"Monsters have been pouring out lately?" Sunny started with a retort. "Have you lost your mind again? If they've been pouring out then the whole city would be littered with them by now."
Janeth frowned. "If you have no idea what you're talking about, would you mind shutting up?"
Sunny waved the back of his palm at her, a piece of chicken dangling from his fingers. "I do know what I'm talking about, though. And I move around enough to know that I'm yet to encounter any Dungeon Breaks. In other words, they're definitely not as frequent as you're making them out to be."
"I know what I saw, Sunny." Janeth wasn't backing down from the clash.
"What you saw?" Sunny raised a brow. "Were you there? It was the news, wasn't it? You know that sometimes news outlets exaggerate things just because they want engagement, right? It's their job and the way they earn their pay. Be careful what you just gulp down your throat."
Janeth swallowed the rest of her words.
Merlin would have to side with Sunny here. He was right. Dungeon and Tower Breaks were definitely not frequent. After all, he too was yet to encounter any in all his years of living, and if they were really frequent, then he should have, because portals spawned where mana concentration was highest. And, honestly, mana was not something that was rare in the atmosphere.
Basically, portals could spawn any and everywhere, as long as mana suddenly became concentrated in that area. However, it was not an immediate occurrence, and the Consortium Guild was always quick to respond to any signs of enough mana to form a portal pulling together to a single area. It was for this reason that Dungeon and Tower Breaks rarely occurred, because as soon as there was a sign of a portal on the verge of forming, Mages were dispatched to take care of the problem. It was apparent that no one wanted to relive the year of the cataclysm again, and measures were being taken to prevent that.
Janeth sighed. "Fine. I get it. I was wrong, okay? But still be careful, though." She narrowed her eyes at Sunny. "Don't wanna walk right into a portal now, do you?"
Sunny scoffed. "As if. There's no way that can happen. Like I said, I've never even seen one before."
"There's always a first time for everyting." Janeth smirked.
"If that's your attempt at frightening me, then you must have lost your mind." Sunny shook his head. "Because that can never happen."
"Why are you so sure about that?" Nora chimed in, her question for Sunny. "There have been records of people being sucked into portals because it suddenly appeared in their homes. It could happen to you too, you know? It could happen to anyone."
"It won't," replied Sunny, simply and hard-headedly.
"He's like that, Nora," said Janeth with a snicker. "He's actually afraid of Dungeons and magic, and all that comes with it. He's just trying to look brave."
"Don't say what you don't know, muscle-woman," Sunny clicked his tongue.
"What I don't know?" Janeth did a double take. "What are you talking about? You told me all about—"
"Hey!" Sunny voiced, his breath suddenly heavy and his tone hard, startling everyone. "Don't you dare."
Janeth shrank into herself, seemingly realizing that she had become too comfortable with the conversation and had been going off rail. She shut her eyes and exhaled deeply, scratching the side of her head.
"My bad," she apologized.
"It's fine," sighed Sunny after a second. "I did too much."
Merlin and Nora had been forced into becoming mere audiences during that interaction, but it wasn't like they felt bad about that. At least, Merlin didn't. After all, he had no idea what had caused Sunny to be heated so much, but he could infer that it was related to the cataclysm, and perhaps why he wanted nothing to do with magic and Dungeons as a whole.
He was curious, but he knew better than to ask about something so sensitive. He trusted his twin sister to be the same too, as it was not their place to know something that didn't want to be made known.
However, he couldn't just let the mood continue to be the way it suddenly was, with everyone silent and focusing on eating their meals like they were just a bunch of first time workers who had never been together before.
"So, Janeth," Merlin decided he had to be the one to break the ice, seeing as Nora was not particularly bothered by the silence. She had a heart of stone, that lady. "I was wondering why you wanted us all here today. Is there a particular reason? You were so adamant."
"Ah… I completely forgot." Janeth clapped her hands, her mood brightening once again. Merlin couldn't help but smile softly at that. He had succeeded; thank goodness. But…She easily forgot things, didn't she? "I was wondering if we could come watch you guys taking the exam tomorrow. Sunny and I."
"Watch the exam?" Merlin and Nora asked in unison, surprised by her reason for calling them together.
Sunny, however…
"I doubt I can do that," he said. "I have a job."
"What job?" Nora asked. "Don't tell me someone actually paid to have you as a shaman? Did they lose their sight?"
Sunny threw a smug smirk her way as he gently brushed his bangs from his forehead. "You have no idea what I can do, young miss."
"I know you can neither perform exorcisms nor communicate with spirits; basically, you can't do what shamans do," said Nora. "You're gonna get exposed. That won't be good. You should rethink taking the offer."
"I've made preparations. I'll be fine. But thanks for the concern."
"Ugh…" Nora rolled her eyes. "You do you. I won't be surprised when you get arrested."
"You have to come," Janeth insisted, brushing all Sunny had said aside. "It wouldn't be complete without you there."
Sunny was taken aback. "Why wouldn't it? It's not like we're a family."
"We're friends, idiot. Friends stick together and show up for one another," Janeth replied.
"It's just a Mage exam."
"That determines their future." Janeth leaned toward him, her gaze hardening. "You have to be there."
Sunny clicked his tongue. "I can come and wish them good luck, but I'm not staying. I've got to earn my pay."
