"You should know then that I would never come to you, of all people, if I didn't have a good reason to do so." Rohan retorted with a condescending smile as he was crossing his hands.
"Just speak your mind already. I know you are not the kind of person who likes being roundabout for favors." The commander spoke as he was expressing his dissatisfaction.
"Fine, I'll into the point. I want you to train the kid while I'm away on a mission." Rohan then pointed with his thumb towards Soren.
The room was silent for a minute as the four of them staring each other, before the commander decided to break the silence and explain:
"Rohan, we both know that I owe you a big favor, but you should know when the request is reasonable or ridiculous. I can help you get out of a sticky situation. I can procure you a rare weapon, as long as I can reach it with my power. But I am not a babysitter for a kid who hasn't still come out of his mother's womb."
"Can you hear me out a bit before you make your choice first?" Rohan asked with a slightly annoyed expression.
*sigh* "Fine, I'll hear you out, at the very least." The commander could only agree reluctantly as he was sighing and massaging his temples.
"Actually Soren, can you and Lavenza go outside and wait for a bit? The two of us are going to talk for a little and I don't know how much it will take." Rohan spoke in a more casual manner as he was asking the two of them to leave.
"Alright, just don't take long." After Soren said that with a smile on his face, Soren and Lavenza left the commander's office and decided to check around the fort for a little bit.
"I guess it's just the two of us once again. Do you want to look at the training grounds for a bit? I'm interested to seeing the sword style that the Sea Knights use to fight with." Soren asked with an happy and excited expression as the two of them were swimming through the halls.
"Kyuu~... Kyuu~ Reny~." Lavenza nodded after thinking for a bit. After that conversation between them, the two of them made their way towards the training grounds. They did come across the occasional Sea Knight who was guarding the perimeter, but thanks to Soren's explanations, they managed to convince them every time they came near them.
After a little while, the two of them reached the training field that they had passed by when they were with Rohan and the first thing they saw were a bunch of half naked guys that formed a circle and there were also shouts and metallic noises as well.
"Come on man, hit him on the side."
"Use the hilt dude."
"Give him a good push."
They were all kinds of cheers that were saying how to fight, but Soren couldn't see the fight at all due to the mermen making a circle and the fact that he was watching this from a window in the fort. Soren was feeling annoyed since he wanted to see the fight between two experienced soldiers and maybe get a bit of insight on how to fix his shortcomings when it came to close combat. Lavenza on the other hand was just confused, since she didn't understand what was so special for that circle of mermen, the weird noises and the reason for Soren's expression turning sour.
"It's fun to see training battles, isn't it young man?" A young male voice was heard from behind and the moment Soren and Lavenza heard that, the two of them turned around and saw a red-tailed Sea Knight who was wearing the usual uniform with the helmet and visor, so Soren couldn't tell his characteristics aside from his tail color.
"Hello sir. Uhhh... I'm sorry if I'm causing any disturbances and once the business with my-" Just as Soren was going to continue talking and trying to explain himself, the Sea Knight suddenly put his finger on Soren's mouth and signalled him to stop talking.
"Calm down. You are not into any trouble. We are well aware that you have business with the Commander and that you have been told to leave for a bit." The Sea Knight explained with a calm voice after he took his finger from Soren's mouth.
"Then..."
"I'm just patrolling the grounds. If you want to see some of those training matches, feel free to do so." The Sea Knight answered with a calm and casual tone.
For a moment, Soren felt that he couldn't believe this entire situation was happening. From what he knew about the Sea Knights, he knew that they were the kind of people that you couldn't offend, they had a really bad temper and they would get you into trouble, even if you just exchanged only a couple of words, so it would be natural for him to feel confused and apprehensive about it.
"You know what, why don't you try it out as well?" The Sea Knight decided to try and cheer up Soren as he was seeing his expression towards him.
"Try what?" Soren asked with a surprised expression on his face.
"One versus one. I can tell that you are itching for some action and since my shift's almost over, we can exchange some pointers, if you desire so.
"Wait, are you serious?" Soren asked in disbelief as he had a surprised expression.
"As serious as a Swordmaster with Sword Aura." The Sea Knight answered with a smirk.
"Can you give me a minute quickly?" Soren asked with a calm expression as he was holding himself back.
"Sure...?" The Sea Knight answered slightly hesitant as he was looking at Soren's calm demeanour.
"Alright." At that moment, Soren dashed towards the closest room he find and once he entered and closed the door, Soren then yelled as loudly as he was happy:
"HELL YEAH, LET'S GET THIS SHOW ROLLING!"
After he yelled that, he left the room as if nothing happened and after leaving, a couple of heads peeked out of the door, a man and a woman to be exact and the man commented with a low voice:
"Can't we have a little bit of privacy these days? Thank Poseidon that we were in the closet, at least."
"Urghh... And we were getting into the best part." The woman added angrily as she was staring daggers at Soren who was swimming down the corridor.
...
The moment Soren and Lavenza left the room, Rohan's casual expression was fully replaced with a serious and cold one as he was the one to break the silence.
"Now that the two of them have left, I can finally start explaining the situation completely."
"And here I thought you had gone soft. I think it is safe to assume that you haven't told him much about yourself, am I right?" The commander asked as he was eyeing him with an untrusting expression.
"Honestly, the kid just doesn't know much about this world in the first place. You remember what I told you before?" Rohan explained seriously as he kept his serious expression on his face.
"About the kid being a rogue reincarnator? I still find it a bit hard to believe, to be completely honest with you." The commander explained with skepticism.
"Well the kid pretty much gave himself away when he said that to me and I see no reason for him to lie now. After all, when it came to his past, he eyes always look a bit unfocused and once he revealed that, his eyes looked a lot clearer than before, so it was safe to assume that he was telling the truth."
"Alright, I'll have to throw the towel on that one, now why do you want me to train him? You said it yourself that he was a rogue reincarnator so I don't expect his base status to be higher than 40 or 50, especially with this year's one having around 80 on his base status." The commander explained as he still had his suspicions about this entire situation. Rohan on the other hand was raising his eyebrow while giving a smirk.
"No, I don't like that look of yours. That look of yours is always accompanied by trouble and that trouble is usually accompanied by some big shot who will proceed to give endless problems for me as well." The commander tried to refuse angrily as he gestured with his hand to stop with this negotiation.
"Relax, it isn't going to be that bad. The kid has a bit of a unique appearance, for sure, but doesn't seem to have any connections with the really troublesome people like Laventhign and Aureus. But..."
"I don't like that kind of 'but', but I'll bite the bullet ask. What do you mean by that?" The commander reluctantly let his curiosity get the better of him as he was asking and preparing himself for the bomb that Rohan is going to drop.
"Well... The kid has blood on his hands." Rohan answered seriously as he was giving off a bone-chilling aura.