goddess, he comprehended the essence of the elements and created battle magic. Five years later, together with his comrades, he defeated the monsters and saved humanity from extinction. The memorable day from which the count of the sacred calendar begins was afterwards called liberation day.
The people cried out that they had done it. In the sacred scriptures of Gaia he is listed as the first hero.
"A true saviour," Luciela exclaimed.
Louis said thoughtfully that the legends never said what became of the hero who saved humanity.
Aronian answered that no, the hero appeared in another form. He was a man with black hair and eyes of the same colour. This was a great secret that only the very top of humanity knew about.
The hero certainly saved people. But at the same time madness lived in his heart. Voices told him to kill everyone. He committed an unforgivable and grievous sin, and he was erased from the pages of history. Inner rage is like a curse.
Louis thought: inner rage. Was that really it?
Aronian said that was why, when they found a man with black hair and black eyes, they were obliged to destroy him. Did he think he could fool everyone simply by dyeing his hair?
Luciela cried out with tears in her eyes. It was she who had told him to dye his hair. She had not been trying to hide anything. She had only thought that something bad might happen to him. He was really a good child — please.
"It's all right, Mother," Louis said. If the director had wanted to kill him he would have done it already. And since he had come here, it meant there was a reason.
Aronian said that he was surprisingly wise for a boy of thirteen. He had not only managed to resist the inner madness, he had tamed it. He saw in him the qualities of a new hero.
"A new hero?" Louis asked.
"Yes," Aronian answered. This world might seem serene, but beneath the surface a great darkness was lurking. Watching him today, he had suddenly thought that the legends were not so absurd after all. He wanted to guide him along the right path, for the future of humanity.
Aronian threw an apple, and Louis caught it quickly.
Aronian said that thanks to the efforts of Fay and Cain, most of the applicants had failed the final test. In other words, he had passed the entrance examination of the Candria Arcanist Academy.
Did he not wish to become his personal disciple?
Louis smirked and asked whether he had decided to bet on him. And if one day he turned berserk?
Aronian clenched his fist and said that when that happened, he would kill him.
Some time afterwards, a clerk asked whether he really had been personally invited by Director Aronian.
Louis answered that he had come here for more than just that reason. He grabbed his head and thought that yesterday had been a warning of some kind.
The clerk said that it was such an honour. They would look into the costs of tuition, uniform and dormitory fees.
Louis wondered what connected him to the legendary hero. He remembered Aronian's words and wondered how far he could trust them.
A little while before, he had asked the director why he had said all of that in front of his mother. She had looked so worried.
Aronian replied that if he kept her in the dark, she would only become a burden. Was he wrong?
"My mother is not a burden," Louis said, displeased.
Aronian turned around and said that when his true identity was revealed, his family would be in danger. As a mother, she ought to understand the situation to some extent. He needed to become stronger, because the real trials were only beginning.
Louis thought: the director is right. He needed to become stronger.
At that moment a girl came running and screamed, "Brother Louis!"
He hugged her and said her name. "Lana."
She asked with tears in her eyes whether he would come back sometimes. She did not want to say goodbye to him.
"Of course," Louis said. He would come back during the long vacation. This was his home, after all.
Lana took hold of his little finger and asked whether that was true. Mother said that only bad children do not keep their promises.
He would keep it, Louis said. There was no need to worry.
His father called from the doorway. "Louis, some nobleman's butler is looking for you."
"A nobleman?" Louis asked.
He went out to the carriage, and a man climbed down from it and asked whether he was Louis Kiril. He was the butler of the Oranka family. The young master wished to invite him to the estate.
Louis opened the letter and thought: an invitation from Cain. Did he want to strengthen their friendship before classes at the academy began?
"I understand," he answered.
The butler gestured toward the carriage with both hands and asked him to get in.