Chapter 5- Azell Zestringer(5)

Giles spoke.

“I heard the approximate account from army doctor Rick. He said your memories are obscured….”

“Yes. It might seem like a lie, but I have no memories as to why I was there. I’m not even sure who I am…..”

Unlike Rick, Azell spoke respectfully towards Giles. He had heard from Rick that Giles was a noble that had received the title of knight. It was a situation where he couldn’t disseminate his identity, so he had to be polite towards the noble.

“Truthfully, I have a hard to time believing it. However, the problem is every time I look at you the story becomes more likely.”

When Azell was found, his appearance was very grave. Even now he was still in somewhat of a critical state. The only way a human could have such an appearance and still be alive was for him to have been subjected to evil magical experimentation.

“At the very least, it doesn’t seem like you are a spy from a different country. I have decided to just let you go. However…..”

“However?”

“It isn’t a problem where I can make the decision. I’ll have to report to my Lieutenant and receive permission.”

The matter was a bit too sensitive for him to make a decision instead of his lieutenant.

Azell spoke.

“Mmm. Then let’s go meet the lieutenant right now and continue the story?”

“Unfortunately, it’s impossible right now.

“Why?”

“We came out of our fort to excavate the ruins. Moreover, the lieutenant returned to the fort to receive an important person. After couple days, he’ll return back here.”

“Then I have to wait until then?”

“Until you receive the lieutenant’s permission, you’ll have to stay in our camp without leaving it. I won’t imprison you, but it would be best if you don’t wander around. In your circumstance, this isn’t such a bad measure.”

Azell wasn’t healthy enough to wander around freely. Therefore, Giles told him it would be best to wait here, while being under their protection.

Azell realized his consideration, so he nodded his head.

“I’ll do that.”

“Then please go back. While you are standby, stay at the medical barracks.”

“I understand. Ah. By the way, may I ask you one question?”

Azell asked as if he just thought it up, so Giles answered back.

“What is it?”

“Centurion Giles. You have 4 rings of life? At your age, you are already a Cord-Rope master and a knight of the army, so why are you a Centurion in the frontier?”

At his unexpected intelligence, Giles’ expression visibly hardened. At the same time, he emitted an offensive energy.

“How did you know that?”

For those who train in the Spirit Order, one gets a title of ‘Master’ once the ring of life reaches 4. The offensive energy emitted by those who reached the level of master was enough to flatten a normal person.

However, Azell didn’t show any signs of shrinking back even after he received the energy. He just shrugged his shoulder and replied back.

“I just asked about what I saw. I don’t understand how I can see it either.”

Of course, this was a lie. Azell had reached a higher level as a practitioner of the Spirit Order in the past than Giles. Whether it was magical detection ability or the ability to discern the opponent’s fighting power, he was able to see through Giles’ strength at one glance.

He decided to ask an antagonistic question towards Giles, because he wanted to learn information about this time period. If one was a Cord-Rope master 220 years ago, the person would be acknowledged as someone with great power. However, will it be the same in this time period?

After glaring at Azell for a moment, Giles retracted his offensive energy.

“…what army doctor Rick said about you being a Spirit Order practitioner was true.”

“It’s true.”

“You don’t have any rings of life, or magical force but… I’ve had a vague sense that I can’t ignore you.”

It wasn’t as much as Azell, but Giles, who was a Cord-Rope master, was considerably adept at sensing other’s strength with his developed sense. The moment he saw Azell, he received a sensation that indicated he couldn’t be ignored.

Giles spoke.

“Anyways, you don’t have to answer that question. You don’t have any reason to answer it.”

“It is a sensitive topic, so I apologize.”

“It’s fine. You can go now.”

Azell nodded his head then he turned his body and he walked out of Gile’s barrack.

6

At the Balan forest’s ruin excavation site, the chef in charge of the meals was looking at an unbelievable sight.

It was caused by the transformation of one person. When he saw the person accompanying army doctor Rick Boran for the first time, he was surprised. The person was so skinny that he looked like a walking corpse.

While looking like that, the person ate an enormous amount of food, so the chef was astonished. He had eaten about 5 servings of food and 2 liters of water . The army was overflowing with men with robust appetites, but it was a whole different level trying to eat like this skinny corpse-like man.

However, the truly baffling part was his transformation.

He came to the kitchen to eat both lunch and dinner.

When he showed up for dinner, there was a suspicion as to the fact that he was the same person who showed up earlier for lunch. No matter how he saw it he was suspicious, but his superficial characteristics were certainly same as before. For example, he still had long red hair, and blue eyes. But the skinny corpse-like person had suddenly gained weight so how were they they suppose to interpret this? How can a human change so much in just couple hours?

