"Hey! Don't touch him." Ian yells. Other people who were standing in the line to go outside notices the commotion.
"Who is this kid?" The guard questions as Ian walks outside.
"Hey, what is happening?"
"I think that guy got lost in the desert and somehow made it here. But the guard is not letting him enter."
"Poor kid."
"Man, look at his appearance." The people around the city gate gives a sympathizing look to Karl.
Andressa runs towards Karl and embraces him. "Thank the horizon that you are alive." After a very hellish journey and long period of time Karl relaxes his body once.
"That person belongs to the Phirsecot knighthood."
"Oh? Do you have any proof?" The guard asks with a grin.
"I am Ian Phirsecot and I claim my brother back."
"Ian!" Andressa screams. "Leo lost consciousness."
Back in federation sanctuary. On the third floor there is the executive of the logistic department's office. Currently, inside the chief is drinking his coffee while reading some reports. Somebody knocks on the door.
"Come in."
An agent walks in with a set of folders. "Put them on desk."
Chief grabs a random folder and opens it. [Increase in the number of vampyrs. Urgent backup required.] Chief sighs loudly.
"Why is this thing here?" He lifts the folder.
"Sir, Mr.Sian still has not returned from his stroll and other departments are blatantly refusing to take any step regarding this matter."
"And you brought this here? Rick, we are logistic department. We are supposed to handle the city affairs. Not the frontlines."
"But sir-"
"Don't say a single word. I know you want to help humankind and be a hero. But by the will of the horizon, do this alone. Don't drag me into such matters."
"Sir, the death poll has gone up more than 2 million. If we don't do anything we will lose another city."
The chief makes a troubled expression as the agent, Rick looks the chief with hope. Suddenly the chief's watch vibrates. He glances at the watch and quickly standup from his seat.
"Greetings, general." The chief salutes.
The screen displays audio only. "Lusen. Where are you?"
"I am in my office, sir."
"Good. We have a grave situation in front of us."
The chief quickly glares at the Rick. Seeing this Rick summons his yellow-coloured magic circle and creates a barrier around him and chief.
"The mainframe just lost signal with Sian." The chief keeps a serious expression but inside he is confused. 'How could this happen? He was supposed to the strongest mage in the U-block after senior.'
The general continues in a stoic voice. "This information has yet to be public. With the loss of Sian the power balance between sentinel families will crumble. This doesn't concern us but look out for any illegal duels."
"Yes sir!"
"I believe that you have read the request of backup." The chief's expression changes for a second. 'How did he know?'
"Yes sir!"
"For this request we were going to send Sian as the backup. But now the situation changed. As you know, the situation on the vanguard is grave. They are in dire need of knights. But there no federation left for deployment. Do you have any way to find someone capable enough?"
"Actually sir, I belong to the logistic department and I think you ask such requests to oth-"
Rick in the background creates a cross with his hand. He clumsily dances around trying to convince the chief. The chief notices the struggle but continues. As the final option, Rick taps something on his watch and it displays a video. It shows the drunk chief flirting with a woman in a bar. Rick presses the forward video to federation's personal group.
"Lusen, is something wrong?"
"What? No. No."
"You keep looking somewhere while talking. Is someone there?"
"NO." The chief coughs and continues. "Actually sir, I have a way to deploy knights to the border."
"Elaborate."
"We can ask the sentinel families to deploy their knights."
"Rejected. They will never agree to send their personal knights to that hell."
"I will do something about that."
"The border needs the backup in a week."
"Leave that to me."
The general thinks for a second and answers. "I believe in you. May the horizon see you."
"May the horizon see you." The call ends.
"You are the best Chief!" Rick salutes.
The chief sighs. 'I need a new partner.'
Karl opens his eyes and finds himself in a fancy bed. 'Atleast it's not a hospital.'
There are few monitors besides the bed, one displaying Karl's heart rate and other shows a blue line which is moving too low.
"This shows mana recovery rate." Ian walks in the room. "And your recovery rate is too low."
