Chapter 112: Gates of Change
[Clang!]
With a clear clang, the two blades separated upon contact, and Mihawk put his sword back in its sheath.
"That's it for today. Your swordsmanship has improved very quickly."
"Hehe..." Shanks, leaning on his bent knees, panted while smiling. "I have to thank you for being a good opponent. Thanks to you, I can bear to live in this place."
"This is just a reward for telling me about the Roger Pirates' experiences. Your stories really opened my eyes." As he spoke, Mihawk placed the simple sword on its stand. His days were following a regular pattern lately.
In the mornings, he had informal training sessions with Gion in the Socializing Plaza of Pangaea Castle. At noon, he met Shanks at the 'Domain of the Gods' for a training session. And at night, he received fencing training from Imu.
It can be said that he is the freest person in this holy land, and he can really go wherever he wants.
"Waaah!"
"No! I don't want to go with you! Let me go!"
"Sobbing...Father! Mother! Help me!"
At this time, extremely noisy sounds of children crying came from outside the manor, followed by extremely angry but arrogant adults asking questions.
"What are you lowly Holy Guards going to do?!"
"Let go of my child!"
"This is a riot! Are they trying to rebel?!"
"Cipher Pol! Kill them for me, hurry up!"
Shanks immediately recognized the high-pitched female voice, who, according to sacred records, was his aunt, although she completely ignored him after a brief encounter. "What's going on?"
"It's nothing important. The Five Elders have ordered that children between six and fifteen years old be taken to the new Celestial Palace to receive theoretical education and physical training."
"When they are fifteen years old, they will face an assessment. Those who pass the assessment can continue to receive high-level training for three years."
"At the age of eighteen, you will face the first graduation exam. After passing it, you will be given the title of 'elite', and you will be eligible to enter and leave Mary Geoise freely."
"And those who fail the graduation exam will have two more chances, one at nineteen and another at twenty, but if they fail a third time, they will be taken back to the Domain of the Gods, to spend the rest of their lives."
Shanks was stunned, not knowing what to say. After a moment of hesitation, he said: "I... I'm fifteen years old. Does that mean...?"
"You will not be taken to the Celestial Palace." Mihawk looked at Shanks with pity in his eyes. "They probably think it's no longer worth it for you to get an education, so you won't be able to get out of here for the rest of your life."
"What?!" Shanks was deeply confused upon hearing this. He didn't know if he should be happy, disappointed or angry.
"Maybe, one day, when you fully accept that you are a Celestial Dragon, you will have a chance to be useful. After all, you have a great talent for swordsmanship." Mihawk shook his head and, after saying that, walked away.
Meanwhile...
Chaos reigned in the Domain of the Gods. Sniffles and curses echoed everywhere.
"We cannot allow it. We must speak to the Five Elders."
An older Celestial Dragon shouted angrily: "They just put us under house arrest here, but they want to take away our children. It's really unreasonable!"
"Yeah!"
"We must stop this recklessness! Let's change the Five Elders!"
Their faces were filled with anger, and they began to walk in groups towards the entrance gate of the Domain of the Gods. However, the entrance was heavily guarded by the Sacred Guard, who blocked their way.
"Get out of my way trash!"
"Let's go to Pangaea Castle to meet the Five Elders!"
"That's right, get out of here!"
But the soldiers of the Holy Land Guard just stood there quietly.
"Get out of the way." Suddenly, a rather majestic voice sounded. As soon as he finished speaking, all the Holy Land garrison blocking the way quickly dispersed to both sides.
Soon, the Celestial Dragons saw a tall man, dressed in golden armor and a white cloak, approach. This man is the current commander-in-chief of the Holy Land Guards.
"Jyrex!"
"Have you forgotten your identity?"
Jyrex calmly looked at the leader, the current head of the Rosward family and said in a deep voice: "I will only act according to the orders of the Five Elders."
"As you may remember, the Five Elders have ordered that any Celestial Dragon that leaves the Domain of the Gods will lose their status, privileges and all."
"This..." All the Celestial dragons looked at each other with hesitant expressions on their faces.
Jyrex continued in a deep voice. "So I've kept the door closed to give them a chance to calm down."
After speaking, he raised his hand and gave orders to all the Holy Land garrison present. "Open the doors!"
The next moment, under the operation of several soldiers, the huge iron door slowly pulled up.
"Whoever is willing to risk their status as a Celestial Dragon can leave, but their return is not guaranteed."
The Celestial Dragons remained silent, staring at the ground outside the door. They didn't understand why a place that was once easily accessible now seemed so terrifying.
"Hmph!" At this moment, the Saint Rosward slammed his luxurious staff on the ground and said angrily: "I want to see if the Five Elders dare to take away my status!"
With that, he advanced outside the gate of the Domain of the Gods, as everyone watched.
The next moment...
Three swishing sounds pierced the air, and three men in black instantly appeared next to the head of the Rosward family. One of them, looking directly at Saint Rosward, declared indifferently:
"Rosward Kryland, according to the supreme order of the Five Elders, you are no longer a Celestial Dragon. Your title of Saint Rosward will be assumed by Saint Keliard."
"Next you will be taken to the Holy Land Prison by us. Do you prefer to come voluntarily or for us to take you?"
