Now, he is going to write a letter to his father about his advancement.
---
In the morning, Aiden, after preparing and eating breakfast and taking a shower, changed into a black suit and wore shoes.
He then began to write a letter to his father about his advancement and relevant details.
After a while, he finished the letter and, after double-checking the contents, put it in an envelope, sealed it, and went to the post office. He applied for the fastest service available, which meant it would likely reach his father in about two to three hours.
Most of the workers there were mages who specialized in flying, and one or two used teleportation magic. Aiden applied for teleportation service, which cost him thirty gold coins. Although Aiden didn't know exactly how the world worked when it came to gold coins, he knew this was expensive.
From what he'd heard in the past from his servants, a middle-class family could survive on one gold coin for about fifteen days.
After posting the letter, he changed into a training suit.
In a few days, exams would begin, and since classes for this semester had already ended, there were no more lectures—at least until the midterms.
Then he went to the training hall and trained until his mana was exhausted.
After a few days of rigorous training, it was finally exam day.
Aiden went to the exam hall. On the way, he saw Alaric, Elric, and Calista too. Today was the exam for Magic Training—both the practical and written parts. The written exam would be first.
Aiden entered the exam hall with Alaric and Elric. Although Aiden looked at Calista, then he ignored her, thinking about that day and assuming Calista might not want to see his face.
After checking his name and seat number, Aiden sat in his respective seat.
A few minutes later, the professor walked into the exam hall. It happened to be Professor Evander. He handed out the exam papers to everyone.
After Aiden received his exam paper, he thoroughly checked all the questions and found that he knew the answers to all of them. The time limit for the exam was two and a half hours.
Two hours later—it felt like only a few minutes—Aiden had already written all the answers and handed in his answer sheet to the professor. Almost at the same time, Calista handed over her answer sheet too. They left the exam together.
Aiden saw Calista walking beside him. Then Aiden turned in a different direction. But Calista called out,
"Aiden, can you talk?"
Aiden was startled at first, then thought, 'Is she going to bring up that incident?'
He answered, "Sure."
"Can we go somewhere else? It might take a while," Calista said.
"Okay! Let's go to the garden," Aiden suggested.
Calista agreed, and they went to the garden and sat on a bench together.
Then Calista asked, "Why are you avoiding me?"
Aiden was surprised and answered, "You were avoiding me first. And that's why I've been avoiding you—so that you don't feel uncomfortable."
Now Calista was surprised.
"When did I avoid you?" she asked.
"In the training hall—you were training with your sword, and I was staring at you. I didn't say anything back then, but I'm sorry for staring at you. And then, when you finished training, you smiled at me—but I know what kind of smile that was. That kind of smile is what people give when they're avoiding someone. And I'm sorry again. From now on, I won't stare at you," Aiden replied in detail.
When Aiden looked at Calista, he saw she was in a daze—like she had lost her words. After a few moments of silence, Calista replied,
"I wasn't avoiding you."
After a pause, with a hint of embarrassment, she continued,
"I was tired after training and so sweaty—my whole body was drenched in sweat and smelling. That's why I avoided you."
Aiden, who was listening, saw Calista getting embarrassed for the first time and thought, 'How cute... Huh! What am I thinking? Why am I thinking that she is cute? Although she is cute... Huh—what? Stop thinking about that!'
Then Calista said, "You can stare at me as much as you want. I wouldn't mind."
After saying that, Calista left.
Aiden, who was listening, almost lost his mind.
'Why? Why is she telling me I can stare at her and she wouldn't mind? And why am I even going to stare? I will not stare at her—absolutely!'
Then he stared at her receding figure.
'No, no! I will not stare at her in the future. Now... it's just a mistake,' he thought.
Then he sat there for almost half an hour.
After that, Aiden went to the practical exam hall.
There were still twenty-five minutes remaining until the practical exam started.
Since there were seats available outside the hall, he sat there and tried not to think too much about what had just happened.