Daniel didn’t dare to meet my eyes. He even turned away whenever I looked straight at him.
His mother couldn’t have been more different. Her eyes never averted from me, and that was far more uncomfortable than I was willing to admit openly. She inclined her head slightly to the side and looked… satisfied?
“I was sure Daniel would tell you all about the test, but it looks like there was no reason to worry. He didn’t tell you anything, did he?” Mrs. Zerog asked, as if she already knew the answer.
I shook my head, and she continued.
“You are here thanks to Daniel.” She pointed at her son without so much as a smile and moved on when Daniel grimaced and turned away. “I heard he told you all about the Camp.”
I was given a second to digest what Mrs. Zerog said but couldn’t quite agree. All Daniel had mentioned was that he would join the Camp. Well, and that he wanted me to join him. That was about all he said, and I didn’t really know much more about the Camp either, except for the obvious.
She regarded me for a moment and must have noticed something.
“What exactly did you tell your friend, Daniel?” Mrs. Zerog asked. A nuance of frustration lingered in her voice.
Daniel turned back to her, his lips parted, but his mother dismissed his retort with a wave of her hand.
“Anyway, our son bombarded us with various documents, videos, reports, statistics—you name it—and all of them revolve around you. He pointed out a few facts and told us all about the last few months. How you came into possession of a mutant beast egg, and everything that happened since then.”
I recalled Daniel mentioning something about asking his parents. He’d said something about giving them straight facts, and some more.
Is that why I’m here? My heart drummed valiantly and nearly leaped out of my chest.
“Since we were outside for business, I had less time to double-check the information Daniel provided. However, your situation was interesting enough to test you.” She looked back at me with a smile that never reached her eyes. “To be honest, I am surprised you stayed friends with Daniel. Let’s ignore the misunderstanding Daniel caused when you two were young, but I never expected a young child from an unBlessed family with your condition to persevere beside Daniel.”
I glanced at Daniel, who finally looked at his mother, his features distorted in pain.
“Since you stayed friends with Daniel, we were worried you would bide your time to extort him, but that never happened. In fact, even now, you are more inclined to reject his help even though he is more than willing to help you,” she added, warmth flowing into her voice at last. “And I am grateful for that, even if it’s foolish.”
Foolish? That… I wanted to say something, but my lips wouldn’t part.
“Foolish because anyone, including myself, Daniel, and my dear husband, would have acted differently. Nobody would have rejected the opportunity to get rid of all their problems if they had been in your situation. And that is exactly what you did, dozens of times.”
It took me a moment to realize that I could move again.
“But I took something from him. We used his teacher’s expensive ether devices for weeks, and he paid for several meals, high-quality food for my Soulkin, and membership at the Silverstreak gym. He even gave me the silvernit sword and helped me on my first hunt. Without his help, I would have left the Bastion in a desperate attempt to earn money to feed Aureus with no body tempering, no combat training—no weapon to fight with.”
I had a lot more to say, but I felt more pitiful as more and more words echoed through the extravagant living room. It was probably nothing special for the Zerog family—their estate was a literal skyscraper in the main sector—but Daniel’s help had been overwhelming. It was… burdening, and I hadn’t even accepted one-tenth of the things my friend had offered me over the years.
Mrs. Zerog listened intently, and a glimmer of recognition appeared in her eyes as she nodded.
“And that is one more reason I wanted to see you. Guilt is already eating at you, which shows exactly what kind of person you are. Sure, this is not perfect, and we may have to put you through a rough time, but that is why I prepared something for you.” She smiled at me, and it felt genuine for the first time since I met her eyes. “A test that will show if you are determined enough to join the Camp as Daniel’s retinue.”
Test? Retinue?
The longer I listened to Mrs. Zerog, the more questions formed in my mind.
“We put everything into consideration to figure out if you are the right person to become Daniel’s retinue, and I think we came to the perfect conclusion.” Daniel’s mother didn’t seem to notice my confusion, or she ignored it. She laid out what their test was all about instead. “First, we double-checked the information we had about you. I think an apology is overdue, but we kept tabs on you and your family for the last few years. You may not like this, but I hope you can understand why we did it.”
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I fully understood her point as she glanced at Daniel, who scowled angrily at his mother this time. He had a few choice words for his parents’ actions, but it looked like everyone ignored him.
“Like I said, we double-checked all the old information first. Then, once we were satisfied with what we saw, we looked at the documents Daniel showed us. We arrived in the Bastion yesterday night, and we’ve acquired enough information from Bert and Selene to verify everything. To be precise, we managed to update it with the records Selene gave us about your actions in the Silverstreak gym.”
My brain was rattling, but I failed to understand everything they were saying. All I knew was that Daniel’s parents were giving their utmost to ensure they had all the information they needed to make the right decision, without showing any bias.
