Captain Takeda watched as they escorted their new potential students with him to the Imperial academy. His eyes scanned each student as they passed by as he tried assessing whether one would end up being his golden ticket to a promotion. It was common knowledge if you were the one to find talent for the academy it was highly likely that one would magically be considered for a promotion. The higher ups in the academy had a lot of pull in the Imperial army due to providing so many officers to it. Unfortunately, so far he hadn't seen any of them that stuck out as an unusual talent, though he had to admit that the overall quality was better as they kids had been tempered, by living in the rural settings.

With each passing kid he would observe he became slightly discouraged. All these children would make fine soldiers one day, but none thus far showed any aptitude for magic and it was a bit depressing. In order to learn any type of magic one had to be blessed by a god even though this could happen at any point in life it was most common upon birth. Both major and minor deities would bestow blessings hoping the person they blessed would go on to be extremely famous there by making more followers for them. Captain Takeda was never blessed by any god, but he never let that get him down it just drove him to train in the martial ways and path of the warrior even more which was not to be underestimated. He was considered a highly skilled swordsman among his peers, but that didn't mean much to Captain Takeda in his heart he served because he desired authority. If he puts in his time and doesn't royally mess up he should have a comfortable life owning a small territory in the Empire.

Yet, despite all his trouble to find that secluded village he couldn't find any youths with great potential. At least with this lot the military academy would have a good set of recruits.

"Awwachh" he let out a defeated sigh. It was just his luck to not find any talent he honestly believed this secluded town would have some minor deity watching over it at the very least which was not unheard of in the northern territories that were far from the worship of the major deities in the central and southern parts of Sato.

At that moment the corner of his vision saw a young girl with ice blue eyes and midnight colored hair pulled back into a ponytail. His heart jumped as he looked at the girl who wore simple green hide tunic and leather shoes that were obviously homemade and not the nice designed cloths found commonly in the rest of the Empire. Her eyes where a sign and even he could feel a strange aura coming from her.

Captain Takeda didn't like the cursed eyed folk anymore than the average person, but it was common knowledge that these people often had aptitudes for getting blessed with strong magic affinities. He had found his proverbial dark horse and he wasn't going to let this one go.

"Girl!" The young girl looked over towards Captain Takeda "come here."

Nervously the girl approached him as he would be intimidating to even the average grunt soldier let alone a small child.

"Yes Lord Takeda?"

'Lord? Well I guess I seem like one to a secluded youth like this.'

"What is your name young one?"

"Minako Rize, Lord."

"I want you to ride on the front wagon of the caravan with my footmen. Do you understand?"

"Yes I understand."

Captain Takeda watched as the young girl walked away. It truely was a shame that the girl was blue eyed had she been born with dark eyes she would be considered an unparalleled beauty when she grew up.

Shaking his head Captain Takeda ordered the caravan to begin it's long journey to the Imperial capital.

...

Kijuro marched along with the other men from the village he didn't resent the empire for doing what they did. He was a man of honor and he understood a citizen’s duty to the defense of the nation they call home. After years of surviving in the wild he only cared about one thing in this world and that was his family. He was going to survive in this war and make it home he swore to the heavens he would.

He had lived his life for a long time and had done many terrible things before meeting his wife Nyoko who completely changed him from a bandit thug to a humble huntsman on the outer edge of the empire. After many years his heart had softened and he was no longer a man that cared much for violence.

Several weeks passed by as they traveled towards the southwest towards the border of the Kalimdah alliance where Fort Edo the stoic sentry of these lands where the empire watched over and defended the lands from the smaller nations to the south. Kijuro looked around as he took in the sight of hundreds of conscripted civilians trained with wooden swords. The wood and straw practice boards were shaped like Kalimdah soldiers and wore the armor they traditionally used.

Kijuro lined up behind the other new arrivals waiting for us to be briefed. As they waited a man wearing orient armor emerged from the main pavilion of the fort. He wore an open face helm with two ox horns sticking out of the top. The rest of his armor was a two piece plate armor the legs had come down in various strips of hardened leather with rings of metal embedded around it. The chest piece had a golden phoenix embedded into the center and square shoulder plates that gave him a box, but imposing look.

"Ehemm" the man let out a short cough clearing out his voice "welcome new recruits, I wish I could greet the great citizens of the empire under happier circumstances... The empire is at war and to be frank with you I doubt it will end for a long time. This conflict has been brewing for many years and it is time that the empire finally stop out the Kalimdah alliance once and for all. For our families this must be so!"

Kijuro felt a small sense of duty and pride swell inside of him, but his fears lingered on in the back of his man.

"I will return to you my girls." He whispered to himself as he followed the rest if the conscripts into the armory.

...

On the distant horizons spires began to fill the sky poking out as Rize and the company approached the imperial capital of the Sato Empire the city was enormous larger than anything she could ever imagine the walls stretched in either direction as far as her eyes could make out behind the city was an even larger mountain range that made the tiwering architecture of the city look small. Rize couldn't suppress the excitement in her heart as she made her way towards the capital even though she was separated from her father she was going to take his words to heart and not hesitate on taking opportunities when they presented themselves.

She was finally going to get to visit a place she had dreamed about visiting for her entire life. Rize had vivd images from the stories that Mr. Itakura would talk about when he came to the village every year.

Rize secretly hoped she would be accepted by the academy just so she would have the opportunity to see the capital in all its glory for as long as possible.

They approached the city gates with Captain Takeda in the lead showing his badge the guards immediately let the fifty man company thru. The gates were twenty feet high and at least 4 wagons wide the gates were swung open towards the outside signifying that the city was open for the day.

Rize followed closely to the company as she took in all the sights of the city. Hundreds walked among the streets with countless chatter and voices filling the area. Laughter and the sound of blacksmiths and shop doors opening and closing assaulted her senses. Rize was used to the quiet almost bewitching silence of the village with the occasional rustle if the trees of the Great Northern forest. They made their way further inwards of the city before they came to a huge complex surrounded by white stone with the symbol of the Phoenix on the face of the walls. The walls thenselves were smaller than the outer city walls, but still formidable none the less. Quickly they were hurried into the complex where numerous multilayered buildings surrounded them going several stories high the complex was huge much larger than the previous districts of the city they had previously went thru. There were areas full of trees and ponds and practice fields to the side where young people dressed in matching tunics practiced various movements that Rize was unfamiliar with.

"Captain Takeda!" an old voice came from in front of them as the man descended the stairs from the main building in the center of the complex towards them "it has been awhile hasn't it? I wasn't expecting you to bring another batch of potential recruits so soon!"

"Grandmaster Zhou! It is truly an honor to see you again!" Captain Takeda bowed lowly "The recruits are ready to be evaluated."

"Fantastic we will see if you brought any good recruits this time shall we?" a hopeful look shined in his eyes as he observed the group of roughly 150 children.

Rize felt slightly at ease similar to the feelig she got from Mr. Itakura. She got very restless as she heard so many wonderful stories of magic users and if she had the opportunity to learn it she wanted to impress her father when he returned from the army.

"Now then follow me."

Rize and the rest followed them towards the main building. Clenching her fist she knew that this was her opportunity the same way her father always told her to not hesitate. So she went in confidently to see her fate the gods planned for her.