Chapter 217
When news of Lumene’s unified entrance exam spread across the continent, confusion erupted in many regions.
Traditionally, Lumene held separate exams in the five territories—West, North, East, South, and Central.
But the unified exam was an entirely different approach from before.
Naturally, examinees were confused by the sudden disappearance of regional exams and the announcement of a unified one.
There were no restrictions to apply for the Lumene entrance exam.
Once a test location was designated, examinees would travel there to take the exam.
However, costs for attending the entrance ceremony—like warp gate fees and lodging—were the examinees’ responsibility.
With the venue changing due to the unified exam, the expected expenses could skyrocket.
Prestigious noble houses could handle it, but many of Lumene’s applicants were commoners.
So, understandably, complaints and frustration arose among the applicants.
But once the new notice was delivered, those complaints vanished.
Lumene announced that they would cover all warp gate and accommodation costs for every applicant.
All the applicants had to bring was the exam slip issued from their region.
It was an astronomical cost, but Lumene didn’t care.
With the financial burden gone, the number of applicants naturally increased.
Still, there wasn’t a flood of examinees.
Lumene’s entrance exam was notoriously difficult.
Every year, countless underprepared examinees lost their lives.
On top of that, the exam was broadcast in real-time.
No one wanted to die or suffer public humiliation on a global scale due to poor skill.
With the whole continent now focused on Lumene’s entrance exam, all eyes turned to Lorend, the capital of the Lordren Empire, once it was announced as the venue.
Amid the commotion stirred up by the Lumene entrance exam—
Six figures appeared at the Zerdinger family’s training grounds.
It was none other than Leo and his knights.
“The… the training grounds!”
“We’re back!”
Carin, Julian, and Valerie rushed to the training ground’s front gate with cheers.
Carin and Julian even kissed the gate in their excitement.
Seeing this, Austin furrowed his brows and spoke sternly.
“What disgraceful behavior in front of Young Master Leo?”
“Young Master Leo doesn’t really care about that kind of stuff.”
“Yeah, Austin.”
Carin and Julian, the liveliest of the five, were both fourteen years old.
Valerie, the same age, was more mature and just as bulky as Austin, making her seem older. Naturally, these two handled morale in the group.
As the two acted playfully, Austin’s expression stiffened.
While Martina was the actual leader, Austin, the eldest, maintained order in the group.
Seeing his glare, the two quickly stood at attention.
Valerie shook her head as she watched.
“Young Master, what should we do now?”
“Go back to your rooms and rest. I’m going to see Uncle Gis.”
“Yes, sir.”
At that, Martina signaled for the group to disband.
As she and Carin walked back to their room, Carin said,
“I missed my bed so much!”
“Me too.”
“Young Master Leo’s training definitely helped… but it was way too rough! Especially sleeping and eating!”
Carin shook her head in exasperation.
Sleeping in the mountains wasn’t the issue.
The problem was when they tried to sleep.
Leo didn’t let the knights rest even at night.
Just as they began to drift off, stones would come flying out of nowhere.
Of course, they weren’t imbued with [Aura], but they flew fast enough to cause pain.
It became a daily routine to get smacked while off guard.
Getting hit was tolerable.
The real problem came after—being forced into “physical training” for thirty minutes under Leo’s command.
It was called training, but it was basically torture.
They had to spend three straight weeks vomiting day and night.
Meals were self-supplied, which also created problems.
Leo would often swoop in and snatch away the ingredients they gathered.
If they let their guard down, they didn’t just lose sleep—they starved.
Naturally, the entire knight order had their nerves frayed.
“I barely got any sleep. Ugh! Even if I’m a knight, my skin’s ruined!”
Carin pouted like a typical teenage girl concerned about her appearance.
With her brown hair and green eyes, she had a cute face.
Martina gave a wry smile at the sight.
She wasn’t in much better shape herself.
‘Still, Young Master Leo must’ve had the hardest time.’
For a whole month, Leo relentlessly pushed the five trainees.
In other words, the one who got the least rest was Leo himself.
‘And yet he looks completely fine… He’s incredible.’
Martina clicked her tongue as she thought of Leo.
After hastily unpacking in their room, the two headed straight to the showers.
“Aaah~ hot water!”
Carin bounced around gleefully, enjoying the hot water, and Martina burst out laughing.
After washing up and changing into clean clothes, the two were about to leave the showers—
“Oh my. Look who it is.”
“The hero candidates have returned, huh?”
Other Zerdinger trainees spotted Martina and Carin and snickered.
Their eyes were full of obvious mockery.
Carin’s face twisted in anger.
Martina let out a quiet sigh and lightly tapped Carin’s shoulder, signaling her to ignore it.
