Swordmeister of Rome

'It was as I expected… hehe.'

Sian was now living at the dormitory provided for the newly-created <Dragona>, which was located right next to the Third Knight Guard dormitory.

Viscount Talin visited Sian a while ago to ask him to join <Dragona>. Sian pondered on the offer, but eventually accepted it because of two reasons.

First, his brother was joining also.

Second, the job looked really easy.

Sian asked Count Kerbel and was told that <Dragona> did not have any work to do unless it was wartime. It was a time of peace, so Sian guessed that there was not much to do, and he was right.

It had been over a month since he moved and he literally had nothing to do. Yet he still got paid ten times more than what he was getting paid when he was a Guarran-Tia.

<Dragona> comprised of three people. Sian, Rian, and Kalagul. Kalagul agreed on becoming the captain of <Dragona> in exchange for getting help with living in this place. He ranted that the original owner of the body lacked information and always went to the Royal Library to study. Count Roman was worried that Kuntarian's bad reputation would cause problems, but Kalagul used Exar to change his appearance to that of a middle-aged man, thus solving the problem.

Kalagul was then introduced to high-ranking officials as a hidden Grand Bander, and the missing Kuntarian was covered up by King Narasha.

Lieutenant-Captain Rian worked hard to train at the training grounds. His wounds had healed completely, thanks to Sian's protection, and the experience motivated Rian to train harder.

The Third Knight Guard captain was replaced by a Returnee named Kar-Tian. He used to be in the Knight Guard before he went to the Wall, and he was a well-rounded, trusted soldier who was suitable enough for the duty.

As for Sian who became the captain's assistant… he was looking up at the sky from the hammock he installed behind the dormitory.

Viscount Talin was ordered by the King to avoid getting any complaints from Sian, so he offered the captain's assistant position to Sian.

<If you just become a member, you will need to train along with them and work on various things. Your brother can't help you out with that. What will others think if he keeps you off regular duty? They will accuse your brother for being unfair. Become the assistant. It's the best choice for you.>

It was so logical, rational, and beautiful that Sian took the offer at once. In the end, <Dragona> had no regular members. It had one captain, one lieutenant-captain, and a captain's assistant.

Talin did keep his promise, however. He sent a clerk to do all the clerical work for them. The assistant position was created just for Sian, so he naturally had nothing to do.

None of the work was given to Sian.

Besides, no one would be able to tell Sian what to do. He was assistant to the captain, but Kalagul had no interest in ordering him around and the lieutenant-captain did not have authority over the captain's assistant.

Sian, who was very satisfied with his current peaceful life, pondered on what to do next. He decided to return home and have dinner.

'I should go home and have dinner with Mother today.'

It had been a while since he last met his mother, so Sian began thinking about what he should buy for his mother's present. He had no use for his money, and he had plenty of it anyway.

During dinner time, Count Roman spoke out suddenly in a grim voice.

"It's doesn't look good. Usharan Kingdom has declared war against Con Kingdom. It's not a full-scale war yet, but it's just a matter of time."

Sian realized why the palace had been so busy lately. Rian asked his father in disbelief, "But how… don't they have Taran Kingdom on the other side? I don't think Usharan has the power to protect themselves from both sides."

Usharan Kingdom was located next to Taran Kingdom, which was the strongest among the Seven Kingdoms. They were allies, but they were never friendly enough to start a war with their backs facing the other kingdom.

Con and Usharan had comparable forces. If Usharan fought against Con, it would leave itself vulnerable to attacks from the Taran Kingdom.

"Usharan did not pull any of their forces from the Taran border. They are fighting against Con Kingdom with a smaller number and they are pushing them back."

Con Kingdom was an ally of Tian. It was created to compete against Taran and Usharan, and as such, Tian now had no choice but to support Con Kingdom. Also, it would be bad news if Con Kingdom became weak or lost to Usharan.

"Well, we don't have that many soldiers to send… we'll need to send a small number of elites."

"Yes. I believe that's why our King created <Dragona>. I'm sure other men will be sent also, but <Dragona> will be the main force."