“We gave Daniel a drive filled with documents, videos, and much more, and we instructed him to forward it to you. He probably lied to you about the drive, but I hope you understand why. I made sure to tell him he was not allowed to tell you anything. If he had told you the truth instead, we would be going separate ways, and you would never be allowed to complete the last trial to earn the right to join the Camp alongside Daniel.”
Daniel looked apologetically at me, but my mind wasn’t even registering most of what was being said.
“Wait a moment… please.” I lifted my hand and took a deep breath. “So… do I understand this correctly? You looked into my past and decided to give me a mountain of information—tomes, techniques, and more—because I seemed nice enough. Now that I know Daniel lied to me, they’re probably invaluable. And now that I’ve had enough time to study the material Daniel gave me, you want me to do something to prove that I’m good enough to become Daniel’s retinue.”
The exact meaning of a ‘retinue’ was still unclear to me, but I doubted that mattered right now.
“Why? I mean, why is all of this so unnecessarily complicated?”
If they wanted to test me, they could have done it a lot simpler.
“You are weak,” Mr. Zerog spoke up for the first time.
Daniel grumbled. Mrs. Zerog grimaced at her husband’s antics.
“What my husband is trying to say is that you are weaker than Daniel and probably everyone else joining the Camp. However, the spots reserved for retinues have rarely been used for actual retinues. It is more of a placeholder that allows certain people to sponsor treasures from less fortunate families—treasures that escaped the Beast Temple’s watchful eyes,” she said, and regarded Daniel’s reaction carefully.
That actually sounded like an opportunity. If Daniel’s parents thought I was good enough to join the Camp under their sponsorship, then… but where was that different from Daniel’s offer? I’d still be exploiting my connections—my friendship.
“Don’t overestimate the influence my son has on us—or his father, for that matter. While it is true that our son’s plea is the reason we found you, I would never test you like this if I considered you useless. It would never come to my mind to sponsor you if you were useless, Adam,” Mrs. Zerog said, calling out my name for the first time since I entered. “By sponsoring you, we would be responsible for your actions in the Camp. Everything you do would ultimately affect our family as well.”
If that was true, it would make even less sense to sponsor me. I would be the weakest in the Camp. That was what they said!
“You might be wondering why you are here and why we bother with all of this. It is simple, really. You are weak. There is no denying that. Your World is minuscule, and your body has barely been tempered. However, are those factors really the only things that make a Blessed special? Are your hard work and determination worthless? I don’t think so.” She sighed deeply, shaking her head. “I have been keeping track on the drive, and I have to say I would be highly impressed if you managed to retain more than a quarter of the documents you studied.
“I made sure Daniel would spare his time and resources with you—to hunt in relative safety with him while we were still outside taking care of some issues. As for what you did in the last few weeks since the last trial started… that was entirely on you. I did not spy on you, other than checking on Selene and the drive this morning, and I sure hope you have been working hard to grow stronger. Because this will be hard on you.”
My heart skipped a beat. The meeting with Daniel’s parents had been confusing, but the thought of a trial was exciting. I didn’t know what would happen, nor was it certain that I had what it took to join the Camp. However, the thought of putting my hard work to use—and the opportunity to earn the right to join the Camp—was enticing.
It felt like her eyes burned right into my soul as she added, “Since you do not like freebies, and we want to make sure we’re not making a mistake here, we prepared a challenge for you.”
A challenge might as well be exactly what I needed. Sure, I’d still gain something invaluable if I succeeded, but it didn’t seem like Daniel’s parents would give me anything without reason—let alone for free. They would make sure I’d have to work my butt off to earn it, and I loved it!
“Did you work hard enough in the last few weeks? I sure hope so, because you will need every bit of strength to persevere.” Mrs. Zerog smiled at me, but there was no warmth. Her eyes were cold, steely, as she regarded me like prey.
“I want you to kill ten 3-Star Wilds before the sun sets tonight.”
What? That was less than 10 hours to reach the Windbloom Forest, scout lone 3-Star Wilds, and hunt them… ten times in a row. One beast for every hour, without a break. Or I would have to hunt groups of 3-Star Wilds, but that would likely result in injuries I couldn’t afford either.
How, in the Rulers’ names, am I supposed to do that? Does she want me to fail?
“He won’t be able to do it,” Mr. Zerog’s emotionless voice resounded.
As painful as the naked truth was, he was probably right.
I always made sure to avoid groups whenever I fought anything above 2-Star. It was just too dangerous. The risk of getting wounded wasn’t worth it. Even 2-Star Wilds were dangerous when in groups.
Sure, my situation was unique, which was a strength and a weakness in one, and I doubted I’d be able to make full use of it against ten 3-Star Wilds, but the more I thought about it, the more it hurt.
Was it really necessary for Daniel’s father to doom me for failure?