It was just noon at the moment. After Dudian came back and had lunch, he went to the Scatter Shot training ground and continued his practice.
In the afternoon, the young instructor came and was a bit surprised to see Dudian, but he didn't say anything. After watching Dudian's archery practice for a while, he pointed out a few minor flaws in his posture and then left.
In the evening, when he returned to the dormitory, Dudian immediately picked up the law books he had borrowed from the library and began to review them.
The next day.
Dudian got up on time. After having breakfast, he immediately found the young instructor and asked for leave.
"Taking a leave again today?" The young instructor frowned and said somewhat unhappily, "Although you are an official Hunter, the current skill training has a time limit and should not be neglected. Allowing you to take a day off yesterday was already an exception. What's the matter today?"
Seeing this, Dudian knew that he had to explain the reason. He said, "I went to participate in the recruitment of apprentice clerics in the Tribunal yesterday and have already passed the preliminary examination. Today, I'm going for the formal exam."
"The recruitment of apprentice clerics?" The young instructor was immediately taken aback. Every time the Tribunal recruited apprentice clerics, it was a major event. It had caused quite a stir in the city yesterday, and of course, he had heard about it. He didn't expect that this was the reason for Dudian's leave.
The young instructor looked at Dudian suspiciously and said, "Have you studied legal knowledge? To pass the assessment for apprentice clerics in the Tribunal, it's not enough to just have a little understanding of the law. You need to be proficient. Even many people who have graduated from law schools find it difficult to meet the requirements."
"I want to give it a try." Dudian didn't have much confidence either.
After thinking for a while, the young instructor still said, "All right. I wish you success."
Dudian was overjoyed and quickly said, "Thank you, Instructor!"
"Go ahead. Come back as soon as possible." The young instructor waved his hand.
Dudian immediately turned around and left. He found a carriage outside the headquarters and headed straight for Puss Avenue.
Puss Avenue was located in the central block of the prosperous Western District of the commercial area. The price of each square meter of land here could buy a small building in a town outside the outskirts of the commercial area. It was no exaggeration to say that it was "as valuable as gold per inch of land."
The people living in the central area of the Western District were either wealthy or noble. There were elegant and high-end shops everywhere. On the roadside, it was common to see noble ladies leading their children and holding their pets, going in and out of various jewelry stores.
The carriage stopped in front of the Tribunal on Puss Avenue. Unlike the adjacent streets, there were not many pedestrians on the street, and it was rather desolate. In the center of the street was a towering building, about more than thirty meters high, like a coiled black giant beast. The upper part of the building was shaped like a pointed gourd, and on the pointed tip at the top was a huge "cross" symbol!
The cross, in the context of the Bright Holy See, represented purification!
On the way, Dudian saw some Tribunal staff wearing white robes, holding law books in their hands and reading as they walked, focused and serious.
"I'm here to take the exam." Dudian walked up the steps to the solemn and gloomy Tribunal, took out that card, and said to the Tribunal guard at the entrance.
The young Tribunal guard glanced indifferently at the card and nodded, saying, "Please come in."
Dudian entered the Tribunal. The lobby on the first floor inside was extremely spacious, but the light came down in strands from the dome. Dudian looked up and was surprised to find that it was shining down from white crystal-like objects embedded in the dome.
While he was looking around, a maidservant in a white silk robe came over and said gently, "You're here for the exam, right? Please follow me."
Under her guidance, Dudian came to a side hall of the lobby. It was a large hall like a cathedral, with rows of seats. In front was an independent podium. At the moment, there were more than a dozen figures sitting in the hall, all teenagers and girls around his age. Most of them were dressed in gorgeous clothes, with bright colors and mainly made of silk. Only two or three people were wearing clothes made of linen and woolen fabric.
In front of the independent podium, several tables were moved over. At the moment, there was no one behind the tables, and there were several maidservants in white robes waiting beside them.
Dudian casually found a secluded seat. After a while, he suddenly smelled Jenny's scent. He was delighted. After waiting for a short time, he indeed saw Jenny come over wearing a broken green silk dress.
