A peaceful moment

Returning to his encampment, Alain passed through the seemingly soulless training section. Then, he heard familiar voices in the distance and decided to go. There, Jean was with Rodolphe, sparring.

"Didn't succeed, I take it?" Jean turned to him.

Alain nodded. "What could make them agree? We've no time..."

Jean looked at Rodolphe. "Time's always what we lack most. Rodolphe's great; If he had a more few years...'' Then he could become a talented knight, one whose path wasn't limited only to those of becoming a Paladin. But time never stops, a feminine voice was telling Jean. Nothing would stop them from getting destroyed.

"I think this could very well be my last battle, a thought I hadn't had for a long time. Dhorkar's imperial family must be behind the Paladins' actions, and they might wish killing all of us, as they've always wished..." he sighed.

"Killing all of us?" Alain's brows furrowed. "Why would they?"

"Just a mere political plot; only yours allies can betray you. I haven't seen this coming."

"What were you training for?" Alain hypocritically asked.

"For batle of cou-" Rodolphe said.

"Getting stronger is always positive." Jean cut in.

"You should head back now, Rodolphe, it's getting late."

"You wanna make him lose his last chance of proper training?" Alain looked at Jean as if he had misheard. He was strange, almost sentimental; he typically was the jovial and careless kind, one that didn't take part in others' business. "You really wanna make him lose any few chances of survival he still has?"

"He doesn't has to go."

"That's not for us to decide, and I doubt any exception can be made, even for a child. He'll probably die without it, don't interfere."

"And he'll die for sure if he goes! I can't do this to Louis! Of all my companions, only 3 of us survived!"

"And that's your fault?"

"Not entirely, but it's my full responsibility. They entrusted their life to me, and I killed them."

"That's where the problem lay, Alain. They decided on their own to go, that was their choice."

"They did sign this contract, maybe some willingly, but we had a fixed quota to bring."

Jean's face darkened slightly. "If you deny their choices, you're delaying all their existence, you're denying them, saying them died for nothing, never choosing for them! That is the worst lack of respect."

"... I was responsible."

"Great, and in what does it concern Rodolphe? Don't he wants to go?"

"He is a child, he doesn't know yet."

"As if you knew that much more than him. Breaking the wings of a bird won't make it any happier, even if his tribe was full of wingless birds."

"As if you knew that much more than him. Breaking the wings of a bird won't make it any happier, even if his tribe was full of wingless birds."

Alain eyed him "You're comparing us at a tribe of wingless birds?"

"And where can you fly off? Which future can you decide for yourself?! He has talent and is young enough to be worth training."

''Because you're different? No one says you'll be living at the end of the war."

"My point exactly. Rodolphe can only count on himself on that one."

Alain knew he couldn't reason him. He was too look down upon, too weak. He has neither words nor strength, only the system. He found an excuse for that defeat, rationalizing it:

"... I guess training is fine."

'System, give me all of the quests you could find now.'

---

Obeying orders is fine. Obeying the rules societies created is also fine. But is it the path they've decided? If backstabbing is a way to increase one's status it isn't one to improve one's life. Then, reality will hit hard. Freedom degrades when left untouched. Following even the best system won't make them a God as it requires more willpower than anything else.

-From the "sage", acknowledging his wrongdoings, he who had just repeated his mistakes in his second life.