Karl remains silent.
"What happened Leonard? When we found you on the city you were on the verge of death. Physician says that you have more 60 broken bones and too many torn muscles. Not to mention your insides, they are a mess."
Karl doesn't say anything.
"Answer me!" Ian grabs Karl's shoulder.
"She died." Karl answers in a low voice.
Ian waits for a second and asks. "Miss Zena?"
Karl nods. "She died and I couldn't even do anything. I was so powerless. I-I thought that was strong. I thought I could protect her." Ian notices Karl's eyes turning purple. He slowly pats Karl's back.
Suddenly, sound of someone running comes and the door bursts open. "Is he awake?" Andressa asks in a hurry. Her expression changes as she reads the atmosphere.
"Uh-well, the food is ready."
15 minutes later, Karl is sitting on a fancy table with luxurious interior. Ian and Andressa are also sitting with him.
"You look so malnourished, Leo. Did Miss Zena forgot to cook?" Andressa asks with a genuine curiosity.
Ian glares at her while Karl just smiles. Then, few maids came in with plates and a trolley filled with food.
"Ian, just curious. Do you own this place?"
"No, we are in crest hotel near our academy."
"So, you privately own this hotel?"
"Actually, my family does. So do I."
"Then, no worries." Karl licks his own lips as the maids go away. Ian and Andressa picks up the knife and fork. On the other hand, Karl literally picks up a meat what seems like a steak with his hand. He devours the entire steak in a single bite. Ian chuckles at him.
While Andressa finds Karl's behaviour very odd. But she doesn't mention it. The entire lunch was just Karl devouring every dish in his sight.
20 minutes later. Andressa is making sad expression as tears falls from her eyes. While, Ian is looking excited. Karl just told them about his first's adventure. Andressa is sad because of Zena's death and Ian is excited because of Karl's victory against Sian.
'If he can defeat Sian then winning tournament will be a child's play.'
Karl looks at Ian's expression and asks. "Ian, can I how those mana regeneration potions?"
Ian comes back reality. "S-Sure. Before that, there is something we must do."
"What?"
"My father has ordered me to take you to him. To check whether you are worth of the recommendation or not?"
"Why so suddenly?"
"Honestly, I don't know. We would know once we see him."
Karl makes a nervous expression. "Oh, don't worry. My father is the nicest and kindest person you will ever see. I think he might just ask you few questions." Ian consoles Karl.
"I hope so."
"Should we go tomorrow to see him?"
"Yeah."
Ian gets up and notifies his father via text.
Karl leans back a bit. 'Maybe I should join the Phirsecots after winning the tournament. All of them seem very nice people.'
"Leo." Andressa calls.
"Hmm?"
"While you were gone your reward arrived." Andressa hands an old scroll to Karl. He grabs it and opens it. There is a very complex spell drawn on a paper. Karl stares at the circle for a second.
"Don't bother. It's a fire elemental spell." Ian states.
"Huh? Is this supposed to be equal to the Gale sword?"
"Rapier. Also, I think you should show this to an appraiser. If it's worth is anywhere near the Gale rapier. Then, the appraiser himself will ask you to sell it. But I think this isn't worth that much. Afterall, fire spells are not very rare."
'That bitch scammed me.' Karl curses the principal Estha.
"Still, you could make some cash with it and buy yourself a new sword." Andressa addresses her thoughts.
"Speaking of buying things, do you know any auction which sells any type of books on forbidden element."
"You should try Silver Chamber. It is a monthly auction organized by the Nile Familly. It's going to be held on by the end of this week." Karl makes a mental note of this information.
"Can I come with you?" Karl and Ian glances at Andressa.
'If I take her, she can fill my lack of this world's etiquette.' Karl thinks. "Sure. I will tell you the timings later."
"Yay!" Andressa jumps from happiness. Ian smiles at her reaction. Seeing this Karl's mind relax's after a long time.
'Feels great to be back home.'