《The Wraith King》 Chapter 1: Army of Recruits Chapter 1 Army of Recruits ________________________________________________________ I am ready. With my right knee down on the floor, the king¡ªmy father¡ªasks me what do I want. It¡¯s not unusual for a prince to kneel down in front of his father to ask for something. But it is unusual when there¡¯s only two of you. If my brothers want something and if they think it will win them some favors from the nobles, they will kneel down without a second thought. A point in fact, just last month my second big brother, Calius, prostrated himself in front of our father and his entire royal hoodlums to ask if he could lead the rebuilding of the city¡¯s water mills. The gesture apparently had won Calius some support from the nobles, who deemed him as capable and humble. But I have no time to play their politics. I asks my father again the same question I had asked two years ago which he rejected flatly, saying I was too young. ¡°How many?¡± My father asks. ¡°Fifty, sire.¡± ¡°Fifty?¡± ¡°Yes, father.¡± I said ¡®father¡¯ to appeal to his paternal instincts. ¡°Look, son. I¡¯m really glad about this, but I think fifty men is a lot for your first command.¡± I think he means that. He was really glad. The king had fathered five children, four sons and a daughter. He expected at least one of his sons would take the military path but it seemed all my brothers were only interested playing politics. But not me, of course. And my father knows it. ¡°Forty, then, father.¡± ¡°Thirty.¡± I paused, trying to act that I am gravely considering his offer and that it was a great compromise on my part. ¡°Thirty would be fine, father.¡± I said, as if I just lost a deal. Actually,I just need twenty men. But hey, an additional ten would be most welcome. On that day, my father tasks his royal secretary, Critton, to arrange for me to have thirty men at my disposal.And soon the next day, I met my command outside the barracks. Surprisingly, they have arranged themselves in five files, with six soldiers each. As I expected they were all young, fresh from recruitment, no experience besides cutting chicken except lieutenant Brax, he was a famous veteran of three battles and also famously known to be an ass, in short no platoon wants him. This was my oldest brother¡¯s doing, obviously. He wanted me to fail, so instead of men, he sent me children. I may be young as them but I know my way around swords. And it seems I have to show it to them soon, for Lt. Brax is eyeing me quite intently and I could feel his blood lust. I looked around, and saw some of the soldiers are actually laughing, snickering and snorting at us. I could sense the uneasiness within my ranks. Part of it, I sensed, was shame and whole great deal of it was fear. I could practically smell it from my men. I know what this is. Older soldiers probably had told them that they are going to die very young, that I am just some snotty, little prince who like to dress up and play war. And that, eventually, I would lead them to their early death. Well, I wouldn¡¯t blame them, if I were on their place, I would be scared shitless, too, if a sixteen year old kid would demand himself to be my commander. Morale is very low, as expected.I looked at them trying to project my most confident self and my cock-sure attitude. I don¡¯t know if they could see it, but somehow they have settled a bit. I could feel Lt. Brax eyes drilling a hole onto me. He was sizing me up so I moved in front of him. He was tall, taller than me¡ªand I am the tallest and the baddest sixteen year old I know¡ªhe¡¯s also bigger than me and scarier than me with all the scars in his angular face. ¡°Lt. Brax.¡± I said. He seems surprised that I know his name. But he recovered quickly and just nodded. ¡°Are you deaf, lieutenant?¡± ¡°No.¡± He spat the word. Looks like I have to teach him a lesson, after all. But not here, I don¡¯t want to embarrass him in front of the other soldiers that aren¡¯t in my command. I ordered them to follow me inside the stable. It¡¯s a bit cramp, but we all fit in just nice. I eyed Lt.Brax again and he returned the gaze with some understanding. He knows what I am about to do, and I swore, even with a rigid face, he managed to smirk. ¡°Clear a space for me and Lt.Brax.¡± I ordered. Confused, the recruits moved slowly, but soon they formed a circle leaving me and Lt. Brax inside it. ¡°I assumed the sword in your waist is not just for decoration, isn¡¯t it?¡± I said. It was a great insult to a war veteran who had survived three skirmishes, who had dipped his sword in the blood of his countless enemy. I feel his gaze got more intense. He probably wanted to skewer me to death now, but the fact that I am a prince is the only thing that¡¯s stopping him. So I had to insult him some more. ¡°Or was it only good for killing women and children?¡± I asked. This was the deal breaker. I could feel his killing intent flared up. It was a really wonderful feeling, every hair in my body stood up. Truth to be told, I know something about Lt. Brax. He participated in an off-the-books mission personally ordered by my father to assassinate Duke Bornis who is selling vital information to our enemy¡ªthe Kurgs. I was there, along with my brothers, when my father ordered that. But it turned out, during the assassination mission, they were given a wrong information and they didn¡¯t know that Duke Bornis was actually fleeing the kingdom with his wife and son. Faced with a choice of letting the wife and kid go, Lt. Brax and his fellow soldiers chose to kill the entire family. There were two soldier other than Brax who had participated in the mission. And soon those other two had died in the heat of the battle. Coincidentally, Brax was also on the same company with those two. And I don¡¯t believe that¡¯s just a coincidence, or rather I don¡¯t believe in coincidence at all, and it¡¯s time for me to find out. ¡°Don¡¯t test me, boy.