"Do you see anyone else standing in the room but you? It's also part of the reason why I brought you here"

The baron stated still enjoying his wine Of course, Simon had already thought of the possibility that the reason he was brought here was to nominate him, but he also assumed that the chance of that happening was almost zero, since also he thought that the reason that he was the one accompanying his lord in the first place was because they will be abstaining from nominating a guardian this year.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

As the chosen nervously nominees came up to the stage, which could be interpreted as them just being nervous on making a mistake, but there also times when they wanted to reject the offer but could not do so because they were put on the spot to make a decision.

As no matter how you put it agreeing to being a guardian is akin to being a slave to your lord and to the royals.

And should they ever reject the offer, not only will they bring shame to their family and the noble that they serve, their loyalty to the kingdom also becomes a question, so they can say goodbye to their occupations. It is something rarely talked about and even more so, considering it as a disadvantage of being chosen.

As they genuflected synchronously in front of the host with their will unwavering and their resolute expressions unchanging, the training and discipline that they had been thought surfaced.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud...

The host then revealed her personal wand, it is colored ivory white, which is believed to symbolize holiness and purity, then on its sides were blemished with the ancient language of the royalties, and on the bottom of it was a single black polished mana stone placed in the carved part made to fit it.

She then casted a spell that just sounded gibberish to everyone present in the room.

"Sjsjka aowiel pero sentuso •B♂♦☻♣╨█♀#(*#)#*$)##)#(%(@$(*%"

And then, like an ink flowing down, a black cross with a weirdly shaped skull on top of it, appeared on top of the head of every nominee's present at the stage.

"Do you all solemnly swear to serve your lords and above all else the royals that the king deems worthy?"

"Yes! Yes! Yes..." The knights answered with their full resolve, again in synchrony.

"And do all of you swear in your name, that if you do otherwise, the payment shall be death" The host stated clearly.

This time there was a bit of hesitation, but in the end they all said the same words "Yes"

With the pact was complete and the floating symbols all became engraved at their hearts.

Clap! Clap! Clap! As all of the noble's cheered, it was a joyous event that is to be celebrated indeed.

After a few more exchanges of words, it was finally time to leave.

"I hereby declare that this meeting is adjourned! Grab the return stone and return to each of your respective territories" The host commanded.

They then fell in line and touched the black pentagon shaped stone, and every time they did so unintelligible scribbles and squiggles of lines enveloped them before they teleported.

[Detected a person]

[Identifying the person...]

[Detecting a level one person with a level one authority]

[Succeeded!]

[Detecting that the user's consent is not needed]

[Granting permission to teleport]

[Automatically designating the location based on the person's profile]

Bzzzzzt!

[Detected a person]

[Identifying the person...]

[Detecting a level one person with a level one authority]

[Succeeded...]

Bzzzt!

...

After returning back home, Simon just had one question to the baron "W-Why me?"

"Because it is my gift to you, Simon, for making it possible for me to become the baron. I've been observing you Simon, your body cannot keep up with your potential and currently there is only one way to remedy that, by climbing the tower, however it is already too late for you to enroll at the academies, so that left me with one choice." The baron explained his intents clearly.

Although it would've been easier to just ask the butler to kill his late father since the butler was also against his father's regime and he obviously overpowers his father's entire forces, however it not that simple.

The butler, in the first place, can't go up against his father since he was the guardian of the territory, in fact if the butler ever finds out any threat to the previous baron's life, he must spare no effort to mitigate it and save the life of his lord.

So, in order for the butler to be under his command, the baron must first assassinate his father without any knowledge of the guardian or the butler.

This condition of being transferred the authority of the seal whenever one manages to get past the guardian and kill the lord, is what makes it almost impossible to become the next lord without being the title being properly passed on by the former lord, and there are the records to prove that, since there were only five throughout the history who managed to do that. So almost no common man ever covets the position of the lord.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

But it also shows how little the royals cares on who becomes nobility or whatnot. Since they don't have much to lose in the first place, they are still in command of the guardians if they ever spare on whoever was at the position of the guardian at the time and the same can be said if they began nominating a new one, plus it also a gain for them, because that would just mean that the next one to be granted nobility is even more competent than the previous one who lost despite being granted power. So, it's a win-win for them.

As to why the Royals decided to go through all of this instead of just lead the whole populace with their power and authority alone was never really answered.

Then in came Simon, who was at first only recruited by the butler to become a knight, because for whatever reason it is, he saw something in Simon.

But overtime Simon's unexpected growth made him an indispensable asset to the current baron, which is also why in just a few years the baron chose him as his personal knight secretly.

Simon became the unexpected variable that ultimately sealed the fate of the baron's late father, the butler probably never thought that the kid that he took would be the one to attempt the assassination and even more so manage to succeed in doing so, since he was the one most aware of the limitations of Simon's raw talent.

It was nigh impossible.

***

There were about tens of years before the fixed date that Simon is to climb the tower, so for the time being, it was all preparation and training.

However, during the weekends Simon was on another mission, it was at a different nobility's territory far from the home of the lord that he serves, so he had to use the teleportation scrolls at their estate at the expense of his salary of course.

The mission was simple, woo Estella into falling in love with him, that's why he racked his brains out trying to find the best strategy in courting her.

And although he would've also loved to spend some time with her during the weekdays, but she was inside the inner walls where the academies, the tower, and the castle of the royals are located, which strictly prohibits the entry of those unaffiliated with the royals.

