Zaos didn't know if he gave the soldiers some motivation to improve themselves or one more reason not to spar with him. Either way, they spent the rest of the afternoon training hard. Thanks to that, he was in a good mood, but once they returned to the base, Zaos received a surprise.

"The commander wants to speak with you as soon as possible, Captain Zaos," one of the guards at the entrance said.

"All right, I will see him right now," Zaos nodded. "You guys can go ahead. You are free to do what you want for the rest of the day."

  Cohnal looked at Zaos, but he only shrugged. If he was going to be punished, that was just a small problem. In any case, even though he was pretty insane in thinking that he couldn't win against the mercenaries but still wanted to fight anyways, Zaos had a feeling that he wasn't a lost cause.

  Once he nocked on the door, Zaos heard the voice telling him that he could enter. Brien didn't seem as exhausted as the other day, and one could even see an expression of relief on his face.

"You called me, sir?" Zaos asked.

"Sit down. I have some news that I want to discuss with you," Brien said.

"Good news?" Zaos asked.

"Yes… around midnight, we received some Intel confirming that the mercenaries base was attacked at night, and they lost some of their supplies and their horses," Brien said. "What is weird is the fact that nothing like that happened before, but it happened as soon as your unit showed up. Do you have something to say about that?"

"Not really," Zaos said.

"You can be frank with me, Zaos," Brien said. "I am the commander here, but no commander in their right mind would punish directly the heir of one of the two houses that served the king directly."

"I suppose so… and?" Zaos asked.

"Still don't feel like assuming the attack, huh," Brien said. "Well, I suppose that is to be expected. Regardless, I didn't ask you before because I assumed you would be too naive and inexperienced to come with a plausible explanation. Still, I am asking you now, do you think that we can fend off an army that is five times larger than ours and still has dozens of siege weapons?"

"I honestly don't know," Zaos replied.

"You don't know, but I can see in your face that you won't accept defeat," Brien frowned.

"I came here to fight the invaders, sir," Zaos replied. "I received the orders to follow your orders, but I want to win. While I don't know many of my soldiers yet, I don't want to let their first campaign ended in defeat. I don't want to lose many of them either. I wish that all of us could return home after defeating the mercenaries, but I am not that naive."

"I can see that, but are you still willing to risk your neck to achieve your goals?" Brien asked.

"I don't know any other way to achieve anything without sacrificing something else," Zaos said.

"Is that so… I imagined that despite your achievements, you were a troublesome kid since the king sent you here with only five hundred men," Brien said. "Still, it looks like he thinks that you can pull this off."

"I wouldn't go that far," Zaos said. "Whatever the leaders of this country think, I will do my best to keep this kingdom enjoying its peace. You don't have to risk anything, sir. But I would like to move my unit as I see fit. You thought that five hundred men wouldn't change the result of the next battles, so let me use those five hundred and try to make the battlefield a little more even for us."

"I suppose I can't lose anything by agreeing with that," Brien said. "Still, if you were to fall in battle…"

"Just say that I disobeyed your direct orders," Zaos said. "If I can't accomplish anything against a bunch of slavers, I might as well die with the dishonor of insubordination."

"Well, if you are willing to go that far, then it is fine by me," Brien said and then got up before offering a handshake. "I also give you my word that if we win this battle, I will turn you into my second in command, and then I will retire. I, more than anyone else, know that I am not fit for this post."

"Well, I will politely refuse," Zaos said. "My mother's grave is a place that I need to visit as much as possible, and I won't be able to visit by becoming the commander of this place."

"While that is a bit unexpected, your reason is something that I can understand," Brien said. "If you need help with something, I will be here to offer a hand."

"Thank you very much," Zaos said and then finally accepted the handshake.

  Zaos could understand Brien a little more after talking with him. While he was young, he was among the oldest of the whole base. With the mercenaries' country so close, it was difficult for the soldiers of that region to live long lives. Somehow, Brien survived and became the commander, but he was just someone who got lucky. He didn't have impressive martial powers or the intelligence of a tactical genius. He was only an average man that gave his whole life to serve the kingdom. That was probably why he decided to stay in the base and give as much trouble to the enemies… It was everything for the kingdom.

  In a sense, it was pretty admirable, but Zaos would never be able to do the same. He wanted to fight for the kingdom until he found the person he was supposed to protect, but he wanted to do things his own way. He didn't want to serve as a disposable soldier. That feeling only grew stronger in the last months since Zaos knew that his father, Drian, and the king didn't deserve even a single fragment of anyone's loyalty.