Heck yes, the Guild's one of the best things we have. Simple, efficient... probably a small bureaucratic nightmare, all things considered. Everyone of age can join and earn themselves some pocket money from bashing Dogoos. Plus, it frees up the CPUs to do more important stuff. Everybody wins!

-Unnamed Guild Agent

The room was quiet except for the scratching of pens on paper. Two supervisors made their rounds among the dozen participants of this examination, their steps level from years of practice.

At their next passing each other, the men exchanged knowing looks at the frantic work happening around them; it was the infamous last five minutes and, like any student could attest, these were the most stressful minutes of any exam.

Only one did not seem bothered, a rather young girl whose eyes were carefully flying over the sheet in front of her; curly brown hair fell down to her shoulders, effectively hiding the green orbs from view. When one of the supervisors passed her again, he took note of the fact she was gently tapping her pen on her finger.

It seemed this one was just better at masking her anxiety, the man reasoned, knowing that there were some of those once in a while. He went on with that thought, leaving the girl to herself. Unbeknownst to him, this particular applicant had no need to hurry; she was busy double-checking everything.

-Last Name: Fontaine

-First Name: Isabelle

-Date of Birth: 26th of October, 494

-Age: 14

-Reason of Application: To gain first-hand experience in Guild matters, assist the CPU by fighting Monsters and obtain combat experience.

With the essentials taken care of, her eyes darted over all the questions and problems again; some were easy -Two people are fleeing in opposite directions, one followed by a Wolf and the other by a Fenrir. Which do you save and why?- while others were more difficult -describe Planeptune in twenty words or less- but she was rather happy with her solutions.

When the clock started ringing, one supervisor immediately called out. "Time's up, everyone. Pens down, we will now collect your answers."

Isabelle put down her sheets with a satisfied sigh and then stretched sore fingers a little. The girl leaned back in her chair and took a deep breath; two hours were quite some time to spend on this and her forehead felt hot from thinking so much.

It was harder than she thought it would be. But probably not as hard on her as it could have been, if her fellow applicants' groaning was any indication.

She was glad that the Guild took applications for a special license twice a year, in June and December respectively. If they did not and only offered it annually, she would have had to wait even longer to apply. Fourteen was the minimum age to apply for joining the Guild early and she was determined to make it, despite of how brutal the examination was supposed to be. So far, it had lived up to Isabelle's expectations.

On the other hand, to her, the hard part was over now. Next up was the physical half of this whole process. This thought made the girl relax some more as she got up, striding after one of the instructors and toward the gymnasium. Her large blue coat gently swished around her lithe form.

They were told not to bring gym clothes and to just appear in whatever they would wear in the field. Naturally, she brought her much preferred clothes; black shorts and a tight shirt for the best possible movability, as well as her trusted coat to conceal the rather short clothes. After wearing blue with white linings for so long, it felt unnatural not to wear it anyway... and privately, she liked the far oversized clasps a lot. It contrasted nicely with her hair and the green ribbon she worked into it.

They were given some water while a dozen other instructors entered the room, each of them with a clipboard and sharp eyes. Names were called and the applicants went to whoever they were assigned to, then the physical examination began in earnest.

They had her sprint, jump, pull weights, run an obstacle course and quite a bit more than that. There were no limitations, though; each time, Isabelle was asked to do how much she saw fit... so she did, which seemed to surprise her instructor a little. Each time. Yet there was no time to ponder the reasons, she had work to do.

When Isabelle was done an hour later, refused the optional magical examination, and went through a medical checkup, she was finally told it was over and that the Guild would inform her of her results within a few weeks. Isabelle was happy with that; she gave this her all and was pretty tired, as well as soaked in sweat.

Nonetheless, the teen felt she could still do a light jog; three kilometres, then a long shower and dinner. She liked the sound of that; with it being the weekend, she had time.

::

Meanwhile, the staff several storeys above the gymnasium were in a state that could be best described as 'freaking out'.

"Seriously, what?"

"What are the odds?"
"How can such a little girl-"

Everyone was talking over each other while the screens all depicted the same... or nearly similar results. Going through the first five applicants had been easy, none of them did more than average and would not expect to pass anyway. This one however, especially with the results on her fitness coming in as they worked, was different.

