Book 3: Chapter 23: Graduation Day

C.E. 1280, Spring.

The bell situated at the centre of Laihiala Pilot Academy rung out, the clear sound echoing within the campus before it dissipated into the clear blue skies.

That wasn’t the short bell announcing the beginning and ending of lessons; the long and steady ringing meant that this was a special day. Today, the campus will be holding a graduation ceremony.

Students wearing badges signifying their ‘graduation’ could be seen on campus everywhere.

Their ages and faculties were all different. This didn’t apply only to Laihiala Pilot Academy, Fremmevira Kingdom on the whole was very liberal in terms of graduation; there were plenty of graduates who didn’t complete all their classes.

The ceremony did not differentiate between Elementary, Middle or High School, everyone who was leaving the campus received a grand farewell on this day.

Among them was a group of Laihiala Middle School graduates.

Their treatment was slightly different from the other graduates. According to the custom of this world, those who are fifteen years of age are treated as adults. The third year students of Middle school are fifteen this year, so their graduation had the same significance as a coming of age ceremony.

“A lot of things happened, and our circumstances became weird in a lot of ways, but we still graduated successfully.”

“To think that the school is still willing to issue us graduation certificates after all the willful things we had done.”

“It felt as though they are asking us to get lost--”

“I don’t have any recollection of studying seriously midway through my school life.”

There was a very prominent group among the middle school graduates: A short boy in the middle, a Dwarf youth, flanked by two tall twins made them a quartet with uneven height-- Ernesti, Batson, Chid and Ady, the childhood playmates army, or the Silver Phoenix Knight Commander and his merry friends. They will be adults this year.

It was understandable why they had complicated feelings as they were about to graduate.

Thinking back, they did as they pleased in school to the point of absurdity, they didn’t fit the part of being good model students. Attending classes that were far from being related was just the beginning; they even started creating new models suddenly and used the machines on campus without permission. In the end, they even took over an entire faculty, a high school on top of that. Such examples were more than they could count.

They were the most infamous problem children since the founding of the school.

“Indeed, letting me lead a Knight Order at this age is already a special case, and we started teaching how to use Silhouette Gear mid-way…”

They might be problem children, but the results they produced were impeccable.

The biggest accomplishment was probably the invention of the industrial work machine Silhouette Gears, and pushing its implementation. The influence of Silhouette Gears was wide and involved many industries. Thanks to this, there was a revolution in the education content not just in Laihiala Pilot Academy, but kingdom wide.

And so, the ‘inventors’ from the Silver Phoenix Knights received plenty of invitations to be instructors from all over the nation, making the group wonder whether they were students or teachers.

Due to their special circumstances, graduation became the compromising way of dealing with this troublesome group they couldn’t handle.

The graduation ceremony proceeded without incident, which was followed by the current students sending the graduates out of the school gates to end the ceremony.

From tomorrow onwards, the graduates will go on their separate ways and move on with their lives.

Some of them looked back on their lives at school, others felt uneasy about the future. They brought their own emotions and walked towards the main gate. At this time, heavy footsteps came from somewhere.

Without needing to search for the source of the noise, the group of Silhouette Knights appeared a short distance away. The procedure that was not part of the ceremony confused all those who were present.

In the face of the crowd, the Silhouette Knight Squad spread out, lining on both sides of the road leading to the main gate.

The Knights straightened their backs and formed up beautifully, facing each other with smooth movements. Immediately after that, all the Knights drew the swords on their waist.

With the sword in their right hand and sheath in their left, they raised their swords high and crossed it with the Knight on the opposite side, before withdrawing it before their face. All the machines stopped with the position of praying with their swords, creating a path with the swords of the Silhouette Knights.

A Silhouette Knight nearby spoke to the graduates who were at a loss:

“Congratulations on your graduation, my juniors. We will be leaving this place in the near future too, but allow us to send you off with a grand farewell.”

The scene before them was as majestic as a gallery of statues. The procedure that didn’t exist in the past years made the graduates blush in joy, and they went through the path made by the giant Knights. This year’s graduation ceremony would surely leave a deep impression in the hearts of many people.

And of course, the pilots of these Silhouette Knights were the members of the Silver Phoenix Knights.

