Black and White

Meribald was a 367 year old high-ranking wizard, although he preferred to be called a scholar. With the power of his magic, even at his age he was plenty vigorous, and had very supple skin as though he was a young man. Only his greying hair betrayed his age, but it seemed more like an accent to his wisdom and foresight.

He had served as president of the Wizards’ Guild in the Dambrath Imperial Capital for over a hundred years, and had handled innumerable major events. He had also awarded numerous medals to talented wizards, and judged notorious ones. By now, he’d begun to think his still and unfeeling heart would no longer receive any blows.

He hadn’t expected how stunned he would be today.

Meribald pushed his spectacles up, his finger brushing against the uneven imprints on the identification document. There was no problem with the magic imprint! That was what his abundance of experience was telling him, but he was horrified by what the results of his investigation meant.

“Proof of nobility! Wizard Ernest’s testimonial! And the final round of examination of the documents didn’t...