At first most of the five office workers thought their colleague was messing with them, but then they checked the answers themselves. A great many of the questions asked were to determine character. They were purposefully worded vaguely to allow subjective grading, too.

All to ensure that no one could pass this test, except for individuals that were already forwarded by the Basilicom; in most cases by Lady Purple Heart herself.

There was no such order in this case. While some of them would not mind just doing the usual, these results were outstanding enough to ask for an outside opinion. Who but the CPU could make such a decision, they reasoned.

So when the door finally slid open to reveal their ruler, the men and women quickly nodded at her and motioned for the large front screen. One man took to manipulating the footage shown, the rest went back to grading the remainder of this batch. Yet all of them glanced back up at the beauty standing amidst them once in a while. They all felt the force of her presence even without seeing her.

Purple Heart herself was watching some of the exercises with interest before casually flipping through the girl's written exam. Her expression never really changed from the casual friendliness, full lips slightly tugged upward and all the other muscles in her face relaxed so as to not give anything away.

"What should we do about this, my Lady?" The man initially responsible for grading this sheet stood at a loss; he knew his job and that no one was supposed to pass, which was why there was no passing grade on it anyway. They never publicised the test or its results, so no one could argue about it.

A few contemplative seconds after he asked his question, Purple Heart's lips parted slightly; their corners rose a little higher, then the goddess offered a weak nod and put down the sheet. "Please forward all data about this applicant to Histoire. We will take a... special approach."

::

Isabelle was halfway past the neatly arranged beds of Loweean flowers to her left when she turned back to the large building. It was an amazing sight, even amongst the large skyscrapers of downtown Nicos. Even with Planeptower casting its shadow over it, the local Guild HQ stood tall and vast. More than fifty metres in height was small in planeptunian terms, but this building was several hundred metres wide to compensate.

It shone brightly in the evening sun, polished metal interrupted only by accents of purple and silver plasteel. The fact they arranged flowers and streets around it to make it stand alone helped set the building apart from every other; it was big enough to warrant a large parking lot, two connections to the underground network, and three connections to the walkways.

The walkways were, in fact, her chosen means of transportation from here. Jogging up a set of stairs that seemed to end in mid-air, Isabelle carelessly hopped onto the barely visible stream of solid air. Running on these lanes was frowned upon unless one had enough space to stay out of everyone else's path; with the traffic picking up however, that was not possible.

A cold wind ruffled Isabelle's hair and coat, making her shiver. Most of the sweat dried by now, but it was still not a nice feeling to be outside at barely positive temperatures. December indeed... but there was her stop, right next to her favourite park. She stepped off and took the stairs, then quickly fell into a slow jog.

Anxious she may be, but this would not stop her from anything.

. .

. .

It was only a week after the examination and tension had already taken a hold of Isabelle, the girl waiting for what kind of response she would get. Mari kept throwing her reassuring looks, but that did not really help; this special license was important to her.

Yet she did not expect the news to appear at breakfast; her heart skipped a beat when one of the other staffmembers called out to her: "Hey IF, you've got a letter!"

They always did this, handing out mail during mealtimes. All of the younger children were around at that time and none of the older ones were allowed out beyond curfew.

She was also pretty glad about the nickname sticking by now; even if it alienated quite a few of the older children, she liked this more than her actual name. It sounded weird.

IF felt a litte short on air while the man strolled between the tables and toward her; maybe she tied her choker too tight today, the girl reasoned; it stuck to her throat a little bit more than was usual. She quickly clasped it open and tied it again.

Sadly, this did not help with her sudden bout of anxiety; it only provided a distraction until the letter was given to her, with the Guild's official stamp on it. Almost everyone knew where she went the previous Saturday, so it was no surprise that her direct neighbours tried to take a peek over her shoulders. Tough luck, both girls were years younger than her and thus smaller. She may or may not have slumped over a little to allow them to look, though. Keeping such things a secret was useless anyway; they would know whether she passed within days.

When IF turned her gaze onto the neatly written lines however, her nervousness was gone rather soon. There was no mention of how her exam went, no. It was a summons to the Guild HQ on this very afternoon, signed by Histoire herself.

