*Tock, tock, tock*...

—Busy!— Apolo and the chubby man shouted simultaneously, looking towards the only door in the room.

Paying no heed to their response, the door swung open and a red-haired boy walked into the room. The room he had just entered was none other than one of the castle's bathrooms. While meant for personal use, it was disproportionately large, easily fitting five people. Luxuriously appointed, the bathroom had a mirror, some statues, decorative paintings, and the main fixture was a lavishly decorated marble toilet. However, the most crucial feature of this bathroom, and the reason the group had chosen it as a "private" spot, was that it was located on the castle's top floor, making it rarely frequented.

—Deal?!— Apolo and the chubby man shouted in unison, as if their lives depended on it.

—Yes, but as I was coming here, I saw guards heading to the first floor of the castle— Yovel replied nervously. From the tone of the conversation, things seemed to be going well, but he wasn't entirely sure.

—Be clear, kid! Is there a deal or not?— the chubby man demanded, grabbing the boy's shoulders and shaking him.

—Yes, yes, Dorien agreed— Yovel quickly answered, trying to free himself from the desperate grip—They must've gone to get the unlucky ones.

—Hope so…— the chubby man exclaimed, wiping sweat from his forehead with his shirt sleeves.

—Hope so too…— Apolo replied, looking out of the bathroom's lone window. —Come see this...

The chubby man and the boy approached the window with curiosity. The window was slightly high, so Yovel had to stand on tiptoe to see what was happening outside.

From the castle window, they could see over fifty silver-armored guards in the courtyard, escorting a line of almost a hundred people. By their faces and appearances, the group recognized them as the mage applicants who had recently taken the exam. The group couldn't understand why they were lining up until the person at the front of the line was pushed by two guards toward a rather large tree with yellowish wood and sky-blue leaves. Hanging from its branches were fruits resembling violet balls that looked quite appetizing. However, the tree's beauty was marred by the irregularities in its bark, which made it look like the tree was covered in tumors, giving it a sickly appearance, as if the entire surface of the tree was filled with growths underneath the bark.

Finally, the two guards positioned themselves close enough to the tree for the mage applicant to touch its bark. One of the guards pulled a fruit from a leather pouch. Meanwhile, the other guard had forced the applicant to kneel and was now using both hands to pry the person's mouth open. Immediately, the guard shoved the tree's fruit into the applicant's mouth, making them bite into it.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Once the guards confirmed that the applicant had bitten the fruit, they let the person go and moved on to the next in line, seemingly unconcerned about anyone running away. The applicant continued to eat the violet fruit with an obsessive fervor, as if it were the most delicious thing they'd ever tasted. After finishing it, they crazily eyed the other fruits at the top of the tree. Using the bark's tumors for grip, the applicant tried to climb up and get more.

But just when they were halfway up, the applicant stopped moving and froze, hugging the tree as if they were glued to it. Indeed, they had realized in horror that half of their body had been absorbed by the tree's bark.

Help! the applicant screamed in desperation as they saw half of their body merging with the massive tree. However, the guards ignored the desperate cries, focusing instead on ensuring no one escaped the line.

—What savagery…— the chubby man muttered, horror-stricken by the scene—I don't understand why they don't just cut their throats or hang them. Why make them suffer like this? That person didn't even die; they'll be stuck there until they die, it looks like.

—It's a Sun Tree, an ancient guardian of the Silver Fields family...— Apolo murmured, observing the scene before him without an ounce of pity, more interested in counting the number of applicants in line and noting how many were not selected.

—And what does that mean?— the chubby man asked, still not understanding.

—The emperor's family hails from the Silver Fields…— Yovel commented, staring at the scene in bewilderment. Truthfully, this punishment wasn't very violent, but it was impactful, a slow torture leading to death—Hence, the Minister of Magic is showing that the punishment is for offending the emperor, not for cheating. It's a mere detail. A significant detail to keep themselves "clean."

—Stop paying attention to the idiot screaming, and check my count: Are there 74 condemned?— Apolo said with a cold tone and a grin stretching from ear to ear.

—One... Two... Three...— the chubby man murmured slowly, completely ignoring the condemned person's screams. He began to cry louder and louder as he realized that his life had been miraculously spared.

—74... Out of 89... We did it...— the boy murmured, unblinking as he watched the person screaming in agony against the tree's bark.

—72... 73... 74... Guys, your father is finally a mage...— the chubby man sobbed uncontrollably, listening to the desperate pleas of the condemned people in line. Without a doubt, this had been the most shocking day in the chubby man's life, and if it hadn't been for his children's blessings, he would have undoubtedly ended up in that line.

—We're not just mages now; we've also just won 1250 crystals— Apolo remarked triumphantly, no longer looking out the window as he walked towards the bathroom door—Let's go get the ticket to the fortunate magical world that survived: There's a bribe to pay!

Yovel, meanwhile, regarded Apolo's back as if he were a lunatic, unable to comprehend how he could be so calm or, worse yet, so pleased with this situation. The boy remembered perfectly well how this lucky idiot's plan had been to kill Hefesto and present his head on a platter to the Minister of Magic. Yovel had been the one to convince him that killing an archmage was asking for trouble, and to make matters worse, the chubby man, who was now sobbing on the floor, had masterminded the plan that ended up saving their asses. Even more sadly, it had been his own idea to increase the number of untouchable names to get a share of the bribe.

Apolo had literally just informed them of something that by now was blatantly obvious to the two of them: the culprit for the exam's failure was the one conducting it. And yet, there he went out the door, the young noble who in his own head saw himself as the mastermind behind the great magic examination swindle.