A Genius Arrives in the Field of Sealed Artifacts
What had just happened was interesting. He had witnessed the entanglement between the mage Kaiming and his assistant, upheld justice himself, and secured the rights of a genius of the kingdom.
Another day spent contributing to the kingdom.
Mr. Fry savored the memory, nearly forgetting the matter at hand:
"I'm taking you to meet my colleagues. Don't go running around for the next few days. The provincial education department will provide you with protection. Believe me, child, you won't want to face those people."
Xie Yu was rubbing the pendant called the [Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll] in his hand. He had been wondering how to pass himself off as an expert in sealed artifacts, and whether there were any holes in the story he had made up earlier, but Fry didn't seem to care about any of that.
"Who would I have to face?" Xie Yu asked.
He already had a vague recollection of some things he had seen and heard: the college entrance exam in his previous life, and what had happened after Keli, a young man from Pinecone Town, took the major exam when Xie Yu was a child in this life.
Fry listed them off with practiced ease:
"There are far too many. First, there are the local newspaper reporters. Papers from Black Pine City and across the entire North Plains Province will come knocking, and even those from the capital. Then there are the people in charge of admissions at the various schools, big and small, all kinds of them. Don't think the old, established academies are dignified and honest. They have plenty of tricks up their sleeves. One year, more than a dozen Magisters crawled through the sewers into the Mirror Lake City Education Department headquarters and snatched someone away... There's no shortage of outrageous things every year. If you can imagine it, they can do it. Finally, there are the pre-apprentice educational institutions, including their students, who will come looking for you in droves. They're easy enough to deal with, since there's no one formidable among them, but there are just too many of them."
He had extensive experience and knowledge of such matters.
"I thought being a magic apprentice was only the beginning of the path of magic. Compared to the strong, I'm insignificant," Xie Yu said.
Fry laughed.
The boy's ignorance was just right, giving him the perfect opportunity to say what he wanted to say.
"When it comes to the one-star mage assessment or the advanced Magister certification, fewer people actually pay attention... The Kingdom Unified Magic Apprentice Entrance Examination is so large in scale. It's precisely this fairness and universal access, which allows everyone to participate, that has brought about this phenomenon. It's proof of the kingdom's progress and prosperity. But for you and your family, it might not be pleasant."
So it's fairness and universal access for everyone... But the questions on that exam paper didn't seem to take that into account.
Xie Yu nodded in realization. "I see. Your explanation has made everything clear to me."
But he still felt something was missing.
Don't they care how I got a perfect score? Aren't they curious how a child from an ordinary small-town family managed a score like that? A great tree has grown in the desert, and not one of these experienced mages thinks there's anything strange about it?
While confronting the fake Kaiming, Xie Yu had considered that Fry and the education department behind him couldn't entirely be counted as his backers. Even his perfect score might face a "moment of exposure"...
But judging by Fry's smile now, there seemed to be no sign of that at all. His worries were somewhat unnecessary.
Fry was clearly pleased by Xie Yu's "realization" and spoke in a tone of encouragement:
"The kingdom and the province both place great importance on young geniuses like you in key fields. The field of sealed artifacts is vast and profound, with great potential. When you faced that fellow Kaiming just now, your pride and your bearing, neither servile nor arrogant, left a deep impression on me. With your knowledge and wisdom, you completely won him over, and you moved me as well."
Does he really believe I'm a genius in the field of sealed artifacts? Xie Yu was stunned.
What knowledge or wisdom did he have? The only things he knew about sealed artifacts were the bits of common knowledge The Petulant Test Paper had casually mentioned while cheating to give him the answers.
Thinking back on how he had dealt with the fake Kaiming, it seemed his actions had looked like something entirely different in Fry's eyes.
"You flatter me," Xie Yu said sincerely.
To put it bluntly, this probably meant that he had not only fooled the fake Kaiming just now, but had also deceived Mr. Fry...
If he had slunk away earlier, the result might not have been this good.
The fake Kaiming might even have turned the tables on him or used some other means to deal with him.
Amid the night and rain, Xie Yu walked beneath the umbrella of flame Mr. Fry held up.
He gripped the [Loyal Solid-Wood Cane (Affection 0)] and played with [Sealed Artifact 3-0771 (Affection 10)] in his hand, gradually feeling more at ease.
Fry led him not to the Forest Academy, where they had been that morning, but toward a tall building in the heart of Black Pine City.
[The tall inn (Affection 0) ignored a little person like you, thinking you no different from the travelers who came and went every day.]
"Pinewood Inn?" Xie Yu looked at the sign by the front courtyard, somewhat surprised.
Fry explained:
"The senior staff of our education department are all staying here."
He put away the Fire Umbrella and led Xie Yu out of the night and into the inn's brightly lit, high-ceilinged lobby:
"Let me introduce myself properly. I'm Fry, secretary-general of the general affairs division of the provincial education department. I returned to Black Pine City to supervise the exam and grade the papers. Our team includes Mr. Yize, the head of the inspection division and a Magister; Mr. Duoha, the deputy head of the policy research division; and Ms. Xiuno, the deputy head of the general affairs division."
So many titles. Mr. Fry had spoken a little quickly, and Xie Yu did his best to remember them. But it didn't matter if he couldn't. The [Gentle Fountain Pen (Affection 100)] was still clipped in his jacket pocket. It would surely remember.
From the sound of it, Mr. Fry wasn't a Magister either, but a mage.
This brought to mind the anger on the fake Kaiming's face. If the fake Kaiming had truly made up his mind to act ruthlessly, then with his own strength, which far surpassed Kaiming's, and Sealed Artifact 3-0771, which Fry said could rival a four-star mage, Xie Yu and Fry's side seemed to have no advantage at all in a fight.
It really had been a dangerous gamble. The slightest deviation, and he would have fallen into it, perhaps even dragging the respectable Mr. Fry down with him...
But Fry was more than just a mage. Behind him were his colleagues, the entire education department, and even the kingdom.
Come to think of it, unless he had been driven into a truly desperate situation, Wig Brown really wouldn't have dared to go down fighting.
"Mr. Fry, how are my parents?"
Absorbed in thought, Xie Yu suddenly remembered that he still had parents at home.
Fry seemed to recall something amusing. After coughing twice, he said:
"Don't worry. Director Yize went to Pinecone Town this afternoon. Your parents are both very reasonable people. After the town staff explained the risks, they agreed to leave home for the time being and stay with a cousin. You can ask Mr. Yize for the details. When divination confirmed that you were here with Kaiming, you should have seen how surprised Yize looked."
"Is Mr. Yize a diviner?" Xie Yu asked.
A Magister-level diviner... Wig Brown, a mage in the field of mind and soul, could spy on us through a hundred meters of forest. Has such a powerful diviner already noticed many things?
"The head of the inspection division naturally has to be a diviner. That's the kingdom's usual practice."
Although Fry thought this was common knowledge, he patiently explained it to Xie Yu anyway.