‘No Way.’
Of course, it was fascinating for Walter, but there was no guarantee that those were the right answers since he didn’t checked them yet.
So, he put the pages down without showing anything on his face.
‘Well, did she really get them right? I put these problems in since I thought they’re too difficult to solve.’
In noble families, difficult problems that can never be solved were often put in tests to humble the ego of their kids.
The problems in the second part of the papers were about difficult ancient languages and complex formulas.
In the first part, the Young Lady was too confused to solve them.
She did attempt some problems, but she left most of the answers blank.
‘But her grammar in the strange ancient language questions is all right. She didn’t even misspell any of the words.’
As he continued to look through the test sheets, Liarte asked.
“Did I do something wrong?”
“Oh, not at all, Miss. I was looking at your handwriting.”
In fact, her handwriting was fascinating because it was completely different from Birce’s, who use colorful words and cursive writing.
Michael sat crookedly and monitored the conversation between the two.
“Yeah, shall we have a little talk before grading?”
As he was choking, Walter had a great idea.
“A conversation?”
“You can ask me anything you’re curious about. Or say what you want to say.”
At least while Liarte was talking, Michael will be polite about things.
He remained still, but Walter felt the pressure immensely.
“Okay. I’ll ask something.”
Liarte paused and pondered for a moment before asking a question.
“Why are you teaching me?”
“Well, it’s certainly not often that a guard will teach you to study,” replied Walter, rather pleased.
“My original field was information. If you want, I could tell you more.”
“Please do. Liarte is fine with it.”
Walter then explained at Michael’s reply.
“Honestly speaking, the assassination guild was dealing with information.”
“Information?”
“I’d say it’s for intel purposes. It was to make a living, but I didn’t make much money.”
But then he was caught by a young Michael at the time, and he was traced back and caught by Birce.
How creepy was this little boy that laughed like an angel.
Instead of telling this story, Walter only told the good part of it.
“Anyway, that’s why I studied quite a bit. Half on my own, and half with others. I take pride in teaching in my own way.”
“I see.”
Now, of course, he’s a slave who has to hide in dangerous places and follow orders when he’s asked for information.
Walter’s fear of the assassination guild leader and Birce made him move.
‘There is nothing particularly suspicious around.’
With one spy around, Carmen couldn’t rule out the possibility of another spy.
The clear thing he had to do going forward was to doubt everyone around Liarte.
Even if it was Merlin.
‘At first, the Great Master was kind to his people to some extent.’
Aaron didn’t thoroughly investigate the children he had become attached to.
As a result, Hans was able to hide in Birce for more than a decade.
“Now I’m going to grade you, Miss. Don’t worry about the things you got wrong. It’s fine to check what you need to improve on.”
“I won’t mind.”
Not knowing much about the exam, Liarte answered comfortably.
“You didn’t know the answers to the first part, so you skipped it, didn’t you?”
“That’s right.”
“If I were to grade the last part……”
The problems that can only be solved by people who majored in Ancient Languages.
And the problems with complex formulas.
As Walter was alternating between the answer sheet and the test sheets, his eyes grew wide.
“Yes?”
They were all correct.
The questions about the Ancient Languages were too difficult so he thought she wouldn’t be able to answer them.
‘Is it because Elheim also used Ancient Languages?’
People from families of historical awakeners knew some ancient language.
But these were the problems that can’t be solved with just that level of knowledge.
Furthermore, the descendants of the Duchy of Elheim didn’t seem to be particularly good at ancient languages. Walter meant that they weren’t carefully educated in this field.
The problems underneath those were the complex formulas.
There were many numbers written down.
He alternated between the answer sheet and the test sheet.
These were all correct, too.
This problem, and the next problem, and the next problem after that.
Until the very end, she got them all right.
Walter was in shock.
He could feel his eyes shaking even though he pretended to be okay.
“Oh, well, you got a lot of questions right. Thank you for your hard work.”
“Is it a good thing?”
“It’s something to celebrate because you’ve been trying to focus and solve problems seriously, Young Lady.” (tl/n mind you, she did this in 10 minutes.)
His mouth moved with great ease. But in his head on the contrary, it was complicated.
‘How did she solve them?’
In the case of the formulas, only the answers were written down.
