Chapter 30 Open Terrain

Ghreese knew that the kid in front of him was the heir of the Melvix family as it was clearly mentioned in the letter.

'It doesn't have anything to do with me anyway...'

Ghreese didn't care even if Zick dies in the battlefield. Though he felt dissatisfied with the Melvix family, he just let it go as it wouldn't change the current situation.

Their surroundings started turning dark as night was approaching, the sky was covered in black clouds like always in the battlefield. Seeing this Ghreese started speaking.

"You have time till tomorrow morning, and a knight will inform you about your position in the battlefield then."

Saying this, Ghreese put the letter in his hand inside his pocket and started heading towards his tent in the distance.

"Please follow me"

The knight beside Zick started leading the way to the place where Zick would be staying for the next two years.

A barrack-like house appeared in front of Zick; it was made of wood from top to the bottom. Opening its door, he could see a small bed in which only one person can fit. looking around the room it was totally empty leaving only the bed.

'I will be staying here for two years...?'

Zick felt depressed about his current situation, but the smile on his face didn't leave him.

"Then I will be taking my leave"

Bowing towards Zick, the knight walked away.

Closing the door, Zick's face turned blank but it was a little different than before, his eyes were shining for some reason.

Zick laid upon the bed which didn't feel comfortable at all and started sleeping.

'Just two years...I just have to survive for two years'

Having this thought, Zick fell asleep.

Getting up in the morning, Zick started training to increase his mana and waited for the arrival of the knight who would inform him about his position.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

Hearing the sound of knocking, Zick Opened the door.

"Follow me"

An knight covered in white armour stood in front of the door, even after hearing the knight speak to him informally the smile on his face didn't waver.

"okay"

Zick said this and started following the knight, the sky was covered in black clouds even though it was morning.

Walking for a few minutes he reached his destination.

"It's the armoury, take a set of armour and sword."

The knight stood beside the entrance of the armoury like a guard.

'....at least they are giving me armour'

Entering the armoury, Zick could only see armour, swords and helmet laid all over the place. Choosing randomly, he wore it and walked out of the armoury.

All the things within the armoury were the same so he didn't need to think about what he should choose. Luckily the armour was enhanced with mana to fit the wearer's body or a lot of problems would have arisen for his small body.

Seeing Zick coming out, the knight nodded his head.

'',

"You will be positioned at the front lines, I will lead you there"

The knight's voice was filled with pity.

'the front lines.....? haha....really they cant leave me alone can they....?'

The smile on Zick's face vanished and a dazed expression appeared on his face.

"hm...what happened?"

Hearing the knight's voice, Zick snapped out of his daze and smiled towards him.

"Nothing"

The knight didn't think much about it and started leading the way to the front lines. Walking for more than 10 minutes, a group of knights appeared in Zick's view. He didn't feel even a little fatigue after walking for 10 minutes.

All of the knights in front of him were at or higher than middle rank. They all stood in the middle of the camp waiting for him.

"is that the new member we were informed about?"

The leader of the group walked in front and talked to the knight besides Zick. They have all been informed about Zick, an heir of the Melvix family participating in the war with them.

When they were informed about this, a lot of them showed dissatisfaction but everyone was aware of the Melvix family being the strongest force in terms of the military so they didn't complain about it excessively.

"Yes....I will be taking my leave now"

Saying this, the knight who had led Zick here left.

"I am the captain of the third battalion in the front lines, my name is grantz, you will be taking orders from me. Do you have any problems?"

"No"

Seeing Zick answering him with a smile, he felt a little weird. All the people in the battlefield have a gloomy look on their faces.

'This smile would probably vanish soon too...'

Grantz looked to be in his 50s, he had a spear in his right hand and he had white hair and black eyes.

"The battle is going to start in 10 minutes. We have no time so we will talk while moving."

Saying this, Grantz started leading the way to the front, the terrain had little greenery but it became more and more sparse as they walked towards the battlefield.

There were at least 50 knights in the group. They either had a cold or a gloomy look on their faces.

"Then let me get to the point, if you get in the way while fighting we will abandon you without any hesitation."

Grantz knew about the battlefield more than anyone, he has spent 20 years here. Even a moment of negligence could lead to your death. Even as a peak rank knight, he felt it was hard surviving in the battlefield.

"....okay"

'I didn't expect them to risk their lives for my sake in the first place....'

Hearing Zick's answer, Grantz didn't say anything further and walked faster.

The third battalion reached in front of a large army of knights, there were more than 10,000 knights in it.

Looking at them, Zick walked besides Grantz and spoke to him.

"How many battalions do we have?"

"There are more than 100 battalions on our side, the two kingdoms and the empire have made an alliance so you should have expected these numbers."

Grantz said this to Zick with a plain tone.

Looking around, Zick only found a barren ground with blood stains everywhere. The smell of blood reached his nose even though he had yet to arrive in the front lines.

'.',

Zick found Ghreese standing on a higher ground in the distance, he looked at the knights with a serious expression.

"What!?....what do you all think you are doing bringing a child here!"

A woman wearing the sun god temple robe asked the knights with an angry look with her finger pointing at him.

"We have been ordered by the commander."

Grantz responded back to her with a calm face.

"Even if that was the case....."

"Stop! We don't have time for this, the army is starting to move, get in your positions!"

A man with gold hair and a lance on his back walked between them with a strict look, he wore a silver armour which shined brightly.

The women from the sun god temple wanted to say something but retreated after looking at the man with the lance.

"Get to your positions, there isn't much time"

"yes"

Grantz nodded his head and walked faster with the group to the front of the army.

While walking along with the knights, Zick saw the general positions of the army.

The priests were stationed in the end, with the mages in the middle and in the front were the knights.

Reaching the front of the army, Zick could see multiple battalions positioned in a systematic way.

Looking forward towards the enemy's side, Zick could see another army moving around. They wore black armour unlike the armour worn by Zick and the first continent army.

Their formation was different from the first continent's army, they were divided in three groups, the left wing, right wing and the central column. The second continent's army numbers weren't different from the first continent; they had 10,000 men strong.

'it's probably for identifying the enemy and comrades while fighting....'

Zick thought that, wearing different colour armour would would make it easier to fight for both the sides.

A horse galloped in their direction, looking closely at it with his enhanced senses, Zick could see that the one riding upon the horse had a white flag with him.

Seeing the reaction from the people besides him, it seems things like this happen all the time.

One of the knights from our side also headed forwards with his horse. Both horses met in the middle of the battlefield.

"They are just making a declaration for the start of the battle, in the end it always ends with a minor skirmish as both sides don't want to take heavy loses."

Grantz started explaining about what was happening when he saw Zick staring at the middle of the battlefield.

Hearing what Grantz said, Zick nodded his head in understanding. He was worried about another thing, this battle is going to take place in an open terrain, he would become an easy target for any long range attack.

'If anyone tries to assassinate me, my surviving chances are low'

Feeling his mood getting heavier by the second, Zick looked at the middle of the battlefield again.

The knight from the second continent made a declaration and galloped back on his horse to its formation.

The knight from the first continent returned to the formation and started speaking with commander Ghreese in the back. After hearing the Declaration, a resolute expression appeared on his face.

"Advance!!"

His voice could be heard by everyone as he imbued mana into it.

Both the army started moving at the same time, Zick also Advanced forward with a serious expression as he knew that smiling while in the middle of fighting would look creepy.

'I will survive no matter the cost....'