"SEVENS' BLESSINGS UPON YOU ALL, BROTHERS!" A young and mighty shout reverberated across the room.

The shout was instantly followed by another shout, which, just from behind Arte, had a powerful voice like the previous one but sounded more feminine. "MAY THE BLESSING OF THE SEVENS BE UPON YOU TOO, SISTER."

The intervention instantly made the room burst into countless fits of laughter.

The room was packed with at least three hundred young boys and girls, all between the ages of fifteen and twenty. They were all dressed in the same uniform: a long-sleeved black coat, black trousers, and black boots.

Each of them wore an armband upon which was engraved the same sigil, that of a sword engulfed in a raging fire.

Arte and the others were in the Apprentice Paladin section’s canteen. The place where Arte has been having breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the past three and a half months

And today, Arte and his fellow apprentice paladins had all been sitting here, having their last meal as apprentice paladins at this place, as today was the day when they finished their service time as apprentice paladins.

Arte didn't know from whom exactly the first shout came, but the second one came from a fellow apprentice paladin of his named Cynthia Laurène. A tall blonde girl who is rumored, or to be precise, was known to be a total tomboy.

Though Arte didn’t interact much with her these past four months, she was well known for her fondness for fighting or violence in general. From fistfighting to swordfighting, she was having it all.

She was mostly known for having challenged many of Arte's fellow apprentice paladins, challenges that always ended in losses for her opponents. Arte was eagerly waiting for the day when she would challenge him, but that day never came.

Arte was, of course, not into fighting girls, but from what he had been told, she was pretty strong, and crossing blades with a strong opponent was always a valuable experience for Arte.

Noticing the glance Arte threw at her, she asked, "What are you gawking at?"

"Nothing," Arte mumbled, getting his attention back to the food in front of him.

But just as he did, a hand landed on his shoulder, followed by a whispering voice. "Come on now, Attendant, don’t tell me you’ve fallen in love."

Arte had been nicknamed "attendant" by his fellow apprentice paladins for the past four months. And the one to whom the voice belonged was the boy who was sitting next to him, the same person who came up with the nickname.

Edouard Ferdinand. He was a tall, red-haired young man. He was one of Arte's three roommates.

Just like the other apprentice paladin, Arte was given a room to share with two or three other fellow apprentices.

"Nah, and what’s that sme-'' Arte started, noticing a pungent smell of alcohol coming from Edouard's mouth, but was interrupted by a finger pressed onto his lips.

Alcohol, or any form of depressants or stimulants, was prohibited for apprentices during the entirety of their stay in the fortress, so Arte couldn't help but frown at the precise smell coming at him.

"Today is the last day, Attendant. What will they do? Even Samh and Eddie took a small sip."

While saying that, Edouard pointed toward two boys sitting at the same table as them.

The boys responded to their friend's snitching with a rather beseeching and uncomfortable smile.

"Okay… I won’t say anything about this. But if you guys get caught for this, don't you dare mention my name."

Having spoken those words and having finished his meal, Arte stood up, no longer having business here, and took his leave as he still had some unfinished business to attend to before his departure.

***

After the calamities, it went without saying that very few were even remotely interested in joining the paladin order when it was at that precise moment that the order was in the most desperate need for new blood among its ranks.

In that regard, some changes were made within the paladin order; among the most noticeable ones were the establishment of the system of apprentice paladin recruitment, which is generally a system put in place when a crusade is close, and the shortening of the said generally six-month apprentice service time to three months. Those changes were put in place to attract the young but still reticent nobles across the continent to join in. Nobles like Arte would be interested in helping humanity if it ever needed them again.

That being said, Arte had his own personal motives for joining the order, and they were far from being as pure as those of the Paladin Order's.

Arte walked for about fifteen minutes from the canteen to reach his next destination, which was on one of the fortress's highest floors.

After passing through a series of towering stairs, Arte arrived at a long hallway with a wooden door at the end, from which emerged a man in his thirties to forties with chestnut hair.

Being his master’s attendant, Arte was obviously not the only one directly under the Holy Paladin Freshet's direct order, he also had some seniors who were ranked way above him. And the man in front of Arte right now was one of the two highest-ranked Paladins, closely seconding his master in his duty.

Upon noticing Arte, the man immediately smiled. "Good morning, Lord Paladin Edouard."

Arte was always treated with respect despite his lower position by that man, which contributed significantly to making his stay at the fortress so enjoyable and making it feel almost like home.

"Spare me that. Your service time as an apprentice paladin ends today, right? From this day onward, you will no longer have any reason to call me that."

"Still… "

"You can call me Damien from now on."

"Yes."

"That being said, I fear I’ll have to take my leave here. I still have some duty to attend to about sending your fellow apprentice paladin away. "

Arte nodded, then struck the paladin salute, then solemnly announced, "It has been a pleasure to serve and dedicate these three past months at your side, Lord Paladin Edouard."