So, Simon treated each time that he could spend with Estella like a precious gift that was granted to him, he would maximize it and do a bunch of random things out of the fear that she gets bored of him.

However, doing something like this led to a bunch of awkward moments, where Simon would slip up as he was clearly faking it and felt uncomfortable doing so.

But even though these unfortunate events led to Simon exhausting himself, making his natural personality show, it had actually accidentally made him a better suitor for her, as he saw that Estella was actually genuinely enjoying her time a lot more and was smiling more than usual. Because the aura around him changed, it was a bit more chill rather than the usual spontaneity.

And of course, just like every romance or love story there must be an adversary that goes in between the two lovers.

...

One night when Simon was walking alone, wandering the streets of their territory, a man suddenly teleported at the nearby alleyway besides him.

"Simon fight for Estella's love!" The man declared pointing his sword towards Simon.

"Who the hell are you?!" Simon answered while getting a better look at the man who seems to be wearing the male counterpart of the uniform that Estella was wearing.

"Haven't you heard of me?! I'm the eldest son of the viscount Berckir! - My full name is Eclair Berckir also the champion of the battle between the suitors of Estella " Eclair confidently and proudly announced in the middle of the street which ended up pissing off the peddlers, but they did not retaliate as they noticed the uniform that he was wearing.

However, Simon in reply just looked smugly at him and said, "Heh! So, at the end of the day your still just a suitor"

Eclair obviously furious at the mockery but also the sudden slap of reality replied in anger, "Y-You!! Sigh... No matter, don't run away from this, if you do - You're a coward unworthy of Estella's love!"

Simon was just about to walk away if he didn't hear this provocation, although the right way was just to pay no mind to Eclair, but the provocation obviously worked, and Simon just couldn't let it slide especially the last part.

"Come with me to the colosseum right now!" Simon spoke in a serious tone; he was resolute about taking this guy down.

On the other hand, Eclair couldn't contain his grin as he was absolutely sure of his victory...

The colosseum was actually ginormous, it is especially noticeable now, since it was nighttime and there were no events to be held for the next months.

Coincidentally this is also where they held the public execution of the criminals that both Simon and butler spared, but the crimes that they committed was deemed to be unforgivable.

Simon, reminisced of that day because he was there when the execution was held, it was his first time attending such a grand event where a lot of people was cheering, looking back at it he could see how far he had come.

"This brings back so much memories" As Simon looked at the skies filled with sparkling tiny dots.

"Let's set some rules before we get started, since we don't want to cause troubles to our superiors, no attacks that can permanently damage or disable each other, and the first one to knock out their opponent wins, sounds good?" Simon declared in a clear tone of voice.

"Tsk! Whatever" Eclair replied in a sarcastic tone of voice, as they both thew away their sword made of metal and swapped it with a wooden sword that was laying at the weapon shack.

"We'll begin when the coin that toss falls to the ground" Simon announced as they both assumed their battle stance.

The coin flew up high, giving then enough time to let them both steal their nerves.

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Ping!

Bzzzt! Lightning sparks emanated from Eclair's hand and feet, which he then followed up with a preemptive dash, fast enough so that Simon could not keep up.

Swoosh!

Eclair's intent with his attack was to immediately break Simon's defense by destroying the wooden sword that he was gripping tightly however,

Swish!

'W-What was that?' Eclair thought as he felt like he just swung at the air, at nothing.

Then as Eclair look back Simon just stood unfazed not being able to catch what Simon just did, so Eclair then did the same thing again to guarantee if what had just happened was just pure luck.

Bzzzt!

Swoosh!

Swish!

And the same thing happened again, so Eclair started having cold sweats, it was clear that he was nervous now, but no matter what he resolved himself and attacked for the third time.

Bzzzt!

Swoosh!

Swish!

It occurred again; Eclair can't even hit Simon a single time, 'What is this sorcery' he thought, he was sure that Simon should not be able to keep up with him, and as his nervousness turned into impatience and anger, he attacked again but this time with the intent to consecutively attack twice, from the front then behind.

Bzzzt!

Swoosh-

However, just like a story that was already written, its conclusion was already drawn from the start, as Simon changed his grip like a batter and swung at Eclair's head like it was a baseball mid through his dash which ultimately led to him being knocked out.

Crack! As the strength of Eclair's momentum colliding at Simon's wooden sword headfirst broke it into two.

It turns out that the reason Eclair wasn't able to hit Simon was because the moment their wooden swords touch, Simon would just perfectly go along with Eclair's momentum to the point that no force was directly transferred to him.

'Huff! Huff! - I was lucky, I noticed that his tongue was sticking out before his first attack, and sure enough his tongue was pointing to the same direction that he was going to attack, that's why I was able to predict it, the same thing happened for the second and third attack, so that's why I concluded that it was definitely not a coincidence, so I prepared to counterattack at his fourth attack' Simon thought as he walked out of the colosseum victoriously.

***

On a very tense afternoon, Simon and Estella was genuflecting in front of the baron and the butler at his side, so it looked like whatever they were talking about was surely very serious, they might've committed some grave offense.

"Please, I'm begging you my lord, let us leave the kingdom together, so we can go back to our village and get married"

"The nobility that chose to sponsor me had already greed to our decision sir, he said he'll even be the one covering the costs of us leaving and me breaking my scholarship, I'm begging you sir - Your approval is the only thing that we need" Estella spoke in a pitiful and convincing tone.

...