The students' faces all became a little strange, and those who were close to Roland, such as Bedwell, cast worried glances at him.

It is no secret that the Council favors the aristocracy and discriminates against the commoners, and Roland's commoner status has caused him to suffer unreasonable harassment and exclusion from many noble students in the past three years, and the Council has always taken a cold attitude towards this.

Even in the handling of daily affairs, the council often contradicts the student council led by Roland, and uses its authority to veto the demands of the student union, which is already a common thing for civilian students.

At such a critical moment when the martial arts conference was held, the people of the council came to Luo Lan, and they must not have any good intentions.

Not only Bedwell, but many students had this idea in their hearts, but they couldn't show it in front of the councilors.

But no one left, and the students all stared at the director with suspicious eyes.

The atmosphere suddenly became tense.

"Let's go back first, Director Charles must have something important to discuss with me. Roland said, his voice gentle, but with an unmistakable majesty.

Hearing the chairman's speech, everyone present dispersed.

After everyone had left and confirmed that there was no one around, Director Charles breathed a sigh of relief and stretched out his hand to make a cross on his chest, "Radiance, your friends are loyal to you, Roland, presumably this is also one of the manifestations of the Lord's favor for you." ”

This does not seem to be the tone and demeanor of a director.

However, Roland was used to it, and he gave Charles a courtesy that only a glorious believer would use, "Your Excellency, have you come to me because the council has made any moves?"

"Don't worry, for such an important event as the Imperial Martial Arts Conference, those guys don't dare to do anything, after all, this is a matter that concerns the face of the entire empire. Charles shook his head, "It's just one thing you need to know, that is, in this martial arts conference, one of the people who came to participate in the competition was Rommel Kate, the son of the Roman Grand Duke of the Dragon Lance Dynasty, and a genius alongside the Dragon Lance Princess. ”

"The Bishop has shown me his information, and although the information shows that his magical talent is even more amazing, his martial arts strength should not be underestimated. Charles said in a heavy tone, "You have to be careful. ”

Roland was unexpectedly calm, "Please tell Bishop Meron and reassure him that if I can't even deal with Rommel, what qualifications do I have to complete the mission that the Bishop gave me." ”

Charles nodded in satisfaction.

His previous indifference to Roland was just a show, and I am afraid that no one would have thought that this viscount, who was born in an ancient family of the empire, the backbone of the academy council, had been a glorious believer many years ago, and was a priest secretly appointed by Archbishop Meron, and placed in the eyes of the Palatine Academy.

His dual identity is known to only one person in the entire college, and that is Roland Austin, the president of the student union.

"Archbishop Meron is pleased with the fact that your faith in Radiance is as strong and devout as ever, and he hopes that you will win this contest, for the prizes are very rich, and if you get it, it will greatly increase your chances of fulfilling the important task entrusted to you by the Bishop in the future. Charles's tone was filled with anticipation and fanaticism.

Roland nodded solemnly. "I won't live up to what Lord Meron expects of me. ”

Charles patted Roland on the shoulder, "I'm a firm believer in that, and the Bishop said that you never let him down. ”

Looking at Charles's departing back, Roland exhaled, and a hint of firmness appeared in his gentle eyes.

Long ago, he knew Meron's purpose for letting him enter the Palatine Academy, and he had a heartfelt trust and gratitude for the Bishop who had spared no effort to accompany him and send him to the top university in the Empire.

Meron had long told him that his sword must always be sharp and always faithful, at least until he fulfilled the mission he had given him.

It's time.

The next race was around four o'clock in the afternoon, and walking on the road, Roland silently estimated.

The selection competition is a double test of the strength and will of the players, and in just about seven days, twelve preliminary players are selected from hundreds of contestants, which means that in the selection competition that pursues a knockout system, the contestants need to challenge several different opponents in seven days, and the load on mental and physical strength is quite large.

However, this is not a problem for a knight like Roland, who usually fights for no more than five minutes.

This means that he has more time to rest and prepare.

When he returned to the camp, he also deliberately passed by the various arenas and observed the situation in several other rings.

In the Garden of Roses, Gawain also defeated a kendo master from the Imperial Cardin Province, and he seemed to be very relaxed, and his wonderful performance drew a round of applause from the audience.

Seeing Roland passing by, Gawain raised his eyebrows at him as if provocatively.

Roland didn't care about Gawain's obvious hostility, and after a simple nod, he went to the next arena.

The atmosphere in the oak grove was equally hot, and in contrast to the elated expressions of the Paladin cadets who were watching, the faces of the knights from the provinces who came to participate in the battle were extremely ugly, because this time their opponent was actually a female cadet.

Claudia Cizerre, a second-year student at Palatine's Academy, stood in a ring in the middle of the woods, smiling and waving to her classmates who were chanting her name feverishly.

