Final preparations

After arriving at the capital city of Aventia, the trio, Vince, Ronny, and Bobby were enrolled into the knight-training regiment to prepare them for their future duty of protecting and assisting Frey.

Bobby and the other two were not put into prison, instead, rewarded for their bravery of taking down an Ironhoof spy, and thus aiding the search party that had been hunting for Hodwan.

Once the news of the criminal's death spread throughout the city, the spirits of the people were greatly invigorated for some days.

Taverns made record profits, and criminal activity was at an all-time low.

The citizens felt safer, once again assured of their Lord's power and capability of providing order and stability.

Details were obscured, only three people knew the entire truth, the rest was up to the imagination of the common and noble folk.

For Frey this was the beginning of the most intense training yet.

Cykrus held the reins of his schedule, designating times for him to study runes, others for practical training, some for strategy, and to improve Frey's mindset.

Agnes had successfully given Frey a baseline of knowledge, even though she was lacking in terms of teaching qualities, upon which Cykrus was able to extend.

Frey noticed a vast difference between the amount he could learn, now that someone of the same element took to teaching him.

He felt an additional improvement in his spell-wielding after his discovery of his connection to the particles of his surroundings.

His days were taxing, with little free time to himself, but he actually preferred this state.

He couldn't worry and overthink, if there was no time to do so in the first place.

Whatever lay ahead of him, he would face it.

Lord Cykrus' approvement gave him an incredible boost in motivation, coupled with his desire of revenge being fulfilled, he felt like he could achieve anything.

Frey believed that his family, the people of his village, and whoever else Hodwan had brought misfortune upon had been brought to peace.

Months passed by in a flash, Frey continued to live like a pretty flower in a greenhouse, shut off from the outside world, but he did not mind.

He took pleasure in his alone time and understood that this training was the build-up to the most important event of his life.

Though Cykrus wanted to prepare Frey as best he could, not a single drop of information got leaked in regard to the competition, and whatever it entailed.

Many highly paid informants kept a close eye on the movements of the other participating families, and they appeared to be none the wiser.

Which was a good thing, as no one would get to have an unfair advantage over anyone else, but the amount of secrecy this implied was unthinkable.

Humans are prone to succumb to bribes or threats, both of which were very likely already attempted, but even then, no results.

The only piece of information that managed to spread to all of the participants, and pretty much everyone else who held a modicum of interest regarding politics and power, was that the election process of His Majesty's successor would also start around the same time as the competition.

The election process was a tradition that continued throughout the ages: the current rulers' heirs would be presented with a span of time, in which their only goal was to amass wealth, supporters, influence, and most importantly... strength!

By the end of the deadline His Majesty would have to decide which of his heirs is eligible to succeed him and become the new ruler.

His Majesty's bias plays a huge role in the deciding factor, but time has shown that him deciding alone might not be the best path for the future, as such, there is a select council that holds rights to vote.

These people usually consisted of the royal advisors, strategists, the most influential families who were of royal blood, and obviously the strongest of mages.

Frey too received lectures on some of these, after all he was going to travel to the royal capital where the competition would take place.

... ...

A circular table with seven seats was once again only partially filled, five of the seven were occupied.

The red-haired woman, Silvana, Simon, and Charles were all present, with the addition of another member.

Charles slammed his fist onto the table, his other hand held onto a white piece of paper, whose contents held a situation report on several topics.

Simon chuckled at the sight, "Something wrong?" he smirked at him.

Charles glared back at him, "It is news regarding our search party."

"Our? I think you mean your search party." Simon emphasized.

"It has been largely wiped out. The only survivor brought back the corpse of Hodwan." Charles continued while ignoring Simon.

Silvana gasped, "What happened? I thought your selection was more than capable of taking care of a single rank one mage?"

"The survivor handed in a report, stating that they successfully took care of Hodwan by utilising their poison, but I had an odd feeling whenever I read through it, so I had him interrogated. He held out for several days of torture, but in the end, he gave in and confessed a different story..." Charles spoke slowly as a flame appeared and incinerated the letter.

"Cykrus Aventia, his follower, the ice mage Agnes, and their new rank one mage 'Frey', caused his death. His corpse was littered with fresh scars and wounds, but the greatest damage was caused by fire, he was burnt all over his body, especially his left arm. Additionally, there was a hole in his head."

"His death is a shame, but a blessing in disguise considering his wavering loyalty. Another benefit is that we discovered several interesting things about their contestant for the competition..." Charles explained, causing the red-haired woman to fold her hands, her gaze sharpened with renewed interest.

"Any information regarding the competition is greatly valued and appreciated." Silvana smiled from across the table.

