Chapter 274: Exam

Candle arrived at the castle hall early. Teacher Scroll gave lessons each evening — not in any aristocratic college manner, but in a long room lit by candles, with witches seated around a common table — and Candle had already come to look forward to the sessions more than she had expected.

When she entered, Evelyn was already there, waving.

“Has His Highness given you any assignments lately?” Evelyn asked the moment Candle sat down.

Candle thought of the lumps of metal she had been asked to hold at room temperature, the purpose of which had never been explained to her. “He did,” she said. “A task with some strange metal ingots. I still don’t know what use it has.”

“He hasn’t asked me to do anything,” Evelyn said. Her eyes went flat. “Only to taste new wines occasionally.”

“That isn’t nothing,” Candle offered. “You’ve spent your whole life in pubs. You know flavors most people can’t distinguish. There aren’t many witches who know wine the way you do.”

“They could hire a specialist winemaker for one gold royal.” Evelyn rested her chin on the table. “My ability is useless. I can’t conjure wine from air. I can only tell you whether it’s good or bad.” She paused. “And the wines His Highness keeps giving me to taste are getting worse. Stronger and stranger. I’ve suggested adding water or fruit juice, but he seems to only want the most powerful alcohol possible.”

Candle didn’t have an answer. The truth was she understood the feeling from the inside. On Sleeping Island, abilities were provisioned according to their usefulness; sometimes the only meal she received was unsalted grilled fish. She had never questioned this — she had even offered to give up her portion to witches whose magic demanded more calories — but the moment the other witches began dividing into factions, when the subtle exclusions started, that was when she had finally understood what it cost to be considered peripheral.

Lady Tilly had apologized personally for the distribution method. She had promised adjustments once supplies improved. And that had mattered more than Candle could easily say.

But Border Town was different. Here all the witches ate together, sat at the same table as His Highness, wore the same quality of clothes. The differences in ability were noted and studied but not used as currency for belonging. In two weeks she had felt it — not just observed it, but felt it — the way they treated each other as a single group. Regardless of how formidable one’s power was.

They really considered each other as sisters. That was the only word for it.

Candle found it almost difficult to look at directly.

Scroll entered carrying a stack of white papers.

“No new content tonight.” She set the papers on the table. “Tonight I will conduct a comprehensive exam of everything you’ve learned so far.”

“What is that?” Lightning asked, hand already raised.

“Googoo?” said Maggie.

“You’ve been studying for three months.” Scroll smiled. “His Highness believes it’s time to test what you’ve learned. Sixty questions — kingdom language, mathematics, and nature. Each correct answer earns a point; each error costs one. Raise your hand if you don’t understand the wording of a question — we want to test knowledge, not reading speed.” She paused. “By the way: His Highness has said that only those who answer more than half correctly will be eligible for the ice cream at the weekend’s afternoon tea.”

A sharp intake of breath from somewhere nearby.

Candle turned. Nightingale stood behind her chair with an expression of blank horror, a stick of charcoal broken in two pieces on the floor at her feet.

“He has also specified,” Scroll continued, “that the five witches from Sleeping Island are exempt from this arrangement. They may stay and attempt the exam if they wish, or leave and take the evening for themselves. Regardless of their score, their afternoon tea qualification remains.”

“I will not be able to recognize all the letters,” Evelyn whispered to Candle, pressing a hand to her chest. “I’m not at all sure I can get the ice cream.”

Honey and Lotus rose, saluted Scroll cheerfully, and left. Sylvie had not come tonight — something with her health — which left Candle and Evelyn as the only Sleeping Island witches in the room.

“Do you want to stay?” Candle asked, barely audible.

Evelyn nodded. “I want to try.” Her voice was quiet but steady. “His Highness said knowledge leads to evolution. If I don’t make the effort, I’ll never catch up with them.” A sly smile crossed her face. “I’ve been practicing characters in my room after class. Lily and Mystery Moon have been helping me with reading and writing.”

Her frustration was gone. Her eyes were bright.

Candle found herself smiling back. “Then I’ll try too.”

“Your Highness, the results.” Scroll placed the summary sheet on Roland’s desk.

He had been trying to concentrate since the North Slope Mine discovery, and mostly failing. He picked up the sheet. “Nightingale actually passed?”

“More than passed. She placed near the front of the class — perfect marks in kingdom language.” Scroll’s smile was calm, a teacher pleased to report good news. “She learned to read and write long before coming here, so her starting point was higher. Your questions were also not especially difficult.”

