Someone behind the young man immediately interjected, "Hey, we don't know the situation and condition of our royal troops yet. Don't speak carelessly!"Riley turned his head toward the source of the voice. The person speaking was Damian Irving, one of the sons of the senior soldier who had also been his father's subordinate.However, Riley did not know if Sean Irving, Damian's father was still a soldier in the palace. But, if that person was still in the palace, his position must have risen to a higher position.As Riley recalled, senior soldiers who had good skills and a lot of war experience were usually placed at level one. And as long as Riley set foot in the palace, he still could not find out about the level of the soldiers due to his busy schedule as a prospective soldier. "I'm not careless. You're not blind, right? You can see with your own eyes how damaged this area is!" the man said curtly, seemingly disagreeing with Damian Irving's words.Damian sighed irritably, "The si
Riley was well aware of the difficulties he might face. However, he still said, “No matter how difficult it is, I will still try to meet him.”James sighed irritably, “Well if you're still that determined, good luck.”Riley snorted, he thought James would help him. But, apparently he was just expecting too much from a James who was still selfish sometimes.As they continued walking, a senior soldier of the second level leading them suddenly raised his right hand and asked them to stop.One of the prospective soldiers asked, “Are we there yet?”The soldier with one of the pistols in his hand replied, “Where do you mean?”“At ... the battlefield,” the prospective soldier replied sounding so nervous.The leader snorted, “This is already a war zone. Can't you see your surroundings?”The would-be soldier who asked the question swallowed hard, a bit scared.Meanwhile, the squad leader put his weapon back in its original place and said, “There is a small battle not far from here. The command
“How? Are you going to leave or stay here?” Colin asked.He and Kenneth seemed to deliberately want to upset James. Riley could feel it and was getting uncomfortable with the way the two men were acting.James replied, “The warrior leader asked us to wait.”He tried to control himself because he didn't want to be seen as a troublemaking soldier.“Oh, why don't you tell me that you're actually scared. You're ... just as cowardly as me,” Kenneth said.He looked down at James and then shook his head as if he was underestimating him. Colin also added, “You scream as if everyone else is a coward, when you yourself are the same. Where's that courage you bragged about, James Gardner?”“Gone? Afraid of war, huh? Wow! Is this what the son of a ... war general looks like? How sad!” Kenneth said as he smiled mockingly again.He then laughed again, but James was still silent, as if holding back desperately.“Never mind, James. Admit that you're a coward too. This is a real battlefield, not a pal
Colin gulped, not daring to reply to Riley's words. Moreover, Riley's voice sounded terrifying to his ears. However, that was not the case with Kenneth. The man instead lifted his chin with a defiant look and replied, “It's his own fault. We never told him to leave. He wanted to go himself.”Colin was shocked to find out that his best friend actually dared to fight Riley.“DAMN IT! If you two hadn't provoked him, he wouldn't have gone there,” Riley cursed with an annoyance he could no longer contain.Kenneth realized the young man was so angry with him, but he still didn't want to admit it and said again, “He's the fool. Why should he be provoked by our words? He can't control his own emotions, why blame us?”Riley clenched his fist, about to raise his hand and hit Kenneth with full force. However, just before his strong hand touched Kenneth's jaw, someone shouted, “Enough!”Riley very reluctantly lowered his hand. Kenneth, who had closed his eyes in fear, now slowly opened his eyes.
