The guards opened the gate and let Sebastian enter.

The first thing to come in front of him was the grassy lawn.
The building had a small lawn at the front with a pathway that leads to the building’s door.
Sebastian slowly walked towards the door while admiring the grassy lawn.

Suddenly he heard the sound of laughing from behind,
‘Wonder what’s the guard laughing on about,’ he thought.

Before noticing he had already reached the building’s doorstep.

Sebastian took a deep breath and opened the door and entered the building anyway.

As soon as he entered he found himself in a hallway entrance.
There was no one except a lady seated on the front desk busy writing something.

He entered the hallway while looking around.
There was a sofa kept on the side, along with a coffee table with a flower vase. As well as decorative paintings of landscape hanging on the wall.

Sebastian walked up to the lady sitting on the front desk,
“Excuse me? Sorry for interrupting but can you please help me out? I am trying to look for the registration office for the knight candidate exam.”

The lady quickly stopped what she was doing and glanced at Sebastian.
The first thing she did was examine Sebastian from head to body while still being seated at her seat. She made a sour look and totally judging him by his attire.
“Umm?” Sebastian muttered confusedly.

“Could I first see the scroll please?” she asked as she stretched her hand.

Sebastian obliged and handed her the scroll as asked.

The lady carefully examined the scroll and read its contents. After a minute of examining she let out a sigh and glanced at Sebastian with a pitiful look.

Sebastian was puzzled by her strange behavior,
"And?"

She finally spoke out,
“Do you really wanna take part in the exam without a relic?”

“Yes I do,” answered Sebastian with confidence.

She let out a sigh,
“Well, if you already made up your mind as entering a dead player, who am I to stop you,” she answered and stamped on Sebastian’s scroll.

"Dead player?"

"It's nothing. Nevermind," she replied with a smile.

The lady then handed the scroll back to him along with a piece of paper.
“Take this token, and head upstairs to the waiting room on the third floor. Once your number is called out, head to the registration office,” she suggested.

The receptionist lady, once again got back to her work what she was doing before.

Sebastian glanced at his token with a number 113 inscribed on it.
His eyes then fell on two stairs on both sides.

“Umm? Which stairs should I use to go up?” asked Sebastian with his usual nervous smile.

The receptionist lady glared at Sebastian with an annoyed look,
“Both stairs lead upwards anyway. But if you are asking which stairs lead to the waiting room, then both the stairs lead to the same place. So take any of the stairs you want and head to the room on the third floor.”

Sebastian was a bit embarrassed and his grin resurfaced,
“Uhm... Sorry to disturb you. Thank you for everything.”
'Oh crap, I just started smiling.' thought Sebastian as he stared at the receptionist lady for a reaction.

Although, the lady just didn't show any reaction and she just got back to her work.

Sebastian quickly picked the stairs at the right side,
‘It’s said to start every new journey with the right foot, hence taking the right side stairs should bring me some luck’ thought Sebastian as he started climbing the spiral stairs.

‘Also that lady didn’t faze when I nervously smiled. She's really pretty gutsy. We need more bold people like her.’ he thought to himself as he nodded his head.

But as soon as Sebastian went out of the receptionist lady’s sight, she took a breath of relief.
"That boy definitely looks evil and plotting something behind that sinister smile. I was scared for my life for a second there," she said to herself.

The lady managed to put quite a brave face and maintained her confident image as a devoted receptionist should.

After a short trail, Sebastian reached the third floor.
He once again found himself in a hallway. There was nothing here except for the hallway that leads towards a wooden door.

He looked around but couldn’t find anyone else on the floor. There were also no other room doors except for the room with the double door at the end of the hallway.

“I guess that must be the waiting room,” said Sebastian to himself as he proceeds towards the door and grabbing the doorknob.
‘Alright, this is it. I can’t screw up now. As it said the first impression is the last impression. I will try to befriend fellow examines even if we are rivals. This time I will try not to get nervous or angry.’ thought Sebastian he tried to psych himself up.

"This time I will surely not let my bad habit of smiling ruin the opportunity to make friends." saying so he opened the door.

As soon as he opened the door he was blinded by the lights that came out of the room.

It took a couple of seconds for his eyesight to adjust and that's when his eyes fell on the beautiful big chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
He couldn’t resist but look at that beautiful thing with adoration.
‘What is that beautiful magical glass? Is that thing emitting such bright light’ thought Sebastian as he entered the room.

This was the first time Sebastian had seen a chandelier, hence was very surprised by it.

