Chapter 23: 23

The Admissions counseling center was practically crowded with people, but the admissions application office was quiet and each student had a one-on-one meeting with a counselor to receive counseling. Said counselor said they came because we said we had the money to apply, but they looked at Daibun with a look of disbelief.

“Uhm…. This may sound rude, but may I tell you something in advance?”

“Yes. Go ahead.”

Daibun was completely frozen, so I just stepped up. The counselor continued with a slightly apologetic expression.

“There are some people who only pay tuition for one semester… Those who wish to first enter the school….”

It was true that 50 gold was a huge amount of money, but if they liquidated everything you had, there may be some people who could afford it, so there were some people who only payed for one semester like this. Was this about that?

“Can you not do that?”

If we couldn’t, wouldn’t that mean my plans wouldn’t go through? The counselor also spoke respectfully to me.

Perhaps it became a habit after meeting so many children of high-ranking people.

“Of course, if you don’t have the money to pay the tuition for this semester and the next… It’s a rule to expel these people after a certain period of time, but….”

“So, if I don’t have the money for the next semester, I won’t be able to register?”

“Yes, in principle. However, there is no reason to sanction this just because of that…. As not all the students admitted like that would end up this way…. Sometimes, that is.”

What?

Was there an additional setting or environment created by some probability that I didn’t set up? The counselor hesitated to speak.

“They would first pay the tuition for just a single semester and then, well… They would try to build up friendships with other more financially stable children during that semester…. They then would ask them to pay the tuition for the next semester…. There were quite a few like that.”

Oh.

I seemed to know what they were talking about.

“Children would whine to their parents that a close friend of theirs had to leave Temple because they lacked money…. There were parents who would listen to them, but… This is rather damaging towards Temple’s image, in many ways….”

Even if the tuition for Temple was pretty expensive, that was of little importance to those who were very wealthy. In Temple, where nobles, commoners and royalty lived together, friendships transcending their social status sometimes occurred.

Therefore, there were children who entered for one semester in the hopes of building such a connection, of course, it was mostly the parents that made them. Even if it wasn’t just to make them pay their tuition fees, they calculated that it would be beneficial just to have an extremely wealthy friend.

The children might make a fuss about their friends leaving, but the parents might just go complain to Temple why they would let beggars just casually wander around their grounds.

I didn’t even think of that when I set up Temple, but, indeed, short-term admissions could be used like that.

It’s ridiculous, sad, and pathetic that I didn’t think of that!

“After this became a problem, we decided to no longer admit children whose parents cannot financially support them well enough to allow them to study here for a considerable amount of time while at Temple…. The other problem is, that if children just leave after one semester, the other ones who were close to them would also end up very hurt….”

Temple’s stance on this was understandable if anything. Changing classmates to often was also detrimental to the children, even if that student was just trying to mooch off of other kids…. I would also want to implement such a policy if I were in their shoes.

However, I was planning on developing my talent after entering the school to become a permanent scholarship student, you know?

They probably wouldn’t believe me if I started saying things like that.

Wouldn’t my path be immediately blocked if I told them I was the successor of the Bronzegate Rotary gang?

Rather, I might have had a better chance if I had come from Sarkegaar’s side.

“Once you have prepared the documents to prove your financial status, we can review them…. You don’t seem to have that much leeway though.”

The counselor was very politely dismissing the two of us, however I wasn’t particularly offended by that.

The Demon Prince couldn’t enter Temple because he didn’t have enough money.

We came with the confidence that I’d be easily admitted.

That soon turned into the feeling of needing to beg to be let in.

Daibun lowered his head as if he had committed a crime.

No, if you don’t have money, then you don’t. It’s not your fault, dude.

What was I supposed to do? I didn’t think I would come across such an obstacle. The Rotary gang had many people, but it was difficult to prove their finances. It may have been possible to borrow money through the Thieves’ Guild, but that was just ridiculous, as that would rather prove that I had connections to a criminal organization.

As expected, my only other option would be to change my appearance again, get another ID card and enter as Sarkegaar’s adopted son.

“Sigh, there’s nothing more I can do….”

“Can’t we do that inspection thing or something?”

When I was about to get up, Daibun said something out of the blue.

An inspection? What inspection?

“If it’s an inspection….”

Daibun had a desperate expression on his face.

“He might be a genius or have supernatural powers. Well, wouldn’t that be possible? Does it cost money to do the inspection?”

No, what’s wrong with this man?

The counselor looked puzzled at Daibun’s sudden outburst.

“Of course, we conduct inspections at the application consultation center, not at the admittance office…. Inspections alone do not cost money…. However, the chances of a child having a talent are rather slim. Most children don’t have a single talent…….”

What the counselor said was true. I didn’t have any talent right now. So there was no hope for the thing Daibun suggested with such a desperate expression.

“He, hey. Let’s just get out of here, Daibun.”

“Well, we wouldn’t know about that if we didn’t try. How long does it take to get tested? Does it take long?”

“Ah…. It doesn’t take that long. You just have to touch the physical scanner… but you shouldn’t do this here in the admittance office….”

The counselor seemed troubled by Daibun’s sudden obstinate attitude. They looked between me and Daibun and eventually sighed slightly.

“Okay, since you came all the way here already….”

The counselor rummaged through one of the counseling rooms and took out a magic tool, saying: “It won’t take that long”. A physical scanner, so to speak, was this world’s talent and status meter. They determined one’s current ability and potential talent with these things.

This was the staple among convenient settings. If I didn’t add something like that, wouldn’t that have been too difficult? I would have had to describe it a lot more, and vague at that, so there was a need for a state window. Like that, one could immediately determine how strong a character was!