¡± Brax said,but he left the part: Or I will forget you are a prince. I stepped closer to him. I am well within his killing range now, every part of my body screamed, warning me of the danger. ¡°Should I bring women and children here for you to slaughter?¡± I whispered, making sure he¡¯s the only who heard it. Ok, that part he didn¡¯t deserved, but I need to teach him a lesson, remember? He growled, and I noticed his shoulder dropped and I was already out of his range by the time he had fully drawn his sword. A risky move in my part, but I had to do it. I need him to attack me first to make it more dramatic and to fully achieve the effect that I intended. I draw mine and shouted fast. ¡°Nobody gets in our way.¡± But it was a futile warning, it seems no one was really planning to¡ªand that kinda hurts¡ªeven though Brax is now fully committed to kill their commander and their prince. That¡¯s how scary Brax is and how chicken my men are. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. His downward swing was really powerful that even after deflecting it masterfully, my hands ached. He was shouting like a madman. His swings are wild but I could feel the power and speed behind it. During the battle I was smiling, I could see the raw potential of Brax, and I decided I need this man more than his need to kill me. With limited space, I danced around him. I can¡¯t exactly move backwards because of the fear that he might accidentally chop some of my men into pieces. I punched him in the face when I got an opening. He staggered back with a bleeding nose. This had calmed him a bit and probably realized that he was trying to chop his own commander and his prince into little pieces. I saw an acceptance in his eyes, he knows his life is already forfeit by attacking me. Now he just wanted to finish what he had started. A good quality, I noted. Time to get serious. This time, I initiated the offense. I managed to wound him in his right bicep, followed by a sword thrust aimed at his head. He barely deflected it and his left cheek tasted the sharpness of my blade as it bleeds. I don¡¯t know if he had noticed that I slightly held myself back with my last strike. If I didn¡¯t, the fight would have been over with my sword protruding at the back of his head. I lowered my stance, held my sword in both hands and pointed it at his face. He stared, I stared back. He knows the next part will decide everything. He was calm, and this makes him ten times more dangerous. I was the first to attack, and he blocked it easily. I pressed my sword against his. This is a battle of strength now,and I have to win it. There¡¯s a lot of stakes riding in this fight. Defeating Brax, not just defeating him, but completely obliterating him will gain me a bit of respect from my men and hopefully Brax¡¯s respect as well. Brax was very powerful, I could feel the weight of his sword as it hard-pressed against mine. I let out a roar and I channeled my body¡¯s energy into my sword. Brax was forced to take a knee against my oppressive awesomeness. I won, but I decided to let go of my right hand to give him another smack into his already bleeding broken nose. He sprawled on the floor and his sword went flying. But I didn¡¯t stop just yet, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to show to my men my awe-inspiring kicking abilities. And there it was, a front kick to his face sends Brax on the floor again. My left foot hadn¡¯t entered the spotlight yet, so I used it to stomp his stomach. I am not a sadist, mind you, and I don¡¯t enjoy all of this. But I am young. Chances are my soldiers won¡¯t take me seriously and it just so happens that scary Brax was the perfect asshole I can make an example of. Brax was lying down, but the tough bastard was still conscious. It looks like he still wanted to see the end of my boot so I gave it to his face. And then he was down. I looked around and saw mixed expressions from my men. Fear and respect is what I expected to see and I almost smiled when I saw it in their faces, with an added bonus of their jaws dropped low. I got to admit, what I did was impressive, but I didn¡¯t expect it to be a jaw-dropping performance. I stood, returned my sword in to the scabbard and tried to fix some creases in my uniform. ¡°From now on, you will either call me sir or commander.¡± I said. They quickly straightened themselves and saluted. ¡°Sir, yes, sir.¡± I heard a grunting behind me. What a resilient bastard, I thought. He¡¯s already awake now, fully calmed, I hoped. I walked into him and offered my hand. He saw my eyes, and I saw his. He understands I owned him now. He reached out to my hand and I pulled him to stand. ¡°Lt. Brax, I appoint you to be my second in command. Do you have any complaints?¡± He eyed me. He expected that I will charged him with treason and see him hanged for it. There¡¯s still a lingering stubbornness in his eyes. But I smiled when he said. ¡°I accept the duty, sir.¡± ¡°Men, leave us be for a while.¡± I ordered. Their movement got quicker at least. This means they have a gain a little confidence in me. I looked at Lt.Brax and at his bloody nose. I had probably broken his nose because I hear a wheezing sound in his breathing. ¡°I will not apologize for insinuating your sword is only for display. I, however, will take back what I said about you dipping your sword with the blood of women and children.¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s the best and the closest apology you could get from me, so I suggest you better take it. I, however, also know you killed your fellow soldier involved in the Duke Bornis¡¯ assassination. I don¡¯t know what had transpired and I will respect your privacy as I respect your honor as a great soldier. ¡°I wish I could say I am going to save this kingdom from rotting, but I am not. My reasons are my own but I assure you it transcends their petty politics. In time, I am going to earn your loyalty and I will tell you everything. That¡¯s why I did what I had to do today. I¡¯m sure you understand.¡± He nodded. He knows I used him to make an example for my men and I think somehow he agreed to my method, cruel as they may be. I took my white handkerchief and offered it to him. ¡°Clean yourself up. You¡¯re a bloody mess.¡± I believed I saw him just smirked as he took my handkerchief. When we walked out of the stable. Surprisingly, again, my men had formed themselves in five files. They may not have balls, yet, but at least they¡¯re disciplined. ¡°My name is Calex Zath Archivon and I am your commanding officer.¡± I addressed them. ¡°You will answer only to me and no one else. You will not take orders from other men except from me and Lt. Brax here. Got it?¡± They answered softly. They¡¯re still afraid of other military officer outside my command. After all, they are still recruits bound to be humiliated from veteran soldiers. I want them to stand proud but it seems promising them glory would be an empty gesture in my part. In their standards, I am also a green like them. But I don¡¯t want to rush into a battle to bleed them and have them killed. First, I need to train them so they can live up to my own standards. I handed Lt. Brax a small map. He knows the marked location but not the purpose behind it. It was a nearby village from the east. The location was quite far from the city and I intend to hole them up there as soon as possible. ¡°I¡¯ll give you half a day to prepare the men, bring only necessary items, and we will leave immediately. Meet me at noon at the east gate.¡± I said to Lt. Brax. ¡°Sir, yes, sir.¡± He responded. And I left them. All in all, I think it went well. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- First Fiction. Hope you like it. Chapter 2: Running Heart Chapter 2 Running Heart I left a note at my father¡¯s desk. Heading to Sitio village Going to train my greenies Be back next month -CZA. They were at the east gate when I had arrived. Unbelievably, there have somehow made a commotion. And when I arrived, they all stared at me. I looked around and saw kids, women and some men. They all have this worried look like it would be the last time they¡¯ll see us again. Then I figured, my men were their sons, brothers and probably husbands. It¡¯s quite dramatic, really. Some of my men were quite excited, geared up for the trip. Some have the same worried look as their relatives. And Brax, as usual, greeted me with his unmoving face. The bandage in his nose was quite an improvement in his face. Not that it needed one. I need him to be scary, to instill fear not only on my men but also on our enemy. We headed out for the gate and I demanded the city guards to open up. They hesitated a bit and I know a question will soon be followed, but when I gave my most horrifying, piercing gaze unto them, they man up and opened the door. I gestured for my men to follow me. I have only a small bag with me, a bottle of water, some clothes, and a lot of dried fish and some bread, while my men had bigger backpacks with them. I gestured them to follow me and start moving. When we¡¯re out of the city, I stopped for a while and faced them. It¡¯s a thirty and hundred kilometers from here to Sitio Village, it¡¯s quite a distance and it would probably takes us six days even if we marched. ¡°From this point on,¡± I said. ¡°We will run. You will not stop unless I stop. Lt. Brax you¡¯ll be the sweeper and I¡¯ll lead.¡± It was a mild jogging during the first thirty minutes. It was in the middle of the day and it was scorching hot. Fortunately, tall trees blocked most of the sunlight. I picked up the pace and quicken it. When I decided warm up was over, I darted. It was still a normal run, I didn¡¯t want to completely leave them behind, not yet anyway. I couldn¡¯t believe it when my men had managed to sync with my pace even after a two hour run. They may be cowards, but they have quite a stamina. I quicken up my pace once again. It would be a matter of time now, I did wonder how many will managed to catch up to me. I kept on running and they kept on following me for another hour without a break. No one had given up yet, but I could hear shouts of ¡°haa, haa¡± in the group. They¡¯re all breathing hard now and it¡¯s just a matter of time when one of them will start to fall back. After twenty minutes, I couldn¡¯t see Lt. Brax anymore, and that only mean two things. It¡¯s either he¡¯s dead tired or someone had fallen back in the line. But I guess it was the latter, he¡¯s probably screaming at the fallen guy¡¯s ass right about now urging it to keep running. The only comfort these guys were getting is that the sun is about to set and cool winds started to blow. I estimated it has been six hours since we started running, so I started to look for a place to camp. When I saw a clearing, I stopped. I really thought no one had managed to catch up to me and that I had to wait for an hour or less for them to catch up. But I was dead wrong. Two minutes later, after I stopped, a skinny recruit with big, brown backpack had caught up. He was panting hard and but not as hard, river of sweat poured on his lean face. When he saw me stopping at the middle of the road, he also stopped and dropped his backpack. He took massive breathes while resting his hands on his knees. