Chapter 11 - Leopoldo History

"Different?" Asked Pan.

 "I graduated recently, so I don't know much and some things are just rumors with no proof, but..." Then began to narrate the crusade.

 Pan settled among the sacks of rice to listen to the story, feeling very happy to be with what appeared to be the most talkative crusader in all of history.

 'All information is useful, and this guy is a bottomless pit of free information.' Thought Pan.

 From what the crusader told him, Leopold, like every crusader, was once an apprentice, a mundane apprentice, a commoner without name or blood. But upon being chosen as a red he was treated like a noble, with education and luxury, to the point that he began to think he was one of them.

 But he couldn't be more wrong, there is a veiled segregation in the Order. The founding and oldest families of the Crusaders use varied methods to ensure that some of their descendants are always chosen, causing them to maintain a monopoly on the Order. That is, a rumor of course.

 But from what the crusader told him, it seemed that there was a 50% ratio of chosen nobles to commoners, taking into account that there were many more commoners than nobles, that count did not match, which made the rumor much more true.

 According to the crusader, Leopold began to trust the Order and follow its tenets flawlessly, only to be suppressed by one of the old families, but even under scrutiny he was able to hold his own and grow under pressure and eventually became a master. And whenever he seeks out new apprentices, he makes sure the commoners walk, so they never have the silly illusion that they'll have the Order's unconditional support.  Leopold still believes in his dogmas, but no longer in his leaders.

 "That's why he was so happy when he saw that the apprentice ratio in Lark was seven commoners to three nobles, a very rare thing, but most of them ended up dead three days ago," the crusader said, his voice growing heavy and sad at the end, full of remorse.

 But the remorse on the crusader's face was gone as quickly as it had come, and he began to tell Pan that no matter how segregated there is, it's better to be a demigod among the gods than a mundane among the kings, but Pan had already stopped listen to their endless monologues.

 'So that's why?  Does he hate nobles?  Father… mother…'  Pan thought.

 There was anger in his eyes, hidden, almost creeping, but it was still there, he still remembered.

As night began to fall, Leopold ordered the Crusaders to set up camp. The white crusader that Pan now knew by the name of Thorin kept to his side, telling all kinds of gossip about the Order and the places where he had been and the miraculous fights he had fought.

 'He would be a good bard, or a bad one, who knows.' Thought pan amid the barrage of stories, tales and fables.

 "And so I stuck the spear up the damn fallen lord's aww, lord or not, the ass is a cruel place to have a stake stuck hahahahaha," Thorin recounted enthusiastically, holding a bottle of wine in his hand.

 Pan could only wonder where he got the wine from and how he was already so drunk.

 "Pan, Lark's green apprentice," called a young blue crusader who didn't look much older than Pan himself.  Stealing their attention and cutting the stories of happy Thorin.

 "Yea?" Replied Pan.

 "Come with me," pronounced the crusade, who then turned and walked away.

 Pan looked confused at Thorin who shrugged his shoulders before glowing slightly for a moment and then clarity returned to his eyes, he seemed to be sober.

 'Whites are really useful.' Thought Pan for the tenth time on the same day.

 Thorin then helped Pan down while constantly relieving him of phantom pain. They then hurried after the young crusader who didn't seem to have any intention of waiting just because Pan was an armless cripple in agony.

  'Bitch.' Thought Pan gritting his teeth at the pain as he quickened his pace.

 As he walked around the camp, Pan searched for Ava with his eyes, just as he had done all day in the carriage, but he couldn't see her anywhere. He stopped looking when the young crusader arrived in front of a large tent slightly larger than the others, which appeared to be the camp's command center.