The teachers ran up and mobbed the black-haired girl from every side as soon as they saw her pass by.
“Lady Kanata! Our apologies for the delay!”
“I can’t believe this day is finally here!”
“We’re all so proud to be your teachers.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever looked forward to a Selection Ceremony this much!”
“Perhaps you’ll be one of the rare few chosen to become a Saint.”
They heaped praise on Kanata, forgetting their work registering students who entered the assembly hall.
Kanata had every feature considered enviable in a beautiful young woman: lustrous black hair, enchanting eyes, and fair skin. But she didn’t just have beauty. She had a definite grace to her bearing and a divine aura that made her hard to approach. Her teachers looked at her with reverence.
She gave them a gentle smile and brought her hands together as a blush crept into her cheeks.
“Thank you for your kind words!” she said. “I owe everything to your teaching. But I’m afraid I’m running late to the ceremony, so if you will excuse me...”
She bowed politely.
The teachers stepped aside to let her pass and stared idly as their star pupil walked by.
“It’s finally time.” Kanata passed through the door to the auditorium where the ceremony was about to begin. She balled her fists up tightly in front of her chest. She closed her eyes, forcing her pounding heart to still. Her teachers hadn’t noticed, but Kanata was extremely tense.
“It will be all right,” she told herself. “I’ve trained so hard for this day. I’m sure I’ll be given the Profession I want!”
To Kanata, who had just turned fifteen this year, today was the most important day of her life. Today was the Selection Ceremony, when she and all of her fellow boys and girls would be given their Professions.
In this world, such things were decided by the gods themselves. It was not an unfair or random selection. The gods could see the Professions most suited for each person. It was nothing short of divine revelation.
The selections were also not simply a matter of talent. The gods took the way each child had spent their first fifteen years into account and would adjust the number and variety of Professions revealed to each on that basis. A child of merchants who had spent their early life helping in their parents’ business might be given something related to commerce. A child who had taken up the sword from a young age might be made some type of sword fighter. One who had engrossed themself deeply in the study of magic might have Professions related to magecraft revealed to them. Most would be given one or two choices. An extraordinary prodigy might have as many as five.
Among those, the Saints mentioned by Kanata’s teachers were exceptionally rare. It was a Saint’s job to receive oracles from the gods and guide humanity to the right path. They stood at the top of the Holy Church and all its tens of millions of believers around the world. They were the elite of the elite, with power and wealth surpassing even that of a king. It stood to reason that Kanata’s teachers wanted that for their student. There were other very rare Professions as well: the Hero, whose job was to defeat the armies of the Demon King from the Dark Continent, and the Sage, who pursued the truth of the world and led humanity to greater wisdom and more advanced technology. Usually, when a child was selected as one of these, their home country would gain international significance.
Regardless, the Selection Ceremony was an important ritual that happened only once in a person’s life. The decision made here would reflect everything a child had done so far.
“I’ve done everything I can,” said Kanata. “I have no regrets.” She stepped inside the large school auditorium to find her fellow graduates—all girls at Kanata’s school—waiting for her. They, too, were here for the ritual. The air was thick with tension. Every single person was on edge.
“Oh, look!” said someone. “It’s Lady Kanata!”
All around her, people started whispering:
“Do you suppose she’ll be selected as a Saint after all?”
“She might be a Sage. Lady Kanata has to be the greatest prodigy in the history of our school.”
“What about a Hero? Lady Kanata has the skills for it. Didn’t she win the national fencing tournament three times in a row? It feels a bit like she’s just showing off.”
Lady Kanata this, Lady Kanata that. A Saint or a Sage or a Hero. Kanata reached her seat in silence. Her chest burned as she waited for the ceremony to begin. None of those possibilities were acceptable to her.
Saint? Sage? Hero? she thought. No, I don’t want such an overblown Profession. Anyway, my mind is made up. She kept a straight face as more and more students turned their curious glances her way.
Born to the household of a lord of this land, Kanata had exerted all of her effort toward this day. She’d refused to grow complacent despite her considerable talent, and she’d trained diligently every day. Even when it got painful or difficult, she had refused to rest. She had never been absent from school even once. She grew up well versed in both literary and martial arts, and she was incredibly beautiful. Her etiquette and personality, too, were refined beyond compare. Why had she put in so much effort? It was because there was a Profession she hoped to be chosen for no matter what. She had overlooked nothing, no matter how slight, all for the sake of today’s Selection Ceremony.
“Silence, please! We will now begin the Selection Ceremony. When your name is called, please come forward and touch the holy orb.” The priest sent by the Church to conduct the ritual pushed his round glasses up onto the bridge of his nose. “White Hawk Class, Ariel Martha.”
“H-Here!” The girl whose name had been called stood up and approached the altar to stand in front of the large round gem.
“Before we begin,” said the priest, “please remember that this is your only chance to determine your Profession. There is no precedent in history for recognizing a change in Profession after you decide it here. The gods will not permit it, no matter if you later change your mind. Therefore, I ask you to think carefully about your decision.”