Once my mind had caught up with the situation at hand, I could finally proceed in a more composed manner in regards to Cadmus’ requests.

“So what’s the pay and work that I’ll be doing?”

“We’ll need to go to the castle to get the specifics,” the masculine version of Minerva said eagerly. “But can we discuss that a little later, I’ve got to take care of my family for a bit.”

“Sure,” I replied casually. 

Although he could let the servants take care of the matter, I soon realized his disposition. After I had given him my approval, Cadmus quickly turned around to his family and hauled both his kids on his shoulders, the two children giggling happily. Behind him, all four of his wives were locked in a content chatter, having pulled Minerva in as well. 

“Strange bunch,” I said to no one in particular. 

“Isn’t that also applicable to us?” Sekh asked quizzically. 

“I never said it wasn’t,” I answered with a shrug. 

A brief period of silence passed before Zeph interrupted and tapped me on the shoulders. 

“Azel, if you’re taking that job, we won’t be helping you. Sekh and I have some sightseeing to do, as well as a number of restaurants to visit.”

“That’s fine,” I replied. “I’ll try to see if I can come with you when I can. But I’m a bit interested in this opportunity. No, it’s better to say that Minerva’s brother is the one that intrigues me.”

“What do you mean?” Sekh asked with a curious light in her eyes. 

Smiling wryly, I put my knuckles against my chin for extra emphasis.

“He seems like someone who gets himself in all sorts of interesting situations. And depending on his circumstances, there might be a particularly rare opportunity for me.”

Sekh seemed satisfied with my answer and began to joke about me getting into some silly theoretical situations. However, I had more or less slunk off into my own mind.

“When did I start enjoying stuff like this?” I thought while the sound of Sekh ranting reverberated against my ear. 

Only some time ago I had been Sekh’s reluctant hero. And here I was now, actually considering  helping some oddball I just met a few minutes ago. 

Smiling, I reached over to Sekh and began to tenderly caress her fluffy ears. 

“Was it that funny?” Sekh wondered with a happy look. 

“Oh, I wasn’t paying attention,” I replied with an easy grin. 

Pouting, Sekh pulled on my cheek in displeasure.

“You suck.”

“Poor choice of words on your part,” I snapped back with a cheeky look. 

“I’m sleeping with Zeph tonight then,” Sekh retorted mischievously.

“I wish you the best of luck, Zeph,” I said cheerily, not an ounce of concern for the innocent third party that had been caught in the conflict between Sekh and I. 

Escaping Zeph’s protests, I quickly climbed to the third floor in search of Cadmus, who I found walking towards the stairwell when I arrived. 

“Right on cue,” I chuckled when Cadmus and I made eye contact.

“Stole the words off my lip,” he replied in a friendly tone. 

“So onto business, I have a feeling that you’re not just recruiting me out of convenience.” I continued. “Perhaps you have something unusual planned?”

Cadmus scratched at his chin, a look of mock disappointment coloring his face. 

“You figured me out already. That’s no fun.”

“Care to tell me what you have in mind then?” I pressed on with an eager look. 

Putting his arms in the air to create a dramatic air, Cadmus managed to look both inane and inspiring. 

“What I want is both simple and complex. I want to limit the foothold of the nobility in the government exams to give the commoners more opportunities.”

“And what’s your reasoning?” I probed while pressing my hand against my cheek. 

“I’m tired of all these spoiled rich brats,” Cadmus said, much to my surprise. “They keep ranting about their bloodline and other lunacy like that, but they never back it up. I don’t fucking care whose groin my underlings came from, I just want them to be useful.”

“Aren’t you making a vast overgeneralization about the noble applicants?” I pointed out. “I’m sure there are plenty that are competent. Hard to be useless with a better education. Well it’s not impossible, but still.”