There was no reason given, just the summons and a reminder to contact the office in case she was busy at that time. IF read the letter again, but there was nothing there to sate her curiousity.

"Weird, is that how the Guild does it?" The girl to IF's left shoulder asked.

The one to her right shrugged at her. "No idea... do you know, IF?"

The brunette took some relief out of the fact she was not the only one confused; then she returned a shrug of her own and frowned at the nondescript message. "I was supposed to get a letter with my results, not... whatever this is."

Some others were listening as well, even though she could tell they tried to be discreet about it. IF just rolled her eyes and folded the paper before pushing it into her bag. Their interest would wane over the next few days anyway, it was always like that.

::

School went by almost in a blur; classes on Friday were usually interesting, but IF had a hard time concentrating today. The letter returned to the forefront of her mind more often than not and she wondered just what the Guild might want if they asked for her to come over again.

The idea most prominent was that they wanted to talk about her employment, but her mind beat it down each time it came up. Yet IF always returned there no matter how many other ideas she found, hope growing where her concious mind tried to salt the earth against it. Through it all however, she wondered why they would not add a note about her passing the exam in their message if she was right.

When IF left her new school that day, she still had no idea what to make of this. With clubs not being mandatory in high school, she could get going before most others; some clubs sounded interesting, like the weapon maintenance club, but IF probably knew enough about the topic already. She prepared herself a lot over the years.

After a quick stop at home, where she stored away her notebooks and other school supplies before clipping a trusted pair of katars to her waist, IF headed out toward her destination. She decided to get lunch later, after visiting the Guild. As it was, she might have been too nervous to eat anyway.

It felt a little weird to stroll toward the Guild so soon, though. IF just did her best to shrug it off and went on, happy about the sunshine; there was at least some warmth for her to enjoy despite the wind.

Upon reaching the Guild and talking to the receptionist however, things started to get weird; while other people were asked to wait in the entrance area, the young man immediately told IF to be on her way after giving her a storey and room number. No one stopped her when she entered the spacy elevator, either.

That was probably not what happened normally, the girl reasoned. She rose almost to the building's top before leaving her ride, carefully tapping over a sturdy blue carpet as she went. Some others, all of them adults, walked by her with passing glances and nods. Men and women, all clad in simple suits or casual clothes. No one seemed bothered about her being here despite the fact that her coat stood out quite a bit, not to mention that IF was obviously still a teen.

Once she found the room she was told and knocked carefully, IF turned to actually read the plaque attached next to the doorframe. What she saw gave her pause: black letters formed merely one word, standing out against the white background.

Histoire.

IF blinked slowly, but the door was gently swept open by an unseen force before she could understand the implications of what she just saw. Turning her head, the brunette found a friendly gaze directed at her, belonging to a woman no taller than her arm was long. "You are right on time, Ms. Fontaine. Please, come on in."

IF moved without thinking much about it, still awed by seeing the faintly glistening wings from up close. They were a gentle silver colour, much in difference to the blue and purple robe her... host was wearing. "O-Of course, Lady Oracle." It came a little delayed and both of them knew.

Histoire never once faltered in her gentle smile, the remainder of her face deceptively soft and nondescript. She maneuvered the blue book she was sitting on closer to a desk in the room's back while beckoning IF to sit opposite to her. "Please, not so formal. This is neither an official, nor a public occasion. Although it might count as the former, if you squint."

IF was at a loss, but already in the process of regaining her bearings. She nodded slowly at the blonde sitting opposite to her; Planeptune's Oracle, direct assistant of the CPU and thereby head of the Guild alongside her counterparts from Lowee, Leanbox and Lastation.

But also the chronicler of Gamindustri. Any child knew that within Histoire, the history of tens of thousands of years was stored and maintained. Ever since she was created by the old goddess, the progenitor, the Tome had existed in this world.

She had come to maybe be allowed to join the Guild early; the last thing IF expected was to be talking about it with Histoire herself. The girl still shook off her stupor, knowing that now was not the time to stare like a kid.

