Repaying Old Debt

"So this is the headquarters of Rune Knights? It sure is big!" exclaimed Stelar, a young man that stands in front of the HQ. His eyes is currently beaming with excitement as he look at the Rune Knights HQ exterior. Today he had come to enlist himself as a member of Engineer Branch of Rune Knights. He had waited 18 years for this exact moment, that encounter 18 years ago that changed his whole life, seems like it was just yesterday to him.

"Mister, why did you treat me kindly even after I commited a crime?" a young Stelar can be seen asking a Rune Knights soldier while shoving a lot of foods into his mouth. "You've got a bright future ahead of you lad! All you need is a helping hand." the Rune Knight soldier answered Stelar's question with a kind smile on his face. "B-but ... I can't repay all of your kindness ... I don't have any Jewels to pay for your kindness ..." Stelar stopped shoving food into his mouth, his eyes started to get wet, he knows better than anyone that there's no way he can pay for all this food that the soldier bought for him. "Don't worry about paying me back lad. Seeing a kid like you eat properly instead of starving is already enough for me." the kind soldier wiped Stelar's tears away using his hand. "Mister! I have decided!" after wiping off his own tears, Stelar looked at the soldier with the eyes full of determination. "Decides what lad?" the soldier seems confused at the sudden change in Stelar's mood. "I am gonna grow up to become a respectable adult like you! And I am gonna join Rune Knights!" clearly Stelar knows how to talk big, an orphanage kid with no money, hoping to become a member of Rune Knights, if someone else heard that they might have already mocked Stelar. "Hahahaha! Dreaming big is good lad! But you need to get your energy back first! Joining the Rune Knights can come later! Come on lad eat more!" amused at what Stelar just said, the soldier only smiled a bit before gesturing Stelar to continue to eat more food.

Back to the present time, "After 18 years ... I've finally made it to the start line ..." after remembering a bit about past, Stelar's mind came back to the reason why he is here today. "Today's the day I finally am going to be a member of Rune Knights!" with the same eyes that is full of determination 18 years ago, Stelar confidently walked into the entrance into the headquarters or at least that is what should have happened. "Oi you there! This is no place for kids! Go home to your mother!" Stelar was stopped by the guards that is guarding the entrance to the Rune Knights HQ. "K-kid!? I may be short but I'll have you know that I am 24 years old this year! And I am here to join Rune Knights!" offended by the guards statement, Stelar answered back in a rather high tone while showing his application form. "This kid here have the permit, the higher ups said to let everyone with the application form in." whispered the guard to his friend that called Stelar as kid earlier. After hearing the opinion from his friend, the guards spoke again "You sure you wanna join the Knights, Kid? A kid like you might get beaten black and blue instead." Stelar froze when he heard the guard statement, he already said that he is 24 years old this year but the guard seems hell bent on calling him a kid. "Sigh ... you know what ... just let me in ..." dejected that he keeps getting called kid he gives up on arguing further with the guard. "Alright, it's your choice, don't say that we didn't warn you, kid." said the guards whilst letting Stelar through the checkpoint.

Stelar continues his journey inside the headquarters, even when his heart is still bleeding because he got called kid for 3 times despite his explanation that he's not a kid, clearly his eyes is still showing excitement. He looked around him to see that a lot of people had been gathering in the reception area, it seems that the number of people that take part in this examination are high. Stelar wandered around the place until he found the queue for the people that are going to take part of Engineering Corps entrance examination. "It might be good to review some materials before exam, can't fail the exam now can I?" Stelar picked up a book from his bag and started to review some info related to Magical Engineering. He focused so hard on reviewing it he didn't notice that the queue for Engineering Corps examination already gone ahead of him, leaving him alone. "H-huh? Where's everyone else?" finally noticed that he's alone Stelar panicked, clearly his bad habit has once again put him into a predicament. He put away his book and ran ahead until he found a queue that seems to be walking to the examination hall. "Ah! There they are!" Stelar hurriedly rejoin the queue. But what he didn't know is that the Engineering Corps examination queue had gone to the hall adjacent to this one, the queue that he followed at the moment is the one that is headed for Combat Corps examination. Oblivious to this Stelar followed the Combat Corps queue into the examination hall.

At this moment, Stelar feels really confused, when he was busy arguing with a soldier because of his height, a new person came and reprimanded the soldier that he was arguing with earlier. The new person that came seems to hold some sort of position here, because clearly the soldier's attitude took a 180 degee turn, as the soldier immediately apologized before running away with his tails between his legs. Stelar needed to thank this person for solving the argument between him and the soldier, or at least that's what should have happened. It seems this person didn't come here alone as there's quite a large group behind her, and it seems that they are arguing on something, at least it was like that before a single person break through the crowd and charging straight ahead towards the person in front of Stelar.

Sensing malicious intent from the man that charges straight towards them, Stelar readies his magic to stop the man. "Look out!" Stelar starts to cast his magic as a bunch of small magic ball that shines like a star started to appear around him, but the charging man was already behind the person in front of Stelar. The person in front of Stelar casually turned around to face the charging man, and BAM! A sound like something just hit a wall can be heard, as the charging man's head splendidly collide with the person in front of Stelar. The person in front of Stelar seems fine though the same cannot be said for the charging man as he was currently lying on the ground, unconscious. "E-e-eh ..." a dumbfounded Stelar stood there while looking at the current condition in front of him, and since his concetration was broken, the little magic balls around him disappeared. After giving some orders towards the group behind her, the person in front of Stelar finally turned her attention back to him. And Stelar was hit with a possibly the brightest smile he had ever seen in his life as she smiled in front of him.

While still being captivated by her smile, Stelar unconsciously reached his hand for the handshake. The strong grip from her hand brought him back to reality, as she asked if she can help him with anything. "E-eh? Did she just say that she is a General?" Stelar mumbled to himself, it seems that he had met with someone unbelieveable right from the get go. "Erm ... Ahem ... My name is Stelar, and I am here today to take examination for enlisting in the Rune Knights Miss, Err ... Ma'am!" people always say that first impression really matters, but Stelar seems to have messed this up by mistakenly calling the person in front of him as Miss instead of Ma'am. "Ah ... I can't believe I screwed up my greetings ..." Stelar silently cursed himself inside his heart.