Of course, she couldn’t have memorized the answers before the test.
“Young Lady.”
“Yes?”
Walter eventually couldn’t resist his curiosity and pointed to a mathematical problem.
“How did you solve this problem? What does this number mean?”
Trying to turn a blind eye to Michael’s harsh gaze, he pointed to a small number written as the answer.
Liarte answered.
“It was hard to calculate, so I wrote the middle value down.”
“What?”
Calculation?
Who could calculate this by heart?
Walter opened his mouth wide.
“Should I have written the expressions down instead of calculating?”
Liarte looked at him in wonder.
There was a reason why Hwi-Amin didn’t understand the contents of the Forbidden Book even though he read them.
Curses, Sorcery, and Ancient Power had to use calculations.
Formulas about how much magic power will be used and how much it costs.
The last part of the questions couldn’t have been that difficult for her, who has done that kind of calculation often.
‘It was a relief that the last ones were easy.’
It was easier to solve than the first problems that required common sense.
“She asked if she should have written the equations down and not do the mental calculations.”
Michael’s dismal voice finally brought Walter to his senses.
“No, Young Lady. It’s not like that. There was no requirement to write the equations down. I’m the type to write expressions and equations down and solve them, so I asked because it was fascinating.”
Not only was there a little change of emotion, but Liarte immediately looked at him.
Walter realized that she didn’t understand what he meant to write down equations.
She seemed to be very curious, but then he could see her nod in understanding.
“Everyone has different tastes.”
‘It’s not my preference. If you don’t write it down, you can’t calculate.’
He tried to hold the words back that came up in his throat.
Come to think of it, Liarte was not properly educated as a direct descendant of Elheim.
There were certainly many common sense problems that could not be solved without learning the basics.
Therefore, he concluded that it was her pure ability to solve the second part of the test.
The problem with that level of difficulty was that even the highly educated aristocrats couldn’t solve it well.
‘What, a genius?’
He looked at Liarte completely absent-minded.
* * *
The nightmare has come true.
The morning had come, but the Duke of Elheim was pale in the daylight.
His eyes were a little bloodshot because he couldn’t sleep a wink all night.
‘The Power of Water did not return.’
It was exactly as the Spirit King said.
Originally, the Duchy of Elheim’s Power of Water was all stolen from the first owner of the power, Jurien.
That was why the real owner can take her Power back whenever she wants.
The Duke of Elheim had been in denial for days.
‘The Power of Water cannot disappear from Elheim. It shouldn’t disappear.’
The terrible sensation of losing the power from his body was still vivid for him.
Still, the Power of Water was there even in their bodies.
Except that the capacity in their vessel can never be re-filled.
The lowest-ranking water awakeners had broken their vessels and returned to being normal people.
It was as if an inescapable, hopeless future awaited the people of the Duchy of Elheim.
Of course, the direct descendants and the high-ranking awakeners still had some left-over power.
But how long can they last without using the Power of Water?
At this rate, they will use up all their abilities in less than a year. Or even just a few months.
With no choice to become the unawakeners that they despise so damn much.
‘Please don’t let that happen.’
The duke was stuck in his office for more than two days, and even after thinking about it, he had no answer.
Now he couldn’t think of anything other than holding out without using his abilities.
In the meantime, he has no choice but to find out the best way.
Then, someone knocked on the door of his office.
“Who is it? I told you to not visit this office while I’m thinking.”
The duke donned his strong leader suit and uttered his orders in an obnoxious voice.
No apology came.
Instead, the door was blasted open.
“Your Grace, this is not the time!”
It was Dupard, the Commanding Knight of Elheim.
The usually placid look on Dupard’s face was now a mess and distorted.
However, this time, Dupard seemed even more agitated and in a deeper urgency than when Birce invaded.
“There was a big deal at the Imperial Palace. Now, a fire that cannot be extinguished by anything is burning the palace.”
He then spat out without waiting for the duke’s answer.
“The Imperial Family has requested for Elheim to help.”
“Oh, it can’t be.”
The duke lost his words and stared into space.
When all of their abilities are finally exhausted, they become unawakeners.
Since the place where the fire broke out was the Imperial Palace, duty could not be avoided.
It was simply a dilemma.