Dudian immediately stood up and waved to her.
Jenny was choosing a seat. Suddenly, she noticed Dudian. Her eyes lit up, and she walked over quickly and sat in the seat beside Dudian.
"You came so early." Jenny said in a low voice after sitting down.
Dudian smiled and said, "The early bird catches the worm."
"What about the early worm?" Jenny said cunningly.
Dudian was at a loss for words and then laughed, saying, "It gets eaten by the bird."
Jenny covered her mouth and giggled, asking, "Are you ready?"
"Yeah." Dudian said confidently, "As long as they test me on what I know, I'm sure to get a full score."
Jenny couldn't help but laugh.
While the two of them were chatting and laughing, other examinees came one after another. Around 9 o'clock in the morning, the nearly five-meter-high door at the back of the examination room was slowly pushed closed by two attendants.
At this time, a small side door in front of the examination room opened, and four figures wearing white robes with gold trim came out, two men and two women. The youngest of them was about thirty years old, with cold and solemn expressions, not smiling at all.
"Silence!" An old man in his fifties said coldly.
The venue fell silent.
"The examination time is one hour." The old man in his fifties beckoned to the maidservant beside him. The latter handed over an hourglass and placed it on the table. The old man placed his palm on the hourglass and looked around at everyone, saying, "I hope you remember what kind of qualities a cleric should have. If I see anyone trying to cheat, they will be dealt with according to the law and imprisoned for a month!"
The dozens of people in the audience looked at each other and didn't dare to make a sound.
Dudian tilted his head and winked at Jenny.
Jenny, who had been nervous, couldn't help but smile when she saw Dudian's funny expression.
After a while, the exam began.
The hourglass was turned over, and the sand grains slowly trickled down.
Dudian looked at the test paper in his hand and quickly answered the questions with a quill pen. He had seen many of the questions on it, and he wrote down the answers after a little thought. However, there were still some questions that gave him a headache. He felt that he had seen them vaguely somewhere, but he couldn't remember clearly. After all, his legal knowledge was learned by squeezing out a little time every day during the scavenger special training, and some things were not firmly remembered.
"If you were a law drafter, where do you think the law still needs to be improved?"
Dudian raised his eyebrows slightly when he looked at this last question. This question tested the overall understanding of legal knowledge. If the content of the answer was a law that had already been implemented or a law that had been abolished in the early days, it would naturally reveal that his understanding of the law was not comprehensive enough.
After thinking for a moment, Dudian resolutely picked up the pen and wrote: "If I were a law drafter, the first thing I would do is to abolish the slave status and noble status. To achieve equality for all before the law, we must achieve equality for all in the value of life, with no distinction between high and low!"
"Time's up!" At this time, the old man in his fifties said loudly.
Dudian immediately put down his pen.
Jenny beside him also quickly stopped writing and looked at him. The two of them communicated with their eyes and immediately understood that the other had finished.
After a while, the test papers were collected.
"Everyone, please go back and come back in three days to wait for the notice." The old man in his fifties said.
The door at the back was opened, and the others left one after another.
Dudian said to Jenny, "Let me send you back?"
Jenny's face turned slightly red, and she said, "My aunt gave me a ride here today. She's waiting for me outside."
Dudian understood and smiled, saying, "Then see you in three days."
"Okay."
After the two of them said goodbye to each other at the gate, Dudian watched as Jenny was led away by a noble lady wearing a white fur coat and left in a spacious and exquisite noble carriage. Then he retracted his gaze, got into his own carriage, and left.
After returning to the Hunter Headquarters, seeing that there was still plenty of time, Dudian went back to the Scatter Shot training ground and continued to practice.
The young instructor saw him and asked him about the exam situation. In the end, he reminded him not to be distracted and that he should still focus on his Hunter duties.
In the blink of an eye, three days passed.
Dudian informed the young instructor in advance. After having breakfast early in the morning on that day, he directly left the Hunter Headquarters and drove to the Tribunal.