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± I asked. I got to admit, for a recruit, this guy amazed me. He took the deepest breathe of them all before he saluted me. ¡°Sir, First Cadet Pole, sir.¡± He was older than me by a year I think. ¡°You have quite a stamina, Cadet Pole. What did you do before you join the service?¡± I sensed the uneasiness in him. Most recruits have a criminal pasts and when they get caught, they were given a choice to join his Majesty¡¯s service or face imprisonment. Almost all choose the latter. ¡°I am just impressed that you have managed to catch up to me. I am not interested with your criminal records.¡± He lighten up and he said. ¡°My family used to own a small oyster shop, sire.¡± He paused to take a breather. ¡°I used to run in the coastal villages to buy oysters from them because it is way cheaper than the merchants used to sell in the square market, sire.¡± ¡°Used to? What happened?¡± ¡°A noble, sire. He accused my father of selling rotten oysters. The prick hired someone to plant the rotten oysters in our store, so when the health inspector come, and found one, they forced closed our shop, sire.¡± Out of anger, he didn¡¯t realized that he had just called a noble a prick¨C¨Ca slander that could get him to prison. When he did, he prostrated himself in front of me. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, sire. I didn¡¯t mean to ...¡± ¡°Call a Noble a prick? It¡¯s alright. I know how low those bloody nobles can get.¡± He beamed up. ¡°Sir, thank you, sir.¡± Ten minutes later, they started coming with their tongues hanged terribly loose. And by late afternoon, all thirty were accounted for. We had managed to cover two and sixty kilometers. It was quite a run. If they haven¡¯t been trained a month before in the barracks they might¡¯ve not even make it. I was slightly impressed that only a few of my recruits were puking their guts out. I expected more. A fire was created and some set up tents. A bit glad, that they were prepared. I didn¡¯t bring a tent with me. Instead, I brought out my special sleeping blanket. This thing was designed by me, the concept has similarity to that of a cocoon. Everyone looked at me. They couldn¡¯t believe that I am planning to sleep on those. They had probably half-expected some lavish tent waiting for me at the end of the run. I ate my dried fish near the makeshift fire and I can feel my men staring at me. Why can¡¯t a bloody prince eat a dried fish without attracting anyone''s attention? I have done this before you know. I have spent days and days living in the forests and mountains honing my sword skills at thirteen. And now I missed my master. Brax sit beside me eating god knows what. I stared at him. ¡°A trade, my dried fish to that.¡± I pointed to his food. He considered my offer and agreed. He handed me some sort of a reptile leg. I could actually see the little fingers at the end. Strangely, it was covered in some sort of dressing. I bit the reptile leg and it feels like I¡¯m eating paper. Then, Cadet Pole, came beside me. ¡°Sir, you have to remove the banana leaves before eating it, sir.¡± Pole said. I stared at Lt. Brax eating my dried fish. I kind of glimpse he just smirked. The prick had chose not to tell me. I removed the banana leaves dressing, and it turned out the leg was rather delicious. I gestured to Cadet Pole to occupy a space near the camp fire. ¡°So, Lt. Brax, don¡¯t you think we need a little bit of entertainment for the night?¡± I asked. ¡°What do you have in mind, sir?¡± Lt. Brax said, with subtle sign of glee. He clearly approved the tradition. ¡°Who¡¯s the last one you carried over?¡± I asked. As a sweeper, Lt. Brax was forced to match pace with the last runner. Lt. Brax stood, then roared. ¡°Cadet Tobi, the commander requires your presence.¡± In just a matter of seconds, a young, hulking individual stood in front of us. He was more muscular than Lt. Brax but shorter. His eyes is on the ground, clearly afraid. He was very timid, so strange to see that to a man with a build like that. Usually, big muscles begets confidence or arrogance. ¡°I take it you¡¯re the slowest runner here.¡± I said. ¡°Yes, sir.¡± ¡°Do you have any talents, Cadet Tobi?¡± I asked. He looked at me, I can see he was confused. ¡°Sir, ah, I can bake good breads, sir, my master says so.¡± I heard a small snicker around the campfire. So he was an apprentice baker. I wonder what compelled him to join His majesty¡¯s army. ¡°Since we don¡¯t have any dough here for you to massage, I asks that you sing or dance or anything that could bloody well entertain us.¡± I said. He was nervous. ¡°I can sing, sir.¡± I nodded. "By all means." Then he stared to sing. I¡¯ve done wrong Forgiveness is all I long Past shall break free That will end all glee I dreamed a day where men is free Of things that deter our dreams I couldn¡¯t believe what my ears are hearing. Cadet Tobi¡¯s tenor voice is simply captivating, and the emotions behind them reverberated in our hearts. I have once visited an opera house in the Nobles District, though I fell asleep for the most part, I can vow that the singers there pale in comparison with Tobi¡¯s voice. Everyone was silent for quite a while. It was, I admit, quite a shocking spectacle. While trying to gather my own thoughts, I realized my men were all looking at me, waiting for my reaction. I stood, walked towards Cadet Tobi. I placed my right hand to his shoulder. ¡°It was wonderful.¡± I said. He smiled. ¡°Thank you, sir.