‘No Way.’
Of course, it was fascinating for Walter, but there was no guarantee that those were the right answers since he didn’t checked them yet.
So, he put the pages down without showing anything on his face.
‘Well, did she really get them right? I put these problems in since I thought they’re too difficult to solve.’
In noble families, difficult problems that can never be solved were often put in tests to humble the ego of their kids.
The problems in the second part of the papers were about difficult ancient languages and complex formulas.
In the first part, the Young Lady was too confused to solve them.
She did attempt some problems, but she left most of the answers blank.
‘But her grammar in the strange ancient language questions is all right. She didn’t even misspell any of the words.’
As he continued to look through the test sheets, Liarte asked.
“Did I do something wrong?”
“Oh, not at all, Miss. I was looking at your handwriting.”
In fact, her handwriting was fascinating because it was completely different from Birce’s, who use colorful words and cursive writing.
Michael sat crookedly and monitored the conversation between the two.
“Yeah, shall we have a little talk before grading?”
As he was choking, Walter had a great idea.
“A conversation?”
“You can ask me anything you’re curious about. Or say what you want to say.”
At least while Liarte was talking, Michael will be polite about things.
He remained still, but Walter felt the pressure immensely.
“Okay. I’ll ask something.”
Liarte paused and pondered for a moment before asking a question.
“Why are you teaching me?”
“Well, it’s certainly not often that a guard will teach you to study,” replied Walter, rather pleased.
“My original field was information. If you want, I could tell you more.”
“Please do. Liarte is fine with it.”
Walter then explained at Michael’s reply.
“Honestly speaking, the assassination guild was dealing with information.”
“Information?”
“I’d say it’s for intel purposes. It was to make a living, but I didn’t make much money.”
But then he was caught by a young Michael at the time, and he was traced back and caught by Birce.
How creepy was this little boy that laughed like an angel.
Instead of telling this story, Walter only told the good part of it.
“Anyway, that’s why I studied quite a bit. Half on my own, and half with others. I take pride in teaching in my own way.”
“I see.”
Now, of course, he’s a slave who has to hide in dangerous places and follow orders when he’s asked for information.
Walter’s fear of the assassination guild leader and Birce made him move.
‘There is nothing particularly suspicious around.’
With one spy around, Carmen couldn’t rule out the possibility of another spy.
The clear thing he had to do going forward was to doubt everyone around Liarte.
Even if it was Merlin.
‘At first, the Great Master was kind to his people to some extent.’
Aaron didn’t thoroughly investigate the children he had become attached to.
As a result, Hans was able to hide in Birce for more than a decade.
“Now I’m going to grade you, Miss. Don’t worry about the things you got wrong. It’s fine to check what you need to improve on.”
“I won’t mind.”
Not knowing much about the exam, Liarte answered comfortably.
“You didn’t know the answers to the first part, so you skipped it, didn’t you?”
“That’s right.”
“If I were to grade the last part……”
The problems that can only be solved by people who majored in Ancient Languages.
And the problems with complex formulas.
As Walter was alternating between the answer sheet and the test sheets, his eyes grew wide.
“Yes?”
They were all correct.
The questions about the Ancient Languages were too difficult so he thought she wouldn’t be able to answer them.
‘Is it because Elheim also used Ancient Languages?’
People from families of historical awakeners knew some ancient language.
But these were the problems that can’t be solved with just that level of knowledge.
Furthermore, the descendants of the Duchy of Elheim didn’t seem to be particularly good at ancient languages. Walter meant that they weren’t carefully educated in this field.
The problems underneath those were the complex formulas.
There were many numbers written down.
He alternated between the answer sheet and the test sheet.
These were all correct, too.
This problem, and the next problem, and the next problem after that.
Until the very end, she got them all right.
Walter was in shock.
He could feel his eyes shaking even though he pretended to be okay.
“Oh, well, you got a lot of questions right. Thank you for your hard work.”
“Is it a good thing?”
“It’s something to celebrate because you’ve been trying to focus and solve problems seriously, Young Lady.” (tl/n mind you, she did this in 10 minutes.)
His mouth moved with great ease. But in his head on the contrary, it was complicated.
‘How did she solve them?’
In the case of the formulas, only the answers were written down.