Roland smacked his lips. “I was hoping to use this to reduce her access to sweets.” He felt the sharp pinch on his shoulder that he had anticipated. “In any case — good results across the board. All Witch Union members scored above sixty.”

“The results are theirs as much as mine.”

“And the Sleeping Island witches?”

“Two stayed. Evelyn received five points. Candle received thirty-six — and only two weeks of instruction behind her. Most of her marks came from the kingdom language section, but she collected points in mathematics and nature as well.” Scroll’s voice stayed even. “Her individual quality is striking, Your Highness. She arrived with foundations other witches don’t have, but her grasp of new concepts is also genuinely fast.”

Roland read down the results: Lily, Hummingbird, Mystery Moon — three months from complete illiteracy to passing scores. Collectively they had already surpassed the reading and writing capacity of most of Border Town’s adult population.

What would the future look like? he thought, setting the paper down. When people could set aside their prejudices and work together with witches — not tolerate them, not study them, but work with them — toward something neither could reach alone. The question opened wider than he could quite hold in his mind, and he let it sit there, unanswered, as a thing to grow into.

Chapter 274 Exam

After dinner, Candle entered the castle hall quite early.

On every nightfall, Teacher Scroll would give lessons in the room, but unlike the aristocracy colleges in large cities, the students who attended the lecture were witches from the Witch Union.

But she wasn’t the first person to come to the “classroom”, when she entered Evelyn was already sitting at the long table and waving to her.

“Has His Highness assigned any duty to you recently?” The moment Candle took her place, Evelyn couldn’t stop herself from asking.

She recalled the time they had only just arrived, and she had drily addressed the other party as ‘milord’. While secretly laughing at the bottom of her heart Candle answered, “There is, he gave me the task to cast my ability on a few strange lumps of metal, so that they would remain at room temperature, but I don’t understand what use that would have.”

“Yes… It’s like that,” Evelyn’s eyes became dull, “So far, His Highness had not asked me to do anything.”

“He didn’t provide you with adjusted practice content?” Candle asked in wonder.

“No, I’m practicing according to my own wishes,” Evelyn shook her head and said. “He only occasionally comes and asks me to taste a new wine.”

“Maybe that is just that what His Highness is looking for, all your life you’ve been in pubs, and so you’re very familiar with the taste of the drinks. There aren’t many witches like you.”

“There is no need for a witch who can taste wine at all,” she protested. “A salary of a gold royal is enough to recruit a specialized winemaker.”

“Uh…” Candle patted the other side’s shoulder, “I think His Royal Highness certainly must have a plan.”

“Scroll also tried to comfort me this way, but even I do not know what to do with my ability. I cannot simply rely on air to turn water into wine… Don’t tell me he just wants to make the tastiest type of wine to sell? But commoners are only able to afford ale of poor quality, while all the nobles have their personal preference which doesn’t have anything in common with one another.” Evelyn laid her chin on the table and continued in a depressed tone, “And the wine His Royal Highness gives me to taste is becoming more and more… hard to drink. I already suggested that he adds water or fruit juice, but he seems to only want to make the strongest wine possible.”

For a moment, Candle didn’t know what to say, regarding this point, she and Evelyn were both sitting in the same boat. After reaching Sleeping Island, most of the time they could only do some trifling chores – along with the daily increase in fish oil, solidifying candles had become unnecessary, while Tilly completely forbid any sort of drinking in general.

Even during the early tense phases, their supplies were often allocated according to a person’s ability; sometimes Candle would only receive some unsalted grilled fish. During this she never had the feeling that there was any problem with this approach, to the contrary, she was even willing to forgo her food for those witches who needed to consume larger amounts of their magic. However, that the other witches began to divide themselves into groups and even somewhat excluded her had made her feel a little uncomfortable.

Fortunately, Lady Tilly had still looked after them extremely well, even apologizing for the method of distribution, and going so far as promising that after the supplies became more plentiful, they would start to make adjustments, this way the less-favored witches didn’t feel the rejection that clearly anymore.

But in Border Town such a situation had never occurred – all the witches sat together at the same table, and enjoyed the meal together with His Royal Highness. And the clothes they put on and the treatment shown to them didn’t hold any differences… but the most important difference she’d been able to see during their daily life, was that regardless whether their ability was formidable or not, they all regarded each other as a one group. Although it had only been two short weeks since she’d come to Border Town, she had already experienced this point very deeply.

