Chapter Four Enlist in the army（one）

As the intense light faded, the travelers found themselves transported to the center of a vast square, a sight not unfamiliar to Ryan. He had once accompanied his mentor, Victor, to the Magical Association Center in the city of Xinnar, where a similar teleportation array was housed. However, the square before them was far grander than the one in Xinnar. From the front of the square, one could see a sprawling complex of palaces in the distance, which must have been the imperial city.

To the left, an observatory that pierced the clouds indicated that this was the Magical Association Center of the capital, Sophien, presided over by the Grand Magister Naga. To the right, a cluster of buildings with towering spires suggested a close communion with the divine, marking the center of the church.

Perhaps alerted by the activation of the teleportation array, a squadron of cavalry could be seen approaching from afar. The cavalry, marching in two columns along the sides of the square's main avenue, moved with a uniform gait, their horses and riders adorned in full regalia, exuding an air of majesty. Ryan surmised that this must be the Royal Knights, the very order his elder brother Jestan had joined.

Indeed, as the cavalry drew near, Ryan could clearly see the long shields hanging from their horses and the saddle emblems embroidered with the double-winged horse insignia symbolizing the royalty of Sophien. The cavalry slowly fanned out in front of the group, and at the command of their captain, the knights dismounted in unison, drawing their swords with a synchronized motion. The swords gleamed with a golden light in the rising sun as the knights paid a reverent knight's salute to the princess.

After the salute, the knights sheathed their swords. The cavalry captain then stepped forward to the princess, kneeling on one knee to perform the royal salute. Oliver, who had already stepped aside, grabbed Ryan and Jestan by their collars, pulling the two uninitiated commoners behind him. Bena also smartly moved to the other side.

"Honorable Princess, I apologize for the delay in our reception. The King is currently presiding over state affairs in the grand hall. Please rest for a while; His Majesty will receive you shortly," said the knight captain, bowing as he slowly retreated back into the ranks of the cavalry.

Five knights led their horses before the travelers, kneeling on one knee with their arms crossed over their chests. Ryan was unsure of what was happening but saw the princess approach one of the horses, stepping onto the knight's linked arms. With a gentle push from the knight, she turned and mounted the horse.

Oliver also found a horse but did not step on the knight's shoulder. Instead, he gave the knight a brief knightly salute, to which the knight nodded and stood up. Oliver then stepped into the stirrup and swung himself onto the horse.

Bena and Jestan exchanged glances. They did not possess Oliver's skill and hesitated for a moment before deciding it was safer to follow the princess's example.

As Ryan was helping out in the grocery store in the town, he often took care of the horses for the guests, thus developing excellent riding skills. After learning to salute the knights like Oliver, Ryan, as usual, didn't use the stirrups. Instead, with a swing of his leg and a press on the saddle, he leaped into the air and landed steadily on the horse's back.

Seeing Ryan's equestrian skills, the knight beside him nodded. However, when the knight stood up, he whispered softly into Ryan's ear, "Sir, your skills are indeed remarkable, but you are not a knight. Please be mindful in the future not to use salutes reserved for knights."

Hearing this, Ryan blushed. He had never thought that being overly polite could attract criticism.

After Ryan mounted his horse, the knights rode their warhorses in unison, forming a protective circle around the five travelers and heading towards the imperial city.

They passed through the Triumphal Arch, the Central Avenue, and the Forbidden Palace Gate. The center of the highest power in Sophien—the Imperial Palace—was right before their eyes.

Dismounting, the group ascended the white marble staircase.

Two bronze winged-horse statues stood in front of the palace. Forty-eight marble columns supported the entire structure, each column carved with colossal bas-reliefs, most of which depicted the Great War between Gods and Demons and the Victory Day Campaign.

The top of the palace, built of white marble, was inlaid with gold foil to create a celestial pattern. The twelve central pillars were adorned with emblems representing the twelve chief deities of the divine realm. The sound of discussion from the depths of the great hall resonated, sounding deep and sonorous within the vast palace.

The knights had already exited the palace, and the group, led by the princess and surrounded by palace officials and maids, arrived at a side chamber.

The side chamber was a delicate courtyard with eight floor-to-ceiling windows over two meters high. The sunlight illuminated the room brightly. Along the edge of the courtyard were sofas upholstered in fox fur and camel hair cushions.

Exhausted, Ryan bent over and sank into the sofa. The soft fox fur and camel hair gently enveloped his body, evoking a sensation he had never experienced before.

"Comfortable, truly comfortable, I've never felt so at ease."

"So, this is the royal style."

