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But why would the headmaster do something like that?
Even during last year's Day of Descent, he had done the same — deliberately swapping out the Holy Water that could burn the Undead.
Headmaster Morrison's behavior looked very much like someone making things easier for the Dark Faction. Could he actually be a believer of the Evil God?
If the upright and principled Headmaster Morrison was secretly an Evil God worshipper, then Siria Magic Academy would be...
TAP TAP. Oh no. Professor Tobias's owl was back.
Luo Wei quickly returned the documents to their places, eased the archive room door shut, and moved briskly toward the office's stained-glass window.
TAP TAP TAP. Outside the translucent colored panes, a round little owl was hammering its beak against the hard window frame.
"Coming, one moment."
She cracked the window open just enough for the owl to squeeze through.
COO COO. It fluttered onto the desk and settled there, cooing softly.
"The wind is strong tonight. I was worried it would blow the papyrus off the desk." Luo Wei latched the window shut and muttered to herself, "It's late. I should go do my patrol."
For her final round of the night, she circled the perimeter wall clockwise. When she turned back toward the grounds, dawn was already breaking. Morning light slanted in at an angle, washing half of the Sun and Moon Gods statue in pale, thin gold.
The Sun God faced west, toward the academy's main gate. The Moon God faced east, toward the grand cathedral.
From where she stood, the Sun God sculpture was backlit , its face swallowed in shadow, rimmed by light.
She walked around to the other side. There, the light fell perfectly across the Moon God, the polished marble glowing with a clean, almost sacred white.
One side in darkness. One side in light.
A terrible thought cracked open in Luo Wei's mind like a lightning strike.
The same body. Two faces. The Moon God reflecting the sun's light.
The two faces coexisted, yet faced opposite directions. Each was the other's reverse.
And which was the front depended entirely on where you stood when you looked.
The face a believer saw was the true face. The face they never saw was the hidden one.
The gods that humanity worshipped and loved were called righteous gods. The gods that humanity feared and despised were called evil gods.
But who decided that a righteous god and an evil god couldn't be the same deity?
No one had ever imagined that the God of the Undead was once the God of Life.
If even the God of Life had a dark other side, what about the rest? Could the same thing be true of them all?
Luo Wei thought of Axina , of the Succubus horns that had grown from her head.
Succubi were divine emissaries of the God of Malicious Desire. Axina was a blessed child of the Love God. Would the Love God truly have no idea that her own favored devotee was descended from a Succubus?
Could the Love God and the God of Malicious Desire actually be two faces of the same being?
If they were, then the Love God Freya's true divine domain wasn't love at all.
She wasn't the Love God. She was the God of Desire.
The fog that had been clouding Luo Wei's thoughts blew apart all at once. A sharp, unsettling light flickered in her eyes.
Righteous gods. Evil gods. It was all a lie. Light could temporarily push back the dark, but it could never destroy it, because light and darkness had always existed side by side.
The old human homeland had been burned to nothing in the divine war. Now the Western Plains rotted slowly under the Church's grip. Fanatical belief had turned this world into a mess.
She would never forget what she had seen from the clouds: the Sun and Moon Gods winding countless feeding tubes around their great divine throne, lapping greedily at the power pooled there.
They didn't look like gods. They looked like leeches.
If the people of this world could see what she had seen, those holy halos would shatter in an instant, and not a single soul would ever offer them faith again.
A crack of thunder rolled in from the horizon. Lightning split the sky, and brilliant golden light poured down through the gap in the clouds.
A bolt from the blue?
Strange. It almost looked like something was flying inside that golden light.
But she couldn't possibly see that far.
Luo Wei rubbed the pressure points around her eyes. She'd been awake too long. She was hallucinating.
Classes started at eight. She pulled her gaze away and headed to the primary division's magic chapel.
...
When the noon bell rang, Luo Wei walked toward the school gate with her eyelids hanging heavy.
She hadn't been back to Starfall Residence in days. She had no idea how the tasks she'd given Bella were coming along. She needed to check.
"Miss Luo Wei!"
A male voice and a female voice spoke at the same moment, coming from directly ahead.
Luo Wei raised her eyes. Balk and Winnie were standing in her path.
"Miss Luo Wei, it's been so long!"
Winnie had just come from swordsmanship class and was still holding her iron sword. The moment she spotted Luo Wei, she sheathed the blade, tossed it to Balk, and jogged over.
"Winnie. It has been a while." Luo Wei's pale face managed a tired smile.
"Miss Luo Wei, you don't look well at all," Winnie said, her brow creasing.
