Much to Zaos's despair, time passed really fast in the northern base. His first year in the army ended, and he became a second-year… he was receiving more as a squad leader and as a recruit, but he couldn't care less about that. He lost the chance to be with his mother on his birthday… However, he couldn't complain since not a single recruit returned to their homes as well.

"Sir, when are we going to have permission to return to our homes, sir?" Zaos asked as he stepped back and moved his longsword to block Elius's stab.

"… How many times have you asked me that?" Elius furrowed his eyebrows after he watched his attack being stopped. "Unless you want to make me stab you with a real attack, you shouldn't make me angry while we spar."

"If I get hurt, will I have the chance to heal my wounds at home, sir?" Zaos asked.

"Of course not. Are you retarded?" Elius asked. "You can just heal yourself here."

"… For what use do we have for laws if our superiors can't obey them when it is necessary?" Zaos asked. He clicked his tongue and dashed forward to attack Elius's left side. 

"You have some nerve to click your tongue in front of me," Elius frowned when he blocked the attack and felt his arms trembling due to the weight. "What is the matter? Do you miss your mommy?"

"Yes, I do," Zaos replied. "Is something wrong with that, sir?"

"… At least have some shame in saying such a thing out loud," Elius said after a long sigh. "This is enough for today. You guys can stop as well."

                      The other squad members were also sparring nearby. Although they were covered in sweat, not a single one of them was exhausted, even though that was the last training session of the day. All the hard work of an entire year of nearly non-endless training was finally paying off. The recruits could spar against each other for hours without running out of breath. They were pretty proud of their progress… even though they thought they were going to die in the first months due to the harshness of Elius's spartan training.

                      The recruits weren't skilled or strong enough to spar against Zaos, so Elius had to do that, and truth to be told, he was starting to have a hard time against him. Despite his age, the kid was strong and pretty fast. Every single one of his attacks could make Elius's body tremble from head to toe if he doesn't block them properly.

                      Zaos couldn't help but feel pissed after hearing that. One year ago, he didn't consider that rumors would obviously reach the capital since it was from there the three hundred recruits that died in the battle came from. So naturally, Lyra heard of that and began to ask in every single letter if he was wounded or not, if he was fighting or not… her worries only increased when Zaos and the other recruits couldn't return to the capital for their days off. Zaos tried to calm down his worrywart mother, but it looked like that won't happen unless she sees him in person. Considering that Lyra's health was on the weak side, Zaos couldn't help but lose many nights of sleep.

                                      After the end of the training session, Zaos took a shower and then returned to his room to relax a little bit and think about how he could disperse his mother's worries. Still, before he could do that, someone knocked on his door… It was Drannor.

"Hey, Zaos. Are you busy?" Drannor asked.

"Yeah, try again later," Zaos replied and then tried to close the door.

"Ah, don't lie!" Drannor said. "I need your help; this is a matter of life and death."

"… What is it?" Zaos asked.

"Well, you see… I am having a hard time trying to write a letter to Ameria," Drannor replied.

"Explain to me how come this is a matter of life and death," Zaos crossed his arms and then furrowed his eyebrows.

"Don't tell me… you didn't write to her a single time?" Drannor asked. "You sure are cold."

"I have better things to do, and I didn't receive any letter from her," Zaos replied. "Hence, I don't need to send her any letter. Now, give me one good reason not to close this door."

"Ameria is planning to come here and complain with the commander as to why the recruits can't return to their homes for the usual break," Drannor explained. "She wrote a letter to me saying that she will also bring all the families of the recruits."

"What a spoiled princess…" Zaos said and then sighed. "Well, you can rest easy knowing that such a thing is impossible. His Majesty won't allow Ameria to do that. Not only will that cost a lot, but the families will also have to waste a lot of time. His Majesty already knows the situation here, so no matter what Ameria plans to do, he won't let her."

"Well, she wrote that she has been putting pressure on His Majesty by not talking with him, and she wrote that she obtained some results," Drannor said. "According to her, it is only a matter of time."

                      Zaos sighed again… what is wrong with the royal family? They are such a pain in the ass. Zaos almost said that. Maybe he should consider changing his career because he doesn't want to work for such troublesome individuals. 

"I don't have time for this… just say to her that the beds here are bad and that we only eat veggies all day or something," Zaos said. "Just use something that she doesn't like to scare her."

"I guess that can work," Drannor said.

                      After that, Drannor left… Zaos sighed once again because the people around him, with the sole exception of his mother, only caused problems. Regardless, Zaos even considered letting Ameria do what he wanted would let him meet his mother a bit sooner. Still, in the end, that wasn't a good idea. His mother deserved to stay in a peaceful and comfortable place… and Zaos definitely wasn't in such a place.