Their special course of action was because of the person walking slowly at the end of the line of graduates-- The Knight Commander with a face full of smiles, humming cheerfully as he walked slowly ahead. Ady had a similar expression, holding Eru’s hand as she walked beside him. Chid and Batson who were not far behind puffed their chest high as they grinned.

Thus ends their six turbulent years of campus life.

After passing through the campus main gate, Eru turned his head. The vast campus ground of the Pilot Academy spread before his eyes. He said loudly with complicated feelings:

“Laihiala Pilot Academy, I have been in your care all these while! Well then… Silver Phoenix Knights, move out!”

The members moved quickly after receiving their Commander’s order.

The Silhouette Knights began moving at the same time, and were followed by carriages. The rest of the members were seated inside, along with all sorts of tools. These luggages were all the Silver Phoenix Knights had, and would follow them to their new base.

With the graduation of their Knight Commander, the Silver Phoenix Knights officially moved away from Laihiala Pilot Academy and began operation as an independent entity. They will use the newly constructed ‘Olvecius fort’ near Laihiala Academy City as their base, and work actively around the nation.

This day, they started their journey in both ways.

These were the peaks that separated the western nations from Fremmevira Kingdom, the Aubigne Mountain Range.

The two sides of the continents were linked by the road known as the ‘East West Highway’, built along the mountains that were easier to traverse. The highway was built perfectly, but due to the treacherous terrain, it took a lot of effort to travel on it.

A convoy of carriages was moving along the East West Highway.

The convoy was escorted by a sizeable number of Silhouette Knights. They were not merchants and hadn't brought much cargo with them. They only brought items necessary for travel. In the middle of the pack was a carriage larger than the others.

It had a simple design, but was built sturdily, making the high status of the passenger obvious.

The convoy advanced cautiously ahead, but when they passed over the tallest peak, a rough voice bellowed out from the large carriage to stop the drivers.

“Hey, stop the carriage!!”

The flag to signal the stopping of the convoy was waved and the carriages stopped one after another. The escorting Silhouette Knights assumed their defensive positions to protect the entire convoy. It was an impulsive action, but the movement of all the personnel was perfect, making it clear that such an action had probably happened several times before.

The carriage shook as the passenger alighted.

He was wearing a well tailored suit that did not stinge on the usage of high quality clothes. Regrettably, the man was too well built. He was almost two metres in height with a solid body, the embodiment of wildness and ruggedness. The tidy and refreshing clothes didn’t match the man’s powerful aura. Bystanders might even think that the atmosphere was weird.

But the man himself wasn’t concerned with this at all.

He took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly as if he was tasting the air in his lungs carefully. His solid muscles expanded with his lungs, the clean white shirt made sounds as it was stretched tight. Sad to say, the clothes tailored for him was as fragile as a candle in the wind in the face of his powerful muscles.

“The air here is great! The air in the great Aubigne Mountains are so refreshing. Staying in that tiny castle was so constraining.”

The mountain breeze blew his unkempt hair. His blonde hair with a touch of red fluttered like the mane of a lion.

“Yes, Your Highness. This fellow is also saying its condition is better than usual.”

The Silhouette Knight escort behind him imitated his actions and took a deep breath, and the revving of the Ether Reactor became louder.

“Haha, I told you so! Ohhh! Look, the home I missed so much!”

The entire mountain was covered in greenery with the colours of the city standing out in between. The capital Känkänen and the royal castle-- Shreiber was right there. Further into the distance, the small image of Laihiala Academy City could be seen.

“Oh, beautiful Fremmevira. Well then, Your Highness, since it is right before us, let us make haste into Känkänen.”

“Don’t be so petty, I have been holed up in that small boring place all this time! If I don’t stretch my body here, I won’t be able to do so when I go inside the city.”

He was just starting to stretch his limbs when his chest button flew out with a pop. It sounded just like the scream of the royal tailor that made his shirt.

“Ara, this expensive shirt is so fragile. It is a gift from someone, but I still don’t understand the fashion of Gajdos.”

After uttering his complains, the second son of Fremmevira Kingdom’s first prince, Riothamus, ‘Emrys Geijer Fremmevira’ got onto the carriage once again.