The crackling sound in a fireplace created a cozy atmosphere, despite the shabby surroundings of the abandoned house. They spent some time to find the building big enough to accommodate everyone, while not being filled with corpses. At least the downpour was long over, and the sun was already rising in the sky, sending its light everywhere and finally ending a horrible night.

William pitied the loss of Molly. The young drake wasn’t his and was borrowed by Marquise Blueriver, but it didn’t mean he didn’t feel anything. On the contrary, the beast was quite friendly to him and really loved to play. The reason for it could be an age and little-to-no experience in fights, except training. However, exactly the latter led to a positive outcome. Molly didn’t deserve to die, especially in a stupid fight against his own friend. Despite not knowing Robert for long, William indeed saw him as a friend. This whole situation created such a mess, that just thinking about it made him feel a headache. However, his life always had similar vibes.

His father was banished from the family because of his love for a magician only to be killed by an envious brother, who wanted to secure his accession to the desired position of power and authority. His mother’s life was also taken in the same ambush. Soon, grandfather followed them in an afterlife, ending all of William’s ties with the former family household. Grown under the watchful eye of his father’s friend in a distant village, he somehow managed to meet Sophie, resulting in his goals – to rise to knighthood with his own strength, to marry her, and to take revenge on his uncle.

Maybe that was the reason why he kept his distance from others. The distance that was easily breached by Robert. The skinny, weak, short man with scars all over his body and no knowledge of basic things. He was an oddity like William himself. Training like maniac, pushing himself to the limits, he had set an example for William. It might look strange to others, but William knew that he was gifted. Very gifted. It could be a mixture of lineages, but he was always strong, be it the physique or melee skills. Moreover, he was trained by an experienced knight. He was almost on par with regular knights even before getting the spirit stone.

However, only Robert managed to show him what the real dedication was. William was very proud of his daily routine, but he was nowhere near pushing over his limits. The limits, that guy named Stick easily broke a few times per day. Their spars, which quickly transformed from lazy warm-ups to the actual need to be focused not to lose his mark. Everything about Robert was strange.

His story is about the dream, where he commanded hundreds of metal warriors. Or his untold restrictions. Or even a grand goal to live just to enjoy life. It looked childishly for William at first, especially after Monk’s death. He thought the higher position could lead him to change something, not only getting his goals achieved. However, after the massacre in the cursed village, where he thought everyone had died, he finally understood that the end goal was just the first part. Rob’s words about enjoyment echoed in his mind, pushing his goals further. Not to marry Sophie, but to live a life full of happiness with her.

Fortunately, William managed to save Baron’s life. That led to long-awaited knighthood as a reward and the ball, which ended frankly not how he expected it would. Everything started with news about Sophie’s marriage. That was later confirmed by her father, who was shaken no less than William himself, as it turned out to be her personal decision. She almost ran away with another man, and strongly refused to leave him, not coming to the ball, and kept staying in his mansion. Therefore, the first love died on its own as it often happened.

William felt empty-hearted for some sometime before managing to gather himself. Still, his uncle thought it was a good idea to mock him at that moment, resulting in a death duel after short bickering. Most of the present nobles betted on the older and more experienced knight but adding spirit stone pushed William's power much further – to the starting point of the great knight. The killing blow in the form of an energy blast cut through armor, immediately sending his relative to hell – the most suitable place for that asshole. The latter appeared to have no relation by blood with William.

Marquise Blueriver, whose drake he had taken, told him that William’s real father was a Duke’s son. The duke just ordered his subordinate to take in his son’s bastard as his own. That news shocked William a lot, but the shock didn’t end there as later Angela found him. The young magician, who he had to admit was quite a beauty, was searching for newly raised knights in an attempt to warn about future mage’s revolt. Soon their conversation changed direction into other topics, both clearly enjoying the company of each other.

That made William realize how childish his view of everything was. Naïve thinking about their relationship with Sophie, which was crushed by a harsh reality. He was aiming at something that was solely in his mind. An ideal picture from an imagination. The ball changed everything. Crossed out everything. The betrayal of a loved one, who appeared to be not her. The death of an uncle, who wasn’t his uncle. The known fate of the ordinary knight now could meet new threats if information about the identity of his real grandfather were leaked. The nearing end of the war might be only a prelude to even more blood. That ball was indeed long and eventful. Fateful.

Therefore, William had set new goals for himself. He wanted power to change the world for good. The experience in the militia opened his eyes to the life of non-nobles. His own past, his mother’s fate, and Angela's stories told about the treatment of mages. The news about future revolt while the current war was in the process only strengthened his belief. He needed power to change the world order. He couldn’t do it with just pure strength. William needed to be an example for others. To be a figure that everyone saw as worthy by all. He, the son of a mage and knight, rose from the bottom and aimed to become the legendary archiknight.

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That was the reason why he was meeting with Angela here, at this time. They both wanted to stop an upcoming all-out war between mages and knights. Moreover, only magic could help him raise his power faster to get a position to speak with Dukes. However, somehow it almost ended badly as Robert appeared in most unfortunate times. Right now, his former squad mate was lying in bed in a deep sleep and not showing any signs of waking up.

