Jeremiah, the young knight escorting me home, eyed the gray-haired old man who approached us cautiously. His mouth was smiling, but his eyes looked tense.

  “What do you want, geezer?” His tone was hardly friendly, but not quite openly hostile either.

  “I was wondering if it would be possible for me to have a quick conversation with this young girl here. I suspect she might be my grandchild.”

  His grandchild? Me? I had never seen this man in my life. My brother spoke sometimes of what little he remembered of our parents, but the topic of my grandparents had never come up, so I didn’t know anything about them.

  “Your grandchild?” He asked incredulously. “Hey girl, do you know this man?” He nudged me slightly.

  “No.” I answered curtly.

  “Naturally. After all, I got into quite the scuffle with my son at some point and he moved away with his lover at the time. I never got to meet his children after that and neither did I know where exactly they moved to, only that he was in this country. Ever since then I have been travelling around and this young girl here reminds me so much of my son, after all there aren’t quite many people, at least not young ones, with bright gray hair. So would you give me the opportunity to speak to her to confirm?”

  Jeremiah narrowed his eyes at the old man. He didn’t outright reject the story, but I guess he didn’t believe the old man either. I personally didn’t know what to make of this. I didn’t know my grandparents, but he was right in that my father apparently had the same hair color as mine, or so my brother told me. What happened between him and his father however, I didn't know. Either way, I hardly cared about this old man claiming to be my grandfather. He wasn’t family to me, not like my brother, even if he turned out to be related to me by blood.

  Jeremiah once again nudged me with his elbow. It wasn’t hard, he was careful not to hurt me, but I still felt disgusted at having him touch me.

  “Your father ever spoken about what happened with his father?” He asked me, though keeping his eyes on the alleged grandpa.

  “I don’t know.” I didn’t want to talk to him.

  He sighed. “Listen geezer, she clearly isn’t in the mood to answer questions and I am not going to force her to either. Besides, I am ordered by the king to safely see her home and make sure someone takes care of her, so I will do exactly that. If you are really her grandfather and wish to reconnect with her, do it after I dropped her off, at that point it’s no longer my issue what happens with her. Maybe the neighbours can verify your story.”

  “Mhh. Is that so?” The old man looked deep in thought at that, before suddenly perking up. “Alright. In that case, are you planning on taking her home right now?”

  “Yes, that is right, so please excuse us.” The young man excused himself and tried to leave. He grabbed me and started dragging me to continue on our way, mindful to not hurt me.

  The old man however didn’t answer. He simply waited until we were ten steps ahead of him and started following us. He didn’t try to stop us, he didn’t try to convince Jeremiah and he didn’t speak to us. He simply followed along, matching our speed ten steps behind us, a friendly smile on his face and a spring in his step.

  I kept looking behind us, seeing him the same distance from us every time. I was sure Jeremiah had also noticed him, and his souring expression was proof of that, but he didn’t turn around to look at the old man. Maybe he thought he was just going in the same direction as us?

  We made our way to the city’s gate, where Jeremiah had a quick conversation with the gatekeeper, before leaving the city grounds and starting on our journey back where we came from. About an hour later he suddenly stopped and jerked around.

  “Alright, listen up old man, I have no idea what you want from me or this child and I really don’t care either. But as long as I am watching over her I cannot allow any harm to come to her, so if you don’t stop following us I will be forced to take action.” He was wearing a smile, albeit one forced so obviously no one would for a second actually think he was in a good mood, though his angered tone was enough to give it away anyhow.

  “Woah calm down young man. I am no threat to anyone. I am simply going in the same direction as you. Would you perhaps prefer we travel side by side?” He teased.

  “No, I would prefer you keep your distance from us.” His voice dropped low.

  “But if I do that I won’t be able to find the way. I guess I can stay back a bit further, but you’d really be doing me a solid if you could just let me follow you.” The old man seemed to not realize, or perhaps not mind, the implication of Jeremiah’s tone.

  “I’m done asking nicely.” Jeremiah drew his sword and pointed it at the old man. “By order of the king I am to bring this girl home safely and undisturbed, I have no idea who you are or what you want, but I intend to carry out my orders to the letter and you strike me as a danger to my mission. This is your last warning, turn around and go back to where you came from or be cut down.” He was no longer smiling.

