Early in the morning, Charlie stood on the top level of the Violet Garden, gazing far into the distance at the Magician's Tower.
At the top of the Magician's Tower, a small metal ball was supported by three metal pillars, with multi-colored gemstones embedded on the surface. The gemstones emitted a glowing light, and the various colored auras converged into a flow of magical energy that spread out in a faint blue haze, enveloping a large part of the William Castle, majestic and solemn, showcasing the wonders of magic.
Through the hazy barrier, the outlines of strange plants and busy servant figures could be vaguely seen - it seemed that Master Rowan's botanical garden had already begun its daily operations.
Charlie recalled a small detail - when passing by the edge of the Magic District, Brian had casually mentioned the recent job openings in the magic area, entrusting Griffin to handle the matter. As a result, there had been more strangers lurking around the castle lately.
In other words, if Griffin had been bribed by certain members of the Pavlov family, then Charlie might also encounter unexpected troubles even in the Violet Garden, as Brian had repeatedly warned him not to leave the garden, since the security measures there were the strictest within the castle.
However, this was an opportunity, a good chance to turn the tide, and Charlie was willing to take the risk, breaking the taboo that Brian had mentioned - entering the Great Magician's botanical garden.
Charlie searched the servant quarters of the Violet Garden, found a well-fitting set of clothes, changed into them, and then directly left the garden, with a vague sense of unease, crossing the boundaries that Brian had emphatically warned him not to trespass.
Following the signs, Charlie came to the edge of the magic district, which was a semi-public area without any magical prohibitions. He followed two lean men into a room, where a middle-aged man with a gloomy expression was sitting.
"Are you all the people Griffin arranged to come and try out the job?"
Hearing this, Charlie was secretly delighted - he had found the right place.
The two men in front had a blank expression, looking somewhat restrained. After hearing the question, they instinctively nodded vigorously. Charlie looked at them and nodded as well.
The middle-aged man asked, "Wasn't I told there would only be two people arriving in the morning? Why is there an extra one? Who didn't follow the arrangement?"
The two men glanced at each other, then turned their doubtful gaze to Charlie. Even they felt that this chubby young man was quite different from them and not of the same ilk.
This was the moment when Charlie felt he should say something.
"Sir, my name is Eson, I'm the distant nephew of the Violet Garden's steward, Brian. I've recently come to seek shelter with him, and when I saw you were recruiting, I wanted to give it a try. If you don't believe me, you can go ask my uncle Brian."
The middle-aged man looked Charlie up and down, frowning and saying, "Hmm! I will verify this with him. But the job of a botanical garden worker is physical labor, with work hours often exceeding 10 hours a day, it's very arduous. With your build, I'm afraid you won't be able to handle it."
It's understandable that he was prejudiced against Charlie, as Charlie's chubby and soft appearance indeed didn't look like someone who could endure hard work.
Charlie gave him a smile and said, "What's the problem with that? After all, it's just a trial, whether I can do it or not is up to you to decide. Having one more choice won't do you any harm."
The middle-aged man was quite satisfied with his obedient attitude and laughed, "That's right! You little guy may not have a good build, but you seem to have a smart head. Our botanical garden workers not only need to be diligent, but also a bit clever. Alright, let's give you a try!"
Charlie nodded silently and stood in line with the other two men. He could clearly feel the wary gaze of the two men beside him.
As long-serving servants of William Castle, being able to work for the Great Magician was a golden opportunity for them. If they could smoothly work there for a few years, their status and treatment would be much "nobler" than ordinary servants, not to mention they also had some secret tasks that could not be spoken of.
"I'm Martin, the head gardener of Magician Rowan's botanical garden," the middle-aged man said, standing upright with his hands behind his back, pausing before continuing, "Griffin has always been reliable in his work. Since you've been able to enter the castle, I believe you all have clean backgrounds, so I won't dwell too much on your origins.
The botanical garden consumes a considerable amount of resources every year, and the medicinal herbs we handle are very precious. We must find some diligent, obedient, reliable, and intelligent workers to ensure excellent output. So the importance of your work cannot be overstated.
And our compensation is commensurate with this position - your annual salary in the botanical garden can easily support you to live comfortably in Haroness for two to three years.
Of course, the requirements are also not small. A three-day trial is a necessary test for botanical garden workers. Whether you can stay or not depends on your performance in these three days. Now, let me tell you about the test requirements for these three days..."
Meanwhile, in the central ball-shaped hall of the Magician's Tower, a middle-aged man dressed in a magician's robe sat at a desk, deep in thought. His fingers were adorned with rings of colorful splendor, his bun was meticulously groomed, and his expression always carried an air of solemnity. He loosely held a feather pen, the tip pressing down on a pile of scattered drafts covered in various strange symbols.
