CHAPTER 34: THE SCHOOL NURSE’S SHOCK

"Who’s there?" Julia, the school nurse, rose to her feet from behind her desk, making her way to the door with slight confusion.

"It’s me. Godfrey."

That reply made her expression morph into one of disbelief. ’Godfrey Daniels! You got injured so fast?! she sighed inwardly. I knew it wasn’t a good idea to allow you to stay in Manhattan.’

The moment she opened the door, her lips curled upward and her eyes squinted, revealing a beautiful smile on her kind, oval-shaped face framed by curls. "Godfrey, come in!"

Godfrey stepped into her apartment, which had been converted into her office. The space was lined with neat sickbeds, cabinets of supplies, and rows of bottled tonics glowing faintly, a product of her summon’s adaptive skill for healing lighter wounds like bruises and sprains.

The apartment itself was well-kept, the bright white lights and long curtains providing both comfort and privacy for patients.

Julia turned back to the teen, who was looking around with his usual calm but observant eyes. "What happened? I don’t see any harm done to you."

"Oh, I’m fine. It’s my summons that need healing, they’re badly wounded."

Julia blinked, her brows furrowing. ’Do golems get healed? I haven’t seen that in all my years of practice. They’re just metal, stone, and wood... at least the wooden ones can be mended, but stone and steel?’

"Godfrey, try to stay out of fights," she said, sighing heavily at the dilemma. Even if she couldn’t heal his so-called golems, it meant he wouldn’t be able to participate in the hunt tomorrow, a good thing, in her mind. That way he wouldn’t be made a target.

"Show them to me," she said softly, gesturing toward one of the sickbeds.

Now that she had stopped speaking, Godfrey clarified, "I wasn’t in any fight. My summons were training and ended up wounding each other. They’ve got some kind of beef... and train like it’s an actual battle."

Julia scoffed inwardly. ’What sort of golem has beef—!’

Her eyes went wide when Ballista appeared, lying on the bed. His enormous plated form took up most of the mattress. A massive hole gaped in the cuirass, and the smell of burnt flesh oozed from the wound beneath. Blood stained the steel, and though his helm concealed his features, the knight’s rigid silence revealed how much pain he endured.

Julia went pale. Her gaze snapped left as Mountain manifested beside her, towering with his fortress-like build. The giant’s armoured forearm was split and bleeding, crimson seeping from beneath the cracked plates. Her hands trembled. Her face twisted in terror.

"These... aren’t golems in the slightest," she whispered.

Godfrey glanced at her from the corner of his eye, unsure why she was panicking. His stomach twisted. Was Ballista... unsavable? The second the thought crossed his mind, fear gripped him.

"M... Miss Julia... can’t Ballista be saved?" His voice shook, guilt and dread burning in his chest.

Julia flinched, realizing her own reaction, and forced herself to compose. "I can heal it. The damage pierced through plate armour, chainmail, and leather. The wound won’t kill him as long as I..."

She froze. Had she just addressed the summon as ’him’?

Exhaling heavily, she summoned her own healing diagram. A warm glow filled the room as her spirit’s power extended over the two knights. Slowly, Mountain’s gaping wound began to knit itself together, the blood vanishing as plates sealed and reformed as though alive.

In less than two minutes, Mountain was whole again, his enormous shield resting by his side. Even his armour had been restored, which made Julia’s eyes widen. She couldn’t heal steel, so why had his armour mended.

Her heart raced. ’This armour... It’s their hide. Like dragon scales.’

Ballista’s healing took longer. For twenty agonizing minutes, his cuirass and body knitted shut while his labored, rough breathing finally steadied. Julia didn’t notice her own hand inching closer to his helm until she was nearly touching it.

Suddenly, Ballista’s massive gauntleted hand shot up. His grip encircled her wrist like a shackle of cold iron. Though his visor bore no eyeholes, she felt his glare, suffocatingly furious.

"You dare attempt to desecrate an anointed knight?!"

The voice thundered, sonorous and deep, not the rolling rumble of Mountain’s, but sharp, like a war-drum booming inside her chest. A primal chill shot down Julia’s spine, her soul almost fleeing her body. She froze in place.

Godfrey quickly retrieved both Ballista and Mountain, tucking them back into his soul space.

Julia remained stiff, locked in terror. The aura they had unleashed still lingered in the air, it wasn’t human, nor golem. It was the oppressive weight of predators gazing upon their prey.

When she looked at Godfrey, she flinched at the calmness on his face.

"They get a little angry over weird stuff. Don’t overthink it. And... thanks for healing them."

Godfrey turned and left.

The moment the door shut, Julia collapsed onto the nearest bed, breath ragged. Her mind reeled. Those things weren’t golems!

It all made sense now, the headmaster’s urgent calls, the school’s decision not to expel Godfrey but instead suspend many of the sophomore elite. It wasn’t because of connections. It wasn’t favoritism. It was his summons.

She had never seen anything like them. They weren’t living sculptures of stone or metal, nor simple beasts. They were knights of flesh, blood, and spirit. Beasts made men. Men made beasts.

The infinite potential of a human’s will fused with the overwhelming strength of legendary creatures.

"Knights of the Golden Order..." she whispered, the name the referee always announced when Godfrey ascended the platform. Everyone else had shrugged it off as a grandiose title. But now, she knew better.

Those "golems" had bled. And one had spoken.

***

As the sun dipped low, Godfrey raced toward the eatery after several missed calls from Isolde. After leaving the nurse’s office, he had gone home to meditate and, as usual, had slipped into deep slumber.

"I sent a message to everyone. What were you doing?" Edwin, standing outside the well-lit eatery, sighed, motioning for Godfrey to hurry. Godfrey broke into a jog.

Inside, he spotted Isolde at a corner table. Her golden-white hair shimmered under the lights as she waved at him with a bright smile. A warmth spread through him, softening his face into a smile, until his gaze shifted upward.

The Polaris students sat on the second floor, near the glass railing. Their eyes followed him, some with curiosity, others with sharp disdain.

"I looked him up. That’s the son of the Amazon City hero, Roland Daniels," said Alistair, the gray-haired junior, his voice calm but his eyes filled with scorn.

"That’s the son of the man who fought a hundred thousand orcs! I’ve heard of his trash son, the one who couldn’t awaken a summon, despite his parents’ powerful ones. So that’s him," muttered Lucian, the long-haired youth with an eye patch, staring at Godfrey like a zoo curiosity.

"Well, he finally awakened at the Manhattan ceremony," Alistair continued smoothly, "but only with a golem knight summon."

"A what?!" Rosalind’s pretty face scrunched in visible disgust.

"We have one back at home," Seraphina said calmly. Her crystalline pink eyes glimmered like jewels as she glanced at Snow, who sat below but like a royal amongst commoners. "They’re useful for menial jobs and heavy lifting. People like them are still needed in our world... to serve, of course."

Nathaniel chuckled, lounging back in his chair. "I guess the bet’s void now. There’s no fun in turning what’s already a puppet into a puppet."

"Tsk! He’s already Isolde’s puppet." Rosalind clicked her tongue.