“I know I’m generalizing,” Cadmus waved off. “But you have to understand how frustrating it is when the same idiot keeps explaining why his family tree excuses his laziness. The worst part is that he’s technically right. Everytime I try to fire him, the higher ups keep telling me that we have to maintain connections with his family. And this isn’t a problem exclusive to me either”

“So you’re not planning for a class revolution, just a return to meritocracy?” I commented. 

“Exactly,” he said while grasping both my shoulders. “And that’s where you come in. You see, the main reason that nobles have an edge over the commoners is the military portion of the exam. And even though administrators aren’t really required to have such skills, certain families have pushed for its increased importance, which worked because of the recent war and its aftermath. So I need you to swing the tide back in our favor.”

“Sounds interesting,” I remarked. “But how exactly am I going to get that done? Do you want me to debate some people or just kick someone’s ass to convince them. Or how about both?”

“The last option,” he answered. “However, we need you to apply for the position first. We can do that now if you want to since I’m free for a while.”

“Let’s get to it then,” I replied. 

After informing our respective parties about our task, the two of us quickly departed the house. It was also unnecessary to bring much with us apart from our papers for identification. 

“I’m curious but how is the Considia family’s standing compared to the other noble families?” I asked while we were walking toward the castle. 

“We’re upstarts,” Cadmus laughed. “Successful and rich, but upstarts nonetheless.”

“That’s the complete opposite of my family,” I commented. “Despite being directly descended from a close companion of Amiran, we still managed to almost become peasants.”

“I heard about that,” he answered, much to my surprise. 

“How?” I asked casually, hiding the fact that I had raised my guard. 

“I have some acquaintances and friends in the Megara,” he told me. “They mostly feed me regular gossip about politics in the capital. But I asked them to give me a report about all the heroes a while back. After all, the five of you are some of the biggest wildcards in the current political situation.”

“Fair enough,” I said with a shrug.

“Still suspicious of me?” he wondered aloud. “Well that’s a shame. Besides, I actually heard a few good things about you from the capital.”

“Amidst a sea of not so good things?” I queried. 

“I wanted to leave that out for your sake,” he remarked. “But I think I’m quite good at sifting through information. And I think that you’ll make a good brother in law.”

“Again with that?” I asked with a wry look. 

Cadmus turned to look at me and sighed. “I mean my sister is looking at you with lovestruck eyes. And my father did tell me that you’re interested as well. The only issue is that the stuttering mess I call my sister is too much of a coward to speak up.”

“You really don’t have a good opinion of her,” I snorted. 

“Of course,” he said while supinating his hands. “You know how I met all four of my wives? I saw someone interesting then just walked up to the person and asked her out. It was so simple that I’ve managed to repeat it four times. But Minerva can’t even do that once. And it’s not as though she’s ugly or boring, she’s just a stuttering mess.”

“It’s rather cute when she gets all shy though,” I argued. 

“I personally find it annoying, but to each their own,” he replied while shrugging. 

Soon after, the two of us arrived at the gates of the castle, the guards immediately opening the portcullis when they saw Cadmus. Entering the courtyard, we were greeted by a number of servants performing daily duties. 

With Cadmus leading, I was taken to the great hall. There, we both presented our papers to the bureaucrats working at the offices. Once they confirmed our identities we were escorted to a different room. 

“So you’re applying as a temporary member of the exam committee?” the woman behind a stack of papers asked me. 

“Yes,” I answered as procedure dictated.

“Here, please fill this out,” she requested after handing me a small pile of papers. 

The documents were similar to the ones that I had to fill out when I became Isaac’s second in command. It was more for bookkeeping purposes since I had to list my personal information and other similar details. Still, it was nice to know that I would be paid 10 denarii a day during the exam period. Additionally, my job was that of a supervisor position not some practice dummy for the applicants to swing at.

As I trudged along with my paperwork, Cadmus disappeared from my side and began to look around curiously. Although it looked mostly harmless at first, he soon picked up some papers for examination. This must be a fairly common occurrence since the woman in front of me barely looked up before withdrawing back into her work. 

“I think the date is messed up over here,” Cadmus suddenly said to the woman. 

