Selani had been silent all along as his master visited the village chief's house to let him know about their plans to recruit young talents here…

Although they didn't manage to meet the village chief due to his sudden illness, they've been told by his representative that the presence of the Sun Fire Knights was very much welcome in the village and he was hoping that the knights would indeed find the talented individuals they were looking for… ​​

"Master, why do you think that the village chief did not dare to meet you?"

"Didn't the representative said that he was sick?"

"Even if he was, he should still struggle and show himself… You are about to become a Silver Swordsman after your ceremony… Even a viscount would have to be respectful in front of you..."

"Hah… It doesn't really matter…"

Tristan can only shake his head as he answered.

Selani wouldn't find the chief's action to be wrong if his master didn't introduce his status. However, even after all of that, the chief remained absent in their presence. It was something that would never happen in the city.

"In any case, we had the permission to find some recruits…"

"Sigh~ Are we going to post our requirements or do you plan to make a contest of some sort?"

Selani wasn't sure how his master plans to do this mission but he still felt eager in finding the young talents. It would surely brighten up his mood once he became a "senior".

"Mhmm… We'll take a look at their living conditions for now. If we offered a sufficient reward, there would be a lot of volunteers in the recruitment…"

The apprentice understood his master's line of thought. Showing an immediate reward was the best form of advertisement.

'In this small village with around three thousand residents, giving ten or fifteen gold to the lucky person should be enough…'

As they were about to find some helpers for the recruitment, his master glanced in the forest's direction as if he found something interesting.

Selani looked in the same place but he can only see the wooden houses, the people walking around, and several trees in the background…

"Follow me… We can arrange that later on."

After hearing his master's words, Selani didn't ask more questions and moved his feet. His master's movement wasn't simple as he noticed that he used their knight's footwork…

It was the Hazy Flash Steps!

The apprentice used the same technique and followed behind Tristan.

Although Selani hadn't been practicing this for a long time, he already fully grasped this technique!

He wouldn't be an apprentice for a soon-to-be Silver Swordsman if he doesn't have this much of a talent.

It didn't take long before he noticed his master land on a thick branch of a huge tree and remained unmoving… He landed beside his master and glanced at the area where his master was looking at.

He noticed two individuals holding bronze swords…

'No, it's a wooden sword…'

Selani corrected himself. He saw a young kid facing off against a guy who was obviously older than him by many years.

He didn't find it strange that people were practicing swords in this area. His master's reaction was also understandable as they were here to find talents.

"Haa!"

They heard the small kid shout as he released his aura…

"It's different to our sword aura…"

"Mhm… It's just an unpolished aura."

His master agreed. Sword Aura wasn't uncommon to sword practitioners. It would naturally form to those who use Spiritual Energy whenever they utilize their swords in combat…

It takes time to manifest but it would certainly happen as long as one would continuously use their sword…

Selani then squinted his eyes after seeing the kid's aggressive form in front of a taller opponent who had the best form in terms of counterattacking.

Bam!

The sound of woods clashing was heard as the taller guy was unable to throw a counter due to the kid's momentum. The guy can only defend and find a chance to counter.

However, as soon as he planned to counter, the kid would use strange footwork to gain some distance from his opponent.

The battle continued and Selani found it really strange.

The taller guy definitely had years of foundation in sword arts. His movements, his reaction, and his strikes were something that was honed for many years.

However, the little kid's strange movement, angles of strikes, aim, and unchanging sword stance, had a different charm to it.

Even after twelve sword exchanges, there was still no obvious winner.

Bam!

As the taller guy was unable to properly counter due to the threat of a terrifying overhead strike hitting him, his patience was starting to wear out. His strikes would always get easily dodged, or sometimes parried and he would be the one getting worried for the powerful overhead strike.

His frustration got into him as he could only defend himself from those strikes.

"Hmmph!"

He decided to initiate an attack again by breaking his hanging guard stance. He raised his sword as he focused his energy on a single but powerful strike.

"Haat!"

As he thrust his sword to stop the kid's momentum and deal a decisive blow, the latter simply sidestepped and accurately strikes his right arm holding the sword. It was such a swift and natural reaction.

If the kid didn't manage to dodge the sword's thrust perfectly, he would've won that exchange…

"Impressive…" Selani muttered referring to the little kid.

"Eh? Isn't that Diether?" It was only now that he recognized the young man. His master seems to be aware of it since a while ago as he nodded in confirmation.

"Mhm. Their Spiritual Energy is about the same level but that kid knows how to perfectly blend it with his body…"

"Body? Not on the sword?"

"Yes… That's their difference… The tall kid was focusing most of his power on his sword while Diether has a perfect distribution of his energy. His spatial awareness was also something to take note of… Whatever angle his opponent tries to exploit, it just doesn't work…"

"Ah! That's true… It's like he has other eyes…"

Selani approved his master's words. If he was in that battle with the same level of Energy, he may have won the fight but it wouldn't be as impressive as how Diether did it.

"Heh… I wonder what kind of training he does."