Lord Vermot was terrifying! Rhax has never met such a person, he imitated an aura of dignity and power. Rhax felt like he was naked in front of Bram Vermot’s green piercing eyes.

“First of all,” Lord Vermot’s voice was deep, which did not help calm the fear Rhax was feeling at the moment, “I would like to thank you for saving my daughter. Secondly, I would like to apologize about your memory loss....” Lord Vermot’s deep voice held a tinge of coldness that Rhax understood well.

It was obvious as the sun, he was telling him to forget and pretend his encounter with the Knight of Ash never happened. Rhax would like to forget the whole encounter but he was sure it would accompany him for a long time. But he would never talk about it.

He also understood why Lord Vermot didn’t allow anyone inside the room and wanted to have a private conversation with him. A Lord would not show his scheming side to his subordinates, because that would produce distrust. Many of the great leaders in Earth’s ancient times have been betrayed by their subordinates because of distrust.

“Thank you for your words, My Lord. I find it troublesome that my memory is lost, but hopefully it will come back one day…” Rhax smiled faintly, but inside his eye flashed a cold glint. God knows he is afraid of the man in front of him, but he will be damned if he would just sit there and take it like a common whore.

‘Do you think I’m that easy to manipulate?’ He challenged Lord Vermot in his mind. He would not go out of this without gaining anything. He didn’t spend hundreds of hours studying history and reading ancient chronicles to lose in this game of politics.

Lord Vermot leaned back in his chair and started stroking his blonde beard. He looked calm and peaceful to anyone not looking hard enough. But to Rhax he looked like a Griffon who had been challenged by a mere eagle. ‘Good. He should know I’m not a tool he can use as he likes.’

Rhax was putting all of his effort into making his face as passive as possible. He was truly thankful for the table in front of him that was hiding his shaking hands and feet. He was balancing on a thin line, the man in front of him has a whole city under his command. Thousands of soldiers will march by a word from him. And Rhax was playing politics with him.

Lord Vermot stopped his hand movement and a cold glint passed through his eyes as he made eye contact with Rhax. “Hopefully it will come back. But we wouldn’t want it to come back suddenly, don’t we? Who knows, maybe it could come back and the intensity of it could damage your brain and result in your demise?” Lord Vermot gave a glance toward the sword hanging on the wall.

Rhax gulped in fear as he looked at the sword, he naturally knew what it was. ‘Tear Bringer, truly a masterpiece.’

The sword was magnificent, it was completely white with a red ruby at the hilt. There were drawings of golden Griffins on the scabbard. Rhax wanted to touch it and see its effects, but he couldn’t do that, it would seem as threatening and he was sure Lord Vermot wouldn’t hesitate in calling the guard stationed outside to come and chop his head off.

Rhax’s eye turned cold for a second, but then he collected his composure. His nerves were going to collapse if he didn't end this fast. So, he decided to take a step back, he didn’t have the power nor the influence to respond to the blatant threat Lord Vermot gave. “No, I wouldn’t like that. And I don’t think the people would accept the fact that a Knight acknowledged by the Vermot family and Lady Octavia’s personal guard died so suddenly.” He took a step back, but that wouldn’t mean he would not seek benefits.

“No, they wouldn’t accept that.” Lord Vermot had a small cold smile. “After all, the Hero who saved their Lady and slayed the vicious direwolf who threatened the people, has a large place in their hearts.”

“Aye, that he has…” Rhax stood up from his seat and bowed, when Lord Vermot nodded at him, he retreated.

He opened the door and walked out, neck raised high, broad shoulders and a victorious smile on his face. He won the negotiations. It may seem like he was afraid and immediately compromised, which was true… But no one will know.

He won in the end, he gave a very high price to shut him up, which was Octavia’s personal guard. And Lord Vermot couldn’t accept that, so he compromised and accepted to knight him. From now on he will be known as Ser Rhax.

‘I may need to create a family name and crest.’ He thought with excitement, he always dreamt of creating a family and making a banner.

