" to the brave soldiers and warriors who contributed greatly in this war, I shall bestow your rewards myself to show my gratitude " the crown prince declared that he will be distributing the rewards himself meaning Gael and the others who performed greatly in this war will be able to meet and interact with the crown prince himself, for the commoner's Royalties and Nobles are Gods.
Everyone was shocked by the crown prince's words, it is unimaginable to them, even the people who went with the crown prince are shocked, they didn't know that the crown prince has such plans.
" hahahahaha the crown prince is interesting" Gael's captain said as he laughed.
When Gael heard his captain, he turned his head and asked.
" what do you mean interesting? Captain"
" you see, royals think of themselves as superior to commoners even nobles, not just in status but also in other aspects such as their physique, intelligence, their talents, and abilities, almost all royals are smart, strong, talented, they are also really good looking, they outmatched others in every aspect so they think of themselves as a different breed of humans, or a superior creature " captain explained to Gael while his eyes are still fixed in the unusual and interesting crown prince.
" hmmm I see, but I think you're more interesting though captain " Gael nodded and said.
" Why do you say so?" the captain asked, Gael's words took his attention and his eyes shifted from the crown prince to Gael.
" Well for starters you're a noble but you enter the battlefield as a war dog even if you can enlist as a soldier and hold a higher rank than a captain, and unlike other nobles, you have no problem interacting with us commoners, so I think that's pretty interesting" Gael explained his thoughts to his captain.
" hahaha you are funny, are you really not interested in joining my family and becoming one of our retainers?" the captain said as he laughed, he found Gael's words funny.
" I will now call those who performed exceptionally in the last battle to hand them their reward" while Gael and his captain are talking with each other the crown prince's voice reverberated.
" Commander Balmor Welham"
" Wency Walker"
" Lily Augurn"
" Melchor Malkin " the crown prince called the names of the people who will get their rewards, and after a few more names were called it is finally Gael's turn.
" Gael" the crown prince called out his name, and it made his squad cheer loudly, even their captain is cheering for him when Gael saw this scene he just shook his head and smiled as he walk towards the stage to receive his rewards.
Although his squad cheered and celebrated some soldiers and officials started to whisper to each other's ears.
" he doesn't have a last name?"
" then he must be a commoner"
" How can a commoner receive a reward from the crown prince, it is like an insult to the royal family"
Different voices shared their opinions and dissatisfaction with Gael.
But the main character of their conversation, Gael couldn't give any attention to them since he doesn't care, soon he arrived in front of the prince, the crown prince then handed him a sword and a small wooden box, Gael was about to open the wooden box when the crown prince stopped him.
" don't open it yet, after the ceremony come to the commander's tent, " the crown prince said in a voice that only Gael can hear.
" great job defending our territory," the crown prince said and he shook hands with Gael, same with the others who receive their rewards earlier, every one of them received different rewards from the crown prince, the commander who lead them into the battle received a promotion, from a commander to a vice general and also a small wooden box similar to Gael's I fact all of them received the same box.
After giving all the rewards and saying a few words the crown prince stepped down from the stage and the ceremony ended, the soldiers started to return to their stations to wait for further orders while the war dogs started to leave one by one since they are already paid, and staying in the camp doesn't hold that much meaning, the members of Gael's squad said their goodbyes to each other and went their way, until there is only Gael and their captain left.
" shall we?" the captain asked.
"huh? " Gael asked in confusion.
" didn't the crown prince tell you to meet him at the commander's tent after the ceremony" Captain said
" ahh! I completely forgot" Gael slapped his forehead, how can he forget such an important thing, he looked at his hand holding the wooden box.
Gael and his Captain started to walk towards the commander's tent, the captain lead the way since he's the one who knows where the commander's tent is.
After a few minutes of walking, they arrived in front of a big grey-colored tent, when the two soldiers guarding the entrance to the tent saw Gael's captain they saluted and let them pass.
The soldier's actions caught Gael's attention.
' as expected captain really is not a normal person, he is not a military man but the soldiers are saluting him ' Gael thought to himself.
When Gael entered the tent there were a lot of familiar faces, everyone at the ceremony with the crown prince are present along with the crown prince, and also all those who received an award is there, commander Balmor, Wency Walker, Lily Augurn, Melchor Malkin, Kali Oswald, Kalisto Oswald, and Amon Vega.
Kalisto and Kali Oswald are twins they are both good-looking young men with brown hair and cheeky smile, while Amon Vega has a red-coloured hair and a fiery personality although he's good-looking, his eyes are scary making it hard to approach him.
" Now that everyone is here shall we start? " the crown prince looked around, then nodded.
Gael stood silently at the side with the captain of their squad.
" The reason I called everyone here is because of the wooden box I gave you during the awarding ceremony," said the crown prince, the people who received the said wooden box took it out and held it in their palms.
"Open it," the crown prince said, still looking at those holding the wooden box.
After hearing the crown prince's words, they all opened the small wooden box in their hand.
" huh? A token?" one of the people who received an award earlier, Wency Walker said.
" no it is not just a token, it has the symbol of the royal family in it" Amon Vega, one of the soldiers who also received an award earlier said.
Those holding a wooden box picked up the tokens and inspected them, it indeed has the symbol of the royal family.
" crown prince, if do not mind me asking, what is this token for? " Commander Balmor asked.
The crown prince smiled, he crossed his legs and scanned the eight people holding a golden token in their hands.
" it's an offer, you take that token back to the palace in the kingdom's capital and I will give you a chance to become a tamer" the crown prince's words made everyone inside the tent silent, they couldn't believe what the crown prince just said, the only person whose expression didn't change is the captain of the squad where Gael is a member of.
" yo-yo-you mean we can become a Tamer if we bring this token back at Palace " the one who asked is Commander Balmor, he is also the first to recover from the shock.
" exactly, but once you become a Tamer you will become my subordinates, and follow my orders, in short, you will become my sword or a hidden dagger that will strike my enemies without them knowing that they've already been struck " the crown prince explained to Commander Balmor.
Gael and the others didn't say anything anymore and started pondering, they are clearly thinking about the crown prince's offer, especially the young soldiers that came from noble families since the nobles and royals are actually not that friendly but there are nobles that sides with the royal family, the dispute between the royals and nobles spans since the beginning of the kingdom because of conflict of interest, noble and royals have different opinions about the development of the kingdom, and it caused internal strife from time to time but the royals always triumph over the noble factions.
But Gael doesn't care about the dispute between the nobles and the royals, since he's a commoner and his opinion doesn't matter, he is more concerned about his freedom, if he accepted the crown prince's offer he will be tied to the royals and his movements will be restricted, he repeatedly refused his captain's orders because he doesn't want to be tied down, but the chance to become a Tamer is extremely attractive.
Tamers refer to those who can tame a beast or a monster as their familiar, the so-called familiar will become the tamer's companion for life, and the status of a Tamer is similar to a minor noble, Tamers receive great respect and admiration from others is because they are the real military asset of a kingdom or an empire, the wars where Gael participated before is a mere child's play in the eyes of a Tamer, they enter a different battlefield where they fight against other Tamers, the wars between Tamers are the ones that decides the future of the kingdom.
The crown prince making a private Tamers squad means that he will soon ascend the throne, and when that happens chaos will arrive, those crafty nobles will strike when the internal state of the royal family is at its weakest, the young crown prince ascending the throne this early means that the condition of the current king is not good, and having a young king will surely raise doubts in the hearts of the citizen, and the nobles can use that to their advantage and replace the current royal family.