Spear Of Retribution

"Push the gem on the middle of it, concentrate your mana and you'll be fine," She said and pushed him a bit away from her.

Alexjin took three steps back and touched the diamond gem, he instantly felt the rush of his mana and the sword shows its true size and weight.

"Master... It's beautiful," Alexjin in awe of the beauty of the sword, "It matches the color of my armor."

"Then that's good to hear," She stated and grabbed something on her pouch and handed it to him, "Put the chain at the end of the handle so that you can wear it as a necklace when you're not using it."

"Thank you, master. Thank you for trusting me!" Alexjin kneels back again and holds both of Geraldine's hand as he put his forehead at the dorsum side. He felt extremely happy that cannot stop himself from touching her.

Geraldine let him be and patted his head.

****

The next day came in, the day of the competition. Many people are lined up for registration and the rest of the people who will be watching are already finding a good seat to watch the fight.

Geraldine is currently with Alexjin to register his name and get his number. He is currently wearing a black armor they bought, it was just plain and matted without any combined colors. He wears the sword as a necklace so it doesn't hassle him much.

As for Geraldine, she is currently wearing an all-black gown with gold lace and a hat that has a net to cover half of her face and her hair is styled in braids.

"Do you have your tag with you?" She asked and Alexjin hurriedly grabbed his tag in his pocket.

"Yes, master," He showed his name tag to his master and gives it to her.

Geraldine took it and caress his name 'Alexjin' engraved on it but it doesn't have a last name. She smiled then gives it back to him and took a step on the side as he is next in line to register.

In the Empire of Rakkaegia, the last names played a huge role in a person's status. It could determine what jobs you can take or any other opportunities but not all can have it. Only nobles, royals, and other high-ranking officials have last names but the head of the family could also give a last name to the loyal servants, knights/soldiers, or someone they adopted. Normal commoners don't have one but there's an office where you can buy a last name at a high price.

Due to the large impact of having a last name, some commoners would spend all their lives earning money to buy a last name for their kids and future generations of their family to give them better opportunities in life and won't starve.

There's also discrimination among the society against those who don't have a last name, even if that person is decent, those who have last names would treat those people like trash and could easily step on them.

This is also one of those rules Geraldine doesn't like in the Empire.

"Nametag," The teller tapped her fingers as she waited for Alexjjin to show his tag, she was smiling widely as she thought that he is a son of a noble that wants to participate in the competition but when she saw that Alexjin's tag doesn't have a last name. Her smiling, cheerful face disappeared and was replaced by a sour, boring look.

The teller would also look at his armor as it looks expensive, "You're a commoner," she said and rolled her eyes, "You should know your place kid."

The teller was about to throw insults to Alexjin who only stayed silent when her eyes caught Geraldine's gaze.

Her red eyes stared at her as if she was looking at her soul, the teller also felt as if someone is choking her and she starts gagging for air.

"Miss?" Alexjin called out when seeing that the teller is struggling to breathe.

The teller's gaze was stuck on looking over to Geraldine's eyes and the longer she stayed, the harder it is to breathe, so with all her might, she shifted her gaze downwards and that's when she was able to breathe again.

"Alexjin, are you done yet?" Geraldine said and used her fan to cover her face.

When the teller heard her voice, she immediately crams to give him a number and called out the next one. That's when she knows that the young man in front of him has a powerful owner supporting him from behind.

"Yes, master," Alexjin stepped to the side and went in front of Geraldine who's facial expression changed into something softer.

"What's your number," She asked and cocked her head to the side.

Alexjin looks at his number with his name on it and shows it to her, "I'm in the 15th place, it's not bad."

Geraldine nodded and gestured for him to follow her, they went to a place where there are few people nearby.

"Master, should you go inside to find a place to sit before the arena will be booked by watchers?" He said as he's worried that his master won't be able to watch him closely as he fights.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Just focus on your competition today, It will be part of your training," She said and took out a small pouch in black color that matches his armor.

"It's the mana pills, took one before your fight to help you boost your mana and wield the sword's power properly," She said and handed it to him, it contains three mana pills inside in case he would have mana deficiency from wielding the sword for a long time.

"Thank you, master. I won't disappoint you," He said as he took one pill and it quickly dissolved in his mouth and he could feel the increase of his mana.

"Remember to take a pill after your fights to replenish yourself," She said and begun to walk away, "I'll be going first to find a sit and you need to get ready too, don't disappoint me too much Alexjin."

She gave him one last smile before going away and entered the arena. Alexjin stood there for a few minutes while looking at her back before she disappeared from his sight, then he went to the place where the fighters are staying before the competition began.

The chairs are evenly placed but it was separated by status and ranks. On the right side, most of them are nobles and high-ranking officials sons or family members, and on the left side are the commoners.

The nobles would look at the commoners with distaste as they would be combined to them which they don't like too much. The swordsmanship competition doesn't look at the status of a person and everybody can join but it's the citizens that overlooked it and they would vote on the nobles to win as the saying goes...

'No commoner is above a noble.'

Alexjin went ahead and sit on the left side and started to observe his opponents. 

The nobles having arrogant and overconfident looks and aura while the commoners are nervous and scared to even wield a sword towards the nobles as some of them even have their heads bowed down.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? A rich man or a poor rat?" A man in silver armor went in front of Alexjin with his hands on his hips.

Alexjin didn't respond to him and kept on looking straight, which pissed the man in front of him.

"Don't you know who I am?" Seeing that Alexjin still doesn't respond to him, he decided to introduce himself, "I am Niso Guansa, the 2nd son of Baron Guansa," he proudly said his status and thought that Alexjin would kneel to him in awe but instead, Alexjin looked at him with a dead stare and completely ignored him.

"YOU! How dare you ignore my presence, a lowly commoner like you must feel happiness for attracting a noble's attention and I could even make you my knight," Niso said and peek at Alexjin, he knew from a glance that Alexjin is not an ordinary commoner and he does have training and from his dark and heavy aura, Niso is certain that he is a good fighter.

"I already have a master," Alexjin replied coldly, wanting to get away from him.

"Eh, too bad you've lost such a great offer from a noble. Hmm, I want to meet this master of yours, perhaps I could buy you from him eh, how much are you?" Niso took out his pouch and wiggled the gold coins in front of him.

Alexjin stands up, their height is the same even though Alexjin is much younger than Niso, "My master is a 'she' and I suggest you leave her alone or I'll beat you to a pulp in the arena," He harshly whispered then went away, leaving Niso in a shocked face.