The sharp sounds of clanging blades against blades, the grunts and screams of men hitting each other, the smell of sweat and blood wafting in the air, all these were familiar things to him. Almost in every day of his life he witnessed this situation.
Adam Reyns, a man who always wanted a life full of fighting as if he was addicted to it, he loved swords and wrestling since childhood so as soon as the application for becoming a knight candidate in the kingdom of Grithda opened, he enlisted, passed the physical test with a perfect score— in just three years he was finally able to be promoted as a commander of the right wing knights— the special section for omega soldiers.
Even though he was an omega, it did not mean he was as weak as people generally think, Grithda, unlike most other regions, was very open to omegas, no systemic discrimination for alpha, beta, and omega. In this kingdom everyone could get a chance to enlist as a knight, he loved Grithda very much, from the first time he set foot on this land Adam thought he would stay and serve this land till the last drop of his blood.
He had admired Queen Yelan since he was little from the first time he saw her face, a beautiful woman, gentle, warm, and full of serenity expression, she looked like a goddess who put a blanket around your cold body. Even until the day he died Adam would never forget Queen Yelan's kindness, a wise queen, able to make peace in a region with various races, making them live side by side. Although many other regions underestimated her as an omega, Queen Yelan did not have any slightest fear, until now when Grithda was attacked many times, the strength of Grithda's army under Queen Yelan's rule was disgustingly unstoppable, they always won the war.
However these past few months, he could gradually see the worry on Queen Yelan's usually serene face.
He did not know why sometimes the queen's face looked nervous even though they came home from the war with a perfect victory.
It made him feel uneasy as well, the usually confident queen, full of composure, seemed to be pensively thinking about something. He wanted to ask but at the same time he didn't want to disturb Queen Yelan's relaxing time in the back garden, her favorite spot.
The uneasy feeling that had not been answered for so long was finally answered when he was chilling in an exclusive bar for knights to rest. That night he sat beside Merlyn, the alpha commander of the left wing.
He didn't really like this guy because of his arrogance as an alpha, actually he wasn't that arrogant, just too confident and self-centered to the point it made him sick.
'Hello, we meet again here, sweet omega whom never get angry at all, commander, Adam, oh Adam I miss you—'
Merlyn talking with sarcastic tone, his face was getting closer with a playful smirk on his lips, he pushed the man's head away, the smell of alcohol wafting from him made his nose crinkle. 'Bastard, stay away from me.'
'You look more cranky than usual, what's wrong? What's the problem? Did one of your knights get in trouble again? Aha, I heard that Joseph is pregnant with an alpha knight from my left wing, ah, we should celebrate that! are you upset that Joseph, one of your great knights is on leave due to pregnancy? it's normal Adam, it's perfectly normal, you don't need to be upset.'
Yeah, that's because of this.
This man was very annoying, didn't know the boundaries of others, spoke too much and his voice made his ears ache, once he spoke he couldn't stop, the only way to make him stop was to beat this man unconscious, and what annoyed him the most was Merlyn— The Alpha Knight Commander, was so strong that to knock him unconscious would take quite a bit of time and trouble.
'Shut up or I'll hit your head with this bottle.'
'You don't need to be so aggressive! The wrinkles on your forehead have been getting worse recently, if you keep doing that your skin will be loose like a grandpa, you're still in your prime age so stop doing that.'
Ignoring Merlyn who was babbling like a horse and pointing at his forehead, Adam took a strong gulp of his drink. He was planning to enjoy his time off but instead, this damn man chose to sit beside him.
Luckily there was silence for a few moments, so Adam's mind returned to thinking about Queen Yelan's condition, he didn't think about this too often but sometimes it crossed his mind because somehow he had a bad feeling.
Subconsciously letting out a sigh over and over, Merlyn turned his head to look at him.
'Hey are you okay? you don't look good, are you sick— I've been hearing you sighing, you can talk to me, I have good ears.' He looked at the man with a bitter look, could this man be silent for even one day? He just wanted time to relax tonight.
'Could this be a matter of romance? You already have an alpha? Or a boyfriend or girlfriend of fellow omega? Is it a man or a woman?!?!' Merlyn asked excitedly with a loud voice that almost everyone in the bar looked at their table.
The other knights who were relaxing and chatting with their friends in the bar— started whispering and quietly glancing at him as if it was a very shocking news, Adam gnashed his teeth. 'What the hell! I don't have a boyfriend or anything like that! stop talking nonsense Merlyn! I'm seriously gonna punch you in the face if you speak again.'
There was an awkward silence in the bar after that, easy to understand why, Adam was a man who never cared about relationship issues like that, even at 23 years old he was still single, never had any date so of course the other knights were astonished after hearing Merlyn's stupid question as if it was a wonder of the world.
Adam gave a sharp look at the people who were still glancing at him, Merlyn laughed while saying, 'Of course, of course.' His face was so carefree that it made Adam's hand itch to hit that stupidly relaxed face. He took another gulp at the bottle but was surprised and stopped when he realized that his drink had run out. He put the bottle down. Massaging his forehead feeling that he was a bit drunk.
'So, my last guess.' Merlyn lowered his voice this time, so low that only he could hear. 'Is it about Queen Yelan?'
He turned his head real fast looking at Merlyn who was grinning, 'bingo!' he said with a proud face.
Adam snorted, he rested his chin on his palm. Merlyn still had that annoying smile and opened his ugly mouth that could never stop talking. 'Queen Yelan seems nervous lately, like something's been bothering her, right? that's what you think? You always care about her, it's kinda adorable.'
'Who doesn't care about Queen Yelan? She is our queen, of course everyone is also worried. Not just me.'
'That's right, it's probably because of our neighbour, the great kingdom of Barlow.'
'What do you mean?'
Merlyn stared at Adam as if he couldn't believe that Adam hadn't realized something.
'Don't tell me you don't know about them?'
'They're in a vacuum of power, their throne is still vacant waiting for the crown prince to come of age, that's all I know. So what does this have to do with Queen Yelan? do they want to attack us? in that condition?'
'Haha, That's possible.'
'Are you serious? Are they that great?' Genuinely questioning, Merlyn drank half of his beer. He wiped his mouth, for the first time, he saw Merlyn's face darken but it was only a few moments before it returned to being as annoying as ever, his furrowed brows still there.
'It's a bit embarrassing but we likely won't be able to win the next war… And it seems Queen Yelan is also aware of that. She must be worried about the lives of his knights, and also about what fate will befall her citizens— when that day comes…'
'Nonsense! Our soldiers are strong, we always win wars so what difference does it make if there are other regions that wage war against us ...'
'Adam,' he gritted his teeth, for a moment he could see the frown on Merlyn's forehead growing. 'Barlow, ah, you, ... my innocent Adam. Barlow, they have many nations that hate them as well as admirers. Both wanted to be close to that big empire, and you know what their neighboring territory is? Grithda, our land. Admirers or haters will work together to take over Grithda, our land is small and if that many nations gang up on us there's little chance of us winning...'
Instantly chill ran down his spine, he understood now, how stupid of him only realizing it at this moment, 'I think it's likely that Barlow won't attack us because all the wars that Crown Prince Jacob won weren't the wars he started, there haven't been any wars initiated by Barlow in these past few years.' Merlyn continued.