Chapter 121 - Baptism by Fire (Part 2)

Vaughn was on his way to his room to take a rest when Zander stopped him.

"Vaughn, follow me for a bit."

His body was aching all over and wanted to decline Zander's invitation, but he couldn't. Vaughn nodded and followed Zander to his office. The place was neat and orderly, as expected of a well-disciplined Commander. He did not see a speck of dust and everything was in their proper places.

Zander opened the drawer of his desk and pulled out a paper.

"This is the doc.u.ment that Zenzen asked one of my men to retrieve." Zander handed the doc.u.ment to Vaughn.

It contained the list of names of the soldiers in the Left Minister's private army. Vaughn took a look at it and recognized some of the names. They once worked for him and one day they simply disappeared. Vaughn dispatched some men to look for them, but his troops failed. They did not see the dead bodies of the missing men, and they assumed that they were attacked by some beasts and devoured their flesh.

It turned out they were recruited by the Left Minister. Vaughn wondered about the exact day when the missing men turned their backs on him. Vaughn clenched the paper in his hand, and Zander had a pretty good guess of what happened.

"Do you know them?"

Vaughn nodded, "Some of them were my men."

"It is not surprising. Now you know how your enemy got ahead of you. What do you plan to do now?"

"I have no idea. I still can't believe that they have been colluding with the Left Minister. I trusted them like they were my brothers."

"I presume that you already finished your internal weeding."

"Yes, I got rid of those traitors."

"Do you want to hear my idea?" Zander smirked at Vaughn.

"What is it, brother-in-law?"

"Some of my men are already monitoring the movements of the Ninth Prince's men in Lunaria. Until now, the Ninth Prince has never visited the Luna Inn. My men had never seen him yet. The covert operation will only last for a month, but we can extend it. I'm sure Zenzen will love it."

"What do you mean?"

"When you win that rematch, I will tell you all about it."

Zander threw a bottle of tonic to Vaughn, "Drink it. You will be able to replenish your energy at a faster rate."

Vaughn was confused, "Thank you, brother-in-law. I bid you goodnight."

Zander waved his hand, and Vaughn walked out of Zander's quarters.

'Mother, why do you favor your son-in-law so much to the extent of making me promise to help him?' Zander shook his head and went back to work.

Vaughn looked at the bottle in his hand, and he lifted his head to look at the moon. The night sky was the same when he and Zenia took a stroll in the Principality of Ismund. Back then, he wanted to just run away with Zenia. He held the bottle tightly in his hand and walked to the direction of the stable.

* * * * *

Zenia couldn't sleep and looked out her window. She was looking at the moon and remembered the same night sky that she and Vaughn had seen in the Principality of Ismund.

'What are you doing now? Did you learn a lot? Are you in pain?'

Zenia knew that for someone who did not practice martial arts at a young age, it would be difficult to go through the training unscathed. She had a hunch that Vaughn did not experience any hardship during his training. He was, after all, the Crown Prince. He only needed to shout a command to get things done. She could even imagine Vaughn assigning someone to do the training for him. She chuckled a bit when she thought about it.

'There's a long way to go… Would you be able to defeat me?'

She stayed there admiring the moon and the beautiful night sky for a long time. In case she defeated Vaughn, she would only remain in Ishelon for a few weeks. She should still go back to Tissuria. She wondered when she would be able to return to the Anisen Manor after going back to Tissuria. 

She was about to go to her bed when she heard the sound of the galloping horse. She instinctively hid behind the wall next to her window.

Vaughn got off his horse and went to the front gate of the Anisen Manor. The guard recognized Vaughn and opened the gate immediately.

The entire manor was quiet. It was already past bedtime, and people were already sleeping. Vaughn walked a bit further and looked up at Zenia's bedroom window. The room was quiet and dark, telling him that the owner was already sleeping.

"Goodnight, my love…" Vaughn whispered before he turned around and walked away.

The woman standing behind the wall next to the window blushed. She peeped and saw the departing back of her beloved husband.