¡± ¡°But I don¡¯t want to see you again tomorrow on the last line.¡± I said to him in my most serious and most badass of a tone. He saluted. ¡°Sir, yes, sir.¡± I looked around. I don¡¯t know when they have all gathered around the fire, but probably around the middle of the performance. But I took the opportunity nonetheless and addressed them. ¡°Listen, up!¡± I shouted. ¡°The path that we were about to undertake will be difficult and full of perils. And I promise you it won¡¯t get any better.¡± Somehow, I can see that they believed it. ¡°But I will also promise you this one thing, that whatever happens, you can count on me standing right next to you and in front. Rest up, tomorrow we will run again.¡± I said. They fixed their feet and saluted. I heard small groans, groans of pain and fatigue, but I ignored it and resumed eating the reptile¡¯s leg. It was unusually tasty¡ªand juicy. Lt. Brax appointed three recruits two stand guard, to be replaced by another three after two hours had elapsed. But I know my men are tired, so I stayed up all night, ordering the appointed guards on duty to take a sleep and not to bother the next shift. So, I sat all night facing the fire, alone, while the rest of my men sleep and snore. The first light of the day broke, and based on their heavy snores I could feel my men are not quite ready to wake up, yet. I let them sleep for another hour, and after that, I woke Lt. Brax first at his tent. He got out quickly and I told him to wake the others up. We ate our breakfast. I had dried fish again and bread¡ªmy last one. At six and a half in the morning, we are ready to go. I planned to reach the town today so this will be the toughest day and I told them that. I jogged ahead, and they followed me. After a while, I started to dash. Not only the journey is longer, but the road is starting to get rough. I took a rest when the sun shadowed me overhead. This time, Cadet Pole, took twenty minutes longer to catch up to me. Still, he was the first one to arrive. He was panting harder than yesterday. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°You have become slower, Cadet Pole.¡± I said. ¡°I beg your pardon, sire, you got faster.¡± Fair point. After Pole had arrived, it took another fifteen minutes before the rest of my men poured in. This time, Cadet Tobi was in the third to the last position. I was a bit happy for that. We ate our lunch and drink a lot of fluids. We rested for around five and forty minutes before we moved out. This time I slowed my pace a little. I hate to admit, but my body is now screaming a little. The lack of sleep was the cause, of course. We reached the outskirt of the village at early afternoon. I stopped running and walked till the village. They were all behind me now and they, too, walked. When we reached the village, I sensed few people in it. A small girl walked out of her house. And I recognized her. ¡°Calex!¡± the girl shouted. ¡°Mimi, Calex is here.¡± The girl ran towards me and she hugged my legs when she had reached me. ¡°Hello, Mini. Where are the others?¡± Another small girl exited the same house. She was Mini¡¯s twins and they looked exactly alike. Same pigtailed blonde hair, same brown eyes and same puffy cheeks. ¡°Calex!¡± Mimi shouted and ran towards me, as well. ¡°Dada and mama and Milo and the rest went to fight the sea goblins.¡± Mini said. I nodded. It was common for this village to be visited by their unfriendly neighbor¨C¨Cthe sea goblins¨C¨Cthat they have grown accustomed to it. ¡°Lt. Brax, set up camp outside the village.¡± I said. Lt. Brax stared at me. I could see, that he was itching to ran and help the villagers. But when I said nothing, he just turned around and ordered the men to set up camp. Cadet Pole rushed towards me and went down on his knee. Mimi and Mini was a bit startled. ¡°Sir, asking for permission to go and help the villagers.¡± Pole said. That''s right, he grew up visiting coastal villages, so he had probably witnessed a sea goblin attack before. ¡°No need, Cadet Pole.¡± I said. ¡°Baba and Milo is really strong, mister." Mimi said. ¡°And Mama is stronger.¡± Mini said. Cadet Pole looked at the twins and saw no hint of anxiousness or worry about their parents. That probably unnerved and confused him. I carried Mimi and Mini in my arms and went to follow Lt. Brax. When I caught up to Lt. Brax, I asked him if he has any doubt about my actions¡ªor in this case, inaction. He said that it was not in his position to question my orders. Meaning yes. A roar of laughter boomed in the east side of the village that caught everyone''s attention. The villagers were back. Mimi and Mini¡¯s house was the first house you will encounter if you came from Sanford City while the rest of the houses were stationed near the sea. ¡°Mama!¡± the twins roared. The villagers saw us went straight to us, quite happily. ¡°Oh, Calex, when did you arrive?¡± It was Vinny, the twin¡¯s mother. She was well built for a woman with the same blonde hair as the twins. ¡°Just now.¡± I said. ¡°Calex, you should¡¯ve arrive sooner and bear witness how we kick the sea goblin¡¯s ass.¡± Ben said. He was the village chief, a bit old, but still nimble and strong and cunning. ¡°Oh, please, Ben. You almost got killed by a baby sea goblin.¡± Another woman retorted. Everyone burst out in laughter. Ben laughed as well. ¡°Everyone, bring out your best food. We just drove the sea goblins away and Calex is here. I think that¡¯s plenty enough reason to celebrate.¡± Ben roared and everyone shouted in agreement. Before I could say they need not to. They have already dispersed. They were unusually cheery after a Sea goblin attack, that means no one was seriously injured or worse, died. ¡°Where¡¯s Milo and Ker?