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.