Ceres

59

The start of the year was greeted with a cold climate. It was still considered as part of the winter season even though it was on the latter part. Winsterein kingdom was part celebrating the new year and part preparing for the soon-to-be-held schools' competitions. It was the start of the month of the new year where the competitors representing different schools gather and test their skills in different fields of magic. Maybe even be allowed to participate in the Great Magi Conference.

The Winsterein kingdom's schools' competition is held in different cities of the Winsterein kingdom every time it happens. This time, it will be held back at the capital city, Winsterein Royal City, where it first happened. The kingdom prepared special areas for the competitions and thus, there were renovations in the city and it was even expanded a little bit.

Most of the schools really don't like to meddle with mundane events. However, being magic practitioners, they are responsible for the safety of the citizens and also, some work that can't be done by ordinary people. This is the reason why sometimes, they involve themselves with forces outside of their school. Other schools are allied with some cities or even kingdoms because of territorial issues or resources. Winsterein kingdom was then made responsible for the three-year schools' competitions being held by the schools within its territory. The reason for this is simply to give the headache to the kingdom. That simple. Also, it can be a form of advertisement for the schools. Moreover, having ordinary citizens involve in such events would enable the schools to not go overboard or cause trouble. And, another thing, it can help magic practitioners get to know people from the forces of the kingdom and associate themselves to the realities of the world. Last but not the least, establish a kind of ranking within schools.

Regarding how the event goes, it is made up of different types of arenas. This is to cater the different fields of magic that students have. The fighting arena is for those specialized in combat magic such as magic warriors and holy knights. However, fighting arena is not only composed of weapon wielding magic practitioners but also of those who use magic as means to attack and defend themselves. All fighters, close range or long range, participate in the fighting arena. The fighting arena is made up of many battle stages and fights happen simultaneously. For the alchemy department, the arena is about the knowledge of herbs, pills, and other medicines. It is only held in one arena and the process is only through elimination at every stage. The healing department on the other hand has a different type of competition. It is made up of a tag team competition. A healer is teamed with a fighter and both fighters from opposing teams will fight each other out while being healed or supported by their healers. However, this competition is only participated by a small number of competitors since most fighters wanted to join the fighting arena. One must know that one can only participate in one event.

In actuality, Winsterein kingdom's schools' competition only caters three types of events. There are small events but those do not gather that much attention. The reason being said is that there are not many schools that specialize in other areas aside from those three within the kingdom. Other fields of magic are practiced by some schools however, the participants are too few. Also, the levels of participants are not much compared to those participating in the Great Magi Conference. However, sometimes, they send people who specialize in other fields to the Great Magi Conference. But this only happens if they are proven to be qualified and also, if approved by the ministry of magic practitioners in Winsterein kingdom.

Winsterein kingdom's schools' competition is held over two weeks. The first week is to wait for participants to come to the venue and also, familiarize themselves to the place. Furthermore, banquets will be held left and right by some powerful forces but the most well-known banquet is held by the Royal family. The second week is the competition proper. The fighting arena is occupied throughout the week and is the longest among the three events. The alchemy arena only lasts for three days at most while the healing arena lasts one to two days depending on the number of participants.