Her face flushed with embarrassment as soon as the words left her mouth.

“Just call me Maria, as you usually have." Maria scratched her head and smiled, unaccustomed with receiving so much courtesy.

"Here, Maria. Mr. Willows told me to give you this.”

Merlin took out a wooden box and handed it to her.

It was a simple and quaint token, with one word carved at the center:

“Classics”.

The letters incorporated into a logo design, though Maria failed to recognize it.

Dora, on the other hand, knew with a single glance that it was the exclusive logo of the Writers’ Association. It was only printed on items with significant importance.

“The badge of the star-rated writer!" Enzo suddenly exclaimed, apparently knowing much more about the box than Dora.

And he was right!

Enzo's teacher had become a two-star writer not too long ago, but the man's rank had no remarkable bearing within the Writers' Association. Hence, he could only afford to get Enzo a chance to volunteer.

But Enzo remembered distinctly that upon his teacher's promotion, he had held a wooden box similar to this one. He had handled it carefully, too, as if it were a priceless treasure.

Unfortunately, Maria made no move to open the box, so they had no way of knowing how many stars there were on her badge.

Well, no matter.

The number of stars made little difference.

Maria looked very young, probably in her twenties.

The fact that she was already a star-rated writer at this age...

She must be an incredible talent, indeed.

It wouldn't be surprising if she turned out to be the most talented young writer in decades!

“Thank you, Merlin," Maria said lightly as she pocketed the wooden box. The crowd was somewhat disappointed that she did not take out her badge in their presence.

Maria didn't do it to toy with their emotions though; it was just that she already knew there were five stars on the badge.

Besides, Merlin was a careful man, so he shouldn't make mistakes on such things and bring her the wrong badge.

“I've heard that this is your first time attending Star Search," Merlin commented. "You may be unaware of some of the rules involved. Why don't we go to the Lounge, and I will walk you through them?"

“Sure," Maria nodded.