"Nothing to be done about it." Luo Wei's eyelids kept threatening to droop. "This is just what not sleeping looks like. I'm heading back to Starfall Residence to catch up."
"Let me help you!" Winnie looked genuinely worried she might keel over on the spot and quickly took her arm. "Miss Luo Wei, let us walk you back."
"That's very kind, but my coachman is just outside the gate. He'll take me."
"Then at least let me walk you to the carriage." Winnie settled Luo Wei's arm firmly over hers and steered her forward.
"I'm really not that fragile," Luo Wei said with a helpless laugh. "I'm not a porcelain doll."
Winnie knew porcelain dolls , the Aiskurai dessert shop sold them, delicate and breakable as fine china.
"Right now, you need more looking after than a porcelain doll!" Winnie said.
Luo Wei gave up arguing and simply enjoyed it, letting most of her weight settle against Winnie's side.
Winnie trained with a sword every day. Her frame looked slim, almost slight, but her muscles were solid and her grip was steady. Supporting Luo Wei while walking didn't wind her in the slightest.
"Your swordsmanship scores must be excellent," Luo Wei said.
"Not really." Winnie dropped her gaze. "I'm second in my class."
"Second isn't good enough? That's too modest."
Balk fell into step behind them, carrying the sword. "Exactly! Second place is genuinely impressive, but Winnie keeps insisting she's not good enough."
Luo Wei caught something in the exchange and looked at Winnie. "What's going on?"
"I was this close," Winnie said flatly. "This close to making it into the Magic Tournament."
That was rough. Luo Wei didn't say it out loud.
If Winnie had simply wanted first place, there would have been a path forward , study harder, keep improving. But the Magic Tournament roster was already set. There was no changing it.
Luo Wei didn't know what to say. Honestly, from her own position, she'd rather not be anywhere near the Magic Tournament. Too many eyes. Too many chances for someone to notice something off. Sitting in the stands and watching suited her just fine.
"There's always next year, Winnie," she offered. "The tournament runs every year. You have time to prepare."
"Next year is even less likely." Winnie's voice was flat. "Once you move up to the senior division, Swordsman Apprentices advance much slower than everyone else. A swordsman has never been picked for a senior division magic team."
Luo Wei listened as Winnie explained the structure. When Primary Apprentices moved up to the intermediate division, they split into six vocational tracks: Potions, Magic Patterns, Spells, Alchemy, Astrology, and Swordsmanship.
In the intermediate years, Potions Apprentices were nearly useless in a fight. Astrology Apprentices were even worse. Swordsman Apprentices were by far the strongest combatants at that stage, with Spell Apprentices behind them and Alchemy Apprentices largely relying on their fists.
But once everyone moved into the senior division, magical talent started to show its real weight.
Spell Apprentices exploded in combat power. Astrology Apprentices could read the flow of a battle and direct attacks. Potions Apprentices brewed healing draughts no one else could provide. Magic Pattern Apprentices boosted the whole team's offensive output. Every track found its purpose.
Swordsman Apprentices couldn't externalize their magic at all. They were close-range only, all offense and no defense. That alone put them behind Alchemy Apprentices, who could swing a sword or wield a forging hammer, had hides like leather, could attack or absorb punishment, and could knock a chanting Spell Apprentice senseless with one good hit. They filled any gap in a team. Swordsmen couldn't compete.
The more Winnie thought about it, the quieter she got. "My magical talent is weak. If I miss the tournament in the intermediate division, I really won't have another chance."
"Why is the tournament so important to you?" Luo Wei asked.
"I know!" Balk cut in. "Tournament participants can invite their parents to come watch. Winnie wants her family to see her out there on the field."
Luo Wei frowned slightly. "That's the reason?"
"Yes." Winnie nodded. "My family doesn't believe I have any magical talent. I want them to see that I didn't lie to them. That I really am studying magic at Siria Magic Academy."
The story came out slowly.
Two years ago, Winnie had been cutting wheat in the fields. She'd swung her sickle too fast and let slip a thread of magical power , enough to catch the attention of a passing magician. The man turned out to be a graduate of Siria Magic Academy. He wrote her a letter of recommendation on the spot.
Winnie packed her things and prepared to go. Her family staged an intervention.
They insisted the magician was a fraud. There were plenty of street performers in the nearest town who called themselves magicians, they said , and all of them just hid pigeons in their hats.
Winnie left anyway. She traveled from her small, distant village all the way to Siria Magic Academy, and for the first time in her life, she watched real magic happen in front of her eyes.
It wasn't just bard lyrics. It was real.
