That night Mokuba sent out a message to Zariah to tell her his brother Seto wished to meet her. Getting the message she left Dartz to deal with Seto. She was able to announce her presence by using her magic to knock.
Seto looked up from his papers, "Come in." He then saw a portal opened up and a woman stepped out. "You're Mokuba's magic friend?"
"Yes, my name is Zariah. I have helped children in the past and usually when the rare few are taken into good homes they soon learn about me. Then the family tells me to say goodbye and never return. I'll head to Mokuba's room and say goodbye."
Seto glared at her, not even giving him a chance to say anything. "If that's your choice. I'm sure Mokuba will be disappointed. So am I as I wanted to do business."
"Wait, you're saying I don't have to leave?"
"No, you've proven to be more helpful and reliable than anyone else. If you would like, the towers in the West Wing are unused and have been for many years. I'm sure it'll be fine with a bit of cleaning. You're welcome to live there if you don't already have a place. I'd advise making it so no one can see you or any light from the window if you don't want visitors. Even if I ordered people to ignore it and stay clear. Well I'm sure you understand."
Zariah nodded, she understood what he was saying. He could order people all day and night to ignore what they saw or think they saw and stay away. It was now a private residence. But that would only make people more curious and invade her privacy. Seto could punish those that disobeyed but they'd just turn around and tell others what they saw and it'd never end. She liked the idea of having a proper home not having to create a portal to nowhere and set up camp in that bubble. Her beach house was nice but she's renting it out right now. That's why she was hesitant when Dartz suggested the place. She had checked while Dartz was explaining their volcano to Krystyn and was thankful the tenants were out. She was able to cast a quick spell on them to keep them away until she and Dartz left. She had bought the place with intentions of living there. But whenever she'd hear a call it always took longer to get to where her current charge was. So it was always easier to set up a portal bubble to camp and return to the beach house to rest between children.
"If you agree, me and Mokuba will be the only ones to know you're there. Please do leave a note on the door if you're out so if Mokuba comes to visit he won't stay at the door all day waiting. If I should ever require your presence again I'll send Mokuba to ask you to visit."
"Thank you but what about your brother?"
"You let me worry about Yami. He's actually why you're here."
Zariah was weary about this. Though no one ever offered her a place to live before they had offered her money to do things for them. Make expensive rare jewelry, or help them overthrow a neighboring country. Other times they'd offer people or something else in exchange for lots of money. She feared he might want her to help teach his brother to create money. Still she had already jumped to conclusions once she was reluctant to do it again. "What did you have in mind?"
Seto explained what Yami was doing to Mokuba and he was hoping she could try to help him see what he was doing. He didn't want her to force him to care about Mokuba but try to help him see the truth.
Zariah thought about the request and felt it was reasonable. He wasn't asking for instant results. Just for her to try to get him to open his eyes. "You have a deal. I'll start as soon as I do a bit of research first."
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"Attention, everyone." Seto said. "I'd like to welcome you all to guard and knight tryouts. This is a week-long event. I hope you all heeded the notice given yesterday to register. If you registered properly then you would have been given a number. That number is all that will be called. If you lose it you can request a new one. If you didn't register you will not receive a number and therefore, you will not be allowed to try out again until this time next year. If you thought this was a joke and didn't do it well, that's on you. It's too late now. There will be no exceptions made." There were murmurs among the few knights and guards who didn't bother as they didn't believe that Seto would truly dismiss everyone and a few that forgot. They didn't believe it could be true until they heard what Seto said next.
"For the first time in nearly a century, I am officially dismissing everyone including the head Knight and head Guard. I have heard rumors that I won't be fair or impartial. That I will play favorites and not give others a chance." Referring to Ryo and Joey.
