Chapter 29 Condition

' I can ask for whatever I want? I don't even know what there is to ask for other than Ven.' Leo had never seen what could be considered valuable or useful in the kingdom, and so he couldn't ask for something specific.

"Your majesty, I'm grateful for your offer, but I'm afraid I don't know of anything I could ask for other than Ven." Leo decided that he should be upfront with the king.

"Hmmm.... I see. Well then in regards to your rewards I shall have to choose them. For destroying the slavers, I shall award you 5000 Ven." The king stated.

'Wait, What!? That's so much Ven...I'll finally be able to afford some armour.' Leo was thinking about the cheapest armour set at the blacksmith in Grove village.

"As for destroying the bandits and saving a village." The king continued, "I shall improve the condition of your release."

'Improve the condition? So he's going to make it more beneficial for me? I don't know if that's going to be as big of a reward as the Ven...' Leo was slightly disappointed, but he had yet to hear the condition. Only after he heard it, could he decide on the value of the reward.

"The condition of your release, is that you are to join all the other ability users in the kingdom at the military academy that was prepared for them." The king explained.

"The improvement shall be that you will be given the rank of Private before entering the academy, this will make it easier for you while you are there." The king finished speaking. Leo noticed that Sir Thompson was very surprised by the kings reward, and he started saying something.

" Your majesty, are you sure that's not... "

" It's fine, Sir Thompson. " The king then addressed Leo, " I believe these should be satisfactory rewards?"

'I have no idea if having a rank from the beginning will make anything better, but I have nothing else to ask for, so I'll just accept and hope everything works out.'

"Yes, thank you, your majesty." Leo stated while bowing his head slightly.

The king then stood up, "Sir Thompson, make the arrangements for him to join the academy, as well as implementing the rewards."

"Yes, your majesty. " Sir Thompson replied with a bow. With that, the king walked out of the room. Leaving Sir Thompson and Leo alone.

Leo stood up and Sir Thompson spoke, "That was unexpected, I had no idea about the kings plan to give you rewards. I could tell that you weren't sure about the value of the second reward, but I assure you, having a rank will be beneficial."

"I've never seen how the military operates, so I have no idea how the rankings even function." Leo replied.

"You don't have to worry about that, the academy is only starting classes in a week. Everything will be explained to you there. You're quite lucky, the timing is very convenient for you." Sir Thompson smiled.

"I suppose I am lucky in that regard. What will I be doing until the academy begins? I have nowhere to go."Leo asked.

" There are accommodations at the academy that you will be using, you can use this time to get acquainted with the other trainees. Well I suppose you're not going to be a trainee, you're a Private now." Sir Thompson straightened his back and very deliberately did what would be considered a salute.

He brought his right arm up and slammed it into his chest, so that it extended over his chest at a horizontal angle. Leo was very embarrassed and Sir Thompson could tell, he let out a large laugh and then asked Leo to follow him.

"I still need to make all the preparations, so I'll be taking you to the academy tomorrow. Until then you will be able to use the same room as you did last night. I'll have the uniform you'll be wearing brought over to your room later."

"I have to wear a uniform?" Leo asked. "Of course, you've just joined the military. I'll give you a tip, the number of ropes on a uniform indicate the person's rank, the more ropes, the higher the rank." Sir Thompson stated.

"Thank you, that is very useful to know. Is that the only difference in the uniforms?" Leo asked.

Sir Thompson smiled again, "No there's actually one more difference, you'll notice it when you get your uniform, it's unique to ability users. Also, the trainees won't have any ropes on their uniforms, it shows that they are in the academy. Your uniform will show that you have a rank, so you will probably be pretty popular." Leo wasnt very happy about attracting attention, and Sir Thompson seemed to be enjoying Leo's annoyance with what was to come.

Eventually Leo had arrived back in his room and Sir Thompson had left to perform his duties.

'I can't believe it. I got a huge boost in my wealth, which is great. But now I have to join the academy, AND I already have a military rank. So much has happened since I got my ability. It really has changed everything about my life.' Leo had gotten in the bath again. He enjoyed bathing, it allowed him to relax and think more clearly.

A few hours later a knock was heard on Leo's door. When opening it, there was a woman in a maids outfit standing in front of him, she had a set of clothes with her that she placed on Leo's bed. She never said a word and simply left after she had delivered the clothes.

Leo walked up to the bed and could see that it was his new military uniform. The uniform was black rather than red, instead of having a black rope going from the left shoulder to the chest area, it had a red one. There is a symbol of a Phoenix on the right side of the chest, rather than the Phoenix being black like on the other uniforms, this one was red.

BEst

'All the colours are reversed. Well it works for me, I definitely prefer the black uniform, it's more my style anyways.' Leo smiled while looking at the uniform.

'Maybe joining the military will allow me to prevent what happened to Zack and I from happening to anyone else...'