After his encounter with Luther Gillian and Henry Kartier he made his way to Haldrin with ease, he entered the city, which made Tyner Village seem like a singular shack, after some minor interrogation from a city guard (which he got by using the same story he gave Barty).
It was like a culture shock to Aridel, who hadn't been around more than maybe 100 humans since his existence. However, he quickly adjusted and asked around, trying to find out where the selection tourney was being held.
"Shit! we need to find out how the Honor of Bericius works." exclaimed Juniel. Immediately, Juniel put in a
"Host should understand the Honor of Bericius before proceeding"
In Aridel's world, he received the same blue message.
"What do you think I'm trying to do?" Aridel chided.
'That's my mistake, I guess he has a Genius Mind for a reason." thought Juniel.
After continuing to roam around Haldrin, he found out where the selection tournament was held, it was deeper inside the city, but a large piece of land for dueling, workout, or really anything of physical activity. he came up to a table where in front of it was a stream of teenage boys looking to eventually become knights in a single file line.
The total of people had to come out to at least 400.
Aridel dragged himself to the very end of the line and entered the queue.
After waiting for quite some time, the boy in front of tried to strike up some conversation," Can't believe we arrived so late! Who woulda thought everybody else would have already been waiting in line before the public sign-up began!"
'We?' thought Aridel, who had the self-restraint not to say that aloud, "It's unfortunate, my name's Aridel, what's your name?"
"Oh, you're a commoner? My name's Ethan Buchanan and my father really wants me to become a knight, even though he isn't one himself. Drives him mad that I'm here in this line instead of already training under some established house." Ethan laughed, but there was a noticeable edge to it. "The thing is, I'm good enough to get selected. but no good enough to get sponsored before selection. So here I am, fighting for scraps like everyone else."
"What's so bad about being a commoner?" Aridel quizzed.
"Well, a lot of things. To start, you don't have anyone who's properly taught you the sword. You also probably know nothing of honor. And most importantly, you're not a noble." Aridel nodded slowly to Ethan's answers, understanding the weight of those words.
Then he asked carefully, "If I'm selected as a squire… where would I stay? How would that work?"
Ethan seemed surprised by the practical question. "Oh, selected squires get barracks housing, meals, stipends. The empire takes care of that - it's part of why becoming a squire is such a huge deal for commoners. You go from nothing to stability overnight. But you have to actually make it through selection first."
It was true, in Caldrithia, a peasant turnt squire let alone knight was extremely rare. Being a noble gave you not only a head start, but just an overall smoother ride.
"I see. It's true that I know nothing of honor, could you explain it to me?" Aridel kindly asked.
"You're pretty lucky to have met me then, I'm probably the nicest noble you'll ever meet! But yes, I can teach you the honor of Bericius.
Ahem! So the honor of Bericius is a tradition in Caldrithia referring back our founder, Bericius Caldri. His Majesty was an illustrious figure, as everything he told was true, is true, or becomes true. So, to use the honor of Bericius is to make a claim that something will happen, and if this thing doesn't happen, and if it doesn't happen they'd be stripped of their greatest honor, whatever that may be."
"I don't understand how that translates back into duels." replied Aridel, who wanted to direct the conversation into its actual necessity.
"I was going to get to that! Basically, when declaring to duel someone you say 'My name is (your name), (greatest title/honor), and I stake my most grand (title/honor), (title/honor), in a duel against you, in accordance with the honor of Bericius.' and if you say this the duel must be taken, unless you are of a higher rank than them, commoner can't force nobles into duels, lower ranking nobles can't force higher ranking nobles into duels, and obviously nobody but royalty can force royalty into duels."
"How do you accept the duel?"
"You just say, 'I, (your name), (greatest title/honor), accept your challenge and heed to the honor of Bericius.' Unless a consequence for losing was listed previously, there would be no penalty to losing the duel, unless you didn't yield in time and they didn't show you mercy, and brutally killed you. Which happens… pretty frequently."
The two continued to talk and exchange information about each other while passing the time. Until it was eventually their time to sign-up, which Aridel had to wait to sign-up, as he was after Ethan.
"Ahh!! Last but not least! Please give us your name, city of origin, age, circle level or whatever your family uses and how it translates into circles." said the man at the table. Who, if he wasn't a knight himself, should seriously consider becoming one, he was extremely buff.
The man rattled off the questions with mechanical precision - as though he'd asked them hundreds of times and would ask them hundreds more. But there was something else Aridel noticed, something his Genius Mind caught: every answer was being recorded in triplicate. Three separate ledgers. And the third one, the one the man kept closest to his chest, bore a symbol Aridel didn't recognize - a crown intertwined with something that looked almost like flowing water.
"My name is Aridel, I'm from Cracktow, I'm 16, and I don't have any circles."
"Commoner?"
"Yes sir."
The man had a good laugh.
"You look pretty damn strong for a commoner! anyways head to the barracks on your left, the selections begin at the crack of dawn tomorrow in the center of the field." He waved Aridel off.
As Aridel walked toward the barracks, Juniel felt the weight of the moment settle. Tomorrow, the tourney would begin. Aridel would compete against hundreds of opponents - many with years of training, mana cultivation, noble backing. And if he failed… Juniel had made a Tier 6 quest out of desperation and ambition. Now he would find out if his gamble had been brilliant or catastrophic.