"Before that, there is something I would like to present." the third, unknown man spoke as he pushed a sealed envelope across the table, into the hands of the red-haired woman.

She carefully picked it up and examined the wax seal, "Ho?" her lips formed into a smile.

She opened the envelope and began reading, the hooded man began to speak as she did, "We have received an offer, an offer regarding an alliance, something that must be kept quiet to our utmost ability in case we agree..." the man looked through the room, quietly evaluating who could be trusted.

"Thank you, Astore... this is wonderful news. Let them know that we are inclined to agree, if the benefits they are offering remain as stated here." the red-haired woman burned the letter.

Astore bowed his head, then gestured at Charles to continue.

Charles nodded, "Like his master, the boy is an earth mage. Several spells are the same ones that Cykrus Aventia frequently used in the past, I will prepare a list on another date. But the more important thing... this boy is dangerous."

Silvana tilted her head in confusion, "What could make a rank one mage dangerous?"

Charles forced a smile, "According to the survivor's statements, the boy's voice allows him to control people and animals."

... ...

Frey turned eleven years old, and by the time the competition was around the corner, he had become twelve years old.

He grew a bit taller, his long black hair got cut short, to make him more presentable for the royals and nobles.

Although his new hairstyle made his gender a tad clearer, his face still greatly resembled his mother's.

All of the guards and servants, as well as advisors throughout the palace treated him as respectfully as they would when facing Cykrus, their smiles still slightly unsettled him, but he had come to accept their presence.

Frey smiled back and greeted them whenever they passed by him.

This blissful time almost made him forget about the horrible things he experienced prior to meeting Agnes, but this was not the moment to get caught up in the past...

He was walking towards the former gardens within the palace's grounds, where Cykrus had been waiting for him.

"We've had many mock-battles so far, but today I want you to come at me like you mean it. No holding back, no fear of hurting me. Because if you hesitate to attack, it will cost you your life." Cykrus said once Frey arrived, who got visibly uncomfortable.

"Not today, but in the competition, and later in your life." Cykrus continued.

"Why are you so sure that the competition will be deadly?" Frey asked.

"Consider the stakes. His Majesty will redistribute land according to the results of the competition. This means that a big family could be reduced to nothing or gain a lot more land to continue growing and strengthening itself."

"I don't think I ever told you about the noble hierarchy... the lowest of ranks are regular nobles. They are usually people with wealth that eclipses that of normal citizens, or because their ancestors had a relation with royal blood. They are referred to as Sir or Madam."

"Then there is Ladies, or, well, Lords like me, who have to be a rank one or two mage, with either one of those two as a vassal. Me and Agnes in our case."

"Above me is the rank of Baron or Baroness, the family head is usually of rank two, and has several rank two followers. Just goes to show the difference between us and the Ironhoofs."

"Then there is the Marquis and Marquise, renowned rank three mages, with varying amounts of followers. They are powerful enough on their own that the size of their followship doesn't really matter, but people flock to them like birds to crumbs."

"Finally, there are the members of the royal court, they are second only to the royal blood and people usually refer to them as Duke or Duchess. They are either mages, or have other indispensable roles assigned to them by His Majesty."

"And of course, the royal family itself. There is much to say about them, but I'll introduce them as we go, since the rest is already a lot of information to swallow. Don't worry you'll hear the titles often enough; you will get a good grasp on their meaning the more you interact with things and people outside of Aventia."

"Now, enough talk, come at me!" Cykrus smiled as two chunks of earth separated from the ground to float next to him.

Frey focused on the two, though he tried, he was unable to make them detonate, whether that was because he lacked some sort of knowledge, was simply inferior to his Lord, or because it just wasn't possible, he did not know.

He began by launching spikes at his master, which were promptly redirected away from him.

It looked effortless, like there was an invisible barrier that automatically stopped the spikes from approaching Cykrus.

Frey had gotten the same result throughout their many battles, but it didn't hurt to try at least.

Then he stopped one of them short and instead made it explode, the same thing that had caught Hodwan off guard.

One of the chunks next to Cykrus moved in response, like a liquid it changed its form to cover him up, acting as a wall.

The second formed into a sword, like this Cykrus walked towards Frey.

Frey sighed, this was an exact repeat of their last fight, in just a few moments he would be cornered with no way to fight back, unable to penetrate the shield, unable to make his spells approach his master, and unable to stop the sword from 'taking his life', which would result in his loss.

He frowned and raised his foot, before stomping down, the earth reacted to his action by unleashing a wave around him, pulverizing the ground and kicking up very fine dust into the air.

This, however, did nothing more than obstruct some of Cykrus' vision, "A useful spell, but it would have a lot more uses if you were a rank two." he said from within the smoke.

