"Your ambition is too big to find the general's son," Alen Smith said. James grinned, "You would have done what I would have done if born without a father." Alen suddenly fell silent, while Riley gripped his glass of water. "Hey, it's appeared," Diego said, intending to cool the atmosphere. All the eyes of the prospective soldiers were immediately glued to the very large screen. "I don't care about my ranking, the important thing is to get the minimum score." "Is there really a minimum standard for assessment?" someone else said. "You idiot! Didn't you read all the rules before registering?" They started having fun throwing around words until finally they started to fall silent when their names started appearing. Riley saw that James was looking seriously at the screen, while he only glanced at their names. "Wow! You rank first in swordsmanship, Riley," Diego said. Alen clapped his hands, happy, "Amazing! Why didn't you tell us that your sword skills are good." Riley smiled
"I would love to say 'yes', but you know that 'Wood' is not a rare surname, it is too common a surname, Reece," Keannu said. Andrew's face, which originally looked bright, suddenly turned a bit gloomy again. Keannu immediately felt guilty. "I don't mean to destroy your hopes, Reece. I just don't want you to be too disappointed," Keannu said slowly. Andrew nodded, "You are right, Your Majesty. It would be too quick to guess that the child is General Mackenzie's son just by looking at some training results." "Yes. Just pay attention to him the same way you pay attention to that young Gardner. Oh, but ... I have a bad feeling about that kid," Keannu said. The king looked worried so Andrew said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty. I will monitor the child more closely. I won't let him mess up." "That's better," Keannu replied. After that, Andrew ordered several of his subordinates to always be on guard around James Gardner and Riley. Riley didn't realize it at all, but James was starting to
Without blinking his eyes, Riley replied, "Why should I play guessing games with you? Don't you claim to be the best?" "So, you can find General Mackenzie's son easily, right?" Riley added. James frowned irritably, "It wouldn't be fun if I looked for it myself." "Oh, you mean in other words you want to say that you need my help to find him?" Riley asked, raising his thick right eyebrow. Alen chuckled softly, while Diego openly said, "My roommate, you are determined to find and defeat him. So do it yourself." "Why invite Riley?" Alen said. James, who was initially annoyed, then smiled, "Even though I intended to give a lot of money for this game." Alen and Diego glanced at each other, looking shocked. But, Riley quickly said, "Who cares about money here?" James took a deep breath, "Wood, not everyone comes to this kingdom to purely serve, but most of them expect a high salary." Riley was silent, James continued, "You also know how much salary the king offers. You also know that
Mary Kesley who was standing in front of the building greeted them with a friendly smile, "Welcome to the ice building, gentlemen." Riley nodded and smiled back, as did Jason Hoult. But James Gardner said, "Why are we asked to come to this building? Why not in the silver, gold or titanium building?" Mary replied, "I don't know. I was just carrying out General Reece's orders." James didn't like that answer so he said again, "You do everything you're told without knowing why, Miss?" Mary intended to answer James' annoying question, but Riley said first, "This lady's job is only to convey orders from the general, not to investigate General Reece's reasons. After all, General Reece doesn't need to explain the actions he takes, except for King Keannu who asks for it." Jason, who didn't like James, immediately nodded in agreement, "Never mind, you've wasted General Reece's valuable time, Gardner." James snorted in annoyance, while Riley said, "We're ready to go inside, Miss Kesley." M
After Andrew Reece and Jason Hoult entered the special room that Andrew had mentioned earlier, James Gardner took a deep breath. Riley said impatiently, "You don't think that Jason Hoult is General Mackenzie's son, do you?" James, who was stretching his muscles, replied, "Why not? You can see for yourself, right?" "See what? What do you mean?" Riley didn't understand. James sighed, "Wood, you ranked first, but it turns out your thinking is really slow. How did you get that position?" Oh, it wasn't that James didn't recognize Riley's greatness, but he was just annoyed because his roommate didn't immediately understand the situation that was happening. "I don't want to play guessing games with you, James," Riley replied and the young man looked away in annoyance. James spoke again, "Hey, Wood. If you weren't my roommate, I would have ignored you." "I'd rather be ignored by you, thank you very much," Riley replied. James smiled instead, "Oh, I'm very happy to have a suitable inte
