When the lizard guy appeared outside the training camp, no one had come to heal him. Fortunately, the injuries weren’t life-threatening as long as he would rest well and avoided more battles for a while.
“You! Tell me your name!”
Sebe shouted from his seat; he had some interest in the lizard guy after seeing his battles and how he was able to give up after having reached his limits, although he had needed Yale’s persuasion.
“My name is Shirk. it is an honor to tell my name to prince Sebe.”
Shirk wasn’t someone with a background, but he gathered information by himself and knew a bit about Sebe.
“Your bloodline is one of the worst I have seen in my life. However, your tenacity and manage of the spear were remarkable.”
Sebe had noticed that Shirk’s ability with the spear was at the expert stage, that was something to praise and also the main reason he had been able to last that long in the training camp, he supplied his lack of power level with pure ability.
Shirk wasn’t offended by the words against his bloodline; he knew that his bloodline was trash better than anyone else. On the other hand, he was extremely happy as he received a praise from Sebe, for someone with Shirk’s status, receiving a praise from Sebe was something to tell to his future children and grandchildren.
“Do you have family or some affiliation to any power?”
Sebe’s question was a typical one, after asking for someone’s identity knowing to which faction, clan or family belonged was very important.
“I am an orphan, and I haven’t any siblings. There isn’t any power who wanted someone with a bloodline like mine.”
Shirk felt depressed because he knew that if he had some family or he was affiliated with someone, there was a chance that Sebe tried to establish some relationship with them. Even if that were only for the reputation, any family would be very happy, and the powers would be able to use that reputation to avoid problems as that would serve as a deterrent.
Sadly, that couldn’t apply for a loner like him, without some support just a few praise words wouldn’t help him too much. The praise of a prince plus someone with power behind him would be a great combination for living well, but he didn’t have anyone related to him.
“I will make an offer to you. Enter my personal guard, I have some young guards under my direct orders, and I give you the chance to be one of them. You will need to follow all my orders no matter what I ask you to do, in exchange, I will heal you right now, and I will provide support to your training, even with your bloodline you still have future under my orders.”
Shirk wasn’t good enough to be considered a friend by Sebe, but his personality was enough to work for him. Working directly for a prince had almost no freedom, the degree of freedom was just decided by that prince’s orders and could change at any moment.
However, serving directly a prince was also a status; a prince’s guard is considered a prince’s servant and thus part of his property. In the same way that people wouldn’t dare to steal or break something belonging to a prince; they wouldn’t dare to seek problems with someone who served a prince.
In particular, Sebe had quite a good fame, he treated his servants as servants and not as slaves like some of his siblings did. For people without family and background, being able to work under Sebe’s orders was a blessing.
Even people with poor backgrounds dreamed about being able to get that position, Sebe just recruited people he wanted to recruit, there wasn’t any chance to work for him otherwise.
“It will be my honor to serve prince Sebe. I pledge my loyalty to you.”
Shirk didn’t doubt for even a second before accepting Sebe’s offer, he also knew about Sebe’s reputation, and he wanted to continue training to turn stronger. He was also someone who loved training, but without good resources his chances of improving more were slim. Reaching his current level with his bloodline and having relied just on himself was already a feat.
“Very well. From this moment you are part of my guard and thus my servant.”
Sebe declared that in a loud voice to avoid anyone trying to harm Shirk due to being a loner.
Shirk didn’t know it, but Sebe had saved him from a hell-like life. As long someone had some relatives, others wouldn’t try to harm you without reason for fear of someone taking revenge, but for a complete loner like Shirk that wouldn’t apply.
Shirk would have ended enslaved or tortured until death by anyone who wanted to discharge stress; there were a lot of crazy experts who liked to kidnap people without any background or family.
That was why even a loner should lie and tell that he had relatives in some small unnamed village; that was enough to dispel the ulterior motives of almost all the experts.
After all, even if the relatives were weak, it was possible for them to ask for help from others to revenge and it was impossible to search in all the small villages in the kingdom to find were those relative were.
Sadly, that knowledge wasn’t something most loners had and their destinies were pitiful after being caught. Although Sebe didn’t feel that Shirk was the best guard and servant he could find, he still felt that letting him die as a toy from some wicked experts would be a pity.
“Come here.”
After Sebe ordered that, Shirk neared him quickly despite his injuries. Sebe called him to treat his injuries because he couldn’t stand up and go himself to heal a servant. Although in private he didn’t mind going to help some of his servants if they were in trouble, in public he needed to look like someone who had clear the status difference.
After Shirk reached Sebe’s side, Sebe used Light Healing to heal Shirk’s wounds completely. There were a few members of the royal family capable of using healing spells and being able to do it was an indicator of a very powerful bloodline; Sebe was known for his impressive bloodline, so healing was something easy to him.
Furthermore, even if he could heal, no one was fool enough to offend the royal family for a healer, they were the only ones who could display healing in public without fearing the consequences of being discovered by others.
“Thank you very much!”
Shirk bowed to Sebe after he was healed, he expected some healing pill and not a direct healing from the prince. Healing magic was always better than pills as it was faster and without after effects, moreover, Light Healing was better than any natural healing magic.
“It would be a pity if my new guard had problems in the future due to such puny injuries from today. Now stand behind me, let’s see the end of this training camp. The climax should start soon.”
At that moment, the battle among the seven strongest was reaching the most important part, but the city chief grandson remained in an advantageous position despite battling alone against six opponents.
The seven of them had some kind of injuries; they were battling with all they have as that would be important for their backgrounds after the training camp ended.
However, three minutes after Sebe had healed shirk, two of the six members battling against the city chief grandson gave up as their injuries were far too serious; they would have died with one more hit with the state of their bodies when they broke their tokens.
The Elder Rank experts related to them rushed to heal them, although they had lost, they battled until the end with all their effort, so they didn’t plan to punish them later.
Everyone was looking with expectation for the final moments of the training camp, a four versus one battle was at the climax, and Yale was hidden nearby in the shadows waiting for his opportunity to act.
At that moment no one knew who would win, the other five participants were all stronger than Yale based on their power levels, but they were all injured and tired while Yale was in a perfect state.
Yale remained in the shadows without doing anything; he knew that if he appeared at that moment, the other five would join forces to attack him since he wasn’t wounded and tired like them. Yale didn’t mind if his method to win wasn’t honorable, but letting the opponents get tired before attacking was a valid strategy in a real battle.
