Zaos left, ignoring the applause of the spectators. Although he walked as if he was completely fine, once Zaos entered the anteroom, he almost dropped his sword and fell because of the dizziness. It seems that he will have to rest for a few days, eat and drink alone to recover all the blood that he lost.

----- -----

After the ceremony where he received the king's sword, Drannor stopped to rest in the anteroom while some mages healed him. In the end, Zaos could have healed his ribs in a couple of seconds, but he couldn't complain. After a while, Ameria, Laiex, Drian, and the king showed up in the room. This time, they weren't all smiles like they were during the ceremony.

"We noticed that you and Zaos talked a little bit during the match. Can we hear what you talked about?" Laiex asked.

"He said that our rivalry is over and that we will only fight again if we had some reason to kill each other," Drannor said. "He also said that he won't become a stepping stone for my legend to be born. I assume this message was for you people."

"He didn't sound as mad as I had imagined, but…" Ameria said.

"Yeah, but he will keep his distance now," Drannor said. "At least that is the feeling that I had… Please, don't give Zaos any more reason to hate all of us. He already has plenty, but he decided to ignore it for the time we enjoyed together."

"Rest assured, Drannor," Dalyor said and then tapped on his shoulder. "We don't have any more reason to plot anything regarding you three."

Although he said that like he meant it, Ameria couldn't bring herself to believe that her father was telling the truth, as sad as that was…

----- -----

  When the award ceremony ended, Zaos was almost home. Although he was mostly fine, his wounds were starting to tingle a little. Despite that, Zaos felt like talking with his mother before tending his wounds properly.

"Hey, mom," Zaos said in front of the tombstone. "In the end, I couldn't win the tournament with my physical skills alone. Drannor won, but I made sure to make him work hard for the prize. In any case, I learned a few annoying things there, and I ended up lashing out my anger and showing to many people that I won't be used the way they want. Was I wrong when I decided to do that? I may have some strength, but that doesn't mean that I should do only what I want, right?"

With power, one can do many things, but one shouldn't do things only because they have the power to do so because that would set bad examples for the future generations.

"For a short moment, I thought that I should just say screw it and then say to the king that I wouldn't become an official in the kingdom's army," Zaos said. "But then I changed my mind because there are many things in this world that I don't know, and traveling around as an official might be beneficial. There is another thing that I have in mind, and this status will help me with that, so at least for the time being, I decided not to ignore the king's orders."

Not to mention, Zaos didn't find any signs of whom he should protect. Perhaps moving around the kingdom or even the world will help him with that. As far as he was concerned, the current leaders of the country weren't worth any protection. Perhaps Zaos will change his mind once Ameria sits on the throne, but who knows when that will happen.

"I won't be able to talk with you every day once I start working as an official," Zaos said. "So, forgive me, mom. I failed you, but at least I will try not to fail my mission in this world. I will return with some good news later. Bye, mom."

Once Zaos took out his armor, he cleaned his body, and after that, Jeline helped him cover his wounds with bandages. Soon enough, Nyana returned home, but Zaos was already sleeping.

Zaos woke up the next day as soon as the sun began to rise. Although he still felt a bit weak, he still headed toward the garden. Even if he couldn't train, he still wanted to enjoy the wind of morning. Zaos wanted to rest and have some peace and also think if he should go to Ameria's birthday or not. He could always close the wounds in his body with magic, but he couldn't restore his stamina, and he might not endure standing during a dancing party for four to five hours. Unfortunately, his father showed up to spoil Zaos's plans.

"You put up quite a show there," Laiex said.

"What do you want?" Zaos asked.

"I want to know your intentions," Laiex said. "Ameria said that you don't have any more reason to be loyal to the royal family, and Drannor said that you cut your ties with him."

"For the time being, I won't be your enemy or enemy of the kingdom. Still, Ameria is right. I don't have any reason to be loyal to the leaders of this country, you included," Zaos said. "I still have something to do, and until that happens, I will act based on the moment."

"Is that so… Well, His Majesty accepted the reasons why you don't want to get involved directly with him any further," Laiex said. "You have your next orders. In two months, you are supposed to head to the West side of the country and deal with the mercenary families that are trying to invade our country. Until then, you should try to organize your unit."

Head west… it seemed that Zaos would have the chance to fight with them again. In any case, he had a lot of work to do, but that wasn't a problem. Zaos had a lot of time in his hands recently.

"Also, since you can't understand His Majesty's reasoning, you aren't welcome at his home," Laiex said. "He won't make anything public, but he said that you should avoid the castle from today onward."