“That's much better, the commanders could wipe us out if they find out we've lost a candidate,” another said.“Hey, we didn't lose him, Ben. We just haven't found him yet,” a senior soldier named Ryan said.Ben sighed lazily, “It's the same thing. Never mind, let's get back to it.”Having agreed, the soldiers who were looking for James returned to the place where they had asked the prospective soldiers and the other fellow soldiers were still waiting.The most conspicuous young man, Riley Wood, who was known to be in a relationship with the king's daughter walked over, “Excuse me, doesn't James want to go back?”Ben shook his head, “It's not that he doesn't want to come back, it's that we haven't found him yet.”Riley gasped, “You mean you can't find him?”“Yes. This is a wild forest, we don't control this area.” Ben explained.Colin, who had reconciled with Riley, immediately squeezed his hand, really getting scared.“Then, are you guys just going to leave it alone?” Riley asked fran
“Ryan, where is he?” Ben asked, starting to get a little anxious.Ryan, who had been one of the senior bodyguards on duty at the back, immediately looked around for Riley.His face immediately paled when he did not find the young man's whereabouts, “Damn. He's not there, Ben.”“What's he doing?”“Why can't any of these new recruits be right? One disappears before our eyes and the other leaves quietly!”“They like to get us in trouble, don't they?” another senior soldier muttered as well. Their faces were flushed with anger.Ben couldn't let his emotions out at the moment. He realized that there was no point in venting his frustration. He could even get into more trouble if he did that.The furious Ben finally said, “Come on, let's go find them!”Ryan and some of the senior guards complained. However, there was no way they could refuse. Ben, who knew his friends looked burdened, said, “We need to find the boy and ... the traitor's ason. If we don't, we'll be in trouble. Guys, you know
Alen immediately ran towards the line where the medical staff soldiers were. He joined the line along with his other friends.In addition, all the soldiers there, both senior soldiers and prospective soldiers were seen lining up in different places.This was to make it easier for soldiers with high positions such as commanders to check on their soldiers.Greg Sehel turned around and swept his gaze towards the candidates lined up on the right. He frowned, “Why don't I see the two recruits from this group?”One of the senior soldiers assigned to the task swallowed before replying, “Commander, two of the recruits from this group are missing.”Greg Sehel's eyes bulged as if they were about to jump out of place, “What? Disappeared? How did that happen?”The commander's breathing began to quicken as if he was holding back anger, “Tell me! How did you lose those two?”“Riley Wood and James Gardner. They're missing, aren't they?” Greg said, looking at the senior soldier impatiently.The sold
One friend replied with a whimper of pain, “He didn't kill us, but he ... paralyzed us.”“Did he intend for us to be tortured and die slowly?” another friend continued.The group leader limped to his feet despite the pain in his legs. He replied, “If he was torturing us, he would have at least shot where it hurts. Look at all of your wounds!”“He's ... just trying to make us unable to hold weapons or ... walk. That means he really doesn't want to kill us,” the leader continued.Someone cursed, “Damn it! Why would he do that? Does he think we're not his opponents?”The leader shook his head with difficulty, his strength drained from the pain, “I don't know what his intentions were. But ... he certainly didn't kill us. What his motives were, I don't care.”“It's better to find a way to contact the commander! Hurry! We're still alive, but ... if we keep losing too much blood, we'll die,” the chairman continued.In another area, about a few miles away, James Gardner had just received a ki
Lory Blackwell paused, trying to compose himself.According to what he knew, the forest located in the border area close to the Mecco Kingdom was an uninhabited forest. The dense forest was a wild forest inhabited only by animals. Although soldiers from the two kingdoms, Ans De Lou Kingdom and Mecco Kingdom, did check regularly, it was still very rare.So, it was no surprise that Lory thought he had misheard. "Probably just a hallucination." The young man said quietly and nodded, reassuring himself.However, after a few seconds he heard the same voice again, "Hey, I'm over here."Lory's eyes widened. He became very alert.On such a dark night, of course he couldn't see very clearly so he could only squint and hold his gun tightly. But, from the voice of the person, Lory guessed that the voice was coming from his right so he turned his head to his right. As he climbed up the large tree that he used as cover, he did notice that there were several other large trees in the vicinity.
Ben quickly racked his brain, thinking of the right way to put James at ease. But before he could come up with a good line, he heard James say again, "Or ... is he angry that I took his current position? But, ...."James shook his head weakly, "There's no way he's angry because of that right? Moreover ... he knows very well that I never wanted her position. He must be-""Stop thinking like that, James! Are you stupid?" Ben said in an annoyed tone.James was about to respond, but Ben raised his right hand as if asking James to be quiet for a few moments.James seemed to understand the meaning of Ben's gesture and he let out a long sigh.Ben swallowed before explaining, "James, you know Riley doesn't care about the title 'War General' either. Basically, both of you are not crazy about positions."James faltered. Ben was right. How could Riley be disappointed and angry with me over this damn title? That doesn't sound like 'Riley Mackenzie', James thought.The young man exhaled harshly.
