"You think so?" Skymender asked.
"Indeed. Charles has a photographic memory, meaning he can remember everything. Before, he had slacked and relied only on his memory to get this far, but it seems that he has realized the difference between comprehension and memorization."
Skymender nodded. He had come to the same conclusion.
"But I am confident of winning against Charles alone. Why would I work with you, a stranger?"
The woman sighed. "I did not come expecting you to easily agree. So I've brought information, and as our alliance progresses, I can give you more and more."
"What information?" Skymender asked.
"This will be my initial payment. This is not the first Imperial Scholar Camp to ever be held."
Skymender looked at her with surprise.
"Neither is it my first time attending." She said.
"How is this useful information?" Skymender asked.
"Because although there was a first place winner last time, he did not technically win. In addition, with my experience last time, I can provide valuable information. Of course, just about everything has been different so far, but the information I can give you is not limited to this. Work with me, and more information is yours."
Skymender could tell her thoughts. Whether or not she was confident in winning against Charles, being first place was not the only condition to winning. In that case, maybe she was trying a different method. Regardless, this alliance seemed as if it would benefit him.
He was about to speak, when a plate landed in front of him.
"We can finish speaking after I'm done." Skymender said.
He took off his mask and began to eat.
In front of him was a burger with some red sauce on it. He picked it up and took a bite.
As soon as his mouth touched the sauce, he could feel the raw spice coming from it. He paused instantaneously, sitting the burger down on the plate. Just as he finished doing so, he began to violently cough. He could barely handle spice even when he did not have breathing problems much less now.
The chef looked surprised, as well as the woman.
"Did you make it even spicier, Master Chef Garb?"
"No. I guess he really can't handle spice, huh."
Skymender did his best to stop himself from coughing, but his throat had been agitated. He got up and walked off to the side, where he took a vial of poison and broke it open. The gas traveled up entering his nose.
He suddenly felt as if his throat was cleared and the spice was gone.
This was something he had accidentally discovered. After becoming immune to the poison, it began to benefit him whenever his throat was acting up.
With a deep breath, all the trouble was gone.
He continued to breathe in the gas until it was gone.
He returned to the table. "I should probably eat something else."
The chef nodded and threw out another patty.
The woman looked at him with curiosity. "What exactly was that?"
"Old injury, don't worry about it."
She looked at him for a moment before ignoring it.
With his mask on, Skymender's breathing eventually reached a completely normal level.
"How exactly do you want to cooperate?" Skymender asked.
"It is simple. Study together and combine our knowledge, or simply sabotage Charles. Perhaps we can do both."
"Will the Imperial scholar allow such actions?"
"In the last Imperial Scholar Camp, I watched two people fight to near death, and the Imperial Scholar never said a word about it."
"When exactly was the last Imperial Scholar Camp?"
"Ten years ago. The last one should have been the first since the Imperial Scholar had just turned sixty. Before that, he wouldn't have been old enough to think about a successor."
Skymender nodded. "What is the rate at which you will give me information?"
"Whenever we successfully beat Charles."
"Are you really that worried about him?"
The woman looked at him seriously. "A photographic memory is the same as cheating. He can do what we do with just a fraction of the effort. Since he has also begun to comprehend what he memorizes, the odds of one of us coming out on top, even together, is small."
At this time, her food came.
She stopped talking and began to eat. Skymender watched as his food was prepared, eventually eating a delicious burger.
Before leaving, the woman set up a time to meet here again.
"Tomorrow at eight. If you show up, I'll take that as acceptance. By the way, my name is Miria. It was nice to meet you, Skymender."
Skymender nodded as he left.
When he returned to his housing building, he did not enter his room. Instead, he spoke to a lady at the front desk.
"Hello. I have twenty points. I'd like to move my room."
She nodded. "Go ahead. You can move a floor up, Skymender."
Skymender nodded and returned to his old room, packing everything up and taking it with him as he walked up the stairs.
He found a room with a nice view and made it his. Upon entering, he saw a vast difference. There was much more open space, natural light, and even more appliances.
He sat everything down and found his bed. It was bigger, softer, and overall nicer.
Skymender studied before falling asleep. The next day, as usual, he went to class. He learned a lot. Afterwards, he met Miria at the same restaurant.
They arrived around the same time, and both took out their notes. Going over them as the show went on, they found that it was actually quite useful. They were not perfect, and it was natural to miss something every now and then.
In addition to that, the way one interprets things can be different from others. By comparing notes and studying together, they essentially had two perspectives instead of one.
Whether it would be enough to compare to Charles' photographic memory or not was yet to be determined.
A week passed, and the last day of the medical section was upon them.
"This section went faster due to our previous study of biology. The test will be tomorrow. Good luck."