Lord of Charm

"That brings me to the next reason we are here; the imperial tournament."

Lena looked at him with a confused look. 'Imperial' meant it had something to do with the empire, not the kingdom, which was on a higher scale. Yet, her teacher never told her of such an important event.

"You must be thinking your teacher would've told you about it. However, only the royal family has the authority to send contestants. Our kingdoms have ten spots: Three of them are reserved for the royal family, five for nobility, and the remaining two spots can be won in a tournament my family organizes in the capital.

The imperial tournament is meant to allow people from the imperial city to pick talented individuals from the smaller kingdoms and nurture them. Those nurtured can't participate in the kingdom's politics anymore, yet they are the main reason kingdoms don't go after each other; many choose to protect their kingdom from the Magus of the other kingdoms, making wars between kingdoms involve only mages."

It seemed the royal family's way of doing things was right; they gave others opportunities, who, in response, would show gratitude when they were stronger. The royal family didn't even have to worry about rebellion; the empire banned the ones who turned too strong from participating in the kingdom's politics. They did it in order to avoid situations where royal families oppressed the power of their residents, which would lower the overall power of the whole empire.

"So, what does it have to do with me?"

"I want to offer you one of the spots meant for nobility."

"And your terms?"

"None. Even if we don't give it to you, you would easily gain one of the free two spots fairly. However, I do have a request. I'm one of the three royal contestants, and I'd like us to cooperate. We can be trained together in the empire and explore the world as partners."

Prince Florian said his proposal openly, just the way he knew Lena preferred. However, Lena wasn't impressed.

"Prince Florian is a talented person, yet I believe you can't keep up with me. I might consider it if you save me another spot from the nobles."

"Do you want to bring Donne?"

"No, I'm not interested in leaving the kingdom, I prefer staying here as a noble than going to the empire and becoming a mere soldier. She must be talking about Gale."

Donne replied instead of Lena. He felt Gale's Advanced Mage aura the moment he saw him, and now he could guess his sister's intentions.

"That's a problem. Although he is eligible with his stage being higher than his peers, only magicians with two elements or more can be accepted."

"Don't worry. I believe he has another affinity we need to find out. We didn't uncover it yet simply because he has started practicing magic only lately."

Lena reassured the prince. Her plans were already set in motion, and she expected Gale's power to soar in the near future.

"However, I must warn you that there is a risk of death. I doubt you'd face any danger, but I can't say the same about Gale."

"Excellent. When is the tournament?"

The prince was taken aback. Didn't the files say she was overprotective of her brother? The stages of Gale and Lena were already wrong, so what did he even pay those intelligence organizations for?

"It happens once every 30 years, and all people under the age of 45 can enter. It will take place next year. So did we agree I'll make sure to keep a spot for Gale, and you'd partner up with me?"

"No. I will consider letting you court me if you can get the third rank."

"I've never planned to settle for less than winning."

"Oh, I'm not being lenient with my standards. I'm demanding you defeat everyone other than me and Gale."

Prince Florian gaped at her; he didn't know where she got her confidence from!

"All right. Since we've agreed, I shall not talk more about the matter."

The dinner continued and quickly came to an end. Donne was exceptionally satisfied; his marriage with Princess Raya was almost set. He only needed to go to the royal palace and ask for her hand from the king. It was only a formal process since Princess Raya has already given him her oral consent.

The next day Lena and Gale arrived at the backyard to continue his training. Gale described his fight with the wolves and complained he needed a spell targeting a few enemies at once, otherwise, dealing with many weaker beings would be difficult.

"Today I will teach you the spell Ring of Fire. Your fire's attributes are igniting and spreading, which is quite similar to my corrosive attribute. With a ring of fire, your fire could kill many enemies at once or prevent enemies from getting close to you if you use it right."

She waited for Gale to sit down and be mentally ready to cast a new spell.

"Close your eyes and ask mana to form a ring of fire around you. just imagine a perfect circle of condensed fire. Next, imagine it ignites everything around it, and everything it touches catches flames."

A ring of fire slowly formed around Gale; however, it was more like a small round wall rather than a ring.

"Try again. Condense the ring further or it won't be potent enough."

Gale practiced it for hours until a ring of fire encircled him, and its size, diameter, and height were all to Lena's satisfaction. Nina was watching from the sidelines and immediately came to keep her oath to bully Gale.

"It's still not perfect. Here, let me show you."

Gale looked at Nina warily; he felt like she had something personal against him lately. After a short hesitancy, he complied nonetheless. Nina walked towards him, and he manifested his ring of fire as quickly as possible, trying to prevent her from getting closer.

Nina grinned in his direction and stopped. Without warning, she jumped above the ring and Gale, who couldn't multi-cast, had to watch her foot descend until it connected with his cheek, sending him flying backward.

With his world spinning, Gale slowly stood up and glared at Nina.

"You could just jump above it to prove your point, why did you kick me?!"

"Pain is the best teacher."

She nodded her head righteously. She was just doing what was best for Gale, nothing else.

"Let's do it again, I still need to show you it's also possible to slide under the ring."

"I… IT'S OK, I GET IT!"

Gale quickly retreated to Lena's side, seeking protection from Nina's bullying. He looked at Lena with a betrayed look.

"Isn't this spell completely useless then?"

"All right, Nina, enough. you had enough fun. It's useless because you are only in the middle of practicing it. This spell's potential will be put into use if you can summon the ring instantly and at any angle and height, which would catch your enemy unprepared. Just like you aimed your fireballs, you also need to time and aim your ring of fire. The real power of this spell will only be revealed when you become a mage, and you'd be able to summon a few rings and make them rotate around you as you wish."

Gale spent the next few hours rapidly summoning and canceling his ring of fire spell until Lena called the day off. The next day was just as tedious as the previous one; Gale spent it summoning his ring of fire from all kinds of angles until he completely mastered the right way to use it.