Chapter 363 — What He Saw in the Cecil Territory

It was a field of wheat at harvest, and around the field rose tall towers and mighty city walls; in the background at one corner of the scene, the merest silhouette of the Dark Mountains could be seen.

It was a view of somewhere outside the territory.

Godwin had never seen such a painting, but its fineness surprised him considerably. He murmured under his breath: "Truly inconceivable..."

Then a boy beside him suddenly piped up: "I painted this!"

Godwin looked over in surprise, and saw a child with a dirty face pointing at himself with a proud expression. Then the boy pointed at the rather quiet-looking girl beside him: "And Sister Pea—we painted it together!"

The quiet girl smiled faintly and said nothing, but another child nearby shouted: "The two of them are this week's duty students!"

"Duty students"? What did that mean?

Godwin's head was full of question marks, but before he could open his mouth to ask, the sound of a bell suddenly came in from outside the classroom.

As though by magic, at the sound of the bell the children—who a second before had been making a mess all over the classroom—immediately ran to their respective seats. In a matter of seconds everyone was in place, and the classroom fell quiet.

Godwin stared at the scene in astonishment; the change was so swift he had no time to react. Then he saw Santis step up onto the platform.

The second-tier arcanist set the teaching materials in his hands on the large desk on the platform, looked around the classroom once, and then said: "We will now take attendance. When your name is called, answer 'Here,' or raise your hand."

At the words "raise your hand," several children's eyes fell on that very quiet girl.

Santis began calling the roll.

One child's name after another was called, one child after another responded, and in the classroom there was almost no sound besides the calling of names and the answers.

Godwin's eyes went wide as he took it all in, and suddenly he understood what it was that astonished him.

Order.

An indescribable order, dwelling in these children of common birth, these unpolished, muddle-headed youngsters, here within this very classroom.

An order the likes of which he had never seen even in the royal capital.

It was utterly unlike the social rules dictated by so-called "class division" and "rank and degree." This was an order far purer, and far more absolute.

Like interlocking steel.

Santis finished calling the roll. Every child was present save one absent on sick leave. The Second-Rank Arcanist gave a nod, then opened the textbook in his hands.

"Then let us begin today's lesson. Continuing from last time, today we will learn how spell models are converted into magic arrays, and how rune-knots are formed in the course of that conversion.

"First, we need a rough understanding of the history of array magic..."

From the back of the classroom came the sound of a chair shifting.

Godwin Olando, once he had grasped what sort of material these common children were being taught, nearly slid right off onto the floor.

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