How did I get to the ground floor without breaking my neck was a mystery, but I really hoped that this wasn’t going to happen again. The last thing I needed was some nasty side effect of the imperial brainwashing. Going back to my room and resting would probably be a good choice, and I was planning to do just that after taking a look around this floor.

Unlike the first and second floors which contained only five bedrooms each, the ground floor was a shared space. It was divided into rooms such as the entrance hall where I found an information board with a posted notice saying that the door to the dormitory would remain locked till tomorrow morning; the recreation room filled with pillows, various board games such as the game or ur, water pipes, and a small drawer full of herbs; the dining room that I for now decided to ignore; the group study room that had quite a collection of great philosophers’ works like the famous masterpiece ‘unification of language’ by Kalisto; a storeroom with many small barrels of wine, some dried meat, snacks, and other preserved food supplies; lavatories, unfortunately there were no aqueducts on Dove Island, but at least I found bronze basins full of water and could wash my hands that for some reason were all sticky; and something that probably was an annex for the servants, but I could only guess since the door to it was locked.

Strangely, I had yet to spot a single servant after my guide had left. Anyway, it looked that only ten candidates were housed in this dormitory and that some of them were having a lively conversation inside the dining room.

Before I joined them, I used one of the small mirrors placed on an ornamented table in the corner of the corridor to make sure that there was nothing wrong with my attire and hair. In comparison to the female version, the male uniform was composed of a pair of elegant black pants, white shirt, a crimson doublet with silver buttons, and a leather belt with two handy pouches attached. There had to be some great secret involved in the creation of this outfit since it caused even my painfully average face to look a little bit more handsome.

After I managed to get the last strand of my short brown hair exactly where I wanted it to be, I walked into the dining room. Inside, three men were sitting around a big round table. Each was older, probably taller, and for sure more handsome than me. The best-looking one had short silver hair, a face that a statue of a hero from the past wouldn't be ashamed of, robust body, and an aura of leadership. Two chairs to his left sat a second guy whose appearance was definitely less athletic and more sophisticated. He had medium black hair gathered in a ponytail, a cold expression that seemed both intelligent and calculating, and unbelievably pale skin. The last person sat opposite to the others, and unlike the previous two who were calm and composed, his pretty face was ruined by a look full of distress and anxiety. His short brown hair was similar to mine, but the same couldn’t be said about his muscular body.

Actually, I felt stupid for even trying to make a better first impression by putting a bit of effort into my deficient appearance. This caused my confidence to take some damage, but more importantly, it also made me lose the initiative.

“Oh!” The silver-haired one stood up upon noticing my entrance, he moved quickly, and we were shaking hands before I even grasped the situation. His grip was solid and powerful. “A fellow candidate joins our small gathering. Good to know that we aren’t the only ones who want to socialize. How should we call you? By number? Or have you thought of something else already? By the way...” He showed me the back of his hand on which was the number L. “... call me Fifty, I’m perfectly fine with it.”

He practically pulled me towards the table and forced to sit down, the big smile on his face didn’t waver even for a second. As for his question, I had already thought about the way to introduce myself, and since I didn’t want to be called Forty-eight, I had picked a new name - Rex. It meant both ‘king’ and ‘monarch’ and my gut feeling told me that it was the right choice.

I raised my left hand for everyone to see. “Forty-eight, but call me Rex.”

Their response was far from what I expected. Fifty couldn’t contain laughter, and the pale guy looked at me as if I was retarded.

“Sorry, but if you want to choose that name, then you will have to be satisfied with Rex Number Three.” Said Fifty while shifting his gaze between the ponytailed guy, the muscular guy, and me.

“... seriously?” I asked to which he nodded.

“I’m Rex.” Said the pale guy coldly. It wasn’t possible to tell his number because of the pair of white gloves he wore. “Pick something else, and this guy over there.” He pointed with his chin at the depressed person. “He doesn't deserve to be called as such, even if we add 'number two' to it. If he isn't able to collect himself, then his name will be forty and four. All that drama over a few sealed memories, pathetic.”