Frey grumbled; a lot of things would be easier if he was rank two, but that seemed like wishful thinking.

Or...?

Wait...!

What if...?!

"Gather!" Frey shouted; his command echoed through the garden.

His mind wandered back to a couple years ago, when he had attempted the same thing during Hodwan's and Agnes' first fight...

Back then the particles were unresponsive, they acted like they couldn't hear him, ignored the order issued through his curse...

But Frey's understanding had grown a lot since then, he felt in tune with the particles around him, and like he had hoped: the particles began to buzz in acknowledgement.

A wondrous sight unfolded in front of Frey's eyes; his jaw dropped as the dust cloud gathered into one spot, becoming a conglomerate of earthen particles for him to use.

He didn't stop to consider for too long, and instead cast the first spell that came to mind: a plain old spike, but unlike all those before, this one easily cut through the wall that Cykrus had created and continued shooting towards him.

Cykrus' own mouth was agape, the sword and shield spell dispersed, and in moments Cykrus was covered in a brightly shining golden armour.

Frey's spike was stopped with a loud clinking noise, Cykrus got pushed back half a meter, his armour however was left without a dent.

"What was that?!" he quickly asked with a great deal of excitement as the golden armour around him disappeared.

Frey was speechless, both because he had just achieved a feat usually reserved exclusively for rank two mages and upwards, but also because this was the first time he had seen his master use that spell.

Cykrus had garnered himself a great deal of reputation and rumours thanks to his armour-spell, but they always referred to it as earth, when in reality it looked as majestic as gold.

He hadn't found the spell within the inheritance tome he was studying... where did his master learn such a spell?

Seeing that Frey was stunned into silence Cykrus approached him and placed his hands on Frey's shoulders, shaking him back to reality, "Frey, what was that?"

"I-I don't know... I just thought of what Agnes and Hodwan did, and... it worked."

Cykrus breathed heavily, "No one must know of this. This is your best chance at surprising the other contestants of the competition. A rank one with the power of rank two... I must be dreaming..." he said and carefully looked Frey up and down.

"I don't feel a change in your aura, there is no way anyone could guess..." he began to smile.

Frey smiled too, getting praised felt good, and strengthened his confidence, suppressing some of the nerve-wrecking anticipation towards the competition.

"Not even Agnes?" Frey asked afterwards.

Cykrus shook his head, "I trust Agnes more than anyone, but it's better to keep quiet about this for now, why don't you surprise her by winning the competition?"

"I'll do my best!" Frey spoke while puffing out his chest.

Cykrus then lowered his voice, "There is something else that I meant to ask you about for the longest time now... that earth spirit... is it a spell?"

Frey's brows furrowed, unsure what his master was talking about for several moments, "Ah! You mean Lu?" he said, then shook his head, "I don't know. He just appeared one day and has been with me ever since. He helped me get out of a lot of bad situations. He can't talk, but it seems like he can understand what I am saying."

"He does? Incredible... I didn't think he would be sentient. If you ever find out his origins, you must tell me." Cykrus answered to which Frey nodded firmly, "I will."

"But master, where did you learn that armour spell?"

Cykrus smiled wryly "Don't worry, I will teach it to you someday." he avoided answering the question.

The two of them then turned their heads towards the source of the approaching steps, "Master, young master, several carriages wearing the royal insignia have just arrived in front of the palace." Lena the head-maid informed them.

"Already? Let them in, serve them some tea, I shall be with them in a short while. Frey, you go and get a bath and then get dressed." Cykrus spoke.

"Is there anything I need to take with me?" Frey asked before leaving.

"No, you'll probably be spoiled rotten at the royal capital just for taking part in the competition. Take along as much or as little you need." Cykrus waved him off.

Frey ran off, and Cykrus too went to prepare himself to receive the guests that came here to personally and safely escort them.

After some time and a change of clothes, Cykrus entered the dining hall where the guests had been waiting, "Do excuse me, you arrived sooner than anticipated." he spoke while sizing up the two men.

The first wore lavish armour, on his chest was an engraved insignia of a rainbow-coloured lotus flower, which Cykrus immediately recognised as the royal family's.

He felt no trace of magic from the man, which meant he wasn't as important as his companion, merely there to represent His Majesty's forces, "Greetings...?" he turned to the other, who wore a long purple-golden gown.

The man hurriedly stood up; his face looked quite young and filled with respect, somewhere in his twenties, "Lord Aventia, it is an honour to meet you once again." he bowed lightly.

Both Cykrus and the armoured knight were surprised, one knew the young man's status, while the other could feel his rank three aura...