* * * * *

The tonic that Zander gave Vaughn was truly miraculous. Vaughn felt completely rejuvenated and powerful. He did not expect to achieve that kind of result in so little time.

As expected, the training became more demanding and way more difficult. If he did not gain such an amount of power, he was afraid that he would not be able to survive the ordeal.

Ovid was caught between stopping and continuing the training. He made a promise to his wife that he would help their son-in-law, but he also promised her that no harm would befall this son-in-law. He cursed Tissuria for producing subpar men.

Ovid had finally decided to continue. Zander did not forget to send in some tonic that could replenish energy in an instant. He specifically told Vaughn to take it only when he felt like he was too tired or weak. Otherwise, the tonic would give the opposite effect. 

Vaughn finally got the hang of it, and his pace began to pick up. Ovid was satisfied with Vaughn's progress. He should be able to keep up with the others during the general training.

When Vaughn returned to his room, he was too tired and slumped on his bed. He fell asleep almost immediately. Tomorrow would be the first day that he would join the others, and he knew that the training would be far more advanced than what he was doing.

The sound of a gong reverberated in the air. It was the break of dawn, and everyone was startled. Ovid and Zander had also been staying in the camp. Renaria forbade them to go home until Vaughn's training was completed.

Vaughn got up immediately and tidied himself. He went out and saw that the others were already there.

"From here onwards, we will wake up at this exact time. Everyone should gather in the ground on time and not a minute late. Anyone who fails to be on time will run ten laps. Do you all understand?"

"Sir, yes sir!" The men, including Vaughn, answered in unison.

Vaughn had difficulty adjusting at first. In just three days, he was able to keep up with the others. He only had two days before the rematch, and he felt that he had improved a lot.

His skin turned a bit dark for being exposed for too long under the sun. He gained beautifully toned muscles and more masculine features. He also thought that he looked more mature, but he liked it. Sometimes he felt like that he and Zenia looked like brother and sister when they were together. With his new looks, they would appear like a proper husband and wife.

Zander looked at Vaughn and twitched his eyebrow when he saw the silly grin across Vaughn's lips.

'What is this brat thinking?'

Surprisingly, Vaughn felt lighter and less tired when he returned to his room. He thought about Zenia and wondered how she was doing. He went to bed with a silly smile on his lips.

"Father, are you sure you want your son-in-law to go through the cave of fire? He does not have a solid foundation of a martial artist like us."

"If he can survive it, he will gain an enormous amount of stamina and strength. We have no choice but to let him try. You know your mother, and she always keeps her word. Do you want to stay in the camp forever?"

Zander shook his head, "I will go prepare the tonics and other medications that we may need to treat his wounds later."

"Hmm."

* * * * *

Everyone woke up at the same time but Ovid told them that there would be no training.

"Today is the day that my son-in-law should go through baptism by fire. He should be able to go through the cave of fire and endure the trial. Are you ready, Vaughn?"

Although he was caught by surprise, Vaughn answered, "Yes, sir!"

"Let us go there now."

The troop marched to the direction of the cave of fire. Ovid nudged Vaughn to be on his way.

Vaughn already felt an enormous amount of heat when he reached the mouth of the cave.

'I will be toasted before I get out.' He gulped and braced himself when he entered the cave.

He only needed to walk through the cave of fire until he reached the other end. Vaughn felt the heat intensifying while he was walking. He could also feel that something was happening to his body. It was like the heat from the fire was cleansing his body and removing the impurities.

He could feel an enormous amount of energy flowing through his veins. He shouted when the heat and pain seemed unbearable. He knew he must keep going. He should never be defeated before the actual battle. He wanted to give up and retrace his steps back to the mouth of the cave, but he couldn't. Zenia's face appeared in his mind when he closed his eyes. The visage gave him a renewed determination to persevere. He should take his wife with him to Tissuria.

Vaughn finally reached the other end of the cave. He saw Ovid, Zander, and some of the men waiting for him with a triumphant look in their eyes.

"Father-in-law, I made it," Vaughn uttered softly before he passed out.