Watching Jestan and Bena, who were also thoroughly enjoying the luxury, Ryan thought that they must be experiencing royal treatment for the first time as well. Oliver, being of noble birth, was different; he sat upright, indifferent to everything around him.

Ryan relaxed completely, sinking into the pile of fox fur and camel hair, enjoying a happiness he had never known in his life.

After a long time, four maids pushed in a silver dining cart with four-color tea pastries and a silver pot in the middle containing some unknown beverage.

The maids gently pushed the cart to Ryan's front.

Ryan didn't know what to do.

The princess said, "Just pick whatever you like."

To be honest, these pastries were all new and fascinating to Ryan, who came from a small town. He wouldn't mind keeping all the tea pastries, but he was afraid that would be too impolite.

After some deliberation, he chose a plate of extremely soft-looking pine cakes.

Ryan savored the smooth and sweet sensation as the pine cake melted in his mouth and rolled across his tongue, intoxicated by this wonderful taste.

At that moment, a guard officer in a precious blue court dress entered, bringing the Emperor's decree.

Everyone stood up, and Ryan reluctantly bid farewell to the sofa.

Following the princess, they passed through the hall and walked down a very long corridor. The group stopped in front of a huge arched door. The door slowly opened to both sides, revealing a massive domed hall. Bright and soft light filtered through the high dome above.

At the front, a low platform with seven steps clearly divided the hall into two sections. On the central throne of the platform sat the king and queen.

On the left side of the king, a side-mounted throne was occupied by the young prince.

On the right side, an empty throne awaited the princess.

A group of ministers stood on the lower platform, flanking both sides. All eyes were fixed on the group entering the hall.

The princess walked to the edge of the platform and bowed to the king. Ryan hurriedly took two steps forward and imitated the princess.

Suddenly, there was a burst of laughter. Ryan looked up to see all the ministers pointing and laughing uproariously, and the three royals seated on the platform also wore amused expressions. The prince was secretly laughing at him.

Looking back at his companions, Ryan saw that they were all glaring at him, and the princess in front of him to the left was also glaring back at him angrily. At the same time, he felt three fingers poking him from different directions at his waist.

Immediately afterwards, the princess in front stretched out her heel and stepped hard on his toes. All this made everyone who saw it laugh uncontrollably.

Ryan examined himself from head to toe and realized that he had only been paying attention to the princess's actions and imitated her way of bowing, which seemed inappropriate.

He quickly straightened up and looked around. Bena was performing the same bow as the princess. That couldn't be the way women bowed, could it? Oliver seemed to be performing a knight's courtesy. He decided to follow Jestan's example and struck a pose like Jestan.

Seeing Ryan's clumsy appearance, the other four now regretted bringing this idiot with them. They were now disgracing themselves in the palace.

Ryan had no idea that just because of this small mistake, he would be called "one of the six great disgraces of the Magic Association" like his two teachers, Magician Victor and Magician Chris. The charge, of course, was shamefully and extremely ruining the sacred image of magicians.

The princess quickly introduced the identities of Oliver, Bena, and Jestan.

In order to make up for the severely damaged image, the princess somewhat exaggeratedly claimed that they were trial students of the Magic Association, but they had passed the intermediate magician assessment ahead of time and received training from Princess Chris. They were rare magical geniuses.

When introducing Ryan, the princess didn't hesitate to call him "private property" of Princess Chris. She also revealed the fact that he had signed a contract with Chris to distinguish him from others.

After hearing the princess's introduction, the king, queen, and prince were very interested in Ryan's identity. They knew Chris's personality very well, and only she could do such a strange thing.

The other ministers were skeptical about the abilities of the four young people, after all, they were too young. Even if they were talented, the cultivation of magic required accumulation over time and couldn't be achieved overnight. Moreover, this mission was of great responsibility, and all personnel going must be capable and competent.

"I would like to test the strength of the four of you, please grant my request, Your Majesty," a knight stepped forward at this time.

The king looked at the knight. In fact, he was also worried about the abilities of the four young people. After all, he knew his dear sister very well. She would never teach anyone properly. Although his daughter was her disciple, it was actually the Great Magister Naga who taught his daughter magic.

He had no idea what kind of disciples his sister could teach, and he only knew from the Great Magister Naga that she was very powerful, but he didn't have much understanding of it himself.

But now, his daughter insisted that the four young people were strong. If it turned out not to be the case, it would be a fatal blow to the princess's credibility and ability, and it would also have a huge negative impact on this mission.

The princess was also very worried. After all, she had just acted impulsively, wanting to make up for the negative impact brought by this idiot Ryan, and exaggerated the strength of the three people. She didn't really understand their strength. What if...