They had no spare soldiers to send. Usharan preparing for war meant that Taran Kingdom was now free of pressure from Usharan. It forced King Narasha and the other nobles to work on moving and placing their soldiers to strengthen the border against Taran. There was also the Kharan Kingdom to worry about and they also needed to send reinforcements to Con Kingdom.

Under normal circumstances, it would've been impossible to do all of these things at once.

But, it was okay now. They had a new Grand Bander, Kalagul.

If a Grand Bander was dispatched, Con Kingdom would welcome it even with a small number of reinforcements. That was how important a Grand Bander was for a war.

It would've been great if the Kingdom could use Kalagul for their expansion, but they could not trust such a mysterious man for the job.

Besides, Kalagul and Sian, the people at the heart of <Dragona>, were not people that could be controlled.

That was why the King decided to use <Dragona> to help Con Kingdom. Rian and Count Roman also realized the King's intentions.

'Ugh.'

Sian didn't understand complicated issues that much, but he realized his peace had been destroyed. He despised the idea, but he knew he had no choice once he saw his brother showing eagerness toward fighting for his kingdom.

If he followed, there will be no danger. They had Kalagul also.

Also, Sian had been enjoying a good life, so it was about time to do some work.

Sian did not want to use his power to kill people, so he decided that his goal was to bring Rian back safe and sound. Therefore, he planned to enjoy his last few days of peace.

"So, you are the new recruits for <Dragona>."

"Good day, sir!"

New people had been added to <Dragona>. It didn't happen because there were no jobs, but the situation had changed and now Dragona needed to make preparations.

"You are here too. Good to see you, Celine."

"Good to see you too, Sir Rian."

Celine was placed as second Lieutenant-Captain of Dragona.

Among the people who were added to Dragona, Celine was the only Master-level warrior. Everyone else was an upcoming warrior who had good results from the <Haron> tournament.

They all looked at Kalagul, Rian, and Celine admiringly.

"Hm… Where's Sian?"

As people introduced themselves, Celine became curious and asked Rian. Sian was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh… he's…"

Panolan, who won second place at <Haron>, glanced around at the people. They were all people who had good results at <Haron>. By looking at these people, <Dragona> seemed to be a really important group. It was obvious when looking at the leaders.

The captain was a Grand Bander, while the lieutenant-captains were Sir Rian from the famous Roman family and Celine from Swordmeister Kiraine's family.

Panolan became excited as he felt that Tian Kingdom knew about his potential and was treating him with such respect. Their duty as <Dragona> was to aid Con Kingdom.

He swore to himself to do his best on the mission.

After glancing at the other new recruits, Panolan moved to his room to unpack and began walking around the building. He had two weeks before leaving for Con Kingdom, so it looked like a good idea to familiarize himself with the place.

The building had a kitchen, a restaurant, a small office, and a resting area. It was decorated and well-kept. As he went around to the back, there was a small training ground and a small garden. After walking above the training ground, Panolan began looking through the garden. Then he found something strange.

'…hammock?'

Between two tall trees, a hammock was fiercely swinging side to side. Panolan used Bander on his eyes to look into it. There was a weak-looking young man swinging on hammock as he looked up at the sky.

'Who is he? A clerk?'

Panolan decided to ask who he was. He knew clerks needed to work until their shifts were over. They could not slack off.

"Who are you?"

As Panolan asked his question, the hammock's swinging began slowing down and the man who was lying in it pulled himself up before turning to Panolan.

"Hm… are you one of the new recruits?"

"Yes. I am Panolan. I just joined Dragona."

"Good day. I'm in Dragona too. I'm Sian, the captain's assistant."

"Huh?"

As the captain's assistant, that explained why he looked so weak and was staying here. However, one question still remained.

"I introduced myself to everybody a while ago, but I didn't find you there."

"Oh… yeah. I heard I didn't need to attend if I didn't want to. Haha, we were going to meet soon anyway."

Rian told Sian: <It's better you come and greet the newcomers.> To which Sian interpreted: <It's still okay not to go.>

Panolan started wondering what was up with this guy. He did not intend to meddle with him, but they were going to war. If some fool was working as the captain's assistant, he might just kill everyone by making the wrong decisions. This guy needed to change.

Panolan thought Sian needed to be kept in check.

'Haha… Narasha, you old man…'

Sian let out a hollow laugh as he watched Panolan leave.