Willem, though externally not showing any damage, had previously exhausted some of his strength in dealing with the wraith while ensuring the Queen's safety. The day, however, was far from over and there was still some things to be done.

Willem displaced himself away from the Royal Palace and into the Army Training Grounds. When he arrived, he could tell the atmosphere was tense and the fear of an imminent war was on the horizon. Naturally this meant that the soldiers who would normally be sitting and drinking were now always prepared and training. Willem glided his way over to Sir Gehrig's Private Quarters and with a little effort, he sat himself down at the table and awaited the resonance of the weapons he had gifted the Army.

Before long, each of the fifty one weapons that Willem had given began to vibrate at the exact same time. As it was the first time that many of the chosen soldiers experienced this phenomenon, they each had their own misunderstanding of what it meant. Sir Gehrig, as well as the other four understood that it meant Grandia had arrived and so gathered the fifty soldiers to greet him.

As the fifty soldiers marched in full magical armor towards the entrance to Sir Gehrig's Private Quarters, Willem could not help but remark at how uniformly they marched despite them only being a squad created a couple days ago. Though the teaching of the Army was based around execution of offensive and defensive formations, it would not be a far stretch to say that during an official bout, soldiers would break formation and do what they want.

"Sir Gehrig must had pressed upon them the urgency of keeping a good structure in front of me." Willem was impressed.

In accordance with what Willem had planned, a well organized group of fifty would make things much easier for himself. Therefore this marching order and command led by Sir Kris and Sir Rowan was very pleasing. Eli and Mark marched behind them, clearly separated from the other forty six soldiers but still maintaining decorum.

"Company, halt!" Sir Gehrig called from the front.

Willem had already said he would return within a couple days to see which soldiers had been chosen. Now he was here to look over the soldiers and see their aptitude in combat.

The wind whipped a little as Willem raised his voice over the crowd of murmurs.

"To all soldiers gathered, congratulations. I have no doubts that you have already been told about the circumstances of this mission. You represent humanity in your strides, and will be on the front lines with me when we deal with the threat of magical beings."

The soldiers looked around at each other but had already heard as much.

"I have come today to see your prowess in using the magical arms and armors that I have provided. Meet me in the training arena for one on one spars in twenty minutes." Willem headed back inside the Private Quarters.

"You have your orders, arena in twenty minutes! Dismissed!" Sir Gehrig called out.

The soldiers walked away, but murmurs could be heard from the group. Most talk was about how young the Grand Mage was, others about how could he have possibly made all this high quality armor and weapons.

Sir Gehrig, with Sir Rowan, Sir Kris, Eli and Mark all went into Sir Gehrig's Private Quarters behind Willem.

Willem took the head seat, and no one spoke out or in any way thought it improper.

Eli and Mark were the first to speak.

"Are you sick?" They both spoke at the same time. They had spent the most amount of time with Willem, how could they not tell at least this much.

"I had to deal with a malicious spirit that had fed off the Queen. It was many times stronger than I was expecting." Willem did not hide anything from the group.

The scalps of the Knights tingled. If even a Grand Mage found dealing with this spirit difficult, how would they have fared?

"You need not concern yourselves, the Queen is recovering now that the spirit was expelled." Willem motioned for some tea.

Sir Gehrig called for a steward to pour some tea for their esteemed guest. The steward instantly recognized Willem, as he had been to the grounds many times.

Tea was given to Willem and the other four Knights, and the steward was dismissed.

"On this subject, I assume the events yesterday transpired just as I had mentioned they would, Sir Gehrig?" Willem sipped at his tea slowly.

"Yes, Grand Mage. A council was summoned from some of the highest forms of military and nobles. Though the King did not appear, the nobles asked for our help but I was able to stop the training grounds involvement as you had asked." Sir Gehrig nodded along knowingly.

"The King not being there was a mistake on my part. I did not expect the Queen's health to take such a drastic turn." Willem finished his tea and stood from the chair.

The other four finished their tea quickly and stood as well, moving to the side so that Willem could pass. Willem headed out of the Private Quarters and toward the arena.

"How is their progress?" Willem spoke as he walked briskly.

"Most of them have become adept given the short time they have to practice. We first gave importance on stressing that we were directly fighting the magical beings first, while they were at their strongest. There were some who declined, and wished to be a part of the main army instead." Sir Kris spoke.

"Those that chose to be a part of the group understood that they have a lower chance of survival but would be instrumental in achieving a victory." Sir Rowan spoke out.

"The time that we have until the magical beings attack our walls has lessened considerably. I have no doubts the magical beings received information of us finding their spies. I need you fifty to be ready to mobilize in three days. Can it be done?" Willem continued to walk at a fast pace while looking forward.

"They will be ready, but they will not be at their best." Sir Gehrig chimed in.

"I only need them to fend the enemies scattered offense while I deal with the enemies leaders." Willem interjected.

