The commander looked at Lowen and pointed at him almost accusingly before he shouted."You...Aren"t you that Lowen brat from Bren"s reports. Hmm, you"re pretty short for a goblin slayer."
Lowen looked at this new commander questioningly but hearing the man speak of Bren"s report, it somewhat made sense. Still, Lowen asked in curiosity.
"Oh, you recognize me, how?"
The commander puffed out his chest slightly, giving it a loud slap.
"Of course I could recognize it was you. How many other children your age can move like that. In this kingdom, Id say there"s three. Out here in the sticks though, there is only one that fits your description. A young boy no more than 7 years old with long black hair and sharp purple eyes. With movement surpa.s.sing some battle mages and strength to match, as well as an incredibly tough body. If my guess is wrong then I"m no longer qualified to be a commander, hmph."
Lowen nodded his head. If Bren did indeed give this commander a full report then it"d be difficult not to recognize him, especially Lowen"s purple eyes. Lowen had been in this world for nearly nine months and although he had just come to Jizhen recently, he had yet to see anyone else with his same eye color. Pa.s.sing by a few hundred people while in town wasn"t a huge sample size but it did give him an understanding that his eye color was indeed rare.
"Since you know who I am and you know what I"m capable of then when I say that this ghoul is under my protection, naturally that means I will allow no harm to come to it."
The commander"s eyes seem to shine for a moment before a smile appeared upon his face.
"Naturally."
The commander and Lowen stared at each other in silence for a brief moment before the commander raised a hand and with a wave of it he ordered.
"Men, lower your weapons and fall back. This young man is a hero and my personal guest."
The men didn"t hesitate and quickly withdrew whilst releasing sighs of relief. They had never seen a child so young and yet so powerful at the same time. Many of them didn"t know what they would have done if the commander had not stepped in. To go against a child was a truly strange feeling but for said child to also possess enormous strength and speed. These soldiers were glad this kid didn"t act like a child and throw a tantrum. At that point, who here among them could stop him.
The squad leader, on the other hand, couldn"t agree to his commander"s actions.
"Wait! sir, this boy is harboring a monster in the middle of our town, we can"t just let them go scot-free. What would happen if this monster got loose and harmed a citizen? Please reconsider."
The commander looked between the ghoul and Lowen a few times.
"Boy, will that thing actually listen to you?"
Lowen stared back at the ghoul and said.
"You"ll follow my orders right, if not then I"ll have no choice but to let them deal with you, so behave ok."
The ghoul couldn"t believe its ears and nodded profusely. Lowen gave a small nod to the ghoul before answering back to the commander.
"So it says."
"Good good. Alright then, Lowen, come to my place for dinner tonight, I have something I wish to discuss with a young hero such as yourself."
The squad leader once more yelled out.
"Sir, this monster needs to be put down. We can"t allow this, it"s unacceptable and more importantly its too dangerous, if we..."
"Shut the h.e.l.l up! I say what"s acceptable and what isn"t. If I hear one more word out of you I"ll put you in the dirt myself, do you understand?"
"But sir I.."
*Thud*
The commander suddenly punched the young squad leader square in the nose, dropping him to the ground like a sack of potatoes. The commander roared at him.
"I warned you, do it again and this won"t end with a few knuckles across your face. Now get up and get the h.e.l.l out of my sight."
The squad leader, as well as a few other soldiers and people in the crowd, stared in surprise. The squad leader gnashed his teeth in bitterness before standing up slowly. Wiping the blood from his face, he gave a small salute before turning around and leaving in silence.
The commander"s face like a switch flipped from anger to a smile as he asked.
"So, will you join me for a meal or will you turn this generous man"s good intentions into dog s.h.i.t?"
Lowen was a little confused with this man"s change in att.i.tude but he didn"t dislike the way he did things.
"That depends."
The commander"s eyes widened slightly.
"Oh, on what?"
Lowen gave a teasing smile.
"Can my friends join?"
"Hahaha that"s all, of course your friends can join, h.e.l.l I don"t care if the whole town joins as long as..."
"Commander, your getting carried away again."
The battlemage suddenly interrupted the commander and the commander as well knew he was going overboard. With a slight cough, he cleared his throat.
*Ahem*
"Anyway, I don"t mind at all, bring whoever you like. So are you coming?"
"Well, since it"s like that, I guess dinners on you."
The commander smiled repeatedly before he gestured for Lowen to join him on his carriage. Lowen, in turn, signaled for the others and they all came over. The commander wondered who Lowen"s companions were but they turned out to just be two kids a man and a woman. However, when he saw the man, both the commander and the battlemage recognized that Benjamin was also a battlemage and their brows jumped slightly before quickly returning to normal. The commander was the first one on the carriage followed by his battlemage and then Benjamin, Luna, Nia, and Ben. Lowen grabbed the ghoul by the upper arm before commanding.
