“Is Tamara late? She's supposed to arrive this morning...” Stevan frowned as the girl should have returned already for their physical training.

“Maybe she overslept, don't overthink it,” Simon dismissed the other boy.

“Aroon, do you know anything?” Arthur looked at Aroon, who was deep in thought while frowning.

Usually, the boy would only scoff at Arthur if he tried to talk to him, but he replied, “She might not be coming back...”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Arthur frowned as well.

‘Don’t tell me she is the spy...’ Arthur's thoughts raced.

Just as Arthur was about to ask more about Tamara, their Sergeant arrived.

“Alright, everyone, start running,” she told them, but Arthur interrupted her hesitantly.

“Ma'am, Tamara is not here yet.”

“If she is late, then she will have to run extra laps, just like everyone,” she dismissed him.

“No, ma'am. I think she is not coming back,” he added, trying to get her attention, which made her frown.

“What do you mean she is not coming back? Private Aroon, where is your teammate?” She turned to Aroon.

“Tamara went back to her family, Ma'am. I believe since she has not shown up today, it means Ives family is keeping her from going back,” the boy explained.

“Well, that's trouble... you all do the usual training, I have something to take care of. And don't think about slacking off; I will know if you skip training,” Layla warned them before going away.

The squad looked at each other, “where do you think she is going?” Simon whispered.

“Who knows, maybe she forgot something,” Stevan shrugged.

“I think she is going to Ives family,” Kale pointed out.

“Do you think our sergeant will go to The Ives just for a missing recruit? The Ives have a half dozen Integration Realm Cultivators, the patriarch only one step away from the Transformation realm. He is at the bottleneck, just needs more Trait for his bond, and he would be in the Transformation realm. Why would she oppose them, meddling in their family matter?” Aroon scoffed at Kale.

Arthur agreed with Aroon; if he had the choice, he would certainly not go to the Ives. Tamara is his friend, but he is not an idiot to meddle in other’s famility matter.

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“Why else would she suddenly go after she heard the Ives keeping her?” Kale insisted.

Aroon did not bother debating with Kale; he turned around and started doing his exercises.

‘Is Tamara the spy, and did the sergeant send someone to take care of her? Or maybe the sergeant is just going to ask the person following Tamara about what happened?’ A lot of possibilities swirled in his mind as he did his physical training.

Even after lunch, Layla had not come back to oversee their weapon training.

“Arthur, focus! The test is tomorrow,” Athena told him as Arthur kept zoning out of focus.

“I’m sorry Athena, can you train alone for today? I have something to do,” he told the girl before leaving toward the dorm.

Arthur went back to get his katana; he wanted to bring the sword just in case he needed to use it later.

‘I’m just going to check what happens; I won't get involved,’ he told himself.

Arthur opened the door to the 4th squad room; he walked inside but looked to the left, noticing someone sitting on the floor beside the door in the dorm.

“Tamara?” he found the girl who missed their training.

Tamara only looked at him and gave him a weak smile; it felt strange for him to see the usually spirited and outgoing Tamara being silent.

“Why are you here? What happened?”

“Sergeant Hawkins picked me up, she told me to rest while she goes to talk with Colonel Monroe.”

“So she did get you? Didn’t your family really forbid you to come back?” he couldn't help but ask further.

“Yeah... my father, I mean the family head, told me to leave the military, and he has other plans for me...” her lips trembling.

“Huh? If that's so, how did the sergeant convince them to let you go?”

“She did not, Sergeant Hawkins took me by force,” she laughed a little, but it sounded hollow in his ears.

“How about Tonny? I don’t see your bond...” Arthur trailed as he could see a few reasons the bond might not be there with her.

“Tonny... Tonny is... He is in the hospital... I don’t know if Tonny will make it,” she started crying.

Arthur wanted to pat her shoulder but stopped his hand, cursing himself for being weak to crying women.

“What happened? Did you get into a fight?”

“No... My... I mean the family head said that Tonny is not good enough... he has prepared a 2nd gen... bond... as a replacement... then he... then he...” She started to sob.

This caused him to frown, ‘I don’t know how a family is supposed to work, but isn’t this too much?’

“It's okay, Tamara. I’m sure Tonny will make it; your bond is exceptionally strong, don't worry,” he tried to reassure her.

“Come, don't sit there. Let's move to the bed; you don't want to get sick, do you?” Arthur helped her up.

“I’m going to tell the others that you are back; just rest while I go.”

“Riley, can you stay with Tamara while I go get everyone? Keep an eye on her, don't let her do anything stupid, okay?” he looked at his bond.

*Squeak!* It gave him a salute.

Arthur ran out of the dorm, informing the others that Tamara is back, but she might need people by her side.

“She is back? Did Sergeant Hawkins really go to get her?” Simon asked as they walked back.

“She did, and she is talking with the Colonel right now... Tamara told me Sergeant Hawkins took her by force,” Arthur's words caused Aroon to frown.

“If she was taken by force, then the Ives will file a formal complaint to the sect. If The Sect Leader gets involved, then not only Tamara won't be able to stay, but Sergeant Hawkins as well,” Aroon said solemnly.

“Unless she can convince the colonel to take her side, of course,” he added.

“Huh? Can the colonel really keep the Ives from taking her?” Simon asked in doubt.

“Don’t you know? Colonel Samson Monroe of the 3rd Flaming Dragon battalion, also called Samson The Dragon Rider! One of the two pillars of Ironwill City! He is a Transformation Realm Cultivator!” Aroon told them in disbelief of their ignorance.

‘I thought the colonel looked strong, but I don’t expect him to be that strong...’ Arthur's eyes widened.