The royal nights academy, A prestigious school that accepted only the best of the best, it has been said that only the best knights and adventurers come out from this school, the best student become royal knights, the second best usually become high class adventurers while the regulars become guards or join the army. It's extremely hard to get into so you better be train as hard as possible Emrys said while Arthur was doing push-ups.
Meanwhile Conrad had sent the news of Arthur's survival to the other kingdoms and preparations where being made, a message was sent to all adventurers and sword masters, war heros and mages, all over the five continents people where being recruited for the fight against the demon lord, a message had also been sent to all the training schools to accept as many capable students as possible and those who couldn't keep up with the training should be left aside.
Two days had past since Arthur left the castle, Arthur and Emrys had been staying together in the woods, Arthur had been doing push ups and sit ups, squats, basically any exercise he knew or read about from novels.
he had just finished his third set of ten push ups when Emrys came back from the city
Hey Arthur, I have some good news and some bad news
what's the good news
the royal academy will be open in about a week
that's great, but why the sudden change
the kingdoms are planning on fighting the demon lord with out you
oh, so whats the bad news, his demeanor changing and becoming gloomy
they're spreading rumors that you where too afraid and weak to help so your not reliable, saying all sorts of bad things about you
Arthur stopped for a moment, his hands balled into a fist but he let it go and started doing his sit-ups
Arthur are you sure about this, you know your reputation as the hero is ruined, everybody hates you so is it really wise to go to a school full of nobles? I heard some of them are brutal and cruel so I don't think this is such a good idea .
It's fine, if I don't get strong enough I won't be able to defeat the demon lord and go home Arthur said determined to leave,
what if the alliance of the kingdoms prevail against the demon lord
them I get strong enough to force the sword to send me back, either way, I've made up my mind, he said as he continued to train.
The days went by quickly with Arthur doing nothing but eat, train and sleep, he had tried fighting some wild animals in the forest but they all ran away once the sword started glowing, they're instincts told them to flee rather than fight. it was finally here, the day for the tryouts had come. Arthur decided to leave the sword in the forest, hoping no one would recognize him but the moment he went to register his name he was spotted immediately.
So your the new hero? my my it's an honor to meet you
...
aldo I'm sorry to say that if it wasn't for our current predicament we wouldn't have accepted such talent, you simply aren't qualified he said sarcastically
Arthur ignored this and went to join the crowd inside the school compound. There where a total of 5 thousand applicants, 3,500 boys and 1,500 girls. While they waited for the test to start whispers where going around about Arthur, for some reason he could hear all of it, like his hearing had been heightened.
Ok everyone settle down the instructor yelled as he finally arrived, I know by now you all have heard about the recruitment for the fight against the demon lord, unfortunately our hero is incompetent and unreliable so we have to fight this war ourselves he said as everyone's attention turned to Arthur, anger was building up in Arthur and he wanted to protest but held it in, every available man power is being mobilized for the army so we the academy are being tasked with producing the next generation of soldiers who will guard the kingdom till the war is over, ok now let's start the test because time is of the essence, in order to pass and be accepted into the academy you all will complete three obstacle course, first is 500 meter race, second is 500 meter swim, and lastly is rock climbing, all you have to do is complete the course before the sun sets and you've passed, sounds easy right? ok so your time starts now.
Huh?!!
the contestants where taken aback by the sudden start of the test and immediately started running, first up was 500 meter race track and off they went, some people ( mostly the fat ones ) couldn't keep up with the speed of others where quickly falling behind, other who tripped and fell where immediately stepped on, one of these contestant was Arthur, not because he tripped or couldn't keep up but because he was being pushed from all sides, as he fell he was stepped on repeatedly but still pushed himself back up and kept on running, next was the swimming course and for this one Arthur seperated himself from the others, he had been to swimming pools and lakes some times when his father took them all out on family vacation but this was 500 meters, he hadn't swam that far or that long before but he was willing to try.
Some of the kids who dove in together where crowding the whole area not giving beach other room to paddle forward, some got cramps on the way and began to sink, seeing this Arthur felt he made the right choice distancing himself from the others and started swimming. The crowd of people dwindled quickly as more and more people got exhausted, some took a break while others pushed forward, Arthur was also finding it hard to move on, this was the first time he was pushing himself this hard, he was never a sporty person but left in his current situation he had no choice but to power through.
Thank God I trained for a week plus before this or I would have given up.
Finally they reached the mountains climb, this wasn't just a wall they needed to climb but they had to carry a bag of stones as well, climb to the other side and climb down, it was a challenging task and some of them even took some time to rest as the task was a huge one for any of them. The wall was at two stories tall but never the less they tried to climb it, this was the obstacle that many found hard.
Having rested enough Arthur decided to give it a try, he tried and climbed a few steps before falling, he tried again and got to the Middle then fell down again, he tried again and just when he was a few feet away from the top he fell. Frustration was setting in as the obstacle was far more difficult than it seemed but still Arthur would not give up, mustering all the courage and strength he had left he decided not to rush it and took his time slowly climbing the wall, till he finally reached the top, then he slowly climbed down, Arthur was the tenth person to clear this obstacle and finally joined up with the others.
They where five boys already there and four girls, all turned to look at him and immediately turned they're face in disgust. Arthur ignored this and was just happy that he passed.
A few hours later the instructor came over to announce the end of the test.
A total of 3 thousand applicants passed the test, 500 of you couldn't finish the obstacles before the sun set, 500 more passed out, 500 more drowned and 500 of you just gave up, honestly I must say I'm surprised that this number still managed to pass, we would usually cut you short to reduce the number but with the request from the king himself we can't, so the next test will decide which class you'll be in and your ranking.
Before starting the next test he noticed Arthur was still among them
hmm? so you passed huh? no doubt because of the sword, let's see how long you'll stay in this academy.