For everyone in the group, although their Ring Arcanist levels had already surpassed their respective grades, Summer Exam Week was still just an ordinary exam for the four others besides Shade. No one had granted them permission to advance or skip grades, so the number of subjects this time was no different from previous years.
Luvia was the first to finish before noon. After handing in her parchment, she picked up Little Mia, who had spent the entire morning sunning herself in the cat bed on the windowsill, and only then left the room.
Shade guessed she had gone to get food for the cat, because it was a full half hour later before the orange-and-white cat leisurely slipped back in through the crack in the door.
It circled Shade's chair once. Seeing that he was seriously writing, it first jumped onto Dorothy's desk by the window, then gave a hard kick and leaped back onto the windowsill, where it settled down to sun itself and watch Shade.
Other than Dorothy, who was concentrating on her answers and got startled by the cat, no one else, professors included, had much of a reaction.
Priest Augustus was in the lowest grade, and his subjects were comparatively easier, so he was the second to finish. Dorothy came next, followed by Doctor Schneider. As though they had arranged it beforehand, the three handed in their papers one after another between one-thirty and two in the afternoon, leaving only Shade still writing furiously.
Even an Outlander could not answer every question perfectly. Just as Miss Galina had said yesterday, if Saint Byron's exams could be passed merely by having a good memory, the Academy would have declined long ago.
Thus, Shade had to worry about Moon Bay while dealing with the deliberately difficult questions