It's been months since no news was heard from Princess Maible after they had fought. Alden waited for some gold to arrive at his doorstep, but nothing of that sort had happened.
Yet he did receive a letter from Princess Maible's personal guard, A newly titled Swordsmen Knight under the name of Elluin Nightgaze, briefly explaining that he is responsible for supplying the Lord of the city the founding for the damages and issuing a proper apology to those who have 'accidentally' died during an unknown assailant attacked while one of the royal family was present.
When Alden first read the letter, he laughed so hard that even the maid standing beside him felt scared, questioning whether their Lord had gone mad.
[Their all hypocrites] Alden thought while walking behind Lucas, Almost arriving at the guest house.
After the initial letter was sent, Alden thought in no time that this Elluin Nightgaze would at least personally come; excitement and jer by this news made Alden giddy to meet a magic knight that was on par with a Rank 7 mage. The structural System for all knights around the kingdom is not the same measure of footing regarding mages and wizards.
It is as follows, A rank 0 to 5 are considered beginners Knight; they are mostly Knights who have gone through rigorous training that no human athlete should have gone through. They push their bodies for almost ten to fifteen years of harsh training; they go through a mountainous physical push that would break anyone with weak minds to lunacy.
Then there are 6 to 9 Intermediate Knights; Those knights are considered the elite knights, most of them are trained under the banner of Nobles household, A household that those Intermediate Knights needs the most.
Intermediate Knights rise in status only if they belong to an Aristracratic household. Nobility was better defined by how much they owned, be they countless knights or countless gold for generations. They have it all. An exclusive club that has a harsh condition to meet. To Meet the condition to level up to 6 Intermediate Knights, A Knight will have to become equated with nobility.
They either have to prove that their ancestor was also a knight, or they have to surrender their life to serve a noble for the rest of their days.
After a lifetime of servitude, the only reward they will receive is a pathway for the knight's children to become level 6 Intermediate Knights successfully and onwards. Their children will be "Dubbed" and sent to the academy of Knighting Gale, A Knights academy that is solely built to train level 6 to 9 Intermediate Knights.
All Intermediate Knights have taken the oath of secrecy never to reveal the training method of being an Intermediate Knights.
After the 9th Intermediate Knights, Is the Swordsman Knights, dubbed level 1 to 10 Swordsman Knights. An extension only for the nobility—as social advancement. Mostly those children who share the blood of common birth, Alden described it as "They'll let you fly high, but won't let you fly to the moon and land on it." The shift by the nobility to demand genetic proof was largely a defensive move to keep these individuals at arm's length.
Keeping those who are not nobles away, a Swordsman Knights is a noble who had fallen from ranks, indie by war or financial loss; the noble is still regarded and documented, but a fall is still a fall. Swordsman Knights is noble who yearns to earn theyre title back by freelancing themselves to the highest bidder. A contract is created via a third party which is the royal family.
Afraid that the freelance Swordsman Knights would fall at the clutches of vile evil nobles. The freelance Swordsman Knights sought an audience with the royal family. They created a guild representative, contracts made for whatever length dictates, thus Swordsman Knights freelance themselves without worrying about a noble taking advantage of them. Of course, an advance fee will always go to the third party.
To be a Swordsman Knights is a recipe created by the once fallen nobles' family house; they span over the generation of discrete training methods that help them pass the limitation of the human body. A secret that they will sacrifice themselves to protect. To Advance in ranks as Swordsman Knights, a potion that the royal family barters at a high price or high noble family could grant in exchange for whatever bargain the giver demands, therefore Swordsman Knights are rare but also powerful allies that shifts the balance of many powerhouses in the kingdom of Adan.
For example, the Clarimond family, Alden's grandfather on his mother's side, was once close to becoming a true knight. They say to advance as a True knight; one has to meditate for years in seclusion or come to barter a dangerous deal no noble will ever make to succeed. A True knight is the Grandstand of all Knight; They are the pinnacle and Grandmasters; A grand Knight for short.
Jesper fell at the hands of The Duke of Anastasia, Also known as Sarramont Van farrow. Duke Jesper Conaway was his lost name, yet he lost to Duke Sarramont Van Farrow and had his name stopped of him. The two families, a powerful house, waged war against each other; they fought for months on end, yet what tip the scall to the Van farrow was still a mystery to this day; the only person who knew the truth is Jesper and the Van Farrow household. When Jesper surrendered, the deal was more brutal to imagine; he relinquished not only his domain but one arm and one leg. Sign a Vessel contract to Duke Sarramont Van Farrow, his title as a duke.
Duke Sarramont Van Farrow titled Jesper new vessels name as Clarimond under the witness of the royal family, with no choice to have, Jesper Clarimond accepted; even till today, Alden still didn't understand why his grandfather Jesper would take such an embarrassing deal