Twilight West City, the "Come Back Tomorrow" tavern, the day before the official exam.

Today's nightfall in the tavern is completely different from the atmosphere of the past.

On weekdays, those sailors who talked about meat jokes, scholars who talked about current affairs, and soldiers who discussed the war situation all talked about the same topic - exams.

"Is it really okay to use the teacher's method of testing students to select officials for the kingdom?" said a young man dressed as an apprentice, putting down the ale in his hand.

A small vendor with a cross on his chest waved the fried shrimp in his hand: "I heard that this exam was personally organized by the king, from the examination paper to the review, to the interview, it was all done by His Majesty himself. ”

The appearance of the word king made the questioning voice disappear suddenly, and the voices in the tavern were silent for a few seconds.

Someone later said, "Anyway, I think it's fair." Identity aside, at least everyone is given a chance to compete on an equal footing. ”

Someone suddenly asked: "Will Your Majesty have appointed candidates in advance, and this exam is just a passing scene?"

The person who asked the question was immediately scolded by everyone as a sieve.

"Fool! If Your Majesty wants to promote someone, just send a letter of appointment, why bother!"

"There is no point in such a move!"

When the angry crowd slowly calmed down, someone asked, "Who can pass this exam?"

There was a debate on this issue.

The first is the boast of the scholars: "When it comes to exams, no one has a better say than we do." When I was at Taylor's College, students who studied business subjects were tested countless times, whether it was legal knowledge or market management. In the final analysis, the final candidate selected this time must be a senior scholar. ”

The businessmen immediately objected: "Scholars can only talk on paper, and how can they understand what business is." If you want me to say, Your Majesty will definitely choose an experienced businessman in the end. ”

Arguments like this went on for a long time, until late at night when the taverns closed, and similar conversations could still be heard on the streets.

Early the next morning, the square of the Knights' headquarters was crowded with people, and the "First Dusk Kingdom Selection Examination" was hung on the gate of the headquarters, and the heavily armed soldiers were responsible for maintaining order.

Candidates of all colors and nationalities gathered, acquaintances exchanged gossip they had just gotten, and everyone waited for the notice to enter the venue.

In addition to them, there are more onlookers and hawkers who seize business opportunities.

The clamour, the chatter, and the laughter all came together, and the aroma of food, the smell of sweat, and the inferior perfume were mixed together, turning this solemn and orderly examination into a joyful and lively celebration.

At nine o'clock in the morning, the gates of the Knights' headquarters opened.

The soldiers and nuns carried out a strict screening according to the identity and gender of the visitors, and compared with the registration form and the resident register. A series of security procedures, such as body searches, see-through and other actions, are also quite a few.

Due to the fact that the number of applicants far exceeded expectations, the number of examination rooms was increased from one to three, and the invigilators also temporarily transferred some of the Knights' combat regiments and scout camps.

Each referent was given a wooden plaque with a string of numbers written on it as their respective number.

Everyone can easily find their place as long as they are guided by the number and the guide signs.

At 9:15, everyone was seated and the doors of the examination room were closed.

At 9:20 minutes, the chief examiners of each examination room began to read out the "Examination Room Discipline" written by His Majesty himself.

The people sat in their respective places, and all that was left was a rudimentary set of desks and chairs, a pencil, and a few sheets of manuscript paper, which were apparently made in a hurry.

"No head-to-head contact, no entrainment of materials, no snooping on others" and other red slogans were posted on the walls of the examination room.

Heavily armed Knights patrol and monitor the examination room, occasionally whispering a reprimand to a candidate.

It was only at this point that candidates felt the tense and oppressive atmosphere for the first time, and some timid people loosened their necklines and began to sweat.

Here, wealthy businessmen sit alongside their own valets, and college professors compete with former students, and people finally understand the meaning of the word "fairness" in the exam announcement.

Nine:30 minutes.

Knock knock!

The officer in charge of the examination room rang the bronze bell to announce the official start of the examination.

The test papers with the questions printed on them were distributed to each candidate.

People opened the paper and looked at it, and suddenly, one after another muttering sounded one after another.

The army commander, who was in charge of maintaining order in the examination room, shouted loudly and angrily: "Don't speak! Concentrate on the questions!"

The voice grew quieter.

Everyone started to bite the bullet.

The test paper is divided into three parts, with 20 multiple-choice questions of 2 marks each, 10 true or false questions of 2 marks each, and 2 quiz questions of 20 marks each.

The strange questions that appeared on the test paper stumped the vast majority of the referencers.

There's a question that goes like this: "There was a farmer who bought a chicken for 8 Bronze Stars and sold it for 9 Bronze Stars. But he felt that it was too cheap, so he bought it back for 10 copper stars, and sold 11 copper stars, and asked, "How much did this farmer make in total?"

In addition, there is the question: "What kind of tonnage is the most common cargo ship in the port of Duxi?"

There is even a "There is now a row of stalls in the Grand Twilight Market, a total of 10 stalls. Four of the stalls have now been rented, and there are vacancies on both sides of each of the stalls. Q: How many different arrangements are there?'

The Q&A questions are the following two questions.

1. Suppose that the port needs to be expanded now, if it were up to you to design the plan, how would you choose the direction of expansion and the layout of the building?

2. Please write down the three trade commodities that you think have the greatest price fluctuations in the past month, and analyze the reasons for the fluctuations in one of them.

Seeing these problems, the hearts of the vast majority of people are broken.

Because it completely subverted the impression of exams in the minds of these medieval residents.

In the academy, the examination papers produced by the professors are more confined to books and theories, and exams that focus so much on practicality and feasibility almost never appear in people's field of vision.

Some people just read the exam paper once, without even moving a pen, and then give up the exam completely.

Others scratched their ears and cheeks to think about the answer, and their hair was scattered all over the ground, but they still had no clue.

One of the knights in charge of the proctor in the auditorium looked silently at the candidate in front of him. A scholar who used to talk loudly, stared at the test paper with blank eyes, and his hand holding a pencil kept shaking. The former suppressed the smile on his lips and sent a message to his fellow knights in the next room with the "dragon bone": "Look at the expressions of these people! Damn! This feels so good!"

Two hours passed, and the exam ended.

Under the "urging" of the soldiers' swords, the candidates reluctantly put down their pens and paper and walked out of the examination room.

Unlike when they entered the venue, they were full of confidence and ambition, and the vast majority of people sighed and sighed.

The examiner of the Knights asked his subordinates to seal and pack the test papers as soon as possible and send them to the kings in the rear of the headquarters.

Todd transformed the living room into a review room early on, with Emerson and several loyal knights acting as marking assistants.

The examination papers of more than 700 candidates were carried into the room by the soldiers, and they were stacked together like a huge book 30 centimeters high.

Todd divided the work with the others according to the plan discussed in advance.

He himself was responsible for grading the subjective questions (question and answer questions), and the rest were divided into three groups. The first group is responsible for marking multiple-choice questions, the second group is responsible for marking right and wrong questions, and the last group is responsible for counting scores and proofreading results.

It took two full days for Todd to finally complete the review of the first official exam in Twilight City. The 30 best candidates were selected and the list was placed on his desk.

There were a few names he was familiar with, such as the old acquaintances of the Abbey of San Cidlo, the "Raglans", who scored highly, and the North Island guide during the campaign against the Talon tribe, Lev, who happened to be in 30th place.

But the name of the stranger at the top of the list made it difficult for him.

A very obvious southern heretic - 'Aisha Barbarossa Hayreddin'