  “Oh my. The knights in this country seem to get violent quite easily. Are you that agitated? You don’t need to be. I am not planning on hurting you or the girl in any way whatsoever, I simply wish to know where she lives so I can confirm what I am thinking. I won’t interfere in your mission.” The old man pulled out a pipe while talking, as if he had the leeway to be completely relaxed despite someone pointing a sword at him.

  “Just leave me alone.” I muttered. I didn’t know this old man, but he seemed nice. I didn’t want him to get hurt as well.

  “You heard the girl.” The knight snarled at the old man.

  “Why say that, young lady? At least hear me out. I believe you might find what I have to say interesting.”

  “Just leave me alone before you get hurt too.”

  “Oh so you’re worried about me? That’s sweet, but there is no need.” He gave a reassuring smile.

  “Time’s up. I warned you.” Jeremiah sprang into action. He covered the ten steps between them in the blink of an eye and swung his sword down at an angle, aiming to slice across the old man’s torso from the right shoulder to his hips.

  “Stop! Just get out of he-” I began to yell, but was cut short by something I found hard to believe. The old man had caught the sword in his bare hands. He clapped his hands together around the sword in mid air, stopping Jeremiah dead in his tracks, before it made contact with his torso.

  Jeremiah clicked his tongue. “Fuck. I knew you were not a normal geezer.” He yanked on the sword, trying to get it free from the old man’s hand’s, but it didn’t work - he wouldn’t budge. The next second the blade began glowing red and Jeremiah dropped it with a groan.

  “Heating up the blade? So your ability is fire? No, considering there was no visible flame it’s more like heating things up.”

  What was happening? Ability? Heating things up? What was he talking about and how did he just catch that blade without getting hurt? I was having a hard time following along with this encounter.

  “There is no need for violence young man. I can only reiterate that I do not intend to harm either of you.” He went to his knees and picked up the pipe he had dropped when Jeremiah suddenly attacked him. “I feel like we got off on the wrong foot. I haven’t even introduced myself yet. My name is Renius. What may I call you two?” He took a puff from his pipe.

  Jeremiah however didn’t answer immediately. Instead he picked up his no-longer-glowing sword from the ground and got into a stance.

  “Who are you, ‘Renius’?” He asked.

  “I think I literally just said that, but I take it you are asking about my ability. I am sorry to say there isn’t really much I can tell you. I am simply a wandering ‘gifted’ who suspects he might be this child’s grandfather.”

  Was he seriously my grandfather? I didn’t know, but I also had no way to disprove it. But the important thing wasn’t whether he was my grandfather or not, the important thing was how he just caught Jeremiah’s blade with ease. If I would’ve been able to do that I wouldn’t have lost my brother. I could have simply beat up the knights instead of going with them.

  I was escaping into my own world while the tension between the two men, one young, one old, only rose.

  “So you are still going with that story? Do you think I haven’t noticed that there is something off about her? I have no idea what you want with her, but I can’t hand her over to you.” He didn’t release his stance.

  “Yes, I am still going with that ‘story’. After all, I can't know if she truly is my grandchild or not until I find out more. Also, I am amazed you noticed something about her. Most ‘gifted’ aren’t very observant. You are right however in that there is something peculiar about her. Perhaps she inherited my talents?” He gave a slow, obviously fake “hohoho” laugh after speaking.

  “So you aren’t going to give up, no matter what I say?” Jeremiah, now back to asking, said.

  “No, I won’t, but as I said I promise I won’t interfere in your mission either. I see no reason to get violent. Besides, if I truly wanted to, you couldn’t stop me from simply doing what I want, so why don’t we handle this peacefully instead. You guide me to her home, I get to talk with her once you are gone, you fulfilled your mission and we are all happy? What say you?” The old man, his name Renius, wasn’t threatening Jeremiah. He genuinely wanted to handle it peacefully, yet the display and confidence in his voice made clear what he was thinking: He was simply doing Jeremiah a favor. He could kill him on the spot and walk away with me had he wanted to, but he didn't. He listened to his wishes and respected them.

  Perhaps Jeremiah finally realized the old man’s sincerity or he realized that if he truly wanted to he could just kill him. Either way Jeremiah sheathed his sword, sighed one long and dramatic sigh and spoke once more.

  “Fine. I doubt I can defeat you, from what I’ve seen, so do as you like. But be aware that if you try to hurt her or prevent me from bringing her home, I will fight. To the death if needed. The alternative is dying by the hands of the king.”