‘Maybe it’s magic?’

He could only consider this thought as his customer, Azell Zestringer, went through an extreme change.

“Ah, is it because I was starving? Everything tastes like honey. But the seasoning is a bit strong.”

“You really eat well. Are you sure you are ok?””

Rick was sitting across him and he was shocked by the change.

He was almost unrecognizable. His weight had increased suddenly, so he looked more like a human.

Truthfully, Rick spent a full minute trying to dissuade Azell from eating more than 1 serving. Even after seeing him being ok after eating one serving, Rick still decided that he shouldn’t eat more. However, Azell was stubborn and he ate 3 servings, which frightened Rick. Soon he rapidly recovered his human appearance.

Now he was continuously eating dinner, while he was receiving everyone’s stares.

“I’m fine. I’m eating this much because my body requires it. To tell you the truth, I have to eat more, but I don’t want to suddenly abuse the stomach and be sick. So I’m eating in moderation.”

‘This is eating in moderation?’

Rick was loss for words. Azell was already cleaning up his 6th serving. Moreover, he drank at least 3 liters of water.

“If you drink that much water then wouldn’t you develop a stomach ache?”

“Usually.”

“Then why are you drinking so much?”

“I am eating a large amount of food, so I have to drink enough water to digest it, and I need to rehydrate my body. Rick, do you know that most of the body is composed of water? My body was extremely weakened, so I have to eat and drink a lot to return to my normal state. ”

“…you seem to make sense for a moment, but the truth is you are talking nonsense. Even a healthy person cannot eat that much and be fine. You are in a weakened state. If you eat and drink this way then you could die….”

“I’m fine. Am I not ok?”

“…….”

Ah, is that right? The corner of Rick’s mouth twitched. He wanted to say a word as a healing expert with an education from the Medical Association, but he was overwhelmed after seeing Azell’s absurd change.

“Be that as it may, isn’t your rapid change absurd? After eating a lot, you just slept for couple hours?”

“Doesn’t it make sense if you considering the weakened stated I was in? Also, each person has different rate of digestion?”

“With all do respect, where in the world is a person with that kind of digestive ability? Are you a beast of endless starvation brought up from some demon world?”

“Eh-ee.(TLN: it’s a sound you make that signifies ‘whatever’) Originally, if a person who was weakened from starvation was fed well, then wouldn’t he be able to return to a human-like appearance in about four days? My situation is similar to that, but since I am eating more, the speed of the change is a bit different. ”

“No matter how I think about it, it doesn’t make any sense….”

“Ah, really. I’m fine.”

“…….”

“Stop saying it doesn’t make sense to something that has already happened. It happened in reality so accept it and analyze it. If you deny everything that diverges from your logic, then how will you be able to deal with unexpected situations?”

After saying this, Azell chewed on a seasoned vegetable. He had eaten all the food on top of his food tray, so he stood up with the tray.

“Are you done eating?”

“No, I’m going to eat another serving. Six servings is a bit unlucky. I’ll have to eat 7 servings, since magicians favor that number.”

“…….”

“Mr. Chef is pretty skilled. It’s delicious.”

Without caring if he was flabbergasted or not, Azell started complimenting the chef, while he was scooping up the food. One of the chef approached Rick and asked a question.

“Who is that guy?”

“We were told to treat him as Sir Giles’ guest. Weren’t you all informed of this?”

“I had heard about him…”

“He must be a gluttonous monster captured by an evil magician. I’m sure of it.”

“What?”

“Just leave it at that.”

Azell was walking towards them while humming, so Rick pushed the chef forward.

7

The Centurion of the Rulain kingdom’s western border guard, Giles Vince, was deeply interested in the mysterious man named Azell Zestringer. Aside from how they initially found him, he was able to see through Giles’ strength, which he was hiding, with one glance. He did this without having any rings of life, so his interest was inevitable.

‘How did he do it?’

He had thought about it since he let Azell leave, but it was a question that he couldn’t solve.

He wasn’t able to enter into the famous knight squads for personal reasons, and he had to enter into the army. While he was assigned to these remote locations, there weren’t that many people who were able to recognize his true abilities. Most people assumed that he was a small fry who was promoted to Centurion based on his family’s power. They assumed this without even getting to know him.

Even the knights in this place, who were hardened by fighting against monsters, thought the same thing. This goes to show how well Giles had hidden his true skill.

‘What is he playing at?’

He didn’t believe a single word coming from Azell. The only thing that kept him from being suspicious was the state Azell was found in was too appalling, so he thought his story sounded believable.