Road of the Heavenly Light

1-2: Light of Determination

The next day, everyone had to start taking their regular lessons again, including Elizabeth. Miraculously, math was their first lesson for the day.
"Just great... of all the things to start with!" Elizabeth sighed, grabbing her books.
"Don't worry, Lizzie, it will be fine! I'll be right next to you to help," Anna reassured her friend.
"Thank you, Anna." The two walked towards the classroom, where everyone else was already waiting. Once the teacher arrived, everyone sat down and waited for him to start the lesson.
"Welcome, students. I am delighted to be able to teach math again here at Royale High School. My name is Sir Lawrence, and today we will be going into more practical cases of math, namely managing funds, which is a skill that is required for monarchs and nobles alike." Everyone took out their notebooks, and grabbed a pen. Elizabeth gulped.
"The thing funds most go to in kingdoms outside of Divinia is military. As was recently proven, managing a strong and big army is of grave importance to prevent invasion, but also to rid the lands of rogues and bandits. In fact, an average of 50% of countries' funds go towards the army. The amount of money can of course vary. Magnos spends the most, as it also hires many mercenaries alongside having the largest army on the continent. However, it possesses mainly foot-soldiers alongside small cavalry legions and private ninjas. On the other hand are countries like Mistlyn and Falmar, which spend great amounts of money on pegasi and tacticians, respectively, alongside many boats in the case of Falmar," Sir Lawrence briefly paused to let everyone take notes, "another important thing funds go to is infrastructure and expanding cities. This is where most of Divinia's funds go to, as can be seen with newer cities like Moonlight Square. For most other countries, about 30% of funds go towards this."
"I don't understand any of what he's saying," Elizabeth whispered.
"Look at it like this," Anna said, drawing a circle. The divided it into two, and colored half of it. "This is the amount of the total money in a kingdom that goes towards military management."
Anna then colored about half of the remaining part of the circle, "this is what goes towards infrastructure and new towns and cities."
"I see... I think I understand it now," Elizabeth whispered. For the remainder of the lesson, Elizabeth took notes while Anna helped her by visualizing the explanations the teacher gave. Elizabeth was glad she could finally start to understand things with Anna's help, and it motivated her to keep going with studying for the entrance exam.

After school, Elizabeth sat down with Levi in the library to do their homework together. Anna was unavailable as she went to help out at the stables. They started working on their regular homework first, and Levi was going to help Elizabeth study for the exam after that.
"How's it going so far?" Levi asked.
"Anna's visualizations have helped a lot. I'm just struggling with this one equation here."
"Let's see... have you tried multiplying by three?" Levi suggested.
"I haven't, thank you, Levi," Elizabeth smiled. She took Levi's advice, and multiplied the equation by three, which helped her solve it. After that, there were only a few more exercises left before she finished her homework.
"I'm done! I'm actually done! And I even managed to answer every question! Thank you, Levi, I'm really grateful for your help," Elizabeth said, hugging Levi. They put their homework aside and grabbed the books Elizabeth needed to study, but were interrupted when Astrid and Laura approached them.
"Here, I hope they'll help you study," Astrid said, handing Elizabeth a paper bag filled with cookies.
"And take this too, it's a special blend of my mother's, it helps you concentrate," Laura added, putting down a cup of tea.
"Thank you two, I'm blessed to have your support," Elizabeth thanked her friends, and the girls left again so as to not disturb her. Elizabeth and Levi continued studying, and he helped her understand multiple kinds of charts and diagrams as well as helped her with remembering the tables quicker. When it was time for dinner, Elizabeth felt confident in her ability to succeed in the exam. All of the help from her friends and fiancé helped boost her motivation a lot. She couldn't be more grateful for their help. It was hard to imagine they were enemies just a few weeks ago. They had been very forgiving towards her and were willing to give her a second chance. She would treasure these people for the rest of her life. When she retreated into her room after dinner to revise, she knew that this was going to be her chance to prove to everyone that she had changed for the better, and by becoming student council president, would help guide everyone with all she had learned in her life.

The next day, after school, Elizabeth went towards the classroom where she was going to retake the entrance exam. Everyone else had gone with her to cheer her on and wait for the results together, and she couldn't be more glad they had.
"Good luck, Elizabeth. I'm sure you will do well," Laura said.
"May saint Divinia bless you with her fortune," Astrid prayed.
"Annihilate those numbers!" Glen said.
"Or, you know, just fill in the correct answers," Felix laughed.
"You can do it, Lizzy!" Anna smiled.
"Liz," Levi said putting his hands on her shoulders, "I believe in you, you can do this."
"Thank you, all of you. I can't thank you enough... I... I think I'm going inside now," Elizabeth smiled, opening the door and going inside.
"Elizabeth, welcome! Take a seat. Howard will be taking the exam alongside you. Best of luck!" Principal Abigail greeted her.
"Thank you, principal Abigail. Best of luck, Howard," Elizabeth said, sitting down.
"You too, Elizabeth," Howard answered. Elizabeth opened her exam papers and looked at them. First up was history, which was easy for her as she had read many history books before. Geography and astrology were easy as well. Eventually, she only had math left to do, and yet she had no worries. She thought of the friends that had helped her get this far, and the answers came to her like it was nothing. When she finished, she handed Principal Abigail her papers and went outside.
"How did it go?" Anna asked.
"I think I did quite well," Elizabeth answered with a huge smile on her face. They all sat down, and were later joined by Howard, who had finished too. Everyone silently waited for the door to open, and after what seemed like an eternity that only lasted ten minutes, Principal Abigail opened the door.
"Elizabeth, Howard, I am delighted to inform you that you have both passed for all subjects, and wonderfully at that!"
"Elizabeth, you did it!" Levi shouted.
"I did!" Elizabeth shouted, jumping into his arms.
"Congrats to you as well, Howard, and welcome to Royale High," Laura said.
"Thank you, I'm sure I'll enjoy it here," Howard answered.
"Now, let's get you into the student council president position!" Anna said. Elizabeth nodded.