Kerajaan LionHeart sangat kuat sebagai kekuatan, tidak hanya di Kekaisaran yang dilayaninya tetapi di seluruh perbatasan selatan benua, dengan 1 grand mage dan dua grand knight, tiga grand knight, dan dua grand mage, serta beberapa puluh advanced mage dan knight di kerajaannya.
Dan ini baru untuk orang-orang istana yang diketahui orang di permukaan.
Sang mage tua di depan Michael kebetulan adalah salah satu dari dua grand mage publik Kerajaan.
Sehari yang lalu, gelombang mana kuat yang terasa korup, seperti milik anggota sekte iblis, terdeteksi oleh tim petualang yang masuk jauh ke Hutan Everlong mencari monster dan harta alami.
Ini aturan di kerajaan bahwa setiap penampakan sekte iblis harus dilaporkan, dan karena ada hadiah berdasarkan signifikansi laporan, kebanyakan orang suka melapor cepat tanpa ragu.
Inilah yang terjadi.
Namun, agak tragis karena tim lima petualang itu berencana menyelidiki lebih jauh, hanya kembali dengan satu orang.
Empat anggota lainnya dikorbankan, tapi karena adanya bukti dan fakta bahwa bahkan dengan dua advanced knight di tim, mereka tetap dihancurkan, pejabat kerajaan yang mungkin butuh waktu sedikit untuk konfirmasi berita kalau dilaporkan lisan langsung berlari ke sini.
Kalau tim dengan dua advanced knight tidak bisa pulang utuh, jelas tim yang lebih kuat harus dipilih, itulah mengapa ada grand mage sejauh ini dari ibu kota kerajaan.
"Aku Mic," Michael memberi nama, setidaknya sebagiannya.
"Jadi Tuan Mic, aku Grand Mage Lian."
Alis Michael naik sedikit mendengar gelar yang diberikan lawan bicara.
Satu, dia sok hebat, atau dua, dia memang penting.
Mengingat berita yang pernah didengar tentang knight kerajaan, Michael merasa lebih ke yang kedua.
Saat beberapa pikiran melintas di benak Michael, dia mendengar mage tua bicara lagi.
"Apakah kau juga di sini untuk kompetisi Duke of Evermoon?" Sang mage tua cukup penasaran.
Di antara semua mage berpangkat tinggi mulai dari pangkatnya, dialah yang paling sering keluar, kalau tidak dipanggil.
Beberapa hari ini, dia melihat banyak pemuda, setidaknya lebih banyak pemuda dari yang seharusnya di kerajaan, dan beberapa di antaranya cukup menarik.
Syarat ikut kompetisi untuk tangan putri dan harta lain adalah pertama, usia di bawah 25 tahun, dan kedua, orang tersebut harus advanced-ranked knight atau mage.
Kedua syarat ketat ini jarang ditemukan bahkan di keluarga bangsawan.
Ini langsung menyaring banyak orang, membuat kompetisi hanya untuk yang terbaik dari yang terbaik.
Jelas duke peduli reputasinya, atau mungkin putrinya, atau keduanya, dan bisa juga motif tersembunyi.
Namun, pemuda di depan mage tua ini adalah salah satu dari sangat sedikit pemuda sangat kuat di antara semua yang dilihatnya beberapa hari belakangan.
Duke itu licik.
Sebagai salah satu dua duke paling kuat di kerajaan yang ingin lebih banyak kekuasaan sekarang raja mundur, dia ingin memanfaatkan kesempatan ini untuk memperoleh lebih banyak kekuasaan bagi keluarganya.
Kekuasaan biasa mana yang bisa membesarkan knight atau mage di bawah 25 tahun?
Hampir mustahil melihat warga biasa mencapai ini tanpa dukungan, dan kalau dia kebetulan mengganggu orang seperti itu, tidak sulit memanipulasi hal-hal dan membuang mereka.
Dari awal, kompetisi ini tidak pernah adil.
Kebanyakan orang sadar ini, dan ada juga yang tidak.
Mendengar kata mage tua di depannya, Michael tidak lama menjawab.
"Aku datang mencoba. Tapi aku bukan dari sini, jadi sulit sampai ke tempat kontes," kata Michael.
Dia sudah mendengar banyak di bar, dan satu hal yang didengar adalah duke tertentu mengadakan kompetisi dengan tangan putrinya sebagai hadiah, dan sebagainya, dan orang dari luar kerajaan juga tertarik.
Dan secara teknis, meskipun dia tidak tertarik pada kompetisi itu sendiri, dia penasaran.
Ini, dan dia memang bukan penduduk asli, jadi secara teknis dia tidak berbohong, kecuali bagian bilang ingin mencoba.
Mulut mage itu bergerak mendengar jawaban Michael.
Karena Duke tidak tertarik pada takhta tapi lebih banyak kekuasaan yang bisa didapat saat krisis ini, pangeran lain yang juga menargetkan takhta mengejar putrinya, dan mereka pasti tidak hanya 'mencoba'.
Tapi setelah memikirkannya sebentar, mage tua merasa masuk akal.
Seorang grand mage berusia 20 tahun.
Dia punya kesombongan menganggap kompetisi sebagai hiburan.
Namun, jenius muda ini agak lamban soal dunia.