After the door was closed again by Andrew Reece, Jason Hoult immediately asked, "What did he say? Why do you look so upset?" Riley Mackenzie smiled half-forcedly, "It's nothing important." Jason didn't fully believe it so he asked again, "He didn't insult you or say annoying things to upset you, right?" "No, he did not. Hm, even if he says annoying things, I'm used to it," Riley said. Jason stared in surprise, "How do you get used to it?" "We share a dormitory and happen to share a room. So ... hm, you know what I mean, right?" Riley said. Jason looked surprised, "Oh, your luck is really bad. Sharing a dorm with that annoying person? He must be testing your patience." Jason shook his head and added, "If I were you, I'm not sure I could survive being in the same room with him for one night." Riley just chuckled. "Hm, okay, I have to go back to the dormitory. General Reece asked me to go back to the dormitory straight away," Jason said. Riley nodded and let Jason go. He was now
Andrew held his breath a little, waiting for Riley's answer, who he estimated was William Mackenzie's son after he saw the young man succeed in taking first place with a perfect score. However, he then saw Riley raise his face and smile at him, "Of course, General Reece. How could I not know about the strongest war general that has ever existed in the Ans De Lou Kingdom?" "I really idolize him, General. I even read all the books that discuss him." Riley took a moment to pause and continued, "And the reason I enlisted as a soldier here was also because of him. I also trained hard because I wanted to be one of the people who wore the same armor as General Mackenzie." Andrew was stunned and not long after he smiled at Riley. "You really seem to really idolize General Mackenzie," Andrew said. Riley nodded vigorously, "He is the number one person to follow in his footsteps, General." Of course it was. William Mackenzie was his father. He not only wanted to follow in his father's foot
"What? How is that possible?" Riley said in disbelief. Mary Kesley once again looked around her and after making sure that no one had actually seen them, the young girl immediately took Riley's hand and led him to an unguarded place. Riley, who was still very confused, couldn't help but immediately asked Mary, "So, how did you do it?" Mary sighed, "We can't be here for long, so I'll just get to the point." Riley also listened carefully. "My mother and your father used to be good friends. My mother was Amanda Clark, who used to be a palace secretary," Mary said. Mary then asked, "Have you ever heard my mother's name? Did your father ever mention my mother's name?" Riley nodded quickly, "When my father returned to the palace, the only people who knew him were Andrew Reece and Amanda Clark. She was also the one who gave my father the name 'Bill Stewart'." Mary smiled, "It's great that you have such a good memory, Young Master Mackenzie." Riley cleared his throat being called that
Dear, Readers This is Zila Aicha who wants to thank all the loyal readers of this novel. I know, season 2 of this book may disappoint some fans of this book. However, believe me I have tried to make this book with all my heart.May I ask your opinion about this book? I will be happy to read your comments. Suggestions and criticisms will also be happily accepted.Next, I will make season 3 of this book, but season 3 will be a book with the main character “James Gardner”. Hope you all will like it.Best wishes, Zila Aicha
People were eager to approach Riley, to help him. However, when they saw James Gardner moving toward Riley, they stayed where they were.James quickly caught Riley's staggering body as if he couldn't bear the weight of his own body.James sighed softly, “What are you doing?”“Preventing you from leaving,” Riley replied weakly.James exhaled roughly and picked up Riley who was still so weak.“You don't have to waste your time and energy,” James said.“Why? You don't have to go, James. You-”“It's my decision,” James cut in quickly.Riley shook his head, staring at the young man who was only one year older than him. “You're not guilty. I'm an asshole for wanting to keep you as my best friend.”“It's nice of you to admit that,” James replied with a faint smile.“If anyone should leave here, it's me, not you,” Riley said.James frowned, “Don't be crazy! You're the general of war in this kingdom. You can't-”“I lied to everyone from the start, not just to you,” Riley cut James off.Riley's
Rowena nodded weakly, while the four soldiers who were also inside the infirmary immediately looked at each other. Riley himself took some time to process the information.However, Reiner immediately asked, "Your Highness, then ... where is the deputy general of war right now?"Rowena turned her head quickly, "I don't know. I ... only heard the news from the palace maid, just now. Perhaps ... he has already returned to the dormitory or-"Thank you, Your Royal Highness," Reiner cut off Rowena's speech quickly due to being too panicked.After that Reiner immediately paid his respects to the king's daughter and quickly left the area together with Diego.Ben also said, "Riley, I'll be there first. Later I ... will be here again."Alen nodded, "Don't worry! We'll let you know when we know what's going on."Riley could only stare at his friends' departure with a look full of confusion.Rowena was the only one left in the room and was accompanied by several staff, soldiers and servants.Row
