Turning back to look at the square, Pi’ve saw the wizard in black robes trying to dispel the people in the crowd from viewing the coffin. There was nothing he could do. Pi’ve stopped, and through the buzzing of the crowd, he could hear someone shouting for a crow to be sent to Vesen City. He remembered the glove which King Oarios III had buried somewhere there as proof of legitimacy.

  *DING*

  The quest The Forgotten King has been completed. [Pin of the Oarios King (Superior)] has been activated; stats applicable upon equipping. Rewards from the tutorial and the quest The Forgotten King has been placed in your inventory. Title acquired.

  *DING*

  Race [Human] has levelled up: lvl 8 -> lvl 9 +3 free points. Stat points from class [Wizard - Initiate Mage] has been allocated, +1 free point. Max health is increased with one (1) point.

  What had marked the quest as complete, he questioned. The crow? Pi’ve checked his status after the level up, and saw that he had received the Manifest the Obscured spell from the pin, even though it was yet to be equipped. It could be because it was in his possession, but then the stats should be allocated also… Well, he received the stats from the level up either way. He opened his inventory for a brief second, and saw several new items which had not been inside last time when he showed Gaudol what was in there. He felt excited. Is that a book? No, two books— Oh and— he felt his robe being tugged, and he was ejected out of his inventory before he could check out the new items. Dandrian was trying to get his attention. He had to check out his new items later, when he had the time. The rewards were bound to be good.

  ’We have to go.’ Dandrian said, the crowd making it hard to hear.

  ’Quite. Who is it I am meeting?’ Pi’ve said. He had heard Dandrian mention Barna to the other wizards, and Pi’ve had met Barna before, twice. He wondered if Barna remembered him, though.

  ’Barna. Do you know of him?’ Dandrian said.

  ’Yes. He frequented the same pub as my father!’ Pi’ve had to practically shout over the noise, but soon they came to a less crowded part, and the noise lessened.

  ’Indeed.’ Dandrian said, nodding as they strolled along. ’You have a gift, do you not, Pi’ve? Barna told me so.’

  ’He told you— about me? What about?’ Pi’ve said as a knot in his stomach formed. Gaudol had told him that no one should know of his special circumstance. Well, they would not know the specifics.

  ’Barna told me he was seated at the very pub your father were, not five days ago, before your ship departed. You were on that ship, he says. I find it doubtful. Were you? You were not a wizard at the time, he says. Today, you emerge out of the ocean, accompanied by a merman, and return as a wizard. Well, drawing the obvious conclusion thus; you have a gift, he says.’ He said, and he winked. ’He has a thing for noticing gifts, that man. Now, come on and hurry. We are close to his office.’

  Pi’ve did not know how to answer. Gaudol was right. If there were any wizards who had seen or known of Pi’ve just a couple of days ago, they would begin to question what has happened to him.

  ’Do you trust Barna?’ Pi’ve said, now not so eager to meet him again. Pi’ve kept going through questions after questions which Barna could ask him to get him to reveal what had happened to him. “How did you do it, Pi’ve? No wizard has been so young before.” Or “Did you read a book containing the Jin, perhaps? Can you fetch it for me?”. No, he was going to keep the secret. Wizards can be so nosy sometimes… oh, I haven’t even seen him yet.

  ’I would not have taken you to him if I did not, Pi’ve.’ Dandrian said.

  ’And why should I trust you?’ Pi’ve countered.

  Dandrian stopped and turned around. His face as had a slight smile on it, and just by looking at the old man in front of him, Pi’ve felt no bad will in him.

  ’There is nothing more for you to do now, than trust, Pi’ve. I took you out of harms way— I would wager had you stayed in that square, I believe many more would have come to see the spectacle, and you would have made a few more enemies. Not just wizards, mind.’ Dandrian said and turned around again to walk. ’You are of course free to leave wherever you please. Barna can wait if you would rather go somewhere else. I am not detaining you.’

  ’But what will happen to me?’ Pi’ve said apprehensively. ’I mean… about the king, and the wizard who filed a case against me?’

  ’Do not worry about that— Did someone do that? Really… well, it is out of your control, but hopefully in Barna’s. So you just trust him, and all will be taken care of, I am sure.’

  They strolled the streets of Thergiam together, at a pace that seemed to dwindle ever so slightly over time. Dandrian seemed focused on placing his every footstep safely, and as a consequence, it took a while to progress. After a while, they had gone so far into Thergiam that Pi’ve was unsure what street they had entered. He knew Thergiam, but only a certain part of it. Houses lined the streets, now more than by the dock, for they had walked further into the heart of Thergiam, where people lived even more clumped together. What became the norm in the inner city that was different from by the dock where Pi’ve came from, was that the first floor of essentially every building was a store of some sort, and the second, third and those which had a fourth, were mostly housing. Some buildings did not have a store on the first floor, but that were the inns. They occupied the whole building, because they rented out the rooms in the floors above.