But her own talent was almost nonexistent. She couldn't produce so much as a small flame. Swordsman Apprentice was the only track open to her.
When she went home and told her family everything — the magic patterns engraved on blades, the spell language she'd been studying — they still didn't believe her. They thought she'd been taken in by a con, like the pigeon performers back in town.
"After this semester," Winnie said quietly, "I'll be fifteen."
"What happens at fifteen?" Luo Wei asked.
She was fifteen herself , the original owner had enrolled late and was a year or two older than most classmates, though she looked younger than she was.
"Mother says once I turn fifteen, she's going to marry me off to the shepherd in the next village." Winnie's frown deepened.
"Then what happens to me?!" Balk yelped.
Winnie shot him a flustered, irritated look. "What does that have to do with you?"
Balk put on his most wounded expression. "How is it not my business?"
"All you need is for them to believe you're really at a magic academy, right?" Luo Wei cut in before they could go further. "Why not bring them here and introduce them to your classmates?"
"The thing is..." Winnie faltered. "My classmates don't have particularly strong talent either."
"If the point is just to prove that you're studying magic, I might be able to help." Luo Wei smiled. "My friends and I would all be willing to vouch that Winnie is an excellent magic apprentice."
Winnie's eyes went wide. "Miss Luo Wei..."
"It's settled." Luo Wei's tone left no room for argument. "Bring your parents to Siria. I'll be happy to show them what I can do."
"Miss Luo Wei." Winnie's voice cracked. She blinked hard. "Thank you. Thank you."
"It's nothing. A small thing."
They'd reached the school gate. Luo Wei spotted her carriage and turned back. "I need to go. Winnie, Balk — goodbye."
Winnie released her arm and stepped back with a bow. "Goodbye, Miss Luo Wei."
Balk swept off his hat and bent at the waist. "Goodbye, Miss Luo Wei."
Luo Wei gave a small nod, gathered her skirt, and climbed in.
Ive cracked the whip, and the carriage rolled toward Starfall Residence.
Balk suddenly remembered something. He jogged after the carriage. "Miss Luo Wei! My father wanted me to ask — the gold coins from last month, he'd like to deliver them personally. Should he send them straight to Starfall Residence?"
"Ive, hold up." Luo Wei pushed the curtain aside and looked down at Balk. "That's too much trouble for Mr. Hawkins. I'll send a maid to the shop to collect them."
Balk glanced around, then lowered his voice. "There's... quite a lot. One maid probably won't be able to carry it. Let us bring it to you."
Luo Wei blinked. Exactly how much money was this, that a single maid couldn't manage it?
She couldn't ask in the middle of the street. She nodded. "All right. I appreciate the trouble. I'll be at Starfall Residence all afternoon."
"We'll be there this afternoon, then!" Balk grinned, showing two very prominent front teeth.
The carriage rolled on, leaving Academy Street behind.
Back at Starfall Residence, Luo Wei ate a few bites of food, told Bella to wake her if anyone arrived, climbed to her room on the second floor, and dropped onto the bed. Sleep hit before she'd fully settled.
She slept in fits and fragments for a few hours. Around three in the afternoon, Chris knocked on the door, carrying hot water.
"Master, people from Hawkins' shop are here. Will you come down?"
"Out of the way, let me." Bella's voice came through the gap. "Master, Mr. Hawkins has brought the gold coins. A whole big chest of them. Do you want to come count it yourself?"
Hawkins. Gold coins. A chest.
Luo Wei's eyes opened. She was out of bed before the thought had fully formed.
"Bring the water in. I'll wash up and be right down."
Chris gave Bella a quiet, satisfied look, took the hot water and towel, nudged the door open, and went in to help Luo Wei get ready.
Bella lifted her chin. She wasn't going to waste her breath on that. The master had said she was the housekeeper. She had more important things to do.
"Master, I'll go down and see to the guests."
"Go ahead. I'll be there shortly." Luo Wei said.
Bella slid a glance at Chris on her way out. See that? She was the one the master truly relied on.
A few minutes later, Luo Wei came downstairs, washed and neatly dressed.
The Hawkins father and son were seated by the fireplace with cups of barley tea. Several shop employees stood waiting outside the front door.
Luo Wei paused on the stairs. She turned her head and spoke quietly. "Chris, bring those people outside to the kitchen side room. Give them some hot wine — it's cold out."
It was still the tail end of January. The men outside were visibly shivering.
"Yes, Master." Chris slipped past her toward the door.
➤ Next: Ten Thousand Gold Coins Received
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