At first Riley was eager to force James to answer him, but he stopped doing so when he finally understood that James might need some time alone.He sighed softly, “I'll talk to him later.”Meanwhile, outside Riley's room, all the people who were good friends of the two young people who were having complicated problems were staring at James with questioning eyes.While Alen and Ben were silent because they didn't dare to ask, Diego casually asked, “Did you ... talk to Riley?”James nodded.“Then ... how?” Reiner asked in an anxious tone.James did not answer Reiner's question and only said, “I'm going back to the dorm first.”Shin, who heard that, bit his lip and replied, “I'll accompany you.”James did not refuse and let Shin come with him, while Diego and Reiner remained there.After James and Shin were no longer there, Alen decided to go inside with Ben.Not long after, Diego and Reiner also entered Riley's hospital room area.“He already knew about it,” Ben said when he first looke
James laughed disappointedly when he saw Riley's silence.Riley suddenly stared at him wordlessly.“Why, did you ... did you never even have the intention of telling me about it?” James said in a sharp tone.Riley opened his mouth but not a single word came out of it.James was getting annoyed at him, “Uh, I see. I see now.”James nodded and stepped back, making Riley surprised.“James, it's not like what you're thinking,” Riley finally managed to reply to James.James shook his head.“Do you really know what I'm thinking, Riley?” James said in a sarcastic tone.The young man could no longer hide his immense disappointment, “You don't know, Riley. But ... I can tell what you're thinking.”“James, I ... know I've wronged you. But, please understand, my position is very difficult. I don't want you to ... hate me, James. I don't have-”“It must have been a lot of fun for you, huh?” James cut off Riley's words quickly.Riley who was originally leaning back immediately leaned her body, fac
Shin and Reiner glanced at each other, as if they were both confused about whether or not to leave the area as James had requested.However, the reason they hesitated was certainly not because they were both worried that James would hurt Riley. Instead, both of them were more worried about James.Unfortunately, James, who did not get an answer from his two friends, turned his head with a furrowed brow, “Why? Don't you two trust me?”“You guys ... think I would do anything ... to hurt Riley? Is it like that?” James added with a sad look on his face.Shin quickly turned to James, “Of course not. I am sure you wouldn't do anything that bad.”“Don't get me wrong, James! We're ... just very worried about you,” Reiner said quietly.James was startled and when he looked at his two friends in turn, he instantly knew that they were not lying at all.The young man closed his eyes and instantly realized his mistake, “I'm sorry, senior. I ... I ....”“No problem, we'll leave you so you can be alo
Ben suddenly bowed his head.James immediately closed his eyes, completely unable to believe the painful reality that had slapped him.Meanwhile, Shin looked at his friend with a look of disappointment.He touched Ben's shoulder and asked, “You knew about this big secret and you ... did nothing? What have you done?”Ben was silent.Shin took a deep breath and watched the expressions of all the soldiers who were his best friends. The man sighed softly, “Aren't we ... all friends? How could you ... and you hide this important thing?”Ben raised his head, “Then, what do you expect me to do?”“What did you say?” Shin retorted fiercely.“You think it's easy? Hiding a secret of this magnitude? You think ... what happens if I tell you and the others? Especially James. He ... would definitely fight with Riley. They'll-”“Damn it!” James cursed because he couldn't stand it anymore.The young man said, “Don't act like you know about me and can guess what I might do or happen. You think you can
Meanwhile, William also began to be confused to calm his wife who was crying more and more.However, Cassandra's crying finally stopped when she saw the operating room door open.Everyone also immediately stared at the door, waiting anxiously.As several people from the medical team came out, William and Cassandra walked over.“Doctor, how is my son?” William asked.The elderly doctor looked up at the middle-aged man who was staring at him anxiously.“General Mackenzie,” the doctor greeted after he noticed William's face.William nodded, “Yes, Doctor Sigmund. It's me.”Sigmund was surprised, “Riley Wood, I mean General Wood is ... your son, General?”“Yes, Doctor,” William replied.James just stared blankly ahead, as if he was ready to hear that statement. Meanwhile, Reiner and the other soldiers could only squeal in shock as an important fact had j
It didn't take long for James Gardner to understand everything. In fact, afterward he saw Alen Smith greeting the woman and middle-aged man who were obviously a married couple. “Alen, Alen. You're … a medical staff, aren't you?” Cassandra asked the young man she had already met.“Riley will be fine. Isn't he?” Cassandra said frantically.Alen nodded, “You don't need to worry, Mrs. Mackenzie. We will do our best to save Riley.”James was still silent where he stood. Alen's words had explained everything. Alen, one of his best friends, also knew everything that happened. James closed his eyes for a few seconds and chose to hold himself still.The young man took hold of the edge of Riley's bed and helped him to push again. He then said softly, “Alen, hurry up a bit!”Alen was immediately surprised and looked guiltily at James as if he already knew what James was feeling. However, he did not have time to say anything and quickly went about his duties while asking people not to come