The days quickly passed as Leonard quickly got used to the cycle of training and 3 months passed in the blink of an eye it was the day of the examination. Leonard didn't have to pack anything since if he passed the examination then food, clothes and other necessities will be taken care of for him and if he failed then he would just go back to the orphanage.
The examination would take place at the viscounts estate which was a couple kilometres from the city he was currently in, Leonard had chose to leave at the break of dawn and the Director of the orphanage was the only person see Leonard off. Over the three month training period even though Leonard didn't tell anyone initially about him going to take part in the examination the people at the orphanage all figured out that Leonard was up to something as he randomly began training and after a thorough interrogation the other orphans ran on him Leonard let it slip that he was training for the viscounts examination. Eventually word spread to even the Director of the orphanage and that was why he was here currently today.
Since Leonard was leaving at the break of dawn no one woke up early to send him off except the director. Since they all carried the same thought that Leonard would definitely fail and be back by the end of the day so there would be no point. However the director was a very kind person at heart, despite the quiet and stoic countenance he often carried and even though he too carried little faith in Leonard succeeding he still wanted to impart some encouraging words before Leonard's departure.
As Leonard and the Director stared at each other for a few seconds outside the orphanage the Director broke the silence.
"Leonard, I want you to go out there and try your best. Whether you succeed or fail, as long as you know in your heart that you tried your absolute hardest, then that," the director paused for a moment, his serious tone unwavering, "is enough."
Leonard stayed silent for a moment after hearing the Directors advice before solidifying in his heart that this man, he was a good person.
"I will imprint these words deep in my mind, I will not disappoint." Leonard said with certainty before continuing "It seems its times for me to leave, thank you for the advice Director."
After the Director gave his farewell Leonard set off to the viscounts estate. The streets were practically empty as the sun was just starting to rise, unlike the usual coldness which accompanied early morning Leonard felt warm winds blow past him as it was the middle of summer.
Since the orphanage was placed on the outskirts of the city it only took a few minutes for Leonard to reach the end of the city, after getting through a cursory questioning on why he, a boy this young was leaving the city alone at this time of day by the guards stationed by the city gates he was quickly let through.
Leonard made his way through the path which lead from the city to the viscounts estate, this path was made as the viscount, or one of his children occasionally ride their carriages from the estate to the city and as the estate was built in the middle of a thick forest a path had to be made.
Travelling through the path at a fast walking speed Leonard managed to see the massive estate after a few kilometres of travel. Leonard walked to the steel gates which surrounded the estate and found a few guards wearing armour with a blue eagle insignia engrained on to it.
As the Leonard approached the guards also stared at him in silence however their hands were hovering over their sheathed swords, on guard as to why a strange young boy had approached the estate.
"I'm here for the examination." Leonard broke the silence as he felt it was truly getting too awkward of them staring at each other.
The guards all seemed much less on edge before one of them asked Leonard doubtfully.
"You do know that the examination for the guard trainee position is not until evening, why have you come so early?"
Leonard had purposely left extremely early because he didn't want to go through the hassle of saying goodbye to everyone in the orphanage, which was why he left while everyone was sleeping except for the director. However he would rather not tell the guards his real reason so Leonard came up with a random lie.
"Just didn't want to be late sir."
The guard who asked him the question sighed at Leonards answer before replying back in a slightly irritated tone.
"Alright follow me, I'll take you to the training yard where the examination will take place."
Leonard followed as the guard opened the gates and walked through the viscounts land, after a decently long walk they reached a bare training yard that had different types of weapons in each designated bin.
"Stay quiet and don't do anything stupid while you wait for the others to come, someone is always watching." After the guard left the warning he went back to reunite with the others in front of the gates.
After the guard left Leonard walked to a corner of the training yard and sat down in a meditative position. It was around eleven to twelve hours until the examination would start so Leonard just chose to meditate until it began.
Leonard sat in meditation for around 10 hours with short breaks in between for stretching. It was around this time that the first couple children began to enter the training ground and it seemed like that was just the beginning, an hour after the first couple children arrived more and more just kept coming and it didn't seem like it was going to stop any time soon. When it hit evening sharp the guards announced that anyone arriving now would be late and should go home.
Leonard took a look around the training group and was slightly shocked at the amount of participants, taking a rough estimate it seemed like there at least two thousand people participating. The once barren and bare training yard was filled to the brim with children and guards standing around the perimeter.
The children were talking excitedly with each other until one of the guards shouted with a booming voice so loud that it couldn't of been humanly possible.
"Silence!"
Instantly all the children went quiet, the guard nodding in satisfaction before continuing in a less louder voice.
"Before we start the examination we have to make sure that you all are at the required age," right as the guard said that he gestured to another guard who was holding a translucent thin square which was one metre long and one metre wide, "which is why we have this device here which can tell us if you are at the age we need you at, we have calibrated this device so it will light green if the person stepping on it is between the age of 10 to 13 and will light red for any other age."
After the guard introduced the device to all the children they were all ordered to get into a single file line and step on the device, if it lights green you were told to stand to the side and if it lit red you would be escorted out the estate.