Not even 3 minutes had passed since the battle had began, but the entirety of the opposing team had been wiped out by Kenny and William. It was a swift victory for the two of them.


    ''That was unexpectedly easy. Though it was due to their lack of coordination.''


    All of the recruits present were astonished at what they had witnessed, even Claire who had honestly almost never seen Kenny battle too was surprised. The Lieutenant smirked as she looked at the two recruits.


    "That was impressive, both of you."


    "Thank you Lieutenant." They both harmonically spoke.


    The rest of the mock battles went on and as Kenny was observing them, he realized that he had been quite harsh on himself for always thinking that he was weak and had no talent compared to others. What he observed was that the rest were quite weak compared to him. After all, all he had done the past 5 years was train everyday until his entire body shut down on its own.


    William was next to Kenny and suddenly asked a weird question, at least in the eyes of Kenny.


    "Kenny, what do you think of nobles?" William asked.


    Kenny looked over at William quite perplexed at the sudden and weird question. He was quiet for a few seconds and then with a serious look he responded:


    "The vast majority of nobles are greedy self righteous fattasses who think they can buy anything in the world with money. They look down on others based on their social status. They think they''re better than you, but in my eyes a noble is just another human, whether it be a asshole or nice person, they’re just another human. “Noble” is just a title given to them mostly because they having money."


    William looked quite astounded at Kenny''s response.


    "I guess your not wrong, based on what I''ve seen."


    "I did say the vast majority though, not all of them. William, take your father for example, he''s a man I do truly respect. His strength and efforts is what brought him to his noble status after all, not money."


    William put on an Akward smile.


    "Yes, I do think he''s a respectable man."


    Kenny looked disgusted at William''s akward smile.


    "Dude, your making me cringe with that smile."


    "Huh? Oh I''m sorry!"


    The recruits began to stare and whisper with a somewhat disgusted or confused look about the two young recruits.


    "Are they dating?" A student silently asked.


    "I don''t know, but they look very close." Another student answered.


    Kenny looked pale as a ghost, his good short reputation was now gone for good.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Look what you did, now everyone is gonna think I like dudes!"


    William gave Kenny a worried look.


    "I''m sorry! I didn''t mean to!"


    Kenny put his plam to his face while next to him William looked distressed, feeling sorry for putting Kenny in that situation. Suddenly the Lieutenant''s voice resonated the the training grounds.


    "All of the mock battles have been completed! You are now released for today!"


    ***


    Loud bangs and clangs could be heard in the same white crystalline room. It was the General''s personal training room, and inside was Kenny, yet again taking a beating from General Yemel.


    Two days had passed since the mock battles, and since then William and Kenny had become good friends. It turns out that what he previously thought about William was entirely wrong. William was a nice guy with a caring attitude, dfferent from what Kenny imagined most of the nobles to be.


    "Get your head in the game kid!"


    General Yemel struck Kenny right on the side of his face with his fist, sending him into a wall of hard white crystal.


    Kenny groaned in pain and he stood up.


    "Hey old man, aren''t you supposed to be teaching me something! Not just beating the hell out of me!"


    "I have to toughen you up a little bit first."


    Kenny made an annoyed face. This is nothing of what Kenny had expected training with the General would be. He thought he would be teaching him how to kill demons. But for the first and now second day training, General Yemel had just been beating the crap out of Kenny.


    ''Damn every punch feels like I''ve been hit by a boulder, and he''s holding back too.''


    Kenny picked up his iron sword, and with all his power dashed towards the General and swung his blade. Multiple loud clangs echoed throughout the room as the General blocked all of Kenny''s strikes with a blade of his own.


    Multiple hours went by as the General simply beat Kenny. Kenny did attempt to fight back, but ended in futile efforts.


    Kenny layed on the floor, bruises all over his face and body. Even vomit could be seen next to him for at one point a gut punch from the General manage to get the damn thing out of him.


    ''This fucking hurts like hell.''


    The General stood over Kenny looking down at him.


    "Next week, you and your platoon will take on a Mission, take this chance to rank up since obtaining the 2nd rank is pretty easy. With this, you''ll get your self a new gift."


    Kenny look a bit excited but then changed his expression to a confused one.


    "Wait, not an expidition?"


    General Yemel looked over at Kenny and began to laughed uncontrollably.


    "Hahaha! you think you can go on an expedition?! Your entire team will get wiped out in an instant. You have to get Rank 2 before even thinking about going on an expedition."


    Kenny gave the General a disappointed look. Kenny has been wanting to go on an expedition now that he''s become a Vanquisher, but now that he learned that you need to be at least rank 2 to be part of an expedition, it only made him more eager to go on that mission.


    For the next week Kenny had been following the same routine every day, and three times a week going to the General''s training room and gettin beat to a pulp. Kenny was starting to doubt whether the General would ever teach him anything.


    ***


    The platoon of Vanquishers were in their training grounds as the Lieutenant began to lay down the details of the mission.


    "We are going to the town of Ballen, there we have been tasked with the elimination of monsters around the area that have been growing in numbers recently. We’ll get a better overview once we arrive. Prepare to head out!"


    "Yes ma''am!" The cadets harmonically spoke.


    ''A mission huh? Vanquisher do take care of other tasks around the country to if their needed. I have to take this chance to rank up and get another gift. And hopefully get a useful one this time.''


    Kenny grabbed his sword and placed it in the baldric on his back.


    In the distance he saw William coming towards him and waving at him with a bright smile on his face.


    "Hey Kenny."


    Kenny returned the greeting with a faint smile and wave.


    "Hey, William."


    William finally reached Kenny and said:


    "How about you call me Will, it''s what my family calls me."


    "Sure, then if were giving nicknames how about you call me Ken."


    A sudden soft and girly voice came from behind Kenny.


    "You guys seem close. Are the rumors true?" Claire asked with a smirk.


    Kenny looked behind him and with an annoyed look said:


    "They''re not true, but we''ve become friends, that''s it, so don''t get the wrong impression. Anyways looks like we''re leaving."