Chapter 113 – Slow starts.

Roland felt a little jittery this day. They had waited till almost the middle mark and the longer it took the more stressed he was. He had almost forgotten that his family could even be looking for him after all these years but now he was about to face one of their members.

His older brother Robert that he didn’t really get along with was riding on the horse a bit behind an expensive-looking carriage. He was one of the accompanying knights that hailed from the Luxendarc Knight Academy.

It was clear to him by the design of the silvery armors that they were wearing. This was one of the more prestigious schools that a noble could attend. He was sure that Robert only studied there due to his father’s involvement in the academy.

Wentworth his father like the members of the family before him had attended this very academy. The Arden house had produced many knights but only after his father rose to be the number one position in the academy did the name start gaining fame. There was a strict hierarchy the students followed and he managed to reign supreme.

Martha was the one that told him this tale. In it, Wentworth was painted as a heroic man that went through many missions given to him by envious nobles. All of them were jealous of his talents and wanted him to fail but he never faltered.

He achieved something that was quite rare, he raised his house name into a proper noble rank. Knights were somewhat considered to be nobles but they were mostly treated as mare soldiers.

If one of the parents was in the possession of the knight class the children would be able to pick this class later in life. Unless they went down the same path, the class would be lost to the third generation. This was also why parents usually pressured their children into becoming knights themselves.

Only if they were raised to official nobles could the class be passed down without a limit. The noble trait was a hidden title that was not seen by the system. People speculated that it was connected to the bloodlines and would be unlocked only when approved by other nobles in a given country. Higher noble titles could also sometimes unlock more prestigious classes.

Then there was the carriage, the name of this academy was Xandar’s Institute of Wizardry. It was named by some old legendary wizard that lived many millennia ago. The two schools were in close proximity to each other. This was also probably the reason why these two institutions were working together on this expedition.

Roland knew this place quite well as he had researched it before his ascension ritual threw a wrench into his plan. If he had normal elemental affinities he would have probably been attending classes at that very academy for young mages.

Fate worked in strange ways, he was now looking at the two academies that he might have been a member of. If he had stayed behind he would certainly be stuck in the school that Robert was about to finish.

The adventurers that were walking towards the dungeon were forced to the side by the many knights. They were all together which allowed Roland to count.

“Twenty greenhorn knights and two young girls that probably haven’t even seen a goblin before…”

Next to him, Silvio was leaning against a tree. He as the others weren’t looking that favorably at this group of nobles. Roland understood well where they were coming from, the mission was pushed back by more than a whole day.

Having to wait without anything to do was not how these adventurers liked spending their time. Roland could have easily crafted some runic equipment in this time and gained some experience. Instead, he was stuck rechecking his equipment without anything else to do but to wait.

“Everyone wait here, I’ll go talk to our young lordlings.”

Slowly everyone started to get up, Korgak had to be woken up with a smack to the head by Armand. This drunkard was probably the best-rested team member as within the first half-hour of waiting he had fallen asleep on the rough ground.

“Isn’t that helmet a bit stuffy?”

Roland’s attention was brought to the side, Lobelia was there. She was in the process of stretching out as she had also succumbed to drowsiness.

“No, I’m fine…”

Due to the danger of his brother recognizing him, Roland was sure to never remove this helmet out in the open. Even he instantly recognized Robert even after not seeing him for over six years. It was very likely that his brother would be able to do the same.

“If you say so, I’ll be counting on you!”

The girl shrugged while also for some reason giving him a smack on the shoulder. He didn’t really budge from his spot and instead, he could see the half-elven girl’s hand become a bit red.

“Ah sure…”

Due to how the party formation was set up he would be handing out with Lobelia in the back.

“Woof!”

“You too, you cutie!”

Agni’s mouth was opened soon as Lobelia started rubbing him behind the ears. Roland was surprised that his Ruby Wolf opened up to someone so quickly. The girl seemed to have a knack for talking to tamed monsters and Agni was clearly enjoying the scratches.

While the girl was playing around with the pooch Roland took his time in examining the noble party from afar.
Most of the members were young adults, after some quick scans with his analyzing skill he could tell that they were mostly at the onset of the tier 2 knight class. They were mostly split between the Shield Knight and Sword Knight class, which Robert was part of.

All of his brothers like him were forced to master every weapon type that was used by a knight class. This was all for the sole purpose of easy advancement in the future. Most would focus on both of these variants which would unlock the ‘High Knight’ class. There were also harder variations that would unlock the ‘Crusader’ or ‘Knight Champion’ classes instead.

There was one person that was above all of them when it came to levels and strength though. His armor looked bulkier and he was the only knight with a nice blue cape attached to his shiny plate mail armor.

‘That guy must be their commanding officer.’

Silvio was in the process of talking to this man. He was clearly past his forties and also a tier 3 class holder. Roland couldn’t really see his stats due to the difference in levels. His identification skill still was lacking levels to allow him to peek on everyones status screen. The only thing he could somehow tell was that his level was close to Silvio’s.

‘Probably a High Knight, don’t think they would let anyone with a more prestigious class be an instructor at a Knight academy.’

Roland knew that even though this man’s level was high, he couldn’t be counted on during combat. This instructor would prioritize the noble children instead of the adventurers. He would probably focus on the two noble ladies that were now coming into view.

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‘That one is a frost magician?’

First, he saw a young girl with long blue hair stepping out of the carriage. She was wearing a somewhat light-looking dress. It was white with a skirt that went down to her knees. Her feet were covered by long boots that also went up to about knee height.

The upper part of this robe was form-fitting around the chest area but became looser around her arms. In one hand she was holding a large staff with a large blue crystal. This crystal was clearly a type of mana stone that would lower her casting requirements.

The second person that stepped out from the carriage was also a girl, her hair quite blond. She was wearing a similar robe but the staff she had had a more brownish stone embedded in it.

‘That one seemed to specialize in earth spells.’

Frost was clearly the weakness of fire elemental monsters but the reverse was also true. Earth would be the better option as it took quite the temperature to melt hardened stone into lava. It looked like the two mages put some thought into picking a fire-type dungeon for their mission.
A frost magician would come in handy, a simple spell that lowered the temperature could cause some of the fire monsters to suffer quite a bit. The volcanic salamanders for instance were quite susceptible to these sorts of spells.

On the other hand, a frost magician would find it hard to create their spells and concentrate with a high concentration of fire elements in the air. Thus it was a double-edged sword. It depended on the strength of the magician. She would be able to deal more damage but casting would become difficult.

‘Either she is confident in her spells or she is underestimating the difficulty…’

Roland with his runic spells could circumvent the casting difficulty. He didn’t need to concentrate much, inserting his mana into the premade structure was the only thing he needed to worry about.

The two ladies were wearing various accessories like necklaces, rings, and earrings. Even from here, he could tell that they were all magical tools that probably either increased their mana capacity or spell power.