  “Understood.” He smiled at the young man in front of him.

  Jeremiah on the other hand turned back to me and gestured to start moving again. “Let’s get going.”

  “Mh.” I only groaned, but moved along. Then from behind I heard a few shuffling footsteps, faster than before, but not quite sprinting either. And the next second the old man was walking alongside me, on the other side of me as Jeremiah.

  “What do you think you are doing?” Jeremiah asked him.

  “You told me to ‘do as you like’. I figured that going in separate groups like that despite having the same destination was a bit awkward so I decided to walk alongside you after all.” He was completely serious about that. He took another puff from his pipe and blew out the smoke, away from me.

  Is this old man serious? I wondered as I looked over to Jeremiah, clearly seeing real anger and irritation written on his face, instead of the fake smile, for the first time since I met him. But the grandpa (to be interviewed), didn’t seem bothered by that at all.

  Quite the opposite he actually seemed to be in a good mood as he said: ”Now let’s get this fun adventure started!” Completely ignoring Jeremiah’s scowl.

  _________________________________________________________________________________

  We walked back the same path we came from, following along rivers, through forests, occasionally meeting the rare farmer, except that this time around it was without my brother. Renius, the old man that forcefully insisted on peacefully travelling with us, talked to me throughout the journey. He asked me about my life, about what I knew of my parents and just general chit chat.

  Finally he questioned whether I had any siblings, at which point I once again thought about my brother and stopped answering. I didn’t feel like talking anymore, so Renius turned to Jeremiah, who was still displeased with the old man’s behavior, but couldn’t do anything about it. He also didn’t answer Renius, instead only telling him to shut up and not be so nosy. After that, we walked most of the way in silence, although Renius would sometimes start idle chatter or sing to himself.

  Finally, we arrived back at what I called my home village. It was less than a week I had last been here, yet it felt like a lifetime apart. I didn’t feel like I got home, I didn’t even know what my home was anymore. What was the point of living in any particular place if not for the people around you?

  When I saw our house, I had half a mind to run in and say hello to my brother, like I would normally do, but I remembered that he wouldn’t be there anymore. I didn’t go back. I just stood around and waited. Jeremiah had gone off to some of my neighbour’s houses once we arrived, presumably to give them some fake explanation, while Renius wandered off as soon as we arrived.

  I didn’t know how much time had passed as I stood there, absentmindedly staring into the distance, when Jeremiah came back. “Your neighbours, what was the man’s name again… Bert? Whatever, they agreed to take care of you. I told them your brother died to a crazed wolf that attacked us at night and that you are traumatized by this and aren’t quite right in the head, so feel free to tell them whatever you wish, but my personal advice is to let the past go and try to find a new life. I also reported to the village chief that everything is in order, not that that matters to you. Anyhow, my job here is done, so I will take my leave immediately. Have fun with that ‘grandfather’ of yours, whoever he might really be.”

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  I took it in, but didn’t answer. I just looked vacantly at the man — one of the men who took my brother away from me — talking to me . Rage replaced the emptiness at that thought and it must have shown on my face, because Jeremiah’s face distorted in response to my own. An emotion I couldn’t read on his usually smiling, yet not kind face.

  “I sincerely pray that we never meet again.” And with those words he left. I looked after him, silently seething, thinking about attacking him, but even if I were to there is nothing I could do to him. I didn’t even have a knife or anything that could be used as a weapon and even if I did, he would probably react in time, so I just watched.

  Once again I stood there unmoving, not minding the passage of time. I wasn’t sure what to do. I guess I should go to Bert’s house? I thought to myself, but didn’t move. What was the point?

  At that point Renius came back, from who knows where, waving at me.

  “Hey Mira,” He had asked for my name during the travels. “Is that guy gone?”

  “Yes, he left.”

  “Mhh. So What are you planning to do now? I am not sure I got the full picture, but I asked around a bit and you left with someone else, I take it your brother. Considering he isn’t here anymore something happened to him, right? Are you going to live with some other family in this village now?”

  So that’s what he was doing.

  “Jeremiah said he talked to someone that would take care of me.” I said slowly.

  “And you are okay with that?” He asked kindly.

  “I… I don’t know. I don’t want to, but I have nowhere else to go. I just want my brother back, but they took him away from me.” I didn’t cry. I felt like I had no more tears left, only anger.

