Chapter 47: Part of the queen’s guard

The emperor and his procession took their seats and the whole palace bowed, then we watched and waited for him to adress us.

The emperor raised his hand and the palace became deathly silent, there were no murmurs or movement.

"Welcome proud mages of this kingdom". He said in a very raspy voice that echoed around the large palace.

"You have been summoned under unfavorable conditions, as many of you know, we have recently come under attack from forces beyond what we can comprehend". He paused to let his words sink in. "You should consider yourselves lucky that you've been given the ability and opportunity to defend this great empire".

"All three star mages upwards will immediately be drafted in the army and will March to Garlem to fight the beast monsters. He paused again. All two star mages will join the army as well but they'll remain in the city, in case there are any attacks. While one star mages will join the guards in palace to protect the royal family".

He looked around before he continued. Further more, all one and two star mages will undergo training to help them develop and increase their mana level.

He cleared his throat. "That will be all, you are all dismissed now".

We left the palace amidst many murmuring.

"So we don't get to be part of the action after all". Liam complained bitterly.

"You could barely fight those snakes but you want to go to war". Aaron replied him with a scoff.

"Hey, at least I didn't need to be rescued like a little princess". Liam snapped.

"So we're both not qualified to go to war, I don't know what you're upset about". Aaron said.

I agreed with Aaron, if we struggled so much at the serpent's pass, then obviously battle was going to be much more difficult for us. This way we got to serve the kingdom while still being safe, besides since we would be training, we had a chance to improve and get better at combat, then we could go join the army.

As we left the palace, we were directed to a large room where we would measure our mana level. It was done so that no one would lie about their mana level to stay back at the palace or sneak off to the war.

To measure your mana level, you had to put your hands on an orb that contained pure mana itself, the orb would then measure the concentration of mana in you and rings would appear in the orb according to the amount of mana rings you had in you.

When we had all measured our mana levels and it was documented, we were dismissed.

Emily, Zoe, Aaron, Liam and I went with the other one and two star mages to meet the captain of the guard so he could assign us our positions.

The captain was surprisingly mild mannered, he spoke in a clear and gentle voice but at the same time it was obvious that if trouble ever arose, he would not hesitate to strike it down.

Liam was assigned to guard the emperor's sister while I was added to queen's guard. The captain pointed me to the chief guard to the queen, a tall muscular man that looked like he hadn't smiled in years.

"What's your name?" He asked in a gruff voice.

"Levi". I replied.

He grunted. "My name's Klaus, you resume tomorrow, by evening".

I nodded. "Okay".

"Good, you know the guard house?" He asked.

I shook my head.

"Ah, you'll figure it out anyway". He said and looked away from me, I took it as my cue to leave.

I was roaming the court when I bumped into Liam and Aaron.

"Hey Levi, where are you going?" He asked.

I'm looking for the guard house. I replied.

"Us too, come". He said and I followed him till we reached the guard house, a large stony building.

Inside the guard room was hot, dark and stuffy, I looked around and saw small rooms with 3 beds each.

"Guess we have three roommates". Aaron muttered.

A man stopped us as we were walking.

"Who are you?" He asked in a gruff voice.

"We're mages, we're new here". Liam replied.

"Oh mages". He grunted. "You need a place to stay?"

"Yes". Aaron nodded.

He stroked his beard. "Well, you're in luck". He fiddled with a bunch of keys he hung around his waist, he grabbed a key and tossed it at us, I caught it.

"Keep walking straight, last door by your left". He said and turned away.

"Why did he say we're in luck?" Liam asked we walked.

"Probably because we found an empty room". Aaron replied.

"But they have to provide rooms for us no matter what, we shouldn't be grateful for that". Liam protested.

"I don't mean that you idiot". Aaron snapped. "There's three of us and we found an empty room, so we can stay together, if not we'd have to be split apart".

"Ohh". Liam said in realization.

"Idiot". Aaron muttered.

"Hey, I heard that". Liam shouted at him.

I shook my head and pushed the key into the lock, this was to be my life for the foreseeable future. I sighed.

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