The message arrived at the Torren estate three days after the duel, carried by a weather-worn messenger who refused payment beyond a hot meal and directions to the next family on his route.
Geld Torren held the single sheet of paper with hands that had once commanded battalions but now trembled with age and exhaustion. Around him, the family's main hall showed signs of their decline - empty spaces on walls where ancestral portraits once hung, sold to pay debts. Furniture that didn't match, bought secondhand after the originals were seized.
"Read it again," his daughter Lyssa said quietly. She stood by the window, watching the fields that used to belong to them, now worked by Richter tenants.
Geld cleared his throat. "The Ackerman boy, Fenix, age fourteen, Intermediate rank. Defeated Vin Richter, age sixteen, Graduator rank, in single combat. Witnesses confirm dual cultivation - both mana and aura active. The Richter delegation withdrew in disgrace."