  Dandrian showed him through the cobbled streets of Thergiam, until they came to an alleyway littered with barrels, wagons and trash bags. They went down the alley and traversed the streets for a little while longer before they reached a banner on top of two poles where it said,

  Thergiam: The City of Wizards.

  ’I dislike that banner.’ Dandrian said, then pointed at another. ’Although, I like that one. Horner made that.’

  Beware of the wizard!

  Suddenly the streets changed from being full of houses and shops and bustling with people, to being a spacious area with a couple of big, three and four storied buildings. There were only five people in the square at the moment, and they all walked with quick purposefulness. All of them sporting staffs and robes. Some of them even hats and pipes. A small fountain stood in the middle of the square.

  They went towards one of the buildings. It was three stories tall, and narrower than the other buildings, and made of some dark wood and had many windows. It was connected another building next to it, four storied, but they did not share a front door. There were bushes and some trees outside growing up from between the cobbled stone. They went up a small set of stone stairs, and above the door it said B. P. S. S and G. L & Homes. Dandrian opened the door for Pi’ve. Push door. Noted.

  ’Who’s there?’ Barna said.

  ’It is I. I have brought Pi’ve.’ Dandrian said. He did not traverse the threshold of the door, but motioned Pi’ve to enter.

  ’Good job, Dandrian. Many thanks. I think it’s all for the best, no?’ Barna said, but Pi’ve did not follow.

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  ’I think it— yes. I will leave you, now. Good luck, Barna. Pi’ve’ Dandrian said, and shut the door.

  There was a small silence as the reverberation of the door lingered for a moment. Pi’ve got a quick glance of the room before Barna began to speak. It was spacious, but not overly decorated—

  ’You are that ship captains son?’ Barna said, and Pi’ve stopped looking around at the room. Barna was a big man. Tall too. Most would call him fat, but his build rather looked like it was just well packed, if that was a thing. He was red haired, had no beard, and was quite pale. Rumours claimed he liked ale. He used spectacles, which Pi’ve had not seen him use before.

  Pi’ve nodded. Barna began looking around on the desk, searching for something.

  There was a large desk, which Barna stood behind. Barna kept going through the sheets of parchment on top of the desk, while Pi’ve looked around some more. There was a door on either side of the desk, the left one bigger and more ornate. The right one sported the letters G. L. & Homes. On the walls hung hand-painted pictures of landscapes, cities and people. There were some chairs along the wall, a hat stand by the door and a small, round table in the corner where a tea pot stood, accompanied with some upside down tea cups. Suddenly, an urge to have some tea came over Pi’ve. He had never had tea, funnily enough.

  Barna drew out some of the drawers on the desk and looked through more sheets of paper in it. He seemed to not find what he was looking for, so he waved at Pi’ve to follow him, and they went through the door to the left of the desk. On the door it said B. P. S. S..

  ’Have a seat.’ Barna said, and went behind the desk which stood facing the door they had just went through, and he sat down. This room was smaller. It had three pictures on the wall. It was one of Barna, one of another man beside a large stone, and a map of what Pi’ve believed was Soilar. He had seen few maps of Soilar; many of the coast. Pi’ve followed suit, and sat down on the chair in front of the desk.

  While Barna continued to look through the drawers in this desk, Pi’ve opened his inventory again. He saw that the pin now had a green hue around it, getting brighter and then dimmer. He took it out and placed it on his robe. In the same second he felt it.

  [Pin of the Oarios King (Superior)] equipped. Stat points allocated. Unequipping this item will remove stat points.

  Pi’ve could not help but crane his neck backwards as the new stats was placed and a rush went through his body. It felt like being smote by a constant, weak lightning, and it surged through his body for a while. Barna seemed not to notice, but then when he stopped looking through the drawers, he looked strangely at Pi’ve.

  Pi’ve gained 12 in his wisdom stat, meaning he now had 38 in total. That also meant that he now had a maximum of 380 in his mana pool. He received 10 points to his willpower, making it 22 in total. In addition, he received 8 to his power stat, that also being 22 in total.

  ’What happened? You did not have that pin on you just a second ago; where did you get that?’ He said.

  A long, deep breath of air seeped out of Pi’ve, and all he could muster to answer was ’Yes…’ Barna looked at Pi’ve perplexed, then shrugged and went on. Perhaps now was a bad time for retrieving items from his inventory.

  ’Well, I want to make several things clear, before we get into some details I want to know about you.’ Barna said, and placed three sheets of paper on the desk and turned them towards Pi’ve. ’This is the Wizard Code of Conduct ordained by the Wizard Court Council, which is the largest building opposite this one, if you saw it. It has a wooden plaque over the door with the letters WCC on it. Hard to miss.’

  Pi’ve nodded, for he had realised where this was going, even before he had entered the door. Barna’s— and that wizard in the black robe, and Neth and the rest— reaction seemed to confirm what he thought.

  ’This is the Wizard Exclusion Act.’ Barna said, pointing to the second piece of parchment. ’Ordained by the same faction. And this,’ pointing at the third parchment, ’is a form I want you to fill out. Please read, and get back to me.’