All five Knights nodded their heads in agreement. They should at least be capable of doing that much.

Before any of the Knights realized it, twenty minutes had passed since their initial conversation in the Private Quarters and they had arrived at the arena precisely on time.

The forty six soldiers stood around restlessly.

"Fall in!" Sir Gehrig commanded.

The soldiers fell in line perfectly, as was practiced.

"Pick a sparring partner, someone of equal power to yourself." Sir Gehrig stared down the soldiers as they struggled to split themselves into pairs.

At one point Sir Kris had to physically lift up a soldier and throw him to another to pair them up.

Eli and Mark jovially laughed at the scene, and Willem could not help but crack a smile as well.

"Give yourselves ten feet of movement. Begin when you are ready." Sir Gehrig called out.

The soldiers split themselves apart from the others and began to spar ferociously. Willem circled around them, watching their movements and patterns. Many he was able to see through their next moves quickly, but others seemed to just flail around unpredictably. This was all to be taken into account during their first fight.

Twenty five soldiers focused on defense, while the other twenty one soldiers focused on offense.

A decent harmony had already placed itself upon the soldiers. Now Willem did not need to concern himself with having to provide extra soldiers to defend the mages in the battalion.

The spars lasted for ten minutes, but eventually the magical ability of the weapons and armor ran out. The soldiers were dismissed to provide maintenance on their equipment.

"You have done well, all five of you. I must now see to my mage squad. Have the soldiers ready to move on the third day at high noon." Willem nodded his head at Sir Gehrig before leaving.

"Yes, sir!" Sir Gehrig saluted with the other four knights and began the preparations as Willem disappeared into the darkness of a nearby log.

Willem's complexion had eased, as he had a moment to rest during the spar.

It seemed to have been a long time since he entered the Magic Academy, with all the travelling around he had to do these last couple weeks.

He had not even had time to drop in and speak with Grand Mage Archus, because of all the things he had to set in motion.

He was not worried, as Grand Mage Archus was not so small minded as to slight his apprentice just for not showing his face for a week.

The air around the Magic Academy was completely different from that of the Training Grounds. Many of the students traveled around with their friends, bustling to their next class. Those with low magical ability kept their heads down and scurried to the next class before they accidentally bumped into a bully. However the amount of bullying that was taking place in the school had lessened quite a lot.

Ever since the incident with the guards whipping the young bullies and the mysterious deaths of senior fire mages, the school had seen a qualitative change in it's students behavior. Many who had previously acted out, even if they had capital to do so, no longer fought with those perceived weaker than them.

The general feeling in the school was of being tentatively harmonious. Of course the students had heard of magical beings getting ready to invade, so they understood that fighting among themselves would only lead to them being weaker when war came knocking on their doorstep.

Willem donned his favorite black robe and shawl and made his way to the guard's room. He had been here once previously, when he had commanded his bullies to be publicly whipped and needed to sign some paperwork to that effect.

Now he came for an entirely different reason.

As Willem stepped into the room, the guard's looked him up and down before figuring out who he was. When they did, however, they immediately stood at attention. Those who did not know who he was did not run the risk of offending him, and stood at attention with the others.

Willem gestured for them to be at ease.

"I have a message that needs to be sent to all senior mages. I require fifty senior mages to join in my private squadron, as tasked by the King. Those who join me will be given a reward, as well their families will be protected within my own Private Sanctum until the war is over. Those who wish to join shall meet me in the auditorium in an hour time." Willem took from his spatial spell the seal of the king and handed it to the head guard.

The head guard knew Willem's identity, but played it out for the others. Looking over the seal, he nodded at its authenticity.

"As the Grand Mage, Grandia, commands!" The head guard saluted and issued the command.

All but five guards left the room to deliver the notification to all senior mage classes.

Willem left the guard room and headed for the large auditorium. A small class had booked it for the next half hour, so Willem sat behind the class and waited patiently for the lesson to finish.

The teacher noticed Willem's presence but said nothing. The class being taught was an intermediate divination class. Though the teacher wholly believed in her divination capabilities, the students only took the class as a prerequisite for arcane history.

Arcane history was a much sought after class as it allowed mages to leave the Magic Academy and the confines of the Bastion of Hope in search of treasures.

The teacher of the class finally locked onto Willem's magical ability, and noticed it was much more potent than her own.

"May I ask who this esteemed guest is that joins us for this class?" The small teacher barely squeaked out a sentence before falling prey to Willem's aura. The students, being magically untrained to notice such power, turned to watch the boy clad in black.

"Please ignore me and continue your lesson, you have me intrigued." Willem waved his hand but did not bother to answer her truthfully. If they found out his identity, he would be swarmed in minutes. If he cannot control the situation. he would rather just leave and try another time.

"As you wish young master, now... With toad spit we can derive the meaning of..." The teacher continued until her class was interrupted by a loud clamoring outside the auditorium.