Magic Knights

The **Magic Knights** 「魔法騎士 *Mahō Kishi*」are members of the Clover Kingdom's nine squads of mages who serve as protectors of the country. They are led by the Wizard King.

## Overview

The Clover Kingdom's Magic Knights is an organization where selected mages enter and become part of the Kingdom's military as a Magic Knight. The organization has a noble duty, protecting the Kingdom from various threats, such as invasions from foreign countries, to local crimes within the Kingdom itself. These duties are treated as missions which can be accomplished by any Magic Knights, where they could nominate themselves for the duty, or be nominated by a higher ranked Magic Knight.

Due to the Magic Knights' duties, which are focused on combat-based missions, members of the Magic Knights must possess a high amount of magic power and be well-versed in combat. Thus, membership and leadership of the Magic Knights are dominated by the nobility of the Clover Kingdom, because they often produce mages with high magical powers and talents. However, this fact does not hinder commoners of lesser status to enter the organization, as the Magic Knights arrange an annual Magic Knights Entrance Exam, in which everyone could participate for a chance to be inducted into one of the Magic Knights' squads. Royals are exempt from the exam since they typically join their families' respective squads; they can, however, choose from the other squads and have their relatives vouch for them.

Although the Magic Knights are seen as heroes by almost all of Clover's inhabitant, many become Magic Knights seeking only personal achievement and glories. Nobles become Magic Knights just to feed their own ego, and many commoners seek to become Magic Knights just to get money and live an easy life and are not motivated by a genuine desire to protect people. Due to this, many Magic Knights abuse their status and authority for their own benefit, sometimes being even more dangerous to Clover's citizens than the criminals themselves. A good example of a Magic Knight are a person who prioritized the protection of civilians above their own glory, however anyone with that view point is offten betrayed and killed by their own squadmates, simply for being a lower status and for acting like a true Magic Knight. It is also commonly seen several times how corrupt the Magic Knights really are, many of them not giving a damn about the safety of the people, especially the commoners. However, there are still many Magic Knights who are truly honorable and noble, who seek above all else to protect their country and its people.

### Merits

The Wizard King awards gold stars to individual Magic Knights and teams of Knights who have demonstrated exceptional performance in the field. Black stars are awarded for failed missions or poor performances, such as damaging towns they were meant to defend, and count against the squad's total. The number of stars awarded for a mission depends on the difficulty or significance of the accomplishment. These stars, regardless of which squad member earned them, serve as a means to measure the strength of the squad as a whole. Additionally, at the end of the year period, which is determined as the beginning of April until the end of March of the following year, the Star Awards Festival is held to celebrate their achievements and determine the best squad based on which squad has the most stars.

Furthermore, being a Magic Knight is considered as an occupation by the Kingdom. Thus, every Magic Knight receives a salary on a regular basis, which is usually distributed by captains of their respective squads.

### Ranks

Members of the Magic Knights are differentiated through ranks in which could represent their status within the organizations. The highest rank is the Wizard King in which belongs to the leader of the Magic Knights. Below the Wizard King status, members of the Magic Knights are divided into four other ranks in which those ranks are further divided into five classes with the 1st class as the highest and the 5th class as the lowest. A promotion to a higher class is possible for every Magic Knight based on their performance in which represented by the amount of stars they had collected. Knights who are aiming to get a promotion, need to collect a certain number of stars before the annual War Merits Conferment Ceremony to be considered for a promotion.

The Magic Knights' ranks are as follow:

1. **Wizard King** 「魔法帝 *Mahōtei*」
2. **Grand Magic Knight** 「大魔法騎士 *Dai Mahō Kishi*」
3. **Senior Magic Knight** 「上級魔法騎士 *Jōkyū Mahō Kishi*」
4. **Intermediate Magic Knight** 「中級魔法騎士 *Chūkyū Mahō Kishi*」
5. **Junior Magic Knight** 「下級魔法騎士 *Kakyū Mahō Kishi*」

The leader of the Magic Knights, the Wizard King, is the highest rank in the organization. Below the Wizard King status, members of the Magic Knights are divided into four other ranks, each of which (with the notable exception of Grand Magic Knight) is further divided into five classes, with the 1st class as the highest and the 5th class as the lowest.

### Squads

Members of the Magic Knights are divided into nine different squads, each of which is led by a Magic Knight that has been bestowed authority as the **Captain** 「団長 *Danchō*」 of the squad. These captains have broad authority within their respective squads and over the recruitment of new members. Each squad possesses their own insignia in correspondence to the squad's name, as well as signature robes that easily differentiate members of one squad from another. Upon taking over, a new captain is allowed to change part of the squad's name and insignia.

Additionally, all squads compete with one another in order to see which squads are the best. The ranks are determined by the cumulative amount of stars that the members of a squad have collected as a whole.

The Magic Knights' nine squads are as follow:

#### Royal Castle Knights

The **Royal Castle Knights** 「王城騎士隊 *Ōjō Kishi-tai*」 are a special group of Magic Knights tasked with protecting the front gates of Clover Castle. It is composed of Knights from the Crimson Lion and Silver Eagle squads.

### Royal Knights

The **Royal Knights** 「王撰騎士団 *Roiyaru Naitsu*」 is an elite squad of Magic Knights specially chosen by Axel Clover V. They are sworn to dedicate their lives to the protection of the King, the Royal Family, and the Royal Palace.

## Notable Events

* **Magic Knights Entrance Exam** 「魔法騎士団入団試験 *Mahō Kishi-dan Nyūdan Shiken*」: As noted above, the entrance exam is an event that the Order of the Magic Knights organized to select potential recruits for the organization. This event is opened to every mages across the Clover Kingdom regardless of their social statuses. During this event, all captains of the nine squads would be in attendance to observe the participants as they would personally select the new recruits whom they wish to induct to their ranks.
* **War Merits Conferment Ceremony** 「戦功叙勲式 *Senkō Jokun-shiki*」: As mentioned above, the ceremony is an annual event where Knights with high achievements are promoted to a higher rank and decorated with a medal. In order to participate in this ceremony, every Knights must collect a specific number of stars of excellence before the ceremonial date.
* **Star Awards Festival** 「星果祭 *Seika-sai*」: As noted above, the festival is an annual event where Knights celebrate along with the citizens over the accomplishments they made during the one year period from March to April of the following year. At the end, an announcement ceremony is held to determine the squad with the highest accumulated stars, which will be awarded as the best squad of the year.

## Base of Operations

   The headquarters of the Magic Knights lies within the Clover Kingdom's Royal Capital where it is lead by the Wizard King.

## Trivia

* If a captain feels that they are no longer right for the position, then they have the right to step down and choose their successor.
* The Black Bulls and Golden Dawn are the youngest squads as they were created at the same time, just a few years before the start of the series, this could mean that before, there were only seven squads or less in the Magic Knights.
* The Crimson Lion and Silver Eagle are always led by members of House Silva and House Vermillion. Therefore the Captains are required to produce royal heirs to take up their mantle should they ever pass away or retire.
	+ Due to this, it is common for the royal family and Magic Knights higher ups to host arrange marriages in order to continue the family line.
	+ At the same time however, the postion for a Captain are still earned through their and not inheritance, therefore the royal heirs of House Silva and House Vermillion must also become strong in order to inherit the Captain position.