The young boy was now standing in front of the Arcanist Tower and felt the powerful Array protecting it.

The intensity of the protection was definitely higher than their headquarters in Saalstein City.

​​

Here in Cardelle City, they also have a small branch but it wasn't that developed since this place had so many competitions. After all, the four Knights Order's branches were also here aside from the Arcanist Tower that is obviously dominating the city.

Of course, this doesn't mean that their current base here has a weaker defense. After all, their strength relies on their fighting style, the Sun Fire Arts.

Although he wasn't Knighted yet since he was still too young, he's clearly aware that their Knights Order can fight the top Royal Knights equally and they even have some advantage especially if it's during the day where the sunlight is exposed.

"Diether… Stop gawking at that tower… We'll visit our friends first… Are you that excited?"

"Haha… Of course not, leader… I heard about this Tower's impressive Protection Array so I want to take a closer look."

"I see… You'll have plenty of time later…"

"Yes, leader…"

Diether then hurried to his group as they headed to the nearest Sun Fire Knight's Station.

The supposedly friendly duel against the Tower's young elites would still be a week later and they arrived a bit too early.

They would enough time to rest and get used to the city… They could even find some unique souvenirs for their friends that were left in Saalstein City.

Apparently, a lot of them wanted to join here but only three people were allowed.

In the end, the three squires who managed to reach an advanced level in the Sun Fire Arts were selected.

They are Diether, Calliope, and Terence…

They are the only squires at the age of 12 to 15 who managed to improve so fast considering that they also have to train in various techniques within the Order.

It is that difficult to receive a knightage at the Sun Fire Knights unlike the Chaos Knights who were just mostly looking for people who are compatible with their Arcane Magic called Chaos Heart before training them.

"Diether, are you confident with the fight against the Tower's elites?" Calliope asked silently after the young man reached them.

Diether looked at the black-haired Calliope and smiled… He showed a confident look and answered.

"We will know a lot about them after we reached our branch here. However, they would have no idea about our Arcana and abilities. We will have an advantage. I think that we have a good chance"

Diether is not underestimating them just because their leader said that they are weak since that would be an insult from the teachings of his first Master…

"But why did you dye your hair? Your scarlet hair from before was already beautiful…" He added.

Terence looked at Diether with a serious face after seeing how he easily complimented the charming girl.

Terence is already 15 years old but he can't hold a proper conversation with any girls in their batch.

This is also probably the reason why Diether was selected as their leader instead of him who could barely hold a conversation with another person.

"It's fine if we're only in Saalstein as everyone already knows my identity… However, our opponents here were Arcanists that we've never met… If they see the color of my eyes and my hair, they might misunderstand something. Especially now that Losea Kingdom is getting more and more aggressive."

Diether was then reminded that Calliope was actually a noble from the northern kingdom before she was captured and was sold as a slave…

It was because the prince that their family has supported to succeed the throne was defeated… It resulted in the eradication of their whole family after being charged with treason.

It was such a tragedy that Diether felt sorry after being reminded about it…

The young girl only managed to become a recruit and now a squire after she was saved by the Sun Fire Knights at that time.

"I see… Let's do our best then…"

"Of course... I don't want to be teased by those guys if we returned as losers…"

Terence smiled after listening to the two as he promised to himself that he'll beat these Arcanists that were comfortably living in a nice tower.

***

Reiji saw Rufus observing the Elite Gram Sword that they purchased.

It appears that this young man was getting excited to use it in real battle.

'You can't use it for now as you still need to train. You'll just hurt yourself. Use those heavy wooden swords in the meantime…'

'Ahh… Yes, Master… I'm just thinking of cleaning it… I'll put it away now.' Rufus obediently listened to his master.

'Alright… Help me build the hanging woods for now.'

Rufus was a bit confused but decided to just follow his master's instructions.

After about half an hour of arrangements, they finally finished the advanced level Hanging Woods to train his reflexes…

They used a pole and created branched to tie the hanging ropes on it. Finally, they tied the pieces of dark wood at the end of the ropes completing the nostalgic training equipment.

'Master… What am I supposed to do with this?'

Rufus asked after confirming that they've finished building it.

'It's simple. You just have to stand at the center and hold the wooden sword… Do your best not to get hit by the pieces of wood as it may hurt you. You can dodge or parry them but think of them as lethal strikes. This will help you improve your reflexes and battle sense even by a little bit… Do you understand?'

'Y-yes, Master! I'll do my best.'

Rufus replied as he felt quite excited. He was actually quite bored with the sword swings and stance training as it is a repetitive process.

He knows that it is very important for a beginner like him but there was no way that he'll enjoy doing the same thing for several hours or days.

What keeps him going was his desire to become strong and worthy of being his master's student.

Now that he has a chance to experience hitting something, he couldn't help but look forward to it.

Reiji noticed that his student is quite energetic and excited. This made him happy as he wants his student to show enthusiasm when learning the way of the sword.

'Let's begin!'

The shinai floated and started hitting the pieces of wood to create a pattern that would supposedly let Rufus dodge three times before being hit once…

Based on Reiji's observation, Rufus should have a better battle sense than Diether and Stella so have to treat him similar to his level of skill.

Pah! Pah!

"Ahh!"

Rufus only managed to dodge once before he was hit on his cheek and his left shoulder.

"…"

***

'Yui! I heard from one of the officials that there would be a small competition against the Sun Fire Knights…'

Odette immediately informed her wielder after hearing the news.

'Competition? When will it be?' The young girl was immediately drawn by the sudden news.

If there are representatives of the Sun Fire Knights arriving here, then it should be attended by some core Arcanists within the tower.

It means there will be some areas that will be left undefended or at least left with weakened defense.

After all, they have to uphold their reputation in front of them and they can't let the weak Arcanists gather around the arrogant Knights who only know how to fight Evil Beasts and kill people…

'It will happen four days from now. It should be in two days but because we haven't arranged a team of three Arcanists yet, Sir Kael said that Nika was still recuperating to buy some more time…'

'What do you mean?' Yui was a bit confused.

'The young squires or maybe knights that they brought here wanted to challenge the wielder of the new type of Arcana. It might be a bit too straightforward to just fight against her so they brought a team of three to battle against our young elites here instead.'

Yui nodded at her explanation. It was also quite impressive for the wand to gather that much information.

'Good… You should inform Reiji about this.'

'Very well…'

'Go ahead… But Odette, can we really trust Reiji's ability?'

'Yes, I'm sure that he's capable of pulling it off. He's a blessed Arcana by a strong Deity. I'm not sure which Deity has blessed him but I can feel how strong it is…'

'Stronger than your Deity?'

'I'm not sure… There was no way for me to know.'

'Ahh… You're right… I asked a stupid question. Since you believe in his ability, then I'll also believe in him…'

Yui smiled and gently caressed her wand…

Thanks to Odette, she managed to discover some secrets that only a Sentient Arcana should be aware of…