Without You, The Beginning of Magic {Magical AU}

Chapter 9: Betrayal (Part 3)

About thirty minutes later I was finished. She stared at me skeptically, but she simply got up and took it, "Thank you. Sir Ethan should be here now, so let's meet up with him in the arena." I nodded softly and followed her as she scanned my card on a small platform then placed the papers there. I blinked as the papers disappeared and my license glowed for a moment. She handed it back to me and pointed to the lower left of it, "This is your score for your test. You no longer need to take it to rank up if you don't beat Sir Ethan. You can challenge him once a week or bring one of those two things at any time to rank up."

I nodded softly as she then led me to a large outside arena where about fifteen people gathered in the seats. I looked as I saw Mikeal munching on food and in the front row talking with a tall man about six foot. He was wearing full plate armor, but no helmet, while carrying a long sword on his back. Mikeal points to me as we walk up, so he smiles and holds out his hand, "Ms. Iris. I'm Haryth Ethan. Nice to meet you." I shook his hand, "... You as well Sir Ethan..."

He tilted his head as I sighed, "Damn... Such a shame..." Mikeal asked with a full mouth, "Is he not enough of a challenge for you?" They looked at me as I shook my head, "I can't beat Sir Ethan right now. Maybe with Gengi and my items I could possibly manage to beat him, but... Right now it's not possible... I want to be a Platinum adventurer without aid." He patted my back, "What an interesting girl indeed Mikeal!"

I tilted my head and looked at him as he leaned on the side railing separating the arena and the seats. "To gauge an opponent and know if you can win or lose is a valuable and necessary skill and mindset... Ms. Iris, would you and Mikeal here be willing to come to where the campsite I reside is?"

I looked at him then to the side before asking, "... I want to fight... I don't want to be restricted... I'm here for experience and training... I don't want to be side lined, so... Can you swear that if I want to fight, you'll let me fight?" He crossed his arms, "... Unless you're mortally wounded or I find you unfit for battle... I'll let you fight to your heart's content... However, you would still be under a commander. The same with any campsite. A commander is in charge of a campsite. You're free to leave whenever and try to join a new one if you wish though."

I looked at Mikeal, "... How can I become a commander?" He stared for a moment before sighing, "The adamantine adventurers are set up in the middle ground at the very front of the battles. The platinum slightly behind them and then gold a few tens of miles from here with about a hundred or so miles in between. At the moment there's five adamantine adventurers and they each have five platinum adventurers. There's ten platinum commanders that have two platinum and three gold each. Finally about twenty gold commanders with three other gold and two silver adventurers."

He put his right hand up and began counting on them to us, "You're required to have six members in each squad. A tank, a ranged damage dealer, a close range damage dealer, and a support. The other two may be whatever, another tank, damage dealer or support. One must be a cook, one must know survival skills, and one must have knowledge on the area. One person can count as multiple for these three skill sets. For example you can cook and have survival skills, or you can have knowledge and cook, or you can have knowledge and survival skills, or have all three. Those are the requirements for the general squad. The commander needs to have completed the exam for an platinum adventurer as well as have been on the frontlines for at least three months."

I nodded softly and closed my eyes thinking, "... So, after three months I can become a commander... How would I go about that?" He sighed, "You can create your own or defeat your commander. To be put in the zone the commander must be that rank. To be in the gold zone, you must have a gold adventurer as a commander, at the platinum camp zone, you must have a platinum commander, and in the adamantine zone you need an adamantine commander."

I looked to the side, "... Are you underneath a platinum adventurer? You said the camp you reside in. You also said I would be under a commander, not you. Meaning you're not a commander, right?" He smirked and nodded, "That's right... My sworn brother is our commander. He's currently forming his own squad. We have a support, I'm the frontliner, and he's the ranger, now we're missing a close range and two other members. I see your katana, so you must be close range, then he has a dagger and crossbow, so he is versatile."

I smiled and nodded, "Alright... Let me meet your commander and other members." He kicked off the wall and pointed back to the hall, "Let's go to our joint room then... We need one more member then we can set off if you want. Our support has knowledge of the area and my sworn brother and I have survival skills. We still need a cook." I pointed to Mikeal, "Mikeal makes the best food. Well... Second best. Zeff makes the best food." He nodded, "Looks like we have about everything then. Just a gold member to fill the gap."