In the second week of July 2024, on Wednesday Early Morning, Rowan drinks some energy drinks, not for that other energy drink, but to make his body active due to his tiredness last night with Elira. He was shocked by what he saw as he stepped outside the small wooden cabin. The entire large altar location had turned into a large fortress, which was done under Knight Commander Selene's command.
---[Day 3 Morning]---
Knight Commander Selene, Rowan Ashbourne, Elira Valenwood, Nimue Ashvale, and Rhiannon Stormwarden began their morning meeting to discuss the agenda and activities for the day.
1. Using the Oath of Protection Scroll, Lady Nimue and Lady Rhiannon pledged to keep Knight Commander Selene's identity a secret.
2. Knight Commander Selene will serve as the Deputy Commander of the Fortress and will take on the Role of Acting Commander during Lord Rowan's absence.
3. Lady Elira, Lady Nimue, and Lady Rhiannon will be responsible for enhancing the fortress's defensive fortifications using their magic. At the same time, Lord Rowan will oversee the NPC villagers, beginner mages, and beginner healers to provide support.
---[Day 3 Noon]---
Rowan, along with his NPCs—Beginner Swordsmen, Beginner Bowsmen, Beginner Shieldsmen, and Mercenaries—sets out to search for more altars to increase their points per hour.
1. Rowan and his summoned characters encounter a group of snowy monster dummies, defeat them as swiftly as possible, and avoid much damage to themselves.
2. He found five small altars that were not in use or claimed, along with three medium altars. He brought them back to his fortress and encountered a large group of students, which was surprising.
3. It was the 2nd Princess Group, and she had at least three to five allies around her. They all noticed his presence, including the NPC characters I had summoned. One of the group members approached him and offered to join their ranks as an ally, but Rowan declined. This decision made some group members angry and led to questions about his choice.
The 2nd Princess told her members to stop it as they listened and went on separate ways, but for some reason, he felt hostility not from the 2nd Princess but from one of her members or allies.
---[Day 3 Afternoon]---
Rowan asked Elira about the members of the 2nd Princess's group. When she questioned him about why he wanted to know, he explained that he had encountered the 2nd Princess's group and their allies while returning to the fortress. He mentioned a blonde-haired guy with a rude and arrogant personality who had invited him to join them.
After declining the offer, he became angry. Elira reflected on the situation and informed Rowan that the blonde-haired man was William Ebonhart, the Duke's son. She described him as arrogant and someone who tends to misuse his power due to his noble birth. However, she noted that he lacks experience in both combat and strategic command.
Rowan asked another question about how anything related to the Second Princess could matter. At that moment, he finally realized something: this person had a crush on the Second Princess, which explained his peculiar behavior. However, Elira mentioned that she was unsure about the information, but it was clear that the Princess already knew the truth about William Ebonhart. As a result, she treated him not as a close friend, but simply as one of her subjects.
---[Day 4 Morning and Afternoon]---
As Day 4 begins, Knight Commander Selene is having breakfast with the other ladies in the Food Camp. Here, NPC villagers have transformed into cooks, preparing delicious meals. Lady Nimue and Lady Rhiannon are curious about the source of the food, unaware that it comes from Rowan's exclusive skill, Resource Surge. After breakfast and lunch...
1. Knight Commander Selene assigns scouting duties to Lady Nimue and Lady Rhiannon, ensuring they keep watch over potential enemy advances or nearby hidden resources. They are entrusted with 5 Villagers who transformed into 5 Militias.
2. Lady Nimue begins laying a protection ward across the fortress perimeter, reinforcing the fortress walls using Earth Magic together with Rowan's npc beginner mages.
3. Rowan gathers the remaining villagers and organizes a training session with the Beginner Swordsmen and Beginner Shieldmen, emphasizing basic combat techniques in preparation for incoming enemies. This will increase their proficiency when used without their transformation, the Militias.
---[Day 4 Evening and Day 5 Morning]---
In the evening, Rowan's NPC mercenaries, who acted as scouts, brought news of a large group approaching their location—confirmed to be at least 100 students and more. Knight Commander Selene, Rowan, and Elira were strategizing at their camp about how to handle the situation. Rowan asked the NPC mercenaries if they had any additional information about this group.
The NPC mercenaries communicated through Knight Commander Selene, who informed Lord Rowan that the 25 students always formed a circle as if protecting someone. Rowan and Elira realized that it was the Second Princess approaching. Since this was an important preliminary battle royale, there were no rules protecting royalty; everything had to be equal, and a loss was a loss.
