Chapter 1368: Chapter 1368: Honorary Degree in History
"But I need to see you every Monday..."
The elf girl hastily said, but Shard shook his head:
"No need, you don’t have to co to see us on Mondays anymore."
He was genuinely worried that the immature girl in front of him might encounter unexpected events:
"Just rember to find the secret room at Saint Byrons that I asked you to help with. When spring arrives and things here are settled, we can et again. Winter is nearly over, and spring isn’t far off. By then, if we haven’t left, we can wander around the city together."
With that, he took out a notebook filled with poems he had prepared in advance:
"These are enough for you to study for a while. By spring, I can give you more ancient elven runes. After all, while phonetics can help you learn to read, you still need to hear the correct pronunciation to learn more accurately."
The elf girl clutched the notebook, her green eyes looking at Shard. She knew that Shard was worried about her:
"I understand, and you and the lady should be careful too."
As she spoke, she began rummaging through her clothes’ pockets, eventually finding so amulets she had made and so unicorn hair in small glass tubes:
"These are for you, please stay safe. Let’s et again in spring, please be sure to take care."
She stood up to leave, and Shard stood up as well, while the unicorn reluctantly nuzzled against Shard’s hand.
Shard stood by the campfire, watching the elf girl clumsily climb onto the unicorn’s back. She sat sideways, holding onto the little beast’s mane, and said once more:
"Then we’ll et in the spring. May the World Tree bless you, may all be well."
Shard smiled and nodded, patting the little beast’s head, and the unicorn carried the elf girl into the dark woodland:
"See you in spring!"
[In the end, you still didn’t ask her how she managed to get from the academy to here.]
"She" whispered softly.
Shard looked down at the small bottle in his hand containing unicorn hair, pondering what kind of accessory to make for Lecia and Dorothy:
"If she wanted to tell , she would have said it just now. But that’s fine, I don’t have ti to explore Saint Byrons right now either."
He turned to face the campfire, the motion casting shadows across his face.
[But weren’t you planning to use that passage to...]
"There will be a way. Besides, my speculation may not be correct."
Shard whispered to the campfire.
He waved his hand to extinguish the flas, untied the reins from the tree. Shard patted the horse’s head, then skillfully mounted it:
"Summon Big Snowball."
The snowball fell from the sky, hitting the already extinguished campfire. Shard tugged at the reins, and the chestnut horse carried him galloping into the darkened woodland.
"The story of the Randall Valley has reached its second half—demons, the Crazy Earth, ancient families, ancient mysteries... I need to focus on handling these matters. When spring cos, there will be ti to enjoy life... May the Earth be with you and ."
(The unicorn running...)
Considering that all day Thursday would be spent visiting the Night Shrine again and unable to return to Tobesk, that morning at the breakfast table, Shard sat at the table with a newspaper and said to Dorothy in the kitchen:
"Today I’m taking Mia to the Randall Valley, so you don’t have to trouble yourself with taking her. I rember you have a writers’ reading salon to attend today, don’t you?"
"Taking Mia isn’t a hassle, but if you want to take her for a walk in the countryside, that’s fine too,"
said the golden-haired girl in an apron, transferring scrambled eggs from the pan to a plate and then brought it to the table:
"But it should be cold outside the city, be careful not to let her catch a cold."
"I know, this cat probably won’t want to leave my clothes all day."
Shard put down the newspaper, got up and stood behind Dorothy to untie her apron:
"You don’t have to worry about , all my actions in the Randall Valley are quite safe."
"I’m still waiting to hear so big news from the Randall Valley one day."
The golden-haired girl said with a smile, then took the newspaper and pointed to a news piece on the upper right side of the fifth page in the gossip section:
"Is this you?"
This morning’s "Tobesk Morning Newspaper" prominently featured a small section with gossip from the distant Randall Valley, where a photo of Miss Vanessa Benanis secretly eting with a stranger was published.
Shard had seen this news this morning, but Dorothy picked up the newspaper and found it right away, which was quite surprising.
"I heard the news yesterday when I went to the Steam Bird Daily office to deliver so docunts for my father."
She looked at the photo, which only captured a side profile of Shard, and that face was subtly different from Shard’s:
"Miss Vanessa Benanis, I rember she’s at least ten years older than , right? When she beca famous, I was still a little girl at ho. I used to wonder if I could beco soone like her."
