Chapter 2 Silas

"Carl!" Arthur, who was the same age as Carl, saw him approaching the exit and had no choice but to shout.

There was no stipulation in Rum Town that the town residents were not allowed to enter the trash mountain, so Carl and the others were frequent visitors to the site.

Then suddenly, this group of military soldiers appeared for no known reasons. If Carl's group were to be seen by them inexplicably, it would only cause unnecessary trouble!

Carl frowned. He could think of things that Arthur would take note of. After spending so many years in the trash mountain, he knew the area like the back of his hand and knew where the various escape routes were. What made him reluctant to leave was that he wanted to find out the reason for the abnormal behavior of this group of soldiers.

"Forget it! I can come back tomorrow!" Gradually, they could hear the noises from the group of military soldiers. Carl pointed to the side in time and motioned for everyone to follow him.

There was a thick wall of garbage and the military soldiers were talking to each other, outside. Carl ran quickly along the wall with his companions.

From time to time, a few words drifted to Carl's ears from the gaps between the mountains of garbage.

"Really? It's the first time I've heard of such a creature and I've been in Rum Town for so long!"

"Tell me about it. It's different from the local garrison. I heard that the people who came this time are all big shots in the regular army!"

"That's horrible! That's horrible!"

Carl did not say a word and quickly ran through the mountains of garbage with everyone else. After a while, everyone slowly showed up in a low-lying area.

Putting his index finger to his lips, Carl pointed to a place not far away, where a large number of soldiers were talking loudly.

Everyone tried their best to hunker down, leaning against the cover of the terrain and followed Carl's lead in moving quietly. After a long while, they left the area of the trash mountain.

"Hurry up, it's completely dark now!" Looking at the street lights that had been turned on, Carl started to run.

After a long day of hard work, the other children were already starving. At this time, as soon as they saw Carl running, they immediately ran along.

"Carl! The gate seems to be locked!" Joel looked at the gate of the orphanage from a distance and shouted with some concern.

According to the rules of the orphanage, after sunset every day, the gate would be locked to protect the children.

Carl shook his head and did not say anything. Arthur, who had been by his side this entire time, laughed and shouted at Joel behind him, "Don't worry, Silas will leave the door open for us!"

Silas, a white-haired elder who was over sixty years old, was the guardian of the orphanage in Rum Town. He did not have any children of his own, so he was like a grandfather to this group of children, taking care of them in every possible way.

Sure enough, when Carl and the others ran to the gate of the orphanage, the gate looked tightly locked, but the padlock was left dangling and unlocked.

Carl opened the big lock easily and then let the others into the courtyard, one by one.

"You brats, you're back so late again!" Suddenly, a voice that had a slight trace of blame, came from the side.

Hearing this, Carl laughed, handed the padlock to the last child who walked in and said, "Chris, lock the door."

Then Carl turned his head and saw Silas, who was a slender, pale-haired elder, leaning against the door of the small room with a smile on his face.

"Silas, I am sorry for troubling you. Thank you so much!" Carl said with a warm laugh.

Silas nodded in a friendly manner, watching Chris lock the gate. Then, he pointed at the main hall of the orphanage and said, "All of you, hurry and go in. The food is in the dining room. However, dean seems to be looking for you, Arthur and Sofia. Remember to see him after you are done eating."

"Okay!" Carl could not wait to say goodbye to Silas and ran to the dining room with the others. The dinner, which was simple but filling, was quickly devoured.

After the meal, along with Arthur and Sofia, Carl went to the door of the dean's office, feeling a little uneasy.

"Carl, why did the dean suddenly ask us to come over... Will we be punished?" Arthur asked, feeling a little worried.

"That's possible... We are the oldest among this group of children..." Sofia said indifferently, rolling her eyes.

Since they were little, they had been the leaders of the children in the orphanage. They were often scolded by the dean if they made mistakes, so this was nothing unusual.

Carl snorted unhappily and finally knocked on the wooden door before him.

With the permission of the dean, the three of them slowly walked into the room. The simple office had not changed for so many years. The only change was the dean, who was getting older and older.

Carl, Arthur and Sofia thought that after entering the room, the dean would scold them immediately. Unexpectedly, this time, the dean looked at them with profound eyes and did not say a word.

After a long time, seeing that the three of them were feeling uncomfortable, the dean said, "Carl, Arthur and Sofia, you three have been here for almost 18 years, haven't you?"

The three of them nodded silently. Although they did not know the exact date of each other's birthday, judging from their ages, they were indeed about to reach adulthood.

The dean sighed and said, "According to the law of the Gamma Empire, when a young man is 18 years old, he has to go to the nearest administrative district to do the qualification test of the War Spirit.

"If you qualify, you can become a noble warrior of the empire. If your aptitude is not good enough, you will serve in the ordinary army for three years."

When they heard that, the three of them felt shocked. Although they almost reached adulthood, the common knowledge that almost every civilian knew was new to them because of the lack of a good education in the orphanage.

"Dean, what is a War Spirit warrior?" Carl was the first to come to his senses and asked the questions that the three of them were most concerned about at the moment.

The dean took a deep look at Carl and explained, "You've all heard the fairy tale of The King and His Sword, haven't you?"

The King and His Sword referred to the founding emperor of the Gamma Empire, King Caesar. When human beings encountered any catastrophe, he wielded the long sword in his hand to kill all the invaders, to guard the last pure land of human beings on the planet of Lorran, which was now the Gamma Empire in the world.

This fairy tale did not tell about the catastrophe that the human beings encountered and who the invaders were. But the residents of the Gamma Empire all knew that the land that they lived in now was all dependent on King Caesar and the long sword in his hand.