[Sinseki Era - 21 Years Prior]
[Central Nations · Holy Capital Strahl]
"Teacher, time to get up and go."
"Today is the first day of the mage examinations hosted by the Continental Magic Association in the Holy Capital."
"Many people are waiting for us to appear. If we don't show up soon, they'll get anxious."
"Mmm—"
In the room, the elf rubbed her sleepy eyes, brushed her disheveled hair back, and let out a long yawn.
For the past two days, she had completely immersed herself in developing new magical systems, causing her to lose track of time.
If she had remembered that today was the first day of examinations, she wouldn't have stayed up late last night.
After a simple wash, Serie put on her coat and opened the door, only to be grabbed by the arm by her disciple and quickly brought downstairs to the inn lobby, where they boarded a carriage heading to the Holy Capital's city center.
During the journey, Serie leaned against the carriage window yawning when she unexpectedly glimpsed the clock on a distant tower.
Pursing her lips, she said to Gut with some annoyance, "Why such a rush? There's still plenty of time, isn't there?"
Gut smiled helplessly. It seemed his teacher had been completely absorbed in her research these past two days, paying no attention to outside affairs.
"Teacher, don't look at how good the road conditions are now. Once we get closer to the Cathedral direction, you'll understand."
"Is that so..."
Serie took one last look at the street scene outside the carriage window, murmuring noncommittally.
Then she closed her eyes and continued sleeping, leaning against the soft sofa in the carriage.
Seeing this, Gut gently closed the magic book in his hands, propped his chin with one hand, and carefully admired his teacher's beautiful sleeping face.
However, perhaps the disciple's gaze was a bit too intense, causing Serie, who had originally wanted to catch up on sleep, to open her eyes and tap Gut a few times with her finger, warning him.
"Don't keep staring at me. I won't be able to sleep."
"If you really can't help it, just steal a glance occasionally."
"Yes, teacher, I understand."
After being reminded by his teacher, Gut also restrained his gaze, opened his magic book, and continued reading.
Only when turning pages would he secretly steal a glance at his teacher's graceful figure.
Feeling that her warning had worked, Serie shifted to her side, changing positions to continue sleeping.
This time, it was much easier to fall asleep.
The carriage continued traveling along the Imperial Capital's roads toward their destination. The luxury carriage's already excellent shock absorption system, combined with the Imperial Capital's exceptionally well-maintained road surface, made the journey quite smooth. Before long, Gut heard his teacher's rhythmic breathing.
However, this smoothness didn't last long. After a sudden stop that caused up-and-down jolting, the entire carriage shook.
Gut lifted the carriage curtain and looked ahead. Sure enough, the carriage road ahead had been blocked off by Holy Capital guards with checkpoints, allowing only pedestrians to pass.
Therefore, the coachman could only stop here and ask the passengers to disembark and walk to their destination.
This commotion naturally woke the sleeping Serie.
Instinctively releasing her magical power to assess the surrounding situation, she could only get off the carriage and walk the final stretch with her disciple.
Passing through the bustling crowd on the road and recalling her disciple's earlier words, Serie curiously inquired.
"How did you know this area would be under control today? Did the Holy Capital people post notices in advance?"
"More or less. They did post notices yesterday, but I knew about it even earlier."
"I see..." Serie pondered briefly. "Let me guess - did someone visit during this time?"
"Exactly." Gut nodded, confirming his teacher's speculation.
"After you took me to tour the Continental Magic Association that evening, you had me temporarily manage things for two days to inspect the association's various facilities."
"The 'distinguished guest's' visit came on the evening of the first day."
"The royal attendant who had taken away the Hero Himmel came with generous gifts to apologize for previously mistaking your identity, and also wanted to invite you to attend the king's coronation banquet the next evening at the Royal Capital."
"I accepted the gifts and stored them in the association's warehouse. As for the invitation, I declined on your behalf, citing insufficient time."
"Mm." Serie nodded, having no objection to her disciple's handling, but interrupted his detailed account. "Just get to the point."
