The nobles were getting agitated as the Principal kept on refusing them. They didn't want to do anything to the Principal since even though he is old, he was once a legend in the battlefield. The old man has a lot of knights that would back him up, most of them were his former students. Messing with the old man Galius wasn't something the noblemen gathered could afford to do.
It was at this moment Sepchel appeared. The noisy nobles quitted down upon seeing him. This was one of the most famous of the younger generation, and he was also considered the greatest genius of the kingdom. If he decided to join in the claim for the magic weapon every noble present needed to band together and persuade him to do otherwise.
The Principal looked at the youth in front of him with a smile on his face. "If it isn't the knight commander Sepchel Saulon. How can I help you today?"
"It's a simple matter Sir Galius. I just wanted to inform you that my younger brother Alastair will be leaving school, and will be returning home. I wish to thank you for the two years my younger brother received your care." Sepchel dismounted and then saluted Galius with a formal knight salute. Sepchel's subordinates did the same thing as their commander and gave Galius a formal knight salute.
"Oh, that's too bad. He was a very impressive student, aside from his character, his skill was one of the best in the entire academy."
"It doesn't matter how much skill he has with the sword, if his character is rotten. My father will make sure to straighten out his rotten character. Once again thank you for all the years you tried to teach such a useless younger brother." After once again thanking Galius and calling Alastair useless, Sepchel mounted his horse and was about to step aside.
"I hope you allow me to stay at the side, while I wait for my younger brother."
"There is no need for you to ask permission, the academy doesn't own the road... Sir Sepchel are you not interested in the magic weapon, that the others gathered here are trying to gain?"
The moment Galius asked this question, the people present were now focused to hear what Sepchel would answer. The proud noble son answered, even though he thought that the question was stupid, but he simply answered due to his respect to Galius.
"I have no interest in the possessions of other people. Also it doesn't seem like the boy is as helpless as everyone believes him to be."
When Sepchel said this, he looked at a distant rooftop. In that certain rooftop, stood Lara watching with a few men surrounding the area of the academy. Ren who already guessed that it was possible that some random noble finds out about Zwei, since he knew that Valdel was an extreme busybody. He was certain that Valdel wouldn't care about showing off Zwei's abilities if it was to help others. So he told Lara to prepare for such an occurrence.
...
Lara who was reading the lips of the people gathered in the front gate of the academy, was surprised by what Sepchel said and did. The man called Sepchel had sensed her presence that she hid so well. She was even positioned quite a distance away from the academy, that you needed to have an absurd eyesight to spot her. Yet the man looked directly at her.
Galius hearing what Sepchel said was impressed. He too noticed the men surrounding the academy, but unlike Sepchel was unable to detect Lara, which hid herself further away.
When the other nobles heard Sepchel's answer they felt relieved at the same time they felt that Sepchel was being too arrogant. It was like he was telling them, that they were thieves themselves. Still no one voiced out any complaints since Sepchel's status was not something any one of them could deal with.
"Is that so..." Galius then nodded his head. Once Sepchel and his men went to the side, the noblemen once again tried to persuade Galius to bring out the student Valdel. They weren't wary of what Sepchel said about Valdel, saying he was not as helpless as they thought he was. To the nobles present that remark just felt like he was referring to Valdel's swordsmanship, which they had prepared for.
As they were thinking of ways to make Galius give up Valdel. The person in question actually came out of his own accord. Valdel who had witnessed the scene of Galius trying to defend him dug into his heart. He didn't want the Principal to be in that kind of situation because of him. Valdel knew that all of these events were happening because of him, so that means this was his problem not the Principal's. Valdel wanted to clean up his own mess, and not make someone unrelated take the lashing for him.
"Can all of you stop bothering the Principal. I'm Valdel the one you're looking for." The moment Valdel showed himself in front of the nobles they felt that luck was on their side. They were almost about to give up for the day, and return tomorrow after forming a new plan, but it would seem that there was no need for that.
"Valdel master rank swordsman, we came here because it was reported that you have a stolen magic sword. If you hand it over peacefully, we will pardon your crimes of theft. What say you?"
The advance rank swordsmen and some of the mages present were extremely wary of Valdel. As they waited for his answer the atmosphere was tense. The people present as guards knew that Valdel was a master swordsman but seeing him in person made the swordsmen and mages have a different impression of Valdel.
The swordsmen actually saw how good Valdel was simply by him standing there in front of them. It felt like the moment they attacked they would be cut down. The mages on the other hand were a bit frightened by Valdel. Normally a swordsman was someone who walked the way of the sword to the extreme, they were people who had lesser mana than mages, that's why they focused on enhancing their physical abilities. Even their spells revolved around enhancing their physical abilities. These spells used lesser amounts of mana than a normal outward spell like the basic spell [fireball].
When they saw Valdel who was a master rank swordsman owning such a powerful mana flow, they felt confused and a bit scared. Though it was normal that knights who were the elite of the elite, to be able to use magic and the sword since they claim to have mastery of both, but their mana was only above the normal swordsman, and the same as a normal magician. Yet the mana Valdel had was the same as an intermediate rank mage.
This meant Valdel was not only a powerful swordsman, but is most probably a powerful mage as well. There were other people like this, who are powerfully in swordsmanship and magic, a good example was Sepchel who was watching at the side. Still the guards didn't expect that Valdel their target today would be one of these people.
...
Even the nobles noticed the rising tension of their guards, and were quietly waiting for Valdel's answer. Sepchel on the other hand was impressed by the boy named Valdel. Even though Valdel wasn't at Sepchel's level yet, but the knight commander had to admit that Valdel was indeed stronger than he was when he was sixteen.
After a few seconds of silence, that felt like hours, Valdel finally spoke.
"First off this sword, my sword Zwei isn't something I stole. She was something given to me. Second if you want her, then come and take her. But I must warn you this sword chooses her master. The moment a person she doesn't acknowledge touches her, she would harm that person."
Valdel took out Zwei and stabbed her into the ground in front of him. He then gestured to the noblemen that they were welcome to try and take her. The noblemen didn't believe that there was a weapon that could choose its wielder. They believe that Valdel simply said that to frighten them, making them unable to take the weapon.
Though they didn't believe in the sword's sentience, none of the noblemen present stepped forward to claim the sword. Though the sentience might be a dubious claim, it was possible that Valdel himself would do something to them, and then claim that the sword did it.
"I thought you people wanted Zwei? Come on, try and take her. I won't do anything, I'll only stay here at the side and watch. If anyone of you is able to hold onto Zwei for a minute or so, then you may have her."
Valdel knew that these people would not stop until they get what they wanted. So he decided to act like his best friend Ren, and openly challenge everyone. Once they see that they can't hold Zwei, Valdel hoped that they will stop trying to obtain her.
Hearing Valdel sound like he was looking down on them, made one nobleman extremely angry. He didn't like the feeling that a commoner such as Valdel was acting so pompous in front of them, so he stepped forward and readied himself to pull out Zwei from the ground.