Her actions drew more cheers, and as a rare woman in the academy who was as good as her swordsmanship, Claudia's popularity has always been high.

"Who is this chick, why is she so powerful?" asked an alien knight.

A second-year female student proudly introduced, "Miss Claudia is the granddaughter of Her Excellency Joy, the Imperial Grand Magus, and her current results are the top in our second-year. ”

"The granddaughter of a great mage, why is she coming to such a place without learning good magic?" The knight's eyes widened, the top ten mages in the continent were already close to gods in the minds of ordinary people in the world. "If I have a talent for magic, will I still be a shitty knight?"

"What do you know?" said the female cadet disdainfully, "the group of mages of the Royal Academy of Magic who can only toss and turn incantations over and over are dull and boring, where can they compare to a real knight, who can taste the pleasure of piercing the body of an enemy with a long sword, facing the scorching sun and the wind, galloping across the vast land, becoming the protagonist of the troubadour's magnificent story, as immortal as Paladin, this is the real life, you hillbilly does not understand at all." ”

"Lao Tzu is a rough man, I really don't understand what you are talking about, I only know that fighting is to kill people. The knight muttered, "That's not a fun thing, it's a shame to be such a pretty girl." ”

The female student gave him a disdainful look, "It's really no pursuit." ”

The knight just shrugged.

At this time, Claudia, who was standing in the ring, caught a glimpse of a blond-haired figure outside the crowd, her heartbeat suddenly accelerated, a little shame appeared on her face, and her greeting hand also drooped.

Roland smiled and nodded at her, but said nothing, turned to leave, and disappeared into the hustle and bustle of the oak forest.

Claudia looked at his back in a daze, her eyes suddenly became extraordinarily stunned, and the joy of victory seemed to disappear with the young man's footsteps.

In the ring of the Sacrifice of the Ancestors, Rommel held the sword, stared indifferently at the swordsman whose arms were numb and his legs trembled, and said, "Do you admit defeat yourself, or will I beat you down?" ”

The young swordsman's teeth were tight, and finally he still said with difficulty, "I admit defeat. ”

This battle only lasted two minutes, and the domineering swordsmanship of the dragon spear swordsman made him suppress so much that he was powerless to fight back, and from the beginning of the battle until he was exhausted, he didn't even have time to launch an attack.

The instructor who was the referee stared at Rommel with surprised eyes, and he saw that the strength of the young swordsman was actually not weak, and in the Paladine Academy, at least it was at the middle and upper level, and this dragon lancer man could actually win with a near-crushing attitude.

The tutor couldn't help but look worried.

After the battle, Rommel stepped out of the ring, his sharp eyes caught Roland standing in the audience, the handsome young man with blond hair was staring at him with a gaze that made the dragon warlock extremely disgusted, Roland's eyes were gentle and calm, but in Rommel's eyes they looked extremely hypocritical and pretentious, with a kind of politician-like sophistication.

Seeing that gentle and calm face, Rommel narrowed his eyes, stretched out his palm, and made a "smearing" motion.

Legend has it that thousands of years ago, Charles, the founding emperor of the Dragonlance Dynasty, led his dragon knights on an expedition, and when facing the enemy, he would often make this gesture, and then the enemy army was greeted with a nightmarish slaughter.

Roland, who is well versed in continental history, could not fail to understand the meaning of what this famous gesture represents.

But he only bowed his head, smiled, and walked briskly out of the sacrificial hall. Almost no one noticed his arrival and departure.

"Anger is one of the greatest original sins of mankind. Roland Austin patted the copper scabbard and said this silently, without the slightest wave in his heart.

Almost, Roland thought to himself, after a lap in the various arenas, he probably knew who the opponents would be in the preliminary round.

Knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent and not being defeated in a hundred battles is a phrase that Meron warned him many years ago, and Roland has always kept it in mind.

And the last arena.

Walking to the edge of the fountain square, Roland's eyes quickly wandered around the square and the ring, observing the participating knights, secretly estimating their strength.

Eyes, movements, expressions, language, gestures, these subtle things that ordinary knights don't pay attention to at all, and even high-level knights rarely pay attention to, fall in Roland's eyes, but they are the best channel to obtain information about their opponents.

Divine Codex, Chapter 45: The devil often does not place himself in grandeur, but hides in the details.

He had already roughly judged the level of all the contestants in this field, and in his opinion, the only person in the entire Fountain Square who had the ability to make it to the semi-finals was Galahad.

Just as he was about to leave, a random glimpse of a figure made him pause.

It was a guy in a silver mask with a dark green scabbard, standing silently at the back of the crowd, a silver coin jumping up and down happily in his hand.