Wicktoria and the Magic Tea Artisan

Chapter 2

I took a shuttle magic carpet to school every morning at 7am. It ran every 15 minutes from 7 to 9am. Usually, there were plenty of empty seats on the carpet at 7am so I could lie down on the carpet and look up at the sky. However, there wasn't enough space for that today. There were an unusually large number of students for the shuttle carpet at this hour.

After securing a seat, I observed the scene around me. There were mostly female students, all busy putting on makeup. They all looked glamorous, like they were getting ready for a beauty pageant. I wondered which company was visiting us today. The third graders were on the verge of graduating and the school was welcoming numerous companies and organizations to visit us and present job opportunity details. Seeing everyone paying so much attention to their makeup, I thought a cosmetics or makeup tool company was visiting us today. I was also a third grader but there was no need for me to be interested because I couldn't work for a regular company or organization anyways. Nobody wanted to hire an unbloomed teenager. They wanted to hire a wizard who received formal magic education and training. Though I was attending a magic school, I couldn't cast spells or use magic items properly.

I arrived at school and found it surprisingly bustling just like it was on the shuttle carpet. Seeing so many students at school this early was really a rare sight. I became more curious about which company was visiting so I walked to the bulletin board which was floating in the air near the school entrance. There was a calendar that displayed visit dates of companies and organizations. It was the Ministry of Mysteries visiting us this morning. It was where the most outstanding wizards of our kingdom were scouted to solve all types of mysteries. They studied and dealt with the newest magic spells, mysterious creatures and plants from exoplanets, and bizarre crimes. Now I understood why so many students came to school at such an early hour. They wanted to sit in the front row of the hall when people from the Ministry of Mysteries spoke.

I found myself drawn to attend this orientation even though the chance of being employed by MoM was close to zero for me. I was simply curious about what they would say and what opportunities they would offer. They didn't hire people regularly. Instead, they scouted exceptional talents only when needed. For example, they hired a young genius wizard named Lamont Dewie a few years ago. He was so famous that even someone like me, who wasn't interested in celebrities or gossip, knew a few things about him.

He was our age or maybe a year or two older. He was so intelligent that there was no one in regular magic schools capable of teaching him. Consequently, he received his education from an institution which only trained a select few brilliant wizards. Another intriguing thing about him was that his facial expression never changed. No one saw him smiling or frowning.

"You're not actually considering attending, are you?" a familiar voice behind me asked. Before turning around, I mentally prepared myself and kept a poker face. It was Hella, as expected. Dressed in a chic suit and high heels, she stood with crossed arms, gazing down at me.

"It's none of your business," I said and passed by her to enter the school building. However, she asked me in a loud voice, capturing the attention of the other students, "Wick, are you really going to today's orientation? I'm just worried. If they see you and think other students are just as incapable as you, we might miss out on job opportunities."

Her words caught everyone's attention, and the students around us began to comment on me.

"Hella's right. You shouldn't come." "Are you out of your mind?" "Don't embarrass us. Don't show up." "Hey, fangirl, we all know you just want to check out Lamont Dewie's handsome face."

"I'm not interested in his face. I'm not you," I sharply said to the girl who had done her makeup five times heavier than usual, "And don't worry. I'll be in the back anyway so he cannot see me, okay?"