The king looked at the princess and saw her hesitation, knowing that she was not confident and hesitated to respond.

Oliver, full of confidence, strode forward and said, "Your Majesty, I am willing to be tested."

The king looked at Oliver. He was somewhat reassured about Oliver because he had heard about this young man from several different people and knew that he was very talented in swordsmanship and magic. However, he was too confident. He dared to accept the test from the captain of the Royal Knights. Therefore, the king decided to remind this young man.

"Very well, young man. Your courage is commendable, but as a qualified knight, courage alone is not enough. Do you know who this knight in front of you is?"

"Your Majesty," said Oliver proudly, his voice trembling slightly with excitement, "I certainly recognize Sir Pastin, the commander of the Royal Knights. Sir Pastin is the one who holds the most honorable title of Holy Knight among the knights, and he is one of the knights I respect the most, apart from my father."

From Oliver's words, it could be heard that he was sincere and full of reverence in saying this, which both the king and Sir Pastin were quite satisfied with.

Oliver continued, "Therefore, I request Your Majesty to grant me permission to be tested by Sir Pastin, the Holy Knight. It will be the honor of my life."

Seeing Oliver speak like this, if the king didn't agree, it would be too unfeeling. Thinking that Pastin would probably like this young man and not make him too embarrassed, the king announced, "I hereby decide that Oliver, the probationary knight, will be tested by Sir Pastin, the Holy Knight of the Royal Knights. I hope everyone will show the glorious demeanor of knights in the spirit of mutual exchange."

With the decree issued, the ministers on both sides retreated to the sides of the hall as much as possible to clear the central space. The court magician stood in the hexagon of the hall, setting up a magic barrier, and two senior magicians stood beside the king, with a transparent wall protecting the royal family.

Oliver and Pastin each retreated to the left and right sides of the hall and chose suitable weapons from the attendants standing with various different weapons.

When they returned to the center of the hall, it was found that both of them had chosen two narrow-bladed thrusting swords by coincidence. It seemed that this would be a duel of fast swords.

At this time, anyone who knew a little about martial arts couldn't help but doubt whether Oliver was too arrogant. After all, it was foolish to duel with a Holy Knight like Pastin. Choosing a weapon like a dragon lance or a battle halberd, which could increase the distance, would be more advantageous. Moreover, Oliver could use magic, and using a long weapon would be more effective than close combat.

Perhaps Pastin thought so too, so he suggested that Oliver change his weapon. However, Oliver declined.

Seeing that both sides were ready, the king stood up and personally announced the start of the test.

Oliver stepped back five or six steps, creating some distance, and began to chant softly.

Pastin clearly didn't want to take advantage of this opportunity to attack.

A series of chain fireballs were launched at Pastin.

This old trick against melee fighters was naturally not a threat to Pastin, but he didn't want to win with high-level sword qi or shockwave techniques. After all, he wanted to truly test the strength of this young man.

Therefore, he dodged the oncoming fireballs one after another.

Suddenly, a wall of fire surged over.

"Chain fireballs followed by a wave of fire, a very orthodox attack method. The power and density of the fireballs are good, and the magical switch between the chain fireballs and the wave of fire is also very fast. Indeed, it can be considered to have reached the level of a mid-level magician," Pastin recognized Oliver's strength.

Suddenly, amidst the gasps of the crowd, a sword as fast as lightning pierced through the raging firewall and stabbed over.

Although Pastin was surprised, he instinctively blocked the sword and deflected it with a twist of his wrist.

"The position of the sword thrust is tricky, exactly a backhand. It seems that the foundation of swordsmanship is quite good. Moreover, he didn't lose his grip, which is quite impressive wrist strength for someone of his age. Especially the transition between magic attacks and sword strikes is extremely rapid, almost as if they are happening at the same time," Pastin now had a certain understanding of Oliver's swordsmanship.

The two exchanged blows, attacking each other. During the battle, Pastin became increasingly amazed, and the spectators, including the king and the princess, were also increasingly astonished.

They found that Oliver could apparently use both magic and martial skills. Although the magic he used was only a few basic and intermediate fire magics such as chain fireballs, wave of fire, firewall, rain of fire, and explosion of fire, combined with endless combinations and exquisite sword strikes, he fought quite brilliantly against the Holy Knight, not at all like a test battle with a huge disparity in strength.

The more Pastin fought, the more he appreciated the young man who was fighting against him. He could use both magic and swordsmanship, and the coordination between magic and martial skills was impeccable, definitely honed through thousands of trials.

Pastin couldn't imagine how Princess Chris had trained such a magical knight.