Come, I've been waiting for you!
The exit of the chapel now hid a secret between them, which would be etched in Morrigan's mind, carrying something he couldn't tell Goddess. Despite the warnings, he seemed determined to help her. Inside, he wondered if it was really worth it. Morrigan was an honest boy with a heart full of very high expectations about everything. Now that he had a different body, it was imaginable that throwing all of this away would destroy him quite a bit.
"Are you okay?" asked the goddess, bringing him back to reality. She smiled and offered him a pastry, which he accepted gracefully, taking it as they walked. "So, have you figured out what you're going to do?" the goddess continued asking as he took a deep breath, still trying to digest everything that had been said to him. "I want to talk to the knights about the offer to work for them. Will you come with me?" he asked, making her look at him with a rather confused smile. "What do you mean? Of course, I don't want to go anywhere else!" she affirmed, giving the boy a playful punch on the shoulder, almost spilling his juice. She made a worried face for her semi-carelessness, then returned to eating as they walked.
"Alright, I have the address and a referral name. I think we can make something happen," said the confident boy as they walked. It took about 20 minutes of walking until they reached a more central part of the city, a gigantic tavern next to which there was a kind of recruitment house for soldiers. There was an entire open field behind it, in the middle of the city, like a knights' academy, a large building behind it, two stories tall in a square shape, all of this next to a small inn on a very narrow street corner. It was an extremely strange place to imagine.
Narrow streets, but with a lot of movement, all the houses stuck together, with plenty of people laughing and knights passing by. As they entered through the little door, some reading knights glanced up, then returned to their reading. The initial part was silent and quite full of rules about noise. The counter was right ahead, where a bright-eyed elf with long, yellowish hair down to his shoulders greeted them. "Hello, welcome to the Marshall Knight Academy. My name is Venturos As. How can I help you?" he introduced himself, making Morrigan very excited. It was the first elf he had seen, and judging by the length of his ears, he was a complete elf.
"Morrigan, Zi'o, I came to talk about a referral to the Leomurd Knights. I was referred to work for them," said the boy, making the young elf smile and then respond politely, "Well, the Leomurd family doesn't send requests to just anyone, so I'm sorry to say that without a stamp from one of the captains, I can't register you as a knight of this court," he replied politely, leaving Morrigan shrunk as if he didn't know what to do anymore. Goddess then responded as she slowly took bites of the pastry, "Can you tell us where Captain Senmaru is?" she asked, making the curious boy quickly compose himself. He quickly descended the table and searched a book. "Senmaru? I can, give me a minute," he politely replied as he searched the records in the book.
"Senmaru is on Edelgard Street, not far from here. He is the captain of the 4th Division of the Leomurd family knights," he then widened his eyes for a few brief moments and then said, "He recommended you, Mr. Zi'o?" asked the impressed elf. Morrigan then said with various sweat drops and his eyes filled with doubts, "Yes, I need to speak with him, apparently, don't I?" he asked, quite disappointed. For a few seconds, he thought it would be quite easy, but not everything was simple for knights and their empires.
"Yes, you will need to speak with him and get his approval stamp," replied the elf always cordial and polite as he closed the book and put it away under the table where he served. "Alright, we'll find him and come back here!" Goddess said as she subtly grabbed Morrigan's arm, pulling him out of the place with the confused boy wondering about her behavior. He then said as they left the place, "What got into you?" he asked her, as she looked around for the direction where the mentioned street was. "I remembered the place, and he knew about you. He didn't register you because he's an Elf; they're a very proud race and don't easily believe things," she said with a very serious expression, leaving Morrigan curious. "What do you mean? Was it reluctance? He was so polite!" he said impressed, starting to follow her walking with his arms crossed. His appearance didn't match his attitude at all; he wasn't tall, and he had a delicate face, but his serious demeanor made him look like a cake covered in sweet frosting but with a salty interior, at least that's how Morrigan imagined her.
"I could sense something bad in him. I don't know; he just didn't want to accept that you were referred for something important. So let's take care of finding this Captain to resolve this. How about that?" They walked with her a little ahead, stepping heavily with quite frustrated expressions.
Morrigan then seemed to be somewhat affected by it. Why was she taking care of the situation now? Why so much care about him? Was it interest, or was there something more? His heart was starting to get confused with the way she spoke and acted; liking or mistrusting seemed to always be intertwined in the boy's mind. Their arrival at the place made them realize it was a training ground within a common avenue. Some soldiers were doing laps around a block, and there was a sort of block with several equipment for physical training down the street. There were several smaller shops around, but Edelgard Street was a place for sports and competitions among the Soldiers, practically a gym street.
A soldier then approached them, wearing training clothes, blue shorts, and a white shirt, sweaty. He said with a smile, "Hello! Can I help you? My name is Broma Gersan. This area is a bit restricted for visitors at the moment." he said, implying that at that moment, the knights were conducting morning training in that region. "I wanted to speak to Captain Senmaru about my referral to the Leomurd family as a knight," Zi'o replied, making the boy widen his eyes but then respond, "I'll call him!" he said, but as he turned his back, a tall man, with a heavily injured body and Asian features on his face, gestured to call them all by throwing his arm back, saying loudly, "Come, I was waiting for you all!"
Without thinking much, they walked over to that figure, and Morrigan then said, "You must be the person who can help me, right? I need..." Morrigan was interrupted at that moment, and the captain then raised his open palm to make him stop talking and then calmly said, "the stamp, correct?" asked the captain as he organized his long black hair behind his head, even tied up, it reached down to his waist. He was like the others, wearing shorts and a white shirt, but on his arm, there was a blue flag attached, with a golden symbol of a lion's head. "I need you to be able to do something first... I was told that you were capable of using Aura. I've been trying for months to teach these boys to use Aura. If you are truly capable, I want you to demonstrate to them how a true knight does it now. If what they say is indeed true, I will grant you the stamp," said the captain, making Goddess stare at him with a bit of anger and then look at the boy with nervousness. But he then said confidently, "Alright! What's the test?" Goddess seemed to react to it with some uneasiness, grabbing the boy's right arm, who nodded affirmatively, indicating that everything was okay.
The captain then clapped his hands, calling all the soldiers over to him in formation, and then said to all of them, after organizing Zi'o in front of everyone, leaving Goddess far away, watching everything with a rather distressed expression. " This is Morrigan Zi'o, a knight who has recently shown splendid evolution, learning to use his Aura in less than a month. With this, he was able to defeat a Level 2 Hex Monster alone... according to stories. You will be able to do the same thing he must be able to show you now, if you master your fears. "
The captain then reached out his hand, and the rocks on the ground began to mold as a greenish aura appeared over his hand, causing several small and large rocks to form a perfect solid block in front of Zi'o. "My aura is infused in this rock; you must be able to cut it with this amount of Aura placed on this creation," after saying this, the captain then stepped back. "I hope you don't disappoint me... Young Zi'o."