33 Chapter 33 - A Trial? (6)
It was another morning; the light came through the window, waking Theodore up. He drowsily opened his eyes before having a big yawn.
He glanced around the room before pausing at his city guard's uniform nearby.
It had been over a month since he started working as a city guard.
Except for the initial dilemma when he faced the young master Chasin incident, the rest of the patrolling task unexpectedly went smoothly.
The person who deserved the credit the most was his team leader, Lucas; it was as if he could know the information in advance and avoid the various incidents appropriately.
There was also one more noteworthy issue about Lucas. Although occasionally received dubious gazes from his team members, he did not receive any punishment for what happened to the young master Chasin.
Some people doubted Lucas's involvement, but since there was no evidence, he could escape unscathed.
Theodore firmly categorized his team leader as a cunning old fox from this event.
He laughed at his thought.
No matter what Lucas's image in his mind was, he still held his team leader in high regard and respected him.
After all, he had now thoroughly understood what the work of the city guard was like.
Theodore saw some teams of city guards not only disregard the people but even participate in harassment. Although they did it discreetly, they did not pay much attention to hiding their traces as if it was alright as long as it was not too apparent.
In addition, he knew that the city guards would choose the target, most of whom were people with low income or people at the bottom with no status in the outer city.
Using the position of the city guard, they acted no worse than a beast, pushing many people to a dead end.
Theodore could only sigh and ignore it when encountering or knowing such a thing.
Compared to the action of the others, Lucas was somewhat 'virtuous.'
Theodore was secretly glad that he got assigned to Lucas's team. At least, he did not need to do anything immoral against his will; he just needed to ignore and pretend nothing happened.
Although he initially felt immensely uncomfortable, what currently remained was numb and indifferent. He only hoped to collect enough money quickly to help his teacher recover as soon as possible. From his estimation, he could have enough money in at most a year.
Theodore blinked to stop himself from the messy thought and got up to prepare himself. He soon finished and went out of the room.
...
Outside, the room was empty.
Different from a month ago, no Nathan was sitting by the table waiting for him with the food. His teacher condition worsened, and he easily got exhausted and took most of his time sleeping.
Thinking of his teacher, Theodore felt depressed. Despite Nathan's attempt to hide, he could see that his teacher's condition was deteriorating quickly.
He did not know if his teacher could persist until next year.
The money required to invite a great doctor from the inner city was enormous. More than once, he hesitated whether he should discreetly participate in the exploitation and gain some quick money.
Even though he had yet to break his bottom line, only he knew how complicated his heart was.
Theodore did not consult Nathan about what he faced; he feared his teacher would stop him from working as a city guard when it was, after all, the job he realized could make the most money.
Theodore was weary as he prepared simple food for himself and a hot medicine soup for his teacher.
He quietly opened his teacher's room to put the bowl of medicine soup on the table near Nathan's bed. He then looked at Nathan's sleeping figure, trying to figure out his condition.
Anyone who saw Nathan's current state could figure out that he was incredibly sick at a glance. Nathan's face was haggard, his lip bloodless in color, his complexion pale, and his hand tightly held the blanket trembling.
He hesitated whether to wake his teacher up to drink the medicine now or not. Ultimately, he designed to let Nathan rest.
Theodore quietly left the room and quickly finished his breakfast before preparing the food for Nathan to take during the day easily without having to cook everything himself.
When he finished everything, he left the house with a heavy heart.
...
Hearing the sound of the main door opening and closing, Nathan waited for some time before opening his eyes, curling himself as he coughed heavily.
He had woken up some time ago, wanting to cough, but he heard Theodore's footsteps outside, so he suppressed himself as he did not wish to worry his student.
After enough coughing that he felt better, Nathan turned to look at the medicine on the table beside the bed. He groaned; if possible, he wished to tell Theodore not to waste money on him. His illness was uncurable.
In fact, he had told Theodore a similar thing before; the result was a long complaint and nagging from his disciple that did not change anything.
Nathan slowly sat up, leaning against the bed. He then reached out to get the medicine.
He looked at the medicine for a long time before taking a deep breath and swallowing it in one gulp. Although he quickly drank it, the bitter taste still spread in his mouth and slightly distorted his expression.
'I really hate bitter medicine,' Nathan smiled wryly to himself.
...
Theodore arrived at the training ground early as usual, but he felt that today's atmosphere was different.
There were not only recruited here but also the senior city guards waiting around, making the place more crowded than normal.
He glanced around and even saw Lucas talking seriously with a group of senior city guards.
Lucas felt his gaze, so he lightly nodded before ignoring him and continuing his conversation.
Theodore then found a somewhat quiet place to stand and waited until the assembly, listening to the gossip around him.
When it was the designated time, the captain of city guards, William, came and asked everyone to assemble. He loudly commanded, "Gather!"
Everyone quickly gathered following William's order, separating between the recruit and the old city guard.
Noticing everyone was in order, William nodded before directly getting to the main topic by declaring solemnly, "Everyone, war is coming."
