Xavier, Temma and Uruk came out of the jungle at night. A week had passed since their visit to Farpas. They spent the whole week hunting in the jungle. A knight's patrol was waiting for them.
'Good night, your honor,' the leading knight greeted them.
'Good night.' Xavier greeted him; he and Temma acted indifferently, but Xavier was holding his daggers while Temma was preparing to attack. Uruk smiled, showing his sharp teeth.
'I apologize for the misunderstanding that has arisen with some of my colleagues. The lord of Duero, His Excellency Clerence Van Fillode, invites you and your nephews to join him tomorrow at his mansion'.
'I'm sorry, but tomorrow is a special day for my nephews, and I'm afraid we won't be able to attend. You see, my nephews are magicians, and tomorrow they will participate in the magic affinity identification ceremony. I suppose your lord will understand that this is an important day.'
'Of course, of course,' replied the knight with obvious nervousness.
'How about the day after tomorrow?'
'The day after tomorrow is fine for us.'
'Excellent, I will give the good news to my lord. You must be tired; we'll leave you alone. Have a good night.'
The knight's left. Xavier and the boys entered the house.
'Another leech,' said Temma.
'That is the human world,' Xavier reminded him. 'By the way, you guys need a bath; we all need a bath.'
After taking a bath and getting rid of a week of sweat, mud, blood, and other fluids, someone knocked on the door.
When Xavier opened, the same knight from before appeared behind the door; he had just come down from a carriage.
'Good night, your honor,' the knight said nervously.
Xavier looked at him, a bit annoyed. 'It's late; get to the point.'
'The lord of Duero will also attend the event tomorrow. He wanted to invite you to travel alongside him in his carriage'.
'I'm afraid we already have plans. Our carriage is already scheduled to pick us up at dawn,' said Xavier.
'I see. Well, our Lord will see you at the ceremony then. Good night'
The knight turned around and boarded the carriage, while Xavier closed the door. He stayed a minute thinking about how things were developing and began to laugh while the salamanders looked at him in astonishment and confusion.
As planned, a carriage of Tumulos appeared out of nowhere, right in front of the house of the Vonder. Xavier, Temma, and Uruk came out of the house with their best suits. The fine clothes were at the level of middle-class nobles. Dressed in green, gray, and red colors, respectively, they prepared to board the carriage. On opening the door, Tamalor Van Trell welcomed them.
"Wow, history repeats itself."
Xavier had a sense of reviving the past. The same happened many years ago when Clinton caught him in his web of lies.
'Good morning, gentlemen'.
'Good morning, Your Excellency.'
The three De Vonders boarded the carriage, which began to move without much change being perceived.
'Are you nervous?' asked Tamalor to the boys.
'No.'
'Nah.'
The boys answered at once, surprising Tamalor.
"These boys are more stoic than I expected, but it is not surprising; they are barely men and are already fighting in Morr's jungle." Tamalor thought.
'A pair of extraordinary boys, you must be very proud.'
'I am; they're the best nephews I could ask.'
'I am curious; how did you survive in Morr's jungle after your exile?'
Tamalor was trying to create proximity by talking. Xavier decided to play into his game.
'Good luck, I suppose. After escaping the assassination attempt of the tower masters, the Morr jungle was my only hope of survival'.
'The masters of the tower tried to kill you?' asked Tamalor, pretending to be surprised. He was the lord of the second-largest citadel in the dynasty. He had access to a lot of information that most people could not access.
'They did indeed,' replied Xavier, while thinking about how to change the direction of the conversation. Talking about his past only benefited Tamalor, not him. After thinking about it, he found the perfect theme. 'Yesterday, the lord of Duero was very insistent that we should visit him in his mansion or accompany him to the ceremony.'
This changed Tamalor's face for a few seconds. Then he regained his composure.
'Well, it is not surprising; these boys are talented. They would be a great acquisition for any territory,' said Tamalor with a bit of disappointment. 'It is a pity that you are still living in Duero and not in Farpas.'
