CHAPTER 71: INTERROGATION - KEVIN VALESMITH
XENON WINGATE
PRESENT DAY - INTERROGATION
As the hologram globe slows down and halted displaying my private memories, the interrogator dodged on tackling the thing he just saw. He just went on with his interrogation nonsense as I catch my breath.
[Let's move on. Three months after you challenged your fourth Pentagram Knight, there is a big change in the course of Alterra. Do you remember what that is?]
"Yeah." I sighed. "Yeah, I do. Three months after my fight against Christian Reines, an incident happened that threatened the peace of the whole world."
Suddenly, the hologram globe displayed the face of a young adorable woman in her teenage years. Having long golden blonde hair, wearing a shiny royal dress and equipped with the crown, there is no doubt that this is the daughter of Alterra's emperor; Princess Serenity Elkyria.
[Princess Serenity Elkyria is the heir to the throne of Alterra, the one and only. Emperor Sirius Elkyria greatly treasures his princess, but for some reason eight months ago, he failed to protect her.]
"The princess was kidnapped," I muttered.
[You seem to know a lot from that incident.] The interrogator said.
"I do not have any first-hand information about this. I just read about the reports. I was confined in the hospital for three months and was ordered another one month leave. Even if I'm part of the Emperor's Black Ops, even if I wanted to help, I can't."
[What happened during the princess's kidnapping?]
"I don't know, but it ended terribly." I bowed. "I never thought that the princess, Serenity Elkyria, is a key person to change the course of the relationship between the countries. I never knew that her involvement in the cold war would greatly affect the lives of my friends. Kevin, Alphonse, Danielle… Everything changed. If only I was there to fight with them…"
[I'm going to ask again, Xenon Wingate. What happened during the princess's kidnapping?]
"Why won't you ask Major General Valesmith himself? As I said before, I am not involved in the operation of the princess's rescue. I'm just a sitting vegetable on the hospital beds at that time." I laughed.
Suddenly, the hologram globe flashed the faces of Kevin Valesmith and his dragonoid Rius. The interrogator continued to ask questions about the faces on the screen.
[Kevin Valesmith was the leader of the princess's retrieval. He is a valiant dragon knight and a brave soldier of Alterra. He is a war hero of the Alterra-Sargus War and also the Third Dragonoid War. He is a powerful dragon knight on par with Pentagram Knights. He was the one who rescued you from the chaos in Vanilla City. How much do you know about him?]
"I know him a lot. His story is just as tragic as mine, but he's a man who holds his honor above anyone else. He is the bravest man I know."
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KEVIN VALESMITH
ORIGIN
Kevin Valesmith is a man of honor. That is what I have been hearing from people around me since I was a child. They say that I'm a prodigy, in which I have inherited my latent talents to my father who served as Alterra's soldier and a spy against Elysia. Just like any other soldier, my father died valiantly on the hands of the enemy country twenty years ago, so I pledged myself to stand on his shoes and continue his duty to protect our precious country from other's harm.
When I was a kid, I am a role model. My grades are top-notch, and my athletics are beyond excellent. I strived for being the best person I could ever know until I graduated from a normal high school and drafted to the Military Academy.
In the Military Academy, I made two friends who have the same age as mine. My first ever friend was John Casterdyne, who is a skinny little man who is always carefree. My second friend was Jerick Fachias, a muscular tall man who has a dragonoid girlfriend. Those two people became my best friends and we became partners in crime wherever we go.
Other cadets in the academy consider me as a show-off because of my excellent grades in academics and athletics, but these two dearest people I had with me view me differently. Instead of envy, they push me to grow stronger and smarter, and they never judged me the way I am.
There was one day when my friend Jerick Fachias discovered that he can activate Vesryn Pulse with his dragonoid girlfriend. Such discovery compelled him to leave the Military Academy and shift to a more prestigious facility, which is the Dragon Knight Academy. Our troublesome trio dispersed, but the new dragon knight still visits our school to train normal foot soldiers like us.
Having a duke-like status, Jerick Fachias became our field commander, and he appointed me as the tactician because of my wits and tactics on the battlefield. He also appointed our friend John Casterdyne to be our commando unit because of his skills in guns.
