Age of Heroes (Age of Heroes Chronicles)

Chapter 46: All paths lead somewhere (1)

1012 AF Whitemonth

Day 89

Arial is now twelve years of age. Five years have passed in a blink of an eye.

Arial and his friends sat in the common room, cheerfully discussing the coming dinner.

That evening in the Grand Hall, the announcement would be made: they had each earned enough points from their quests to finally rank up to Knight Brother.

It had taken longer than Arial had hoped, partly because they had been banned from accepting quests for a year.

They had been going away so often that they rarely attended their classes. That made some of the teacher complained and banned them from taking quest.

They were also frequently joined on their quests by their classmates.

The Four Greats famously never failed in their quest and had become so popular that everyone wanted to go on adventures with them.

Take Lelia Guise as an example.

Lelia Guise is an Elderly Sister who follows us in the quest they like to call, The Crazy Drunken Man which involve an empty bottle of rum, three coins and a wailing woman.

It was a crazy adventure. Kyle and Helia still had a good quite a laugh about it.

Then there is the Giant Boar expedition. In that quest Emerson Villion who is the standard bearer for the Fierce Dragon follow them.

That was a crazy quest involving pissing in a bottle and three naked old women.

Under Marshall Luli Archad had followed them on their Raging Wolf expedition, much to the irritation of Helia and Lisa.

Arial remember that when they were trapped in that Ice House by the Wetians Helia could swear she almost choke Luli to death because of her constant talking.

Lisa said she was almost talked to death.

Vergo Cortez and Nathan Godfrey those two close friends are now an Under Marshall.

Arial heard that their quest in the Dulira Sweat Lake is quite hilarious.

He remembers teasing them for a month about it. It had to do about whores, a dwarf man and a dog.

It is still one of the craziest story told in the Common hall amongst Knights.

They usually do their quest together.

In Golden Lion the Four Lions as they are known is West, Avil, Harald and Arago are all in the rank of Under Marshall while the others are mostly Standard Bearer and Elderly Brothers or sister.

Arial remembered the time they had been sent to Seren to rescue Harald after a hard quest he had embarked on went horribly wrong, and he had found himself at the mercy of a sadistic murderer.

They hadn't been able to enjoy Seren's beautiful scenery but it didn't matter; they had made sure to never let Harald live it down.

In White Wolf all of their Knights are in the of rank Standard Bearer. The Seer weren't kidding when they said they cooperate fiercely.

All their quest is done in a group.

Purple Fairy on the other hand most of them are still either in the rank of Elderly Brothers or Sisters. They rarely take quest. Since they are a support division.

Fierce Dragon had won the House War again for the fifth year running, and it was no secret why.

The strength of the Four Greats was unmatched.

Though Kyle is really showing off yesterday showing the new blood and the recruits. He captures the tower and shouting from the top of tower "I'm the undefeatable Kyle" after fighting with Avil and defeating him with his internal energy attack.

His confidence is endearing

Especially to the girls. Every girl had swooned when Kyle defeated Avil and captured the tower.

He is handsome, that is no doubt. And he has also become more confident in the recent years.

Lisa had thwarted Harald, much to her delight.

Helia had battled and defeated West, while Arial had faced Arago.

Arago's strength and speed was astounding, and if Arial had fought him in his previous life, he would have certainly lost, but that was not the case and the respectful attitude that Arago maintained after his defeat was admirable.

Not many people can do that.

And everyone also knows even though Arago and him are from different houses we are good friend.

Arial relationship with the Four Lions is quite complicated. They all have crossed path sometimes when they are solving quest or doing some stuff for the academy.

With Arago it is a friendly relationship, with West Arial is cordial an acquaintance-like relationship, with Avil the relationship is of respect and with Harald it is probably rival-like relationship.

Lord Faragur can gloat again in the Knight Master Office this year. Because the Fierce Dragons kept winning, the other houses began changing their tactics.

The Houses began making alliances to fight him and his friend, Black Raven strategize for their alliance, while White Wolf is in the front line of attack, and the Purple Fairy tend to the wounded, while the Golden Lion will fight at the end.

But sometimes brute strength does break everything. And that's what happens.

Instead of them calling us Under Marshall they called us the Four Greats alluding to the Four Immortals because the four of us never lose and never failed a quest.

"Are you excited for tonight?" Kyle asked, turning to his sister. And Arial was broken from his wonderings.

"Of course," Lisa grinned. She was reclined in her favorite armchair, her feet propped up on a table.

"What will you do once you're a Knight Brother?" Arial asked Kyle.

"I'm going to ride to Danoba first thing in the morning," Kyle smiled. "I miss my parents."

Lisa nodded.

Arial had already arranged for Helia to accompany him home. He already asks permission from his family and they accepted.

A lot had happened in his absence: his mother was expecting another baby, something that hadn't happened in his first life.

This never happens before but Arial guess this is the cause and effect.

Since his father has more time and life is easier maybe they have more time to make love and pay attention to each other.

His father had also been granted the title of Count.

His father as a Low Lords? He has trouble imagining that. But as long as his father has his mother beside him, everything will be fine.

Their business had flourished, and Port Arial and Port Aries had really taken off.

They had begun trading exotic delicacies, clothes and spices, with Vorthy and Ariundus, and Aries Vermont was rumored to be one of the richest men on the Continent.

A lot of things have changed and a lot of things have happened.

Thankfully it is good things but Arial knows this will not last for long. The tragedy looms just on the corner.

As evening approached, the friends made their way down to the Grand Hall for dinner.

After they had all eaten, the Knight Master announced their new ranks as Knight Brothers and Sisters, and the Hall filled with bittersweet applause.

They would be missed greatly at the Academy.

Training with heroes had been a source of inspiration for their classmates, and no one was looking forward to seeing them leave.

They all know that Arial and his friends will depart tomorrow with two recruits with them. But they have a special permission from Lord Faragur not to take any recruits.

They will still do all the duties of the Knight but without having two recruits behind them. This is because Faragur have promised them if they win him the House War again.

After exchanging words of congratulations and thanks with their footmen, the four friends returned to their house and slept deeply, ready and eager to see their parents once again.

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