Sol lightly knocked on the door.
A mature, rough voice answered through the door.
“Enter.”
The door creaked open as Commander Xander came into view. Wearing the same uniform as when he did the orientation speech, the man was sitting behind an ornate wooden desk, processing a tall stack of papers. As he passed another paper to his finished pile, which was almost double the size of the other stack, it made Sol wonder how long he had been working.
“Sorry for intruding, but I was told you called for me.”
His gaze rose from the paperwork as he took a good look at the young man who had entered his office.
“Hmm, you're Sol?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I see. Take a seat. I’ll be with you after I finish this requisition form.”
Sol sat down and let his gaze wander around the room as he waited for Xander to finish. He noticed that while the room was finely decorated, there was a distinct lack of personal belongings. While he had never worked in an office environment before, from his time with Annabel, he knew she tended to have a few things on hand and kept them around her work area for convenience.
Sol let his thoughts wander as to why this was the case until Xander signed the paper and faced him.
“I summoned you to my office to thank you. Without your message warning me of their plans, I would have been none the wiser. They would have taken the fort and led a flank on my men, which would have caused untold amounts of casualties. Not only that, you also ran into the fray to hold back the orcs until the reinforcements arrived, not even knowing when they would get there. Very few would be willing to risk their lives like that for the greater good, and for that, I offer you a place under my wing. Would you like to become the Lead Healer?”
While Sol knew he was called for his actions to warn him the previous day, he didn’t expect to be offered a position with actual power. If he took the position, he would command over all medical staff in the fort and be paid very well for doing so. Most, if given the opportunity, would take it in a heartbeat, but unlike most, Sol could only shake his head.
“I’m sorry, Commander, but I will have to decline your offer.”
As if expecting this answer, Xander just nodded.
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“Understood, may I know why?”
“While I was tempted to accept, I won’t be able to realize my goal if I do.”
“And what is your goal?”
With hesitation, Sol answered, “I, uh, still don’t know…”
“Hahaha!”
Hearing the outrageous answer, Xander couldn’t help but laugh loudly. His deep voice reverberated through the room until he managed to calm himself down.
“Hah... So you don’t accept my offer because it would impede your goal, but you don’t know what you're trying to achieve… Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?”
Embarrassed as he couldn’t deny his statement, Sol nodded.
“I know it sounds crazy, but it’s how I truly feel. At first, I thought what I wanted to do was simply help others, but after yesterday's events, I feel that while I do want to help others, it’s not in that way.”
“Hmm. There are many ways one can help others, Sol. You could be a savior who fights the strong to protect the weak. You could also be a charitable man who uses his wealth and affluence to raise others around him. As many ways as there are to hurt others, there are to help as well; it may take you a while to find it.”
“I know, and that’s why I can’t stay in this fort. I need to go to new places, meet new people, and hopefully gain a better understanding of what I truly want.”
As Xander heard Sol speak with determination, he understood there was no way to convince him to stay. In that case, there was something else he could do instead.
“I hear your resolve. I would still like to reward you somehow, so how about I give you the same reward as the A-Rank adventurer we recruited?”
Surprised at being given the same reward as an A-Ranker, Sol asked in disbelief, “Wait, really? Was what I did so important to be compared as what the A-Ranker was recruited for?”
Pondering his question, Xander shook his head, “You're right, what you did was actually more than what he did. How about double the A-Ranker’s reward?”
“That’s not what I meant!”
Xander knew that Sol was underestimating his impact on the battle and laughed, “Haha. Even so, you did much more than him. He was hired to help us win the battle, but if the orc plan succeeded, we could have lost in the end, and even if we won, the casualties would have been enormous. If we compare what he did, which was just kill exactly 159 orcs and team up with Olfred to make their champion retreat, to you warning us of the infiltration and holding it long enough for reinforcements, you created the most impact on the overall outcome of the war.”
Having no way to refute that logic, Sol could only relent, “Fine… In that case, what was the reward?”
“For the A-Ranker, it was to select one item from our vault. So you get to select two.”
“Really?!”
The vault was where the most valuable and rare items were stored. Either taken from the enemy or placed there as a reward to be given to soldiers for their service to the kingdom, this vault had many magical and rare items. There were not a lot of items stored inside, but each item stored in the vault went for at least 500 gold. For Sol, who only had 13 gold and 54 silver to his name, it was a ludicrous amount.
One could almost see gold coins appear in Sol’s eyes as he was blinded by the money, which made Xander laugh.
“You gotta work on hiding your facial expressions. Also, remember you are not allowed to sell the items selected from the vault.”
Being brought back to reality, Sol could only sheepishly chuckle, “Sorry, I was a bit overwhelmed as I never had anything so expensive before. I promise I won’t sell them.”
Xander nodded with a smile, “Glad you understand. Come with me then to select your reward.”