"Here's your lunch, Your Excellency." Within Prince Charles' camp, a voluptuous young woman with brown hair gave the prince a roasted meat of monsters. The aromatic fragrance spread through the air, making people's stomach to growl.
Charles Daswind held the stick and took a bite. Its aroma entered his nostrils, causing his stomach to growl even more. He greedily devoured the meat before taking another. As a Mage, they needed to consume a large amount of food to become stronger. The constant casting of spells made them really hungry. This is also why common people couldn't afford to feed a Mage, much less raise them. This is also why many commoner Mages take the entrance examination of the academy so that they could have money to eat high-quality meat.
According to the agreement, as long as a Mage became a student of the academy, they will receive 100 silver coins every month. That alone could feed an entire family of five for a year even if they squander. This is also why all commoners who passed the exam instantly became rich. Many of them even applied for the position of Baron.
Almost 70% of participants in this exam were commoners. As for how they have resources to hire a priest to Awaken, it was actually simple. In fact, they didn't need to hire a priest or have resources to Awaken.
All great factions in this kingdom held a coming-of-age ceremony for free. That's right, free. It was not that they were benevolent enough to Awaken commoners. The reason why they held such a high-class thing for free was because the majority of them found many good seedlings that was worth to raise. This practice continued for more than centuries ago until now. Therefore, the Uyzher Kingdom became even more prosperous and powerful. That is also the reason why the kingdom became qualified to be a member of the Council of Heaven. As for what it is, that would be best explained later.
After eating, Charles drank the water drawn from the clean river nearby. One might be confused why people could eat in an illusory world. It was because the world itself is illusory, but the things living within are not. He really didn't know the details behind it, but there seems to be a complicated mechanism how that works.
"You've done a good work, Stella. However, make sure you don't overwork yourself and have a good rest." said Charles, tapping his stomach in satisfaction.
The brown-haired Stella wiped the sweat from her forehead as she said, "I'm fine, Your Excellency. I'm still a Mage after all."
"Is that so? However, even if that's the case, you still need to rest. Or else if you really overwork yourself and fainted, you don't want to worry your family, especially your mother, right?" Charles said. He met Stella at the start of the exam and her personality impressed him. He heard that her mother has sickness but they didn't even have money for food. That was why Stella participated the exam. This is the only thing she can do. If she really failed her, it would be like she failed her mother. That's why Charles decided to recruit her in his group. She was also the reason why he have an idea of forming a group. When he heard her story, he decided to help commoners pass the exam. However, the number of people of people that he can help was severely limited. Out of more than seven hundred commoners, only fifty-four belonged to his group.
"Yes, Your Excellency. I'm going to leave now." Stella nodded and curtsied with her skirt in hand before leaving.
Seeing her silhoutte going smaller, Charles yawned and laid on the ground. He closed his eyes before finally falling sleep. He was just too exhausted to think of anything. That's why he fell asleep without even thinking if he will be attacked by Demon.
However, what he didn't know, there was a pair of eyes watching him from a distance. Seeing the prince falling asleep, the eyes disappeared to the shadow.
***
Without a doubt, Charles' plan spread throughout the illusory world. Many people felt his plan was flawless so they decided to transfer their points to a trustworthy leader. Now, they just needed to sit and wait where Alzer will pop out. As long as he appeared near a person with large points, they'll attack him immediately.
Obviously, Alzer also heard of this. Currently he was leaning on a large boulder, resting. He mumbled, "It seems he already started to move. Indeed, transferring all the points to him was a good idea. Unfortunately…"
Alzer sneered. What Charles just did is like digging his own grave. The moment all the points were transferred to him means he fell right into his trap. Now, he just needed to do some preparations.
Alzer stood up before stretching his hand. The hot sunlight made him sweat so hard. However, this was also a very interesting time. Noon was usually a time where people gets lazy. There was a short story in his previous life about a rich merchant who's being targeted by assassins. However, this merchant's bodyguards were very alert, especially at night. Guess what those assassins did? That's right, they assassinated that merchant at noontime where his bodyguards alertness was at the lowest. Because they didn't think that the assassins will execute their employer at the time when the sun shone its brightest light.
Of course Alzer didn't plan to attack the prince while in his sleep. Because the senses of a third level Mortal rank Mage was on a whole different level. He was the one watching the prince earlier. He felt this was a good time to execute his plot. Interestingly, he also observed other people and he saw that many of them were sleeping too.
"Now then, shall we start our little scheme?"
***
Stella sat by the side of the river. She washed her face with water when she heard a strange rustling sound of grass nearby.
Rustle!
Another rustle entered her ears. She automatically shifted her gaze at the source. It was full of grass and she couldn't see what was inside. Then, she nervously stood up, looked left and right before finally gathering a courage to move towards it. Just as when she was about to open the grass, a shadow suddenly jumped towards her.
"Ah-" Before she could even scream, a hand gripped her neck tightly. She started flailing to struggle but the hand still held her little neck tightly. Not long after, she lost consciousness due to the lack of air.
[Remaining Time: 20 minutes]