I woke up feeling tired this morning. I think I overexerted myself during my training yesterday. It was a tough session, and I pushed myself harder than usual. I'm feeling a bit sore and achy today, but I'm determined to rest up and recover quickly. I know that taking care of my body is important if I want to perform at my best, so I'm going to make sure to get plenty of rest and stay hydrated. Today is the day I try to activate my Gift of Strength but I'm still struggling to figure out how since First Knight didn't have one he couldn't give me any clues i tried going for it the same way I did with speed but it didn't seem to work out as well as speed did

But before I could think further about this tricky situation I heard a knock on my door. Probably a guard escorting me to the training with Sir First Knight. I opened the first expecting just that but there was a guard but he was telling me to get to the courtyard as quickly as possible. This got me quite worried. Did something go wrong? Did the same people from the massacre attack? Questions went through my head as I half walked half jogged to the courtyard where I found thousands of people having similar thoughts as mine were waiting for whatever we were gathered here for.

"Everyone settle down please, I have an announcement to make for all of you" The speaker I could only assume was the envoy of the King "After a long 4 months of everyone living here we can finally with certainty say that the city outside the walls is once more safe!" There were a lot of cheers with that, I however had mixed feelings on the matter as much as I wanted to go out and train outside the walls to get some real fighting experience I was also scared of an overwhelming power just outright killing me. Like that woman on the day of the massacre just thinking about her made me shiver. I have asked the Knights about any information about her but they came up with knowing which was a bit infuriating, to say the least. The speaker knocked me out of my thoughts "Everyone has a month to pack and get out of the courtyard! Only the newly made Knights or people attending the Magic Academy may stay." To say the people were a bit angry at that would be an understatement, outsiders were saying they were just trying to kick everyone out or that there was not enough time to get settled back in the city, and so on. I however was deep in thought of if I should try to get out of the city and try my luck on adventures or stay and become a Knight. I knew I was stronger than almost every knight here already only the First Knight was an exception to that, meaning if I stayed I would just stay mediocre and not become stronger as I promised myself. I was so deep in thought I didn't even realize Scarlett was trying to get my attention and when I finally saw her I blushed in embarrassment.

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"Hi Scarlett how's it going?" I was still a little confused about what she wanted.

"Hi Arthur It's going good thanks, I've heard you've become quite the swordsman."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that" I was getting a little suspicious of her now, was she trying to recruit me or something? The thought made me chuckle a bit, which in turn made Scarlett give me a weird look.

"I want you to join me and my companion to go on an adventure outside the city." Getting right to the point, it came as a bit of a shock to me to be asked so outright but it would be a good opportunity to get out of the city but still have powerful allies by my side. I also took a quick look at her companion. He was very average-looking, scrawny short, and not very handsome. He had to be powerful if he was going to be traveling with Scarlett though so I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

"How long do you plan to be out of the city?"

"About a year or so maybe longer" Wow, that was quite a bit, to be honest.

"I see, I might have to sleep on this one if you do not mind"

"Very well we will be going in a week so please make up your mind before then"

After that she left me alone, I went back to the training yard and just focused on my sword techniques while thinking the situation over. I also tried to use the Gift of strength again to no avail. I went to bed at around 8 pm still musing over the new development. This will cut my training with the First Knight short which would be a real bummer of this whole ordeal since I still have a lot to learn from a master swordsman like him. I decided to just sleep and think about it again in the morning.

Waking up refreshed I did my morning workout and bathroom routine I've become so accustomed to before knowing the answer I would be giving to Scarlett. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity that this could give me, maybe we could stumble upon a person who could teach me about my Gift of Strength. So a week passed with me just doing my normal training routine and speaking about my decision with the First Knight whose name I still don't know. He agreed that the best decision would be to get real-life experience outside the city.

I was meeting up with Scarlett and her companion today to head out of the city, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. After about an hour of waiting at the gate of the Castle, I finally saw them arrive.

"Took your sweet time didn't you" I said rather rudely

"Didn't know you'd be so excited to see us, Arthur"

"Pfft, let's get moving" She laughed a bit at that.

"By the way what's your companion's name?" I asked

"His name is Michael"

"Well nice to meet you Michael I'm Arthur

"Nice to meet you Arthur hope we have an excellent time together!" A bit enthusiastic for my liking but he doesn't seem that bad. So now begins my journey outside the city for the first time, I was way more excited than I let on.