¡± I asked Vinny. ¡°Still at the coast, cleaning up and thinking up of new defenses. But they would be very happy to see you here. Especially Milo.¡± Vinny said. ¡°Come on, girls. Get down, you are now too heavy for Calex.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t want to mama.¡± The twins said, at the same time. The twins both looked at each other and smiled. They did that every time they did something in sync. But Vinny approached us and carried the girls. ¡°So, will you stay in our house for the night? I¡¯m sure Milo and Dada have a lot to talk to you about.¡± Vinny asked. ¡°Not tonight. We have a camp set up outside.¡± Vinny looked at the men behind me who is staring at us dumbfoundedly. ¡°You have finally got your command, eh. Good for you. You always complained about how your worrywart of a father won¡¯t give you one.¡± Vinny remarked. Lt. Brax stepped in. ¡°Excuse, mam. I am Brax, but do you know who his father is?¡± ¡°Of course, dear.¡± Vinny said. ¡°It¡¯s the king.¡± | | | | | | She still couldn''t believe it that she was outrun by a skinny guy and by a prince no less. A fucking prince, she thought, a brat who lived in grandeur, who devour delicious foods, sleep on giant beds, wear the finest of silks, a smug prince. She was trained in the arts of assassination since she was a kid. She had been through the toughest training imaginable¡ªthe kind no ordinary man could survive. She had scaled the tallest buildings in the city with nothing but a knife, she had trained her legs to climb Mount Hololu without breaking a sweat, she had been crossing the river Bontol¡ªknown for its unusually wide girth and rough currents¡ªsince she was a kid. Yet, she wasn''t able to catch up during the last stretch of the run. She looked at Cadet Pole, trying to discern if he was also a royal assassin, like her, sent to spy the prince¡ªor terminate if necessary. If Prince Calius¡ªsecond prince/brother¡ªhad sent me, surely prince Cleto would also send one, she thought. But the stance, the body movement, and the air around Cadet Pole doesn''t scream of assassin. Even the subtlest of signs were not there. This frustrates her even more, that it is highly possible that a normal recruit had beaten her. She, then, looked at the prince. Innocently enjoying eating a dried fish and a Ligasard leg. A fucking dried fish. She looked around the prince and saw he doesn''t have any tent. Don''t tell me he plans to sleep outside? On the ground? What kind of a Prince does that? The prince, she observed, was rather lean, unusually tall and had inherited the king''s good looks, and also with an air of arrogance. He has the same black hair as his father and brothers with the same dark eyes that reflect little light. The unusual habit of the prince had perplexed her. He acts as a nobody and that infuriates her even more. A prince should behave as a prince. But the thing that really bothers her to her very core was how, her supposedly young commander, the prince, had beaten the notorious swords master Brax. He fully expected Brax would wipe the smug in the prince''s face and that Brax will teach him a lesson not to play soldier. But when the fight began, she was rather mesmerized by the graceful movement of the prince. All the prince''s movement, she agonizingly admits, was very precise and very efficient, well, up to the point that he get medieval and started kicking Brax to unconsciousness. It was brutally necessary, she admits, if the prince wants his men to respect him. Fear him. Follow him. And die for him. And it worked, the assassin have serious doubts now if she could take on the prince on a fair match. His sword against her twin daggers. Luckily, she thought, fairness doesn''t exist in an assassin''s tool of trade. She had observed the prince for quite a while during that night. Equally surprised by his fellow cadet''s otherworldly voice. He should be singing in the opera, the assassin thought, and at the back of her head wished that she could sing like that. And when the performance ended, the prince had given an impromptu speech. He promised that their journey will be extremely dangerous, and that it won''t get better. But the assassin thought differently. If it would come to it, she promised, if the prince foolishly order them to march to their own deaths, she will see to it that she will be the one to slice the prince''s throat wide open. But to his surprise, the prince had said something that shocked her. "Whatever happens, you can count on me standing right next to you and in front." She studied the prince when he said that, and she felt the purity and sincerity on that promise. For the first time, she painfully and dreadfully admits, that he was kind of cool. When she was about to rest, as per her commander order, she was happy for she was dead tired. But the happiness was short lived when Lt. Brax had randomly assigned her on watch duty. She dreaded it, but she had to follow. The prince sat still close to the campfire. His dark eyes glued to the fire. "Rest up, I will be on watch." The prince had said to them. Every time she hears it, she still couldn''t believe in the strange roughness in the prince''s voice. She had this notion that princes should have soft, calming and soothing voice just like Prince Cleto and Calius. She looked to his fellow guard on duty, clearly they reveled to have some sleep, but it feels very wrong to leave their commander alone. Besides, she thought, it was a duty beneath any commander or any high ranking officials, much less a prince. One of her fellow cadet said. "Sir, you don''t have to worry about us. It''s only