Although these people had already gone up to comfort Elizabeth, she continued to wait there stubbornly. They believed she was truly in denial at this point.

"Elizabeth, please eat something." Selma came over with a bowl of hot broth and said, "Drink this to replenish your energy. You haven't had anything for three days."

Elizabeth's face was somewhat pale and her eyes were bloodshot. She looked haggard and very thin. If it were not for her strong physique, she would have collapsed after not eating, drinking, and resting for several days.

"I'm not hungry..." Elizabeth said absentmindedly.

"Look at yourself. If Steve comes back and sees you like this, he will be sad. Drink it quickly." Selma could not help but feel frustrated and feeling helpless.

In the past, she had always wanted to surpa.s.s Elizabeth and prove that she was stronger than her. But, after experiencing this last incident, both of their feelings towards each other had made great progress, leading to some healing in their relations.h.i.+p.

Selma was also very sad at the moments, as she had just met a man who made her heart flutter, but he had apparently died unexpectedly! These days, she secretly cried herself to sleep. So, it was not only Elizabeth's heart that was breaking.

"I don't want to eat," Elizabeth said, waving it away.

"Oh, Miss Elizabeth, please eat some." The chief constable Paul, who was beside her, said. "Mr. Steve has made a great contribution for this beast tide. We will remember his efforts. The government even intends to award him a first-cla.s.s knight's badge."

This was indeed an honor, as a first-cla.s.s knight's badge provided one with almost the same privileges as the knights of n.o.bility!

Moreover, it was not easy to attain, as it could only be earned by one's making a great contribution to mankind.

Most n.o.bles were usually conferred by the Ares Council, so even the lowest cla.s.s of n.o.bles needed tough strength to contribute to mankind, in order to inherit their n.o.bility.

Of course, the difficulty of hereditary n.o.bility was much simpler, and this was also a favor to the n.o.bility. As such, because n.o.ble t.i.tles were difficult to obtain, some people took the route of making great contributions to mankind to attain their t.i.tles. Hence, the t.i.tle of the Knight's Medal had appeared.

Although the Knight's Medal recipients had the same rights as the n.o.bles in Stanlos Base Camp, the medal itself had no effect outside of Stanlos Base Camp. Basically, the knight's medal was only effective in the place where the medal was awarded. As such, if a recipient of it left the city where it had been awarded to them, no other cities would recognize it.

In fact, most of the n.o.bles in many cities were medal recipients, which meant that they had n.o.bility privileges in the cities they lived in, but their n.o.bility t.i.tles were not issued by the Ares Council, so weren't recognized abroad.

In the eyes of civilians, there was no difference at all, yet there truly were great differences between the medaled n.o.bility and the t.i.tled n.o.bility.

Many of the n.o.bles in Stanlos Base Camp were also medal n.o.bility, and their n.o.bility privileges had been issued by Stanlos Base Camp. In contrast, there were only a few members of n.o.bility, whose n.o.bility was issued by the Human Federation, which was a medal n.o.bility t.i.tle that could not be inherited. So, this t.i.tled n.o.bility was the real deal, meaning that its influence was not limited to the Stanlos Base Camp.

Thus, the government's willingness to award Steve the First-Cla.s.s Knight's Medal was a great honor that many level-one evolved beings had not yet received. But, no one objected to the honor, as Steve had saved a large number of students, who were the future of Stanlo Base Camp.

However, the main reason for this award was that the Stanlos Base Camp's government felt that Steve was already dead. In that case, they were planning to simply bury him with honor, not have to grant him any rights or rewards and privileges!

Regardless, Elizabeth had no interest in the first-cla.s.s Knight's Medal or any other awards. She only wanted Steve to come back alive!