A Noble Tournament

The Land of Sevens
So, it had been some time since Maria and Morgan partook in their first mission together. Since then they took what time they had off to train and ready themselves for their second mission, one that had them working with the Noble Árbol Family. Given their limited time they spent originally on previewing the job, they had more of a semblance of liberty to look at it in full. Such they discovered that the Noble Family was but one of eight Noble Families contending for the anual competition known as "The Noble Tournament." Such was that on the 7th Month of the 7th Day, 7 minutes after the strike of Noon that they participate on this venture between nobility as part of a game between the auspiciously living in the seven allied territories.

Because Maria and Morgan took the contract, an A-Class Mission, together they'd be assigned to the  Árbol Family and any others that'd be accepting the contract would be given a background check before being accepted. Mages from anything as small to as large of the Legal to Independant Guilds were accepted with the understandable barring of anyone not adhering to the Council's legal ruling system. This would leave 16 Wizards competing in a game of contending for the grand title of "Grand Noble Champion," which would recognize the Wizard as exceptional and capable of taking a large boon of missions within the future. Not to mention there'd be a healthy selection of prizes among such that the champion could be won along with the contract bonus of winning it for the House they fought for.

During the day of the event, Maria and Morgan were once again taken by Skyhawk to the destination giving them an opportunity to take a gander at the neighbouring nation of Seven. Beautiful rolling hills with flowers, grass and trees enamored the healthy fauna filled wilderness with farms being irrigated or farmed by the far more advanced modern era of agricultural workers. Farther inward they viewed cities of grandiose proportions often rivaling that of the modern living urban centers of Fiore. But none compared to the current capital of Siebte. Dazzling towers of ivory with windows opaqued of gleaming cyan ringed around the center while an irrigated river system flowed from a distant sparkling river ten kilometers away. The water pulled in pushed a complex series of gears that flowed across the outer perimeter, giving way to a number of Lacrima enhanced batteries that kept the city. This urban legendary site was filled with a myriad of dazzling structures and lights all of which seemed to span incredible heights with light refracting capacity. A host of smells and sights were to be had, but that could always come later.

What came now was what they signed up for, arriving at a desk that led the pair of girls to what looked like an enormous colossus of shimmering silver. It seemed to kneel, and was holding what looked like a large sphere, of which had mobile staircase leading up to a single square opening. The ball in question seemed to be as large as a Castle's Keep, and the girls would know why there was no seating found around the enormous giant despite the local guardsmen keeping back onlookers at a perimeter. Standing on a small lawn acting like a garden near the Colossus the contestants would be within a minute's walk to the large construct where site overseers were keeping them company.

"I can't believe how big of an event this is!" Maria gushed, her eyes still sparkling from the overload of sights, smells and sounds they had on their way in. She was glad that this was another mission not necessarily regulated by Diana but even more happy that Morgan was with her. She saw the contestants and didn't seem to recognize any of them...except for one in particular.

"Is that...?" The younger sister of Morgan asked, walking halfway across the waiting lawn to see a taller man in a strapping sleek suit with dark hair. Smiling widely, she beamed as she waved at him, calling out towards the Phoenix Wizard. "Kenneth the Unbroken Promise? I thought I recognized you!"

The man that was addressed was in a sleek three-piece suit with a purple shirt and a simple tie. He seemed to be out of place given the wide variety of eccentric fighters gathered for this contest. Isolated in a small area away from the majority of the other fighters, the Mage's eyes appeared to be highly focused on analyzing the superficial traits of his fellow contestants. From height, to physique and even their general emotional spectrum were all taken into account by the professional, whom had deeply ingrained this information.

However, his concentration was soon disrupted by the voice of a younger woman. He looked to his right and noticed a young woman with dark brown hair, a full physique, attire befitting someone of the upper class and vibrant blue eyes. The aura she gave off appeared to be familiar, immediately reminding the young man of a certain acquaintance as he shivered slightly. "Maria Alexander, no?" As she announced his former title, Kenneth lowly sighed to himself as he quickly became the center of attention by the other contestants. Smugly walking towards his acquaintance, he bowed slightly before correcting her. "Ah, Miss Alexander, I regret to inform you but that title was recently upgraded to Oathkeeper: I've even recorded it with the Magic Council. After all, "Kenneth of the Unbroken Promise" sounds like I'm still a teenager."

And thus it was confirmed: this man was Kenneth, the Oathkeeper. A famous veteran among the scores of S-Class Mages, making his name not as a result of his incredible power, but rather his extraordinary successes in the field of Jobs, to the point where he was hired by the competing Blackburn Family for a chance to win this tournament. Of course, given that he was up against fellow Guildmates, this process turned slightly more complicated. Quickly returning to the flow of the conversation at hand, Kenneth asked, "I assume you are participating in this tournament as well, Miss Alexander?"

For a moment, Maria was a little embarassed and annoyed. Firstly she hadn't kept up with the man's activities, he most likely had taken a number of missions on behalf of their Guild. Her field experience was that of a novice by comparison to him so not even knowing his codename upgrade was a mistake on her part. But his comment about it being something a 'teenager' would make didn't sit well with her. She knew she was far from being the most immature when it came to age, despite her child-like enthusiasm and attitude being pervalent of her demeanor at all times. Being demeaned in an off-handed way made her purse her lips and scowl at him for the comment.

"Excuse me for being a teenager, old man," She thought as she made a mock fish face expression.

Suddenly, her remembrance of her sister made her turn around and beam brightly as she waved her over, "Morgan! There's someone you need to meet," Turning back to smile more presentably gestured to the girl in darker clothes compared to her own crimson & white blouse top and short skirt with long black stockings with dress shoes. "This is my sister, Morgan. She'll be joining me in the Tournament. Morgan," She turned briefly to her sister and gestured to the man in the sleek suit, "This is Kenneth Oathkeeper. He's one of the skilled Mages working for the Phoenix Guild."

Morgan was excited to be on her second official job in only a matter of days, and it was one she had been looking forward to, a tournament of all things. She couldn’t wait to test her skills on mages from all over the world and being able to see just how strong she was, how close she was to her goal.

As the Skyhawk flew over the country of Seven, she enjoyed the sights. Seven was one of the few countries between Sin and Fiore she hadn’t seen before, not that she had much time to enjoy being in those places, spending years on the run. Until she was adopted by Victor, she didn’t have any clue how far she had run from Sin, nor did she really care, it wasn’t far enough as far as she was concerned. Only after becoming part of the family did she really think that she really escaped the hellish place she had once known as home, and she wouldn’t ask for anything better.

After the jet landed, she followed Maria as they made their way to their destination. The giant statue caught her attention as it came into view. Compared to the various buildings she’d seen during her time as a vagabond, it was easily one of the largest constructs she’d ever seen. Judging by its prominence, and the crowd nearby the orb it carried was to be their arena.

When Maria called her over and introduced her to Kenneth, she recognized him as one of the projections from that day months before, when Victor took her in. “I remember you. You were one of the ones Father called with NEST back when he...saved me.”

"Ah, yes, I was. Nice to meet you Miss Morgan." Kenneth bowed once again. "Now then, which family are the both of you representing?" He though, knowing full well he would have to oppose the two daughters of his Guild Master. He wasn't exactly sure about how to deal with this situation. On one hand, he had his work ethic and pride to consider. On the other hand, he had his loyalty to the Guild. "Then again, Master knows full well that he can't afford failure. Perhaps he will make use of this as friendly competition." Kenneth then sighed slightly, "I never know what that man is thinking."