  Pi’ve took the leftmost parchment, and placed it in front of him. It read:

  Wizard Code of Conduct:

  1. A wizard is not to use magic directed at the common people.

  2. A wizard is not to use magic to gain any favour of the common people, through coercion or otherwise.

  3. A wizard is to act in a way which is not threatening or to cause fear in the common people.

  4. A wizard is not to say or imply threats to have the common people adhere to any agenda of the wizard or wizards.

  5. Outside of authorised professional obligations, wizards are to abstain from hindering the common people’s right to exist freely under their own autonomy.

  …

  As he turned the parchment, it went on and on. He understood what the parchment said, and it made sense to him now. He was not to pry on the common people, for his agenda, or to hinder theirs. As Magnol had said, if wizards wanted to, they could just overpower the common people, no questions asked, which is why the wizards themselves had to keep each other accountable and had created these boundaries. They were quite extensive.

  Then he went on to the next one, and that one gave him a bad feeling.

  Wizard exclusion act:

  1. Wizards are not to meddle or interfere in the affairs of the common people’s government on any stage or level.

  2. Wizards are not to be employed by any common people for any favour, be that monetary or otherwise.

  3. Wizards are to leave the premises if; official legislation or otherwise influential proposals are being held by the common people which may affect the overall governance of the free people.

  4. Wizards are not to influence any people of influence among the common people; being politicians, nobles, kings, queens, princes or princesses with any gain, or loss in mind, either for the wizard, wizards as a whole or any group, or the common people.

  5. Wizards are not to occupy any official station of influence in the government of the common people.

  …

  This too went on and on, and included lots of rules, or laws, which he as a wizard had to obey if he were to continue to be a part of the wizard community. He had many questions.

  ’What does this mean for me? I have clearly broken at least three or four of these rules only today.’ Pi’ve asked.

  ’Three or four? I only counted two.’

  ’Well, I did use magic to threaten a man today. So that is two. He was at the gathering. Krasian is his name.’ Pi’ve said, sinking into his seat.

  ’Ah. I know the man. A drunkard and a shame.’ Barna said, and he straightened up and placed his hands on the table. ’You know, it is difficult to wake up in the morning and not break any of these rules. They are extensive, but they are there for a reason. And, just to be clear. They only apply if you already know them— which is good for you—’ Barna said. This soothed Pi’ve somewhat. It was not his intention to break any rules, and he had not known that these rules existed. ’Your case would be clear, had you known them, obviously. But you did not. Now you do. Either way, you will only be tried if someone makes an appeal against you. It happens rarely.’

  ’Hm.’ Pi’ve answered. ’The wizard in black robes— I never got his name— did just that.’

  ’Well— Alright.’ Barna said, and looked rather annoyed at that. ’Murgun is his name, and he is— quite— the fellow.’ Barna said scratching his head as he suppressed what he thought, clearly. ’There will be a quick hearing at the WCC where you will say that you did not know the rules and laws and whatnot, and then it will be dismissed. I will testify for you— Blah blah, it will be fine, let’s get on with this other parchment in front of you.

  ’Now, before you read this next sheet of parchment, I want to hear your story. Because from my standpoint, you should not be a wizard. Not should in a moral sense, but from what I know, you are only about twenty years old or so, and wizards are never that young.’ Barna said, and Pi’ve could not help himself from beginning to rock in his chair. ’I assure you— if my words mean anything to you, I don’t know— I assure you I can be trusted to keep anything you tell me secret, as I will be your supervisor— if you sign, that is. Confidentiality and all that.’

  ’… But you will not keep the secret if I do not sign?’

  ’No, do not misunderstand. I will, but through this parchment there is legality bound to it, and that may assure you further that my words are true.’ Barna said, and sounded humble. Pi’ve trusted Barna. Not because he had talked with him before, but because Pi’ve had met Dandrian, who through his way of being, and his aura, was a man to trust, and Dandrian trusted Barna, it seemed to Pi’ve. The logical route was easy to follow.

  ’I know next to nothing about you, and from the advice of my mentor, I will refrain from saying too much.’ Pi’ve said. Barna nodded.

  ’Of course. You may indulge in whatever you’d like. I would just like to know more about you. Who is your mentor? If I may ask.’

  ’His name is Gaudol.’ Pi’ve said.

  Barna cocked his head back slightly in surprise. He had heard of him before, then.

  ’Gaudol? As in the merman Gaudol from Tharthillion?’

  Pi’ve nodded again. He did not know that Barna would know of him.

  ’That is quite peculiar. But I have to ask, just for— I am not saying I do not believe you, mind— are you lying to me? Because that is easily verifiable if you are.’ Barna said in a strange shift of seriousness.

  ’No. I am not lying. Gaudol is my mentor.’

  ’Alright. Now that we have gotten that out of the way, I want you to read over the next paper. And then get back to me when you have.’

  Pi’ve placed his hand on the third set of parchment, and slid it closer to him. On the front there was the abbreviation B. P. S. S., and under it said what the abbreviation stood for.

  Barna & Portal’s Secret Society.