When Mel’s and Maria Gloove’s eyes met; the young girl was arrogant and angry, but Mel was very calm.
The beautiful girl knew that this was her last chance to beat her rival. The Young Master emphasized once again the importance of the test ahead.
“Today we may be witnessing a historical moment, even though I firmly believe that it will not come true. Perhaps for the first time, a participant has the chance to get full points in all three tests, after David Gloove, the founder of our family and Maria’s great-grandfather.”
When his words were finished, the Young Master turned to Grumpy Hanry next to him and continued to speak.
“As you all know, the Senior Master scored full points in the first test years ago by opening all ten buds. This was a huge success, but after the following two tests, he was able to enter the Academy by scoring less than many noble participants in total.”
Grumpy Hanry floundered in his place but did not say anything against these words. Obviously, this was the truth and he had no evidence to refute it. It was clear that his opponent did not say these words with good intentions.
The man’s goal was to demoralize Mel, who had already guaranteed to enter the academy and pull the children of the commoners to the bottom with him.
While the conversation was going on, the participants began to work really hard. Their hands were getting up and down to make the unripe herbs and opened fruits fit the recipes.
Although most of the voices came from the side of the nobles, the same voices were heard from some of the looms where kids from the common families were working.
As this situation had caught Mel’s attention as well, he quit the job in front of him, and with the corner of his eye, he began to examine the children he worked together in the forest till morning.
All of them, without exception, had already begun to make the first recipe by hammering the ingredients in a mortar, peeling the lemons, and lighting a fire under the water-pan.
Mel, who was the only person who had guaranteed to enter the academy, was very calm. He devoted most of his time to observe what was happening around him.
Unfortunately, his face, smiling with the kids who worked with him till morning, fell off when he saw the state of the children who did not come with him. Maybe they had learned the recipes, but they were highly inexperienced in preparing the herbs.
He shook his head sadly once or twice and then began to take care of the business in front of him. After an hour had passed, a nice female voice rose from the row of the nobles.
“I finished the test. I demand it to be checked!”
The voice was soft and velvety. She could have listened for hours if she didn’t turn words into arrows with the emphasis she made.
“Bring the recipes!”
The Head of Department, who had been sitting in silence until then, ordered to the inspectors who were standing behind the girl. The thirty sample containers were now in front of the Head of Department, the Second Master, and the Third Master.
“The final test is critical! We cannot leave this to the inspectors. I ask you to help me!”
Everyone understood that this was an order, although the Head of Department said it as a kind request. Grumpy Hanry could not escape this time. He reached out and took one of the sample containers.
When the process that started this way was completed, after ten minutes, all three people had had the opportunity to test all the samples. Sometimes they smelled, sometimes they tasted. They even put the blends on their skin. But in the end, all three had one idea.
“Maria Gloove completed thirty recipes and got ten full points!”
The joy of the Young Master was reflected in his voice. How could he not rejoice? The participant from his family was only one point behind thirty full points.
When the inspection of the young girl’s samples was completed, another participant called out to be checked. But unlike the previous one, this event caused the whole room to freeze. This was a girl from a common family and she was showing the twenty-nine sample containers to the inspector.
When Mel looked at the containers in front of her, the shape of his face changed. As he raised his eyes a little, he saw her smiling. He seemed not to be able to figure it out. With the Blessing of the Spirit of the Forest, she had to prepare those thirty recipes easily.
The three people, who received samples to check them, were as puzzled as to the young boy.
“How agile young people are! If you wanted to show off, you could make up one more recipe!”
Laughter rose from the row of the nobles while the young girl, who scored ten full points, didn’t move her eyes away from Mel a second. This time it took more than ten minutes to inspect the samples, and there was only one reason for this.
The Young Master wanted to re-evaluate the specimens he had evaluated once, and the inspection took almost fifteen minutes.
“I think this time I should announce the result. We finished examining the samples. Twenty-nine out of twenty-nine samples are eligible. 9 points!”
Grumpy Hanry, who couldn’t fit in his place previously, seemed to be completely fit in now. An invaluable smile appeared on his face as he returned the samples the girl had brought.
The wick had been fired with that. Another one called out from the rows of the noble kids. Then kids following him began to send their samples for examination.
Most of them finished the test with a score of ten and nine. Only a few got eight. The results were quite natural. Interesting thing was that it was the children of the common people who completed twenty-nine recipes at a time.
As if they previously agreed with each other, the number of recipes was limited to twenty-nine. They did not make the last recipe.
Twenty minutes before the test was over, all of the noble ranks were eligible to enter the academy, as well as ten of the children from the common people.
The number would be eleven with Mel. Everyone knew that. Eyes were turned on him wondering how many blends he would do right.
The admission of eleven members of the public to the academy was a big deal, but even that didn’t overshadow the importance of Mel’s result.
The Head of the Department and the two masters were busy with the evaluation. So the lead inspector announced the end of the test.
The inspectors, who stood behind the children taking the test, grabbed the containers like lightning and lined up in front of the three masters.
Maybe the irony of fate, it was the beadledom of the supervisor. No one could know that. But Mel’s samples were at the end of the line.