“I still think it is a bad idea to help him. He might be one of the infected. If information from experiments is correct, the closer you are to places of abundant magic usage, the faster you going to turn into mad berserk,” Angela cutely wrinkled her nose, making William smile.

“What you are looking at?” feeling his gaze, she blushed but didn’t avert her face.

“You are beautiful, Angela. And no, I don’t think Robert is infected. He is a tough guy,” William said, not even blinking. His direct compliment made the mage lower her head in an attempt to hide, which led him to another stupid grin.

“Oh, wow, Aspen is flirting. Now I saw everything!” Rob’s voice broke the short silence, turning the attention to his persona. He was already sitting in his bed and grinning with a wide smile. His covered with stubble face didn’t hide a terrible scar, which went from the right eye down through the whole cheek. The fallen blanket opened the view of a muscular, but lean body with tens of old marks from different wounds, varied from blades and burns to results of being chewed. The short black hair was in a familiar mess, but his deep green eyes were shining with energy despite the injury. Even more, the look radiated inner confidence.

“She is indeed a beauty. Good pick, Aspen!” Robert nodded after a short inspection. This time the compliment triggered an angry expression, and Rob had to add hastily, “Okay-okay, relax. I am not going for you. You are William’s!”

“How are you, Stick?” William quickly asked to change the topic before Angela would skin someone alive.

“Good. I am hard to kill, despite the efforts of your overgrown lizard to eat me,” told Robert, while making a rotary motion with his left arm, “I am sorry for killing it. At that moment I didn’t know it was yours. Just wanted to save my ass… Or hand? And, Miss Mage, sorry for killing your coachman. It was a misunderstanding…”

“Misunderstanding? Just misunderstanding? You killed Walter and we haven’t done anything to you!” Angela yelled but was interrupted by calm and even cold Robert’s voice.

“You – no. But other mages had set a whole battlefield aflame, after bombarding it with blazing rocks. I survived by sheer luck only to be targeted later by fireballs, stone spikes, and even lightning strikes. I didn’t want to risk my life to ask are you friendly or not. He was holding a magic staff; thus he was an enemy at that time. Bad luck for him.”

“You, bastard! Bad luck, you say… I will…”

“Angela, calm down, please. It was indeed bad luck. I saw the results of the battlefield with my own eyes – thousands died there from the magic attack. I can understand why Robert acted like that,” William tried to reason with her, but she just left the room with a loud door slam, “Sorry about that. This meeting started badly.”

“Yeah. I was on emotions too – those zombies… I mean infected… went crazy in one moment, making another massacre. Pure madness,” Rob sighed.

“You know that I saw you lying dead with throat cut in that village,” suddenly William told after a short silence.

“Oh, that might have looked gross, I believe. But I am indeed hard to kill,” Robert shrugged,

“Still the experience after that wasn’t pleasant in the slightest. I woke up in a pit with other corpses, including Wolf’s… Killed every fucking man, who did it to us. There was even a knight. Quite young. Luckily not skillful…,” Not stopping for a moment, Rob just continued to tell what happened to him in an attempt to break possible mistrust from his single friend in this world. That gave results as soon questions followed, which later turned to sarcastic comments or direct mockery.

“Hey, I bet you were not better!” Robert tried to defend, so William ended up telling his part of the story. Somewhere in the middle of a conversation, they had to invite Angela inside, as the girl was silently listening to them from the other side of the door, thinking she was well hidden.

“Well, fuck, now I feel like a real peasant in the presence of his majesty,” that was all that Robert managed to tell, “So, what’s the plan? How can I help you?”

“We don’t need your help!” Angela reacted first, almost shouting.

“Good, we indeed need some help!” William’s reply sounded simultaneously with the magician but was filled with joy.

“Hey, why do we need an ordinary soldier?” Angela immediately got indignant.

“Because he almost killed your group? Because he has abnormal regeneration – his arm just half a day ago was unusable, but right now is completely fine? Because we lack melee combatants, apart from me and the other two knights I managed to recruit during the ball with the help of Marquise? Because he is my friend? I think it is enough to ask for help by ourselves,” A sincere answer from William left Angela speechless as she couldn’t find a proper counterargument.

“I am still sure it is a bad idea. He can turn into those mad things any time. He can’t use mana to disperse it. I am surprised he managed to hold for so long. That’s why it is a threat. No offense,” Angela explained.

“None taken. It is true. However, I just need to move a lot to prolong my current state. Plus, the moment I will turn in berserk, just leave me behind. If it can help you, and maybe even me, I will gladly help. I am sure that the reason for the meeting between mage and knight isn’t just ordinary romance. No, you definitely have a plan. Angela knows too much about this magic rabies not to use it properly,” Robert squinted his eyes while looking at both.

“You are correct. We indeed have a plan… and yes, we need help to achieve it.” Angela sighed, finally surrendering after seeing a clear resolution on William’s face.

“Tell me more! Nope, wait… I want to chew something while listening. Yes, my stomach begs for food, so… Hey, why are you leaving? We are having a very serious discussion here! Don’t leave me hungry!”