Janeth thought about that for a second, then shifted away. "That's good enough, then."
"There's no surety that you'll be allowed to stay," Merlin joined the conversation, but with a different motive from the rest. "It's an exam, I don't think outside parties are allowed to watch exams."
That and the fact that he didn't want them to watch it. After all, what if he failed in the most disgraceful manner possible? It would be better if people around him were ignorant as to how such would have occurred. There was nothing he could do about keeping Nora away, but at least he could keep Janeth and Sunny away.
"Well, we don't know that yet," said Janeth. "We'll just have to confirm tomorrow. But I think I'll keep my hopes up regardless. You guys need someone there to cheer you on."
"You shouldn't," Merlin said, making Nora turn his way with furrowed brows. She was the one who understood him the most, so she had probably understood his intentions by now.
But Merlin was wrong. Nora wasn't the only one.
"I'm curious about something," Sunny began with a slight tilt of his head. "Why is it that any time a conversation about the Academy and its exam gets brought up your mood suddenly plummets? Like now, you sound so dead set on keeping Janeth from watching the exam. What's going on with you?"
Merlin's heart skipped a beat and he impulsively lowered his head. He had not realized that Sunny was quite sharp on such things, and now he had been put on the spot.
Of course, there was no reason for him to tell them the truth. He could just lie, or, better still, claim that there was nothing wrong. But…he felt like that would be unscrupulous of him. After all, Janeth had called them friends. If he kept something like this a secret, that would be tantamount to lying, wouldn't it? And it would be better for Janeth to find out about what was up with him now, than in the off-chance she was allowed to watch the exam and she found out that way.
Merlin looked up slightly to catch Janeth's gaze. It was filled with unwavering focus and crowned by raised eyebrows. His words caught in his mouth.
Nora sighed then, and was seemingly about to say something to derail the conversation, when Merlin strengthened his resolve and opened his lips…
"I'm a Deficient Mage," he said, voice and heart heavy. He waited a few seconds, but all he was met with were quiet stares from his sister, Janeth, and Sunny, each for a different reason than the other.
"What the hell is a Deficient Mage?" Sunny broke the silence when no one did.
"A Mage who can't cast any spells," Janeth replied, her tone low. Then she covered her mouth with a faint gasp. "I'm so sorry, Merlin. I didn't know that."
She really didn't need to be. He didn't want pity. He had long made his peace with it. It was just that telling people what he was had been quite hard for him to do. But now that he had told someone else besides his family for once, he could see that it was not as much of a big deal as he had thought.
"It's fine," Merlin replied, feeling a weight lifted off his shoulders.
"And?" Sunny resumed, his tone almost unapologetic. "What does being a Mage that can't cast spells have to do with anything?"
"Sunny!" Janeth frowned.
Nora's nose flared. "Don't talk to my brother like that."
"What? I'm being factual here," Sunny went on, undeterred. "First of all, you still have the 'Mage' tag to yourself, don't you? And you're allowed to take the exam like other Mages, right? There must be a reason for that, and that must mean there's a possibility of you getting admitted. Let's look at it from a positive point of view, shall we? Deficient Mages have been admitted into Academies before, yes? Then that must mean that your kind is useful in some way—no offense. Honestly, I don't see any reason for you to be all sour. If you're frightened about failing because you can't use magic, then just do what you can at the exam. I, personally, think that you'll be fine. Deficient Mages are still Mages. I doubt magic is the deciding factor for admission.
"Yeah, yeah, I get that Prestige Academy's the second best ranked Mage Academy in the world, but I call bullshit on that. Ranks are a bunch of nonsense. For example, in case you didn't know, one of the Mages revered for battling the cataclysm was a fifteen year old kid. Just putting that out there."
Everyone was silent, including Merlin. He had a few things dancing at the tip of his tongue to say, but he couldn't articulate any. All he could do was stare.
Sunny glanced through everyone and shrugged. "What?"
"I thought you didn't bother yourself with news about Mages?" Janeth asked with an owlish stare.
Sunny snorted. "I don't. That's just common knowledge for anyone who was alive during the cataclysm." He then turned to Nora. "And, you young miss, let me finish talking next time before you get all protective, okay?"
Nora rolled her eyes. "Then don't come off too strongly at the start next time."
"What you do here is apologize, you brat." A vein popped out of the side of Sunny's head.
Nora frowned. "Call me a brat one more time and I'll blast your nose into your head."
"Threatening me with magic, are you? You know that's against the law, right? One call to the Consortium and you'll be locked up!"
"I'll only be locked up if I actually blasted you with it!" Nora didn't back down.
"Now, now. Let's all take a breather, shall we?" Janeth tried to be the anchor in the storm, but she was failing rather beautifully, and the bickering showed no signs of dying down any moment soon. Thankfully, that gave Merlin enough time to arrange his thoughts.
"Thank you," Merlin said, bringing the commotion to a stop. "I was just scared. I've always been scared of failure. It's a characteristic of myself that I don't like. But we don't always choose what we become, right?"
And even my parents don't believe I stand any chance…
"But…I feel better now." He then smiled so brightly his cheeks felt the warmest it had been ever since his evaluation at the Consortium. "I feel like I can really pass the exam. So, really, thank you."