Taking the paper from Cadmus’ hand, the woman peered at it for a while before shrugging. 

“Looks like the scribes have made another mistake.”

“In other words, the sky is blue,” Cadmus laughed before retrieving a quill and scrawling over the paper. “There, it’s fixed. Not pretty, but functional.”

“Thank you,” the woman replied warmly. 

Around a minute later, I tried to hand my own pile of documents to the woman. 

“I can take care of that,” Cadmus said before I could complete the exchange. 

“Uh, sure,” I said, a little surprised by the situation. 

The woman just silently nodded, either in an attempt to avoid extra work or because Cadmus couldn’t be simply refused.

“So is this normal?” I asked the woman in front of me. 

“Oh that?” she replied while looking at Cadmus. “It used to happen a lot more before he moved to the countryside.”

“I see…” I said, once again surprised by Cadmus’ behavior. 

“It’s nice to be able to help out once in a while,” Cadmus remarked. “But only occasionally. Hand holding isn’t something I approve of, though helping someone bogged with work is.”

“Thank you sir,” the woman said while continuing with her work. “You know, everyone  here misses you quite a bit.”

“Yeah, I heard,” Cadmus sighed. “I know I can’t really help you anymore, but I think I taught you enough while I was here.”

“And we’re ever thankful for that,” she said warmly. 

“Then what do you do now, Cadmus?” I asked curiously.

“Oh, I totally forgot about that,” he said with an apologetic smile. “I used to be a supervisor here before moving to the countryside as the head administrator of the eastern countryside.”

“How old are you again?” I wondered.

“26, why? Is stress taking a toll on me already?” he quipped. “I thought spending time with my kids would be enough to stave it off.”

“No, you’re fine,” I replied. “I was actually expecting you to be older.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment then,” he responded.

“That’s because it was a compliment,” I quipped. 

Finally finished with our paperwork, Cadmus and I went to visit Quintus before heading home. Seeing the father and son together, I realized that Cadmus’ behavior was just a more concentrated version of his father. 

Things stayed unusual when we arrived home. In front of me, the previously stiff Felix was now playing with Cadmus’ two kids along with Sekh, Zeph, and Cornelia. In fact, Zeph was now  struggling with a little girl who had climbed onto her back. 

“Azel, can you please help me?” Zeph begged. “Nobody here wants to help me.”

“You hear something?” I asked Minerva who was watching the situation with Julia and her four sisters-in-law. 

“Nope,” she replied with a smirk. “You want some tea?”

“Sure,” I replied.

While I went to sit down with Minerva, Cadmus went over to Zeph and rescued her from his daughter, earning a sigh of relief from the white haired archer. 

“So what did you two do?” Minerva asked me, slightly suspicious. 

“I just applied for the position that Cadmus told me about,” I answered casually. “The job is doable and the pay is good. Besides, your brother has a plan to increase opportunities for commoners in the exams.”

“That does sound interesting,” Minerva remarked. “So what’s his plan?”

“Lower the value of the military portion for the exam,” I answered. 

“Makes sense,” Minerva replied. “I’m assuming that you’re going to be the one that executes the plan.”

“Sharp as always,” I complimented her, provoking a slight blush from my companion. 

Unsurprisingly, Minerva chose to avoid bringing up the issue about me being referred to as ‘brother-in-law’ by Cadmus. Guess I have to keep waiting until the exam is finished. 

Since we had some time before dinner, I decided to take Sekh out for a short date in the city. As for the rest of the people in the house, the Considia family continued with their happy reunion while Zeph was being taught by five different women about the nuances of childcare. 

“These are really good,” Sekh remarked while biting into a dried date. “You sure you don’t want one?”

“I only need one type of date as it is,” I replied. “Besides, you know that I have to enjoy apricots as much as possible when I find them.”

“It’s a bit upsetting that I found your joke funny,” Sekh giggled. 

“That’s what love does to you,” I said while shrugging.

