Hanging Out

When he exited the palace he found the General and Edward next to Nova. "You're finally out, it took you long enough".

Rex looked at him " Enough with your jokes general if the king hears what you're saying, we'll get in trouble".

The general gave him a mischievous look "well it's true, so just curious what did you talk about for so long and stop calling me general that's only my title call me James?"

Rex looked at him and remembered what Emily had told him. According to her only generals were able to go and get spirit companions, he assumed that the king got the chance to go because, well he is the king. This meant that James who was a general must have one, and now was the perfect time to ask him about it. "We were talking about the palace and about spirit companions".

The general looked at Rex in confusion "Kid you seriously have to work on your game, you were alone with the princess and the thing that you talk about are spirit companions".

Rex just shrugged "Like I said there is no way the Princess will have those feelings towards me, anyway the reason we started talking about them was because we saw Fenrir in the garden. That's when I started to ask more about them since it was my first time hearing about the topic".

Then he turned to look at James " The princess said that only generals have to opportunity to go to the mountain, and now I'm wondering if you would happen to have a companion".

The general gave a smile and nodded raising a hand and moments later there was a shadow of a winged creature cast on the ground. When Rex looked up he found himself looking at a dragon. It landed beside James, "This is Archie, he's a wyvern and companion". Rex looked at Archie it was his first time seeing a dragon, even if it technically wasn't the same species it didn't make any difference to how cool it looked.

After asking the general more about the Wyvern he found out that instead of being a fire attribute like most of the wyverns Archie was a lighting wyvern. The general also said that he had another 4 companions but that they were guarding the land he owned. He only had Archie because it was his only companion that could fly and bringing another one just slowed him down.

Now that Rex had seen the Wyvern he began to wonder what the difference between the spirit companion version and the ones you could find out in the wild. He couldn't hold it and asked James, "Well it's true that you could catch a Wyvern out in the wild, but when you compared them to spirit companions you find the companions to be better in every way they will be larger, faster, they have stronger magic and in certain cases you might even be able to get a variant. Spirit companions are also extremely loyal, they will be willing to sacrifice their lives for you at any moment. There are also many cases where someone gets a species of a companion that you won't be able to find in this world since they come from different dimensions".

After letting Archie fly back, they rode their horses towards a canteen. Once they finished eating Edward broke the silence " So Ray what are your plans".

After thinking carefully he answered, "Well I'll keep on adventuring and fighting as a soldier whenever I'm required".

Edward's face could show a hint of curiosity as he asked: "How much money do you currently have saved".

After thinking about his spending and earnings he looked at the knight and responded: "Well I should have about 226,000 coins".

"Then wouldn't that 2 million coins come in handy".

Rex nodded he was still thinking of tempting it was but he had his morals. "That money was not won by me alone it was a team effort and it isn't right if I take it all myself".

James nodded " That has some truth to it but without your assistance, the gate could have been breached, I also heard that you gave our enemies the most pressure in the battles' '. Rex gave a smile "You are overpraising me, James, you could have easily defeated them without me if you used Archie ''.

The general shook his head "no you might not know this but generals can't use spirit companions in large battles against humans, the only way you can use them is if the other side uses them first".

Rex was surprised 'so the spirit companions and their masters are like nuclear bombs, different countries have them but they are not stupid enough to use them and risk angering the other countries, or in this case other kingdoms', he thought.

James took another drink of beer and then looked at Rex " So kid about the offer of becoming my apprentice we are still good right".

He smiled "Sir when I say that I will do something is because no matter what I will do it".

The General laughed as he hit the table "Good good that is the spirit, you better not let me down, kid".

Edward looked at his happy brother and smiled "James I still can't believe that you are taking a student after you turned down so many people".

The general shrugged "Well what do expect, when I look at Ray he reminds me of me when I was his age. Well, almost I wasn't as talented as him".

Rex could feel himself turn red, 'I really have to get used to being given compliments' he thought.

After glancing at Rex the general smiled and then looked at him "Hey Ray, why not stay by my side for now? I mean you are already my student even if it isn't official."

Rex sat down and began weighing the options, it would be a good experience to be by James' side but it would limit the things that he could do by himself. In the end, he made his decision "General I'm willing to follow you and learn as long as I keep possessions and am allowed 3 hours a day to do my own training".

The general immediately accepted the conditions "Okay we have a deal, I'll also provide you with food for you and your horse as well as shelter".

Rex nodded and shook the general's hand to make it official.

"So you ready to leave tonight", this surprised him but he quickly composed himself again.

Rex shook his head "I told someone I would meet them in about a week, I'll meet him tomorrow instead so we can leave tomorrow instead".

The general and Edward leaned closer to the table and whispered: " Would that someone happen to be the young princess".

Rex glanced at him and replied, "no actually it's a slave trader".

Both the general and the knight looked at each other in surprise and then back at Rex "How did you get involved with a slave trader".

Rex could tell that the Knight and General were not happy, even if the slave trade was common some didn't agree with it. James and Edward seemed to be part of the group. Rex looked at both their expressions and began explaining "There were some bad people that were trying to steal from the Inn that I'm staying at and they attacked me. Two of them had bounties but the others didn't so I was advised to take them to the slave trader".

James and Edward seemed to understand and they began to calm down. Rex dismissed himself and went to his room to sleep. In the morning he explained to the Inn receptionist what was going on. When she heard that he would leave earlier than what he paid for she tried to give him the part of his money since they didn't have all of it in hand, but he refused it. After saying his bye to the receptionist he went to the animal stables and began riding towards the slave trader.