‘I should probably use the black direwolf with red eyes in my banner, because honestly, without it none of this would’ve happened.’ He was glad that he now can at least imagine the direwolf in his mind without being afraid shitless. It was progress. He knew it would take him some time, but for some reason it has been easier to not feel afraid of the direwolf recently.

It was like someone was playing with his mind. Which was a dumb idea, who would have the technology to do that. And as far as he knows he wasn’t going to any meetings with creepy cults, and the game capsule is perfectly safe.

He didn’t think more of it and continued with his walk. He was going back to the smithy and he was going to finish making the handle for his bayonet.

………

Bram slumped in his chair when that weird man with the name Rhax exited his office. He was exhausted, first his daughter was attacked and almost killed and then he got a message saying his son impregnated a noble woman and now he had to deal with the man who saved his daughter. He missed the times when his father was the Lord, he missed the times where he could be alone with Julia without anyone interrupting them because of their duties.

Sigh. Bram sighed thinking of the man he just talked with; he heard the whole story from Octavia. He also saw the bodies of the attackers. He at first thought that a wild beast killed them, and if he didn’t hear the story from Octavia then he would’ve absolutely believed it was a wild beast.

When he saw Rhax enter his office he didn’t think even for one second, that he was the one who killed the attackers. But now he was sure it was him. His reason was his eyes, he has the eyes of a killer. Of someone who has killed thousands of creatures.

Bram was in control, but the moment Rhax dropped his polite facade and he saw the real him, those cold eyes and that mocking smile. He understood that he was talking with someone who could kill him in a moment.

So, he threatened his life. It almost back fired at him as he saw the murderous intent leaking out of Rhax, but eventually it worked out.

Also, he couldn’t give him what he wanted and make him Octavia’s personal guard. He didn’t want that man anywhere near his daughter. So, he relented and gave him a knightship. For one, Bram will testify that Rhax deserved it. He may be a monster but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be knighted.

………

When Rhax’s fight against the three bandits dropped, the world went crazy for a couple of hours. It was mostly shock and admiration toward Rhax who managed this impressive feat. But there is also a lot of people who were very upset and very vocal about how Rhax is sick and should be locked up to guarantee the safety of the people.

Most of these vocal people were elderly, but there have been some channels that has talked about the videos and criticized Rhax for showing those gruesome sights.

Jessica was not of these people, the moment she saw the video of Rhax killing the direwolf, she wanted to bring Rhax on the show. But she didn’t get the okay at first, because Rhax was not that interesting in her Boss’ opinion.

But now there are no excuses as to why she can’t bring him to the show. So, she took a deep breath and entered the office. Her Boss, Michael, was reading some documents. He put them down the moment she came in.

“Oh, Jessica, welcome. What can I do for you?” Michael smiled at her, showing his bright white teeth.

“I want to bring Rhax on the show….” Jessica immediately went for the catch; it was useless to play around the bush.

Michael took a deep breath, his left hand went to his chin and started to play with his goatee. It was his signature move for thinking. Finally, after a couple of seconds he relented. “Okay, but there are a couple of conditions.”

“Anything…” Jessica was filled with excitement; she didn’t care what the conditions were. She was sure the episode would bring them a ton of views and she really wanted to chat with Rhax. He seems very interesting to her.

Michael raised two fingers. “First condition, I want you to bring another Ethea player, see if you can bring Raven. Second Condition, don’t and I mean don’t ever mention the pain mechanics, don’t even ask him about how it felt when his eye was clawed out.” Michael’s tone was grave, it was like he was afraid of something.

Jesscia was a little disappointed, because such questions are usually the selling parts in the show. But it was okay, she can manage it. Also, she and everyone heard how painful Rhax’s injuries were in the videos. So, she nodded and started to go out, she had a lot of work to do.

“Jess,” Michael’s voice stopped her, “be careful of Rhax…I don’t trust him.”