March 18th, the morning when Griffith had just escaped from the sealed object.
Sonia sat on a soft chair by the side of the boat, shaking the quill in her hand and looking at the river. A beautiful diary is kept at hand, with some thoughts and essays written on it, but the thick homework and reports are silent at all.
“We left Old Town and came to the land of knights and plantations, a world called the Old West.
"Magnificent castles are very rare here. Most fortresses are hastily built with mud and wood, and the moats are silted up to only shallow ditches. True chivalry is even rarer. Recent tragedies let us know that, Most Verona knights are no different from skilled thieves. They have shining armor, but they rarely have noble character and benevolent virtues, and lack the lofty ideals of upholding justice and pursuing honor.
"They do not believe that they should help the weak and the poor. On the contrary, as soon as we left the old town, we saw that they were busy intimidating the lower class people, threatening them to accept the control of the castle lord and pay their offerings on time.
"The beautiful world in that story has gone with the wind."
Fifty members of the spring camping group, including Sonia, sailed upriver from the Old Town waterway in a comfortable sloop.
Camping in spring and winter is also called a staff trip. It is an important activity for students at Homewood Watts every semester. The purpose is to allow students to accumulate knowledge and have a preliminary understanding of the customs, transportation and magic research status of the places they visit. understanding. But this time this spring is even more special.
The dangers encountered by everyone hiking to Nethergarde Castle last winter caused quite a stir in Beyeland. This time, the school carefully arranged a new plan. The first to third grade students at Minerva Academy were divided into several groups, led by senior wizards who served as professors and some assistant teachers. They went on a week-long trip to Verona under the escort of the guards of the city defense forces from various places.
The Shutorals who accompanied the team were also fully armed, carrying a full set of equipment except for the war horses, and even prepared sealed objects and sacred weapons.
Their destination was the towns and villages of the Verona region. The first-grade students were placed in the first group and completed the camping trip while the situation was still relatively peaceful. Their trip started from the old town and traveled westward via waterway and land. They investigated and studied in the middle and lower reaches of the Vero River where the noble estates in the west were scattered. The round trip took a total of seven days.
Sonia's group arrived in the old town on the afternoon of March 16, and transferred to a comfortable dhow to travel upstream along the river. With the expensive dust crystals and the driving force of magic, the sloop can sail even against the gentle flow of the Vero River. In those rivers that are really inconvenient to navigate, local trackers can also provide convenient services.
Under the wide white sails, the beautiful cruise ship rowed across the mirror-smooth Vero River.
This is also the origin of the Verona veterans incident that broke out not long ago. Those repatriated veterans have been sent back to their places of origin. The conflicts between them and the local nobles became more intense during this period, and there were even uprisings and fighting in many border areas.
Some families and students have raised different opinions. The situation in the Western Region is already unstable. How can we still travel here?
The school and Beyeland studied carefully for a day, or they may not have studied at all, and then gave a brief reply——
"This is not a trip."
Fortunately, at least on the surface, the situation in the core area of Verona appears to be relatively calm. The rebels were blocked on the edge of the mountains and besieged by a coalition of local nobles. The battle reports published in newspapers are promising. The coalition forces are chasing the rebels at the end of their rope, killing their leaders every day. By the time the senior group, which set off later, arrives, the rebels may have been wiped out.
There were castles and manors for the local nobles, one after another, that could provide hospitality and shelter. Staff travel not only requires visiting the scenery along the way and getting to know the local dignitaries, but also formulating marching, transportation and garrison plans along the way in the event of war. There are many factors in the final score of the social practice and command courses at Homemon Watts. High weight.
The tradition of Homemonworth has been around for a long time, and nobles from all over the country are also familiar with its rules.
The notification and arrangements from Beyeland had already been sent to the local area. The visiting young masters and ladies will be given appropriate greeting gifts, and the nobles along the way will also be greeted and sent off according to tradition. Exquisite meals and banquets will be arranged, and local culture and products will inevitably be introduced. For those young people who will take over the family business and the army in the future, this trip is also a good opportunity for them to gain an in-depth understanding of the Verona region.
Sonia's group includes Fiona and Isius. In addition to Galadia, who had his own arrangements, and Griffith, who was on a mission, there were several other large noble families and their Shutoral who were not sent out for temporary missions. Old Town sent a team of 12 people to escort them along the way, obeying the team's command.
In fact, Sonia is not worried about safety at all. Both sides of the Vero River are peaceful and fertile. Most of the nobles along the way are vassals of the Duke of Verona. They do not take orders directly from King Beyeland, but they also have many indirect obligations in taxation, combat, etc., especially for the staff traveling group. attentive.