But soon Sebastian’s eyes fell on the front and noticed himself in a big hall, where a lot of people were presently staring at him. Everyone was seated on comfortable seats and couch placed all around the room. Some were leisurely seated while some were standing at the corner. But each of the candidates looked was equipped with different weapons along with beautiful shiny armor.

Each and every candidate had this powerful and elegant aura around them. You could just tell from just looking at the equipment that they meant business.

Sebastian buckled up his guts and remembered,
‘Alright, everyone's here equipped with their armor and weapon. I should have done that too. Nevermind, what's done is done.’

Sebastian calmed his nerves and looked back at the candidates,
“Uh… Hello there. I am-”

But suddenly one of the candidates stepped in front of him.
This particular candidate armed with spear and was wearing a bright red armor that complimented with his red hair.

He interrupts Sebastian,
“Hey, you are right in time. I was wondering when they would send you.”

Sebastian was surprised,
“Huh? You talking to me?” asked puzzled Sebastian as he thought,
‘Who’s this guy? I don’t remember ever seeing him before.’

“About time you showed up. We all were waiting.” replied the red-haired guy.

“All of you were waiting for me?” asked Sebastian as he tried to understand what’s happening.

‘What’s going on, everyone was waiting for me?’ Sebastian thought to himself as he looked around, ‘But I don’t know anyone here… Wait for a second!’

'Is it that all the knight candidates act friendly toward their fellow rival candidates? Maybe they have an unspoken rule to act like best friends, even if they don't know each other. If so, then I must also reply back politely and in a friendly manner.'

“Oh, I am sorry to make everyone worry but I am here at last,” replied Sebastian cheerfully.

Suddenly a girl sitting on a couch with a black hair ponytail stood up,
“That’s right! How dare you show up this late. My throat has gone dry because of all the waiting.” she yelled at Sebastian with a serious tone.

Sebastian once again was confused,
“Huh?” he muttered as started thinking,
‘So I don’t know who this girl is either but are we already close enough to scold me? Is it also a part of a friendship or what? And how's that her throat dried have to do anything with me? What’s going on? What should I do?’

Sebastian confused but he still tried to play along,
“I uhh… I apologize for making everyone wait… Haha... um?”

‘Are they perhaps mistaking me for some other candidate friend of theirs, who might look alike? I have seen people reacting scared or ignoring but this is reaction totally new to me. Is it how people act with their friends? This is going too fast for me to make any sense.’

Red-haired dude stepped in,
“Calm down, Lisia. He’s here now, that's the only thing that matters. Cut him some slack.” he then turned towards Sebastian, “Don’t mind her.”

Sebastian took a sigh of relief,
‘This guy is really nice. I didn't even know how to react with that girl. Thanks, man.’ he thought as took a breath of relief.

The red hair dude then picked a tray from the table beside him and placed it on Sebastian's hands.

“Here you go.” said the red dude.

“For me?” asked surprised Sebastian.

In that tray contained dishes with leftover food and empty glasses which seemed to be used by those candidates.

Although Sebastian was confused,
‘What's this? Food? Is it supposed to be a token of our new friendship or what?’

The red-haired guy smiled,
“I don’t know what you mean by that, but please hurry and bring in the second serving.” saying so he patted Sebastian’s back, “This waiting is really making us hungry.”

Saying so the red-haired candidate walked back towards the other candidates.

‘Huh? Do these guys mistake me for someone that works here? That can't be right?’ thought Sebastian as he stared at the tray with leftover food.

“Ryan, how could you get friendly with a lowly worker like that?” asked one of the candidates who was seated on the sofa.

“Come on, he’s a human being too you know,” replied Ryan, the red-haired candidate.

“You are a nobleman, so you should also act like one.”

Sebastian doubts cleared and he let out a sigh,
“Excuse me… But you got the wrong idea,” said Sebastian politely.

“Huh?! Why are you still here? Didn’t I say to hurry?” yelled out the same girl from before, “I need a glass of wine right now. Just go, or else-”

“I don’t work here,” replied Sebastian as he walked towards the near table and placed down the tray.

The other candidates were also confused and started staring at him.

“So what are you here for?” asked Ryan.

Sebastian took out the scroll and presented it in front of everyone.
Soon a wave of mixed reactions occurred with everyone, but most of them were of disgust or nauseated reaction.

The red-haired dude also had a pained expression,
"Oh, sorry for jumping to the wrong conclusion," he replied while staring at Sebastian's attire.

"It's no problem. Haha...uh," replied Sebastian while half-ass laugh as he thought, 'It's time to buy a good pair of clothes. Too many mistaken identities in a single day.'