Hol Felix created a depression in the muddy ground beneath his feet. The putrid water seeped into the hollow, mixing evenly with the surface sludge under his trampling feet, turning into a pool of mud slurry.

Luo Wei watched as he bent down, scooping up the mud with his hands and applying it to himself. His coarse hemp clothing became covered with thick mud, gradually drying in the cool breeze.

Hol patted his clothes, knocking off the large chunks of mud, then washed his hands in the dirty water before climbing up the bank and leaving.

His worn straw sandals crushed the withered grass along the lakeshore, leaving a trail of foul-smelling muddy footprints.

After he left, Luo Wei approached the spot where he had been digging mud and stood at the bank looking down.

There was nothing special about this mudflat. Due to the winter drought, the surface soil was somewhat hardened, but the mud underneath remained wet, sinking when stepped on.

Standing by the lake, one could smell a foul earthy odor, different from normal soil. The mud, saturated with sewage and rich in decomposed organic matter, emitted a terrible stench with a particularly intense soil smell.

Luo Wei covered her nose and stepped back. She recalled that the sewage from the student dormitories was discharged into this lake.

Hol really didn't mind getting his hands dirty.

Luo Wei couldn't understand what use the mud served, and she had no desire to smear it on herself, so she quickly left the lakeside.

Unable to comprehend Hol's actions, she turned her attention to Gladys.

But Gladys had been quite peaceful these past two days, following her usual routine. The only change was that she had switched to wearing a thick fur coat.

She wore a wolf fur vest, with a white fur collar around her neck, making her skin appear as white as snow on a mountain peak.

Many female students envied her fur vest and had been rushing to the South Market to buy similar ones these past few days.

Luo Wei leaked this information to Bark, suggesting that Hawkins' shop should stock up on wolf and rabbit furs to capitalize on this trend and recover some losses.

The three-month cashmere production period she and Barton had planned would end in half a month. Once the fur trend passed, they would be ready to profit from these noble ladies once again.

With business on her mind, Luo Wei walked leisurely to the dining hall.

The academy cafeteria was still crowded, and the business on the first floor hadn't been affected by her opening a dessert shop.

Most nobles held low ranks, with annual incomes barely sufficient to maintain their noble appearance. Sometimes they would haggle with kitchen staff over a missing spoonful of jam.

The lower nobility of this era lived lives not much better than commoners, only with slightly more presentable residences.

Luo Wei bought a vegetable salad and sat at a table with Winnie.

"Miss Luo Wei, you're having vegetable salad again?"

In Winnie's memory, it seemed that whenever Luo Wei came to the cafeteria, she only ate vegetables, except for that one time at the beginning of the semester when she had steak.

"Yes, I want something light," Luo Wei said, though in reality, this was the only edible thing in the cafeteria.

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Although Luo Wei had been taught not to speak while eating since childhood, Westerners loved to chat at the dining table.

Winnie spoke while sipping her porridge: "Bark left right after class to help at the shop. He said thanks to you, business is very good."

Luo Wei smiled: "That's the result of their hard work. I didn't do much. Winnie, do you know someone named Theodore? He's also in the intermediate division."

"Theodore? Yes, I know him," Winnie said. "We were classmates last year, but after advancing to the intermediate division, I went to the Swordsman Class while he went to the Spell Class."

"Yesterday I went to the library," Luo Wei showed a worried expression, "Theodore was there too, and for some reason, he was very hostile towards me, even though I'd never met him before."

"That's just how Theodore is," Winnie felt angry on her behalf. "Miss Luo Wei, don't mind him. He's just a nasty pig who treats everyone that way, only being slightly nicer to Laura."

"Laura?"

"Laura used to be in my class too. She and Theodore are good friends, they knew each other before coming to school here."

Winnie explained to Luo Wei: "Theodore is from the South Coast, where people are generally ill-tempered and seem to dislike everyone. Theodore is exactly like that..."

According to Winnie's account, Theodore was a youth with strong magical talent who tended to be arrogant, often looking down on classmates with lesser magical abilities.

Moreover, Theodore was hostile towards nobles, and during this year's magic examination, he deliberately used excessive force, injuring several noble youths.

Many found it puzzling that a commoner would dare to be so aggressive within the academy.

The commoner students in Winnie's class disliked Theodore. Although they were all commoners, Theodore was too arrogant and disdained to band together with them, even though commoners typically stuck together for support.

"He looks down on us, well, we look down on him too!"

Winnie spoke ill of Theodore: "You wouldn't believe it, Miss Luo Wei, Theodore always smells like fish. Everyone says he used to be a fisherman, and he's so dark-skinned. Who would like him?"

"This morning I saw him in the corridor with two stinking salted fish hanging around his neck. Good heavens, the smell was unbearable!"

"Even Professor Pence couldn't stand it and made him stand outside the classroom to listen to the lecture. Serves him right!"

Winnie's exaggerated tone made Luo Wei laugh: "Alright, alright, don't get upset. Let's not talk about him anymore. Let's eat."

"Fine," Winnie took a sip of her porridge, "Oh no, my porridge has gone cold."

In winter, food cooled quickly. Winnie stopped talking and began gulping down her meal in large mouthfuls.

After lunch, Winnie went to practice swordsmanship, while Luo Wei left the school, walking towards her small courtyard with heavy thoughts.

Troy silently followed behind her.

"Troy, if you were to face a Holy Knight, would you have a chance to escape?"

Troy thought for a moment and answered, "Never tried, I don't know."

"I won't be leaving school tomorrow, so you don't need to wait for me outside. Stay home and watch over Roman and Rosie."

Troy's steps faltered for a moment.

After a while, he replied, "Alright."

The gray sky had been growing increasingly low, but after one night, the clouds parted to reveal the sun, showering down long-absent sunlight.

Luo Wei, wearing a gray-black magic robe, was practicing swordplay with her classmates in the square when she suddenly heard the sound of hoofbeats behind her.

Iron cavalry approached like waves, making the ground tremble.

All students in the square lowered their swords and turned to look at the school gate.

The heavy iron gates slowly opened, and a line of knights in silver armor with red capes rode in on tall horses, galloping from afar.

Dust and gravel flew wherever they passed.

Sunlight reflected off their silver armor, creating a blinding white glare.

Luo Wei stared at them, the intense light causing her eyes to mist over, tears wetting her eyelashes.

The gates stood wide open as the reddish-brown warhorses, fully armored, reared up on their hind legs. The conical iron spikes protruding from their foreheads pointed skyward, like the sharp spiral horns of unicorns.

"Neigh——"

Silver light blazed brilliantly as iron hooves cracked the blue bricks.

The Holy Knights had finally arrived.