"So to combat this, neither myself nor Master Atemu will be judging. I see no other way to ensure complete fairness. I'd like you all to welcome retired knights Lupin Halliwell, Peter Garfield, Dover Gallagher, Chris Chase, Eric Quinn, and my late mother's personal guard Gerald Hawthorn. I have asked them for help with the trials. While this is unusual, it's not unheard of. It used to be done all the time. But kings often had their favorites and so stopped allowing it. I am here to bring it back. Normally, this is only for knights and guards in spring. No more. From this day forward, both will be held around this time and again in the spring. After this, Head Knight and Head Guard positions will not be up for challenge until the next tournament or one is dismissed for whatever the reason. You may challenge them if you wish, but you will not take their positions outside an official tournament." The knights had retired when Seto was about 6. They didn't leave the kingdom, just the neighboring town. Most lived simple lives in their homes with their dogs, cats, horses, or wives. Seto had them brought here reluctantly by magic. They were all happy, willing, and even eager to help judge when Seto asked. It was traveling by magic that freaked them out. With these six judging, no one can accuse him of favoritism or bias against anyone. Especially since not one of them has lived near the town of Trapani next to the castle in many years. So, the odds of any of them knowing any of the contestants are slim. But odds are even lower that all 6 knew the same people.
"There will be four rounds. You will be competing against each other. Master Atemu will choose two numbers at random. You will start off with an obstacle course and then go to the marked off square and get straight into the wrestling, then when your opponent has hit the ground grab the nearby sword and disarm your opponent. When a winner has been declared, race to the archery range you must have 3 out of 5 arrows close to the center to win. You must be the winner of three out of four events to move on to the next round. If for some reason the opponents tie they will both be declared winners and move on to the next round. It's a 4 out of 6 vote to win. You will start out competing for a guard position. It matters not if you were a knight or guard before this. Losers will go here." Seto said, indicating a roped off area.
"Breakfast will be served at 5am. Competition starts at 6am. After 25 winners are chosen we break for lunch then the next 25 after lunch. When 50 people are chosen we will break for the day. Then we will pick up the same the next day the same way until we have 100 winners. If you were among the winners and you wish to compete for the roles of head guard and second in command of the guards. Then go to Master Atemu and let him know. Then those that wish to compete for those titles will be the first to compete the day after all 100 are chosen. Then the obstacle course will be changed and the winners of each round then compete against each other till there are only 2 left to compete against each other.
Then we'll move on and start knight tryouts. Winners only may apply for knighthood. The course will be the same. Only the obstacles will be magically made a bit harder and different than what you previously had to do. Then we will have you do your best archery by horse. Then you move onto the next obstacle which will be scaling a 20 foot wall. Then last but not least as a knight you must also excel at jousting. Jousting will take place at the end of the week. You must have won 3 out of the 4 other events to move on to compete in jousting. If no one wins 3 out of 4 we take the people with the highest scores. Only the top 6 winners will be allowed to compete for the titles of head Knight and second in command of the knights.
Everyone was shocked by this. That was a lot of work and little time to prepare. Plus only the top 6 winners were allowed to challenge for lead.
"I am sorry about the short notice. That there was no time to prepare or train. But with the loss of Honda and the complaints about favoritism I decided to do it now. Besides you all knew knight rotation and tryouts were coming up. You will only have today to train and practice. Use your time wisely. Any questions please approach Master Atemu. No exceptions will be made if you missed the sign up deadline."
After a grueling couple of days and quite a few being placed in the losers section and will only get a second chance at making guard if there were any spots available. No one was happy. More than a few blamed Ryo.
"I can't believe this! I lost my position as a knight. I barely beat my opponent. I don't stand a chance of getting my knight status back. Thanks a lot Ryo!"
"Yeah, unlike you some of us have families to feed."
"This is because he fooled the king into believing he cared for Master Mokuba."
Enraged Ryo stood up and faced them. "How dare you! I love that kid!" Ryo's declaration only met with laughter.
"Sure you do. From the moment you got here the only real time you spent with him was after your break up. And the one time the king and Master Atemu took the boy on a trip."
"I heard he went to a special school and apparently learned nothing."
"I'm telling you I love Mokuba!"
"Keep telling yourself that. You don't even wear the necklace I heard he gave you anymore. We wouldn't be in this mess if you had only sucked it up and been a loyal loving puppy to that kid till spring."
"Exactly. Ever since Master Atemu brought that girl home he's neglected Master Mokuba. That's causing tension and now thanks to you who could have been by the boy's side caring for him and making up for Master Atemu's neglect. We all lost our jobs and are having to fight to hopefully get it back but no guarantee."
"I swear if you end up making it back to guard we will make sure your life is a nightmare!"
Ryo was shocked by this. He turned to Bakura to see if he would stand up for him. Several others followed his gaze and they too stared at him