Chapter 65 – The Price of a Head
Lia’s eyes snapped open, her heart pounding a mile a minute. William’s room... had it all been a dream, a hallucination after fainting? She sat bolt upright in bed, desperately searching for William. "William?! William?!" Her voice trembled with panic.
The door opened almost instantly, and William entered, his face showing concern before softening at the sight of her awake. He quickly approached and knelt beside the bed, taking her hands. "Lia, calm down. I’m here. Everything’s alright." He gave her a soft kiss on the forehead, trying to soothe her agitation. "You can get up and go about your activities now. Congratulations on last night, you endured like a champion." He explained that every night they should repeat the exercise outside, but the intense pain shouldn’t return.
Lia nodded, still a little shaky, and thanked him. She remained sitting on the bed as William headed to the deck. He needed to stretch his muscles, even though his wounds still ached. He did a gentle warm-up with his sword, slow and controlled movements, before heading to the stern of the ship, where the sailors usually gathered.
There he found Brannik and Renno, his sparring partners. "Look at him! Looks like you got run over by a cart," Brannik joked, though there was a friendly tone in his voice. "But they say you were partying for two nights straight." Renno chuckled. William smiled wearily. "Sorry I didn’t come to thank you guys earlier." Then he asked about Captain Thenerev.
"He’s talking with the mages," Renno replied, his tone becoming a bit more serious. "Seems they found something strange in the last few days." Curiosity piqued William. "What happened?"
Brannik cleared his throat. "The sharks... they’ve disappeared from the sea. They say it’s a bad omen." William frowned, confused. Renno leaned in a little, lowering his voice. "Sharks never get close to the Kraken’s lair. If they’re gone, it’s possible the Kraken is near. Keep this to yourself, eh? It’s not something everyone should know."
William nodded, promising to keep the secret. "Hey," he said then, his tone lighter, "will you guys come with me to the second level? I want to see how everyone else is doing." Renno said he’d go. Brannik shrugged, saying he had work to do.
The two of them went down to the lower deck of the ship. Everything seemed normal. The knight aspirants were training fervently, but even among them, William’s former comrades stood out. They moved with a palpable intensity, as if every strike and every dodge was a matter of life and death.
Every time William went down, the instructors just watched him from afar, avoiding approaching him for fear of Aurus’s retaliation. But this time, Drevlan, the head of all the instructors and the only Level 3 Knight among the trainers, stood in front of William with a mocking smile.
"Well, well, Rosehart," Drevlan said, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "Seems you have a knack for offending everyone you cross. I heard they put a nice bounty of a hundred spirit stones on your little head. What do you think? Should I collect my reward?" His gaze was challenging, though there was a hint of mockery in his eyes.