  “If you don’t want to live with them, how about I make you an offer instead?”

  An offer? Was he serious about that ‘grandfather’ thing after all, even though I had no idea who he was?

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “You live with me, I feed you, cloth you, look out for you, but to make it up for me, you have to study under me.” He spoke slowly and thoughtfully.

  “Study under you? Me? I can barely do the basic bath my brother taught me. I can’t read or write. Why would you want me to study?” His suggestion surprised me so much I didn’t know what to think.

  “Well I would also teach you how to read and write I guess, but that isn’t what I had in mind. What I want to teach you is how to use your special abilities.”

  “Special abilities? I don’t have any.” There it was again. On the road they had said that I was ‘peculiar’, but there was nothing special or weird about me. What was he talking about?

  “So you aren’t aware of it yourself after all. I suppose you wouldn’t know if you never did anything too out of the ordinary. You know how there are those called ‘gifted’ in this world, wielding supernatural abilities, like the one I used to defend against that knight when he attacked me?”

  I thought back to the moment Jeremiah attacked Renius. His speed and reflexes, as well as strength were not normal for an old man, but what stood out even more than that to me was that after he had caught his blade, the metal began glowing and Jeremiah cried out in pain. The old man had somehow heated up the blade.

  “Yes, I think. You somehow heated up his blade to the point he couldn’t hold onto it anymore.” I recounted my observation.

  “Exactly. That ability is what’s commonly called a ‘gift’, but I prefer to call it ‘magic’ and you, Mira, have the potential to learn magic.” He exclaimed grandly.

  “I can learn to heat up things without using fire?” I asked.

  “Well, maybe. In my experience most people have one particular ability, like the ability to fly or perhaps to breathe underwater, but there is something… odd about you. You clearly have what I call ‘magical energy’, the energy used to make magic happen, like wood is fuel for fire. You have quite a lot of it compared to other ‘gifted’ actually, especially those your age, but you have no ability yet.”

  “So I don’t have the ability to do what you do?” I was confused. There was too much all at once. I had heard about gifted people from my brother, but what was “magic”, what was this “magical energy” that I supposedly have?

  “Well, if my theories about magic prove to be true, then you might be able to learn it, even if you can’t right now, but we are getting ahead of ourselves. There is much to tell you about this, too much for one day and certainly too much for one conversation. So I ask you again. Do you wish to learn from me?”

  I could learn what he did? Would that make me stronger? Strong enough to hurt Jeremiah and the King? My heart began beating fast and strong, for the first time since I lost my brother.

  “Will that make me stronger?” I asked, with single-minded determination.

  “I have never met a person with so much magical energy at such a young age. Some of the weaker ‘gifted’, even have as much magical energy as you after training for a long long time.” He paused, closing his eyes, as if he was deep in thought. “If you take my offer and what I think turns out to be true, then yes. Yes, you will become strong. Stronger than me at least.”

  “I accept.” I spoke without pause once he finished his explanation. I didn’t care what ‘magic’ was, but if it could make me strong enough to take revenge on Jeremiah, the king and that other knight whose name I don’t know, then there is nothing to think about. I had nothing left. Nothing but hate and anger.

  “Alright. I am glad you made that decision. I am excited to see how far you can go. I guess I can stay in this village for a bit. I am sure the villagers will accept me if I make myself useful.”

  “No. I don’t want to stay here.” I answered. I remembered hearing the conversation between the villagers before we left. They didn’t want me here. They never did and neither did Bert. He probably just accepted because Jeremiah pressured him. I had no reason to stay here and no connection to any of these people.

  “That is also fine by me, but I travel all around. Are you sure you are okay with living on the go, never staying anywhere longer than a few weeks at best?” The concerned elder asked.

  “I don’t care. If you make me strong I don’t care where I am, as long as it’s not here.”

  Renius shot me a wary glance. “Hmm, that’s alright then. Do you wish to leave here immediately? No one to say goodbye to or nothing left to do?”

  “No. Nothing. Can we leave already?” I was impatient to get away. Away from the people who sent my brother to his death and away from the memories.

  “You are an impatient one, aren’t you?” He furrowed his brows. “We can leave today, but I feel it is only right to talk to the people who agreed to take care of you. We can tell them that I am your grandfather.”

