Kyle snorted. "Of course not."
The Colonel furrowed his brows.
"How am I supposed to swear on something like that? What if some guy from the army tries to kill me because some rich guy pays him to kill me? Am I supposed to not fight back?"
"I can't swear on something this general."
"If you're fine, I can swear a couple of things, and you can decide if that's enough or not," Kyle said.
The Lieutenant Colonel looked at Kyle with an evaluating expression.
"Please," she said.
"Alright," Kyle said before taking a deep breath.
"I swear that I have never been to the Winterfire Kingdom."
"I swear that I have never talked to anybody from the Winterfire Kingdom⦠as far as I know, at least."
"I swear that I'm not a follower of the Cult of Final Fate."
"I swear that I don't have any problems with the King, the Champion, or the General. In fact, I don't think I have problems with anybody from the Skysand Kingdom except for some asshole that tried to kill me once, but I don't think he's part of the army."
"I swear that I don't want to become King. Just imagining all the mundane, daily duties and administrative work that I would have to do makes me puke. I'm better in small groups or on my own."
"I just want to grow more powerful and do my job, while I'm at it."
"I swear that I take debts very seriously and that I will repay any debts to the best of my ability."
"That enough?" Kyle asked.
The Lieutenant Colonel kept looking at Kyle for a while.
"Where does your allegiance lie?" she asked.
"Myself, I guess. Secondarily, the Stark Brotherhood," Kyle answered.
The Lieutenant Colonel nodded. "What if a powerful person were in your way?"
"I can't give a clear answer to that," Kyle said. "Just like with every interesting question, the answer is always, it depends."
"Are they going to try to kill me? Well, fuck them. I'm going to kill them back."
"Are they just trying to use their soft power to suppress me? Well, there are ways I can deal with that."
The Lieutenant Colonel kept looking at Kyle.
"You have promised quite a lot so far, but the most important aspect has not been covered yet."
"Which is?" Kyle asked.
"If you ever reach the Peak of the Third Realm, how will you gain access to an Ether Essence? We do not fear a rebelling person in the Mid Third Realm or even Late Third Realm, but someone in the Peak Third Realm with an Aristocrat's Body can cause a lot of damage. "
"How do you plan on getting access to an Ether Essence? This is the most concerning thing to us."
"Oh, that?" Kyle asked. "Easy, I don't need one."
The Lieutenant Colonel furrowed her brows.
"He's speaking the truth," the Chief interjected. "He doesn't need one. That's also why we can work together. The limited resources we are all fighting for are not relevant to him."
The Lieutenant Colonel looked at the Colonel before looking at the Captain.
Both of them showed that they didn't know what the Chief and Kyle were referring to.
"Please explain," the Lieutenant Colonel requested.
"I'm a half-dwarf," Kyle answered. "I can eat metals and beasts. I don't even need Ether Crystals to become stronger. I'll just hunt a couple of Monsters and eat them. That's how beasts do it, right? As far as I know, Monsters don't need Ether Essences to become Nature Gods."
"I mean, how do you think I became a Peak Warrior within just three months? I just mined a bunch of ore and ate it to advance."
The three people from the army looked at each other for a while.
"Do you have an old weapon?" the Colonel asked the Captain.
The Captain pulled out a small knife. "I bought this for skinning beasts, but I haven't used it in years."
The Captain put the small knife onto the table.
"Prove your claim," the Colonel said to Kyle.
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