<I get bored inside your empty head. Terrorizing you is the only form of enjoyment I have,> the voice said matter-of-factly.

Evin could only sigh at the remark, understanding that the voice just wanted to bully him.

'The voice is definitely an asshole, but he's actually quite helpful…' he suddenly had a thought. 

<Well, don't worry about the small stuff. You can clean up the room and maybe work on your Imagination Casting. Even if you don't find success with it, it wouldn't hurt to practice our imagination. If you want to ask something from me, you can write it down on a piece of paper.>

Evin did as the voice said and after he was finished, he sat on top of the bed, and started to practice the new form of Imagination Casting he'd just learned.

But just as he'd gotten onto the bed, he heard some noise coming from the corridors outside.

"217… this one seems to be it," a man's muffled voice sounded in the room.

"Yep, I wonder how the rooms look like inside?" a younger voice, most likely some boy of Evin's age, said with excitement.

Then, Evin heard a key being inserted into the lock and the door opened, revealing a bright-red haired boy with a very imposing stature. The boy's height suggested he was 13, maybe even 14, and his bulky body was a great indicator for his great physical strength. And with a grin on his face, the boy took notice of Evin's figure.

"Oh, you must be my new roommate!" the boy exclaimed before dashing next to Evin's side, "My name's Arza! What's yours!?"

Looking at the boy's extended hand in front of him, Evin hesitantly grabbed it and introduced himself.

"I'm Evin, uh, are you a 2nd year, or a 3rd year student of the Academy?"

"No, of course not! I'm just a 1st year just like you! I've been very excited to enter the academy ever since I turned 10 last month, aha-ha. Though, why would you think otherwise?" the boy, Arza, asked with a laugh.

'What? 10?' Evin looked at the boy once more, unable to believe the boy's claims.

"Arza, stop making such a fuss," the man commanded from the door.

Evin looked over and saw a tall, rugged man with an array of tiny scars on one side of his face. He also possessed a red-colored hair, but his was a browner red, almost bordering on brunette. But aside from all those, there was another detail about the man, that Evin just couldn't ignore.

The man's left hand was completely replaced by what seemed to be a metal prosthetic, which sometimes emitted a light hiss of steam from the joints. But although Evin knew that something terrible must've happened to the man to need such a prosthetic, he also couldn't help but think that the metal hand was cool as hell.

"Heh, you want my arm as well? I can offer you a deal if you want," the man said, noticing Evin's stare.

"Oh… No! I'm sorry for staring like that!" Evin apologized with panic.

"Ha-ha, don't mind it too much, I'm already used to the attention," the man shrugged and extended his good hand towards Evin, "I'm Aran, by the way."

"Nice to meet you, mister Aran," Evin said, as he shook the man's hand.

Aran put down his stuff and his eyes slowly scanned the room. Then, when his eyes fell on the bed, his casual smile turned into a frown, as he walked over to reveal the piece of paper that Evin found earlier on.

"A Talisman of Listening…" Aran murmured, "When will those guys ever leave me alone?"

<Oh… So we weren't the targets of these Talismans?> the voice commented with an interested tone.

Aran then walked over to the bathroom and dug out the other talisman that was hidden in the room.

"To think they've actually left two of these things in your room…" he said as he ripped apart the two pieces of paper. 

Evin noticed how a wave of mana escaped the two papers, as they were ripped, making the room seem more full with the magical substance.

Aran then brought the two pieces of paper to Evin and Arza, and started explaining.

"If you ever see these things around you again, just rip them off and throw them away, alright? And also, look out for similar Talismans with these drawings on them."

Aran then drew two different drawings, one that depicted an eye of some sorts, and one that depicted two thin rectangles, one white and one black, though it was considerably smaller than the white one. He explained that the first one was a Talisman of Seeing, and the latter one was a Talisman of Following.

Then, turning to Evin, he said sincerely.

"I'm sorry that you got caught up in my problems. I'll talk to the authorities to make sure that something like this won't ever happen again, but if you ever see something suspicious happening around you, you can tell them to Arza and he'll tell them to me, alright?"

Evin nodded, but couldn't help but ask, "What's going on here?"

"I've had a debt to the kingdom. I compensated them fully for the debt, but they still act as if I haven't paid them back a single copper coin. At this point, it's just embarrassing of the country," Aran sighed, "Alright, you two can get acquainted while I get this thing sorted in the meantime… Actually, since you're basically settled, I'll come back tomorrow to pick you up for the Opening Ceremony."

The man said his goodbyes to Evin and then teased Arza playfully before leaving.

Evin was left inside the room, hearing the voice's thoughts on the matter.

<That part about him having paid his dues was probably bullshit, but he seems like a nice enough person. At least he explained his situation to us and warned us what to be careful about…> the voice commented.

Evin nodded subtly as he stole a glance at Arza, who was standing near the window, looking at something.

<Though, I really don't know what's the point of leaving this Talisman of Listening in his son's dorm room. Are they trying to kidnap Arza and then demand he pay back his debts?> the voice murmured.

<Well, that's not our problem. Let's just hope they don't involve us in it somehow. And besides, there's still someone out there spying on us, otherwise, there wouldn't be a need to put the same talisman in Leanne's house… And now that I think about it, the surrounding drawings on those talismans differed a little, didn't they? The two that he ripped looked almost identical, but the one we put out looked a little… rounder?>

Evin remembered how the three Talismans looked, and sure enough, he remembered thinking how one of them looked a bit weird compared to the others.

The Talismans were essentially the same, but how they were made were different. It was the same thing as people having different writing styles.

<This means that there are two parties with unknown intentions, one that's hounding Aran and one that's observing us… Sigh, there's no point in mulling over this topic now. We'll eventually learn what everything's about…>

Evin was still quite distraught, but since things weren't as mysterious as they were an hour ago, he had calmed down a fair bit.