24 Failure. Next.

When Leilade arrived at the baths, she saw the kind lady open the door. At this point, she realized that this nation was filled with those good-doers to the point that it became suffocating. On her original world, she had to battle to survive, from the moment she left the cavern of the dark mages to the arrival of the Demonic Empire. Here, she couldn't even leave to kill something and heal herself. And now, she had to use even more power just to sustain the illusion she made. She knew she was lucky that none of the men tried to pat her head without hairs but now, that red-haired woman will definitely do that.

As she saw Alyssia preparing the room, Leilade looked at her more thoroughly. She was probably less than thirty years old, but she could be wrong on that point. For, that woman obviously took great care of her body and her beauty. She was very open with her emotions and her eyes were transmitting in real time the latter. As for her clothes, well, she was the bartender of an inn, of course, she had to dress a little less than usual. Her dress was open above her chest and the top of her two plump breasts were entirely in the open. As for the quality, it was obviously better than the rags the little girl was wearing.

"Hop in lil sis!"

The joyous voice of the beautiful woman broke the trail of thoughts of Leilade. It was true that she was not really in a presentable state but it was the main point. However, since it has already reached that embarrassing situation, she better should better follow the flow than fight it. After entering the basket of hot water naked, she touched the hand of Alyssia and casted a minor hypnosis on the human. The former commandant of demons was trying to lower the cost as much as she could. The invocation of her herald, Malakov was more taxing on her than she realized and now, with all those additional spells, she would soon lose the opportunity to even make the darkness leave her body. And that was not feasible for her survival.

Of course, the foolish human never understood that when she was washing the blonde hair of Leilade, she was effectively touching nothing. Like when she was pinching the nose of the little girl as a joke, she didn't feel the ravine that was present. After a dozen minutes, the small kid was finally cleaner and the traces of her injuries less visible. Of course, just a bath couldn't remove the burnt skin or the deep wounds, but they were just not as big as before. Right after that, a female servant brought another gown for Leilade. This time, it was accompanied by real shoes and not something that would be destroyed after a few kilometers.

When she came back to Irion and Khozak, the priest nearly spat out his drink. None of them knew that after just a small time away, she could be transformed like that. Leilade was not inherently beautiful or gorgeous, but she still was able to turn from a broken doll to a cute child. Soon, the other members arrived and nearly all of them reacted the same way. The other customers were still perplexed by the Proud of Axes, but they decided to mind their own business. In the end, all of them went their way and Khozak booked 8 individual rooms. After climbing the stairs, she understood why the building was so impressive and large. Because they had a huge number of rooms in the two additional floors.

When she was ready to enter her bed, Leilade was filled with the stories and tales than the group of adventurers told her. They were surprisingly very informed in a lot of domains and she managed to confirm and deny some of the memories she gathered. Especially on that magical examination, since she exposed her wish, they told her everything. From what she understood, it was the lowliest form of test possible. She would only have to put her hand on her orb specially crafted for that occasion and try to spread her mana inside it. Since they were supposed to be some mindless children, the orb would still react to the stored mana inside their body, without even needing their intervention.

And what she heard afterward nearly made her laugh. The orb will then display their affinity with the elements and the more was displayed, the greater the mage will be. Besides the fact that not all the magic existing in the Universe was categorized inside the elements that they spoke, it was cruel to all the special existences. For example, if she or Candaith that space bunny took it seriously, they would probably only be rated as a normal magician. Even when they were pure geniuses in their own way. That archaic world still dealt with elements like fire, light, water. If everyone was like that, she was confident that no one will be a threat after the Demonic Energy was created.

Since she had nothing to do, she entered a state of half-sleep, leaving the Viscount as a watchdog. That was one of her main perks for being the guardians of such a big number of souls. Even if her mind was affected by whatever spell could do it, she was still able to let a trusted subordinate like the Viscount, Malakov or whoever was living in the Vault took control of her body. That was based on mutual trust, but who would betray the only being capable of preventing the dissolution of their souls?

The beginning of the night was uneventful until the Viscount awoken her.

(Outlander, one of your new friend, the thief is here.)

