Zakaria is a town enclosed by a rectangular wall with an east-west direction.

The size is 900 meters from south to north and 1,300 meters from east to west. Compared to the small village of Lulid in the north where the two lived, it was more than five times larger. It is built in the middle of the grassland, there are no rivers or lakes nearby, and domestic water is drawn from wells. Because of this, it gives the impression of being somewhat dry, but compared to the desert towns of the Southern Empire, there are still many more plant objects.

Most of the roads and buildings are made of russet sandstone, and the clothes of the residents who pass through them are also red. Among them, the blue tunics worn by the two teenagers from the north were somewhat eye-catching. Yugeo lowered his head as if he was a little concerned about the eyes of others, but Kirito didn't care, but stared at the small stalls on both sides of the road, one by one.

[Oh~, the meat buns in this shop look good...... However, the skewered pork just now is cheaper than this...... Which one would Giorgio want to eat? ]

While saying these words without nervousness, he looked to the side, and finally noticed his partner's strange attitude, and his black pupils blinked speechlessly.

[…… Yugeo, that, anyway, this is the third time I've come to Zakaria. There's no need to be so nervous.]

[This is only the third time...... I've never seen so many people before I left the village......]

[Zakaria makes you nervous like this, what can you do when you get to Yangdu.] Moreover, when he officially appeared at the swordsmanship conference, he had to compete in front of hundreds of audiences, and in the afternoon, Uncle Urud and Aunt said that he would bring Ti Lin Ti Lulu over to cheer. Can't you show them the ugly side.]

was slapped on the back by Kirito, and Yugeo looked resentful.

[…… Ming, understood. Only now, I will envy Kirito for your random style......]

[How dare you say that, Yogio-kun.] "Disorder" is an important secret of Ayn Grant's swordsmanship]

[Eh, really, really?] ]

[Really, really]

During the exchange between the two, they had already completed the West Avenue with a length of 500 meters.

In front of it, a building stands a block taller than the house next to it. It was Zakaria's largest facility, the Assembly Room.

It is a space made for a variety of purposes, such as speeches by lords and performances by bands and troupes, and of course today's swordsmanship tournament is held at this venue.

Admission is free, so even now, two hours before the official opening, a lot of people are already gathered. This annual conference is a rare moment of joy for Human-Unit, which is governed by everything from "Vocation" and "Forbidden Catalogue" to everyday life.

However, the enthusiasm in the venue made the young Yugeo feel more stressed, and the blood on his milky white cheeks was even lighter than that of Kirito.

[…… No, do you have to compete in that kind of place......]

Kirito made a hoarse voice to his partner, with a look on who cares about you, grabbed his left hand, and walked first to the entry window at the front entrance of the meeting hall.

Since most of the contestants live in hotels on the street, besides, there are many citizens of Zakaria, so the registration must have been completed early.

So on the makeshift long table, there was only one idle-looking old guard with a poke of mustache on standby.

Kirito didn't look timid at all, and walked straight over and spoke loudly.

[The two of us, please help us sign us up!] ]

The guard raised his gray eyebrows, looked at Kirito with suspicion, then looked at Yugeo, coughed dryly, and said

[If you want to appear in the convention, either as a guardian in the streets and villages of the Northern Regions, or as a trainee in the Zakaria Guards, or ......]

[It's this "Or", oh, ah]

Yugeo put his hand on his flank, and quickly reached into his tunic and probed it. What I took out was a slightly old parchment envelope. It was handed to the guard, who opened the envelope with his brow and took out a letter from it.

[What...... Well, it's a handwritten letter from the village chief of Lulid. [The two young men who carry this letter, having fulfilled the vocation given in the name of the god Stythea, have come here in search of a new path, and hereby testify...... Roar]

So for the first time, the old guard smiled and stroked his beard.

[In other words, the two imps who fought in the northernmost village, Lulid, and were not even considered guards, wanted to become our glorious Zakalia guards for the sake of their new vocation.] Well? ]

[That's it]

With a smile that didn't admit defeat, Kirito added.

[It's just that being a guard isn't the end, and after that, it's the central capital's-]

Facing his flank, this time Yugeo stabbed him directly. Instead of his partner who had gone into silence, Giugio hurriedly said.

[That's it, that's it, the registration for the appearance of the sword fighting conference, please!] ]

[Hmm, okay]

The guard nodded, opened the registration book placed on the table, and took out the copper pen.

[Write here the name and place of origin, the genre of swordsmanship]

[…… liu, do you want to write about genres too]

Kirito snatched the pen from Yugeo's hand, which had stopped. Instead of writing on high-durability parchment, it was written on a registration book bound with common paper made of white fine grass, and there were already many names of the contestants written in various handwritings.

At the end of these handwritings, the black-haired boy wrote down his name, Kirito, the lingua franca of Lulid and others, and the pen only paused for a moment before smoothly writing the genre. "Ayn Grant Stream".

It has been five months since the two teenagers were observed, and during this time there were more or less doubts, the biggest mystery of which was the term. Although there are about thirty schools of swordsmanship in the human world, this is the first time that Aingrun has heard of it.

