Chapter 8: Name

After a while from Franswift collapsing, a figure appeared as it flashed next to the guard. The figure looked apathetically at the collapsed Franswift and without turning to the other guard he asked, “Is this the boy you called me for?”

The guard responded at once, “Yes commander.”

“With injuries like this he was supposed to hide but it seems he only did the opposite. His left arm is almost crippled from overuse, there are multiple deadly injuries on his body, and he has significant internal bleeding. Without proper healing and he lives by a miracle, he will live as a cripple. What value does he have for us to provide that? Captain, If you start explaining why you specifically called me and I find you are wasting my time in the current situation, I will have your head.” the commander uttered the last sentence slowly to make sure the guard understood the consequences.

“So? if you say nothing, I will consider it a slight mistake and let you off with a light penalty.”

The guard did not hesitate anymore and immediately answered, “The boy has some talent in increasing his neural reaction, he was able to do actions impossible to do with his physical body, although I don’t know its source yet.”

“Talent needs careful hands to groom so we would be able to benefit from it later. I don’t think there’s someone in amidst our guards that has time for that or is willing to pay for the resources without prior testing, all of that is if we consider talent only. You should know what we consider when we recruit is simply the ability to survive. If someone survives our missions, he will eventually be strong. Looking at the boy, if you did not protect him when he collapsed, he would have already died.”

“He killed 4 level-1 mutant rats, survived running through the main streets, then killed 2 level-2 three-eyed tigers. If he hadn’t met the level-3 giant green serpent, which was already almost level 4, he would have come here earlier and survived.”

“So, he was the one that killed it. How did he do it?”

“He baited the serpent to the rubble, used his surroundings to leap in the air, blinded one of its eyes, then proceeded to pierce a javelin carrying two alchemy fire beads in its upper mouth which was already damaged beforehand by another bead.”

The commander thought for a moment, he didn’t care about where the boy got the beads nor the complete explanation. “Alright, take him out of here, he will be recruited under your team with my approval.” As the commander was about to leave, he heard the guard saying something.

“He planned it all out!”

The commander stopped and turned to the guard implying him to continue.

“He collected information which made him suspect the beast tide, he came to the gates to investigate but it was closed already. However, when he was at the scene there, he was made sure of it somehow. He immediately acted and went to a smuggler for resources, weapons, and to be able to use the smuggling points to escape. When he found a regular point collapsed, he swiftly concluded all the other regular points also collapsed and suspected the merchant behind it. Thus, he went for the one below the wall after finding it was laid out by multiple merchants. There he met the serpent, right after surviving the encounter he calculated the point where would be the least beasts and rushed towards here while carrying the smuggler who showed him the smuggling points but was unable to protect him during the way. He did all this alone and by his bone age he is no more than 12 years old, commander.”

“No wonder he met the serpent, he went there on his own accord. If he knew the truth, he would be cursing almost all of the merchants in the city. Also, you were following him?”

“I noticed him at the gate and followed him to make sure he would not cause trouble, but I got interested when the first thing he did was to contact a smuggler.”

The commander did not talk and stayed in silence for a while and the guard did not dare disturb him.

The commander ended his thoughts and said, “Disregard everything I said, I will take care of him. You go deliver the attack order to the other captains.”

“Yes, commander!” The guard nodded and began to turn ethereal until he completed vanished.

“Interesting boy.”

The commander walked towards Franswift, put his hands on his body, and they both immediately vanished.

“How is the boy?” A man with a very well-built body, average height, short white hair, and a rough-edged face asked a woman who appeared to be a nurse from her clothes.

“He woke up yesterday morning, but he refuses to talk to anyone and barely eats more than necessary.”

The man nodded slowly and moved to open the door.

The room inside was completely white decorated with some furniture made of Oakwood. At the end of the room laid a youth atop a bed with some food, with a window beside him.

The youth did not turn and look when the man entered, he just sat on the bed as he looked out of the window.

Not seeming to mind, the man just continued to walk and sat on the couch.

“Is this the way you treat the one who saved your life, you should at least look who did it.”

The youth still did not bother to turn around.

The man continued, “I just want to ask you a few questions. But first I offer my condolences to your friend who died. He was tru...” He stopped as he saw the youth slowly turn around with an intense glare, only for it to disappear in a second.

Franswift opened his mouth as he looked apathetically at the man that entered. “Don’t say words you don’t mean.”

Seemingly ignoring the scene that just happened the man continued to talk but he thought to himself. It seems I will need to reorganize the plans I regarded for him.

“I did mean it in some way. I am thankful for him making you live long enough for me to able to save you.”

The youth ignored whatever the man said. He turned to look out from the window again and said, “The people down there, they walk happily with nothing weighing on their hearts, not their next meal or when will the next trouble is going to appear. All the children seem to have parents, the street and the buildings are clean and organized. If this is heaven, then the place I was in before was definitely hell. Tell me, why the difference?”

“There is no ‘why’,” the man answered. “There was always unfairness before you existed and will continue after you cease existing. The entire world is unfair.”

“If you said that a couple of days ago, I am sure I would have taken those words as the answer. Some are born rich while others are poor, some are born with limbs while others are not, and some are born stronger than others. This, I have no qualms about, even now.”