for two hours and we will be replaced." "Don''t bother waking up the next shift as well, go rest." The prince said in a serious tone. She had heard that tone once when he had humiliated Brax. It was a deep tone that could send chills to your bone. So they did what they were ordered to do. Rest. But the assassin doesn''t want to leave such important task to a boy-prince, playing commander. The night is dangerous, she could attest to that, and increasingly more dangerous when you spend it on the forest. She was determined to stand watch for the night, until dawn if she has to. She let her tent half-way open with a direct site to the campfire, to the prince. She noticed the prince just sat there, with his clasped hands on his chin and elbows rested on his knees, intently looking at the fire with heavy thoughts on his mind. Even so, she could sense the sharp awareness¡ªan important skill that had taken her years to develop¡ªof the prince extended around the camp. In fact, she''s not entirely sure if she could successfully sneak inside the camp without the prince noticing. She was half-convinced that the prince had noticed her that she was still awake. But to be sure, she decided to sleep. And sleep found her easily. The next morning she hated herself for realizing that a boy-prince, playing commander, had managed to make her feel safe.
PREVIOUS PAGEFiction Page (Review, Rate, Follow and add to Fave)NEXT CHAPTER
A simple comment would make me really happy for a day, and giving a review/rating would make me ecstatic for a lifetime. No matter how bad or good. Chapter 3: Squad Leaders Chapter 3 Squad Leaders I had ordered to relocate the camp near the beach. I was a bit disturbed when Ker¡ªthe twin¡¯s father¡ªtold me that the sea goblins have become more erratic. For one, he told me that the sea goblins doesn¡¯t adhere anymore to their schedule of attacking the villagers after a night of full moon. Now they come and go as they pleased. This is a bit alarming, after all, that schedule of attacks gave the villagers a huge advantage to prepare. I even gave them full map of moon¡¯s calendar on when the next moon¡¯s changing phases will occur in a whole year. And that, too, had just become useless. They have ask for help again to Duke Kramnik¡ªthe one who owns and rule the coastal lands. I know that would be pointless, and so did the villagers. But they needed the help more than ever. At least, back then, knowing the schedule of when the goblins will attack, they could go to the sea and harvest fish without worry. Now, they have to frequently look over their shoulders in fear of a random attack. When I was thirteen, I asked my father to send help in Sitio Village, but he told me the land belongs to some duke and he couldn¡¯t just send soldiers there without permission from the duke, even if he was the bloody king. The king said to me, that the only best course of action he could do was to ask the duke if could spare soldiers to help Sitio Village. But since most of the land of Duke Kramnik are near the ocean, almost all of it suffered from the sea goblins, my father and the duke knew he has little soldiers left to spare. However, instead of asking for the king for some help, the Duke Kramnik told the king that he will send help. And also reminded my father, that he should leave the managing of his estate on his own. So much for nobility. That is one of the many others that made me realize how powerful and how powerless the king is. Even after Duke Kramnik had said that he would send help, Sitio villages hadn¡¯t received any. It was a small village, with lesser profits, compared to other villages in Duke Kramnik¡¯s estate. Sitio Villages, aside from their delicious dried fish, doesn¡¯t produce pearls, nor, highly priced Puffin fish oil. At a businessman¡¯s point of view, it is not worth protecting. The next morning, after a night of feast. I ordered my men again for another morning exercise. We mostly run along the coast with the sands heavily pulling our legs. An hour of running was enough to send some of my men puking. After another hour and a half, their guts were emptied out. Milo¡ªthe twin¡¯s older brother¡ªjoined us in the morning run, outrunning everyone but me. He didn¡¯t falter and was on my side all the time. Proving to my men that he was better than them, just like he assured me last night. Cadet Pole have fallen behind at the last stretch, and a skinny cadet overtook him. While Lt. Brax was still the sweeper, and I think he¡¯s starting to hate his role, matching pace with the slowest runner, and violently urging them to continue running. We have started out in four in the morning and we finished at seven. After that, we had some breakfast. The villagers prepared the food for us. Quite thankful to us, that they could have some proper rest now. Since the erratic change in the sea goblin¡¯s attitude, the villagers have become on high alert, barely having enough sleep. After that, we swam the sea. I asked some of the villagers to teach some of my men who didn¡¯t know how to swim. It was quite brutal, really, when the villagers started giving names to some of my men who couldn¡¯t quite get it. Names such as ¡®Muscled Sea Brain¡¯, ¡®Whale oaf¡¯, ¡®fish monkey¡¯ and the likes. While the rest of my men, the ones who quickly learned how to swim, laughed alongside the villagers in humiliating those who couldn¡¯t. But they stopped when they realized one of those being embarrassed is Lt. Brax. It was a struggle for Lt. Brax to just float. I could see that his body couldn¡¯t let go of the idea of aligning itself perpendicular to the ground. I had that same issue when I was thirteen. I told him to