The Kingdom Fermoza soldier held a hot iron right in front of James Gardner's eyes in the hope that the young man, who he estimated to be in his early twenties, would give up out of fear.Unfortunately, what he wanted did not happen. He saw the young warrior from the Ans De Lou Kingdom staring at him without a trace of fear and instead said, “You go ahead and do that. I'll keep my mouth shut tight.”The soldier widened his eyes in surprise at the young man's boldness. He replied, “Oh, so you don't mind if I put a hole in your heart? No problem if you die slowly?”Still not looking afraid, James replied, “There is no one I fear in this world, except ... my mother.”The enemy soldier laughed mockingly, “Uh, I see. Then, what if your mother sees your horribly dead corpse?”He looked at James with a lopsided smile, but James stood his ground and said casually, “She will be proud of me because I died as a true soldier, not as a traitor.”Instantly the soldier lost his fun. “You young fool,
James Gardner laughed crisply, pleased to see the panic among the now defenseless enemy troops.The remaining soldier immediately took offense, “Are you laughing at us?”James in between laughs replied, “Of course I am. Who else can make me laugh?”James glanced at the name on the right side of the man's combat uniform. Edwin Grace. “Damn you. You're laughing when your life is in my hands, do you think he's going to save you? Don't ever dream it!” Edwin said.James grinned, “You idiot, do you realize that or not? That guy already managed to get your friends down. If I were you, I would have saved myself.”“I'm not a coward,” Edwin retorted as he wandered around, scanning every corner of the forest. He didn't want his attacker to catch him off guard and end up attacking him too.James wanted to open his mouth again to reply, but Edwin shouted again, “If you don't come out, your friend will die.”James bit his teeth and snapped, “Just kill me! Hurry up! You say you're not a coward, bu
James took no offense and instead chuckled, “I'm just tired.”"Tired? Are you stupid or something?” Riley retorted, getting annoyed.“I'm tired of the insults,” James said in a soft tone.Riley did not reply it.James winced as his broken leg hit a rock as they walked over the rocks.Riley suddenly turned his head and glanced at James' leg which was not bleeding but seemed to be dangling. Without even examining the leg, Riley had already guessed that James' right leg was broken.James was not a weak person who would complain if he was sick. The man would act strong and not suffer anything. However, seeing James not hiding his pain from himself, Riley quickly assumed that the injury was indeed severe.“How bad is it?” Riley asked in the end.James grinned, “No need to worry about that. I can still walk although not normally."Riley sighed in exasperation, she shouldn't have
"Hey, don't be quiet! You made me bored,” James said with an annoyed snort.Riley kept his eyes locked with James who was still raising his eyebrows, waiting for an explanation.Was it because of guilt? But, why?Riley didn't know how to answer that either. He himself could not understand his actions. The young man with the injured leg had indeed grown up from a baby without his father present. Even though it was all related to his father, it was still not his father's fault.If that was the case, shouldn't he not have any guilt towards the young man?Then, why was he doing this? Come to think of it, this was the first time he had done something so dangerous in his life. The thing he did this time was not like breaking the palace rules that would only end in a punishment, but certainly not to the point of sacrificing his life.But, this time he was actually risking his life in the enemy kingdom's territory in order to save the young man who annoyed him so much.However, when he lo
“Ryan, stop it!” Ben screamed, the group leader who quickly ran towards Ryan who had grabbed Riley by the neck.He did not want his friend to do unnecessary thing towards his junior. "Don't do that!"Actually, it wasn't that Riley couldn't fight the senior soldier, but he seemed to know that it would be better if he kept quiet. After all, he had indeed broken the rules and had certainly angered the senior soldiers.Ryan still wouldn't release his grip on Riley so Ben was forced to take action by pulling Ben away from Riley."You're defending him, Ben? Seriously. Because of him, Commander Sehel is angry with us,” Ryan shouted with an angry snarl.Ben also knew that but he tried to be more patient."That's enough, Ryan! Control yourself!” Ben said sharply.Riley was still silent, not daring to say anything. James, meanwhile, remained where he was. He heard the small commotion and chose not to take any action so that things wouldn't get worse.Ryan hissed, “What the hell are you doing? H
Riley could only smile in resignation. However, at least he was not punished alone. There was James who would accompany him through the punishment that he didn't know what form it would take.At the same time, more precisely in front of the main gate of Ans De Lou Kingdom, William Mackenzie had just arrived accompanied by Vincent Crack, one of his bodyguards who had also accompanied him to the palace when he wanted to meet the son.Unlike in the past when he entered unofficially and became a sneak. This time the most powerful war general used the official process, entering through the main gate. In accordance with royal regulations, William immediately walked to the staff section that would record who would enter the palace.On the side of the gate, there was a room where visitors or guests of the palace were required to report. “Good afternoon, I would like to see King Keannu,” William said as he searched something into his coat, intending to take something.The staff, who was a yo
The male staffer was silent for a moment, but then he snapped his fingers as if he'd just realized something.“His son is here,” the male staffer said.The female staff clucked her tongue, “Oh, my God. I can't believe it. That's just a rumor. Everyone knows that it's just a rumor that James Gardner started."The male staffer shook his head in disagreement, but his friend chimed in again, “If it were true, it would have been exposed already. There are only about 300 prospective soldiers right now, there's no way the palace can't find someone who is considered General Mackenzie's son, right?""Then, can you find a reasonable reason, Julia? Why would a war general who decided to retire and withdraw from the palace and then even disappeared from the palace or can be said to have hidden his life, now appear in the palace?” the male staff named Bernard asked. Julia, the female staff sighed in annoyance, “How would I know? Perhaps General Mackenzie has some important business at the palace.
William Mackenzie turned to the king and nodded, “Yes, Your Majesty. I see he has a strong friendship with James Gardner.""Oh, not even that. My son even shares a dormitory, a room with him,” William added.Keannu was pensive for a few seconds and then raised his head, looking back at the general, “Your son ... he's ....”Before Keannu could finish his sentence, he saw three of his family members enter his garden area unannounced.The man immediately said, “You three. What are you doing here?"Monica along with her son and daughter just tried to smile awkwardly. William Mackenzie immediately greeted the queen of the country, “Good evening, Your Majesty.”He also greeted the princess with a warm smile, “Princess Rowena, we finally meet again.”Rowena smiled back awkwardly, but she responded by saying, “Welcome to the palace again, General Mackenzie.”William turned to a teenage boy who still looked very young and said, “Good evening, Crown Prince.”Xylan stammered, “Welcome, General.
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