After Dez left the tent he walked across the camp towards a larger tent reserved for the Captain of their group. It stood out as it was made of finer material than the others that surrounding it, with animal furs and banners hung outside. As Dez approached the tent's entrance he was stopped by a large burly man, with a scruffy large beard and long shaggy hair which covered his eyes. "Heard you took in another mouth to feed and from what the outer watch told me he won't be much use even if the Lady can heal him." The man towered over Dez and without even lowering his head he expressed his disapproval of the boy being saved.
"I merely spotted the boy, It was the Captain who decided to spare him. If you have an issue with the Captain's decision then why don't you accompany me inside for discussion." Dez didn't even look up as he responded and simply walked past the burly man ignoring his presence.
As Dez entered the tent he immediately was greeted by a black haired young lady in a modest dress similar in age to himself and a young girl who looked almost identical.
"Uncle Dez!" the young girl called out as she ran to greet him, she was followed by the young lady who spoke in a sweet voice "Dez, did you come to join us for dinner or have you come to see my husband?"
"This visit I'm afraid involves your husband, I need to borrow him for but a short time." Dez spoke with a gentle smile while holding the young girl in his arms.
"Very well" the lady replied with a sigh "Lisa go get your father for Uncle Dez." after pouting Lisa nodded and went off to get her father from the extension of the large tent.
"I heard that you recovered a boy this time from the fields, how does he fair?" The Lady asked after taking a seat on a nearby wooden chair. Dez sat on a stool beside a small dining table and heaved a heavy sigh.
"Not too good, His body is... Simply put the boy shouldn't be alive, however despite his injuries he still has enough will to live that Hamond decided to spare him even if his survival is next to impossible." Dez looked at his feet and continued "The brutality displayed by the Castiffon Kingdom so far already has me concerned for our future cooperation with them."
As the two remained silent for a moment, The young Lady curious but hesitant to press for answers on the boy and Dez still feeling revolted at the actions taken in the battle on fellow commoners, a man appeared no longer in his armour but in a regular attire holding a young girl entered the room. His face now visible, his brown eyes black goatee and long tied back hair were now all revealed. He sat the Lisa down at the table next to her mother and took a seat on a larger wooden chair beside them.
"Now Dez, what can I do for you, from the sounds of things you disapprove of working with the Castiffons." The man spoke with a clear and booming voice.
"Not that I disapprove, I only worry for the safety of our troupe." Dez replied with a confident expression.
"Is the boy stable now?"
"In the care of Lady Elsa however I feel that her skills won't be enough to repair him entirely."
"Either way, as soon as the boy regains consciousness I want him trained up at least. Those eyes were that of a beast, if he can survive his wounds he will make an excellent tool."
After further discussing many different matters the camp fell silent and after spending a few days at camp, they packed their things and began moving further inward of what was until recently the territory of the Helios Kingdom.
"Is that all you got runt!"
"You got this Ghoul, fuck him up!"
"Keep up that guard!"
Many chants could be heard from the centre of the camp, it was a lot more lively than a few weeks prior. The cause of the change being the young boy covered in bandages from head to toe, wearing simple leather armour desperately dodging and blocking the attacks of a large burly man who with each attack unleashed a flurry of blurred attacks. Many of the attacks landed and tore the boys skin however as the man had little killing intent behind his attacks they only cut the surface. The boy now covered in bloodied bandages panted heavily, his own sword still clean but damaged, had been sparring along with his training for the past few weeks. He'd improved greatly the more time passed and the pain from his injuries slowly eased.
Getting impatient with the constant cuts and scrapes, with the pain in his body becoming more potent he lunged forward with all his might completely missing the burly man before being knocked unconscious by his hilt. After waking up a moment later he was surrounded by the many warriors of the camp, those of which had disappointed expressions. "Damn!" one of the men shouted who were leaning over the boy. "The Ghoul Lives!" another man cheered. A few men started exchanging pouches of silver some looking disgruntled while others were laughing and full of smiles. "Good job Ghoul you withstood longer than I expected this time, that temper of yours however needs to be worked on" the burly man said looking over othering a hand.
'Ghoul, damn it really stuck huh, well not much I care to do about it anyway.' Sam had embraced his new title given to him by his saviours, casting away his old identity after accepting he would never see his loved ones again. Sam had hoped that his new name given to him would be something a little more human like, but instead he was named as a reminded to his disfigured appearance. He quickly grabbed the mans hand and was lifted up effortlessly by the burly man, the man lectured Ghoul on his flaws while sparring while slightly praising him for the tiny amounts of improvements he showed.
The man led Ghoul to Hamond's tent after his lectures and waited at the entrance together with him. "Carl come inside." Hamond's voice boomed from within sensing their presence, as Carl entered he signalled for Ghoul to wait outside where he sat still bloodied and watched the other warriors train. While sitting outside the tent Ghoul observed the warriors, since his resurrection he had been able to gain an understanding for the world which he hadn't even considered before, perhaps now that he was now unburdened by menial thought he could concentrate on more meaningful tasks to him, such as his martial training. The way of the sword was slowly becoming Ghouls life, he felt as though him being saved by the mercenaries was a sign to continue train and become stronger so that the same fate would not befall him a second time. He was only learning from Carl how to wield a sword and survive in combat however Ghoul wished to be able to wield Ki like the warriors he battled against. However as his body was almost destroyed many of the internal centres needed to wield mana let alone Ki were all destroyed and despite Elsa's best efforts could not be repaired. As Ghoul thought about the stolen opportunity Lisa popped out from behind a barrel in an attempt to scare Ghoul "Ahh!" she yelled taking the stance of a large predator trying to warn off others. Ghoul chuckled slightly causing her to pout before sitting next to Ghoul, "Miss Elsa won't be happy to change your bandages again you know." she said in a concerned tone however being unable to properly speak Ghoul simply shrugged and continued watching the warriors train. "It's not proper to ignore a Lady." Lisa said half jokingly to which Ghoul looked at her and again chuckled before leaning back against one of the wood poles and turned back to the warriors. "Seriously" Lisa sighed in defeat and silently sat beside him to watch the warriors, unable to see what Ghoul was so enamoured with.