Annie's Otherworldly Adventure

7. Entrance Examination for the Royal Academy of Magic, Kane

“Let’s go, Miss Anne Ash.” Kerry gestured to her with a gesture of invitation, a standard aristocratic etiquette. Anne, having vented her anger, returned the gesture with a ladylike manner and followed Kerry out gracefully.

"Kerry, are you a nobleman?" Anne was curious, noticing his impeccable aristocratic manners.

"I guess so," Kerry replied nonchalantly.

"Then how did you end up like that?" Annie was referring to his disheveled appearance when they first met.

"Then why did you end up like this again?" Kerry asked with a grin.

Anne thought about it and decided to ask someone else.

"Brother Mark, is Mr. Kerry a nobleman?"

"Yes," Mark replied honestly.

"Then why did you end up like that when you went out to train?"

"Kerry said it was to save money."

"Are you very poor?"

Mark thought for a moment and answered carefully:

“We’re poor, but Kerry says money is something you can save; if you save more, you’ll have more.”

Anne chuckled to herself. This was probably just Kerry's excuse to trick Mark into working for him. He got the answer he wanted. Glancing at Kerry, Anne described him as a combination of a miserly landlord, a tyrant, and a miser.

"Reaching soon."

After several twists and turns, Kerry checked the map, looked at the road in front of him, and said...

Priscilla is a very small country, rich only because it has a royal gem mine within its territory.

In terms of diplomacy, Priscilla only needs to maintain diplomatic relations with a few countries with whom he regularly trades gems, as well as with neighboring countries. Therefore, there is no need to establish an embassy in a distant country like Kane.

However, to save face, the king still established an embassy in Kane specifically to handle matters concerning the children of Priscilla who were studying at the Royal Magic Academy in Kane.

Of course, no matter how wealthy Priscilla is, it is still a small country. Therefore, the embassy is just a two-story residential building, which is not conspicuous at all. If it weren't for the fact that the map in Kerry's hand is Kane's most complete and detailed map, even the local residents might not be able to find it.

Annie tidied herself up. Although there wasn't much to tidy up, she was, after all, a noble lady from Priscilla. Back on Earth, she had received an elite aristocratic education and knew a bit about aristocratic etiquette. As for Miss Ash, she was originally a noble lady, and her body's memories allowed her to quickly become familiar with the aristocratic etiquette on the mainland.

Stand tall and take graceful steps.

But she didn't expect that what awaited her was the already closed Priscillah embassy.

Even Kerry hadn't anticipated this situation.

With no other option, Kerry took Annie back to the hotel. After settling her in, Kerry left. A little later, Kerry returned and told her some very, very bad news.

“Miss Ash, the situation is very bad. Your country, uh, your country, Prisat, has been thrown into turmoil. The old king has been killed, and the rebel leader has become the new king and taken control of the country. The Prisat family and the old royal family are very close, and I'm afraid… the situation is dire.”

Although Kerry usually enjoys joking around, the tragedy of a nation's collapse and the destruction of a family is not something to be laughed at, and Kerry's voice was unusually heavy.

Annie had no feelings for the Ash family, but the original owner of the body, Miss Ash, deeply loved her family. So, when she heard the news, Annie felt a cold pain from the bottom of her bones, and tears streamed down her face uncontrollably. Annie knew that Miss Ash was sad.

"Annie." Seeing Anne streaming down her face, the burly but clumsy Mark didn't know how to comfort her and paced anxiously around the room.

Abag hooked his long tail around Annie's neck and gently stroked it, offering her comfort. Annie covered her eyes with her hands; these tears were not hers to shed. However, since she had taken over Miss Ash's body, she would help her cry her heart out for a while, to cry out Miss Ash's sorrow and Annie's grief.

Annie's increasingly sorrowful crying left Mark helpless, so he anxiously searched for Kerry, who was smarter than him.

"Kerry, Kerry, what do we do?"

Mark grabbed Kerry's arm and shook it hard, which really took a toll on Kerry. Had the burly Mark forgotten how strong he was?

Kerry finally managed to pull his almost severed arm out and glanced at Anne Ash.

Oh, poor Kerry, he thought he was going to earn dozens more gold coins, but...

Kerry's eyes darted around, and he muttered a few words to Mark. Mark nodded. Although Kerry left the hotel, Annie fell into a deep sleep after crying herself to sleep.

Miss Ash's magical talent is indeed high, but her physical condition is really too poor. She easily falls asleep from exhaustion with the slightest exertion. It seems that she should strengthen her physical exercise in the future. This was Annie's first thought when she woke up.