"Likewise, Attendant Arte," Damian answered, responding in kind to Arte's salute.

With these words and a gentle tap on the shoulder, Damian left, leaving Arte alone in front of that wooden door.

Taking a deep breath, Arte placed his hand on the doorknob. He didn't have to do anything; the door slowly opened by itself, revealing the room's interior.

An opulent room with a few bookshelves and a plethora of weapons, as well as taxidermied monsters hanging on the wall.

"Oh, Arte It’s you. What might bring you here? " sitting in his chair at his desk, Gunther asked.

"I’ve come to bid you farewell, Master."

Today was Arte's last day in the fortress, making it also his last day as his master's attendant.

"Oh... You know you can stay if you want. I would be delighted to give you a better title if the title of attendant doesn’t please you anymore," he said with a joking yet genuine smile.

"Although the past six months I spent as a Master’s Attendant were very pleasant. There are still obligations that I must attend to as Arte Barbosse. "

"Obligations, huh? I suppose I have some still pending too."

"Besides, I still have my little brother waiting for me in the holy capital, so..."

In order to enlist as an apprentice paladin in the Paladin Order, Arte had to leave my little brother behind in the Holy Capital. Three months have gone by since the last time Arte saw him.

"Your brother, huh? Tell him that the paladin order will be waiting for you two brothers with open arms when you see him."

"I definitely will, Master."

A strange silence set in, before Gunter ventured out, "Arte, come here."

Arte executed himself, approached him, and found himself standing in front of his desk.

"Could you please do me a favor?" Consider it the final mission I assign to you as my attendant."

Without waiting for Arte's comment on the matter, he retrieved an envelope from his drawer, placed it on the table, and slowly slid it toward Arte. "Can you do it for me?"

"What exactly is this?"

Arte reached out for the envelope, but with Gunther's hand still pressing onto it, it stopped Arte from taking a close look at the envelope.

"I'd like you to personally deliver this letter to someone. Can you pull it off? "Yes or no?" He said it as if he were putting Arte to the test.

Arte had never seen Gunther take something so seriously when we were alone like this, so he, without a doubt, assumed the contents of the envelope were of the utmost importance for him to react that way.

"Yes, I can. I swear on my name, and be Huey, the first Pontiff, be the witness of my oath that I will deliver this envelope flawlessly. "

Satisfied, Gunther retrieved his hand from the envelope, allowing it to be taken and inspected by Arte. And the first thing Arte noticed about the envelope was that it had no information on it; no name, no address, just a white flower painted on it.

"Master… Could you tell me where I'm supposed to deliver this? This emblem is unfamiliar to me. From what family does this come?"

When Arte spoke those words, his master looked at him as if he had just said something extremely stupid.

"What is it?"

"Are you sure you don't recognize this symbol?"

"No, and I've learned every family emblem from the three nations, the church's many branches, and the many factions, and I've never seen this emblem."

This time, unable to contain his laughter, Gunther explained, "Hahaha, this emblem does not come from the nobility or the church."

"From where then?" Arte asked, getting even more curious about the emblem as his master made it sound like it was something obvious that he should've known.

"Did you ever visit the low quarter while in the holy capital?"

The term "Lower Districts" refers to the area of the Holy Capital where commoners lived. I had no reason to go there as a noble myself.

"Are you one who doesn't support the presence of commoners in a plebian environment?"

Though he'd heard that there are some nobles out there who despise commoners. Arte, for himself, believed himself to be of the standard type.

"Not really. I just believe that nobles should not interfere with commoners, and that commoners should not interfere with the nobility. After all, nothing good will come of it. Besides, since my brother and I were new to the holy capital, we had no reason to visit the lower district." Arte simply explained.

This was especially true as Arte and his brother grew up in a rather rural but noble residential area with no commoner district to speak of, so the concept of "lower districts" was, until very recently, a foreign concept to Arte. In fact, it was fair to say that it was still a very foreign concept to him.

"I see. Then this will be your chance to visit the holy capital's lower districts. The emblem, which you see here, belongs to a business called "La Rose Blanche," and I'd like you to give this envelope to a person named Eleonora Blanche."

"All right, but what kind of place is this, Rose Blanche?"

Arte understood from the recipient's name and the establishment's name that his master's letter recipient must be a fairly important person for the establishment.

"She is... the one to whom you owe the forging of your spear, "Allée," wasn't it?"

"A smithy then…"

"We can say so."

"I see. I will deliver this to her as soon as I arrive at the holy capital."

"I’ll be counting on you. Well then… I guess this is an adieu."

Arte's master rose to his feet and extended his hand. Arte took it and shook it gently for a few seconds.

"Goodbye Master. Until next time."

He was tempted to give a farewell salute, as he had earlier to Lord Paladin Damia, but his Master had become so much like a father figure to him over the past four months that Arte thought it would be improper.

Arte turned around and walked away, exiting the room without looking back, not knowing that this farewell would be their very last and that there would, in fact, be no next time.