Beside the desk stood a young woman around 20 years old, wearing a simple magician's robe, appearing particularly spirited and capable. She stood reverently to the side, focused and motionless.
In front of the wall, a huge bronze lamp was placed, with a flame burning at the top. Above the flame, a huge cloud of smoke hovered, within which dozens of dynamic light images were divided, resembling a real-time monitoring screen.
After pondering for a long time, the middle-aged man furrowed his brow, put down the feather pen in his hand, and let out a muffled breath. The spark of inspiration had been extinguished, and he couldn't come to any useful conclusions.
Undoubtedly, this man was the owner of this Magician's Tower, Rowan Schneider.
The young woman spoke softly, "Teacher, how is it?"
Rowan shook his head, his gaze shifting to the magical mirror images opposite. The multitude of moving images in front of him somewhat disturbed his thoughts.
"Yulanda, move this mirror device to your room later. Inform me if you discover anything."
Yulanda bowed, "Yes, Master."
Huh?
Rowan's hand stopped in mid-air, following his gaze to a scene in the magical mirror: "How did he come here?"
Yulanda hesitated, "Who came?"
Rowan pointed to a figure in the magical mirror, frowning, "Charlie, the son of Duke Thomas. He was just disinherited yesterday, why is he appearing in my botanical garden today? What is Griffin up to?"
Yulanda held her breath, asking, "Master, should I go ask?"
Rowan pondered for a moment, then said, "No need, Griffin shouldn't have the audacity to act on his own..."
He paused, and Yulanda didn't dare to press further, waiting patiently for him to continue.
Rowan contemplated, "Never mind this matter, as long as it doesn't disrupt the order of the botanical garden, let him be."
With a wave of his hand, the flame of the mirror device was extinguished, and the light images instantly disappeared. The miscellaneous thoughts in his mind, including Charlie's appearance in the botanical garden, were swept away. They were trivial matters, not worthy of Magister Rowan's attention.
"Understood, Master," Yulanda bowed and left. She clearly sensed the master's hesitation, and the sharp-witted Yulanda quickly figured out the implications.
She had a general understanding of the matter regarding Charlie's disinheritance. This wayward youth had really made his father worry himself sick. In Haroness, his bullying and womanizing was one thing, but this time he actually set his sights on the princess, the one most beloved by King Philippe - it was simply foolish beyond measure!
The Duke of Thomas publicly disinheriting him and transferring him to William Castle was perhaps a form of indirect protection. The Duke might have wanted to entrust Charlie to the master for guidance, but was too embarrassed to ask directly. And the master, understanding the Duke's intentions, did not want to take on this problem child, so he adopted a compromising strategy, pretending not to know.
This was a game among the big shots, and Yulanda did not need to get too involved. Considering it this way, Yulanda basically knew the situation, and would not presumptuously take any small actions.
Although Yulanda had not guessed the actual facts correctly, her grasp of the psychological aspects of the powerful figures was undoubtedly very accurate.
...
After listening to Martin's explanation, Charlie felt that the botanical garden had some rules and methods, but when Martin proposed a series of test methods, Charlie snorted disdainfully at him. Those cultivation methods were an eye-opener for Charlie.
Backward! Primitive! Unprofessional!!
The test content was mostly just rote memorization of rules, such as: what time to move what plants out to sunbathe, what time to water them, how much to water, what steps to take on rainy days, what steps on sunny days, and so on.
From these rules, one could infer that the management of the botanical garden had a rather primitive concept. Their understanding of plant cultivation was limited to finding suitable soil, maintaining moisture and light - a very amateur level. Yet they had meticulously compiled a complex set of execution rules for the workers to follow.
The criteria for the worker test was simply to remember all the steps and execute them meticulously, without any technical content.
Although Charlie was not a botanist, as someone from Earth, he had a certain understanding of plant cultivation. In the 23rd century on Earth, especially after the decoding of genetic technology, people's research on plants had reached the pinnacle, almost fully grasping the habits and patterns of all common plants on Earth. Plant scientists could "hear" the "voices" of plants and grasp all their needs.
Charlie didn't need to reach that level, he just needed to grow these flowers and plants well.
The thing is, cultivating plants is not something that can show obvious results in a few days or weeks, but requires a fairly long observation and experimentation period. Now the problem was, did Martin the head gardener have enough patience? Would he give Charlie a chance to perform?
In order to get a chance to perform, although Charlie had a belly full of solutions, he could only hold them back and play the game according to Martin's rules, competing with the other two dimwitted servants to vie for the position of worker.