They really considered each other as sisters.

Something which made Candle feel very envious.

When all the witches had come and sat down, Teacher Scroll entered the room while carrying a stack of white papers, “Today, I won’t teach you any new content. Instead, I will conduct a comprehensive exam of what you have learned until now.”

“What is that?” Lightning asked as she raised her hand.

“Googoo?” Maggie also asked.

“You have been studying for three months now, and His Highness believes that it is time to test the results of your learning.” Scroll said cheerfully, “All the questions have been arranged on these papers and are separated into three parts, kingdom language, mathematics, and nature. Altogether there are sixty questions, every answer gives a point while every mistake lowers the score… Of course, if you do not understand the problem, you just have to raise your hand and ask your question. I believe that all of you have already mastered the primary writing and reading skill, or else even if you’d known the answer, you would still be unable to answer.” Scroll paused for a moment before continuing, “By the way, His Highness had said that only those who have answered more than half of the question correctly, will be able to enjoy ice cream during the weekend’s afternoon tea. If your score is below this limit, you will lose your afternoon tea qualification.”

Candle suddenly heard a gasping sound, she turned around and saw Nightingale wearing a dumbstruck expression with charcoal lying in two

pieces on the ground.

“Furthermore, His Highness has especially made it clear, that the five witches that came from Sleeping Island are not to be included in this arrangement. So it is their decision whether they want to stay behind and answer or if they want to leave and have a free evening.” Scroll looked one after another at Candle, Evelyn, and the others, before saying “No matter what your final score is, you will be able to enjoy the delicious afternoon tea.”

“Puh,” Evelyn patted her chest, turned her head and whispered, “I won’t be able to recognize all the letters, so I’m not confident that I will get the ice cream.”

Honey and Lotus immediately got up, happily saluted Scroll and left the hall afterward.

Plus, Sylvie, whose body had been feeling somewhat unwell and thus hadn’t even come to the hall, left Evelyn and Candle as the only witches from Sleeping Island in the hall.

“Do you want to stay?” Candle asked in a small voice.

“I want to try,” the other nodded, “Didn’t His Highness say that knowledge leads to evolution? If I don’t work hard in this respect, I’m afraid I will never be able to compare with them.” She showed a sly smile, “These days I’ve been practicing writing my characters in my room after the class, Lily and Mystery Moon also taught me how to read and write some common words.”

While mentioning this, the frustration within Evelyn’s voice immediately dispersed a lot, and her eyes became shiny, making it impossible for Candle not to smile.

“Yes, I’ll also try it.”

…

“Your Royal Highness, the test results have come out,” Scroll said while handing the summary over to Roland.

“You’ve worked hard,” Since the recent discovery beneath the Northern Slope mine Roland was still feeling quite puzzled. So he found it difficult to concentrate on his daily tasks, so he tried to focus on something less intense, “Huh? Was Nightingale’s performance unexpectedly able to meet the standard required?”

“Yes, but not only was it good enough, her grade was even in the forefront; which was partly due to her perfect language score,” Scroll reported with a smile, “After all, most of your topics were very simple. Furthermore, she has already learned how to read and write a long time ago, so her starting point had been much better compared to the other witches.”

“Tsk,” Roland smacked his lips, “I thought I could make her eat fewer sweets with this exam.” Even before his voice had completely fallen, he felt his shoulder being severely pinched. “In short, the result look quite good, all the members of the Witch Union have more than sixty, so it seems that your education is bearing fruit.”

“These results are also inseparable from their efforts.”

Moving his vision further down Roland asked, “Only two of the witches of Sleeping Island participated in the test?”

“Well, the one named Evelyn received five points, while Candle got thirtysix. The latter should already have some prior foundations, so most of her points come from kingdom language.” She replied.

That she, even after having followed the class for only two weeks, was still able to receive some points outside of the writing part right, shows that her individual quality is truly astonishing. Both instincts and external knowledge are components to the continual improvement of a witch’s magic.

The results of their own witches were also excellent, for example, Lily, Hummingbird, Mystery Moon and the others had only spent three months’ time from being illiterate before they grasped the basics of reading and

writing, and with this they’ve already exceeded the majority of the people in the streets.

What would the future look like when the people could put aside their prejudices and work together with the witches to promote the level of society and civilization as a whole? Roland’s heart became filled with anticipation at the thought.