The Capital and its owners

TW: Few mentions of suicide, verbal cruelty.

Apart from the mansion and the village, Xiao Xun had not yet visited anywhere in this world. He's always had the impression that this world is somewhat analogous to the medieval period in his original world, with the addition of magic on the fringes.

But just looking at the capital city from the outside shatters this preconceived notion. Even above the city walls, Xiao Xun could see towering colorful buildings and what appeared to be flying, not really reasonably-looking designed vehicles.

Waiting in line for the gate, he couldn't help but excitedly chat about it with his system.

'Have you seen this? This girl jumped out of the flying car! Do you think it's suicide or is that how they land?'

[Either this is how they land here or thirty people tried to kill themselves at the last minute.]

'that's so cool!'

The system was already used to the inappropriate excitement of the usually cool host in front of a new source of knowledge, sometimes she even thought that he took this job because he was not ready to leave all the unrevealed knowledge of the small worlds.

It had already subsided after a world or two but apparently, the long years of isolation and the lack of knowledge that Cecil had put him through caused the current exaggerated sense of novelty.

The system would feel bad for him if he didn't choose to actively save him.

"You seem excited," Speaking of the devil, Cecil held Edmund's shoulder, preventing him from running around.

"Aren't you excited? Don't you find magic amazing?"

"Bunch of hypocrites," Cecil's face went cold, "They imprison and kill anything that can threaten them just because of their knowledge of magic, but then use the same knowledge they stole to improve the living standards of the rich, it makes me sick."

"That reminds me," he turned to Edmund, "under no circumstances should it be revealed that we are vampires, these nobles will hunt us down the second they suspect something."

[It seems you did not tell him you were the heir to the Duchy of La Mort, did you? He seems quite anti-social about that.]

'It'll be fine, I'm sure my 'sister' has already taken my place.'

Something as big as replacing an heir would normally be reported in the papers when it comes to duchies, yet even his disappearance was not reported. He wouldn't have questioned it if he had been told that Elisha was somehow now the Queen Mother.

"It's our turn now," Without him noticing it was already their turn to face the city guards. "Remember, we are Daniel and Danny, brothers from two different mothers, we want to come to the big city to try to get accepted to the royal academy."

[Daniel and Danny, seriously?]

Xiao Xun, as always, let Cecil deal with all the troublesome things. He was already used to coming up with any random idea and letting Cecil handle all the work around it himself.

, He just forgot that in recent years Cecil was also a little isolated from the company with him, and some of the solutions he finds are a little... delusional.

He forged the documents himself for hours over the past few weeks. This involved obtaining real documents he found on a corpse on the side of the road (at least that's what he claims, Xiao Xun really doesn't understand why he bothers to pretend when he tells him enough blood for bathing in it every month), To build identity stamps for district officials, to write identification details, to even to break into the district office to change their registration.

No matter which government office they try to verify the document, Daniel and Danny Danoni are a completely realistic and verified pair of brothers, there was even a fake article about them saving a random horse and quite a sexist letter that Daniel Danoni sent to the Scientific Literature Today about women in key roles.

It's just a shame he didn't consult him before choosing the name...

Nevermind, he's willing to look beyond that for all the hours he's put in.

"Are you..." The guard called again just to make sure it was indeed their name, "Daniel and Danny Danoni?"

"Yes, that's our name. Our father was eccentric."

"Very well then, you may pass." The guard signed the papers and that was it.

"Is this really it? without questioning?" Xiao Xun whispered to Cecil.

" Nobles privileges, look," he pointed to a very long line that stretched for many miles behind the gate. "This is what we would have had to wait for if I hadn't prepared the documents, aren't I the best?"

"The best." Xiao Xun affirmed his plea for praise and rubbed the top of his hair, standing on his tiptoes.

In this period and time, most people were not under registration. Only nobles and merchants who had to pay heavy taxes for this pleasure were given the right to be recognized as people in the country.

The body that Cecil happened to find on the side of the road belonged to a small baron named 'Danoni'. Important enough for documents but not important enough to be recognized. This baron happened to have no legitimate relatives, so Cecil took the liberty of listing them both as his illegitimate children from the slums.

"First we'll go to the academy exams, if you pass then we can find a place to sleep tonight."

Cecil was not, to say the least, supportive of Edmund's dream. He might not stop him from registering but he certainly isn't going to help him get in.

Maybe if he calls him big brother in a cute voice... well, he can consider it under certain conditions... He he.

While Cecil was hallucinating Xiao Xun ran through the crowd to get his name on the large board in the town square as soon as possible. The system had already warned him about the difficulties in admission, so he barely tried to stay calm at the gate, worried about the time.

High-ranking nobles, like Edmund originally, had an automatic letter of acceptance sent to the manor every year, just in case they wanted to send someone.

Even ordinary nobles had an easy life, with a messenger who came to their house to test their child's talent in a course that he personally chose.

Only commoners and low-ranking nobles have to jostle for a place, and only the geniuses among geniuses are admitted.If someone was accepted into the royal academy, their story would be passed down through the generations in the family.

No one had a problem with this reality, the very opportunity for a commoner to be accepted showed innovation and progress that were not seen elsewhere.

It was the capital, after all.

Only a thousand places were available, not enough for even a small percentage of the people who filled the square. By pure luck, Xiao Xun managed to squeeze his and Cecil's fake names into 996th and 997th place. As he raised the weird-looking pen attached to the board to the paper, the letters suddenly flashed before returning to their normal appearance. Before he could comprehend the sight someone had already violently grabbed the pen from his hand, hastily writing his name.

Cecil was not used to the hustle and bustle. It was unusual for him to let Edmund to be touched by so many people, pushed violently, almost trampled...

It was his fault he was suffering right now, he knew it. He could relatively easily give them a better status, a certain entry into the academy...

Instead, he showed off his unnecessary efforts in front of Edmund and delayed him on purpose, hoping he would linger long enough to miss the registration. Making him a hero who did everything to get him accepted and consoled him when he wasn't.

How foolish of him.

The two remaining spots were filled within seconds, when the last name was signed a deep silence prevailed in the square.

It didn't make sense, given that most of the people in the square almost climbed over each other and very obviously couldn't see when the list filled up, The silence was so unnatural that even birds stopped chirping.

Suddenly, a sharp voice broke the silence:

"Registered examinees are welcome to come forward!"

The speaker, a stern middle-aged man, stood in front of the exam hall located in the city square. One could only imagine the cost of this magnificent building.

Amazingly, there were no people who tried to enter who were not on the list, even those who were registered entered in perfect order one after the other.

Xiao Xun whispered to Cecil, "Why do you think this is happening?" Somewhere along the way, Edmund stopped being the respected teacher and began to subconsciously assume that Cecil held all the answers.

In recent years Cecil actually did have all the answers: "I heard that commoners executed very easily here. Any step against the regulations can lead to punishment."

Xiao Xun thought about the crowded people just a second before, who seemed to be the last thing they cared about was laws. The obvious inference is that they were only obedient when a person of higher status was in the area.

Everyone works their whole life to try to reach as high a status as they can, and bend under a person who has already reached that level like soft cotton wool.

Xiao Xun, someone who never left the top could only sneer.

How pathetic.