Lynel's eyes widened.
'So soon?'
Not that he hadn't really expected it, but immediately after his first engagement in combat? Immediately after he's used his infusion for the first time?
"Hm." Lynel scratches his beard and turns to Hale, still asleep from the medic's infusion.
"Well, I suppose you can ask him yourself when he's awake." He responds with a not.
The smaller man smiles, "A-ah…! Thank you, my Duke." He bows his head down a little bit.
"See him to a room until he has an audience with the kid here." Lynel waves him off and a few more guards nod, taking the courier with them.
"Take Hale too, he's exhausted currently, so…" A couple of other guards move to take Hale away.
"The rest of you, move to repair buildings and the street. See to it that you're done by morning, I want people living normally like this daemon never existed."
"Hup!" The rest of the guards salute with a circle over their chests and get to work.
Now, the only people left were the unconscious Fault, Terrick, Lynel, and the medic still tending to Fault's wounds.
"How's he?" Lynel turns to the two, the medic continues applying more bandages across the boy's stomach, chest, and arms.
"He's… fine, more or less." The medic says quietly.
"Anyone else with these injuries would be out of commission for a week, but some of the wounds seem to be already healing. It's astounding…" He leans close to get a better look at Fault's body.
Lynel's eyes sharpen at his words, "I see."
His grip tightens in his gauntlet, readying a fist.
"W-woah, woah!" Terrick catches his father's actions and immediately stands in front of him.
"What're you doing, father?"
Lynel sighs, "The boy needs to die."
"Why?"
"Are you seriously asking me this?" Lynel's tone tenses, turning stern toward his own son.
The medic looks up at the two, still crouched next to the sleeping boy.
"F-father, he helped-"
"A fourteen year old possessing the strength to break our wooden swords, our training dummies even at their top tensile…"
Lynel begins to name what all Fault has done.
"...his wounds are already visibly regenerating, and the biggest offense is that he held his own against a two-winged chaotic daemon."
If it was just a one-winged chaotic, Lynel would've understood and perhaps left him alone, but two?
Two was too far, the strength difference between one and two wings is practically worlds apart.
"The boy clearly isn't human. He blurts inconsistent lies of what actually happened to Tenna. I'd be willing to bet he's the cause behind Tenna's destruction, the death of-"
"Father." Terrick cuts him off.
Lynel stops, his eyes narrowing as Terrick continues, "Have you held more than an exchange of words with him?"
Lynel pauses, only tilting his head.
"I'm not saying you should completely pardon him, he's very strange too, sure. His left eye is gone, not many of our soldiers can say that either."
He turns his hand to Fault, "The kid's probably been through hell and back, and most likely doesn't want to recall whatever the hell happened back at Tenna. The entire town was leveled, for gods' sake."
Lynel closed his eyes, thinking to himself.
"Let him have his secrets, and he still protected Gate, too. Even if it was just a bit of combat against a chaotic. Which…" Terrick turns to look at Fault again, second guessing himself the tiniest bit.
"..." Lynel stayed silent for a brief moment.
Lynel eventually lets out a deep sigh, "We'll send him to Aleon with his friend."
Terrick smiled a bit, "Thank you, father."
"I'll use a transport as an apology for him as well."
That made Terrick's eyes widen a bit, "A transport?"
Lynel nods, "I'm sure he'd like to know what that is, as well."
Terrick's eyebrow raises, "What…?"
He follows Lynel's gaze to look at Fault, his eye open and looking between the father and his son.
"Ah-! Oh…" The medic squatting next to him jumped when he saw that Fault was awake.
"Uhm… a transport?" Fault asks.
*****
I woke up and found myself in quite an interesting situation.
Shortly after Duke Lynel said the word 'transport' and Terrick made a shocked face.
The medic helps me stand up fully, making me wince at my open cuts that he wasn't quite done bandaging yet.
"Mhm, a transport." Lynel responds, his voice as deep and grumpy as what I recall from before.
"Mind elaborating…?"
Lynel doesn't say a word, Terrick was still staring at me, he had quite the funny look on his face.
Then, they both point at the circle of stone floating above the castle in the center of the city.
The one with the blue sparks and markings carved into every other stone.
"...?"
A few sparks fly toward it, through the center of the stone circle, then fire off in a random direction.
"...Oh."
