Vigilance

Silently, an unexpected battle gradually drew to a close.

With a knight who had activated the Life Seed present, the moment the two Bloodthirsty Orcs fell, the outcome of this fight was already sealed.

Sensing their companions falling one by one around them, despair flickered in the orcs' eyes. Yet, seeing the current situation, instead of scattering, they were driven by their innate ferocity, launching a desperate charge at the surrounding troops, inflicting heavy losses on the soldiers led by Knight Flar.

By the time the battle ended, few warriors could still stand.

Regardless, these orcs were truly formidable—equivalent to the full fighting force of a small tribe, including three Bloodthirsty Orcs. Victory had been achieved only with extreme difficulty.

A great number of warriors lay fallen on the ground, the survivors mostly being the stronger Rookie Knights.

These men came from noble backgrounds, equipped with the finest armor and weapons, and possessed superior physiques compared to ordinary soldiers. It was only natural that they survived to the end.

Looking at the scene around him, Knight Flar fell silent for a moment, then slowly raised his head, his eyes turning fierce as he gazed in another direction.

That was where Arthur was.

Earlier, if Arthur hadn't held back that Bloodthirsty Orc at the cost of his own life, the outcome might have been completely different. Even with Flar's strength, if he had been surrounded by a large force of orc warriors in the end, he would have had no choice but to abandon the main force and escape alone.

Thinking of this, he let out a soft sigh, a quiet lament in his heart.

His reason told him that Arthur had most likely met with misfortune by now, yet that Bloodthirsty Orc had not returned.

This sparked a sliver of hope in his heart. Gripping his sword, he strode forward with large steps.

However, after walking some distance, when he followed the traces of Arthur's fight with the Bloodthirsty Orc and found him, the sight before him made him freeze.

On the ground, blood had stained the surrounding earth red, now dried.

The corpse of a towering orc lay still there. Beside it, Arthur stood quietly, his legs a bloody mess, clearly bearing severe injuries.

Seeing this, Flar couldn't help but widen his eyes, his usually stern expression cracking. "You!"

He stared blankly at Arthur, only snapping out of it after a long moment, his voice tinged with excitement. "You activated the Life Seed?"

Hearing the distant voice, Arthur lifted his head weakly. Due to excessive blood loss, his face looked pale.

He didn't speak, but a faint Life Energy slowly emerged from his body, spreading that familiar aura.

Seeing him like this and sensing the unique presence of the Life Seed, Flar was stunned.

The battlefield behind was quickly cleaned up.

This was still the wilderness, home to many beasts. A fierce battle had just taken place here, and the thick smell of blood would likely attract them.

They stripped the warriors' armor and weapons, gathering them. The severely wounded were placed on the wagons that had previously carried food and supplies. Arthur was among them.

They moved quickly. In just about half an hour, the group set off again, heading back to their destination.

After they left, several unfamiliar figures appeared on the battlefield behind them.

They all wore light green uniforms, better suited for concealment in the wild. Now they stood quietly, watching the direction Arthur and the others had gone.

"I thought this time it would just be an ordinary knight, but it turns out it's Flar, known as the Mad Lion," a tall, lean man said, looking into the distance with a calm expression. "Running into Flar and the Guard Army he leads, these orcs died unjustly."

"Indeed," another man replied with a helpless look. "Three hundred intact orc warriors, plus three Bloodthirsty Orcs—if it had been either of the other two knights, no matter which, it would have been enough to handle them."

"But who knew that this time Flar, the Guard Captain, would personally come out? With his strength, even without that elite Guard Army, there's no way we could have kept him here this time."

"His strength is probably not far from that of a Great Knight. Unless the Captain himself comes out, there's no way these orcs could have held him back." The lean man shook his head, a fanatical confidence in his eyes when he mentioned the Captain.

"Actually... if we had acted just now, we might have been able to keep him here," a tall, expressionless woman beside them said with a slight frown.

"The risk is too great," a voice responded from the side. "Don't be fooled by how weak he looks now. In truth, he can still activate the Life Seed one more time. If he bursts out, while he certainly wouldn't be a match for us, we wouldn't be able to keep him here either. That would cause trouble."

