The Fallen Child

Chapter 4 (Part Two)

Most of the new recruits were mere acquaintances, but there was one who I had begun to develop a friendship with. Noelle was a Rune Mage, but a novice knight which is why she was training with a bunch of beginners. She was beautiful, with her dark brown hair and piercing orange eyes. That wasn't why we were friends though. Even with her straight laced personality, she was really fun to hang out with. She also shared my love of athletics, even if the sports in this world were different from those on Earth.

She said the whole reason she wanted to become a knight was for the exercise. According to Noelle, Rune mages weren't the most active, mostly because they didn't fight on the front lines. They were more of a back line or support unit.

Noelle expressed her desire to fight women to women on the front lines, and wanted to be able to experience the thrills of a physical battle. Even if I was only training to be able to protect myself, I found Noelle's ideals thrilling.

If I stayed with this kingdom, with this family, then possibly I might find my way into battle one day. Even though battle sounding frightening, I could feel something inside of me itching to explore the unknown, even if the very idea spiked terror inside of me. There was a chance that once I was trained, I might follow Noelle into battle one day. If I was going to fight, shouldn't I at least do it with a friend?

"Prince Yami. Prince Yami? Are you paying attention to the commander right now?" Noelle asked. "Do you want to repeat basic training or move forward, because if you don't start paying attention now, I'm pretty sure Commander Wan is going to make you run with the next set of recruits."

"Sorry I was lost in thought. I'll pay attention now." I whispered.

"Ahem, Prince Yami, Miss Noelle, do you two have anything you would like to say to the group right now?" Sir Wan spoke up.

"No sir!" We responded.

"Alright then. Unless you have something to tell the whole group, I would recommend you keep silent."
"Yes sir!"

Noelle gave me a 'see what I mean?' look and I shot back a 'sorry' stare. I mean, it wasn't the worst getting scolded in front of everyone else, but at the same time it was. I wouldn't mind if I wasn't put on a pedestal and was normal, but I wasn't. I was one of their ruling figures, and I'd just made a rookie mistake. That's not the best thing to be remembered by.

Before I'd accepted myself as royalty, I'd never cared what anyone but my friends thought of me. Now? I had a reputation of some sort to hold together. While I wasn't expecting to have a great reputation, I at least wanted it to be respectable.
I got off track. Once again, I had zoned out and not listened to Sir Wan. Hopefully that had gone unnoticed, because I was pretty sure Noelle was right on the money when she said that he would make me continue basic training when the new batch of recruits arrived.

And that would be absolutely terrible; for my reputation and peace of mind. So far Noelle was my one and only friend, so the last thing I wanted was for us to be separated. I wasn't sure I would be able to make another friend. Everyone else thought of me as their Prince, and I just thought of myself as some regular teenage guy.
"Now that we've completed the briefing for today, everyone is dismissed. I'll call up everyone separately to discuss the next step in your journey here." Sir Wan finished. "Oh, and Prince Yami? You're the first to go. Come with me."

Oh wonderful. I was almost certain that he realized that I wasn't paying any attention to him. I figured I was in for the long haul. Noelle gave me a pitying look and left with the others, leaving me alone with Sir Wan.

"Prince Yami, I know you have a lot going on in your life currently, but could you at least pretend to listen during our briefings? You haven't paid attention at all these past few weeks."