Rebels and fighting occurred further to the northwest and in the mountains to the southwest. Some border nobles and knights have blocked the rebels' path to the fertile plains.
Newspapers and news in recent days say that the fighting there has calmed down after the initial fierce fighting.
As long as Verona's local legions, auxiliary legions and the majestic main force of the Western Knights arrive there, this small rebellion that has shaken the financial market and caused considerable losses to everyone will be completely put to rest.
The Vero River has brought prosperity and convenience to commerce here. Local nobles can ship crops and minerals to the market in Beyeland, and exchange them for perfumes, new fashions and carriages, as well as metal components, transforming the bathroom. Get a clean and sacred ceramic washbasin and toilet, as well as various essential enchanted products.
They also invest very actively in securities and futures markets. This kind of trade and financial connection has always kept the relationship between Verona's nobles and the royal nobles very harmonious. If it weren't for the tight schedule of the journey, Sonia and the others would be able to just attend the balls and banquets of the local nobles. It took a week.
Sonya turned the pages of the book and twirled the quill between her fingers. She was more worried about homework and reports than the situation, and had no clue about the social relations, aristocratic army establishment, magic research, and logistics that the subject required to focus on. Although her grades in Charms were very good, she only learned the knowledge required for camping reports through one elective course each semester, and she didn't even know how to analyze the relevant information. Griffith usually helps her prepare homework on strategy, command, and military affairs. She can save a lot of time studying interesting spells or playing the King of Mysteries.
Speaking of which... Sonia opened her notebook and took out the advanced number theory and magic modeling test papers that were handed out on the day of the trip.
It has a big "C" written clearly on it.
For Miss Larmore, who had always received an A in every exam she took since she was a child, a C score was simply earth-shattering.
On the day of departure, the test paper after the scores were handed out, but she never dared to read it. It wasn't until Fiona fell asleep that she quietly took a look, then she whined and hid under the quilt.
ah--! Why didn’t I review during the winter vacation? Why did I ask Griffith to drink the divination tea for me?
Seeing the big C on the test paper again, Sonia's impeccable appearance collapsed on the spot.
This is really a big deal.
Fortunately, Fiona didn't notice and there was still time. Sonia tried to calmly solve the current dilemma. She rubbed her long pale golden hair and thought seriously:
"In the long term, I need to buy a new tutorial book on advanced number theory and magic modeling. In terms of details, Cornwell's textbook is still too superficial.
"In the short term, we can't let Fiona find out. She has been waiting for the opportunity to slap me in the face like crazy! We can't let my mother know, and we have to be decent!
"How to do it……
"I can change the C to an A! No, no, that's stupid.
"How about saying that this is not my paper and someone wrote the wrong name? Who would believe it?"
"Ah~ what to do!" Sonia buried her head in her arms. If this was her own room, she would roll on the bed.
At this moment, Fiona jumped out of the cabin like the little rabbit in the story.
Can't let Fiona see it!
In desperation, in frenzy, and with no way to escape, Sonia took a bite of this terrible paper.
Maybe it's a kind of stress reaction. When you hate something too much, the ancient instinct of biting will appear unconsciously.
Sonia subconsciously thought of destroying the evidence and prepared to eat a large piece of black and white writing before Fiona found out.
She took a big bite of the paper where the score was written between her eyebrows, and chewed it decently before her evaporated sanity returned.
This is the first time Sonia has eaten a test paper at this age...
It's a bit dry in the mouth, and the paper sticks to the tongue and mouth, making it very difficult to chew. Sonia tried her best to lick up and down with the tip of her tongue, moistening it a little. She slowly became proficient and felt that she was quite talented. Her small tongue wriggled from side to side, her silver teeth opened slightly, rolled it up into a ball, and chewed it hard twice.
A faint sense of fiber becomes more and more obvious. The best paper is very hard and almost impossible to bite, but has a melting texture.
There is a slightly noticeable bitter taste during the melting process. The ink on the big red C melted...
The dry and bitter taste made Sonia gag. She had never experienced the feeling of having such a strange hard thing stuffed into her mouth. It was particularly uncomfortable, hiding a vague and indescribable strange feeling. However, it was still very uncomfortable, and it hit my soul directly.
"Sonia, I'm here to do my homework!" Fiona sat down opposite her.
Sonia, who was on the verge of nausea, threw herself into her arms, lowered her head, and tried to swallow.
A lump of dry, hard and strange-smelling sensation hit the sensitive depths of her throat.
The pearl of Bayerland, the elegant, mysterious and inviolable magical girl, the beautiful and intelligent countess, Sonia who wanted to eat the paper couldn't hold it back any longer, got up and threw herself on the side of the boat, vomiting in front of her horrified besties. The sky is dark and the earth is dark.