The burly and reliable Mark remained by Anne's side.

"Annie, you're awake? Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat? There's some barbecue here." Mark was happy to see Anne awake and handed her the food he had prepared.

Anne waved her hand, indicating she didn't want to eat. She sat up, drank a glass of water, and Mark, seeing she was alright, happily went to tell Kerry.

After Kerry left, Anne began to think about her future.

With her family's hopes dashed, Anne had to fend for herself. However, she only had 13 coins left, and she still owed Kerry one gold coin and seven silver coins. In fact, Anne only had enough money to pay the interest.

Touching her necklace—it was pure gold—Anne gritted her teeth and decided that since it was just an identification document, she would sell it after taking the entrance exam at school to pay back Kerry's money. Kerry's debt was compounding with interest.

She heard from Mark that the Royal Academy of Magic, Kane, offers scholarships to its students—Ministry of Magic scholarships—that amount to five hundred gold coins a year, which should be enough for her to live on.

As for scholarships, it is said that after enrollment, it depends on grades, while before enrollment, it mostly depends on talent. Since Miss Ash's family is willing to spend so much money to send her to the Cain Cain Royal Magic Academy, her magical talent must be very high. Moreover, she has a rare talent in all three elements!

Having made up her mind, she was about to tell Kerry when he returned, but Kerry spoke first.

"I want to take you to take the entrance exam first. If you have a high talent for magic and your entrance exam results are good, then your future life will not be a problem."

Kerry's thought was that even without the protection of her family, if she had enough talent, a large family would naturally come to recruit her after the exam. If she didn't mind serving other families, her future life would be fine. After all, the mages on the continent of Gerson were still worthy of respect.

Kerry's suggestion suited Anne perfectly, and Anne readily agreed. Kerry immediately took her out for a meal and then they went back to school to take the entrance exam.

Kridin's hotel was originally a short-stay hotel, but he had already spent extra money on Annie. While Annie was asleep, he turned in all the other tasks, and now it was time to go back to school, and also take Annie to the exam.

The Royal Magic Academy of Kane is located south of the imperial city, backed by the Monster Forest, supposedly to facilitate students' trials.

As they headed toward the academy, a constant stream of carriages, some luxurious and some simple, passed by. These were students going to take the entrance exam. Others, like Anne and her two companions, walked. Most of them were students wearing the academy's uniforms.

Since the Royal Magic Academy of Kanekan is named after a magic academy, it is naturally famous for magic.

Although the school also has an alchemy club and a martial arts club, they are far less famous than the magic club. However, magical talent is not something everyone has. Those without magical talent can only settle for the alchemy club or the martial arts club. Therefore, students from the alchemy club and the martial arts club have always been looked down upon by the magic club in the academy.

After observing the students' school uniforms along the way, Annie guessed that the ones with shields and swords embroidered on the left shoulder were probably the uniforms of the martial arts department, since Kerry and Mark were wearing the same kind.

The pentagram embroidered on the left shoulder, representing magic, is probably the uniform of the Ministry of Magic. Students wearing such robes always seem somewhat unassuming when passing by Kerry and Mark, but Kerry and Mark don't seem to mind.

Those whose robes are embroidered with flames must be from the Alchemy Department. Most of the students in the Alchemy Department have blank expressions, giving them a bit of the bookish feel of those on Earth.

Soon they arrived at the academy. Above the gate of the Kane Empire Academy, the school name was engraved in gold, followed by an open white rose school emblem.

The rose is the national flower of the Kane Empire and its symbol. The noble purple rose is the color of royalty, while the pure white rose is the color of the Kane Empire. The people of Kane, on the other hand, are represented by the passionate red rose.

It is said that roses were the favorite flower of Catherine, the great magical beast summoner queen of the founding monarch, Dia. Since then, the magicians of Kane have built many magical gardens in various parts of Kane, specifically to plant roses, so that the royal city can see blooming roses and smell their intoxicating fragrance in all four seasons.

The Kane Magic Empire begins its school year in the autumn of the continent. In the crisp autumn days, it welcomes a host of students. Except for a two-week festival at the end of the year, the students will spend the rest of the year here until the summer vacation of the following summer.

Because the students of the Kane Royal Magic Academy come from all over the continent, and the routes to Kane vary from region to region, coupled with some unforeseen natural disasters and man-made calamities, the academy's entrance examination and new student reception work have been specially extended to a full week.

Upon arriving at the academy gate, all carriages had to stop. Only a select few or specially authorized carriages were allowed to enter the school. To ensure fairness, students taking the entrance exam had to line up themselves. The academy explained that this was to cultivate students' independence.