Of course, she couldn’t have memorized the answers before the test.
“Young Lady.”
“Yes?”
Walter eventually couldn’t resist his curiosity and pointed to a mathematical problem.
“How did you solve this problem? What does this number mean?”
Trying to turn a blind eye to Michael’s harsh gaze, he pointed to a small number written as the answer.
Liarte answered.
“It was hard to calculate, so I wrote the middle value down.”
“What?”
Calculation?
Who could calculate this by heart?
Walter opened his mouth wide.
“Should I have written the expressions down instead of calculating?”
Liarte looked at him in wonder.
There was a reason why Hwi-Amin didn’t understand the contents of the Forbidden Book even though he read them.
Curses, Sorcery, and Ancient Power had to use calculations.
Formulas about how much magic power will be used and how much it costs.
The last part of the questions couldn’t have been that difficult for her, who has done that kind of calculation often.
‘It was a relief that the last ones were easy.’
It was easier to solve than the first problems that required common sense.
“She asked if she should have written the equations down and not do the mental calculations.”
Michael’s dismal voice finally brought Walter to his senses.
“No, Young Lady. It’s not like that. There was no requirement to write the equations down. I’m the type to write expressions and equations down and solve them, so I asked because it was fascinating.”
Not only was there a little change of emotion, but Liarte immediately looked at him.
Walter realized that she didn’t understand what he meant to write down equations.
She seemed to be very curious, but then he could see her nod in understanding.
“Everyone has different tastes.”
‘It’s not my preference. If you don’t write it down, you can’t calculate.’
He tried to hold the words back that came up in his throat.
Come to think of it, Liarte was not properly educated as a direct descendant of Elheim.
There were certainly many common sense problems that could not be solved without learning the basics.
Therefore, he concluded that it was her pure ability to solve the second part of the test.
The problem with that level of difficulty was that even the highly educated aristocrats couldn’t solve it well.
‘What, a genius?’
He looked at Liarte completely absent-minded.
* * *
The nightmare has come true.
The morning had come, but the Duke of Elheim was pale in the daylight.
His eyes were a little bloodshot because he couldn’t sleep a wink all night.
‘The Power of Water did not return.’
It was exactly as the Spirit King said.
Originally, the Duchy of Elheim’s Power of Water was all stolen from the first owner of the power, Jurien.
That was why the real owner can take her Power back whenever she wants.
The Duke of Elheim had been in denial for days.
‘The Power of Water cannot disappear from Elheim. It shouldn’t disappear.’
The terrible sensation of losing the power from his body was still vivid for him.
Still, the Power of Water was there even in their bodies.
Except that the capacity in their vessel can never be re-filled.
The lowest-ranking water awakeners had broken their vessels and returned to being normal people.
It was as if an inescapable, hopeless future awaited the people of the Duchy of Elheim.
Of course, the direct descendants and the high-ranking awakeners still had some left-over power.
But how long can they last without using the Power of Water?
At this rate, they will use up all their abilities in less than a year. Or even just a few months.
With no choice to become the unawakeners that they despise so damn much.
‘Please don’t let that happen.’
The duke was stuck in his office for more than two days, and even after thinking about it, he had no answer.
Now he couldn’t think of anything other than holding out without using his abilities.
In the meantime, he has no choice but to find out the best way.
Then, someone knocked on the door of his office.
“Who is it? I told you to not visit this office while I’m thinking.”
The duke donned his strong leader suit and uttered his orders in an obnoxious voice.
No apology came.
Instead, the door was blasted open.
“Your Grace, this is not the time!”
It was Dupard, the Commanding Knight of Elheim.
The usually placid look on Dupard’s face was now a mess and distorted.
However, this time, Dupard seemed even more agitated and in a deeper urgency than when Birce invaded.
“There was a big deal at the Imperial Palace. Now, a fire that cannot be extinguished by anything is burning the palace.”
He then spat out without waiting for the duke’s answer.
“The Imperial Family has requested for Elheim to help.”
“Oh, it can’t be.”
The duke lost his words and stared into space.
When all of their abilities are finally exhausted, they become unawakeners.
Since the place where the fire broke out was the Imperial Palace, duty could not be avoided.
It was simply a dilemma.
