“Wake up soldier”

Startled, I woke up and saw the general Arthur in front of me with captain Tristan next to him.

Quickly I stood and saluted both of the renowned leaders.

“Relax, we came to praise you for taking down Jesper Wilde, the big man you killed in single combat” said general Arthur

“Yea not only that you also killed his nephew, Alonso Wilde. they were well renowned soldiers, so taking them out was a big help for us,” said the captain

“Which leads to another question, how did you, a young boy, manage to kill these proven men?” said the general

“Alonso was the first to go and well, he fought honorably which led to his death. As for Jesper, he was quite wild and reckless, he was very angry at me for killing his nephew. I had no clue he was from house Wilde as well.”

“Oh yea, he was from house Wilde as well. Usually, they are quite cunning and deceitful when getting things done but now and then one is not evil like the usuals of their house. And that one person was Alonso. But Alexander, word has spread that you killed them both, no doubt Lord Jarrod will want vengeance for the death of his son and brother, mostly vengeance for his son. Just stay cautious boy, you have potential, and I would very much like to see it grow.”

said the general with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

Both the general and captain gave me a handshake and left

Now getting a good view where we were, it seemed we arrived outside hazel city, but it was dark. I could actually see the sun rising over from the distance so that's good.

We were outside the gates, so it seemed this is where we are to be stationed for now. I just wonder what we are going to be doing but I'm no commander, so I have no clue.

Walking up to the city gates I informed those guarding the entrance that I'm a part of the army that recently arrived and would like to explore the city.

With a nod the guards let me in and after taking a step in I was amazed.

The city was lined with market stalls each selling its own exotic goods, which made sense. This city was one in a line of trade routes, you can see ships being docked and ones getting ready to leave. The architecture was a sort of blend of old and new, old stones that have been built ages ago mixed with new more modern stones. In the middle of the city was a giant statue of a knight who held his sword high above his head as if he was commanding an army

Making my way toward the statue, I was being bombarded with sellers and merchants to come along to their stalls and buy, if only I had enough money to splurge a bit here. Making it to the statute, all it read under it was

“An unknown soldier, A hero of our people”.

Leaving me a bit confused from the meaning, I went along and made my way to a bathhouse.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

After spending weeks on the road with no bath it's time to have one. Entering the bathhouse, I was greeted by a lady in the front counter

“Hello sir, would you like to rent a room or a bath, or maybe both!” she said to me with excitement.

“I'll like a bath only madam.”

“Very well!” she hands me a key and points in a certain direction “down the hall over and room 3 will be your bathroom, have a good time!” she says smiling at me

I thanked her and made my way down to room 3. Entering, I locked the door behind me and the room was pretty basic. A small little bathtub sat in the middle of the room with its essentials on a table next to it. And a couple of candles spread around the arm, a body size mirror was also laid in a corner of a room.

Taking my clothes off I hopped in the bath and my lord did it feel amazing. Immediately dirt was falling off me.

Taking another look at the stone on my heart it seemed to be the size of a small mole. It had what looked like to be one long claw mark against it, which I'm assuming is from when the crow was holding it, but again why would a crow put this in my chest? Was the crow being controlled by some other person? So many questions yet none will ever be answered I think.

I spent about thirty minutes enjoying my bath until

BANG BANG!

Being startled by the bangs against the door I grabbed my sword, the sword of the former Alonso Wilde and stood up in the bathtub waiting.

More bangs came and the door swung off its pings.

“HA there you are Alexander!” Screamed out the drunk Jim who came in stumbling with Peter right behind him and with 2 other gentlemen right behind him.

“A locked door in a bathhouse usually means one thing, no gentlemen!? “I say with frustration, covering my genitals and going down into the water so I'm not fully exposed.

“ Ahhh screw that Alex, come on get dressed fast so we can go out and enjoy this beautiful morning” said Jim with a grin while leading the rest of them out of the room and shutting the door behind him.

Letting out a sigh, I quickly got dressed and walked out the bathhouse to find them all waiting outside for me.

Jim was drunk out of his mind speaking to the folks walking by while Peter was laying against the stone wall watching Jim. The two mysterious men were looking right at me as I stepped out and I had an uneasy feeling about them both.

The one on the left was a few inches shorter than me and was lean, with a scar but a burn scar that made his face pinkish from the neck up to the mouth. He had soft eyes nonetheless.

The one on the right was taller than me and had glasses on with a mustache, he had the same facial features as the other one but with a bit more age to him.

“Nice to finally meet you, Alexander!” the burnt one said, shaking my hand fiercely. “My name is William of house Dixon and this here next to me is my older brother, Freddie Dixon.”

The older brother comes up to me and shakes my hand as well “A pleasure to meet you” he says.

William continues, his eyes beaming with pride “We would like to thank you on behalf of House Dixon. You killed the barbarian known as Jesper Wilde and from the bottom of our hearts we would like to thank you.”

“I um yes you're welcome I guess, but why exactly are you two thanking me?” I reply utterly confused on what's going on right now.

William takes a seat on one of the steps that lead inside the bathhouse while his brother Freddie stood next to him” you see that son of a bitch killed our other older brother when the war was first brewing up. When we heard that the man who brought our brother's demise was dead, we just had to thank the man who did such a noble act.”

Once he finished talking peter found it best to speak up from where he was stood at

“They asked me if I knew you when I was talking to the general outside the gates. So, we spent the last hour searching and asking around for you until now.”

Looking back at the brothers

“Yes, well I'm glad I could help you two to be at ease, I'm just merely doing my duty as a soldier and if that involves avenging fallen warriors then I'm glad, I could be at service.”

I say bowing slightly at the noble pairs in front of me. I had to be careful, dealing with nobles can never be easy, one wrong word and they can take it up the ass and want to kill me. In this case these two are thankful.

William stood up and wrapped his arm around my shoulders

“Come now Alexander, this calls for celebration, let's go hit a tavern and celebrate your massive victory, drinks will be on us right Freddie.” he looks over to his brother who seemed bored but once he heard tavern his eyes lit up. “Yes of course, all of it will be on us!”

“Let's get going then!” yelled out Jim who was leading the pack down to the tavern.

Being led by William, we all started heading toward the tavern. A tavern early in the morning how sinful I say to myself with a smirk.

Nonetheless, seems it was time to get plastered once more.