3 Gremory Gardwald

--Robert Gardwald Point of View--

"It is decided then, now we need to unload the wagons and take the loot to the forge, as soon we finish all the job and get paid in the forge. We reunite all the company here at the warehouse and decide our future, in the meanwhile you go talk to the boy and decide what to do with him" Said Neywell.

"I was going to do that."

"Hey kid, come here, we need to talk."

"What happened?"

"Nothing really is just that, the whole company will disassemble soon."

"Why?"

"With the war coming to an end, the empire no longer needs external help from private armies anymore."

"But they need you guys, without you guys the army would have lost the last battle."

"hahaha kid, you don't have any idea of how large the war is, yes you right about the battle, but even then, at the same time, dozens of other battles just like that were happening, without even mentioned the front battle, we have our part in the war, but now is over, the soldiers of the Empire will chase the nonhumans to turn them into slaves and everything will go back to normal again."

"What is a slave?"

"You don't know even that? I wish to have a mind like yours... A slave is someone who works until death with no rewards or any right to complain."

"This sounds awful, why would someone agree with that?"

"That's the thing, they don't, so we go to war and the cycle restart. It is a nasty business, I only join the war because of the nonhumans invasions, that had to stop, now that is done I am over with."

"But.... bu.. Why not stay together? With everyone."

"As you see, people have to eat, and that isn't cheap, a normal rank E soldier costs 10 bronze coins a day, and the price raises up after that, so... keep an army is quite expensive. Without large contracts, it's impossible unless you are a nobleman."

"And a rank E soldier is?"

"I keep forgetting about your memory loss, sorry. Let me explain something to you, if you are a fighter then your strength is measured by certain ranks, the ranks are F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, and SSS, it is a way to define the strength of the individuals, I am a rank C soldier, one of the strongest in the company and Neywell is a rank B, a person needs to be at least rank E to be enlisted in an army of some kind, but if the person has rank F, then he or she can train to improve their skills and also improve their rank. Yet, everyone has their limit, unfortunately, I already reach mine decades ago.

There are even mages, their ranks work the same, but a mage of a low rank not always is stronger than a soldier of the same rank, because of the limitation of mana and skills, yet in the higher ranks the mages can be considered near gods."

"Wow, I can become a mage?"

"Don't know child, the thing with mana is that you can improve yours, but if you don't have any to improve so there is not much to do. Mages are extremely rares, I heard some generals of the army talking one time about this, and they said that the expectation of becoming a magician is one in every 10,000 inhabitants."

"Then how do I know if I have mana?"

"Don't know kid if you want to learn sword fight you can talk to me, but this mage stuff is only for the mages, fortunately, there is an easy way to know, by measuring your rank at the center of the town, they do it for every citizen to find the mages between them, I can take you there after here if you want."

"Yes, I really want that, we should rush there before they leave, let's go."

"Wait a minute, the sun is high in the sky, they are not going anywhere this soon, and why you are rushing with that? I never saw you pick interest in anything like this."

"Is just that... you said about the powers and God things, so.. With power, I can do anything right?"

"Don't know about that, do you want to use power for what? subjugate people like everyone else?"

"No, it is just that, I was thinking that maybe I could use them to recover my memories."

"I see, maybe you can, maybe not, even if it is possible, I don't think you really want that, our mind shuts down for something's and is better to leave be. Maybe one day you will learn that, but I will help if you want, just after here."

"What will happen to the company now?"

"We will just finish some business, then we will go in different paths, Neywell will remain here in the city with probably most of the company to serve as city guards because most of the previous city guards had left to battle and die there, others will join the Imperial Army to chase the non-humans, some of them who manage to get rank C will try to be accepted in the guilds of the city to be adventurers and I with some fellows will go to Tuska, a village near the city."

"About that, I was wondering, why did you earn the village instead of Neywell?"

"The village was promised at the start of the contract, that was 2 years ago, I already had enough with war, so I said to Neywell that I was only coming if, in the end, I could keep the village, Neywell don't want a calm life sitting around in some random place, but this is just what I want. Furthermore, I gave up on any payments from the last years, so my only payment so far is going to be that. With me being the new lord of that land, I can bring with me whoever I want, Then... I am going to ask you only once, do you want to come with me? I can adopt as my son because I don't have any heir, so you can have my last name too, shit... You don't even have a name, you need to pick some."

"I don't think I have another place to go anyways... about the name, don't see much sense in having one, but if I have to choose, what about the one that is marked in my body?"

"What mark?"

"The one on my left arm."

"I was thinking this thing was only some kind of scar, never saw any language that looks like this, what is wrote there?"

"Gremory."

"You can read that from just from this small thing? Looking closely it seems to have only two letters there... Where did you learn this language?"

"I said already so many times, I don't remember, just know."

"What your other scars mean's then? I didn't pay much attention to that because they are so small, yet you have so many, maybe your family was of some kind of strange religion."

The boy had a scar in the face just a little below the right eye, the one on the left arm near the triceps, two scars on both side of the chest and one in the right hand, but the scars were too small so the only real thing a person could see was some scratches on the skin.

"I don't know, the only scar with meaning to me is this one."

"I see, so be it then, Gremory Gardwald". (Author note: Also known as GG)