"Ohhh, that boy got an invitation from the Thunderstorm Brigade"…
"Hah, that's nothing. The candidate earlier received an invitation from the Order of the Divine Radiance, ranked number two in the Seven Great Knight orders ranking. Besides, Commander Vanessa is a great beauty. I wouldn't mind working my ass off for her"…
The crowd started going wild with weird and unusual comments being passed here and there. The other knight orders were the stars of the first half; however, after the seven great knight orders stepped in, all the limelight was focused on them.
"Commander, are we not going to extend our invitations yet?" Bob and the other holy knights looked at Reinhardt, who had yet to extend a single invitation to the candidates.
"What's the rush? There are still many talented participants remaining" The latter simply smiled and continued to observe the ceremony.
"Kevin Arlett" At this moment, another candidate walked to the stage. A young man with short black hair and dark pool like eyes. He carried a large crimson sword on his back and was dressed in relatively worn down clothes, indicating that he was from the boonies.
The young man named Kevin Arlett stood on the stage, hand clenched and eyes radiating with passion, his gaze at the seven great knight orders.
However, to his disappointment, even after a while, no commanders raised their hands. This caused a ripple of shock among the audience.
Kevin Arlett would be the first young man to get no invitation from any of the knight orders. Thinking back, it also made sense why no commander extended their invitation to him. After all, from the start, he had shown nothing but his brutish strength and physical prowess.
Stats were important to join the knight orders; however, without skills to augment them, stats meant nothing. Especially when fighting demons, one needed a combination of skills and stats to resist their tricks and go against them.
The young man who failed to show anything but his physical prowess naturally received no invitation.
"H-How can this be!! I-I want to become a knight and protect the people who don't have the power to protect themselves. The nightmare that my village faced… hundreds of demons wreaking havoc, I will not let that tragedy repeat again. I promised my dead mother, everyone that I will become a knight no matter what".
The young man sounded desperate, his cry of plea sounded more like a form of encouragement for himself than anything.
The audience sympathised, from the young man's words, they could tell what he had gone through. After all, tragedies like this weren't uncommon in this world. It was especially more frequent in border villages that do not have the strength to protect themselves.
That said, ideals without power will only be empty ideals; they could only sympathise with him.
"Next.." the knight on the stage was about to call the next participant when..
"Wait…" a voice cut in. All eyes immediately focused on a single man who, just a few moments ago, had shown them an incredible display of power.
The legendary level 10 paladin and the commander of one of the Seven Great Knight Orders, the Order of the Temple of Light.
"Young man, you said that you want to become a knight to protect villages that can't protect themselves? You want to save them from getting overrun by demons. However, without power, these are all empty talks."
BOOM… Reinhardt released his aura, shaking the entire coliseum. His pressure bore down on Kevin and all the participants on the stage.
He continued, his heterochromatic eyes glaring down, "Are you simply going to use your determination against the demons too? You have seen how treacherous and tricky they are today. Do you think you have what it takes to defeat them?"
The young man became silent, his head dropped down. Thought the next second, he clenched his hands even tighter and spoke with all the determination he had in him.
"I will!! That is the sole reason for my existence. Even if I can't become a knight today, I will find some other way to protect the citizens".
Intense hatred towards the demon and rage towards his weak self, Reinhardt could easily read the young man as if he were an open book.
"Very well" he spoke, releasing his pressure "Join the Temple of the Light, I'll personally beat it into you, the way to defeat the demons."
Then he raised his hand, shocking the audience, knight orders and even the other seven great commanders.
A person whom they all discarded as someone without potential, Reinhardt was scouting them. How could it not shock them? Was there something about the young man that they missed?
They looked at Kevin on the stage again, but no matter how much they observed, they could not find anything extraordinary about him. This led to them believing that Reinhardt had lost his touch and was persuaded by the young man's backstory.
The Commander of the Royal Lion Guards, Marquis Herman, shook his head. His eyes contained disappointment when he looked at Reinhardt.
As the son of a duke and a high noble, he allowed a peasant like that boy without any power or special abilities to join his order. This caused the image of the Order of the Temple of Light in his mind to fall even further.
"As I guessed, I need to discuss about their order with the Council of the Elders" Herman muttered to himself.
The commotion about Kevin joining the Order of the Temple of Light soon died down, and the ceremony continued as usual. More and more participants went up to the stage, and many joined the Seven Great Knight Orders.
Finally…
"Is that the guy?"…
"Yeah, he's the guy who fought an even battle against a squire of the knight order. I'm telling you, his power is the real deal"…
One of the three level 4s, Moppo stood on the stage.
"Any invitation.." At those words from the knight, all Seven Great Knight Commanders raised their hands.