Terrick sighs and nods, "I guess if my father says so, we're sending you through Gate."
I gulp at the thought, "So… I'll be sent through that? Toward Aleon?"
They both nod.
"O-okay…"
I look around a bit, "Where'd Hale go…? Did he already wake up?"
Lynel shakes his head as Terrick speaks for him, "Some guy from Ayen Academy actually scouted him, already."
'Huh? For real?'
"Seriously?"
Terrick nods, "Yeah, I guess he happened to be in the crowd of civilians behind our stationed guards, and saw his infusion form."
Terrick turns to his father, "Do you think he saw Hale's infusion has two classes?"
I cough on the air, "H-Hale's infusion has what!?"
…
…
The next morning came, and things were pretty hectic for Duke Lynel.
I hadn't seen him since last night, especially since I was in bed recovering.
I could only assume he was addressing the situation to the people and doing mounds of paperwork.
I lean up out of bed with a slight groan and look down at my bandages.
A couple were somewhat soaked red with blood, but it didn't hurt all that much, actually.
So, I undid them.
I didn't really think about them that much, especially since I had other things on my mind.
Hale's infusion being two classes, his recommendation to Ayen Academy, my transportation to Aleon…
A lot was about to happen, it made me a bit nervous.
I finish taking off my wrapped bandages and look at my body in the mirror.
I looked more muscular than I remembered. A couple of lighter tone scars stayed across my abdomen and chest.
"Oh… man." I looked strange like this, but whatever.
I put my tattered black shirt back on, the collar is torn and whisking around my neck with each movement I do.
Then some brown pants, my boots, and finally my silk.
I could feel myself growing attached to the Abyss Wyrm silk, it felt nice, looked nice, and made me not have to worry about my left eye.
I step outside my room and into the hallway. It was cool, somewhat cold air.
I saw Hale's room across from mine and carefully stepped closer to his wooden door.
"...?"
I heard voices inside, muffled, but two people were definitely speaking.
One was Hale's, the other was one I didn't recognize, a voice that sounded like someone was pinching his nose.
"W-we'll provide transportation via carriage, you don't have to pay any money…"
Were they talking about Hale going to Ayen?
"What about Fault?"
"Fau- who?"
"Fault, my friend."
"What of him…?"
"Can he come with?"
My eye widened at Hale's request.
'No…! Just take the deal!'
"Sorry, lad, but I only have the one recommendation, and the carriage only provides transportation for Ayen affiliates…"
"Then…"
I slam through the door, the man speaking to Hale jumps out of his seat and lands on the floor with a little yelp. Hale turns his head to me.
"Fault-!"
"Take the deal. Go to Ayen through the recommendation."
His eyes widened, "What? What about you, then?"
I smile, "I was told that Lynel would send me to Aleon through Gate."
I point my thumb up in the direction of the giant stone circle overhead, but we can't see it in the castle.
Hale blinked, "So you'd get there before me?"
I nod back, "Take the deal, go to Ayen. I'll get in somehow."
The other man wearing glasses just stares at me.
Then-
"E-eek! You're the freak!"
…
'Huh?'
"I'm the… what?"
"A freak! That's why I picked Young Master Hale over you!"
I stared at him, my arms falling down to my sides.
"A one-eyed kid with strange black and white hair, covered in wounds and still holding his own against that chaotic!?"
He straightens up, "Without showing your infusion, no less? Ayen doesn't look for physicality, no. Ayen searches for the most promising infusions via scouters like myself."
He stands up and puffs his chest out, his little mustache quite disheveled, his glasses are also tilted.
"That's why I'm recommending this young man here, Hale!"
He shows off Hale with his hands, as if I didn't already know him.
"Uhm…" I raise my hand to him.
"I wasn't gonna ask to take his spot, just take him to Ayen like usual."
I look at Hale with a little smile and nod.
The scouter looks at me, astounded.
"Oh, yeah, is there any other way to enter the academy without a recommendation?"
His expression turns much more serious, his brow furrowing.
"The entrance exam."
"Cool! So I'll just take the entrance ex-"
"No."
I stopped, shocked by his stern tone.
"The entrance exam is much harder than you think."
He points at me, "Even if you did fight against that chaotic-whats-it for however long, if you go in like… that."
His hand flicks over my appearance, then my missing eye.
"You'll die."