Outside the Small Forest

Days, weeks, and months passed in the blink of an eye without the boy's notice. Every single day is a day of learning and growth for him. It was the kind of progress he had never experienced before. This feeling made him secluded from the happenings of the world. There were days when Lyra pleaded with Silas to allow Aeneas some day outside, but the old man always gave her the same answer, "His growth is steady and the boy seemed to enjoy seeing it himself. You can ask him to leave with you for a day, but I won't take him back."

The old man's words were enough to make Lyra stop. She already felt responsible for almost making her son a cripple with his Zeal and didn't want to hinder his growth.

Meanwhile, changes in the lands of Pantera have made news even in other kingdoms. After an intense battle for the vacant rank of Chiliarch of Gold, Maro Lazeas from the capital emerged as the new Lord of Arsida. Although many in Arsida wished for Cylon to have the rank, they respected the knight's process of judging the candidates in both wisdom as a commander and battle prowess.

When it comes to being a commander, Cylon was the best among the candidates. But, after a lengthy match, he lost against Maro who was only a little behind him when it came to leading. The two vacant positions of Chiliarch of Silver were also filled the same way with Chiliarchs of Bronze having the right to take the challenge.

But the waves of excitement weren't due to Maro becoming the lord of Arsida nor was it his name people utter in all of Nusterra. A few months after the expedition that ended the lives of many great Panteran knights, including Nireus Chronis and Irus Thoas, Arsen Caspius was granted the right to challenge for the position of Chiliarch of Bronze and achieved it as if it was nothing. The King and the three Polemarchs – pinnacles of knighthood – were the ones who came up with the decision after learning about Arsen's contribution to the previous expedition and that it was his sword that ended the behemoth. If it hadn't been for his quick thinking, the beast of chaos would've caused more destruction than it already did.

Months later, a horde of maddened beasts emerged from the forest bordering the kingdom of Aakdan. They appeared east of Heos. Leading a small number of troops that didn't reach a thousand, Arsen had quelled a few hundred maddened beasts and solved the problem before backup even arrived. Though some of his knights had grave injuries, none of them lost their lives.

These kinds of events happened two more times in the span of a few months. With his achievements, Arsen was again granted the right to aim for the next rank. It was a right only given to the twenty Chiliarchs of Bronze who were above their peers when it came to strength and merit. But unlike the rank of Chiliarch of Bronze where there are no fixed numbers and one would take tests given by the pinnacles of knighthood, Arsen needed to challenge one of the thirty Chiliarchs of Silver and take their position. 

The Panteran rule was if the challenger wins, he would take the rank and the one he challenged would be one rank lower. But if the challenger loses, he won't be allowed to challenge again for the next five years. This rule ensured that the twenty Chiliarchs of Bronze who were above everyone else with the same ranks wouldn't mindlessly challenge those above them and the Chiliarchs of Silver would aim to become stronger not to be beaten out of their ranks.

Many thought that Arsen wouldn't challenge someone immediately and become stronger first to ensure his next rank. But, he asked the King and the Polemarchs to assign his opponent the same day he was granted the right. Arsen didn't like the thought of kicking someone down and taking their position but he wanted to rise within the ranking of knights.

Even still, the King and the Polemarchs said that they could not intervene with tradition. The right to challenge was only given to those of a lower rank. They cannot force an opponent towards him. Instead, the king had announced Arsen's declaration of wanting to challenge all Chiliarchs of Silver and that anyone with the rank was free to accept it.

Not even a day passed since the king's announcement when one already answered Arsen's challenge. It was a Chiliarch of Silver from Arsida. Chiliarch Brygos Remas.

News of their battle gave excitement to the people. Most believed that Arsen was still too young and inexperienced to challenge Brygos and would regret it. But those who know of Arsen and had seen him fight thought differently.

Their fight was held in the Coliseum of Khrysos with the presence of the two Polemarchs tasked with overseeing the order of knights. The arena was packed with tons of people waiting to listen outside since they didn't manage to have a seat.

Contrary to what many believed, the match ended within a minute. Arsen emerged victorious with an undeniable win, overpowering Brygos. Even Brygos couldn't help but feel a wave of shivers crawl up his spine. Though overwhelmed, Brygos knows that they were on par the last time they fought, yet not even a year later and Arsen greatly overwhelmed him. Seeing such a sight made everyone accept that Arsen wasn't just a genius but a monster of his kind that none of them had ever seen.

Arsen broke another record yet again. At the young age of twenty-two, Arsen Caspius became the youngest to have achieved the rank of Chiliarch of Silver. 

Driven by his admiration towards Arsen, Brygos, now a Chiliarch of Bronze, asked to serve under him and Arsen accepted with a smile.

Aside from that, in the month of Leo (August), Chiliarch Arsen and Theresa held their wedding. Many attended their celebration including most of the members of the expedition. Like the Chiliarchs of Silver who were under Nireus but are now Arsen's peers. The two exchanged their vows under the guidance of the Proud Lion and the witness of everyone else.

Cylon stood in as Nireus's proxy, helping Theresa with anything she needed. While Donos did the same for Arsen and helped Lyra. He couldn't help but imagine how happy his late friend would have been to know how far his eldest had come in the order of knights, and how shocked he would be to learn that he was also being wed. The stern man couldn't help but also tear up imagining his friend and seeing Lyra crying her heart out due to happiness.

Aside from Arsen, Tiriara and Neoma became better fighters under his teachings as well as Donos's guidance. The former continued her challenge of the coliseums and was currently in her fourth consecutive win.

The summit for the year was held in the month of Virgo (September). Vandrad proceeds with the word of his friend in mind. With the presence of all rulers, Vandrad presented the case of King Ision's son. Many witnesses have seen him punch or hurt someone because of bumping into him. He was a drunkard who would always cause trouble. But all of those were petty crimes and Decatris does not have the right to pass judgment on him.

Many of the rulers shared the same sentiment that it wasn't under the jurisdiction of Decatris. But, after the petty crimes, Vandrad presented evidence of the accused being involved in activities all kingdoms agreed to make illegal. One of which was slavery, in which they found out that King Ision's son was a known figure in its underground market. Aside from that, he was involved in selling illegal potions and drugs that copied the madness of beasts when ingested by a human.

After presenting all the evidence, Vandrad asked the rulers whether the death of Ision's son was just and that he should have been hanged for his crimes anyway so King Ision should accept it as such and end his protest. Vandrad asked the rulers to raise their hands if they agreed. Not a second later, six of the rulers, including the Panteran king, raised their hands. All the others also did it later, with the sole exception of King Ision. In the end, Vandrad said that if Ision still refused to fully cooperate with Decatris, they would see it as a breach of his oath and might take actions he wouldn't like.

Although Ision remained furious, he backed down and accepted the decision that was made at the summit.

The summit games were lively with different kinds of games for the participants, but with Arsen leading the Pantera squad, they once again took victory. This time, their triumph was way cleaner and faster.

One of the topics finalized in the last meeting of the year's summit was about the academy's call for the twelve rulers to send more young people to enter it. The council was completing its preparations and was expecting a surge of new students as soon as the next year started. Their curriculum made it easy to make adjustments and for them to be able to accept new students every month.

Aeneas remained oblivious to all the things that happened in his home country while being inside the wooded area he lived in. Silas would answer all of his questions but none of it was about the outside world. From the beginning, the boy's focus remained true to his goals.