"Come."
The ghoul was dragged on by Lowen before the door was shut by a confused guard and the Carriage raced off to the Commanders home.
Although there was a ghoul on board, the commander, as well as his battlemage subordinate, didn"t look the least bit disgusted nor terrified. As a matter of fact, no one on board seemed scared at all. Benjamin, of course, was a battlemage and held no fear of such a weak creature and the kids were even less scared. To them, if Lowen said it was alright then it was alright. The one who should be most scared out of everyone was surprisingly one of the calmest. Luna was neither scared or disgusted, with both Lowen, Benjamin, and the kids, to her this was the safest place to be.
The commander looked at how calm everyone was and was slightly surprised.
(How can these kids and that woman be so composed next to a ghoul or near someone as high ranking as me. There all so strange.)
After a few minutes of continued silence, the atmosphere became awkward. No one knew this commander nor what he actually wanted but still they had all come along with Lowen for a free dinner. Not only that, it was only now that they all remembered that it was still very early. Would they get there and sit around for hours waiting for dinner or would dinner be served as soon as they arrive? Either way, it all seemed a bit weird.
As the silence continued surprisingly it was the commander who couldn"t take it and his voice almost exploded out of his mouth.
"So Lowen, how do you like this town so far?"
Lowen couldn"t help but chuckle slightly at the commander"s sudden outburst.
"It"s fine we just got here yesterday so things are pretty fresh and we"ve barely seen anything yet."
"Hmm, just got here yesterday, interesting. If you got here just a few days earlier and you met the previous commander, I"m sure he would have done his best to have you killed."
Everyone was shocked by the commander"s words and Nia and Ben seemed restless. Not wanting to leave them curious, the commander continued.
"Oh, that"s right, you wouldn"t know would you. The previous commander"s son just died, the cause of course was Rize"s attack. Although you didn"t do it personally, I guarantee you, many will see fit to blame you, as well as Clovis and Bren for not preventing it. Nia jumped to her feet and yelled in protest.
"That wasn"t his fault! How can they do that? How can they blame Lowen when he saved so many?"
The commander shook his.
"Little lady, that"s just how the world works. To some in the capital, his actions weren"t heroic but instead were treasonous. After all, we still technically have a treaty with the goblin kingdom. Humans attacking goblins, and vice versa, the big wigs won"t see the issue as just black and white... or maybe they will, hmph, what the h.e.l.l do I know."
Lowen could hear the bitterness slip into the commander"s tone at the end of his words, something seemed to have happened to him.
Luna gently grabbed Nia"s arm calming her. With Nia standing up, the carriage became a bit more crowded and uncomfortable so she sat back down but held a sullen expression as she murmured to herself. Little Ben was confused by the commander"s words but he knew his Big sis didn"t like what he said, so now he didn"t like the commander at all and glared at him fiercely. Lowen didn"t know why this old commander was so bitter and he didn"t particularly care, instead, he was more curious about something else.
"I haven"t seen the numbers yet but commander I"m curious, how many?"
The commander grew quiet for a moment before a figure quietly slipped past his lips.
"2132."
Lowen"s eyes went wide as the number bounced around inside of his head.
(2132, 2132, how can it be this many? How could he get his hands on so many people within a year and a half? How could he kill so many on the verge of death? Could I have done... No, no regrets, only forward.)
"So do you think what I did was incorrect?"
"Incorrect, h.e.l.l I have no concept of what is the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do in that situation. All I know is if you hadn"t done what you did, then the future troubles this kingdom would have faced, would be hundreds if not thousands of times worse. That"s how I see it anyway."
The subordinate battlemage couldn"t help but speak up when he heard all of this.
"Sir, do you think this will cause a war? After all is said and done, that goblin Rize had a unique ability, one that could have changed the fate of those goblins. If the Goblins call in their expert, things will get difficult for all of Rhylo Kingdom."
Lowen"s ears perked up at that moment and just as he was about to ask about this so called expert, the carriage came to a sudden halt and a young voice yelled out.
"Sir, we have arrived."
The commander excitedly kicked open the door and jumped out. Following after him, his subordinate was right behind him shaking his head with a bit of annoyance.
(This old man sure is spry for his age.)
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Rhylo Kingdom capital city Rhylo.
Deep within a secret chamber, far down below. An old man sat on a golden encrusted chair. In front of him, a large empty frame floated, suspended in mid-air. With a wave of this man"s hand, a ring lit up. Following that, the empty frame full of inscriptions began to glow with pure white light and the image of a goblin appeared in front of him. For but a moment the goblin looked surprised before a crooked smile stretched across its face. With an aged voice, the goblin slowly spoke in a mocking tone.
"Ho, it"s been so long since I"ve last seen you. Tell me, why does the mighty King of Rhylo, grace me with his presence.