Without looking away, Ben thought hard. James didn't just stand by, waiting for Ben's answer. He himself repeatedly touched the handkerchief to scrutinize it. Not only that, the war general of Ans De Lou Kingdom was also sniffing the gray handkerchief as if he was looking for something.Seeing what James was doing, Ben impatiently commented, "You're not a dog. How can you track someone's whereabouts from sniffing that thing?"James instantly gave Ben an exasperated look, "That's not it. I'm just trying to smell this handkerchief. Who knows ... it might turn out to be a clue.""Then ... did you get a clue after sniffing the cloth?" Ben asked with a casual look.With a look of disappointment, James replied, "No. I didn't. I just smelled the earth."Had they not been in a serious situation, Ben's laughter would have exploded. However, they were working on an important mission so Ben knew he had to restrain himself. He certainly didn't want to be seen as trivializing his friend's rescu
Foei Maccray turned around and looked sarcastically at the junior.When he saw Lory Blackwell's compliance, Foei Maccray smiled wryly as if satisfied that he had succeeded in making one of his juniors submit to his orders.Of course, that made him feel big-headed. Hence, Foei haughtily said again, "Keep standing here until we are out of your sight. After that ... then you can walk."Lory Blackwell did not reply. But Foei took his silence as obedience so he said, "Good! You should obey your seniors' orders."Lory just swallowed without daring to say a word. However, Foei did not need an answer so he just continued walking along with his good friend, Derrick Weybe who looked bored in Lory's neighborhood. The other soldiers followed the two senior soldiers with mixed feelings. Apparently there were some of them who were starting to feel sympathetic towards Lory. But due to their status and class being much lower than the two senior soldiers who were bullying Lory, they chose to be cowa
Derrick snorted in annoyance, while Foei immediately responded, "Oh, you seem to be very timid!" Foei cast his gaze at Derrick and then flashed a smile with a mocking expression. Derrick shook his head, also smiling mockingly."If you're scared, why would you want to participate in this important mission?" Foei said.Lory quickly shook her head, "I'm not afraid ... I’m just-""Huh? Not afraid? Then, why did you just say that?" Derrick cut Lory off, as if he deliberately didn't want to hear Lory speak."You're obviously a coward! Oh my! You should have stayed in the palace and not joined the search for General Mackenzie," Foei explained with a lopsided smile. "Coward!" Derrick taunted again. "A pathetic soldier like you who dares to tell us we're slow? Who do you think you are, my superior?" Foei said with a cold tone and a dismissive expression.Oh, he was really very satisfied seeing Lory's helpless expression.The two men deliberately wanted to humiliate Lory. Their intentions w
Seeing James' confident smile, Ben instantly realized that his best friend was unpredictable. But, when he recalled the relationship between James and Riley in the past, he felt that everything James said was true. Riley had always been completely open to James. The young man only hid one thing, which was the fact that he was William Mackenzie's son. Other than that, Riley had no other secrets from James. Meanwhile, Riley was also the only person who could understand James very well. Only Riley is able to understand every action taken by James and James only wants to talk about things with Riley.So, seeing all these facts, Ben finally nodded, "Okay, then. What should I do?"James snorted and immediately put on a sullen face, "Come on, Ben! I told you earlier."Ben rolled his eyes, "I still don't understand. Please explain in more detail!"With an annoyed expression James replied, "If I had the authority to downgrade soldiers, I would definitely downgrade you to class two."Ben's n
Although they seemed confused by the war general's order, they still unanimously replied, "Yes, General."It wasn't long before all the soldiers formed a line where they would prepare to search for Riley Mackenzie as ordered by James Gardner.Most of the first class soldiers did not hesitate to do the task, but there were some of the class two soldiers who seemed to be unsure of what they were going to do.Two of them were Foei Mccray and Derrick Weybe."I don't understand why General Gardner is searching the forest. How could General Mackenzie be here? This doesn't make sense," Derrick said, who had just lined up facing the front of the forest.The twenty-six year old young man was in the front row with his best friend so they could still talk in a fairly low tone of voice.Foei nodded in agreement, seemingly thinking the same as Derrick, "He's probably too frustrated to pick a spot."Derrick exhaled harshly then glanced towards the front where several class one soldiers seemed to be
Gary Davis shook his head with a super confused expression. He couldn't guess what might have happened. He himself did not know James Gardner very well. He entered the palace when James Gardner had just resigned from the post of deputy general of war. So basically he had only met James a few times. It was different with Riley Mackenzie. He had met Riley countless times. In fact, it could be said that he already knew how Riley behaved. However, he could not think of anything about James Gardner. He was just like a blind man when it came to James. "Even young General Mackenzie is not suspicious of you. He's been in the palace longer than that general. I don't understand," Elena said, who also hadn't found the answer to the question that was bothering her.She also still didn't understand. However, a thought occurred to Gary. "Maybe I was in too much of a hurry, Gran," Gary said suddenly.Elena frowned, "What do you mean, Gary? What kind of hurry?"Gary sighed softly, "Approaching
Elena Goldwin bit her lip, feeling she had done something wrong. The old woman said, "I'm sorry, Prince ... oh, I mean ... Gary."Seeing Elena's soulful face, Gary became uncomfortable. He looked at the old woman who had taken care of him since he was a child. That woman had done so much for her family. Not only did she devote herself as a household assistant, she also became a substitute mother figure for his brother. Indeed, her age was more appropriate to be called a "grandmother", but her role was more suitable as a mother to herself and Rowen.Oh my! What have I done? She sacrificed so much, but what have I done? The old woman who has helped me with all her time and energy, I almost made her cry, Gary thought in exasperation.The young man touched Elena's hand, startling the woman. She then heard Gary say, "You don't have to apologize, Gran. And I ... I'm the one who should be apologizing to you. Please, forgive me for getting angry just because you called me that."Elena ga