Mysterious Meetup at the Frontier

Aizen pulled his body up until his chin was over the bar one last time. He couldn't take it anymore and decided to take a break first.

When he jumped down after removing his hands from the bar, the sound of him landing on the floor was quite loud, enough to startle the other students watching from the classroom door.

He was out of breath and struggling to manage it. But he wasn't in a hurry, and while trying to normalize his breathing rhythm, he walked over to get his clothes.

Ainkrad, who had been watching over Aizen's exercise, approached. "How? Do you find it too much? It's twice as heavy as before."

"It can be done," Aizen answered.

What Ainkrad meant was the weight that Aizen had just used. It weighs 20 kg, twice the previous weight. That was why he was overwhelmed when doing pull-ups. He also had to undress because the muscles were straining with the new weight he had to carry while doing the exercise.

Ainkrad was impressed that Aizen didn't complain about the 20 kg weight. Apart from that, he was also amazed by Aizen's adaptability with 10 kg of weight. Therefore, he suggested increasing the weight of the load.

Aizen himself was quite troubled. But, he agreed with Ainkrad because he was already used to 10 kg in everyday life and was no longer burdened in training. Of course, 20 kg was not a weight he could get comfortable with and get used to anytime soon.

'Time will reward me for my hard work.'

"Okay then, see you tomorrow. Even though your weight has increased, your training course is still the same as before. Got that?"

"Yes, sir."

Ainkrad then left the room and saw other students at the door.

"Why are you here? Just go home. There's nothing for you to see here. Tomorrow your training menu will be the same as today.

"Double!"

Ainkrad said with a devilish smile. He couldn't wait for his students to reach the physical standards of an Apprentice Knight. Only then would he be able to begin the combat training of a knight. And perhaps the war battlefield, if any, showed aptitude as a troop commander.

Despite the fact, it wasn't in today's chivalric course syllabus. It was all because he saw the possibility in Aizen, even though the signs of a commander hadn't appeared yet.

Meanwhile, the students still didn't disperse, standing and huddled in front of the door glancing at Ainkrad and Aizen.

Ayduin ventured up to Aizen and asked shyly. "Are you really wearing 20 kg weights now? Isn't that heavy?"

"It's heavy. Moreover, my body is small." Aizen answered offensively.

"Ah, that...," Ayduin could only run his hand through his hair and avert his eyes. He understood what Aizen meant. It was their actions on the first day that talked about his body shape.

The students of the class ridiculed Aizen's small frame. But now, instead, they were only able to use 10 kg of weight while the ones being ridiculed were already wearing 20 kg and seemed to be able to move around with it.

Aizen walked away while glancing at the students in front of the door.

The students immediately became embarrassed and stepped away from the door to give way to Aizen.

However, Aizen stopped in his tracks. He took a deep breath after managing to regain his breathing rhythm.

"I don't care if it goes in one ear and out the other. I'll give you guys some advice for this practice.

"Never take off those weights in your daily life regardless of the situation. You have to get used to the weight before pushing it to a new weight.

"If you still insist, then you will continue to train like that for an entire year without being able to reach the minimum physical limit of an Apprentice Knight."

"Em..., but we never let it go," Ayduin replied with an awkward smile.

Hearing those words, Aizen turned around and shot Ayduin and the other students' condescending looks.

"If you don't do that, then why is the instructor doubling your practice?"

Ayduin and the other students immediately gulped. What Aizen said was not wrong because they always took off the weight when they were at their house.

And when it came to today's grueling training, they had little realization and fear that Ainkrad knew what they were doing.

"Ey! That's a joke, right?"

However, Aizen didn't answer Ayduin's words and left while waving his right hand up. Whether the students were aware of it or not, that was their business.

He had been kind enough to give advice and put aside their treatment on the first day. Despite having a lot of business to take care of and the main goal was to prevent the Omni War, he personally wanted to elevate Raven Academy's knight class in the inter-school competition, which was held once a year.

He still had the pride of a knight despite being able to use magic due to an ancient spirit.

In the Omni War era, knights excelled in survival more than mages, who would die easily if the scale of the war included hundreds of thousands of soldiers or even millions.

Why?

It was because of the weapons with new magic technology distributed by the Brotherhood of Specters. Those weapons could rival mages in terms of destructive power and area of effect.

And it could make mages, who usually didn't have the strong and tough physique like knights, easily collapse.

Aizen wanted to show all living sentient beings in the Azure Realm that a knight was a rank no lower than a mage.

The next day, the fifteen students from Class 3 of Knight Division looked achy. Their faces showed the expressions of people that were exhausted from a night of poor sleep.

Aizen smiled softly at that. He was like them too, after the first time he put on weights to sleep. The body felt all sore and stiff.

It was proof that they took his advice not to let go of these weights in their daily lives.

Ainkrad, who had come to class with a gloomy face, frowned at the state of his students.

"Sigh. I don't know what happened. But I won't be changing today's practice course. As I said earlier, you are fifteen, double. And you, as usual." He explained his orders and showed no mercy to his students, even though they had different circumstances.

"Yes, instructor."

"Yes, sir."

"Okay, teacher."

The students answered without enthusiasm and looked lethargic, while Aizen immediately warmed up without much talk and behavior.

"Answer me loudly!" Aincrad shouted.

"Yes, instructor!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Okay, teacher!"

All students ended up doing the exercises the same as usual. It was a peaceful day at Raven Academy with no disturbances at all.

--- ---

Somewhere far southwest of the Aslan Empire, on the border with the Tucan Kingdom. There were three mysterious people in the middle of the wilderness. They were wearing black robes with hoods without anyone being able to see their faces if they didn't come closer.

Suddenly, a man was coming from the opposite direction in a white suit, formal and clean. On the left side of the man's chest was the insignia of the Tucan Kingdom. The man's name was Mikael Vizier.

He was the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Tucan Kingdom. He was responsible for overseeing the financial affairs of the nation. That included collecting taxes, managing government spending, and ensuring the kingdom's finances were in order.

When Mikael was right in front of the three mysterious people in black hooded robes, he bowed in salute.

"Forgive this loyal subject of yours for making the almighty Lady Nightshade, sir Obsidian, and sir Darkfire wait in the middle of this wilderness."

"Enough! I know you were in a rush to come and that you didn't change your clothes. But I hope you have made sure no one followed your trail here."

"Lady Nightshade, this subordinate of yours has confirmed that with great care and scrutiny. Please believe in me, O great one."

"Enough. Stop the disgusting flattery. What business do you need to convey to meet in person without using the usual courier?" Darkfire interrupted.

"King Louis der Cyrus got a glimpse of our organization. And because of that, it is dangerous to use ordinary couriers while the information I want to convey cannot be delayed anymore. And preparing new couriers will take time."

"Alright. You may continue with your words." Obsidian chimed in while motioning for Nightshade and Darkfire to listen. He also snapped his fingers to put up a barrier that isolated them from the outside so as not to let anyone hear the context.

"Because King Louis der Cyrus has little information about the organization, now is the most difficult time to trick them into starting a war.

"Even kidnapping or killing Marie Adelaide der Cyrus would have been out of the question with such heavy security.

"On top of that, the king has also formed a new squad to investigate the clues leading to the organization."

"You're right. It was a troublesome and tricky situation." Obsidian assessed the predicament.

"If the Tucans can't be instigated for war, it will be difficult to incite other nations. Should we report to Spectre?" Nightshade joined in.