Ceremony

"Welcome young, knights," she said with a majestic tone

She beckoned to the platoon members that were all standing at the doorway with stunned expressions.

Jason didn't see the rich lady that he helped about a while ago. He now saw an elegant leader who sat on in the middle of the chamber like a throne, with power and majesty.

The whole world seemed to surround Lady Megra as she gazed at the entire platoon.

She looked at Charlie and said to the whole platoon

"young knights, your last trial ends here, I and the council of elders will listen to your adventures and judge you on them."

A group of 10 people who Jason's hadn't even noticed, were standing on the left and right of Lady Megra, dressed in scholarly clothes. They nodded to Lady Megra's words and looked at Charlie expectantly.

Charlie nervously walked up and into the chamber. He walked to where the red carpet ended and kneeled on the ground and said respectfully.

"Lady Megra allow me to recount the tales of our platoon from the beginning to the end"

Jason was in the front of the platoon giving him a good view of everything. As Charlie kneeled Lady Megra smilled over him, proud of what he had become. But Jason listened to Charlie since he had only been part of the platoon for a bit and didn't know the whole story.

Charlie began

"most of us, when we got recruited had a purpose in being a rose knight, whether it be fame, glory, or riches. We all came into the training camp at a young age, as you already know, our minds were immature and our bodies were too. We all had our different backgrounds and different ideals, sparking occasional fights between us"

Jitsuryoku the red barrack leader and the person who had almost decided to pick on Jason turned his head and awkwardly gave a soft cough.

He had come in as a prideful person who thought that he could reach the top with strength. After his strength failed him and he lost all motivation, he had dwindled, and only after seeing the hard efforts of a random newbie did he soon start to regain his passion and strength from before. But this time, without the overreliance on his own physical strength.

Charlie continued

"We were a strong group, full of talents and prodigies, and as we endured the harsh training day after day. We looked down on the people who were falling behind, we laughed at the people who weren't talented in anything and ostracized them."

Charlie paused to catch his breath, and Jason turned to see the entire platoon looking at the floor with ashamed expressions on their faces. Boops remarked quietly

"ahh, so they weren't always this nice"

Charlie continued

"We approached the final trial with pride and a cocky attitude. It took us only a few days to realize that we would fail, even when we got backstabbed by someone we thought of as a brother. It only made our situation even more hopeless."

Charlie gave a sad sigh and said

"We are the first trainee platoon to ever fail a final trial and we are ashamed of it, it took us a few years to recover from it, from the shame of giving up and the sadness of being betrayed."

The mood in the room seemed to turn cold and everyone was silent. Charlie's eyes were lost sorrowfully staring into the void while the ashamed platoon stood behind him.

Jason looked around alarmed, the platoon around him didn't look like a victorious platoon returning from a brilliant campaign. They now looked like people who had just done a terrible mistake and were now facing the consequences.

As the silence prevailed and the atmosphere seemed to be freezing cold.

Somebody spoke in a mellow and deep voice that seemed to echo around the chamber.

"But we got back up"

Everyone simultaneous turned to look at who spoke. Even Lady Megra, Charlie, and the council of elders turned to see who had spoken.

Jason saw the person who talked and his mouth was hanging out like a puppets.

The person who talked, stood a few feet in front of the platoon, in the middle of Charlie and the platoon. He had soft red hair that was cut short. A big frame that was like a bears.

A large shield hanged on his back and an emotionless expression was on his face.

Colby looked at Charlie in the eye and stepped back next to where he was originally next to Jason and Lyle who were both staring at Jason with the most surprised expressions one could muster.

That was the first time anyone had heard his voice, even Lyle who had virtually grown up with Colby had just heard his voice for the first time.

a small notification came up to Jason

[you have heard the silent Colby's voice]

[+2 fame]

Jason could almost hear the cold atmosphere shatter in front of him. Boops was laughing at the fact that you could get famous from hearing Colby's voice. And almost everyone in the platoon was excited and surprised to hear Cobly's voice.

Charlie smilled, and he turned back to Lady Megra and the council of elders.

"that's right," he said "we got back up, it took us way longer then it should have, but we learned to become a team, when we returned our training was intensified, we spent months using the illusion pillars. Weeks were spent running away from giant gorilla monsters and more, we learned after failing the final trial that our individual strength wasn't enough, so we spent the rest of our period before we tried the final trial again training, even when the instructors left to deal with the bandit and monster uprisings we never stopped. We thought we were the group that was betrayed by a comrade"

Charlie smilled and turned to look at Jason and the wolves

" but in fact, we were the ones that go so many more"

A big grin passed through the entire platoon, as they looked at the wolves and Jason. The wolves were swiveling their heads constantly looking in wonder at the shiny stuff in the hallway.

As they passed through the doorway the emotionless pink-haired girl had cast a spell on them so that they could see all the cool glowy drawings.

Charlie turned back to Lady Megra with a grin that he couldn't stop plastered all over his face.

"so we faced the final trial with our new friends and comrades we swept through, defeating the bandits that plagued the land and even defeating a commander ranked monster that was causing the monster, we became heroes to the people of Muno and I think that was when all of us soon realized what we were seeking."

Charlie stood back up and said to Lady Megra

"so Lady Megra, that is our tale, the tale of the 56th rose knight trainee platoon"

Lady Megra looked at Charlie and the platoon and then back at the council of elders. Each and every one of the elders nodded as they came into her gaze.

Lady Megra looked back at Charlie and with a bright smile and said

"and so ends the tale of the 56 rose knight trainee platoon"

Everyone's eyes were glued to Lady Megra as she got up from her seat and walked down to where Charlie stood. Charlie quickly kneeled as she approached him.

And on the side of Lady Megra's crimson dress was a single sword, with a rose embedded on the hilt, a few leaves were on the side of the rose while a small stem of thorns grew out curling around the foot of the blade. The blade gave off a red glint when the light fell upon it.

Lady Megra pulled out her sword in a quick motion and laid the flat of the blade onto Charlie's shoulders. She lifted her head and looked at the rest of the platoon and said in a loud melodious voice

"and so beggings the story of the reborn roses, the ones who have finally earned the title (rose knight)"

Lady Megra looked at the entire platoon and then turned back to the council of elders

"even from failure, you will rise up, even from the depths of despair you will not lose hope, even as the world slowly falls to darkness and evil, you will rise as a shining light from the darkness that you yourselves were once part of. May you always remember the despair and hopelessness you felt and use it as a tool for your future strength."

Lady Megra stood up tall and proclaimed

"from here on out, you shall be known as (wolves of the rose), and may you always hold your lesson dear to your heart"

The atmosphere seemed to brighten up and the platoon members all had a glow in their eyes. Lady Megra walked back to her seat and as she sat down her red eyes seemed to glow with a golden red.

"let the ceremony begin"