Chapter 12

They were escorted to the castle. From afar, it looked like a small, man-made mountain-house. Hundreds upon hundreds of windows could be seen not to mention the huge doors.

They entered the first pair of doors and were then greeted by another pair. after they entered that, there was another mini-city in these walls. We were told to get out of the carriage and line up next to it and so we did. A well-dressed man than came up to greet us.

"Hello there, new recruits. My name is Sir, Dunkeld. I am one of the 4 Rose knights in charge of protecting the king himself. As the lead Rose Knight, it is my joy to formally welcome you to the Rose knight bracket. In this bracket, you will learn what normal knight do plus some. Some of you will be in charge of protecting his majesty, her majority, or even their young lady." Sir Dunkeld said.

One of the nobles raised his.

"Yes?" Sir Dunkeld asked.

'Sir, what do you mean by most of us?" The young noble asked.

"Good question. Let me explain. As of this point, the people to your left and right are no longer a noble or a commoner, a family relative, or a good friend. They are your rivals, your foes, your competition. You will not be trained and admitted into this noble bracket, you will be fighting each other for a place in the bracket. As of now, there are 20 of you. Most are from a noble background except one. If you got into this competition by name or sway, sorry. Here you are tested on nothing but PURE SKILL!!!!"

He emphasized the last parted and it made everyone shake. Even Sol at level 115 had to take a step back. Everyone instantly knew the power difference between him and us. Some of the nobles seemed to fall into a pit of despair. They really must have used their names to get into this tournament.

"As of this moment, you are all Pages. You will the basics, reading, writing, speaking, dancing, and manners. I will lead you to your dorms. There, you will live until your 7 years of training are up. The reason the training session is so short it because we are having a Holy War soon upon which we hope to purge the content of any and all demon infestation. In these 7 years, we will work you to the bone but first, we need to weed out the skilled from the privileged.

"The first day, you will have time to get situated with the basic layout and people in your dorm and floor level. During the rest of the time, you will receive training from the instructors. this will be in all of the areas of study I listed before. And on the 4th week, you will be tested. How you will be tested is not to be told to you.

"Now, Follow me to your dorm room's." Sir Dunkeld said.

He then led us along a pathway to who knows where. Along the way, I saw many different people. Some looked like maids or other servants, gardeners, a few noble-looking people, and a lot of knights. Some were dressed in armor others in different uniforms.

Most ignored Sol and his group as they walked by but some started gossiping to each other. Sol couldn't really hear them and nor did he care. If it didn't involve Sylvia, he gave it very little thought.

They continued to walk until they came upon a manor. It wasn't very big but it could definitely hold a crowd. Them Sir Dunkeld turned to us.

"This will be your dorm. Here, you will sleep, eat, and gather. As you enter, there will be a table with papers on it. One of them had your name, room number, school schedule, and formation key. For those of you who don't know, instead of normal locks and keys, we use magical locks. As Rose knights, you will need to be proficient in physical power and magical power. Now, you may enter. Dinner is at sundown. Don't be late." Sir Dunkeld explained.

We were then let into the dorms. A few of them looked a little desperate. They must not have 25 intelligence. Sol was safe as his intelligence was 36. It took Sol a while to find his paper but when he did he instantly swiped it. His room was on the 3rd floor, right smack dab in the middle with two others on either side.

He went to the stairs and started to climb. It wasn't too far up but it was still a walk.

He seemed to be the first to get to his room on this floor. He went to his room and stared at the formation. It was nothing special, just his name in the middle of the door.

As he wrote it, the door unlocked and swing open for him. The inside, there was a small house. It opened up into a small living room with a couch and coffee table. Strait back, there was a balcony that showed the garden outside the dorm building. The Rose knights seemed to get their own wing so there was nothing to cover their path. Off the left, 2 room awaited. One was a bathroom with what seemed like a toilet. He didn't go but it looked interesting. The tub was big enough to hold 5 people. There were some twisty dials and water from magic stones came out at different heats, depending on what the dial was turned to. The room looked to be about 1/2 as deep as the living room but 1/3 the width.

The bedroom held a bed that could fil Sol x3 and that was saying something because Sol was a pretty big guy. It was in the middle back of the room. To the right, he had a dresser to hold clothes and to the left, he had a table with ink. The old man had taught him how to wright so this might come in handy.

He than walked up to the foot of the bed and saw a chest. This chest had a letter that was addressed to him. Of course, he opened it had read. The contents said this.

"This chest contains your formal attire and your training suit. Formal is to be worn at all times when you are not in the training hall. You are allowed to make any changes to the dorm but you much be able to get rid of them when you are down with your training and become a knight. -Sir Dunkeld"