The next morning, as they climbed up to the fortress walls in the cold air, they noticed the Second Princess and her allies setting up their camp. The students with the Gacha Class Job, who can summon characters, had already formed their battle formation. Rowan couldn't help but wonder if they could win, especially since the Second Princess was a Triple-Class Job, holding the titles of Commander, Strategist, and Tactician, which made her a formidable opponent.
Something unexpected happened: the blond-haired individual used his magical artifact to amplify his voice so they could hear him from a distance. He said they wouldn't fight if Rowan joined them and shared the altars. Rowan, however, refused his offer. The blond-haired figure pointed at him, saying, "It's you again. I didn't expect that. You will regret it!" Rowan still declined. With that, he signaled Knight Commander Selene to eliminate all of them without mercy. Selene jumped down from the fortress walls, using the strength of her legs to dash toward the Second Princess's camp.
---[Day 5 Afternoon and Day 6 Morning]---
The blond-haired student saw a figure in silver knight armor approaching him. Shocked, he quickly returned to the camp and informed all the NPC summoners to prepare for an attack. The students who could summon NPC characters issued the attack command and charged toward the silver knight. However, everyone was stunned by what they witnessed. With a single swing of her sword, the silver knight unleashed an air slash that sliced all the summoned NPC characters in half. Then, she jumped high into the air and landed with a powerful impact on the Second Princess's camp.
The powerful impact led to the elimination of 15 students, who were kicked out of this realm. However, she didn't stop there; she unleashed a barrage of air slashes against everyone, eliminating them one by one without mercy. They were kicked off from this small pocket realm because they failed the exam, which required them to survive instead of being eliminated. The goal was to earn points without interfering with other students or if they wanted to, it's like high risk and better rewards. The Second Princess miscalculated her plans, as this was not her original strategy; it was the blond-haired student, William, who complicated things.
Everyone was eliminated except for the Second Princess. She hadn't expected that there was such a powerful student among them who caused the elimination of everyone else. However, she was very suspicious of the Silver Female Knight. From the beginning, she had noticed that the knight was a woman. The Silver Female Knight, Selene, had been ordered by her lord, Rowan, to eliminate everyone except for the Second Princess. Rowan had described in detail how the Second Princess looked when he encountered her during his search for the altars.
The Silver Knight carried the Second Princess back to the Fortress. The next day, Rowan and Elira explained to the Second Princess, Elowen, about the powerful Silver Knight. They felt it was important to be honest with her, as lying would be wrong, especially since she was a significant customer who purchased Rowan's Defense Artifacts. Once she understood the situation, Elowen insisted on performing the Oath of Protection Scroll. Although Rowan assured her that he trusted the Second Princess and advised her not to use it, Elowen was determined, and they completed the Oath, agreeing to keep the identity of the Female Silver Knight a secret.
---[Day 6 Afternoon, Day 7 Morning, and Day 7 Afternoon]---
The remaining days were peaceful, with nothing significant occurring except for the snowy monster dummies rampaging through every snowy area and eliminating students one by one. As Day 7 reached the afternoon, all the students in this pocket realm returned to Everglow Academy, specifically to the Sparrowwind Arena. Now, the students approached their instructors to tally the points they had earned during the week-long Preliminary Examination.
Rowan, Elira, Nimue, Rhiannon, and Elowen have collected a total of over 3 Large Altars (300 Points), 12 Medium Altars (600 Points), and 24 Small Altars (600 Points). They earned 1,500 Points for every hour. Since Everglow Academy will take 25% of the Points, the remaining 75% will be distributed equally among the students who participated.
Rowan's group initially earned a total of 252,000 points. After a deduction of 25% from the Everglow Academy, their total dropped to 189,000 points. Based on individual contributions, the Merit Points were distributed as follows: Rowan earned 70,000 points, Elira earned 35,000 points, Nimue earned 30,000 points, Rhiannon earned 28,000 points, and Elowen earned 26,000 points. The girls all recognized that Rowan had been carrying the team during their activities, so they decided to give him an additional 25% of their points as a token of gratitude.
Rowan declined the offer, but they insisted. As a result, Rowan earned a total of 99,750 Merit Points. His bond and relationship with Lady Nimue, Lady Rhiannon, and Second Princess Elowen grew stronger as they formed friendships with one another. Elira, who noticed this development, did not seem jealous or upset about Rowan's relationships with them. However, Rowan remains unaware that there may be something more going on with Elira's Plan.
[End of Chapter 13]
"Finally finished! I will be taking a break because I was sick during the holidays and didn't recover till now. There will be a bit new changes I plan to make for the next chapter. Thank you for reading my story and for the collections you added to my story, to all the readers!"