But if they were not truly helpless, who would want to run away?
P.S.: There was another chapter coming up.
Typing on a phone was downright torturous, and the speech recognition rate was even more ridiculous.
Next came this book's regular segment.
Esteemed readers, please toss me a couple of rewards!!! This author humbly begs you, orz.
Chapter 31: Bonds
"Raise your head." Rider's voice was harsher than ever before. Weber felt that sound was so piercing it seemed ready to tear through his eardrums.
Weber wanted to cover his ears, but Rider's voice came again, even more terrifying than before.
"Raise your head! Look at me!"
Weber tremblingly raised his head. Rider took in his cowardly expression and sighed. His presence was much weaker than when he had first been summoned, but compared to back then, Rider now radiated an imposing majesty without anger, like a wrathful god or Buddha.
The pressure brought by that mighty aura was so overwhelming that Weber lowered his head.
I am not worthy of standing beside a king like this. The thought circled through Weber's mind.
That's right. I'm just a thief, a parasite trying to gain something for nothing by relying on Rider's strength.
"What do you think of innate talent?" The rebuke Weber had expected never came. He looked up in astonishment and discovered that Rider had stopped the Divine Bull. Rider was no longer seated in the chariot either, but sat astride the Divine Bull, gazing into the distance.
Weber said nothing. Things were not developing as he had imagined.
Ignoring Weber's strange reaction, Rider continued on his own. "That is probably the most helpless thing in the world. Even though I had one of the finest teachers in the world, I was too frail and sickly to learn the essence of combat."
Looking at Rider's muscular build, Weber found it hard to believe that this two-meter-tall, red-haired brute had once been a weak and sickly boy.
"Every time I crossed hands with my teacher, I would be defeated within three moves." Rider sighed. "Thinking about it now, if my teacher had gotten serious, I probably would have died on the spot!"
What was Rider trying to say? Weber could not help but wonder.
"Weber, do you like magecraft?" Rider lifted Weber up and placed him on the back of the other Divine Bull. The whole process looked like a burly farmer grabbing a chick, making for an especially comical sight.
"I do." Without the slightest hesitation, Weber answered.
"In that respect, we are alike." Rider patted Weber on the shoulder. The sudden force nearly knocked Weber off the bull's back.
"This king loves combat, but no matter how much I trained, I could never defeat my teacher." Rider burst into laughter at Weber's disheveled state. "Just like how you can never catch up to your classmates in magecraft."
"Rider, what are you trying to say?" No matter how slow Weber was, he could now tell that Rider bore him no ill will. On the contrary, Rider wanted to tell him something.
"Have you ever seen any history book mock this king for having poor talent in combat?" The smile on Rider's face gradually faded as he asked Weber this question.
"No." That was right. No one would slander Alexander the Great over such a trivial matter. People only praised twelve-year-old Alexander for taming the fierce horse Bucephalus, celebrated his destruction of the Persian Empire, and sang of the empire he built across Europe, Asia, and Africa.
"Boy, remember this well. You are a man who can fight at this king's side. You are absolutely not useless!" Rider roared. "Magecraft is only one part of your life. Using one part of a life to measure the value of the whole life—how laughable!"
"Who told you that being bad at magecraft makes you worthless? This king will beat him until he's begging for teeth!"
"Rider, you... don't mind that I'm holding you back?" Weber stared at Rider, who stood as majestic as a god, and for a moment he was completely stunned. Even his words came out jumbled.