Chapter 10

Chapter 10: A Noble’s Privilege (3)

Pulcheria composed herself slightly.

The noisy sounds inside the dormitory had kept her restless all this time. The final exams were clearly drawing near, yet her roommates, who were apprentices like her, showed not the slightest trace of tension. Even without turning around, Pulcheria knew exactly what those people were discussing. It was either cosmetics or certain male apprentices in their class, and they even treated those baffling topics as fashion.

Even when she used wind-element spells to block the flow of air around her ears, the clamorous voices still rang inside her mind without pause. According to the lecturers, as long as one cut off the flow of air, one could stop the transmission of sound. But at this very moment, Pulcheria found herself deeply doubting that claim.

In the end, she stood up, rather roughly gathered the reference books on the desk, stuffed them into her bag, then turned and walked out of the dormitory.

Pulcheria’s dormitory was part of the highest-grade dormitory complex in the academy. Space magic had been used to expand the living area, and students were even allowed to remodel their rooms freely. Those who lived here were usually either wealthy merchants or nobles, and most of these people often shared several common traits: they either possessed excellent talent, or they lacked neither magic materials nor money. The only thing they might lack was ambition.

And these roommates gave Pulcheria quite a headache.

With no academic pressure, excellent talent, and unlimited spellcasting materials, they could easily reach a decent level of magic. Meanwhile, arcane technology and spell encapsulation gave these people even more reasons not to study—if there was anything their magic could not solve, then they only had to spend money on some equipment to solve it.

But Pulcheria was different from them. Pulcheria had come to this school precisely for the teaching standards of Potsdam Royal Academy, and everything she did was for the sake of reaching the goal she had set for herself.

Because her surname was Palaiologos.

The final exams themselves were not a problem for Pulcheria at all. The problem was that her ranking in this exam would directly determine whether she could catch the eyes of those Legendary Mages. After all, this was the strongest mage academy in the Empire, and with His Excellency the Legendary Mage Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss holding court here, quite a few Legendary Mages were willing to give the academy face and take on idle posts.

But most of these people already found it very difficult to break through their existing heights, so many of them had decided to shift their energy toward teaching students instead. For example, His Excellency Gauss had two students who had likewise become Legendary Mages: Mage Dedekind and Mage Riemann. Many of these mages were willing to extend a helping hand to those who possessed outstanding talent and were willing to work hard to explore the way of magic.

And Pulcheria desperately hoped that she could be chosen by these mages. Therefore, she not only had to pass the final exams; she had to pass them perfectly.

—But where can I find a place convenient for me to study right now?

Pulcheria walked along the stone path on campus, absentmindedly kicking aside the pebbles on the road.

The first thing she thought of was that lounge in the library. Just as Theresia had said, that room basically had never been used. It was clean and plain. Pulcheria dared to say she had never slept on such a thin mattress and wooden-plank bed in her entire life—but she had to admit, it was very convenient and very quiet. After Pulcheria brought over her own spare quilt, mattress, and pillow, that room no longer had any real flaws.

But at this hour, the library was probably already closed.

If it had been her former self, Pulcheria would definitely have found a way to sneak into the library—in fact, it was not as though she had never done it before. But now, the moment she thought that doing so might cause trouble for Theresia, Pulcheria hesitated.

If she did not go to the library, where else could she go?

Pulcheria looked at the night curtain that was gradually descending, and for a moment, she was at a loss.

But as starlight gradually spread across the sky, Theresia’s name suddenly flashed through Pulcheria’s mind.

—Come to think of it, when I installed the constant-temperature magic array for her roommate before, I think I saw that only two people lived in her dorm room.

Pulcheria’s mind instantly grew lively. Back then, she had even specifically asked Margaret about it, and Margaret had indeed given her a definite answer. And judging from that dormitory, it did seem much quieter over there...

***

Theresia and Margaret walked out of the cafeteria in perfect satisfaction, then slowly strolled toward the dormitory.

“Although I’ve sighed about this many times already, the dishes at our school cafeteria really are quite amazing...” Theresia patted her belly. “They’re obviously just everyday dishes, but the ingredients are all quite precious.”

“Mm. Whether it’s the steaks made from magical beast eggs and magical beast meat, or the salads made from vegetables watered with aether, they’re all dishes that aren’t very complicated to make. They rely entirely on their ingredients to score points.” Margaret, however, felt a little pained over the money they had just spent. “If those had been ordinary ingredients, the money just now would have been enough for us to eat for a week.”

“But food like this really can increase magic power, right? I heard the cafeteria also has even higher-grade windows that supply even better ingredients... The geniuses among traditional mages eat those things every day while studying.”

Margaret spoke with a little envy. “That’s why they can become higher-level mages. Our School of Theology has quite a few preselected priests and nuns too, and the Church specially sends light-attribute ingredients over for them to cook with.”

“It must be nice to have money.” Theresia suddenly felt a lingering sour taste in her mouth.

Margaret was just about to nod in agreement when she suddenly noticed a familiar figure standing near the dormitory entrance.

“Eh...” Theresia cried out softly. “Is that Senior Pulcheria?”

Pulcheria was holding a suitcase. When she heard Theresia’s voice, she turned around, and the moment she saw Theresia, a smile appeared on her face. “Good evening. I would like to stay with you for a few days. I assume you won’t mind, right?”

“I mind!” Alarm bells rang wildly in Margaret’s heart. She pulled Theresia back a step and answered first. “If we casually let a stranger enter the dormitory, not only you, but we will all be kicked out!”

Theresia hurriedly swallowed her own agreement back down.

“You don’t need to worry about that.” Pulcheria drew out a folded sheet of paper, snapped it open, and displayed it to the two of them. “The relevant application and report have already been approved. I am now moving in through completely proper procedures.”

“Who are you trying to fool? How could an application report possibly have results without at least a week?” Margaret subconsciously shielded Theresia behind her and stared at Pulcheria warily. “You haven’t even known Theresia for a full week.”

“One only needs to give those instructors the right motivation, and that is enough to make them move.” Pulcheria winked. “In that case, I’ll be troubling you two juniors for the next few weeks.”