Meanwhile, Aniya stared at Liam for a while now after talking with a king. His determination to protect the place where he lives was remarkable. It is the main reason why he wanted to become a knight because of how much he loves this kingdom.
Aniya can't deny him. The Navalon Kingdom has nice people, including high rankings, treating everyone else equally despite their ranks, and many more. Liam is proud to love his country as much as his family and friends.
With that kind of pride and loyalty, he would be a dazzling knight and one of the most trusted people in the kingdom.
"Aniya? Aniya?" Aniya blinked her eyes and shook her head a bit to find Liam staring back at her with concerned looks on his face.
"Are you okay? You've been staring at me for a good amount of several seconds after the King left." Aniya blushed and looked away from Liam.
"I'm-I'm fine."
"I wish I could say the same thing." Aniya looked back and saw Liam staring at the dish right in front of him. He was sweating and shakily moving his right hand towards the spoon.
"Easy, easy, easy!" Liam whispered loudly. His fingertips touched the spoon before slowly wrapping his fingers around it. Aniya covers her mouth to hold in her laughter as Liam tries his hardest to control his strength. He slowly lifted the spoon before dipping it into the dish and lifting the food up. When he did, he tightened his grasp and broke the handle of the spoon into pieces while Liam cried out and Aniya burst out laughing.
...
After Liam had finished eating his food with Aniya feeding him, he left the castle along with Aniya, so he can ready for his department.
"Well, at least I'm not gonna pack anything considering that my place got smacked down by a demon's magic."
"What happened after that?"
"It's where I fell into some sort of a huge cave or cave system and find the Core. I don't know why that Core is under my house. My house doesn't even have a basement or a secret passageway."
Aniya squinted her eyes and find it strange that a Core has been lying underneath their kingdom. Why is it hiding there? Who put it there?
"My baby!" Both of them jumped up at the sound of a middle-aged woman who came running to them along with a middle-aged man.
"Mom." Liam's mom hugged Liam tightly squeezing him to death.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Mom...barely" he whispered at the last part, but his mother heard it too well.
"What do you mean barely? Did something happen to you?"
"You guys may not believe me, but...I am a Champion now."
"What?"
"Ah, so the rumors are true then." His dad spoke before patting him on the back. "The rumors about a newborn Champion appearing from our house and single handle defeat the demons."
"Yeah...that's me." Liam chuckled and still feeling the pain from ruining his food with a broken spoon. "And, I'm getting recruited by the Valerie Kingdom this mid-afternoon."
"WHAT?! How long are you going to be staying over there?!"
"I don't know, but I hope it's not that long."
"It better not be that long, but I'm proud of you."
"Thanks, mom." Liam hugged his mother and his father for the last time before his department.
"Are you Liam Castor?" Liam jumped and turned to find a group of knights wearing a luxurious set of armor and helmet with high-quality weapons and shields led by a middle-aged knight. Or at least that's what he looks like because he looks fairly young, but the gray streaks in his black hair. Liam can tell that this job is aging him quickly.
"Yes sir," he said respectfully.
"Ahh, the newborn champion huh? Excuse my rudeness and hope it doesn't offend you, but it's very rare to see a peasant or..." He stopped and looked up and down at Liam. "A middle-class citizen. Where do you work?"
"I work at the weapon shop owned by my dad, sir."
"So a middle-class citizen. Yeah, quite frankly rare and it's my first time meeting a middle-class citizen who became a Champion."
"Okay?" He heard something clinging and looked over his shoulder to see Aniya about to draw her sword out with shaking hands as if she was fighting her choices.
It was an unnecessary choice for him to ask a question about his social class first. Aniya highly doubts that he wasn't apologetic and can tell that he came from a noble family considering how fancy his sword and his armor look compared to the rest.
"Anyways, let's get moving. The king of Valerie wants to see you in person, so I don't want to make him wait."
"I'm going with him," Aniya spoke up and got everyone's attention.
"You are not allowed to go with him-"
"I need to make him a better fighter whether he is a Champion or not. I just want to make him the best of the best."
"Still, you can't-"
"She's right. She needs to go with me, so I can get better at fighting. Trust me, you won't regret bringing her along with us."
The noble young knight raise his eyebrows and sighed with his eyes closed before opening them and gazing at her.
"Alright, pack up your stuff and we'll wait by the Peregrinate Portal. Don't be late." Aniya nodded her head and ran off while they walked back to the castle.
"Wait, the Peregrinate Portal?" Liam asked.
"Yes, the Peregrinate Portal. A portal that is hidden deep inside the Keep's basement in every kingdom and considered one of the most guarded areas because the Peregrinate Portal allows us to travel kingdom to kingdom without us traveling outside the walls where demons might be lurking."
Liam finds it strange when demons are lurking outside of the kingdom walls unless they were ordered to. Usually, demons and devils appear from a dark portal from hell like how angels and gods arrive from heaven.
"But, they started attacking kingdoms more often and reported that there are fewer demons or not a single sight of them outside of the kingdom. It might sound crazy, but there might be a traitor or a demon lurking within the kingdoms. That's probably why they attacked the kingdoms more than usual because one of them found out about the Peregrinate Portal."
"So in other words, no one is safe whether you're outside or inside of the walls."
"That's correct. Only Adventurers or people who are strong enough are allowed to go outside of the walls. If only we find out who is lurking within our kingdoms sooner, none of this would happen."
Liam squinted his eyes and disagree with his statement. He felt like the demons will continue attacking the kingdoms as much as possible to bring in the gods to the mortal realm. After all, it's in the legends in the book he was reading. However, if there is a demon lurking within one of the kingdoms, it's got to be a powerful demon to blend in with society.
By the time they reached the basement of the castle, they came across a room with six elite knights guarding the room. One of them looked at Liam before the rest of the people standing beside him before walking toward the young knight with gray streaks in his hair.
"Name and your purpose here?"
"Raoul, taking the newborn champ to Valerie to train him."
"Hold one second," he said before walking back, opening a small rectangular dormer door, and starting talking to someone on the other side. Liam turned his head to the right after hearing footsteps and saw Aniya running towards them with a suitcase in her grasp.
"Phew, just made it on time."
"That was fast."
"Yeah, I had to pack up several clothes and think about buying new ones in Valerie." Liam widened his eyes and remembered that he didn't have anything to wear for tomorrow.
"Oh, great, not only my stuff is gone, but also my money back at the shop."
"Don't worry, Liam. We can go buy new clothes when we're at Valerie" she stated blushing a bit.
"Wait, you don't have to do that-"
"Nonsense, Liam. I want to thank you from yesterday for saving me." Liam smiled and wished that Aniya didn't have to buy stuff for him because he felt bad for wasting her money. Then, the elite knight came back and open the door to the Peregrinate Portal.
Liam stared in awe at the two ancient-looking stone support pillars, and then the portal appeared between them. He watched the knights from Valerie slip into the portal before following them along with Aniya.