The test was supposed to start last week, but it was delayed to this day without any reason. Because of that, many citizens of faraway regions had no choice but to wait in the capital for a whole week, handling the high cost of living.
During this week, prices increased in the capital. What was worse is that the fee of participation in the entrance test to the academy this year has doubled, not to mention the price they paid for the hermit herb. Most of them had spent close to a thousand silver, and some even borrowed money so that they could participate. In the end, the documents were sealed with a simple magic circle.
Jin understood the situation perfectly. As they say, the world revolves around money, and there is no way this was a coincidence. It was a well-thought-out plan by those in charge of the competition budget to cut costs. They deceive the poor and trade the hopes and dreams of young people for their own financial goals.
Jin sighed, frowning. This was a clear prejudice against the poor.
"Did their greed reach the point of deliberately reducing the number of participants to keep the academy's budget for themselves? They even made them spend all their money, and now they demand three hundred silver in exchange for breaking an elementary magic seal. Even I, who do nothing for free, would be embarrassed to ask them to pay me ten silvers for such a stupid seal."
Jin mumbled, just expressing his opinion, but Du Bai, standing beside him and hearing him, took his words seriously, shouting out loud for everyone to hear.
"You guys, good news, my friend here says he will break the seal for you in exchange for only ten silver."
In an instant, the sad faces of the common people changed into excited faces, and they gathered around Du Bai and Jin.
Jin was surprised when he heard Du Bai shouting, but in the end, he agreed. They were two hundred people, and he would get two thousand silver from them.
"Du Bai, I have to finish them in two hours at most, so have them stand in line and prepare their money."
Then he turned to the person in front of him and said, "Go get me a chair and a table so that I can work easily."
The boy nodded in the affirmative and sped off to get what Jin asked of him. What was important to him now was that Jin wouldn't change his mind and continue to unseal the magic circles.
An hour later, Jin had finished breaking about a hundred seals, but suddenly someone shouted, stopping the process.
"It's him, the white-haired boy. He's the thief who stole my bag."
The blue-haired girl took steady steps in the direction of Jin, and behind her was a man in a white robe who made everyone open the way for her.
Everyone's eyes focused on her, wondering who this beautiful girl was. When she came close to them, Du Bai was able to examine her carefully, he turned towards Jin and blamed him.
"Jin, how can you do something like this? How is it possible for you to commit a crime like this? It is impossible. I can't believe that you talked to a beautiful girl like her without telling me, aren't we brothers? where is our friendship? a traitor, you are a traitor... does she have a sister? is she beautiful? Is she older or younger? Older than her by one or two years?"
"Du Bai, shut up now," Jin said to Du Bai coldly, then stared at the girl and the man with her. Although the white-robed guard looked strong, Jin didn't even pay attention to him. He didn't even stand up to welcome them.
"Don't try to lie or run. There's no point in denial. Where's my bag?" The girl said, staring at Jin angrily.
"And why would I deny it? Yes, I took your bag." Jin said while looking at the girl with a smile on his face.
Everyone's faces were covered in shock, this person had confessed to committing a crime of theft in front of one of the academy guards, but Jin didn't finish his words.
"Your storage ring was partially destroyed, and its contents flew out of it. Didn't I help you by fixing it and preventing your ring from being completely destroyed?" Jin asked the girl, tilting his head slightly to the side.
"Yes," said the girl, not understanding what he wanted to achieve by saying that.
"And you were the one who gave me the bag, and I considered it the price of my help to you," Jin said, shaking his head.
"You took my precious herbal bag in exchange for repairing a storage ring? Are you crazy? even magicians don't demand more than a hundred silver to repair it."
"Have you been living under a rock? The prices have been increased. Now, If you want a magician to help you to unlock an elementary seal, the magicians will get three hundred silver, not to mention repairing your storage ring. Magicians don't do anything for free."
At this point, the guard interrupted him with a look of disdain on his face.
"But you are not registered as a magician. You are not even a registered student. Yet, you took her herbs and demanded money from those people here to unlock their scrolls seals. Doing this without a permit is a serious crime."
Jin smiled coldly, noticing that the guard for some reason was looking at him with hatefulness and was trying to get him.
This was because before the guard received the complaint from the blue-haired lady, he was planning to break the scroll seal in exchange for two hundred silver. He even spread this news among the commoners and waited for them to come. Although many commoners would not have been able to afford two hundred silver, there is always someone who will give in and pay. Also, he was one of those who planned to exclude the commoners from the competition, and this would give him a big reward, which is why he wasn't happy with what Jin did, it caused him to miss an opportunity to earn money quickly, now he found his chance to vent his anger.
However, even in front of the guard's charges, Jin's facial features did not change. Instead, he remained calm and then turned to Du Bai and said.
"Du Bai, it looks like my voice didn't reach him. You have a loud voice. Why don't you explain to him."
Du Bai nodded and took a deep breath, ready to explain.
"The beautiful lady here, she is the one who offered the bag to my friend; he did not steal it. As for our friends here, what they give us is a tip because of our help to them, we didn't force anyone to pay, and whoever does not have the money, we will help him for free."
"Huh? a tip...?" the guard asked in surprise.
One of the girls came from the line and said to the guard. "Yeah, a tip, breaking all these seals will exhaust him, and don't forget that tomorrow is the exam day, so he will need energy pills to regain his strength. So what we give him is a small reward for his efforts."
The guard gritted his teeth and said nothing; he understood that Jin knew about the rules preventing magicians from working without a permit. However, since he was helping them instead of working, he couldn't do anything to Jin.
Jin raised his hand and signaled to the guard and the girl to move away and said. "What we do here is none of your business. Don't you find it rude to disrupt the people who have been standing here for hours?"
"Don't you know whom you're talking to? How dare you talk to me like that?" screamed the girl, looking at Jin in anger.
"Blue hair and haughty tone, you are from the Han branch-family. Here you go, I know who you are, happy? Get out of here now." Jin said.
The guard interfered, pretending to be angry for the girl. "You are still rude even after you knew who this girl is. apologize, I won't leave until I hear an apology."
The guard has now given up logic and rules. Punishing someone who offended the Han family is an unwritten law that comes above any other law. The huge Guardian unleashed his energy from the soul realm without hesitation.
"I'm really sorry." Jin got up from his chair and walked over to the girl.
The sadness appeared on the face of the audience. Jin's steadfast and calm attitude changed after seeing the guard's aura. They wished inside their hearts if he could hold out more, but what can a child do against brutal force?
A sarcastic smile appeared on the guard's face. His eyes were hovering around everyone, saying, 'Look at him as he apologizes and asks for forgiveness.'
Jin got closer to the girl named Han Seol and spoke in a low voice, but strong and deep as if he was talking to her soul.
"I really feel sorry for you, a girl from the branch family. You and all your family are just puppets on the main family hand. How can I not feel sorry for someone like you?"
At this moment, the girl heard the most painful truth she had been trying to ignore for so long, his words resounding in her ear with a magical effect. She felt as if someone had ripped her heart and crushed it, then memories of her visit to the main family began to appear in her head.
She saw sadness and fear in her father's eyes while his majesty of the main family was smiling with frightening eyes and looking at them with disgust.
The truth that her father had avoided mentioning in front of her, the truth she herself was avoiding, all those fears about the future that were pent-up inside her, appeared at once.
One sentence completely upended her world, and her reaction was a sudden panic attack that made her breathing irregular and her voice barely audible. She couldn't help but scream in her mind.
"I can't breathe. Please, someone helps me."