"So, you want to learn magic arts, right? What are your plans now?"
"Well, you're right. I was planning to learn it. However, the question is how to do it."
"You mean, the ritual? Oh, that's a bit problematic. You can't just perform the ritual
anywhere."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. After all, it's a formal covenant between the humans and spirits. It only happens once a year in the Royal Capital. It would be spearheaded by the royalties and knights of the kingdom."
"I knew it'd be formal. But, I never thought it'd be so grandiose that it needs the King's
presence." I was truly surprised by how big the ritual is.
"Ha-ha-ha. Don't be stupid. The spirits won't allow it if the King fails to attend.
Anyway, the ritual always happens in every 25th day of March—The Human-Spirit Festival
as decreed by the 1st Hero King Arthur Mare Gin Styllacus I."
"Anyhow, thanks for the information. Also, is learning magic arts a requirement in becoming an adventurer and—." Before I could finish my sentence, Chief Feldor cut it off.
"No. As you may not be aware, you can become an adventurer if you have at least one
of the following arts: Martial Arts, Sword Arts, and lastly Magic Arts."
"Okay, so if Vaissien learns sword arts, he'd be qualified to become one? That's good news, isn't it?"
"Yes. But," he wore a disappointed look, "aren't you thinking about your brother too much? How about you?"
"Nah, I still couldn't decide on my whole plan ahead. However, I'm sure of one thing—I'm going to participate in this ritual. And wait, is everyone qualified to participate in the ritual? If so, the ritual will have hundreds of thousands participants throughout the kingdom..."
"Ha-ha-ha. So smart as always. Of course not. There is a preliminary selection where
you can prove to the bigwigs of the kingdom first on what you're capable of before facing the spirits. It's conducted 10 days before the festival."
"Okay. I get it."
"Oh, if you want to join, please remember one thing. If you're good, and also chosen
by a powerful spirit, you might be enrolled in the Styllacus Magitonian Academy. A school
where you can learn proper ways of using spirit magic."
"That sounds good, indeed..."
"Yes. Most of the students there have so far become members of the Kingdom's Astral
Knights, adventurers, merchants, and etc. I know you might be interested in this. You know how much is a knight's salary? It's 40 golds monthly."
(Oh, you know that I'm very interested when it comes to money. This old fox. I didn't
know that he personally wants me to study in that academy, but what's he after?)
"What??? That's quite high, isn't it?" I pretended to be surprised again of course.
"Are you interested now?"
"Yes." I feigned a smile and nodded a little.
"So, here's my word of advice, tell Vaissien everything about this. And convince him
also. I want the two of you to become knights... But, well, never mind."
"By the way, you have a spirit with you, right? I mean, the villagers said you know
magic."
"Yes. I have. Its name is Patina. I'm in the +4 existence. In short, I am a Material-
Spiritual existence." He honestly bared his personal data.
"Isn't that supposed to be a secret?"
I asked.
"No, it's not. I trust you... Plus, I have something urgent to tell you about." Suddenly,
his face exhibited an air of alarm and anxiety.
"What is it?"
"Just a week ago, two of our surrounding village Chiefs had notified me that some of
their citizens were kidnapped by unknown people. They had already reported this to the
kingdom's constabulary office in the City of Gamus. But the issue seemed to have been
ignored.
"Ignored? Why is that?"
"What's worse, the victims were young women of the same age as your sister, and also
children."
"What's the Baron's take on this issue?"
"It's still unaddressed. So there could be two reasons: the Baron doesn't care, or he hasn't heard of it yet, or the government is just inutile."
"No. The first one seems unlikely. This city under his care is not that big. You can even
call it a rural city. Hence, he should have heard on this by now."
"Jumping conclusions hastily isn't good. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that the
villagers, no—your sister and other women in the village might be in danger these recent and coming days."
"Women, huh?" I thought, "not gonna happen. I'm going to kill them before that happens."
"Oh? You're so hyperactive, huh? Ha-ha-ha, anyway, that's fine."
"It can happen."
We continued talking about other details. Though when I noticed that talk was already
dull, I decided to end the conversation of the night and stood up. However, when I was
about to turn around and go, my natural desire to kill an "impostor" suddenly heightened...