"Of course, Lady Histoire. I'm just... a little surprised." Her voice was still a little weak, but IF could deal with that. Somewhat more difficult was fighting down her rising blush, courtesy of the tiny woman's soft chuckle; this was definitely not her greatest moment, embarassing herself like this, and in front of the Tome no less.

"Oh, I can imagine. I rarely find the time to take a stroll, so most children would not expect to meet me. Please be at ease." Her voice was kind and compelling, making the girl relax a bit while she shuffled around on the chair and tried to occupy her hands with something; IF ultimately folded them in her lap and quelled their activity by focussing on the conversation. "Yes, something like that. I-It's an honour, Lady Histoire."

Of course she had hoped to meet the Tome one day. Everyone did, just like everyone was hoping for a chance to meet a CPU at least once. Dreaming of it and experiencing it were not the same things though, as IF learned in these minutes. The fairy gave her a friendly nod before levitating a set of papers around on her desk. "I am afraid I do not have much time to chat today, so we should get started. Though... why do you think you got summoned here, this sudden no less?"

IF blinked a few times and turned her gaze lower while thinking for a moment. She could at least guess how this all worked. This was not normal, she was sure of it, but figured that being too specific might be bad. "I think something unusual happened during my examination last week," was what she offered in the end. It was difficult to hold the edge of apprehension out of her voice, if her attempts fooled the Oracle at all. The Tome's pokerface was remarkable.

However, all Histoire did was nodding twice and leaning forward to skim the topmost sheet in front of her again. "That is indeed the case. I assume you gave it your all last Saturday?"

"Of course I did!" IF blurted out without thought; she wondered with upcoming disappointment why anyone would think she did not, her shoulders slumping. Then the girl realised she just snapped at the head of Planeptune's Guild and her eyes widened. "Sorry... it's just... I trained really hard for this."

And for the first time since she entered the room, IF saw Histoire's smile break; the fairy grimaced and shook her head before levitating more papers around. "There is no need to apologise, Ms. Fontaine. I should have worded my question better, terribly sorry." Then she offered one of the sheets to IF with a weak smirk. "I was mostly asking to make sure there were no more... impressive secrets hidden within such a young girl."

IF flinched and sat a little more straight than she already did, her thoughts going to the magic she was hiding, but played it off somehow and took the offered paper into her hands; it rustled gently while she went over the... evaluation.

Isabelle Fontaine:

-Character: A

-Knowledge: A+

-Wisdom: A-

-Intelligence: A

-Strength: S

-Agility: S+

-Endurance: S

-Technique: A+

-Physical Condition: S++

-Magic: /

"Do note that these ranks are in comparison to your age group, not the population overall. C would denote an average person of sixteen years." Histoire need not have bothered, IF knew the grading system; it was uniform to most of Gamindustri anyway. What confused her much more were all those outstanding grades... and the fact she never heard about anything above S existing in the first place.

IF stared down at what she saw, the filled out bars remaining as they were. When she looked up, Histoire had a hand in front of her face to hide the wide smile she knew was there. "Rest assured that you did not mess up, Ms. Fontaine. Quite the opposite, in fact; as you should be aware, there should be no grade above S. You broke the scales in more than one regard."

"Huh... what does that mean, then?" IF was really not sure what to make of this. If she did exceptionally well, why exactly was she here?

The Tome just nodded again before lowering her hand and folding it together with the other. "I hope you will keep what I tell you now a secret, as it is not meant for children to know. These examinations held by the Guild are not supposed to be passed, except by applicants already scouted and approved by either Purple Heart, or me."

Something within her froze and IF sat in silence over the revelation. It was... hurtful to hear this; she was not scouted, so all the effort would be in vain anyway. Despite the outstanding grades she could still see in front of her, they would not even give her a chance. In an instant, everything had broken down.

"But... why?" She had trouble keeping the pain out of her voice; after all the time IF invested to get a head start in her career, she felt it justified to be upset... but not to cry. Not right here, at least. Children cried to get what they wanted and she refused to be a child.

"..." Sadly, something must have tipped off the Tome; maybe her lip quivered for a moment or something like that. Whatever it was, it made Histoire's smile become more gentle. "We have long since known that children, especially teenagers, believe themselves to be grown up and ready for the harsher parts of reality... while the opposite applies. Most of your peers are not at all prepared for actual work in this institution, Ms. Fontaine."

