74 Border town
Anne and Justice were surprised by the news. Gaftan is one of the safest border towns in the Valorian kingdom. Even Anne knew not every border town was as dangerous as it can be.
“Gods! What happened at Gaftan?” Justice turned to see his brother demanding an answer from him.
“The hoards, it was already coming, they vanquished it, but the clandestine tower orb stays red,” Jason explained the situation to Justice.
“Impossible! It was supposed to be back into a green color or yellow even though the latter rarely occurred, but red?” Justice gave his opinion to Jason and Xavier, asking his brother for another task, “We need to go there with more army.”
Nodding his head to his brother, Jason agreed and with another request at hand, “Of course, Xavier and I will go there immediately. You need to make the assignment papers as soon as you arrive at the palace.”
“No, I’ll go with you!”
“Justice, your fever just subsided. I’m not going to let you go to Gaftan. You need rest.” Jason doesn’t want to take a risk by bringing Justice along.
“I am fine. I have plenty of rest already.” Said Justice stubbornly, “Besides, I need to ask Vale about something.” His hand instinctively goes to his neck where there were two puncture wounds lived.
Jason saw how stubborn his brother was sometimes. He took a sigh and asked for chief Obatto to assess Justice’s health. “I will not let you go with us if Obatto doesn’t agree, and that is final.” Warned Jason to his brother.
.....
Not long after, chief Obatto came inside and assess the crown prince’s health, with Anne as his assistant. Satisfied, he informed prince Jason that the crown prince is already healed and had a good bill of health.
“Not only that, the crown prince seems to have much more stamina than before.” Said chief Obatto.
“How is that possible?” Asked Jason to Obatto.
“I am lucky that such a talented healer was by my side all week. She even gave me a breath of fresh air.” Smirked Justice while his eyes goes to Anne in the room’s corner.
She blushed uncontrollably when he mentioned their kiss earlier, so subtly in front of the surrounding people. Though Anne tried so hard to hide her face, Xavier saw a glimpse of her blushing face and knew what was happening between them earlier.
“Fine! We go in one hour, get some warm bath and breakfast,” Jason looked at Anne and asked her, “You took care of my brother for a week, I’ll make sure you will be compensated after I go back to the palace.”
“Thank you for the compliment, my prince, but it is my duty as the healer to help everyone in need, and it was the crown prince.” Said Anne to prince Jason.
“As I recalled, your third exam will come soon, right?” Asked Jason again.
“Yes, field training exam, your majesty.”
“Field training exam? Perfect! Then your exam will come sooner than the rest of them.” Said Jason to Anne.
“I beg you a pardon, your majesty?” Asked Anne, confused by his words.
Prince Jason then asked chief Obatto, “Is it possible for her to be in the border town as a part of her third exam? I want her to accompany my brother.”
The chief healer of the palace looks at Anne, and nodded his head, “Yes it is possible for the exam participant to go away in a call for an emergency.”
“Perfect. Send chief Hale to the border town as a part of the healer reinforcement, and the evaluator for the girl.” Prince Jason enthusiastically spoke to chief Obatto, he excuse himself afterward to manage the provisions along with chief Obatto.
Inside the room, Xavier leaned on the wall and chuckled at Anne, who was sitting beside him. “Well, looks like you’re coming with us.”
“Not funny, I’m worried now.” Whispered Anne, conveying her feeling to Xavier.
“No need to be worried, border town has the underground shelter for the citizens when the hoard is coming, you’ll be safe there.” Xavier convinced her. His hand goes to hers and stays there for a while.
“No, that’s not what I’m worried about, I... I have already had a hard time because of my first exam, I’m afraid about... You know.”
Anne was talking about the backlash, how the others perceived her after the first exam, and the heinous act at the second exam. Now, she even accompanied Justice, her sponsor. She doesn’t afraid of the bullies, but she is afraid that others will discredit her skill over her scandal.
“So, you better have typical field training, rather than the actual field experience?” Said Justice with a frown on his face. “I know you aren’t scared of those bullies. I saw your wounds and bruises. So what are you scared for?”
“My credibility, you realize that I’ve been save at the first exam which made almost all the exam participants enraged, and in the second exam they know that you’re my sponsored, and now I will get an exempt for the third exam.” Anne let out a sigh. “What do you think will happen?”
Justice stand up from the bed, and walk slowly to Anne, “First of all, I was the one who saved you from the immediate dismissal, and second of all, you should be proud because I’ve sponsored no one before,” He grab Anne shoulder and smiled, “the third, you’re going into a border town, the place ten times more dangerous than any forest near the capital. I bet most of them wanted to be in your position right now.”
“So, are you going to be scared forever, River Anne of Viora village?” Teased Xavier.
“Or going to fight and once again proved to the haters what exactly you’re made of.” This time it was justice that talked to her.
Looking at the two of them, Anne took a deep breath and said, “Alright, I’ll go with you.”
In another place, five men are sitting in a war room, one of the special rooms in every border town. They all look exhausted and fed up with the crisis that they were being through. Horden goes inside the room bringing aggrus and bread for everyone.
“All of you should eat. Can’t go into fighting if you are hungry.” Said Horden while handing the cup of aggrus to everyone.
“Are we sure that crystal orb isn’t broken?! I mean, we need to wait for almost three freaking weeks for the hoards!” Henry slammed the table. There was a black circle under his eyes, the obvious sign of how tired he was.
Vale let out a sigh and look as tired as Henry. He chug his aggrus and scolded the captain knight himself. “Calm down Henry, let’s wait for Silver Hawk. Hopefully, we got the reinforcement that we need.”
“Hope it was sooner. I... I really wanted to go home now. I missed... the capital.” Henry was muttering while thinking about a certain girl with purple color hair. He missed her smile and how she blushed with a ray of sunshine on her face.
“You’re not the only one who misses the capital, Henry.” Said Vale, he throws some of the bread crumbs to his friends. He was smiling, remembering the information from Kirara about the five percent magica inside Anne that came from him. Now, whenever Anne uses the magica from the bangle, he could feel the magica on Anne.
Horden chuckled, looking at the two of them, “Oh come on boys, don’t you give up yet, as soon as we defeat another hoard you can go back to miss capital, sooner.”
Henry glared at Horden, while gruntled at him, “Shut up gramps, I still hate you for the crystal dagger that you gave to a random girl.”
Vale immediately chokes on his drink. He knows the owner of the crystal dagger. He locked eyes with Horden that smiled at him and gave him a wink. Horden knew about Anne and was satisfied to know that his grandson was actually smitten with his intended fiancé all along.
“Captain, are we going to wait for two weeks again?” Brom was lying on two chairs asking Vale in his groggy voice, “I am bored.”
“Brom! For a bloody last time, this is our assignment, not a vacation!” Shouted Vale with a glare in his eyes at his subordinates.
“Teran, do you hear anything from the citizen?” Henry called for his subordinate, a huge man with golden brown skin and curly hair.
“Nothing captain, they are all tired and just wanted to get into their daily activity.” Said Teran.
From the other corner of the room, Martin scoffed at Teran, “Aren’t we all.”
Teran looks at him with hidden animosity. Brom saw it, but prefer to ignore it. He tried to go to sleep again, but suddenly another aura came to his attention. He jilted from his chair, surprising everyone in the room.
“God! Brom, what happened to you?” Said Vale at Brom.
A young woman knocked on the door and entered the room. Her beautiful face had some similar features to Teran’s. “Captain, I’ve got good news.”
“What is it, Taissa?” Asked Henry, curious about the good news.
“The crown prince Justice and prince Jason are here with the reinforcement!”
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