William Mackenzie's expression clearly showed great disappointment. However, Keannu didn't run away from the problem and still answered honestly, "Because I think and people think your son might be able to replace you."William was dumbfounded.Seeing that expression, Keannu quickly added, "Don't think anything bad just yet!"The uncomfortable Keannu asked William to sit down before he continued, "I mean this, Bill. Andrew will be retiring soon. Actually ... his health is already failing and I ... haven't found a single suitable replacement.""Then ... there was a rumor that your son was in this warrior selection so ... we instantly had high hopes. If you can be that good, your son is of course likely to have the same extraordinary abilities as you," Keannu explained.William looked frustrated. In fact, he was seen drinking water before Keannu gave him permission to drink.Keannu sighed, knowing full well that all the ways they had tried to find the general's son could not be consider
The staff answered with a hesitant look. William immediately noticed something strange there so he chose to ask directly, "What's wrong? Did something bad happen to the prospective soldiers?"The staff suddenly felt proud that the strongest war general ever in the Ans De Lou Kingdom was speaking to him. Who didn't idolize that legendary figure who was currently sitting beside his king?He was one of the people who was an ardent fan of William Mackenzie.Not wanting to keep the general waiting, he quickly replied, "General, there is indeed something going on over there. However, it's a bit complicated.""Complicated? What exactly is going on?" Keannu asked in a worried tone."There was an argument that ensued that led James Gardner to leave the group. And then ... then ...."The staffer stopped talking again, he glanced fearfully at Keannu Wellington. After all, what he was about to say was bound to make the king anxious."Hurry up, why did you stop talking?" Keannu said impatiently.
"No," Keannu replied, which William did not expect at all.Keannu even repeated himself by emphasizing that one word, "NO."William blinked his eyes, wearing a clueless expression, "Your Majesty, but ... why?"Keannu sighed softly, "It was a big war, Bill. You ... have given so much to this palace and countless times you have risked your life. I don't want you to have to get involved again."Oh, how William was touched by the king's gentleness. But the general still said again, "But I cannot stand by and watch one soldier's life after another being taken, Your Majesty."Keannu was silent. A great dilemma hit his chest again.He knew that if William Mackenzie came back to the battlefield and took the lead, he would have nothing to worry about. Without the slightest doubt, he was sure that victory would definitely be achieved by their side. William had never lost a single war and that was why until that moment no one could break the record of the man who was now more than half a centur
"Yes, General Reece," Cliff replied who knew his general was in a good mood.Andrew Reece himself didn't know what made William Mackenzie want to talk to him.But whatever it was, it didn't mask his happiness that the long-absent general was finally showing himself. In fact, the great general entered the palace through official means. He couldn't wait to greet the person who had contributed so much to his career. In just a few seconds, Cliff's call was answered. Cliff immediately handed Andrew a tablet to use for communication. Andrew was so nervous but couldn't hide his excitement. When he looked at the screen, he actually saw the general's face that he had memorized. William looked aged but Andrew could still see the unchanging lines of his face."General Reece," William greeted with a faint smile.Andrew Reece instantly felt awkward. Being called "General" by someone who had taught him felt strange to his ears."General, I ... oh, please just call me by my name," Andrew said qu
William finally replied, "You ... said that my son is very extraordinary, didn't you?""Y-yes, General," Andrew stammered.William gave a small nod, "Then he will definitely be able to overcome whatever comes his way.""But, General ... this is a big battlefield and he's still an aspiring soldier. What if he encounters a formidable opponent?" Andrew replied which he actually found hard to say.William sighed softly. "Reece, he's my son. MY SON. I know what he's capable of. He must have a thousand ways to survive. He will not die easily ...."That word 'die' was spoken so softly, but Andrew knew that the strongest war general was worried. However, he knew what his position was. As a war advisor, he could not afford to put his own personal interests first. Which in this case was putting his son's safety first.He could of course ask for his son to be rescued first and he was sure that Andrew Reece would definitely carry out the rescue without hesitation.However, he didn't want to do t
Before the two soldiers could answer, Greg Sehel had already approached them and grabbed one of them by the shoulder while saying with an extremely worried look in his eyes, "Tell me, where are they? Why didn't they come back with you two?"Ryan, Ben's good friend and the leader of the group replied fearfully, "We found them, Commander. They're in the back."Ryan pointed towards the back. Meanwhile, Morphy, the senior second class soldier who was with him added timidly, "They're probably walking a bit slower, Commander."Relief instantly washed over Greg. He slowly released his grip on Ryan's shoulder. Greg quickly walked towards the back, waiting impatiently for the soldiers to arrive.Meanwhile Ryan exchanged puzzled glances with Morphy at the commander's reaction which they found very surprising.Could it be because the missing soldier was the king's future son-in-law? That's why Commander Sehel looked so panicked? Ryan thought.Morphy, who saw Greg standing quite far away from th
Riley gritted his teeth at the sight of his friend being injured again and quickly searched for cover.The young man was still putting up a fight while researching a place where they could hide for a while."Over there!" Riley pointed softly in the end.Shin and Ben understood. Shin carried James, while Ben and Riley made sure none of the soldiers knew where they were going.Once they were able to escape from the enemy soldiers and enter a cave near a tree, Shin laid James on the cave wall. He quickly checked the young man's wounds. Ben himself was still watching the outside area and let Riley take care of helping Shin."Is the wound bad enough?" Riley asked with a choked throat. He saw James just closing his eyes, but Riley guessed that James was currently enduring pain. Riley also knew James would definitely not show his expression of pain to him so he would definitely prefer to close his eyes.Shin nodded lethargically, "We have to go to the headquarters soon."Ben turned his hea
Ben thought seriously again and made a careful decision. Ben really didn't want to take the risk of losing track of the young man again. However, right now they really had no better options than Riley gave.He also admitted that Riley Wood's ability was amazing. In fact, he thought that in the future Riley might become a great warrior leader in the future.That had already been proven when he found Riley Wood alive without a single wound on his body. In fact, the young man had faced so many enemies and also made efforts to save James Gardner.In addition, on their journey, Riley had also shown his greatest ability to protect them and also found a hiding place for them.He finally thought that if he prevented Riley from leaving, he would be letting the young man not be able to develop his abilities. The leader glanced at James Gardner whose face had turned pale. Shin also gave his junior a worried look which Ben took as an emergency sign."Senior, please. We must move quickly," Riley
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