Red Earth Continent, Area No. RL0003.
This is a winter zone, and it was in this place that the Building Department built a school campus as quickly as possible.
From the imposing twenty-story castle located in the center of the campus, several stone buildings are distributed that fulfill different functions.
"Let go of me!"
"You lowly servants!"
"Wah, I want my mom, where is mom?"
"Sob, it's so cold here, I don't want to be here!"
At this moment, boys and girls, who have been forcibly put into thick winter coats, are led by the Holy Guard to the courtyard in front of the castle.
After gathering the children, these armored soldiers quickly disperse around, turning into silent statues that watch silently.
However, the children still cry and complain. Some teenagers around fourteen or fifteen years old show fierce expressions that would make even adults feel uncomfortable. They seem to be burning with endless anger that they need to release.
At a window on the fifth floor of the castle, a golden-haired young man, standing behind a silver-haired old man, looks down with a complicated and fear-filled look.
"They remind me of that person."
"Our future job is to make sure these kids aren't like that anymore, right?"
The old man chuckled gently, but in response to his words, the young man hesitated unconfidently: "Can I really do it, and how should I do it? You know, I am about the same age as them."
"Use your kindness to accompany them, to influence the majority of them. As for the remaining few, let them go. After all, we cannot educate every child well."
After hearing this, the young man was silent for a moment, looked at the children outside the window, and asked: "Aren't we going down?"
"Let's wait a little longer. Let's be patient. Now no matter what we tell them, they won't listen." The silver-haired old man put his hands behind his back and smiled.
Sure enough, just as he said, the nearly a hundred children outside the castle gradually lost the strength to make noise as the cold wind continued to blow, and they gathered together in a shivering group, clutching their winter clothes tightly.
No one cried or scolded anymore, and silence was returned to the campus in the wind and snow.
"It's time." The silver-haired old man smiled slightly when he saw this, turned and walked towards the stairs downstairs, followed closely by the young man with golden curly hair.
Soon, under the gaze of all the children, the two slowly walked out from the depths of the castle gate, and then stood on the steps one behind the other.
The next moment, the silver-haired old man spoke energetically. "This is the Celestial Palace, the academy where you will stay until you are eighteen, nineteen or twenty years old. Of course, some 'lucky ones' may only need to stay until they are fifteen before they can return."
"Within three months, they will not be able to contact their families. But after three months, they will have the opportunity to request a staycation once a month, lasting seven days each time."
"Here, they will receive a comprehensive education that encompasses the physical, the mental, the academic, the philosophical, agriculture, navigation, geography, music, medicine and aristocratic responsibility."
"You must work hard here to become a true nobleman matching the status of World Noble."
All the children are silent, whether due to the intense cold or the domineering aura emanating from the silver-haired old man. Although many of them still do not fully understand what is being said to them they still listened attentively.
"Now, the boys are in one row and the girls in another. The youngest ones stand in front."
"Once lined up, they can enter to take a hot bath, change into their new school uniforms and then head to the dining room to enjoy a delicious lunch."
As soon as the silver-haired old man finished speaking, the eyes of all the children in the field lit up. They, who had been hungry and cold for a long time, no longer cared about their anger and grievances, and began to divide into two teams as quickly as possible.
This scene left the golden-haired youth speechless for a moment. He thought to himself: 'I think I misunderstood. Compared to that person, these children are really just children.'
This made him look at the back of the old man in front of him with admiration. 'Actually Mr. Figarland has done a good job as director.'
"Come in, I will be waiting for you in the cafeteria. I hope to see your new appearance. If someone makes trouble during this period, today's lunch and dinner will be cancelled."
After saying that, the silver-haired old man turned around and walked into the castle, and the blond boy followed him again to the third floor of the castle. This entire floor is the canteen and kitchen and is equipped with four extra-long stone dining tables, which are fully enough to accommodate Hundreds of people dine together.
At this time, the attendants have already begun to put the delicacies prepared by the chefs on one of the stone tables. In terms of drinks, milk, juice, coffee, black tea, matcha, and green tea are all available, but there is no alcohol.
Observing all this, Rosinante was immersed in memories.
A week earlier, he had been called to the Admiral's office at the Navy School, where an official from the World Government who claimed to be from the Department of Saint Affairs was already waiting for him.
He was then informed that his status and qualification as a Celestial Dragon had been restored, and he was asked to return to Mary Geoise to take up the position of assistant to the director of the Celestial Palace.
Honestly, the whole process, even until now, left him perplexed.
Firstly, how had his status as a Celestial Dragon been restored, who had done it, and why? Secondly, why was he chosen to be assistant to the director?
Furthermore, he clearly remembers that he has been concealing his identity. How does the world government know about him?
Rosinante then asked Sengoku, who was equivalent to his father to him, but the latter also claimed that it was not him who revealed it, which was very strange.
But after interacting with the silver-haired old man here, he found that he didn't hate this job at all. Rather, he felt that it was very significant.
"We must not let them become as scary as my brother!"
Rosinante's eyes gradually became firmer. He felt that he had found a cause worthy of dedicating his entire life to, just as the old man had said before, to make the future Celestial Dragons live up to being called World Nobles.
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