THE FORTUNIST

25. Leurayssa

“There are only two exits out of Albeny which is through the Albenian Port and through the Dropp River.”

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It is a hard decision to make but it is one that Leurayssa must make nevertheless. She cannot dispel the urgency within her to find Anarella but she cannot also help wondering that while she is stuck here at Albenarum, Anarella is already back at the restaurant wondering where Leurayssa went.

But the last time they had spoken, Anarella had been planning to commit a crime. Obviously Anarella had not considered stealing the Winter Solstice as a crime but that is usually the kind of adverse thinking that causes a person to disappear for three weeks running without a trace.

Yet, Leurayssa would not give up in finding Anarella. If she was one who went missing, Anarella would risk it all to find her. Anarella is the only figure Leurayssa had known all her life. She has no memory of her parents. Just Anarella. Through navigating the streets of Xri, settling in the Port Province and acquiring the restaurant.

She should be out the gate already, set to aimlessly roam across the country and hope that one random day, she would find a clue pertaining to her sister's whereabouts. But there is another option— she can find the clue she is looking for here, in Albenarum. If Leurayssa the servant did not work, Ciara Mulden the student might just.

"Impersonation is a serious crime." But stealing a cryfix, a cryfix of the royal house for that matter, was unheard of and would certainly put the crime of impersonation to shame. Yet, hadn't Anarella set out to commit it anyway just so she could give Leurayssa a luxurious life? In light of that, Leurayssa thinks impersonation is a small price to pay.

Impersonation it is.

With the effort of persistent talking, she finds a public restroom and changes her clothes to a more decent set. She also brushes her hair and packs it in a low ponytail. She rubs on scented oil to hide the faint of dirt and sweat, consequence of her having not showered in a while. She looks around the restroom wondering where to temporarily hide her luggage. She is not worried about them being stolen but when she had had her first peep into the Glass Dome, none of the applying students had their luggages with them. When she asked why and got her answer, she instantly wished she hadn't.

Most of the students have spatial rings since they are rich enough to afford it. The ones who do not, have loving family or friends watching over it for them. Some even used cryfix magic to temporarily rid themselves of luggage. Leurayssa realizes she cannot employ any of those tactics. That's why the public toilets became her first, last and only option. She finally settles for climbing one of the toilets and stuffing her bag through a squarish hole in the ceiling. She winces at the thoughts of rats getting to it before she does but she hears the restroom door opens and immediately clambers down. A couple of footsteps and voices of girls congratulating each other for passing the final test. Leurayssa knows she should leave them be but curiosity rules over her rationality once again and she stays to listen in on their conversation.

"I got thirty one. What did you get?"

"Same."

Squeals of joy

"I got forty three."

"Wow Mixa, that's so cool," says the first girl.

"No, not cool," argues the girl called Mixa, "the machine is obviously rigged. I've been training since I was three and there's really nothing I can't lift. Nothing. Yet it gives me forty three!"

"Maybe you should have complained to them," the second girl quips.

"Oh I did."

"You are crazy Mixa, I'll give you that."

"What did they say? Tell us," the first girl urges.

"The blue haired guy, Godswood Tai. He just laughed."

"He is a strange man," the second girl comments.

"I know right? He said it's better if I distrust the system. I think his laughter saved me from facing the consequences of speaking out of turn. He's so cool."

"Gee, he's a married man Mixa," the first girl says amidst giggling, "besides, he's not as cool as Feng."

"Trust me Jem when I say Feng still has a long way to go."

"That's not true, Feng has a direct claim to Lemohn and its cryfix."

"Jem, that's like saying the crown prince has a direct claim to Alban and its cryfixes, and that's cooler." the second girl says.

"Well you don't see the crown prince here, do you? You see Feng. The crown prince is sitting in that cozy palace of his and wants nothing to do with Albenarum. We don't even know how he looks like until he becomes king. Might be a fat short sweaty bloke, blergh!"

"What if he's not?"

"What if he's hot?"

"Hotter than Feng."

"Oh please, nobody can be hotter than Feng."

"You are way over your head in love Jem. Besides, it's only a matter of time before we see the crown prince's face and his brother's," Mixa says.

"How do you know that?"

"For one I've heard the rumours. A coronation would happen before year end."

"So we are going to have a king."

"That'll be so weird, I'm already used to saying Queen. I might call him Queen Rayton, or King Eim."

"You are being silly Jem."

The voices finally fade as the friendly trio distance themselves from the restroom without realising at all that they had been listened on the whole time.

Leurayssa comes out and traces her way back to the Glass Dome's lobby. The number of students have reasonably dwindled giving Leurayssa the sense that whatever the final test is, it is swift business.

She notices that unlike her golden token, some students have lead coloured tokens. She stands in the extreme end of the line and uses the time left to roll over the facts she is sure of.

Thirty one? Same? Forty three? Leurayssa could discern that the academy has a means of calculating a person's cryfix affinity. She recalls Ciara telling her that it is totally impossible to get a zero. Now it all makes sense. All she has to do is to get into the final testing room, use whatever machine is awaiting her, get maybe one or two and become a student of Albenarum. It would  be difficult but she could still infiltrate the ranks of new staff to see if any of them remembered Anarella. When she succeeds, she would already probably hate Albenarum so much that she would be over eager to leave.

Leurayssa's stomach drops. She turns her head away in panic. She recognised the woman who just leisurely strolled past her into the final testing room. It is the same woman on the dueling field to whom she had introduced herself as Leurayssa. There is no way she can walk into that door now and introduce herself as Ciara Mulden.

"NEXT!" comes the mandatory shout.

The problem is she's the only one left.

"NEXT!"

"You again?" It is the noble who always has a ‘mile’ radius space around him, who had looked down on her in High Garden for having a golden token. "Ciara Mulden," his enticing lips curl down in distaste.

"Wait a sec, you're Ciara Mulden?" A young man with dark hair and eyes, also outstandingly handsome holding the peculiar lead coloured token.

"Ugh," the fairhead guy rolls his eyes, "another commoner."

"NEXT!"

"Are you going in or not?"

"One of you take my place," Leurayssa says hurriedly. She can barely hold herself from bursting into tears of relief. These two people ought to be a sign from the Fortunist that Anarella would be found after all.