Carin bit her lip and tried to walk past.
“You lied just so you could stay in Young Master Leo’s knight order?”
“Take it easy. Don’t waste Young Master Leo’s time.”
Laughing as they spoke, the girls made Martina stop in her tracks.
She turned her head.
“You think we’re the same as you?”
“What?”
“We each had our own reasons for choosing to join Young Master Leo’s knight order. Unlike you opportunists who jumped in only after his value was made known.”
“M-Martina!”
Carin pulled at her, flustered.
But Martina shook her off.
“What did you just say?”
“Did you say everything you wanted to say?”
“No, I’m not done yet. The Lumene entrance exam? Young Master Leo told us first. He said we could pass! He believed in our potential!”
Martina’s brown eyes blazed with fire.
“We chose Young Master Leo—and he chose us. You can bark all you want. You’ll never become his knights. As long as he believes in us, we’ll never give up!”
“Hah? And what proof do you have from this ‘special training’ or whatever? You’re still just mid-tier trainees.”
The mocking trainees sneered.
Martina scoffed at them.
“How long do you think you’ll stay stronger than us?”
“Heh? Then how about a duel, Martina?”
Whoosh—!
The wooden sword the Lumene trainee was carrying sliced through the air and stopped just short of Martina’s face.
Martina clenched her fist.
“Fine. Let’s do it.”
“Feeling confident? How about a wager? If you lose, your group steps down from Leo’s knight order.”
“Sure. And if you lose?”
“We’ll withdraw from Zerdinger’s trainee program.”
Martina stared at the girl, who wore a smug expression, and said,
“Deal.”
“Fufu. Then see you in the training arena in thirty minutes.”
As the giggling girls walked out, Martina wore a troubled expression.
“Carin! What do we do?!”
Carin let out a deep sigh.
“Martina, you really do have a temper sometimes.”
Scratching her head, Carin shrugged.
“Welp, too late now. We’ll just have to go for it.”
—
The Zerdinger training arena was now filled with every single trainee.
Seeing the crowd, Julian frowned.
“Austin… What do we do now?”
“Sorry, guys.”
Martina apologized, but Austin shook his head.
“No. It was bound to happen eventually.”
Austin, Julian, and Valerie had also been mocked by the top-ranked trainees since they got back.
“In that case, let’s show them what our training accomplished.”
Austin’s words made Julian frown.
“Sure, we did get stronger during training… but it’s only been a month.”
It didn’t feel like enough time to make dramatic improvements.
Even during the return sparring match with Leo, they had been utterly overwhelmed.
“Can’t see any improvement, huh?”
“How should I crush you?”
The top-ranked trainees laughed while looking down on the five.
“I’ll go first.”
With a nervous expression, Austin picked up his wooden sword and stepped onto the arena.
A bulky trainee just as muscular stepped up to face him.
As the entire crowd watched the two prepare to duel—
“Young Master Leo’s here.”
“Young Master Leo came to watch?”
The trainees began whispering as they spotted Leo standing behind the arena with his arms crossed.
“I still don’t get it.”
“Right? There are top-ranked trainees dying to be his knights. Why did he take those guys for training instead?”
The Zerdinger trainees looked puzzled.
While the whispers continued, a sturdy-looking boy approached Leo.
“Young Master Leo, don’t just stay back there. Come watch from the front.”
“Who are you?”
“My name is Endian Terrius.”
Confidently introducing himself, Endian reminded Leo of a knight named Pierce he had met at a party a month ago.
‘Is he that guy’s son?’
With that thought, Leo walked forward with a blank expression.
The crowd parted, and everyone gazed at Leo with admiration.
All the trainees here had trained alongside Celia, and many had seen Rhys as well.
They knew full well how overwhelming Celia and Rhys were.
And this was the one who surpassed Celia to become class rep, and succeeded Rhys as student council president—a scion of the Zerdinger family.
There might be people at Lumene who looked at Leo with disdain, but not here.
Becoming his knight was a guaranteed rise in status within the family.
He was a figure of pure admiration.
‘Will there be another recruitment?’
‘Lady Celia has thirty knights in her order.’
‘Next time, for sure…’
All eyes were filled with longing as they watched Leo walk to the front of the arena.
Arms crossed, he looked at Austin.
“Young Master Leo…”
Austin bowed deeply, clearly apologetic.
He knew how hard Leo had worked to train them over the past month.
And now, he had ended up betting their positions in the knight order.
He couldn’t help but feel guilty toward Leo.
Seeing Austin like that, Leo chuckled.
“Austin.”
“Yes, Young Master Leo.”
“Go easy on him.”