Episode 10: The right way to use money. In the town of Renrill, many people walked wearing coats and shivered as the cold wind blew.
The sun stones not only gave off light, but also adjusted the temperature according to the season.
With the exam getting closer and closer by the minute, the people started to become restless.
It"s alright— mumbled one apprentice who still had some time left before it was his turn to take the exam, then after blowing warm breath into his hands, he took out a small notebook from his pocket and began studying the magic words written in it.
It was the morning of the exam day, and Lynn was getting ready to head out.
“You, who are laying in disorder. Return to the place where you should be.”
When Lynn recited a spell while waving his staff, the clothes and books scattered on his bed, the inks, pens and doc.u.ments all rose up and returned to their original places.
Just as Theo had said, this magic was easy to use.
It became easy once he remembered it.
He just needed to engrave magic characters in the edge of the clothing and books, and recite the spell. Just this was enough to return light items such as books and clothes to their previous location.
“Alright, shall we go?”
“Yeah.”
Lynn and Theo went together as usual towards the examination site.
The entrance exam for the academy was done in the school district, which started on the 50th floor.
Apprentice wizards, who were normally prohibited from entering beyond the floor 50 were allowed to enter the school district only in this occasion, to take the exam.
“It"s almost time.”
Lynn spoke to Theo.
“Yeah…”
By his response, it appeared Theo too was feeling nervous.
He was quieter, his usual chit-chat was nowhere to be seen as he just kept his mouth shut.
Here, the result of Lynn"s eight months and Theo"s year of efforts will be shown.
They couldn"t help but to feel anxious.
They took the elevator and silently went up towards the school district.
On this day, the people in the city of Renrill rushed to the school district in huge numbers.
Everyone would take the written exam.
Seeing the sheer amount of people made Lynn wonder if he could pa.s.s it among this mult.i.tude.
After submitting the admission doc.u.ment at the reception, they were given directions to the cla.s.sroom they would take the exam and headed there.
A short while after, the examiner showed up and briefly explained about the exam, then he handed out the papers and announced the start of the test.
Lynn was surprised to see a person sleep on the desk as soon as the exam began. Later he found out that those people had given up and just showed up to take the exam since it was their duty as apprentices in the tower. Many of those who gave up were elderly people.
He felt uneasy all the way until it started, but as he took it, he found it not as difficult as he thought. Lynn got the feeling he correctly solved between 80 to 90% of the exam.
On their way back to the Rat"s Nest, he talked to Theo and shared his impressions about the test.
“It was easier than I thought”, said Theo agreeing with Lynn.
The results of the exam were announced in January. And thus, the two pa.s.sed the exam.
Lynn and Theo"s names were written in the bulletin board containing the successful applicants.
“We did it. We did it, Theo.”
Lynn cried tears of joy.
Theo simply said “It wasn"t that big of a deal”, trying to put on airs.
Afterwards, they went to the a.s.sociation and finished the registration.
Lynn and Theo"s cla.s.s changed from Apprentice Wizard to Academy Wizard.
The person in charge of the procedures was the same man who registered Lynn as an apprentice wizard, the very same person who told him that the academy exam wasn"t easy to pa.s.s.
He appeared to have remembered Lynn.
His expression as he pressed the registration seal on the back of Lynn"s hand was almost as if he had chewed on a bitter bug.
The following day, when they went to work at the factory, the results of the people who had pa.s.sed were quite known in their workplace.
In that section, only Lynn and Theo pa.s.sed the exam.
That day, Lynn felt embarra.s.sed yet slightly happy, a complex feeling since everybody seemed to be paying attention to him.
“Hey, you.”
“Yeah? ”
Just as Lynn was resting, an older person came and spoke to him.
He was one who had always been cruel to Theo.
He only came to speak with Lynn when he was not together with Theo.
“I heard that you pa.s.sed the academy"s exam. Congrats.”
“Thank you very much.”