A loud bang reverberated in the entire dining hall. Forty-four smashed his fist into the table. “What the fuck do you know?!” He yelled at the top of his lungs.

“Come on, calm down, there’s no point in taking your anger on us.” Fifty immediately intervened, but it wasn’t enough.

Forty-four hit the table once more and abruptly stood up, toppling his chair over. In response, Fifty quickly rose and was ready to forcibly persuade this guy to calm down, a grimace of frustration broke through his previous static smile. Rex remained sitting and continued to derive joy from the whole situation, his shoulders rose up and down in quiet mocking laughter. As for me, I was good at providing support from a safe distance, and that was exactly what I wanted to do.

However, the enraged guy remained unmoving, hot air bursting out of his nostrils. He probably had enough self-control left to realize that ‘we’ wouldn’t allow him to pummel Rex’s face into oblivion just because of a petty insult, or he didn’t want to hurt his chances to become an imperial adjudicator. Ultimately, after a few seconds of this standoff, he only kicked away the lying chair and walked out of the dining room.

“Ha… haha... hahaha!” Rex erupted with laughter so loud that it wouldn’t be strange if Forty-four decided to come back here and fight despite the odds. “He didn’t even try to punch me? Is he a lowborn scared of the noble me?! What a loser!”

“Why are you doing this? It’s the second time. I will seriously help the next person who wants to hurt you.” Said Fifty, irritation was seeping into his voice.

“Well, it’s fun. But more importantly, I’m looking for suitable allies.” Rex responded nonchalantly.

“Allies you say? Doesn’t look that way to me.” Replied Fifty and grabbed a cookie from one of the bowls placed on the round table. He examined it from every side and ate in a single bite.

“Your way is flawed.” I joined the conversation and caused them both to turn their heads in my direction. “Even if you will find someone who’s not controlled by emotions and-”

“Oh shut up Forty-eight, will you?” Interrupted Rex. “You’re talking as if I didn’t know this already. Cold efficiency and perfect cooperation in spite of mutual aversion are what I’m looking for. Got it? Or did the sealing procedure fried your brain, Forty-eight?”

“Ekhm!” Interrupted Fifty while extending a hand holding a cookie to each of us. “So, you want to remain Rex Number Three or…?”

“No, of course not. Call me Faust.” I accepted his attempt to change the topic, took the cookie, and picked the first good sounding name that came to mind.

“What about Faust the Third? Think about it, it’s a perfect fit for a third-grade noble like you. Wait, are you even a noble in the first place? With a face like that...” Surprisingly, Rex also accepted the cookie and ate it, not that it changed his attitude.

“Oh come on…” Fifty sighed deeply, thinking that another fight was about to break out.

But Rex’s provocations were lost on me. True, they added to the smoldering fury deep inside, but it still wasn't enough to overpower that something which was holding it back. Instead, I chuckled and shook my head. The pale guy’s expression slightly changed, he was waiting in anticipation for my riposte.

I continued to chuckle.

I had to buy more time to think of something witty to say.

Why my brain always, ALWAYS, stopped working when I needed it the most?

Heavens, there had to be something I could reply with! But this guy had no openings to exploit except for his pale skin, and for sure I couldn’t win this with ‘are you so cold and white because your mother had an affair with a snowman?’... dammit, that was the best I could think of.

As the pressure from Rex, and Fifty’s growing realization that my chuckle wasn’t a sign of an incoming riposte, became too hard to bear, a sudden impulse caused me to grab a fistful of cookies and threw them at Rex.

“W-what?” “Why?” As the cookies harmlessly bounced off Rex’s uniform, they both looked at me as if I had grown an additional pair of arms.

“Just feeding animals.” I said the words that appeared vividly among my thoughts.

Rex’s face, that was quickly turning red, and his visibly hostile posture signaled that he wasn’t going to leave it with that, but I was faster and added: “Please don’t say anything and make us hit you, that would be animal abuse.”

I hardly knew what was wrong with abusing animals, but I sure made it sound as such, and Rex wasn’t going to admit that there might have been an imperial law he didn't know about. He started massaging his temples, and his flushed face slowly returned to its initial pale state. I guessed that was the end of our short exchange.

