The King's Gamma (#Wattys2024)

Sixty One

Levi Bardell.

Levi watched as his daughter left with his new coworkers. He was a bit concerned about how her first day would go as he would not be there. At least not for the first part. He had told her to hold back. Knowing full well that his daughter is very much like his wife. Though in part, she was much stronger than either of them or much more talented. But the world as well as the board, had no need to know that.

There were times when he even wondered about her origin if she was truly his and his wife's child. But then he would be reminded of how closed off they lived for a long time, and that nobody else knew about little Millicent. Kent now.

The decision to make her pretend to be a boy was a hard one. He and Sicily had always had high hopes for their daughter. They still do. But here they are watching their now boy go off to school. The magic that kept her looking like a boy was this powerful seal. A forbidden seal. If they were to be caught, both he and Sicily were likely to be killed and their child enslaved. On the other hand. If she was to be revealed as a daughter instead of a son, she would have been sold at birth already. Whether they wanted to or not. Girls are so rare these days that they are stolen.

As powerful as Levi knew he was, there were some things that he could not fight. Because if she was not stolen, the board and the world would be informed. And they would need to fight the world. He doubted that either of them would be winning in that situation. At the very least, Sicily understood this part very well as well. Levi Looked at his wife and then slowly stood up.

"I'm going to the school now. Be good. Don't show up, Sicily."

"Fine, fine." She answered again. She wasn't convincing anyone. Levi knew, just as his daughter did, that his wife would likely sneak into the school very soon. "Make sure that Millie gets everything she needs. And if anyone dares to bully her, you'll be the first to get them down, right?"

"Get them down?"

"You know what I mean."

"Not quite, Wife."

"Beat them up."

He shook his head and knew for a fact. But keeping her away would just be more trouble than it was worth. But placing a seal on his wife would need more power than either of them could muster at this point. It was A banned magic for a reason. Besides the fact that women were sought after, The magic needed to maintain a male appearance on a female or a boy's appearance on little girl was immense. The stronger the recipient of the seal was, the stronger the seal needed to be as well. And at this point both he and Sicily were maintaining the seal. This just confirmed their worst fears. Millicent Bardell, Was an enigma.

Reaching the school grounds, Levi entered the testing field. This is where they would test the children for their abilities, strength and overall aptitude. The higher the aptitude was, the better the chance of getting into the school. Being invited or accepted did not mean that you were accepted. The first day consisted of tests that would weed out those that were not up to snuff for the school's reputation. After all. You don't become the best school by accepting the worst students. Being the child of a skilled Magus also doesn't mean that you are one. The school was especially hard on children With a Magus for a parent. Millie- No, Kent, Had two parents that were both Magus and Hunters. There were a few of those. They would likely be very harsh on these children.

Their family reputation would dictate how much testing would be done and at what level. Regardless of their age. Many of these children are usually trained at home first for the first few years of school. They would be taught them family, magic and ways. Levi and Sicily had to, Against their better judgment, Inform the board that they were unable to teach their child. Not that they didn't try. The problem was that Millie was too exceptional. Levi just worried at what the board would do and if they found out exactly how exceptional the child was.