Delta woke up the next morning with a splitting headache. He couldn't quite remember what had happened last night, but he did recall Athena being there.

"Oh, you're finally up! We were scared you'd be late for the Initiation! Trust me, you don't want the nicknames that come with the late punishment."

The boy seemed to be around 11 years of age and had short brown hair with hazel eyes. He was slightly shorter than Delta was, and seemed to have a friendly air about him.

"I like what you did with the bed, by the way. The duvets here are so stuffy! I heard from my brother that some of the Nobles were complaining about there not being enough padding in the duvets! I'm starting to appreciate my family being a Knights Family!"

"Speak for yourself," a voice in the doorway retorted, "these mattresses are giving my back pains in parts I didn't know existed!"

The voice belonged to a taller boy at a similar age of 11. He had blonde hair and deep blue eyes and appeared to Delta as the classic 'pretty boy' noble, making him instantly dislike the boy in question.

"Aren't there meant to be four of us in this dorm?" Delta inquired. He figured that if these were going to be his companions for the next four years, he might as well get to know them a little bit.

"Our last dorm member... how do I put this politely... he isn't exactly top mage material. He's currently the most favoured on the late student betting."

Delta, who had been brushing his teeth as they were talking, spurt out the water he had been rinsing his mouth with.

"There's a what?"

"A betting system. You know... like you put your money in, and then if your prediction is right -"

"I know what betting is. You mean to tell me that there's a betting system and you didn't tell me about it?

"Well I only just met you about ten minutes ago, and you've been out cold until then."

As much as Delta hated to admit it, the 11-year-old had a point. He mentally cursed his lack of interactions over the last few years, before turning back to the conversation at hand.

"When do we have to be at the initiation?"

The boy with the brown hair looked over at his militarised pocket watch.

"Well we need to be there at 9 AM.... and it's 8:49 right now."

"And you chose to tell me now?!" Delta replied explosively

"It only takes a minute to get down there and we all have our uniforms on so... oh. Where's your uniform?"

Delta took a second to wonder if all 11-year-olds were this clueless. He quickly ran back to his room and looked around for any uniforms Athena might have left for him. Hanging on the handle of his closet was a uniform made up of black suit trousers and a black buttoned polo shirt. There was a tie made up of black and red stripes and a blazer in, of course, a blazing red.

He quickly pulled on the uniform, used to wearing suits as a mercenary since he had to often infiltrate galas and other fancy events. Looking in the mirror, Delta felt like the uniform was a little over the top, but he quickly threw that mind out of his head when the boy with brown hair called out.

"We have to be there in 6 minutes!" he echoed out, speaking only to Delta yet being loud enough to alert the entire building.

Delta had no books or anything similar, and he still had no weapons which made him feel extremely uncomfortable. He locked the door to the bathroom opened the cupboard holding shaving equipment.

Although the children were still too young, it wasn't rare for some to have to shave by the time they were 12 because of their magic boosting their growth.

Delta took two razor blades and quickly yet efficiently grated them down until they were incredibly sharp. He hid them in a fold of his uniform, careful not to impale himself, before turning on the tap and flushing the toilet so that it seemed as if he had taken a dump.

He unlocked the door and said, "shall we go then?".

The pair rushed down towards the Hall of Janus, or HJ as the students liked to call it and barely scraped in before the clock hit 9. The Senior helping out with coordinating the event scowled at them as they entered as if he was looking forwards to watching them get embarrassed.

The Hall was made up of rows of seats that would increase in height as you went back, ending up at around 25 or so rows. The seats stretched around the back of the room, seating around 50 children on each row. The children would be arranged in a large U shape around a central area where a stage had been erected. A lone microphone stood atop a large pediment that overlooked small room partitions where students would enter the realm of Magic.

The selected type of magic would then be shown above the partition in a flash of light that would correspond to the type of magic. The students of the previous year would also attend the Initiation to greet their new peers into the school of Magic they had chosen as rivalries between the Magic Schools would be common and numerous. It was also a common occurrence for teachers to take prodigies as their own students or to move them up to a senior class if the student found things too easy.

Because of this, the Hall of Janus was always loud on the day of Initiation, and the day was seen as a day of festivities for the senior students, as they got a day off and could enjoy a show. For the students being initialised, however, things would be slightly tenser as many of their families specialised in a certain school of magic, so being rejected by that type would effectively make you a failure of a child. In fact, many families chose to have as many children as possible to maximise the chance of getting a good successor.

Delta and the brown-haired boy scanned the room for their blondie roommate, and quickly found him on the front row, with arguably the best seat in the facility.

"How'd you pull this off?" the brown-haired boy asked as they arrived.

"You'd be surprised as to how much a family name can get you! They moved for me as soon as I arrived! I didn't even get their names..."

It was only now that Delta realised he still didn't know what their names were. He blamed the fact that mercenaries never disclosed their real names to each other so that nothing could be used against them, but deep down he knew he simply didn't care enough for other people any more after he was betrayed.

"Speaking of names, what are your names?"

The two of them were surprised for a second, before realising they hadn't asked for his name either.

The brown-haired boy went first, "My name's Arthur. Arthur Roland. As my name suggests, I am from the noble Roland family, and I aspire to be a knight when I am older. My preferred magic type would be Ki to follow in the footsteps of my father."

Delta nodded, pleased with the response. Whilst he didn't care much for the boy's aspirations in general, the additional information was helpful.

"And you?"

"I'm Arlo Ravilli, heir to the Ravilli business and noble title. I aspire to become the richest man to ever live, and my chosen type of magic is Pact Magic because I want someone else to fight for me, and mercenaries cost too much. I don't really like mercenaries all that much if I'm honest. My dad tells me that they've tried to assassinate him many times and that a pact with a strong beast would be more reliable."

Delta couldn't help but hate him even more after this but hid his emotions under a facade of approval and agreement.

"My name is Delta. It was my family's decision that I do not disclose my family name, and I don't really have any magic preference if I'm honest. I'll probably just choose whatever I'm most attuned to."

Delta had originally intended to read up on the magic types before he left, but because of Athena's intervention, he knew nothing but what he had been told by his guide yesterday.

A loud voice ran out over the speakers.

"Now that everyone is here, let's begin with the most awaited part of the initiation, the punishments!"

Loud applause echoed from all parts of the full hall, as Delta looked towards where the sound had come from. Stood at the microphone was Athena, wearing a graceful office dress that Delta had seen in the last few days of his old life.

She looked over at him and winked, the expression lost in the chaos. This was going to be a long day.