"Your student?!"

I look at him, astonished, as my brain slowly realizes the seriousness of his proposition.

"You heard right. I want to take you as my student to make you a Royal Knight."

I hesitantly open my mouth, "Why me?"

"There are a few reasons for my decision, but the first one is because my Prince asked me."

I stare blankly at him. This must be some kind of joke, right? No one in their right mind would make such an important decision based on the statement of an eight-year-old boy. This must be knightly humor that escapes my comprehension.

"You shouldn't joke about these things," I reply coldly.

"Do you think I would joke so easily about a matter as serious as this?" he asks before waiting for my response.

'He expects me to accept this simple reason?' I think with aberration.

In front of my stubborn silence, he sighs and consents to develop his train of thought. "His Highness Kallias has always been curious about everything. He used to escape his apartment to wander in the gardens."

'How is that related to me?' I yell internally.

"One day he stumbled upon the training ground," he continues, lost in his memories, a faint smile on his lips. "We only noticed him an hour later. His eyes were shining with excitement, and he asked to attend swordsman training with me as his mentor. You see, Raven, even though he expressed an insatiable curiosity, he never showed any signs of excitement; it was the first and the last time. Since he was too young at that time, we refused but promised him to teach him once he reached his tenth year."

As he talks, I slowly start to understand the denouement of his explanation.

He turns his scarred face and looks into my eyes with a strange emotion-an emotion a diamond miner would have if stumbling upon something other than his purpose but as equally interesting.

"But when he described in detail what happened to him, the part when you came to save him, he had the same expression he had on the training ground."

My heart skips a beat, and I take a few seconds before asking carefully, "So you chose me because I am entertainment for your precious master?"

'A twisted reason, but not unimaginable like whatever reasons that pushed Loreiley to kill me and Sorin.'

"No, because he and I saw your potential."

I quickly raise my head, "What potential? I can't handle a double sword properly, and if the Prince didn't intervene during our fight, you would have ended my life. I may have the potential to become a respectable mercenary, but my training is not compatible with the knight's one."

"How could you possibly know that?" laughs Eiran, "I am the first knight you ever met. You only heard of me through baseless rumors that those frustrated mercenaries spread."

I straighten, annoyed by his remark, "How do you even know that you are the only knight I ever encountered?"

Technically he is right and wrong at the same time.

"Which sane or clean person would venture themselves into a mercenary village?" he asks rhetorically.

I don't answer; there would be no use in it.

"You don't know me, Raven, because if you did, you would know how talented you are. Of course, I would've beaten you! I have far more experience and strength than you and your family have. Well," he corrects, "your mother would give me some serious work to deal with."

"You really think I could become a Knight, and a Royal Knight no less?" I ask hesitantly.

Picturing it doesn't help me understand how I will achieve it.

"If I did not, would I have made that proposal in the beginning?" he answers patiently.

I look around. From the roof of the little garden house, we can perfectly see my house and the ground surrounding it bathed in the early afternoon sunlight.

"And my family?" I ask weakly.

I feel him smiling from behind; I already half-accepted his proposal.

"As a mercenary, you can protect your family to a certain extent, but can you protect them from soldiers when Svenja or other countries try to invade us?"

"Svenja?" I repeat instinctively.

He looks at me surprised before continuing, "Yes, you will help your kingdom by going to wars and participating in secret incursions."

He continues speaking, but I only hear a distant and faint background sound. My mind is racing into countless possibilities: I could go to war, manage to arrive at the capital, and kill Loreiley. Or when a delegation comes to Svenja, I could volunteer to escort it and kill her. I don't care what happens next, as long as she disappears from this world, but not before she explains what pushed her to commit what she did eighteen years ago.

'But is killing her the best way to take revenge? You could just live freely without worrying about father, Sorin, or Loreiley.'

My previous voice seems to whisper in my ear, enveloping me warmly.

'You could grab this opportunity without any second thought.'

I close my eyes and shake my head, 'No, I can't let her go unpunished.'

"I accept," I interrupt brutally.

Eiran stops talking, amused, "I knew that you would accept."

He jumps off the roof and lands perfectly on the ground. Dust and sand create a small cloud and dirty his metal boots.

"Let's go announce the news to your family."

"Announce the news... wait... what?! Already?!" I exclaim, jumping next to him.

In five steps, I reach his speed, "Isn't it too soon? I only made the decision a few seconds ago!"

He stops suddenly, and I bump into his armor. The metal violently knocks my face with a loud bang, and I taste blood flowing back into my mouth. The cut didn't have time to heal properly.

"Why wait when you can do it at this instant?" he asks, "Besides, telling them now or later won't change anything."

Once again, he leaves me speechless. This veteran seems to have an answer to everything. Is it because of his age or his position as Commander of the Royal Knights?

He doesn't wait for my response and continues to walk towards my home. He doesn't knock-seems like a habit-and enters inside without any hesitation. Marianna comes walking toward us, a menacing aura floating around her, her oversized sword trailing behind her.

"What did we tell you, Raven?" she stops, surprised, "I thought you were resting in your room."

I look at the floor, unable to look at her. I can't ignore the sincerity of her affection towards me. She is going to feel betrayed by my decision.

But before I have the chance to open my mouth, Eiran speaks for me, "Raven is going back with us to Noreen, where she will become a Royal Knight under my tutelage."

As Marianna drops her sword on the floor, I can see a strange satisfied glint in his eyes.

'Don't tell me the Commander of the Royal Knights can lower himself to such pettiness?'

I suspect him to find a certain satisfaction in snatching a promising mercenary to turn her into a knight.

"Raven," she asks softly, "Is that true?"

I slowly meet her green eyes, widened with disbelief. She hears

my response in my heavy silence. She grabs my wrist and puts me behind her.

"Lord Aldraril," she says firmly, "I would like to have a word in private with my daughter."

It's not a request but an order. Half amazed by her detachment, half anxious about what is going to happen next, I let myself be dragged by the deathly grip of Marianna. She opens the door of her study and makes me sit on the chair.

I stay silent as she walks around the small room. I restrain myself from biting my nail and start to count the seconds. Around two hundred later, I instinctively rub my neck slowly, making horizontal invisible marks all around my throat. Around five hundred seconds later, Marianna finally starts to speak. "Do you want to go?"

I clear my throat before answering with a determined voice, "I do."

"Then go."

I jump off the seat, "Wh-what?"

She takes a deep breath before repeating, "If you really want to go to Noreen and become a knight, then go."

"I thought you were going to forbid me to even think about it," I chuckle nervously, taking my hand off my neck.

Marianna looks at me with a sad smile, "Raven, I will never forbid you to do what you really wish for. If you don't wish to become a mercenary, then that is your choice, not mine."

"Thank you, Mom," I say, feeling a strange hole digging in my chest.

She pulls me into a tight hug, "Just be careful," she says, kissing the top of my head, "The castle is a place full of danger and conspiracies; stay away from the courtesans at all costs!"

I am going to ask her how she knows all that, but she speaks before I have the chance to, "You must also be strong. The other apprentices and knights will give you a rough time before accepting you just because you come from a mercenary family. But if one day they annoy you too much, take them to an empty space and give them a lesson," she says with a devious smile.