A quiet sigh escaped the Tome as she lowered her gaze. "Every generation loses a few children that think they are ready and set out on their own... but with this, we can at least keep some of them from doing so. The arbitrary difficulty of this examination serves to discourage them from getting in over their heads."

It made sense, even. No matter how much she did not want it to make sense, it did. IF knew her own feelings on the matter well enough to tell that she was no different from what Histoire just explained. In the end, she would have to wait another four years and join the regular way, just like everyone else.

"I see... are there really that many?" Resignation was setting in by now, but IF rather not show it to Histoire; instead, she decided to at least find out as much as she could for now. The Tome, however, chuckled. "As I said, only a handful... not that the CPUs are happy about even just that many, and neither am I. Even if this procedure allows to just save one in a generation, we would still keep it."

The human girl nodded in agreement, beginning with the arduous task of filing away her disappointment. It was for a good cause and she simply ran into it. Maybe it even saved her own life, IF reasoned. She might not be able to join the Guild today, but at least she would leave a good impression with the Oracle for being understanding.

After Histoire let the conversation lie for a few long moments, she offered a nod to IF before shifting a little on her book. "Granted, while you did not pass due to the nature of this exam, we believe it prudent to make an exception in your case, Ms. Fontaine."

IF paused at that, her thoughts halting and turning back around; hope bubbled deep down, but she might have easily misunderstood. Although, with how wide Histoire smiled now, this might actually be what she thought it was; they would allow her to join early despite everything. Deep within IF, the emotional rollercoaster continued to spin back; sad acceptance was thrown out to be replaced with overwhelming joy.

Her eyes continued to widen together with her lips as the Tome shifted another sheet of paper to her. "Your results are unprecedented. Nonetheless, the Guild does not allow anyone below sixteen years of age to obtain a special license on principle, not even acknowledged talents. If you would be willing to participate in another examination in two years time, we will grant you a special license and enlist you as one of our agents."

Somehow, the words made her feel at ease. IF relaxed and took a deep breath while going over the sheet with shining eyes; it was a contract of employment, holding everything that Histoire just said and so much more.

"I don't mind that." And why would she? It was everything she wanted, even though IF would have to wait another two years. On the other hand, this meant she had another two years to exercise, train and study to make sure she would not end up disappointing them.

The Oracle quickly led her through signing the document, then signed it herself and quickly copied it for IF to read in detail, if she so desired. IF on her part thought about framing it and putting it somewhere in her room.

"That concludes the matter I wanted to talk to you about. Though I ought to mention that you will have to partake in a mandatory training regimen about survival outside of a city, like all of our new agents do. It will be held in May, during your summer break, so you may attend either next year at fourteen, or the year after at fifteen."

She already heard about that one, so IF just nodded and gently folded the copied contract before putting it into one of her pockets. "I guess I'll wait until I'm fifteen, then; that way I will have all the things I learn still in mind when I start."

"Likely so," Histoire allowed with twinkling eyes. "On another note, I believe you should keep in mind to open a bank account. We can not pay you otherwise." This one gave her pause for a moment; money was something she never really concerned herself with. IF did see the mention of pay and that the exact amount would be decided at a later date, but she paid little attention to it over everything else. It was good that the Tome actually reminded her of doing this. "Thank you, I will take care of it in time."

"Certainly... now, I believe this would be all, unless you have any questions left?" Of course there were many question she could ask Histoire; no being in the entire world knew more than the Tome.

However, she already took up her time and was not exactly feeling well in asking for more of it; Oracles were incredibly busy. "Not right now, no."

"Very well." Histoire took to the air and slipped off of the large book she usually sat on, making it hover behind her instead. "It was nice talking to you, Ms. Fontaine. Have a good day." She offered a tiny hand, which IF shook with care before returning the smile.

"Likewise. Thank you for having me, Lady Histoire." With that, IF left the room and gently closed the door behind herself; her face started to hurt from how wide the no longer suppressed smile grew in mere instants. Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears.

IF took a deep breath, then shook her head a few times to clear it again. Only then did she start her journey back down, to the main entrance.

This time, she found it difficult not to start skipping.