Dozens of other people also came on the same day to wait for the results. When Dudian arrived, it was still early. After waiting for a short time, he saw Jenny's carriage driving over from the end of the street. After a while, the carriage door opened, and with the help of a knight from the Blom family accompanying her, Jenny got out of the carriage. She looked up and searched in the crowd for a moment and soon saw Dudian's figure. When the two of them looked at each other, they both smiled.
"You came so early." Jenny stepped forward and said with a smile.
Dudian winked and said, "The early hunter catches the bird."
Jenny immediately thought of what he had said last time and couldn't help but laugh.
The two of them chatted in a low voice. After a while, the door of the Tribunal opened, and a serious-looking old man stepped forward and read out one name after another. Whoever was called meant that they had passed the exam and joined the establishment of apprentice clerics in the Tribunal.
"Jenny Blom!" The old man read out.
When Jenny heard her name, she immediately let out a sigh of relief, patted her chest, and looked delighted.
"Dudian!" The old man read out again.
Dudian also let out a sigh of relief. When he submitted his answer sheet, his heart was in his throat because he knew that he wasn't sure about the answers to several of the questions and had just guessed. He didn't expect that he had still passed.
"Great!" Jenny clapped her hands in surprise when she heard Dudian's name.
Seeing her happy appearance, Dudian also felt warm in his heart and smiled, saying, "We'll be working together from now on."
Jenny's face turned slightly red, and she said, "Then will you still be a scavenger?"
Hearing this, Dudian was taken aback and couldn't help but think of the desolate and cruel scenes outside the Wall. Now that he had obtained the identity of an apprentice cleric, as long as he wanted to, he could completely leave the Hunter establishment and live the life of an apprentice cleric, or be an ordinary person, just like Pete and other powerful senior officials in the Scavenger Headquarters. Most of them had retired from being Hunters and then taken up their positions.
Thinking of these, he hesitated. No one liked to live a precarious life of killing. Even senior Hunters were still at risk of losing their lives outside the Wall.
Seeing that Dudian suddenly fell into deep thought, Jenny suddenly realized that this was a choice that would determine his future. After hesitating for a moment, she said, "If it's as dangerous outside the Wall as my father said, I think you'd better not go?"
Dudian looked up at her. For a moment, he had the urge to agree, but in the end, he still slightly shook his head and said, "I don't want to just live inside the Wall."
Jenny looked at him intently and suddenly smiled, saying, "I knew it. I didn't misjudge you."
Seeing that she wasn't angry, Dudian also felt relieved and smiled, saying, "I didn't misjudge you either."
Subsequently, the two of them went to collect their apprentice cleric identity medals together. When they received them, they also learned from the old man the official reporting date and the basic principles of apprentice clerics.
These basic principles were like the tenet of the Tribunal, mainly consisting of three things: fairness, impartiality, and openness!
"I'm going back now." Jenny waved to Dudian and got into the carriage.
Dudian watched her go away and also returned to his own carriage and set off back to the Hunter Headquarters. However, he began to think in his heart that the duties of an apprentice cleric were the same as those of an ordinary worker. He needed to work in the Tribunal for eight hours a day. If he performed well, he would be promoted to a senior apprentice cleric after a year. By then, he wouldn't need to report to the Tribunal every day. He would just need to accompany the assigned cleric and assist the other party in handling legal cases that occurred in various regions.
"Eight hours. In that case, there won't be as much time for Hunter training."
Dudian frowned slightly and murmured, "However, if I don't want to be promoted to a cleric or a senior apprentice cleric, I don't need to report every day. Then I'll always just be a junior apprentice cleric and can only do odd jobs in the Tribunal."
"However, all I want is the identity of an apprentice cleric. In this way, my life inside the Wall will have an extra layer of protection, and it will also be convenient for future alchemical activities."
Thinking of this, Dudian immediately decided that for now, he would still focus on being a Hunter. After all, the speed at which Hunters earned gold coins was far beyond what clerics could match. High risk, high return.
After returning to the Hunter Headquarters, Dudian went to the Scatter Shot training ground and continued to practice.