Was that how sudden inspiration felt like? Well, it was similar to the strange urges that had appeared while I had been talking with that small girl, but I didn’t reject them this time. Anyway, I loved the effect, and so did Fifty who jovially patted my back.

“Are you satisfied? Can we talk about something serious now?” Fifty asked Rex.

“A wannabe hero and… Faust. Could be worse. At least you two don’t stink like that filthy rat upstairs.”

One thing was certain, cooperating with this guy wasn’t going to be pleasant. It would be best to get as much information out of him as I could and look for a more agreeable company.

“Don’t call her like that. She’s quite intelligent, you know? Just a bit unapproachable.” To my surprise, Fifty interceded for the girl number forty-one. But Rex only snorted and decided to ignore him.

For the next two hours, we talked about various topics. Of course, we started from the selection of the adjudicators itself. It turned out that both of my temporary companions had more or less realized the same things I did. Less in the case of Fifty, as he only knew that our memories were erased but couldn’t tell which areas were affected. More in the case of Rex, who had a theory that those memories were not erased, but simply sealed. He said that if one tried hard enough, then it should be possible to regain them. In support of his thesis, he shared with us the single memory he had managed to recover. Apparently one of the other candidates was his twin sister. If we managed to confirm her existence, then it would be a huge step forward. Armed with this knowledge, I hypothesized that the empire may use unsealing our memories as bait for further indoctrination. Though Rex agreed, he didn’t see anything wrong with aiming to become an imperial adjudicator as long as he could remain himself. Fifty was more hesitant, but in the end, he also saw this selection as a precious chance.

Next, our topic shifted towards the candidates. It seemed that they had separated us into five groups of ten candidates each since Fifty said he had counted five identical dormitories on his way here. I had to admit that paying attention to your surroundings was quite an achievement when your mind was occupied both by throbbing pain and overwhelming confusion. Our dormitory housed candidates with numbers from forty-one to fifty, and we began enlisting all we knew about each of them.

Forty-one was the white-haired girl standing on the first floor. It was pretty obvious that she had used to be a slave or something similar and that was more than enough of a reason for Rex to refuse to tolerate her presence. We failed to convince him otherwise, even after using the argument that they had separated us in order to make all ten of us cooperate as a group.

Forty-two remained locked inside the room.

Forty-three was possibly a noble, but he hadn’t taken the loss of memories too well. He was the first guy who Rex had managed to piss off. Fifty said that he had to beat that guy into submission and drag him to his own room. We agreed that there wasn’t much point in talking with Forty-three until he calmed down and sorted his thoughts.

Forty-four was the second guy who Rex had pissed off. Although, he had more self-control than his predecessor. Possibly a noble, but there was a chance that he had a military background. It wouldn’t hurt to get to know him better.

Forty-five remained locked inside the room.

Forty-six remained locked inside the room.

Forty-seven was Rex’s number. He hated the brand and said that he would never take off his gloves in public. Of course, he also claimed to be a high noble. As for the place of his birth, it was the Raven’s Oligarchy. After hearing that, it wasn’t hard to guess that this pale skinned, black haired guy with superiority complex was probably a member of the house of Raven. However, he didn’t care much about it, saying that his indifference wouldn’t change even if his memories were to return. How much truth was in his words, I didn't know. Rex claimed that becoming the imperial adjudicator was the only thing that truly mattered.

Forty-eight was me. They asked me a few questions about my skills and background, but other than that I had nothing special to say. I also felt that it wouldn't be wise to share too many details.

Forty-nine remained locked inside the room.

“Not anymore.” A sudden voice interrupted our discussion. It belonged to a short girl who just opened the door to the dining room, quickly becoming the center of attention.

Her grey hair was made into a side bun, emphasizing her big forehead, held together by two amber hair sticks. A few strands of hair on the opposite side of her head were left alone, partially covering one of her azure eyes and adding some messiness to this otherwise neat hairstyle. A smug smile gave her pretty face a rather wily look. She also tried to show us that when worn properly by an appropriate person, the female uniform was indeed a sight to behold - but failed. While there was nothing wrong with the somewhat loose bottom of her dress, the tight top allowed us to count her ribs easily - this girl was terribly skinny, it was almost as if she hadn’t eaten for days. Nevertheless, she happily waved to us, making sure that we all saw the number XLIX burned on her left hand.