“Even though you"re just a greenhorn who recently came here. How on earth did you manage to pa.s.s that difficult exam? ”
He seemed to have failed the exam several times. And what"s more there was that. In his hand he held a Teriuul"s Cane.
“Well, is not that hard.”
Lynn had become a bit good at it. He decided to teach him while showing off.
“First off, you need to buy the high-quality wand. That way you will…”
“No, the cheap one can do. Buying the cheap one I can spend money on other things. I more or less know how to use money. That aside, hurry up and tell me the real trick. What else is there? Don"t keep it to yourself, tell me.”
Lynn was shocked.
One of the reasons was that he had been suddenly denied as he told him the exact same thing Theo had told him before.
But it also appeared to him as if he was seeing a ghost of his past self…… It gave him such a feeling.
“No, it"s not about that. In this case, imagine it as buying time, not a product……”
“What are you talking about? The cheap ones are better, and most of all, they are economical. That"s just the absolute reality. You just need to think a little. What if suddenly your salary drops or you maybe lose your job? If that happens, what would you do if you become homeless? What about that? Wouldn"t you be worried if you have no saved money for such an emergency? ”
“That is…… I guess so……”
“I know right? That"s why it"s better to buy a cheaper cane no matter what others tell you. Now c"mon, teach me the real tips.”
(Even if you tell me to teach you……)
Lynn was carefully pondering. How could he tell him the value of time in a sense he would understand?
However, that was impossible. Knowledge that involved sensing something couldn"t be understood without actually experiencing it.
Lynn finally understood why Theo made such an expression when he was buying a cane.
“Hey, Lynn! ”
Lynn heard his name being called out. After he turned towards the source of the voice, there was Theo.
“How long do you plan to stay there? You should go back to your station! ”
“O-okay. Hmm, I have to go back.”
Lynn quickly walked away from the spot and ran to Theo. The man who had begged to be taught had an expression of anger after being disturbed by Theo. But Lynn was relieved of being freed from that questioning.
“Did that guy wanted something? 。 ”
“Yeah, he wanted me to tell him how to pa.s.s the exam.”
“You"ll just waste your time talking with that kind of people. Just ignore him.”
“……”
“They are just too thick-headed. All they do is ask people for advice, but they take none.”
“…… Yeah, it looks like that. ”
“Let"s quickly finish work.”
Theo then tried to return to work.
“Theo, wait.”
Lynn hurriedly tried to stop Theo. He still had something he wanted to ask him.
“He was saying. It"s more economical to buy a cheap cane. That way he can spend money on other things.”
“That"s stupid! All he has time to do is this job, on what else would he spend money other than a cane?” Theo spat out that answer.
“……True.”
Lynn then thought that person would fail the exam next year again.
But Lynn wasn"t feeling like laughing at that person.
After all, Lynn used to have the same economic idea as him. And if at that time, Lynn hadn"t listened to Theo"s advice honestly, it was most likely he would be following the same path as that person. While thinking so, Lynn became scared. That person was at the very least, twenty years older than Lynn.
Lynn then caught a glimpse of Renrill"s cityscape from the window before returning to his post. As usual, there were quite a lot of people and buildings in this cramped town. When he first came to Renrill, he had left his mind wonder on the streets. But now, it felt as if the town had too many superfluous things in it.
Lynn properly studied, properly worked, and properly had fun during the period before cla.s.ses started in April.
And next to him was always Theo.
During this time, everything Lynn saw seemed to be shining in his eyes. In fact, if one were to think about the rigorous training, the numerous trials, and the hectic days that will come like a storm in the future, these might have been the gentlest days for Lynn.
As Lynn walked through the streets of Renrill he came across various people.
Among them were not only apprentice wizards, but also academy students wearing crimson robes, as well as high-ranked wizards who wore blue and yellow robes.
But in the end, he never saw the girl in the white robe, the girl who was praying at the stone statue, he never saw Atrea.
Next time, Episode 11 “The girl with the faint smile”