The sound of a grown man felling in the ground could be heard in all the arena of the Thunder manor. Just a few hours ago, the inner tournament for the position of guard of the Boltor family started, it was a tradition that every year, newcomers came to the Boltor Family to prove their abilities, of course, not everyone could just come, they had to be recommended by the guesses, so, in one way, it was also a show of powers between houses, of course, one could think, why would houses sent their best warriors to this tournament just to get recruited by another house…

Well, the answer was very simple, went a guard is chosen, the head of the Boltor family, Karl Boltor, would promise a favor.

A favor of Karl? Was it worth it?

1000% worth it.

No matter how strong a normal human was, it could never ever compare to the favor of a king. That was why the compet.i.tion was fierce, every family send their best warrior, of course, this was also one of the reasons why Alisson never came.

A favor of Karl? Ha! It would be already quite magnanimous of her to give him a favor, but, the other way around? The favor of Karl would be meaningless.

"If I asked him to do something, he better does it"

Not even their sons and daughter knew what was the h.e.l.l was the relations.h.i.+p with Karl and Alisson, they only knew that they screwed around every now and then, as for why Karl was so… powerless before Alisson, that was also a secret.

After all, in a fight, n.o.body knew exactly who would win, Alisson was the favorite of course, but she would receive very serious injuries.

Anyway, coming back to the compet.i.tion, every now and then, a black horse appeared, but this year was a little bit… special…

Claude looked at his subordinate falling down unconscious and, even if his face was as cold as ever, he was looking at one side.

Pierre who was looking at the arena in satisfaction looked back at Claude and smiled.

If eyes could kill, Pierre would be dead a hundred times indeed.

"You will pay for this, Pierre" Though Claude.

On his right side, Anastasia was smiling from ear to ear.

"He did it!" Murmured Anastasia.

Claude heard this and turned around, Anastasia became a little scared and turned to look at his dad, who also looked satisfied.

"We found a good seedling" Though Karl.

Of course, the black horse was not anyone but Hans, who was sweating deeply.

These past months he had been in a spartan routine.

"Like seriously, even the troops of his majesty don't train like me, those s.a.d.i.s.ts!" Though Hans.

"You are a good, young man, might telling us your name?" A powerful voice came to the arena.

Hans turned around and saw a middle-aged man smiling at him, the man was tall and had a bear, the name of this man was Alexander and everyone here knew him.

After all, he was the judge of this compet.i.tion, the chief guard of the Boltor family!

"Hans, it's a pleasure to meet you, chief guard!" Said Hans.

"Haha, I must say, the Veritia family is worth its reputation, to actually grow a kid like you, surely, this is the goal of years and years of training" Said Alexander.

"If he knew that Hans took a few months at most to get to this level, what kind of face would he make?" Though Pierre.

"He is a natural warrior, even I feel a little bit of pity to let him go" Murmured Alisson.

Karl heard Alisson and was surprised to his core; he had never seemed Alisson complain about someone before. This was good and bad news.

"The good news is that my family will hire a wonderful guard with a lot of potential" Though Karl.

"The bad news… is that I don't think that this is for free…"

He looked back at Alisson who was behind him, looking at him smoothly.

"This is going to cost a lot" Though Karl helplessly.

"Hans, as you know, you are part of the Boltor army now, this is a great honor that few can achieve" Said Alexander.

"I will do my best" Said Hans.

"Wait, there is more" Said Alexander.

"Currently, miss Anastasia Boltor, our young miss, is in aged where she would go to missions as part of the Boltor family, so, we need someone to protect her all times"

"This position is called personal guard; this position requires only one thing… absolute loyalty!" Said Alexander with fieriness.

"Your life won't be yours anymore, it would be miss Anastasia's, you get what I am saying?" Asked Alexander.

"I understand" Said Hans.

"Now, usually, we would a.s.sign you to be her personal guard and that would be, however, lord Boltor had another condition for his daughter" Said Alexander.

"Thank you, Alexander, I will take it from here" Said Karl while standing.

"YES, MY LORD!" Said Alexander.

"Young man" Said Karl.

"YES, MY LORD!" Said Hans.

"As Alexander said, for the past personal guard of my three kids, they were just a.s.signed, however, Anastasia is my only daughter and she needs more protection, of course, I will also respect her wishes, so, the final saying in this" Said Karl.

"I ACCEPT!"

It's what Anastasia wanted to shout, but she stopped herself in fear that her father would make things harder for them.

"So, Hans, this will be your only chance" Said Karl.

"Make an owe, and owe to my daughter"

"If she accepts, then, you will become her personal guard"

"If not, you will join my army and receive personal training from Alexander"

After Karl finished, he sat down and looked at Anastasia, she stood up and walked towards the balcony where they were looking at the compet.i.tion.

Hans looked at her and a lot of images came into his mind.

"You give me hope in my darkest time" Though Hans.

"You are my light"

"You give me the courage to move forward" Though Anastasia.

"You are my heart"

""I promise to protect you for the rest of my life"" Though both.

Hans kneeled on the ground and looked at Anastasia.

"I owe to the heavens to stay by your side"

"For the rest of my life"

Everyone thought that Hans will say a long speech of heroism and bravery, however, these words were the only words than Hans needed to convey his feelings.

Of course, the rest is a story for another day.