"Let's see if you fall," thought Tamalor.
'It is difficult to acquire a good place nowadays, besides, the Morr jungle is our greatest source of income'
"Let's see what you offer," Xavier thought.
This was a mental game. A covert negotiation. Meanwhile, Uruk got bored, and Temma pretended to be lost in his thoughts as he analyzed and understood the game that Xavier and Tamalor were playing.
'There are some areas of Farpas that require the attention of a capable and intelligent man,' said Tamalor with a smile. 'Your mercenary family is registered in Farpas, and we have many subjugation missions that require talented people.'
'If it concerns the area of Humol, it is a place with painful memories to which I sincerely would not like to return. We do not refuse to participate in subjugation missions; however, we do not need to live in Farpas territory to take on those misions,' Xavier replied, guessing Tamalor's intentions.
'I understand, but I didn't mean that land exactly. A few years ago, a family of nobles from my territory did something terrible. The Van Ferra family. Have you heard of them?' Tamalor pretended to be ignorant of the past.
'Yes, I was Clinton Van Ferra's classmate at the Liev Tower,' replied Xavier without giving any further details. "I can play the fool too."
'I see,' continued Tamalor. 'This land is still free; the mansion is ostentatious, suitable for a talented and noble family like yours.'
"For all the heavens, what an asshole!" the three de Vonders thought.
'Oh, I see; unfortunately, I don't think we have the capital for such a way of life,' Xavier argued.
'I see, I would not mind giving your family a loan; in return, I would ask for priority when it comes to counting on your services as mercenaries,' Tamalor offered.
'Oh, you are very magnanimous, your lordship, but we would not like to be a hassle'
'I don't consider it a hassle at all. And please, call me Tamalor; let's drop the titles. I want you to consider me a friend' Tamalor assured him with a fake smile.
'If you insist, Tamalor,' said Xavier, faking a smile too.
"First, I will win the boys over, and as soon as I can, I will get rid of you," thought Tamalor, still smiling.
As they talked about other mundane subjects, the coachman knocked at the door. 'We have arrived, Your Excellency.'
Like everywhere else, Temma was surprised at the mania of humans to have doors bigger than necessary. Both the entrance to the royal city and the door to the guard tower were too large for the function they performed. Telassa was as active as Xavier remembered. People were moving freneticly through the stone streets of the city, and a few meters away, the guard tower watched over the city. A nobleman approached them.
'Tamalor, I'm glad to see you.'
The nobleman had dark skin, was tall and thin, and had long hair knitted into a ponytail. He had a thick and well-groomed beard and was dressed in a fine suit.
'Glad to see you too, Clerence. Xavier, Temma, and Uruk, allow me to introduce you to the lord of Duero Citadel, Clerence Van Fillode.'
The Vonders made a slight bow.
'Fillode, these are the De Vonder, a family of mercenaries with three talented magicians. They recently registered their guild at my citadel' Tamalor commented while seeing the veins on Fillode's forehead swell.
'It is a pleasure to meet you, gentlemen,' said Fillode, controlling his apparent irritation. 'I have been waiting for this moment; your deeds both in the jungle of Morr and beyond have reached every corner of Duero.'
'I'm glad to hear that. I would not like to be accused of being a warlock again,' replied Xavier.
Fillode's face turned a little pale. 'That was a misunderstanding; the mercenaries were jealous of your success and began to circulate false rumors. I can assure you that I have personally taken care of it'.
'That reassures us.'
'We should go in; the ceremony is about to begin.' Tamalor wanted to move his future tools away from Fillode.
Fillode only smiled, while Tamalor and the three magicians were heading toward the door of the guard tower. He followed behind.
'Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Heigdal van Degar. I am a wind magician in the service of royalty and a member of the magicians of the royal court. As in previous years, I will preside over this event. I see many promising young talents gathered today'.