Our first mission during that time is to evacuate the civilians on Morbheight City, which is near the Alterran-Sargusian border. During the peak of war between the two empires, dragonoid slaves were made as frontline soldiers while human soldiers like me became secondary infantries. The country of Sargus also did the same to their dragonoid slaves, so the dragonoids were forced to fight a war that is not meant for them.
During the evacuation operations of the civilian humans, we went to check each and every house we can find in the city to check for survivors.
However, when I checked one of the houses, I never found a civilian human. Instead, I found a dying dragonoid wearing the military uniform of Sargus. He has lost so much blood because of the wounds he sustained on that fight, and he is on the verge of dying. When I saw him lying on the ground, he did not offer any resistance.
"This… is not the war… I meant to fight…" The dragonoid said. "Please… end me…"
Pitied, I never listened to his request for mercy killing. Instead, I carried him on my shoulder and evacuated him to the nearest medic site. Seeing that I have rescued an enemy soldier, most of my colleagues started to doubt my loyalty. They started protesting on why I rescued a dragonoid soldier from the enemy country.
"He is being forced to fight. He has nothing to do with this war!" That's all I could explain to my fellow soldiers. But only a few of them could understand me.
Of course, my friend Jerick Fachias understood me, so he allowed the shelter of the wounded dragonoid. As a dragon knight, he knew it better than anyone that the dragonoids deserve love and care too even if they are enemies. The dragonoids who are treated as slaves since ancient times may be seen as military weapons, but they have feelings too. I knew I could get court-martialed for this, but for me, my honor as a human being comes first before my loyalty to the country.
However, that's the least bad thing that could happen to me during that war. At the height of the gunfight between opposing armies, the soldiers of Sargus made its way to the evacuation site and we are forced to flee the losing city.
We prepared an airship to extract all the civilians and soldiers from the rooftop of the building as the enemy soldiers marched through and overrun the defenses. Protecting the people while fighting the enemy is a tough job, but one man did it for all the innocent people.
My friend, John Casterdyne, stood up bravely on the rooftops with only a pistol on his hand. As soldiers climb up to the stairs, he shot their brains one by one. One enemy soldier tried to destroy the evacuation airship with his rocket launcher, but this brave friend of mine intercepted the rocket with his bullet.
When all civilians have finally boarded, John was the only one who was left on the rooftop.
"Kevin, go! I'll hold them from here!" John shouted.
"No! Come on, John! Jump!" I shouted back.
Suddenly, a huge horde of soldiers carrying bazookas aimed at the airship and launched it. With John's powerful reflexes, he fired the bullets to destroy all raging projectiles. Only one rocket managed to hit the side of the airship which only sustained minor damage. Panicked, the pilot of the airship drove it upwards and away from the overrun building where my friend is situated.
"Kevin, we have to leave, now!" One of the soldiers said.
"No, John is still there! Get us back down!" I cried out loud.
"If we go back there, we will all die!" The soldier argued back.
Suddenly, I heard a loud rumbling noise. The rooftop, no, the whole building where my friend was situated was gone in the blink of an eye. The building collapsed, and there is no trace of the enemies, or neither my friend's shadow is left.
"No! John, do you hear me! John, are you okay! John, are you still there!" I tried to contact him using our radio, but there was no response.
That was the time I lost a precious comrade in the midst of the war. That was the very first time, and it hurts me emotionally for not being able to do a thing to save him.
Honor and talent mean nothing in the aftermath of war. What's the use of being a topnotch student in the military if I could not save my friend?
At my friend's death, I pledged myself one thing that I will never break. I promised myself that I will no longer leave any of my comrades behind. During the past years, I have kept that code of honor within me. I will rescue everyone who needs help, neither enemy or foe. I never left any survivors behind the hellish war.
The dragonoid I saved is none other my dragonoid, Rius, who can turn into a combat-versed Warlord Dragon. Together with his help, we continue to rescue people who are in deep need of salvation.
I will not leave any of my comrades behind. That is my honor as a soldier… and a dragon knight.