The end of exam week left everyone relaxed. Even Priest Augustus, who had been busy because of the Saint Prayer Festival, decided to invite Doctor Schneider to the tavern for a drink.
They had originally wanted to invite Shade as well, but Miss Louisa directly refused on his behalf:
"I've recently been helping Shade study Tree's Kiss closely. We still have class tonight, so he absolutely cannot drink."
The doctor found that regrettable, but since they had proper business to attend to, he said nothing more. Before leaving Saint Derain Square with the priest, however, he took out 200 pounds and divided them among the four according to a ratio of 2.5:2.5:2:1.5:1.5. Shade received 40 pounds in cash. (Note)
After the Lake View Manor incident, the Academy had awarded the group an internal prize of 1,000 pounds. Through some remarkably clever maneuvering, the doctor had converted that money, which could not originally be cashed out, into Gold Pounds. At the cost of one-tenth of the amount, he withdrew all the money in four installments.
According to their agreement, it was now the end of Thunder Month, and they had received the first payment. Everyone was delighted when the doctor distributed the money, but Shade mentioned that if he could obtain enough credits next week, he would probably have to pay his second-year tuition fee. Therefore, he asked the doctor not to withdraw the remaining money for now, since it could be used directly to pay the tuition fee.
If the amount deducted exceeded Shade's rightful share, he could compensate the others at a rate of one to 0.95.
"Of course, but do you have that much money? First-year tuition fee is relatively low, since it is meant to accommodate Ring Arcanists newly entering the mysterious world. Second-year tuition fee is