"What else happened that made you certain this area would have road control today?"
"Right." The teacher's interruption made Gut pause, then he explained the key point according to Serie's wishes.
"That royal attendant also mentioned before leaving that the Royal Capital's new king had personally written a calligraphy piece for the Continental Magic Association you created, and requested that Hero Himmel and Bishop Heiter deliver it to you on the first day of examinations."
"Whether it's the king's personal calligraphy, the world-saving Hero, or the Holy Capital Bishop."
"With all this attention combined, it shouldn't be surprising to see crowds large enough to require road control, right?"
"Indeed." Serie gave an affirmative answer, but her expression showed no joy.
"Creating all these formalities and spectacles - humans are really quite boring."
"It would be better to do nothing at all and keep the roads clear so I could sleep a bit more in the morning."
"Moreover," looking at the increasingly congested road ahead, Serie said helplessly, "with so many people gathered, it must be difficult for exam candidates to get through."
"Well, there's still plenty of time, so let's take it slow, teacher."
"Mm."
As the teacher and disciple got closer to the Continental Magic Association's location, the road ahead was completely blocked by the gathered crowd, forcing them to reveal their identities and rely on the Holy Capital guards' assistance and direction from Himmel and Heiter on stage to barely squeeze through the crowd.
"Good morning, Serie, and Gut - we meet again."
"This here is my good friend Heiter."
As soon as the teacher and disciple took the stage, Himmel actively greeted them and introduced his companion to the pair.
To the Hero's greeting and introduction, Serie merely gave a flat hum in response.
Gut, on the other hand, replied somewhat more formally and shook hands cordially with Heiter.
"We're truly sorry, both of you."
"It seems our impromptu visit has caused inconvenience to your plans."
Being skilled at interpersonal relations, Heiter immediately caught the slight displeasure in Serie's expression and apologized first.
Faced with Heiter's sincere attitude, Serie couldn't say much more. Though she remained silent, her attitude toward the two softened somewhat.
Hearing his close friend's words, Himmel also reacted, explaining softly from the side.
"This visit is actually by His Majesty's decree, requiring us to deliver a piece of personal calligraphy on his behalf."
"Since it's His Majesty the King, we couldn't very well refuse."
"According to the original plan, I intended to visit with Heiter after this examination concluded."
Understanding that their visit was also due to unavoidable circumstances, Serie, not being unreasonable, said:
"I'll cooperate with you, but let's finish this farce quickly."
Hearing this, the Hero breathed a sigh of relief and quickly signaled his old friend to invite the royal messenger over to hand over the king's calligraphy under the witness of the Holy Capital citizens.
However, without needing the Hero's reminder, Heiter had already headed toward the stage the moment Serie gave permission, to summon the royal messenger carrying the king's personal calligraphy.
Beside them, watching Himmel and Heiter's behavior, Gut was somewhat surprised.
It was understandable that the Hero, bound by feudal hierarchy, needed to follow the king's arrangements.
But Heiter seemed to have no such necessity.
As both a priest in the Hero's party and a bishop in the religious city of Holy Capital, Heiter's reputation and status were no lower than the Royal Capital's king.
Although a religious Bishop's power was more nominal compared to a nation's King, their social status was roughly equivalent.
Just like in his previous life, the Vatican's Pope, even though constrained by Italy in matters of resources, transportation, finance, and territory, still maintained equal status when facing Italy's leaders.
Moreover, Heiter himself had no wife or descendants - he was completely an invincible man, making it difficult to find any leverage to threaten him.
Perhaps sensing her disciple's confused gaze, Serie explained the reason.
"The Holy Capital's taxes are collected and managed by the Royal Capital, and the Goddess Religion itself has few profit-making means."
"I see."
Gut immediately understood. The Goddess Religion was simply too merciful, truly implementing the kindness and righteousness from their doctrine.
They wouldn't reclaim stripped taxation rights through clever schemes.
In terms of profit, they didn't know to sell popular products like indulgences or collect percentage-based tithes to extract coins from believers. No wonder they were subject to others.
