The bloody knights returned to the capital after two weeks of traveling. Although Brien held back on sending his full report, the word had already traveled to that part of the kingdom, and many people received them with cheering. Besides, many members of the unit lived in the capital, so it was only normal.

  However, Zaos didn't let that fool him. He had a pretty important job, and he already told by looking at some faces in the crowd since they couldn't see their friends or relatives that talking with them wouldn't be easy.

"Cohnal, I am going to give my report to the king," Zaos said. "Can you take the new soldiers and give them the papers in the headquarters? After that, everyone will have two weeks off."

"Yes, Captain," Cohnal said, and then he whispered. "Captain, maybe you should be more careful when referring to His Majesty."

"I will be more careful from now on," Zaos said. "Anyway, see you guys later."

  Zaos increased the pace and headed toward the castle since noon was approaching, and that was the best time to go to the castle. Although he was going to give a report, Zaos already was used to that kind of timing.

  As if they had been waiting for him, the castle guards opened the gates when Zaos appeared. One of them was even kind enough to look after Moody since it would be rude to enter the castle while riding a horse.

"Don't cause too much trouble," Zaos said and then left Moody behind.

  It seemed that was a slow day in the castle. Zaos assumed that because he didn't find anyone in front of the throne room waiting to talk with the king. The maid receptionist was still there, though. So it seemed the king was waiting for someone. In a hurry, she went to inform him about Zaos' arrival, and then he quickly received permission to ender.

  The atmosphere seemed a bit different in the throne room for some reason. Zaos concluded that the reason for that was because the royal guards weren't there. Only Laiex and Drian were.

"Zaos, welcome back," Dalyor said. "You returned much sooner than we expected."

"Yes, I am sorry for disappointing you, Your Majesty," Zaos said.

"No, this isn't a disappointment," Dalyor frowned. "Your quick return is one of the best good news I could expect to hear in the last few weeks."

"Yes, sir," Zaos said. "Here is Commander's Brien full report."

  Laiex stepped forward and received the document from Zaos's hands. His father seemed calm as usual, but Zaos didn't expect to see him with any other kind of expression since he had been trained to look composed all the time.

  While Dalyor was reading the report, Zaos finally noticed that the queen wasn't around. Not even Ameria was there. That was quite unexpected since, considering her personality, she would be there to at least welcome Zaos with a smile. Zaos said that he would keep his distance, but Ameria never did the same.

"The princess went on a trip. One of her friends who live in another town is having a birthday party," Laiex said.

"Good for her," Zaos said.

"Drannor and some other kids went with them," Laiex added.

"Good for him," Zaos said.

"You received an invitation, but since you were on a mission, I passed the message to the family in question," Laiex said.

"Good for me," Zaos said.

  Laiex sighed. It seemed that his son wouldn't even wait a few days to try and get on his nerves. That was within his expectations, but it still was quite annoying.

"Commander Brien said that you were vital for the victory in the west," Dalyor said. "It seems that you more than answered our expectations, Zaos."

"I am glad, and I just have to lose more than half of my unit for that," Zaos said.

"That is… regrettable," Dalyor said. "Regardless, it seems a bit too soon for that, but I would like to promote you again. From this day on, you are one thousand men commander."

"I humbly thank you for your generosity," Zaos said, trying really hard not to sigh.

"I heard that you don't like parties all that much, so I am wondering if we should celebrate this promotion with a ceremony," Dalyor said. "What do you think of this idea, Zaos?"

"I would like to avoid that, Your Majesty," Zaos said without his sarcastic tone. "I am not really in the mood, and it will only get worse in the next few days since I am planning to visit the families of my fallen soldiers. Rather than that, I would like to ask for a decent reward in gold for my soldiers, the ones who survived and those who didn't."

"That can be done and shall be done," Dalyor said. "That is very considerate of you, Zaos. Still, you shouldn't do that kind of task alone. Your subordinates should help you with that."

"I gave them a few weeks off, so I will do it myself," Zaos said.

"All right, considering that your unit will increase again, you will need some time to adjust, so I will help you by giving not such difficult tasks for a while," Dalyor said.

"I appreciate it," Zaos said. "Well, if that is all, I will take my leave."

Without wasting that golden opportunity not to waste any more time, Zaos left the castle and immediately headed to the headquarters and then grab the documents with the addresses of the soldiers who had fallen. Their families were waiting, and it would be better if they heard from Zaos about the truth as soon as possible.

----- -----

"Once again, you were right about your son, Laiex," Dalyor said. "Despite the fact that you two don't get along well, you certainly see how much potential he has. He killed two very famous commanders of the mercenaries' country. He killed the most troublesome one while he was poisoned. I find that hard to believe, but according to the reports commander Brien heard, when Zaos fought to give his all, he split hundreds of mercenaries alongside with their horses in a single fight."

"I talked with Drannor, and he said that he did something similar when they were in Vezar," Drian said. "Although it was really dangerous, he wanted to fight Zaos while he uses magic, but he never tried that hard against him."