As in previous years, Heigdal presided over the event. The place hadn't changed. The same stage, the same cloth covering the artifact. Xavier recognized Lugo van Osi and Samanta van Felpo, the talent hunters who years ago ignored him after discovering that he was a simple shadow magician. They didn't recognize him; it was to be expected; he had changed a lot in these years.
'Lucile De Etalian,' called Heigdal. A girl went up on stage.
'Wind magician, five percent affinity,' Heigdal announced. Soon after, the girl came down from the stage to hug her parents, and then she was surrounded by talent hunters from other families.
'Uruk of Vonder,' called Heigdal, and when he saw the boy, he had the feeling that he looked familiar.
'At last,' said Uruk.
He was bored to death in this place. He climbed up to the stage, followed Heigdal's instructions, and placed his hand on the glass ball. As expected, there was no reaction to the white sand of the water element. But when Heigdal opened the lever of the red fire sand.
'Ah!'
Everyone remained with their mouths open in surprise, and then there was silence. The red sand was elevated to the top of the glass pipe. Heigdal was frozen in place.
'Hey, are we done?' asked Uruk, still bored.
'I'm sorry, young man, but I must ask you to remove your hand.'
Uruk followed the instructions, and the sand fell again.
'Some fire magician to test the operation of the device.'
At first, no one responded; they were still in shock. A few seconds later, one of the nobles raised his hand and went up to the stage. After placing his hand on the glass ball, the red sand rose up to the mark labeled with an eight, accurately measuring the magician's affinity.
'Young Uruk, put your hand on the glass again, please.'
Uruk did as he had been told, and the red sand rose again quickly to the top of the glass pipe. Controlling his enthusiasm, Heigdal dedicated himself to changing the levers again. In the end, the black sand rose to five percent.
Xavier looked around with a smile on his face. Tamalor smiled, while Fillode was so pale that even his black skin looked slightly white.
'Uruk de Vonder, Dual Magician, Shadows, has an affinity of five percent. Incalculable fire affinity. A titled Magician'. Heigdal's announcement took Xavier by surprise; he knew they were strong, but this was not what he expected.
Uruk was coming down from the stage as if nothing had happened. Heigdal looked at Xavier and his group and finally remembered.
'Well, this is certainly a surprise. Now that I remember, Uruk de Vonder would be the second dual magician of the family,' Heigdal said, looking at Xavier, who nodded.
Almost all the families wanted to approach the Vonder, but the fact that Tamalor approached Uruk as soon as he came down the stage made them believe that they were under his command.
'Oh, interesting. Temma De Vonder.' called Heigdal.
'Brothers?'
'They look like twins.'
The nobles commented as Temma approached the stage. The chances of Temma also being a titled mage were low, but everybody was still watching Temma's assessment. When the sand of fire rose again to the edge of the glass pipe, silence reigned.
The test ended in a similar fashion to that of Uruk.
'Temma de Vonder, dual magician, shadows, affinity ten percent. Incalculable fire magic affinity. Another titled magician.'
At this time, Tamalor's presence was not enough to deter the talent hunters from other families. As hungry beasts, they threw themselves over Uruk and Temma.
'My lord, a man of your talents, will be very comfortable in our territory,' said one.
'I have a young, beautiful daughter who would be interested in a man like you,' said the most shameless one.
'Silence!' yelled Heigdal. His voice reverberated throughout the room, amplified by his wind magic. 'Ladies and gentlemen, your performance is deplorable. You should be ashamed. In addition, I remind you that the titled magicians have a special condition and do not belong to any family.'
This lowered the hopes of all the present, including Tamalor, who had forgotten that little detail. The titled magicians were considered too dangerous to be left to individual families. So they lost their surnames and worked directly under the crown's command.
'Turlaca Van Nemo,' Heigdal called up a young magician.
The rest of the ceremony went without interest or surprises. Everyone was focused on waiting for the end and trying to establish good relations with the De Vonders. Although the titled magicians did not interfere in worldly things, they were not entirely hermetic; good relations with them could grant some access to the crown and the royal court.