(Indulgences: The church claimed that purchasing indulgences could absolve believers' sins and reduce the time they or their deceased relatives suffered in purgatory, allowing earlier entry to heaven.)
(Tithes: Medieval Christian churches required believers to donate one-tenth of their income to the church.)
Such a pure religious sect probably couldn't even afford to give out eggs to potential converts.
Before long, the middle-aged nobleman that Gut and his teacher had met before was led onto the stage by Heiter. Bowing and holding the king's personal calligraphy, he first walked around the high platform in a circle, allowing citizens in all directions below the stage to see it.
Then, this middle-aged nobleman didn't directly hand the king's calligraphy to Serie, but strictly followed His Majesty's oral instructions, first presenting it to Hero Himmel and Bishop Heiter, who would then transfer it to Great Mage Serie on his behalf.
Only this way would it be proper.
Serie listlessly accepted it. Although this reaction didn't entirely satisfy the king's representative, it at least met etiquette requirements and showed proper respect to His Majesty.
Given his previous offense toward her, the king's representative said nothing more and walked down the stage with his head lowered.
With the king's personal calligraphy successfully delivered and hung in the Continental Magic Association's main hall, this morning's farce finally came to an end.
The watching crowd began to gradually disperse. Although some people lingered out of curiosity about the Continental Magic Association, it was no longer like before when the roads were completely blocked, preventing mage candidates who wanted to participate in the examination from entering.
Seeing that the Continental Magic Association's examination was about to get on track, Himmel and Heiter felt embarrassed to continue disturbing them. After apologizing to Serie once more, they prepared to take their leave.
But before leaving, Heiter specifically stopped to mention that if Serie or the Continental Magic Association had any needs while in the Holy Capital, they could come to him for consultation.
After bidding farewell to Serie, Himmel and Heiter walked together toward the Cathedral.
Himmel took out the notes he had obtained in the northern nations from his chest and handed them to Heiter.
"Take a look - is this what you wanted?"
Heiter only roughly flipped through a few pages before nodding affirmatively, "That's right, this is the part I wanted."
"That's wonderful, Heiter. About how much longer will it take to complete the decryption work?"
Faced with Himmel's inquiry, Heiter fell silent for a while before answering.
"If according to my previous estimate, it would take about twenty more years."
"Ah, still that long?!" Himmel exclaimed in surprise, his expression visibly falling.
"Isn't the overall decryption framework nearly complete..."
"Indeed, constructing the decryption framework is the most difficult step in the decryption process. Once completed, subsequent decryption is just simple substitution and trial."
"But even though substitution and trial are simple, they still require time to perform."
"And after that, there's still a final verification stage."
"The estimate of about twenty years is still based on relatively optimistic assumptions, such as me not drinking much."
"Wait!"
The dejected Himmel keenly caught the flaw in Heiter's words.
"Heiter, you just mentioned according to my previous estimate, meaning your current time estimate has changed, right?"
"Tch, your reaction speed is quite sharp."
Heiter said this while pulling out a piece of paper from his bishop's robe pocket and handing it to Himmel.
"What's this?"
[Time Journey · Chapter of Birds]
[Magic that can return to the future - (Fiaratol)]
The narrow piece of paper contained two simple lines of text, but just these two simple lines caused Himmel, the Hero who defeated the Demon King, to stand frozen in place.
"Exactly as it says literally - magic that can return to the future."
Heiter explained from the side, "During the time just now, I've already done a simple verification using the framework we created."
"From the paper that the mage named Gut handed to me, the goddess magic recorded on it."
"Absolutely correct!"
At the same time, elsewhere.
In the Continental Magic Association, a mage finally mustered the courage to push open the door and enter.
"Failed. Next."
Serie's calm voice announced that the first candidate at the Holy Capital headquarters had failed the interview.
"Um, excuse me..."
"Are the mage examinations... conducted here?"
A timid child's voice came from outside the door.
"Come in. You pass."
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Powerstones?
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