“Arranging hair took so long you almost starved yourself, Forty-nine?” Started Rex. He released a few strands of hair from his black ponytail and moved them to cover his eye.

The girl ignored his words and scoffing gestures, she focused on taking a quick look around the dining room. There were two empty chairs between each of the three of us, yet out of all the possible choices she moved to sit down next to Fifty, sending him a warm smile.

“Don’t mind him, just throw him a cookie if he spits too much poison.” The most handsome among us was quite pleased with this development. “I’m Fifty, this is Faust and Rex. What about you? Do you want to be called by your number or…?”

“Hmm~, good question.” The girl crossed her arms on the table and rested her head on them.

“I’m curious Forty-nine. Your skeletal body is painful to look at, but with that face of yours, it should be still possible to earn some coin. Do you remember how many clients you sucked before coming to the Academy or were those mem-”

It happened in an instant. One second Fifty was sitting calmly with his usual smile, the other, his fist was burying itself into Rex’s face. The pale guy flew back quite spectacularly, though it was mostly because of his own reflex to avoid the incoming object than the force behind it.

“I warned you, and I’m doing you a favor. Even if she’s not of noble birth, right now she has equal status to ours. You’re walking on thin ice, you know?” The evident satisfaction in Fifty’s voice revealed that he had wanted to punch that guy for some time now.

“... umm… I know I may not look like it, but I’m preeeeety sure I’m a noble. Not that it matters much in this place...” The short girl scratched her head awkwardly while distancing herself from those two. She ended up sitting right next to me, inspected my fed up expression, and whispered: “A hero and a villain, and you are?”

“The inventor of many potato dishes.” I replied without caring for the volume of my voice and took a second look at the girl. Though she was short, her age shouldn’t be far from mine.

The girl’s reaction was instantaneous, she began laughing loudly with hands on her belly and tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Fifty, whose attention had been focused on Rex, looked at us not understanding the situation. He expected a constant stream of praises coming from the gray-haired girl, yet she was busy with moving her big forehead up and down in an uncontrollable fit of laughter. On the other hand, Rex’s angry expression was replaced with a smirk as he watched the whole situation unfold.

The pale guy wiped the blood from his dissected lip, dusted off his clothes and said: “Your ‘damsel in distress’ is dying of laughter, shouldn’t you help her with your fists full of justice, Wannabe Hero?” Rex released another portion of words coated in venom and briskly walked out of the dining room.

“Hahahaha! S-sorry, hahaha! I c-can’t… haha!” Forty-nine struggled to catch her breath, and Fifty continued to pressure me with a gaze that demanded an explanation.

“What? It’s true, give me a potato, and I will show you the power hidden within.”

“Just… ehhh… whatever.”

It took over fifteen minutes for Forty-nine to calm down, and it would have taken even longer if Fifty didn’t ban the usage of the p-word. Then we shared our information with her and decided to go back to our rooms. It was already late, and it didn’t seem that anyone else was going to come to the ground floor today. But just as we were about to leave the room, Forty-nine abruptly stood up and announced something unexpected.

“My name! I almost forgot. I like you guys so I will give you a chance to name me. But you know, giving a name to someone is important, like reallyyy~ important, that’s why you only have two chances each. But, the prize is worth using all your brainpower, and maybe even some radiance if you know how to imbue a name with it, not that it’s possible, but well, a radiance-imbued name now that would be something! Anyway, like I’ve said it’s an important issue, and the prize is… becoming my father! Yes-. Hey! Don’t look at me like that!” She shot a glance full of reprimand towards our completely confused selves. “Who else can name someone other than that person’s father or mother? Or wait… you want to become my mom? That’s kind off… well, you know... let’s stick with a father, alright?”

I placed my hand on Fifty's shoulder. "Congratulations, it's a girl." And quickly evacuated myself from the room...

... or at least tried to, but before I noticed, Fifty's iron grip was fastened around my wrist.