Stat windows would quantify strength in numbers. Without it I would have had to describe the strength through events. I would have to explain it like “Before I did this and that and I just couldn’t do it, but now I feel like I got stronger”.

That was just too annoying and difficult.

Attack power increased by 1000!

Wasn’t that just too comfortable to write? I love it.

But anyway, what Daibun was doing now was pretty much meaningless.

“I don’t think this will be worth it, Daibun.”

“If you got nothing to lose by doing this, then just do it. Or is there something wrong with that?”

It seemed like Daibun wanted me to take it as it was free anyway. He seemed to think that I desperately needed to enter Temple. I had another way, but Daibun didn’t know about that.

He was just thinking of me.

He was such a nice guy. However, that didn’t mean that I suddenly have some talent.

“You just have to keep your hands on the scanner. Wait for about a minute.”

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To determine my talent, I will have to put my hands on a crystal ball, my talents will then be printed out on a tablet like magic tool the counselor held.

There’s nothing I have talent for.

It’s not like they’ll be able to see that I’m a demon through this, right? Or see that I have that skill Demon Domination, right?

I didn’t think so. I had Sarkegaar’s ring after all.

Demon Domination was a unique skill of the Arcdemon race. It was completely sealed after I changed using the ring.

Since it was an ability I could only use in the form of Valier, it should be hidden.

Of course, it might not be as well.

I should just run with the ring.

Let’s just go back and think about how to change my looks next.

Yeah, let’s do that.

“……Hm?”

The counselor suddenly tapped on the tablet. Was it that thing were you continue to tap on an iPad when it’s not working properly?

“Did you find something?”

At Daibun’s question, they shook their head.

“Urg…. My apologies. It seems that it’s broken. This item is only rarely used here.”

They left the counseling room as if they didn’t even know how that tool worked as they were actually more used to dealing with the wealthy, but didn’t have any experience checking for talent. They said, they’d bring a new tool over.

“Didn’t they find something?”

I shook my head at the expectant Daibun.

“No way.”

I checked my status again, but, of course, I couldn’t find a single talent in it. I knew my condition better than any magic tool could.

“I brought a new one. I even checked its functionality, so it should work this time.”

It seemed like the counselor was gradually getting exhausted. It probably was because we caused them extra work just for someone who had no talent at all.

I put my hand on the newly arrived crystal ball.

“…….”

And, the counselor was speechless.

“What….Is it malfunctioning again?”

“Ah….”

The counselor furrowed their brows.

“How strange. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

Perhaps because they were bewildered, but the counselor spoke informally this time.

“Is it something that breaks easily?”

“No, it’s not a very complicated tool after all.”

As if he couldn’t understand what was going on, the counselor showed the corresponding part of the tablet screen to Daibun.

Should I even call it a screen? It kept blinking. I kind of wanted to know what characters it displayed and why it just kept blinking. What was this, was that a talent? Do I have the talent to break machines? Wouldn’t it be better if I didn’t have that kind of talent?

That’s one of the shittiest, most common talents I had ever heard of! It was as bad as that kitchen disaster attribute, it was so common that it wasn’t even used anymore, but now when it gets mentioned, it feels rather novel, but it was still hella old-fashioned, you hear!

Don’t give me that!

The counselor asked me to put my hands down and put his own on the crystal.

“……Looks like the tool is working normally.”

The counselor then asked Daibun if he had his talents measured before, then told him to put his hands on it this time.

“Certainly, the tool has no defects.”

That screen blinked so much, it was apparent that I was the cause. The counselor asked me to put my hand back on the crystal.

“Just hold your hands on it for a second this time.”

“Yes.”

What the hell?

I held my hands on the crystal ball for circa a second as I was told. The tablet screen was again blinking wildly. Soon after, the counselor opened their mouth speechlessly.

“What…. I think I know now. In that case… There were all sorts of cases before, but this is the first time I’ve seen something like this.”

“What do you mean?”

Daibun approached the counselor with an excited expression on his face.

“There are cases where a subject doesn’t show a specific talent, but ‘aptitude’. For example, it’s not developed enough to be a talent, but if the subject works hard, they would be able to be outstanding it a certain field…. It’s a kind of sub-concept of talent.”

“Aptitude?”

Ah, I knew what that was.

“For example, someone with an aptitude for swordsmanship would be better in learning swordsmanship than archery or spearmanship. If a person with an aptitude for swordsmanship continued to study swordsmanship, he or she may become very gifted with the sword, or even excel more than someone who has talent in it, even if it isn’t a talent.”

“So what does all that mean?”

Daibun was excited.

“This device can read not only talent, but also what field the subject has an aptitude for. So they have this kind of service at the counseling center… Even if a child doesn’t have a talent, they will tell them what aptitudes they have. It was rare for a child who doesn’t have talent to not have any aptitude as well….”

Identifying aptitudes.

There were people who came from far away to receive counseling for the Temple admission, so even if the child wasn’t a genius, they will tell them what route would fit the child best.

‘Your child has no talent.

However, since he has aptitudes in these and other areas, please make him study this and this.’

Temple seemed to provide that kind of service.

The counselor turned the tablet screen and showed it to Daibun. It seemed that this was the first time that for them witnessing such a case.

Swordsmanship aptitude, Archery aptitude, Magic aptitude, Magic Sensitivity aptitude, Spiritual aptitude…….

The screen was filled, showing all the aptitudes I had.

“It seems that Reinhardt was born with an aptitude for everything in the world.”

The screen wasn’t blinkin.

My aptitudes were almost infinite, so the screen was just constantly updating.

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