Chapter 56 - The Knight Commander

"Young man. The Commander is asking to see you."

Reiner quickly stepped in between the knights and Griff as he put up his body in between protectively.

"Sorry, but Griff can't come with you right now... we have to check on our guild master and the mage who helped us."

Gareth slightly rolled his eyes.

"Who do you think is taking care of your injured in the first place? This is disrespectful..."

[Ugh... A man overflowing with chivalry is simply annoying.]

'I guess I can understand that.'

[Look Griff. After this whole shenanigan is settled we'll be having a long talk about what you did.]

'Sheesh you're like my mom.'

[...Did you just call me old?]

Griff sweat dropped at hearing Caphriel's chilling comment and decided not to respond. His body felt chilly though... she wouldn't harm him right?

"Kid... get a move on."

Gareth said, interrupting his thoughts.

"Hey now wait a moment!"

"You have no say in this adventurer!"

Gareth said slightly irritated. Reiner squeezed his fists in annoyance and walked in Gareth's face, both staring down each-other.

"Hey guys calm down! This isn't a big deal Reiner!"

"...fine... but if any of you harm him expect me to come after you."

"We're knights of Kulva you fool, do you take us for bandits?"

Gareth said in annoyance as he nodded at Griff, and started to walk towards the center of the town square where horses were being loaded with anything that was salvageable. The green haired man was commanding the knights who were carrying stuff they could find left and right.

"Sir! I've brought the person you asked for."

"Ah! Thank you Gareth. I'll take it from here."

Gareth and the two knights gave a quick salute, and turned to join the other knights in fulfilling their duties.

The man smiled and folded his arms.

"I'm sorry for Gareth's behavior. He can be pretty zealous when it comes to his duty as a knight. He's a good lad."

"I'll take your word for it."

Griff said as he put both hands in his pockets, eyeing the man curiously.

"Ah, I never did introduce myself properly now. My name is Luke. I'm the leader as you most likely already know."

"Yeah... I'm Griff."

Griff said as he raised his hand for a handshake which Luke gladly obliged to.

"So, do I call you Sir Luke?"

"Whatever you want kid. So, I'll get straight to the point. Those were some insane movements you did mid-air kid."

"Wait a second... you're telling me that you saw me?"

"My eyes don't lie kid."

He smirked.

"If you were so close that you could see me why didn't you come help us then!"

"Hey now you handled it pretty well in my opinion. Plus, I was busy commanding my men to encircle the city. We came through slowly because of those numbers... still it was definitely fun watching you fight like that hehe. Mind telling me what magic you used?"

'This... this guy... he's not like he portrayed himself to be.. he's a damn-'

"Mind exchanging a couple blows with me later?"

'Battle junkie...'

Griff held his head with one hand and extended his other to make Luke stop talking.

"One second... so you just watched me fight?"

"I like good fights kid, and little guys like you that burn bright on the battlefield. Still, there was no longer immediate danger for you lot as soon as I had Alfrum in my sights. It's nothing to get angry at."

"Well how could I god damn know that!"

"Haaa. You got a point."

Luke slightly lost his passion as he sounded like a deflating balloon.

"Still... what I want to say is that it would be a waste for you to stay here kid. You've certainly got talent if you're able to sever the arm of an undead Troll King."

Luke put his hand on Griff's shoulder in encouragement with a slight smile.

Griff pushed his hand away in annoyance.

"Yeah thanks and all... but I'd prefer to stay here."

Slowly there was an increase in mana around the area. It seemed that no one felt it other than Griff. He looked around in anxiousness, but he suddenly realized after the mana grew stronger that it was coming from Luke. This was... certainly not how he was expecting to come across someone who surpassed Alatar in every possible way. The old sage was like a kid next to this monster.

Luke still had his smile on, but it wasn't as happy as before.

"You know Griff... it would certainly be dangerous if someone figured out you somehow used two attributes at the same time, am I right?"

[This man is impressive...]

Griff's eyes widened.

'He's dangerous... He wasn't bluffing earlier.'

Griff's face started to whiten as his hands started to slightly shake. It wasn't fear... it was the pressure of the mana and the desperate feeling of weakness that was hurting him.

"You... want me to follow you to the capitol... right?"

The surging mana instantly vanished as Luke's smile became genuine again.

"Heh now it wasn't that hard to agree was it?"

"...how did you-"

"Understand you used 2 attributes? Look kid. You're talented, but people that have trained so much with magic can sense abnormalities much easier."

"Yeah... you have a point."

Griff was internally shaking in anger at himself. He thought he'd left making mistakes like these behind, but it seems he was wrong. There was still a lot he had to learn.

Luke sighed as he patted Griff on the head, and slightly kneeled to look at him in the eyes. He was fairly tall after all.

"Look Griff, you can trust me that I won't tell anyone about this, in fact I'll help you keep it a secret if that's what you want."

"But-"

"Why would you trust me in the first place, right?"

Griff nodded.

"Well... that's just a risk you'll have to take at this point. It'll be a good learning experience for you."

"Alright. Fair point. I guess I really have no choice."

Luke laughed.

"I'm afraid you don't! Don't worry though, I'm not going to treat you bad. In fact, I'm planning on enrolling you into the Military Academy. Can't have talent like yours slip past me now."

"An...Academy?"

Luke scratched his cheek in confusion as his eyes looked funnily at Griff.

"You... don't know?"

Griff slowly nodded.

[It's a place for learning, moron...]

'Hey now I'm not all knowledgable like you.'

[It's common sense, something you lack...]

"Well never-mind that for now. I'm assigning Gareth to look after you till we leave for the capitol. You've got a day to part with Alfrum. It's not like you'll never visit it again though. Now, if you'll excuse me kiddo I got some work to do."

Luke said as he saw from the corner of his eye a couple of the knights running around in confusion as a wooden house was suddenly lit on fire, and Gareth walked out of it in confusion saying one thing.

"Uh... oops?"