"Encountering orc warriors equivalent to an entire tribe can barely be passed off as an accident. But if several hostile knights appear right after the orcs, even a fool would see something wrong, let alone a cunning old fox like Flar."

"If he becomes suspicious, our arrangements might be exposed, adding unnecessary danger."

"What a pity!" the woman frowned, saying this only after a long silence.

··········

On the other side, lying quietly on the wagon, Arthur sensed something was wrong.

"Just now, someone was watching from the shadows," he thought to himself.

"Chip, transmit the footage from just now," Arthur commanded the chip in his mind.

The next moment, a flood of information poured into his mind. The earlier scene rewound slowly like a movie, replaying continuously in his thoughts.

A strange feeling crept over him. In the replayed images, Arthur seemed to vaguely catch a few figures, flashing past the edge of his field of view at a certain moment.

Their speed was very fast, far exceeding that of a Rookie Knight, and they wore camouflage clothing. Without the chip's reminder, under normal circumstances, Arthur would never have noticed anything unusual.

"After detection and comparison, target speed exceeds human limits. 78.4% probability of Knight-level!"

"All Knight-level?" Arthur's mouth twitched. He looked up at Knight Flar in front of him, a sudden chill of fear running through his heart.

"What would have happened if I had chosen not to stay and had left directly?" he suddenly wondered.

To have encountered them in the wilderness by chance, and to have been hiding nearby watching them fight the orcs—these people were clearly enemies, not friends. It was even possible that the orcs themselves were something they had arranged.

Thinking with the worst possible intentions, these people might have been lying in ambush here all along, aiming to wipe them out completely and leave no survivors.

As for why they let them break out, Arthur guessed that they had misjudged Knight Flar's strength. When they realized they couldn't keep them all, they stayed hidden and didn't show themselves.

"This place is no longer safe. I have to get back to the castle as soon as possible!"

Although he still didn't know what the other party's goal was, an instinctive sense of crisis made Arthur decide on this in his heart.

The excuse to return was ready-made. Arthur was now severely injured and should have gone back to the castle to recuperate anyway.

Moreover, according to custom, in this region, every newly promoted Knight needed to return to the castle to be personally summoned by Count Polia and granted the title of Knight.

But before that, Arthur still had to follow the group back to the camp they had come from.

On the road, during breaks, Flar would occasionally talk with Arthur, personally sharing some experiences and tactics with him, appearing quite friendly in his attitude.

This was caused by the change in status.

Arthur had now activated the Life Seed, becoming a Knight at the age of thirteen, which had nearly broken the promotion record for this region. His future prospects were bright.

Not to mention that before this, Arthur had risked his life to help him hold off the enemy.

These two factors combined were the real reason for the change in his attitude.

Arthur naturally wouldn't reject this kind of friendly relationship.

He appropriately displayed his respect and eagerness to learn, which satisfied Flar, who was always serious and attentive to etiquette and details, making him appreciate Arthur even more.

After a few days, once they returned to the previous camp, Arthur timely expressed his intention to go back to the castle to recover from his injuries.

Flar didn't object; instead, he agreed that Arthur should first return to the castle to meet Count Polia, so he prepared to send Arthur back along with some of the wounded.

To ensure Arthur's safety, he specially assigned an extra squad of elite soldiers to guarantee that the journey wouldn't be disturbed by bandits or wild beasts.

··············

After some time, having traveled a long road, the familiar castle came into view in the distance.

Feeling the excited cheers around him, Arthur quietly opened his eyes and looked into the distance.

The distant castle stood as tall and sturdy as before, with rows of soldiers holding weapons stationed on top of it.

And in the distance ahead, a group of cavalry rode over slowly, escorting them, the wounded, forward.

"Back again..." Looking at the familiar surroundings, Arthur suddenly felt this emotion rise in his heart.

The last time he returned to this castle, he seemed to have been transported back as a wounded soldier as well, and coincidentally, the opponent who had caused his two severe injuries was the Orc both times.

But this time, because his physical constitution had greatly improved and he had activated the Life Seed, Arthur's wounds healed quickly, so he didn't need to be helped into the castle like last time.

When the carriage reached a spot not far from the castle, Arthur refused the help of the nearby soldiers, stepped down from the carriage himself, and followed the leader's steps forward, entering the familiar castle.