She put down the newspaper:
"Your thods are really impressive."
Shard used feeding the cat as an excuse to mask his embarrassnt, and the blonde writer shook her head:
"Why are you doing this? I wouldn’t mind. It’s Luviya who should be worried. Oh, speaking of which, my father said that the honorary degree he’s arranging for you has made progress.
In the spring, Saint York Academy will be awarding a batch of honorary degrees. You know, these are mostly given to local celebrities to establish academic and social connections. My father is very keen on helping you with this. He wanted to write to you, but I said I happen to be coming to get so information from you, so he asked
to tell you this. After all, once things are put in writing, people beco worried."
"How much sponsorship fees are required?"
Shard asked curiously, and Dorothy gently shook her head:
"It’s not important. Lecia has already given
the check. When I go ho this afternoon, I’ll have my mother give it to my father. Don’t worry, it’s an anonymous check; Lecia’s na won’t appear."
"But how can this kind of money let..."
"So, do you want Galina to take it for you?"
Although she was smiling as she asked Shard, he sohow felt a chill. His intuition gave him the answer, and Shard imdiately shook his head:
"Alright then. Oh, I’ve already got the unicorn hair. What kind of accessories do you want?"
He said as he speared a small piece of egg with his fork, and for once, the smile on the golden-haired girl’s face wasn’t at all sinister:
"You got it! Give it to , and I’ll make it into jewelry! I bet if you keep it, you might end up making sothing bizarre like a ’Unicorn Hair Wrap Ring’."
"Dorothy, are you underestimating
too much?"
The writer laughed without answering, and instead extended her fork to Shard, who leaned in to eat the egg:
"I’ll give it to you after breakfast. Speaking of which, what kind of degree did Professor Luisa get
in the end? Literature? Linguistics? Or Political Science? Last ti we discussed, he ntioned it’s most likely one of these three."
Not all subjects can award honorary degrees. In the Outlander’s classification, most are humanities subjects.
"None of them. This year there’s very few spots for honorary doctorates in literature at Saint York Academy, and they all went to the Kingdom Literature Award winners. The linguistics honorary doctorates have been paused because... the infighting at the Draleon Degree Committee. As for political science."
Dorothy shook her head slightly:
"There’s an unwritten rule that the top local academies in Tobesk can only award political science honorary doctorates to retired politicians, like your neighbor, forr Kingdom Treasury Departnt Secretary Mr. Smith. If there was a surplus year, it might be possible, but this year Saint York Academy only received two spots."
The total number of honorary degrees that the advanced academies in Draleon can grant each year is set by the Kingdom Degree Committee. Subsequently, each academy has to ’vie’ for these spots.
"So, what did Professor Luisa reserve for ..."
"History."
Shard breathed a sigh of relief:
"Good thing it’s not folklore studies."
"What are you talking about? Have you ever heard of an honorary doctorate in folklore studies being awarded anywhere?"
The golden-haired girl asked amusingly, peeling an egg while Mia lay on the table watching the steam from the food in her hand.
"But my father wanted
to tell you that, even for an honorary degree, you can’t just buy your way into it. There’s still over a month until the spring degree awarding season, so he suggests you find a way to publish a few relevant articles. They don’t have to be too professional, as long as they represent that you have research."
This wasn’t a problem, as Old John’s Guiding Light Hermitage had many high-level academic mbers. For instance, Mr. Madison, who first made contact with Shard, worked as an administrative staff mber at the University Federation (Chapter 375).
"You don’t have to worry about this either. I’ve already talked to Professor Manning."
Dorothy added:
"Professor Manning knows we are Circle Sorcerers, so I told him you recently received so artifacts and information sent by friends from Randall Valley. Find so ti to pick a few items from Randall Valley, send them to the professor, and he can help you craft a good paper. He’ll act as a corresponding author, and under the na of Tiris Manning, no related professional journal in the kingdom will reject your submission."
"So, you and Lecia have arranged everything for ?"
This actually made Shard a bit embarrassed, while the blonde writer enjoyed this feeling:
"See, it’s not just Luviya who can help you."
She reached out to stroke Mia, who was lying between her and Shard. Mia squird uncomfortably and continued staring at the steaming breakfast on the table. This cat hadn’t missed breakfast, as its hot goat milk and other als were already eaten while Shard was waiting for the writer to cook.
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