  “I don’t care about them.” I answered with my first instinct, but then another thought popped in my mind. “But I was wondering, are you actually my grandfather?”

  Renius showed a mischievous smile that looked out of place on his wrinkled face.

  “Nope. Totally made up on the spot to fool that knight. I suppose it didn’t work, but once I started I couldn’t just randomly drop it, that would be even more suspicious, so now we might as well keep it going for a bit longer. Though I guess the chances you are related to me aren’t zero, since I do actually not know all my possible descendants.”

  This old man was a good liar it seems. Or maybe he was just shameless… Either way, it wasn’t like I got my hopes up, or cared all that much about a possible grandfather I had never met before, but nonetheless I was still slightly disappointed, a fact that he seemingly didn’t pick up on as he proudly asked me “I’m a good liar, aren’t I?”.

  I didn’t feel like talking to Bert and I was sure he or his wife wouldn’t care about me anyway, so I told Renius to go do that on his own, while I waited for him.

  I will become strong. Strong enough to take revenge on them. I silently declared at that moment.

  _________________________________________________________________________________

  Jeremiah finally found his way back to his home, the capital, after a nerve wracking journey. First he had to escort this unsettling girl back home, which annoying as it was, wasn’t really a problem, as she didn’t have the energy to cause trouble for him. Still, something about her was off — weird. For one she had way too much strength and endurance for a girl her age, yet she had no ability, like he had, that would serve to explain it. Her heartbeat and breathing were also way too steady for how much they had walked, which he could tell because of his enhanced senses — his “gift”. He wasn’t very powerful, but he had all around enhanced senses and a stronger body than the average man, which allowed him to become quite the expert warrior. The sword was his weapon of choice.

  All the bigger his surprise when Renius appeared. An old man who, out of nowhere, approached them and claimed to be the girl's grandfather. His pulse quickened slightly at that, so Jeremiah knew immediately something was off and since he was tasked with keeping the girl safe, he couldn’t risk letting this guy, who for all Jeremiah knew might as well sell the girl into slavery or kill her himself, just walk off with her. So he told the old man off. This old man however promptly ignored that and simply followed them, insisting he just wants to talk to the girl to confirm his likely made up story. When Jeremiah finally snapped and confronted the old man, thinking even if he was “gifted” he was too old to pose a problem to Jeremiah he was shocked. The old man had not just reacted in time to Jeremiah’s attack, but had caught his blade with his bare hands without getting hurt and he wasn’t even particularly excited by that, judging by his heartbeat. I can’t win against this guy. Jeremiah had realized the difference in strength immediately. He had also used an ability to heat up the blade after that, but in comparison to his physical ability that seemed lackluster, so Jeremiah didn’t doubt that he was holding back.

  Be that as it may, he had no choice but to return to the capital and report this event to the king, at which point Renius would likely just wait for them on the road, given how persistent he had been or alternatively, trust that he would actually, as he said, not hurt them. Jeremiah held no trust in a stranger's word, but decided that going back and disappointing his king would be a bigger gamble, only for the situation to go back to how it was anyway, so he decided to just swallow his discontent and go through with it. Once he thought about it a bit more, he did consider that Renius could have just killed him had he wanted to, but even so he couldn’t relax on the journey, not with the mysterious old man around. As such this journey grated on his nerves and he was all the happier once he finally got back home.

  His first act would be reporting back to the king. That his mission was completed successfully, as well as about Renius. As carefree as he seemed, his king liked to know of powerful people and important events and Renius certainly qualified in Jeremiah’s eyes.

  In the king’s chamber, he kneeled down in front of “Venom”, a man who, despite his real name being known only to him, undoubtedly ruled this kingdom. He held his head low, even though he repeatedly got told not to. The thought of accidentally offending him by being too casual scared him more than offending him by being too deferential, but more than anything, he just got used to it.

  Venom sighed. “You’re never gonna stop doing that, are you? Whatever, got anything to report?” His attitude seemed light, uncaring, like he was asking about what to eat for the day, but Jeremiah considered this to be the privilege of the strong. If you were strong enough to bend others to your will, you didn’t need to care about what they thought, you could simply act as you please and if others had an issue with your attitude you could shut them up by force. Such were Jeremiah’s thoughts on his king’s behavior.

  “Yes, my lord. The girl arrived safely and unharmed back home, where I told another family that her brother was attacked by a crazed wolf at night and unfortunately died. I also explained that the girl is likely not right in the head, because she couldn’t accept it. They accepted the story and agreed to take care of her.”