“Then how come you don’t laugh at my jokes?” Sekh asked in a mockingly exaggerated tone. 

“I believe Zeph is currently charged with that responsibility,” I joked. 

“Please replace her in that case,” Sekh mused on. “Impressing her doesn’t feel the same as it does with you.”

“Of course it doesn’t,” I replied while stretching as though I had completed a monumental task. 

Once we were finished with our outing, the two of us returned home with a complimentary basket of fruits.  Naturally, we brought the fruits for Cadmus’ kids along with the servants.

The next day, Cadmus and I went back to the castle to check up on the status of my application. According to the woman that I had met the day before, the decision was not made yet, though I was required to meet with the magisters of the city.

“Probably down to a few applicants then,” Cadmus informed me as we were walking towards the inner part of the great hall. 

“Or maybe they just want to meet me,” I joked, not actually optimistic about my prospects. 

Shortly after, we arrived within a sort of meeting room inside of the great hall. It was spacious with a large circular table in the middle with a sizable chandelier and numerous paintings decorating the premise. 

However, there was a minor problem. I had been told that I would have to meet with the magisters of the city. But based on what I was seeing, the ‘s’ in magisters was rather misleading. 

“Lucius, where are the other three magisters? Cadmus asked. 

A balding, middle aged human looked up at Cadmus in response. 

“We didn’t expect you to come so early. I’ll send word to others in that case.”

“Thank you,” I replied. “We’ll wait here for convenience, if it’s possible.”

“That would be excellent,” Lucius said to me. “You must be Azel, am I correct.”

“You are,” I answered amiably. “Hero of the spear and all that.”

Lucius winced a bit, but quickly regained composure.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m sorry to bother you with this meeting even though you're the only candidate with proper military experience. However, two of the other magisters are arguing for another candidate.”

“And who may they be?” I asked, a smile forming on my face. 

“The magisters must be Porcius and Marcus,” Cadmus answered. “As for who they’re supporting, I don’t know. It’s either Gaius or Fabius.”

“It’s Gauis,” Lucius informed us. 

“That’s pretty good then,” Cadmus replied. “Even if Fabius is less influential, he’s the more capable of the two.”

“Right, but Gaius has support from Sempronius, remember?” Lucius pointed out.

“I know,” Cadmus sighed. “Apart from the two of us and the other magister Paullus, the rest of the exam committee is against reform.”

“Sorry to interrupt but who are the people that compose the committee?” I asked.

“The four magisters and Tyros’ three regional administrators,” Lucius answered. “The three administrators are Cadmus, Sempronius, and another fellow named Varro.”

“Three against four then,” I remarked.

“That’s how it is,” Cadmus sighed. “You know, the reason the exam got pushed early is because of that. Since they were suspecting that we had something planned, they decided to push the date earlier in order to limit our efforts.”

“I wish it could’ve been just a simple coincidence,” I complained mockingly.

“The real world is often disappointing,” Lucius remarked.

The three of us continued to wait for the arrival of the rest of the magisters. First to arrive was Paullus, an elderly southern elf with short, cropped silver hair.

In contrast, the last two arrived at the same time. Both were silver haired southern elves as well, though they were followed by a much younger elf who also bore silver hair. It seems that the southern elves have managed to turn exotic silver hair into a norm, something both impressive and disappointing.

“Hello there,” I casually waved to the three that had just entered. 

“So you’re the Butcher of Beroea,” the young elf suddenly called out in my direction. “It seems as though I’ve met a truly worthy opponent.”

“I go by Azel,” I said flatly, my eyes now boring into him. “And who are you now?”

“Gaius,” he replied energetically.

“Pleasure to meet you,” I mused. 

Thrown off by my lack of belligerence, the two magisters accompanying Gaius glanced at one another before introducing themselves to me.

And although it might be rather draining, I think that I should keep my temper in check and put on a friendly facade. If I snap at them too hard, I’d only end up digging my own grave due to the stigma against me.