13. Back At The Estate...

Meanwhile, in the Welzley duchy.

“Reet became a knight!?”

News reached Duke Ride Welzley that his son “had become a palace guard knight and attained Seventh Rank.”

“It must be some mistake. That fool doesn’t even have a Class. He’s incompetent. And yet a palace guard knight? Suddenly Seventh Rank!?”

The duke’s face flushed with anger as he spat out his words.

The servant who brought the news relayed what he’d been told, hesitantly.

“Apparently, he was favored by Princess Iris…”

“Princess Iris…? Why? What happened…?”

“It seems in the exam he used Holy Knight Skills, which caught the princess’s eye.”

“Holy Knight Skills!? Ridiculous. That’s impossible. He must have cheated somehow.”

Kait, who had been listening to the conversation alongside his father—Reet’s half-brother and current heir to the Welzley ducal family—began breathing heavily at the news of his brother’s promotion.

“Seventh Rank means he outranks me!”

Kait, Reet’s half-brother who had received the Holy Knight Class, had been accepted without examination into the Eastern Knight Order. Yet despite possessing the ultra-rare Holy Knight Class, Kait’s career began at the lowest rank—Ninth Rank.

The fact that Reet, who didn’t even have a Class, was appointed to Seventh Rank was something Kait could never accept.

But wait. Let me calm myself. The Tourney of Champions is coming, the duke told himself and his son.

The Tourney of Champions was an event where knights with five years or fewer of service competed against one another. The prize for victory was unconditional promotion to Seventh Rank.

“Most of those who later became knight commander won the Tourney of Champions. I myself leaped directly to Seventh Rank through this tournament in those days,” the father said to his son, breathing heavily.

“With a Holy Knight Class, you will certainly win. You must win and advance to Seventh Rank.”

“Yes, Father—!!”