  “Alright. Well done. You can go home for the day, you deserve a break.”

  “There is one more thing, my lord…” Jeremiah explained to his king what had happened with the old man claiming to be Mira’s grandfather, making sure to not leave any detail out that might be of value to him. Venom took a great interest in what he was saying, hearing of a gifted powerful enough to completely overwhelm Jeremiah in close quarters combat, an old man at that.

  “Oh and he said his name was Renius. That is about all that happened. I have no idea what happened to him or the girl after I left.”

  “Renius? Are you certain he said his name was Renius?” The king didn’t show much interest in the girl, even with what Jeremiah told him, but showed a shocked expression at the name “Renius”.

  “Yes, my lord. Do you know him?”

  “Yeah, I do. But the thing is, he was already a geezer when I met him and that was some rough 30 years ago, so it’s hard to imagine him still being alive and well, let alone moving around like that. Then again he was always a mystery, turning up at the most random of places, at the most random of times, doing unimaginable things, so maybe he found a way to become immortal…”

  Jeremiah was surprised to hear this. Not only did his king know this old man, apparently he has already been an old man for at least 30 years now. What’s more surprising to him however was that he could hear respect in his king’s voice when talking about this strange old man.

  “Do you wish for me to search for him?” Jeremiah thought maybe Venom wanted to meet with this old man, or felt threatened by him…

  “No, no. There is no point. If he didn’t want to be caught he wouldn’t get caught. Besides if you leave him alone, he is harmless, after all he didn’t just kill you when you attacked him. If you ever run into him again however, tell him that the king is an old acquaintance and that I would like to meet him once more. Is that all?”

  “Well…” Jeremiah felt that he had to mention this girl, her peculiarity, in some capacity, but didn’t know if his king would be open to hearing it. “About the girl, there is clearly something strange about her. She was too strong, had too much endurance for her age. Her movements were light and easy like those of a trained warrior and clearly Renius saw something in the girl too. Are you sure it is a wise idea to just send her on her way like that?” Jeremiah couldn’t shake the uncomfortable feeling. His enhanced senses were telling him that this girl was different somehow. The feeling reminded him of meeting a powerful gifted, but she clearly had no ability and wasn’t as strong as a normal grown man, let alone a ‘gifted’ one. Yet she unnerved him.

  “You think she has a ‘gift’? Wouldn’t she have used it at some point then?” The king asked back.

  “Yeah well that is the thing, I am pretty sure she doesn’t, yet she feels like a ‘gifted’. I can’t shake the feeling that, were she to pursue revenge, she could become dangerous down the line.”

  “So you are suggesting we kill a child just cause she seems like she might become strong in the future?” The king asked back.

  Spelling it out so clearly snapped Jeremiah back to his senses, had he really let himself become so unnerved by a child, no older than his own, that he considered killing her? He questioned what was wrong with him.

  “No, you are right. It’s a crude thought. Forgive me.” Jeremiah apologized.

  “It’s fine. Not like you acted on it. As long as you follow my instructions you can freely share your opinion with me. As for the girl though, I think you are worrying too much. She’ll move on, we all have to at one point. Besides I gave her brother my word that I would send her home safely and while I guess that I technically fulfilled that promise, it would leave a bad taste in my mouth to immediately go and do the opposite of that. Just get home and have a good night’s sleep.”

  “You are right, my lord. Thank you.” Jeremiah bowed one last time, to Venom’s great displeasure, and left the room.

  Now left alone in the grand king’s chamber, Venom wondered about Renius and the girl. He reassured his subordinate, but deep down shared his suspicion that something must be special about this girl, if Renius went out of his way to pursue her. He had never heard about a ‘gifted’ with no ability. Normally their physical strength and endurance went up as they became more proficient in the usage of their ability, or so it was for him at least, which made a person with seemingly unnatural physical ability, but no ‘gift’ an oddity in his mind. If her ‘gift’ was physical strength however, it’d be more noticeable.

  “Maybe I picked the wrong person after all?” The thought escaped his lips. He shook his head to dispel the anxiety he had just denied his subordinate and changed his train of thought. He had to meet with the ministers soon, after all even a depraved king like him still had to do the bare minimum to keep the country running, or soon his king title would be meaningless.