Instantly opening her eyes, she saw in the middle of the room the silhouette of a man. Her window was entirely blocked by a plank of wood and no light was enlightening the bedroom. However, even in the most complete darkness and without any spell, she could still see the form of everything. As for the details, she would have to use magic but to notice the small height and the numerous knives hanging around the body, she was fine. He closed the door behind him and that fact puzzled Leilade. Why did he enter her room at that time of the night?

"I see you are awake." The friendly voice of Jimmy was murmured. Since she was caught, she raised her back and stare directly at the man. She still had a doubt whether he was lightly smiling or not, it was hard to see.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I just want to know something; do you really want to be a mage?"

"Yes." She had a hard time following the situation but she wanted to go there for information. And also, claimed a few students filled with magic, that would be helpful.

"And what if you don't make it?"

"I will." The second biggest joke after being killed by homeless thugs would be to fail at a magical test. Even if the test was unfair, she was still capable of manipulating the result as she wished. However, her cold and determined voice only made the man sadder, for unknown reasons. He was reluctant to leave, but right before the door was silently closed, she still heard one last thing.

"Then I wish you the best of luck. You are strong and careful, of course, you will succeed." There was a taint of sadness and melancholy in his voice when he said that but she didn't have the time to deal with that. She waited a few minutes, carefully listening to the surroundings. But except someone leaving his room to do something, only silence greeted her. "That was weird."

(I think that this thief saw himself in you when he was in a similar situation. And therefore, if you failed that test, he would have probably taught you some tricks to survive. Today, it was to see if you woke up when an unknown human tried to enter your room. As for the rest, it would be pure speculation. The human mind is tortuous.)

"Like you say, Viscount, tortuous indeed." That interaction reaffirmed her conviction that she fell on an exceptionably friendly planet or nation. Besides the cultists, but madmen lived everywhere. Letting the Viscount guarding her body once again, she was only warned when the sun was rising. When she left her room, she saw the three warriors standing guard in front of her door and escorting her downstairs. The group quickly ate their breakfast and soon, they charged toward their target.

It took them quite a while before reaching the front of the city hall. There, she saw numerous families bringing their children to be tested. All categories of people were represented, from the orphans guided by the sisters of the Church, nobles leading their offspring, normal families treating this as a family trip. And finally them, seven battle-hardened veterans carrying a small girl. When they got closer, she understood why they were surprised by her lack of reaction when meeting Khozak. All the kids seeing the berserk broke in tears and even the noble children ran away, hiding behind their bodyguards.

Of course, it was an honest and fair test, so everyone had to stand in line. The local malice was controlling it and making sure that no one tried to do anything harmful. Fortunately, the parents were desperate after seeing their beloveds terrified and all let the group bypass them. The guards just stood there, not moving at all. In a few minutes, they arrived in front, only behind a noble family. Even if their faces were white, they still had the arrogance and pride denying them the possibility of retreating.

"Failure. Next."

The impassable voice of the magician resonated and the seven adventurers let Leilade enter. She turned back and saw all of them looking at her waving so she waved back, smiling. It was just a small action so being illogically ruthless and uncaring just for being evil was impossible. That was the main difference between the people like the cultists and the Demonic Empire, one wanted chaos, the other wanted order, as unrealistic as it sounded.

When she finally entered the tent, she saw the magician standing still, and exactly how anyone would describe a mage. An old man, white beard, cold eyes, proud standing. Six guards were also present, probably to control the crowd.

"Put your hand on the orb." She didn't know if it was meant to be like that, but the magician looked like he was trying to scare her or make her submit. Probably to make the children move faster, there was also a compelling order in his voice. Well, since it was his job, he was probably right to do this. When she looked at the orb, she saw that a few balls of color were inside. Probably the result of the past test and they were so small that it was probably a failure.

Getting closer and putting her hand on the magical device, she quickly scanned it. It was a crude instrument but at least she instantly found its limit. She won't make something as dumb as breaking it with her mana, first of all, because it was too inefficient. Slowly activating the orb, she saw the few pitiful balls disappearing, and soon, the entire orb was filled with black. It was at this moment that she realized that the orb was still capable of recognizing her affinity with darkness. But unfortunately, for the magician, it only meant that she was without talent.

"Failure. Next"