It was early morning again. However, this time, both Mikhail and Adrian knew—their fellow dormmates wouldn’t all be asleep.
Knock knock knock.
The sound broke the stillness that had settled over the room in sleep, followed by a soft shff as something slid along the floor. It was exactly six o’clock. Adrian and Mikhail were already sitting on their beds, waiting for the paper.
The Dragon sprang up as soon as he heard the noise, striding toward the door. He picked up the newspaper wedged under the door and brought it over to the nightstand. Mikhail was already standing beside it, looking expectant as if urging him to open it quickly.
They flipped through the large Basamiel Academy school paper with unusually serious expressions on their faces.
<Today’s Weather> – Not needed.
<This Month’s Basamiel> – Definitely not – No interest right now.
Adrian flipped through the pages quickly, muttering under his breath. And finally—on the last page—there it was. The one they’d been waiting for: <Today’s Commissions>.
“Ooh.”
Their guess had been right. Yesterday, the section had been completely blacked out, but now it was legible.
━━━━⊱ Today’s Commissions ⊰━━━━
Commission A: Seeking someone to accompany Cameron Harris to a party. [10 Tilons]
Commission B: Looking for someone to shear a Mifsri. [3 Tilons]
Commission C: Need assistance managing the Basamiel Summer Music Festival (4 days). [50 Tilons]
Commission D: Seeking a spellcaster to place a preservation spell on an Etemak. [10 Tilons]
Commission E: Looking to procure tadpolies (around five). [10 Tilons each]
Commission F: The Ancient Script Translation Society seeks a consultant to help interpret poetry. [10 Tilons]
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
Mikhail and Adrian silently read through the neatly listed commissions. Judging by the content, it seemed that these were posted directly by Academy students, who could also accept them as they wished.
“This actually looks doable. Should we try signing up for one?” Encouraged by how relatively simple the tasks seemed, Adrian’s eyes lit up. Mikhail must’ve been thinking the same thing—he nodded as he kept his eyes on the paper.
Then, one of the letters on the page shimmered slightly.
Adrian felt a faint trace of mana ripple through the tips of his fingers holding the newspaper. Responding to that subtle pulse, a part of the <Today’s Commissions> page began to waver. The Gold Dragon tilted his head and gently traced his index finger over the flickering text. Mana tickled his fingertip, distorting the shape of the letters. The printed characters began to smudge and dissolve into black squares.
“Damn… One just got taken.”
The Gold Dragon muttered to himself.
━━━━⊱ Today’s Commissions ⊰━━━━
Commission A: Seeking someone to accompany Cameron Harris to a party. [10 Tilons]
Commission B: ■■■■ ■■ ■■ ■ ■■■ ■■■■
└ This commission has already been taken.
Commission C: Need assistance managing the Basamiel Summer Music Festival (4 days). [50 Tilons]
Commission D: Seeking a spellcaster to place a preservation spell on an Etemak. [10 Tilons]
Commission E: Looking to procure tadpolies (around five). [10 Tilons each]
Commission F: The Ancient Script Translation Society seeks a consultant to help interpret poetry. [10 Tilons]
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
Apparently, the early morning commission market was quite competitive. Commission D was snatched up not long after. Thankfully, it was for a high-level preservation spell that neither Adrian nor Mikhail would’ve been able to handle.
Still, seeing how quickly these were getting taken made Adrian anxious.
“Wait—how do we even apply for one of these?” Even as he asked in a flustered voice, another commission’s text began to ripple. Damn, that one’s gone too. It had looked like one of the easier ones—the consulting role with the Ancient Script Translation Society.
━━━━⊱ Today’s Commissions ⊰━━━━
Commission A: ■■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■■■■
└ This commission has already been taken.
Commission B: ■■■■ ■■ ■■ ■ ■■■ ■■■■
└ This commission has already been taken.
