"Hahaha! Isn't this an exciting day today?"

A deep voice asked a question to its audience. It carried with it a certain authority that couldn't be challenged by any participants in the event.

"Audience members as well as participants from all five academies. Welcome! I'm Rufus Rodriguez, and I would like to share a few things with you before we proceed with the event."

Rufus Rodriguez greeted his audience with a smile on his face and excitement in his voice. This Grandmaster Ranker looked to be in his early 30s. He was wearing typical adventurer clothing as if he was ready to fight anyone. The smile on his face was contagious and subtly forced everyone who looked at him to smile with him.

This A-rank entity had served as vice-principal of Lionhearts Adventurers' Academy. But he was relieved of those duties when he made substantial progress on his ranking journey.

Rufus Rodriguez was the same ranker who conducted Eren's induction ceremony at the time of joining the academy. Somehow, he looked younger and more powerful than his past self.

There were other rankers besides Rufus as well. Within the five academies of the kingdom, they held their respective positions. However, they allowed Rufus to take the initiative and talk to the audience. After all, Rufus was the only one who was self-motivated to act as the announcer for the event.

Rufus and the panel of rankers behind him stepped onto a levitating platform in the middle of the arena quietly. Rufus stepped forward and spread his hands before speaking in an energetic voice imbued with mana.

"Welcome to this unique event. This is a kind of congregation of young rankers that has never happened in the history of Edinburgh until now.

As many of you might have guessed... There's a reason for such an event to take place in such turbulent times for the kingdom of Edinburgh. You have to understand that hard times force us to take tough measures. And tough measures give us stronger rankers.

We need these tough rankers in our midst. We need to identify them and invest in them. So that when the time comes, these rankers will be able to do their absolute best in protecting the borders of Edinburgh."

Rufus' speech started on an inspiring note. It highlighted the incoming war subtly while making his audience understand the reason the graduation event was organized.

***

One of the goals of the graduation event was to find strong generals and dependable workers for the kingdom in the upcoming war with Layos. To select the most qualified candidates, the kingdom summoned everyone qualified from the five academies in this place. Moreover, it wanted to hire promising rankers by offering them various rewards and perks. The event was nothing but a grand-scale enlistment event.

Edinburgh also wanted to show its citizens that its borders were going to be safe from Layos' forces. This is why it organized such a big event the live feed of which could be seen from major cities of the kingdom.

For example, rankers in White Raven City could also see what was happening at the Edinnica arena. Several locations within White Raven City were broadcasting a live 3D spectral rendition of the event.

Rankers eagerly watching the feed knew that the founder of the White Raven city had come to Edin to take part in the graduation event. A majority of viewers would be seeing what this founder was capable of for the first time. They were basically set to judge the butcher based on his onscreen performance at the event.

Agatha and other members of the White Raven guild were also keeping tabs on the event whenever they got free time to do so. They were yet to find Eren in the audience though.

***

Rufus liked the serious attention his audience gave him. It showed that they had understood the multifaceted reasons for the kingdom to organize this event on such a grand scale. He put his hands behind his back and started pacing around the platform before continuing.

"We have already cut down on rankers that don't deserve to be here. This graduation event is only for elite members of their generation to attend.

What I mean to say is that the participants of this event have already been through multiple stages of funneling before they were allowed to step foot in this place.

Furthermore, participants from all five academies will compete against each other, allowing equal opportunities for all the young rankers to secure maximum rewards for themselves.

Ranking resources, fame, and political power are all up for grabs. But only those who have what it takes to stand above the rest can claim those rewards for themselves."

The fervent gazes of the participants were fixed on Rufus as he looked around. He smiled cunningly before adding further.

"I'll have to be honest with you guys as well as my colleagues from other academies. I'm rooting for rankers from LA to get the maximum benefits from this event. After all, I served as a vice-principal there for many years.

So, those rankers who came from the Lionheart duchy... Hehe. I wish you all the best. While I may sound biased, I hope you do well and justify my bias in the end.

Hahaha. It is what it is!"

Rufus was always known to be a straight shooter. He was never known for downplaying certain aspects of his speech. So everyone except the participants from the Lionhearts duchy started seeing him with a bit of displeasure reflecting in their eyes. But nobody in the audience dared to object to Rufus' way of doing things. They liked to keep their heads attached to their necks after all.

There was a certain group of LA rankers standing inside the crowd of participants. These rankers paid close attention to Rufus' speech. They had already heard him speak several times when they were in LA.

They knew that Rufus would keep talking about a bunch of topics for an extended period. But he would cover every aspect of the event so that the participants who were paying attention to him wouldn't have to go in there with a blank slate. Thus, rankers from LA were paying special attention to his words.

They were also glad that a Grandmaster ranker had come out openly to support them. That's because the participants from the four academies were getting intimidated by the students of Royal Ren. wff

AN: Rufus Rodriguez was introduced in chapter 60.