"Is it possible," Soren muttered, rembering he had forgotten to change it due to more important matters, "to have the license issued with only my first na? Or... to change the registered surna?"
The clerk looked up, blinking in surprise. "I’m sorry, but our records must match your official identification. To change the na on your license, you would first need to update your legal ID at the Civil Registry."
Soren had expected this answer, yet he couldn’t suppress a small surge of disappointnt. The rigid bureaucracy of the Bureau was as cold as the people who had given him that na in the first place.
"I see," he replied, sliding his ID back toward himself. "Then, is it ok if I co back to finalize the license later? And if so, how much ti do I have before the registration expires?"
The clerk nodded understandingly. "That is fine. The promotion data remains valid in our system for three days. After that, you would need to retake the mana asurent at the very least."
"Three days. Thank you," Soren said, offering a curt nod. "I’ll be back soon."
He turned and made his way through the sterile lobby, the weight of his task list growing. He had five days to clear three gates, and now he had added a legal na change to the mix.
It was a tight schedule, but he refused to let his life and existence be tied to a house that had discarded him without hesitation. He would rather sprint through the bureaucracy of a na change than carry that na for one more day now that he had the chance to cut it away.
As he stepped out of the building, the late afternoon sun hit his face. Soren stopped at the top of the stairs and let out a long, heavy sigh while looking up at the sky.
"Nothing is ever simple," he whispered to the drifting clouds.
Then, he continued walking, his footsteps echoing against the pavent as he began to weigh his options. Changing the na was a certainty, but the specifics were a different matter entirely.
Should he simply remain a man with a single na? He wasn’t sure if the law even allowed for that, and practically speaking, it felt incomplete. Besides, he was married now. Having a shared surna would serve as a formal anchor, a quiet proof to the world that he and Ethea were a family, a unit that belonged to one another.
"Should I just... choose a new one?" he mused, the thought crossing his mind like a stray spark.
It was a tempting idea. No, it was probably the only logical option he had.
’Then...’
He could pick sothing entirely new, a na with no history, no baggage, and no ghosts attached to it. He could build a legacy from scratch. But as the possibilities swirled, nas of stars, his favorite characters, or old legends, he felt a sudden hesitation. This wasn’t a decision that affected only him anymore after all.
He let out another short sigh, a faint puff of air in the afternoon breeze.
"Yeah," he muttered to himself, "it’s better to discuss this with her first."
Ethea was the other half of this new life. It was only right that whatever na they carried forward was sothing they chose together. He felt a small, grounding sense of warmth at the thought. For the first ti in his life, he wasn’t a lonely kid just trying to survive the next storm, but a man finally building a ho of his own.
However, as he settled into the back of a taxi for the ride ho, a sharp realization began to take shape in his mind. His family had been entirely silent since the wedding. Aside from the cold finality of the disownnt papers, there had been nothing.
He wasn’t dwelling on a lack of fatherly affection since he knew his father far too well for that. His father was a man who only viewed people as assets to be exploited, and the family elders were no different, obsessed with "geniuses" while discarding anyone they deed "trash."
If they had any inkling of his current situation, that the son they threw away was already clearing Gates and rising through the ranks, they would have appeared the second they found out. They would have used every legal and emotional lever to drag him back under their control.
But they hadn’t appeared, which ant they were still in the dark.
’But why?’ Soren wondered, staring out at the cars.
After pondering a bit, he could only think of two reasons. Either they truly didn’t care about him at all and had severed every possible tie to cleanse their na of him, or soone else was intentionally blocking the information from reaching them.
The thought of an invisible hand filtering the news of his growth was both a relief and a concern. If soone was hiding his progress from the house, he had to figure out their motive and identity. They could very well be the people behind Ethea’s accident.
If the latter were true, the situation was far more precarious than he had initially feared. There would be little point in struggling if a powerful, unknown force was already controlling every variable behind the scenes.
Soren fell silent, squinting his eyes as the city lights blurred past the taxi window.
’...Let’s see how it goes first.’
Fortunately, he had intentionally set a bait during the promotion exam by showing just enough talent to be notable, but not enough to be unbelievable. If soone were truly monitoring his every move, they would definitely take action against him again soon.
If nothing happened, then it ant the people responsible for Ethea’s curse and accident weren’t the ones currently watching them.
But then, who could it be?
He turned the possibilities over in his mind.
If...
If he were the enemy who sent the assassin that day, and if the goal was simply to see Ethea dead, he wouldn’t have played these gas. He would have sent a much stronger assassin to finish the job instantly instead of wasting resources on half-asures.
The logic didn’t track, leaving him in a state of confusion similar to his family’s silence.
"Hmm..."
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