—The traders...—Finz replied instantly, not even thinking twice, while he looked cheerfully at Marcos, enjoying his ramblings.

—Ha, ha, ha, it's so evident that your mind is too rigid and only thinks about money, my dear Finz—Marcos commented with a grin from ear to ear as the glasses on his face continued to tremble as if they had a life of their own—That's why you're wrong: The real winner tonight is Hefesto!

—...—Finz's smile suddenly froze, and a shiver ran down his spine as if what he was contemplating were impossible, but everything pointed to it happening for real—It was him...

—Of course it was him!!—Marcos shouted like a maniac, his glasses flying up to the ceiling and then falling back onto his eyes. This caused all the workers in the room to stop their tasks and look curiously at what was happening at their boss's desk—He manipulated the entire exam from the shadows, being cautious enough so that none of the members of the wizard council would notice his manipulation. He thus ensured that almost a fifth of the magic associates in the magic ministry would remember for their entire lives what a bismuth is and remember him as the jolly old man who allowed them to pass the exam: Hefesto himself was the one who gave the correct answers!

—I can't believe it...—Apolo murmured, pretending disbelief, while a mischievous smile formed on his face and he began laughing in his mind like a villain at these two idiots who didn't know he was the one responsible for giving the answers to everyone. It might sound like a joke, but just now the young noble realized that he had apparently taken the path of the commoners by mistake. And that, in reality, he could have abused his status as a noble to become a magician; however, that ended up not being necessary, as Apolo was clever enough to figure out how to "pass" the form, finally understanding that he could also "fail" himself.

But as the understanding of this new paradigm where one could actually "fail" the form developed and grew in Apolo's mind, a large number of red lights flashed in the young man's mind, and a fleeting thought crossed his mind at the speed of lightning, causing his back to straighten and cold sweat like ice to stain his noble body. Immediately, the mischievous smile froze on the young magician's face and turned into the smile of an idiot. Then, while continuing to smile like a fool at nothing in particular, Apolo completely forgot about the two people who were still talking beside him.

The world had suddenly stopped for the young noble, and in that world, there was only a dying body sitting in a chair in front of the multitude of thoughts passing through the young man's mind right now. Because now that this new paradigm had emerged in Apolo's understanding, he began to grasp all the nefarious implications this scenario could bring to his life.

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—Not even a day at this ministry, and they already used me...—Apolo thought internally while still smiling like an idiot at the man at the desk who was currently talking to him. However, the young man didn't understand any of his words, as his mind was only functioning to process a single fact at the moment, and that was how he had been used by this magician.

To Hefesto's misfortune, he completely underestimated the existence of someone paranoid enough in this castle to uncover the hidden plot of the registration exam. However, that lunatic existed, and his name was Apolo!

In Apolo's mind, there was a large pot filled with ingredients mixing. These ingredients in question were the events strange enough to catch Apolo's attention: Firstly, the fact that none of the guards told him he could skip the line. Secondly, there was the oddity that all the guards he had crossed paths with that day were exceptionally handsome and elegant. Furthermore, by some strange coincidence, they all had the habit of adjusting their beards constantly and seemed to get lost in their thoughts more than necessary. Thirdly, the guards created an environment favorable enough for all the applicants to end up copying from each other. But all this was only the first level of the hidden plot of the magic exams.

Then there was the second level: the fact that they conveniently placed the only person who knew the answer right in front of him: a boy from White Town, who clearly was in the same situation as him and shouldn't have been taking this exam. The boy knew the answers in advance, probably thanks to the guards' help, and Apolo was the fool who would give the answers to the others since Hefesto somehow found out about his lack of common knowledge. This clearly implied that he had been investigating him for a long time.

However, this was only the second level of the plot because there was still a much more concerning third level in Apolo's mind, and it was also the reason he couldn't stop smiling like an idiot. Because of all the possible coincidences, it turned out that the two most important members of this plan were high-status nobles. So, at first glance, one might think that it would be more complicated for them to lose their heads when the truth of what happened tonight was revealed. But the great reality was that Apolo and the redhead boy had not only mocked a procedure imposed by the magic ministry itself but, even more relevant, the two nobles had just stolen the treasury of the imperial family and all the magicians of the empire!

So, when the truth was known, Apolo and the red-haired boy would be more than condemned. However, at the same time, if the truth were known, the magic ministry would clearly invalidate the magician titles granted in this exam. Thus, the great third level of Hefesto's hidden plot was the fact that the two nobles who participated in the plot belonged precisely to families politically allied with the family of the current Minister of Magic. Consequently, Hefesto could force the Minister of Magic to turn a blind eye so that the two "guilty" young nobles wouldn't lose their heads for robbing the Emperor's treasuries.

Hefesto had earned the reputation of an obsessive disapprover long ago to secure the position of the registration exam coordinator. He patiently waited for all these coincidences to happen so he could steal the spots from the magic association and give them to people who would be useful to him, or rather, people who would remember his greatest invention for their entire lives.