Commission C: ■■■■ ■■ ■■■■ ■■ ■■ ■■■■ ■■■■
└ This commission has already been taken.
Commission D: ■■■ ■■ ■■ ■■■■ ■■■■
└ This commission has already been taken.
Commission E: Looking to procure tadpolies (around five). [10 Tilons each]
└ You have been selected for this commission. You will be contacted shortly. Accepted by: “Adrian Heather” “Mikhail Luce Inehart”
Commission F: ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■■■■ ■ ■■ ■■■ ■■■■
└ This commission has already been taken.
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
“…Looks like we got selected. But… it seems like both of us got signed up together.”
Adrian’s voice filled the quiet room. Mikhail, having also read the same line, frowned and muttered under his breath. Only now did the details of Commission E—the one listing both their names—register clearly in their minds. They’d been too flustered by how fast everything was getting taken.
“Why that one, of all things? …And what even is a ‘tadpolie’?”
“Mikhail, just showing up to class doesn’t make you a good student. You’ve got to actually pay attention.”
“So, it’s some kind of herb again?”
“Unfortunately, no. It literally says ‘five of them’ right next to the name. They’re spirits that usually live in lakes.”
“…Can we cancel it?”
Mikhail tried to erase his name by pressing a finger over the printed text, but the magically inscribed letters refused to fade.
“Still, out of all those, catching some tadpolies doesn’t sound like such a bad commission.”
“I don’t like it. I’m canceling as soon as we hear from the requester.”
“Suit yourself.”
Adrian folded the paper with a disinterested expression and set it on the nightstand. As a Dragon, things were far easier without a royal watching his every move. If he went to the lakes of Basamiel and called in his name, five tadpolies would probably show up on their own.
***
After lunch, they returned to their dorm room to find a small note slipped under the door, in the same manner the morning paper had been delivered. It was from the commissioner who’d written, You will be contacted shortly. The note included a time and a place.
Thanks to Adrian’s firm insistence that cancellations like this should be done face-to-face, Mikhail ended up tagging along to the central garden. He hadn’t intended to go, but when Adrian started lecturing him about royal duty and proper decorum, he had no choice but to get up.
The note listed the fountain in front of the main Basamiel building as the meeting point. Adrian and Mikhail arrived early and leaned comfortably against the fountain, waiting for the commissioner.
“H-hi… Hello…?”
An Academy student walked lightly out into the central garden, froze up the moment he recognized who was waiting for him—one of the royal princes and Adrian. He had clearly never imagined that someone of their rank would actually respond to a minor listing in the school paper.
“So… you’re the ones who were supposed to meet me here?”
“Don’t worry. I’m canceling.”
Mikhail, catching the panicked look on the student’s pale face, jumped in first. Better to get straight to the point for both their sakes.
Judging from the color of his tie, the student was an upperclassman. He visibly let out a sigh of relief and said to the prince,
“Yes, if you transfer half the commission fee to me, it’ll be canceled immediately.”
Still leaning on the fountain with a bored expression, Mikhail slowly raised his head.
“So… there’s a cancellation fee, then.”
The prince, who didn’t have a single Tilons to his name, muttered under his breath.
“Well, it’s because there’s a cost to posting in the paper. That’s why there’s a system like this. It’s 25 Tilons.”
The student quickly replied to the prince’s muttering. Adrian, standing beside him, gave a nod. It made sense—the commission system was designed to protect the requester from unfair losses.
The student, who’d unintentionally roped royalty into an odd errand, promptly raised his hand to finalize the cancellation. Unaware, of course, that the beautiful prince standing before him didn’t have a single coin to his name.
Mikhail clenched his teeth slightly, shut his eyes hard, then opened them again.
“…By when do we have to catch them?”
“Huh?”
The requester, just about to reach out for the prince’s palm to process the cancellation, stopped mid-motion, eyes going wide.
“You’re… accepting the commission?”
His dumbfounded voice echoed through the garden.
