Meanwhile, Erwin and his friends were gathered together beside the stone railing on the second floor.

"Why is it raining so early in the morning?" Erwin was watching the rain falling outside, splattering audibly onto the leaves of the bamboo trees in the courtyard.

"Maybe even the heavens think that it's not right for our commander to abandon us, so it's protesting in the form of rain," Kaiba chuckled.

"Come on, it's not like I want to leave you guys. You guys know what my father's like. When he sets his mind on something, there's nothing I can do to convince him otherwise," Larwood said with a resigned expression. "Last night, he barged into my room to scold me again. I just so happened to be changing at the time, so he saw the injuries on my body, and he immediately forbade me from continuing to march with our mercenary legion."

Larwood heaved a forlorn sigh, then continued, "We argued with each other for hours after that, but he was adamant to keep me here."

"I can understand that. Any father would be unwilling to allow his son to risk his life like...