Originally, Kirito thought it was just a genre that Kirito, who was better than Yugeo in terms of swordsmanship, proudly created himself, but it didn't seem to be the case. Because of the Enigmatic Ayn Grant stream, there are no less than ten kinds of ...... for those many schools that have one and only one "Esoteric Type

Thinking about this, Yugeo also filled out the registration book—the same genre, of course—and handed the pen back to the guards. The guard inserted the erect pen into the registration book, making the registration book turn around, raising one eyebrow.

[Well, I've been using swords for a long time, but this is the first time I've heard of this genre.] Is there a genre in Loulid? ]

The guards will have doubts, of course. More than 50 participants have registered in the registration book, but half of them are "Zacharand Stream" created by the first Lord of Zacharia. The other half, Nolukia Stream, which was widely taught in the Northern Empire of Nolan Gals, has no strange names in the small genre.

However, Kirito replied with a calm expression.

[It seems to be a genre that has only recently formed]

After answering like this, Yugio Tieqing's face couldn't stop nodding. Of course, the guards would not refuse to sign up on the grounds of this genre, [ah] nodded, and gave each of them a brass sheet. Kirito gets a thin plate with [55], and Yugeo gets a copper plate with [56] engraved on it.

[Please stay in the lounge of the venue until 11:30 a.m., and at first, you will be divided into the east and west groups by lottery.] You can also borrow a sword for competitions from there. After twelve o'clock, the first is the pre-selection. The type of martial arts exercise is, a group of eight people, the first to tenth types, just do it according to the important matters distributed in advance, there is no problem, right? ]

In response to the guard's question, Yugeo nodded refreshingly, and Kirito's head only subtly changed its angle.

[Very well, it's official after two o'clock, from eight to four, then two, until the last person wins.] The last person, the sum of the two winners, will be honorably given the vocation of the Zakaria guard]

This time, both nodded heavily. I felt the shaking in Kirito's front hair, and I couldn't help but think back to what happened a few hours ago.

The goal of the two is to join the Guards together. In order to achieve this goal, the two must be divided into the east and west districts respectively, and then from the preliminaries, this battle will continue to win. However, if they were assigned to the same district during the draw, the plan would have been ruined from the start. For this problem, did these two young people who have no sense of tension come up with any countermeasures......

- When answering this question, it was time for the two of them to successfully complete the registration of the contestants and eat a meat bun and a skewer for lunch near the square.

[…… So, Eugeo...... What happens if I am in the same group? ]

Kirito asked as he quickly finished the meat bun that was only half a moon shaped.

[…… What to do, Kirito]

Eugeo, who had eaten the first skewers cleanly, replied.

In other words, these two people didn't think about anything at all. Although I vaguely guessed that this would be the result, I was still so weak that I almost fell off my head. Give me some consideration! Turn the urge to scream into a gentle tug on the hair next to you. In order to mislead Kirito's actions. Kirito stretched out his right hand. Quickly retreat from the top of your head. Scratching his hair in a commotion, the young man was still talking about his optimistic conclusions.

[Well, the boat is naturally straight to the bridge.] It doesn't matter, you'll definitely be put into a different group. This morning, Mistress Styhia and Mistress Soluth and Ti ...... Tireli ......]

[Lord Tirelia!] ]

[Yes, I made a wish to that Leah-sama]

Ha-, Yugeo poked out heavily, and Kirito also had a small sigh on his head. Returned to where he was and muttered inwardly...... No way. But that's really just for you, little boys.

Thirty minutes later, moments before the bell struck half past eleven, the two arrived in the competition lounge.

On the west half of the room, which is 20 meters long, there are four rows of sturdy-looking benches side by side, and the participants of the conference sit facing east. On the other side of the east wall opposite, there were four slightly more ornate chairs, which were still empty, but there were already guards at the reception window.

When Kirito and Yugeo entered the lounge, the eyes of the fifty-four participants shot at each other.

Whether it's him or him, each of them is a tough man with thick arms.

There were ten people in the jackets of the Zakaria Guards, and most of the young people in this room were selected from the nearby streets and were in the prime of life. Some of them had beards all over their faces, and there were many of them who seemed to boast about the horrible scars.

Under the gaze of these fierce men, a chill couldn't help but flow through Yugeo's back, and Kirito looked around the meeting room indifferently and said.

[…… Great......]

[What, what's so good]

Turning into the ears of Yugeo, who responded in a stiff whisper, Kirito leaned his face over and whispered.

[there are no female participants,]

[…… This, Kirito ......]

[Aren't you too, if you compete with a female opponent, you will have a headache]

[Well, that's right...... Rather than saying that, I didn't think about it at all.]

[If you can, I hope that until the Unification Conference of the Four Empires, you won't run into a competition with a female opponent]

[It's hard to say, I've heard that the Western Empire has a knight order composed only of women]

[…… Roar-]

The two young men who were having a conversation without tension as usual, and the fifty-four fierce ones quickly lost interest in them. Anyway, they were all people who couldn't even pass the pre-selection, and soon forgot about their appearance, and put the borrowed sword back in their leather handbag after a little inspection.