"Mungkin ini pengalaman nyata pertamanya di luar," pikir mage tua.
Dan secara teknis, dia tidak salah.
Malam ini memang pertama kali Michael menjelajahi di Land of Origin.
Setidaknya peradabannya.
********
Rilis massal didorong ke depan. Maaf sekali. Kehidupan nyata menyela, dan jujur aku merasa ingin melompat dari tempat tinggi sekarang. Sekolah dimulai, tapi aku pilih paruh waktu supaya bisa fokus hal lain. Aku benar-benar tidak ingin mengecewakan kalian terus—sakit karena bikin aku merasa cuma omong kosong.
Aku akan terus berusaha terbaik. Apapun hasilnya.
Terima kasih sudah menemani perjalanan ini dan terima kasih ke pembaca yang mendukung. Aku akan coba lebih baik.
The LionHeart Kingdom was very strong as a force, not only in the Empire it served but in the southern border of the continent as a whole, with 1 great mage and two great knights, three grand knights, and two grand mages, and several dozen advanced mages and knights in its court.
And this was only for the court people knew about on the surface.
The old mage in front of Michael just happened to be one of the two public grand mages of the Kingdom.
A day ago, a strong mana wave that seemed corrupted, like that of the demonic cult members, was sensed by an adventure team who had entered deep into the Everlong Forest for monsters and natural treasures.
It’s a rule in the kingdom that any sight of the demonic cult should be reported, and as there was a reward based on the significance of the report, most people loved reporting fast without hesitation.
This was what happened.
However, it was a little tragic as the team of five adventurers had planned to investigate more, only to come back with a single member.
The other four members were sacrificed, but due to the presence of evidence and the fact that even with two advanced knights in the team, they were still crushed, the kingdom officials that might have taken a little bit of time to confirm the news had it been reported by mouth immediately ran here.
If a team with two advanced knights couldn’t get back in one piece, then it was obvious a stronger team had to be selected, which was why there was a grand mage this far away from the kingdom capital.
"I’m Mic," Michael gave out his name, at least part of it.
"So it’s sir Mic, I’m Grand Mage Lian."
Michael’s eyebrow raised slightly at the title the other party had given himself.
One, it was either he was blowing his own horns, or two, he was really that important.
Recalling the news he had heard of the kingdom knights, Michael felt it was more of the latter.
Just as a few thoughts flashed through Michael’s mind, he heard the old mage speak again.
"Are you perhaps also here for the Duke of Evermoon competition?" The old mage was quite curious about this.
Among all the high-ranked mages starting from his rank, he was the one that went out the most, be it if not summoned.
These past few days, he had seen a lot of youths, at least more youths than there was supposed to be in the kingdom, and some of these youths were quite interesting.
The requirement for joining the competition for the princess’s hand in marriage and the other treasures was first, one has to be less than 25 years of age, and two, the person had to be an advanced-ranked knight or mage.
These two were tough and strict requirements that one would even rarely find in noble families.
This directly screened out a lot of people, making the competition only for the best of the best.
It was evident the duke cared about his reputation, or perhaps it was daughter’s he cared for, or maybe both, and it could also be for an ulterior motive.
However, the youth in front of the old mage was one of the very few extremely powerful youths among all those he had seen in the past few days.
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The duke was shrewd.
As one of the two most powerful dukes of the kingdom who wanted more power now that the king was stepping down, he wanted to use this opportunity to gain more power for his family.
Which ordinary power can grow a below 25-year-old knight or mage?
It was almost impossible to see a commoner achieve this with no support, and if he just happened to mess with such a person, it wasn’t difficult to manipulate things and take them out.
From the start, the competition was never fair.
Most people realized this, and there were also some that didn’t.
Hearing the words of the old mage in front of him, Michael didn’t take long to respond.
"I came to give it a try. However, I’m not from around here, so it’s hard to reach the place where the contest will be held," Michael stated.
He had listened to quite a lot in the bar, and one thing he had heard was that a certain duke was holding a competition with the hand of his daughter in marriage as the prize, and so on, and other people from outside the kingdom were attracted to it as well.
And technically, though he wasn’t attracted or interested in the competition itself, he was curious about it.
This, and he was indeed, not a native of this place, so technically he wasn’t lying, except for the part he said he wanted to try it.
The mouth of the mage twitched when he heard Michael reply.
Since the Duke wasn’t interested in the throne itself but more power than can be gotten during these times of crisis, the other princes that were also aiming for the throne were after his daughter, and they were certainly not in it to ’try’.
But after thinking about it for a while, the old mage felt it made sense.
A 20-year-old grand mage.
He had the arrogance to take the competition as fun.
However, this young genius seemed to be a little slow about the ways of the world.
"Maybe this is his first real experience outside," the old mage thought.
And technically, he wasn’t wrong.
Tonight was indeed Michael’s first time exploring in the land of origin.
At least in its civilization.
********
The mass release has been pushed forward. I’m really sorry. Real life got in the way, and honestly, I feel like jumping off something right now. School has started, but I opted for part-time so I can focus on other things. I really don’t want to keep disappointing you guys—it hurts because it makes me feel like I’m all talk.
I’ll keep trying my best though. Anyhow the outcome.
Thanks for being with me throughout this journey and I thank the readers that have encouraged me too. I’ll try to do better.
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