imagine his center of gravity was on his chest, and it worked like a charm. Cadet Pole was an able swimmer, and cadet Tobi didn¡¯t escaped some of the name-calling of the villagers, he struggled a bit, but soon get the hang of it. Milo was exceptional, far better than me. Well, he was the one who taught me swimming, after all. He could outswim me easily, but he always grumbled how I can always stay underwater longer than him. When it was time to have a lunch, the villagers joined us. Laughter among the villagers broke out when someone had told stories about some of my soldiers could barely float. I think I saw Lt. Brax quickly flushed in embarrassment. During the middle of the day, the twins called me out saying some people with a ¡®big, darn horse¡¯ had arrived looking for me. The twins were pulling my hands on each side, urging me to follow them. I smiled, when I saw someone with a familiar mustache waving at me. It was my most trusted butler, Digby. He had arrived earlier than I expected, carrying four weeks¡¯ worth of supplies such as food, and weapons. ¡°Young master!¡± Digby bowed to me. ¡°You¡¯re a bit early, Digby. Did my father question you?¡± ¡°No, young master. But, I am afraid both the prince had questions about the weapons.¡± ¡°Nosy, as always.¡± ¡°Young master, have you been eating well? You¡¯ve grown thin. Don¡¯t tell me, you¡¯re only eating dried fish again.¡± He sound like a concerned mother ready to snap at me. I knew this conversation would extend longer than I wanted if I say yes. So¡­ ¡°Yes, he is.¡± The twins both said, then again smiled at each other for another in-sync feat. ¡°Young master!¡± Digby exclaimed. ¡°Alright, I have decided. I¡¯ll stay here and cook for you.¡± Uh oh. The last thing I need was for my men to see me being pampered by my butler. And I knew Digby, he was quite adamant when it regards to my health. Once, he stood guard the entire night to catch me if I was sneaking out in the palace. ¡°Digby, you have more important job in the castle. You¡¯re my eyes and ears there.¡± I said. He seems to consider, but my health and welfare, for him, takes priority over anything, even his own. ¡°But, young master¡­¡± ¡°Ok, I promised to eat more. Is that okay with you?¡± He relaxed. He knew since I was a kid that I don¡¯t go back on my words. A trait my grandfather instilled in me. My grandfather used to say when I was young: You know, Cal, a man is as good as his words. You mean, grandpapi, as good as his swords? Ha ha, no, Cal. His words. Words cut deeper than swords. I really missed my grandpapi, he was the best swordsman in the kingdom, some say in the entire continent. He taught me until I was eight, before he succumbed to old age. ¡°Alright, young master.¡± Digby said. ¡°Where should we put this then?¡± he gestured to the three carriages parked along the road. ¡°Should I bring the rest, say two weeks?¡± I nodded. I looked around, some of the villagers had heard Digby¡¯s arrival and started to gather around us. I saw Ben¡ªthe village chief¡ªand asked him if we could store the supplies in some of the abandoned house. He said yes and gestured me to follow him. My men started to place the supplies in old Marren¡¯s house. I told Ben, much to his surprise, that the supplies were actually for them. I told him to ration it accordingly, along with some of the weapons. Ben¡¯s tear erupted, and started to hug me. ¡°Thank you, young man.¡± || || || Everything the prince does seems to surprise the assassin. Their arrival in Sitio Village blows her mind. For one, the villagers called out to the prince in his first name. Not even one honorifics that deserved his status. No ¡®your majesty¡¯, ¡®your highness¡¯, or even ¡®sir¡¯. This kind of brazenness is enough for the nobles to send someone in prison or even hanged. However, the prince looked like he didn¡¯t notice or didn¡¯t mind at all. The villagers flocked around him as if he was, all along, an important family member. They even propose a celebration to his arrival. Which seems to the villagers was more important than successfully fending off the sea goblins. That and the unusual happiness in the villagers since the prince had arrived had made her realized that the prince was loved. Neither by the rich nor the nobles but by the common people. She knows now her commander, the prince is quite different than her brothers. She knew his brothers, the other princes, are well favored by the nobility, while prince Calex wasn¡¯t even recognized. As far as the nobility is concerned, King Cadrir have two deserving, intelligent and well-abled princes and one other son who is quite useless and nonexistent, and one extremely beautiful daughter. The nobility accounts was, as usual, biased and uninformed. And throughout the celebratory night, through the different tales of the villagers, she knew the prince was really different. In the next day, she managed to stay a little bit ahead of Cadet Pole all throughout the run, however, the kid who declared he was better than the prince¡¯s command managed to stay ahead of her. And she hated him for that. She knew the sand would be a serious hindrance in their running, she even expected the prince would slow down a little, but he didn¡¯t. However, everything that happened was nothing to what was about to happen next. Her heart almost exploded when the prince said they will all go for a swim. Soon, the prince removed his upper clothing, revealing scars that was not supposed to appear in a sixteen year old body. Everyone was stunned, even the assassin who was grown accustomed to seeing scarred men. Everyone followed suit. She expected this would happen when she saw the map the prince gave to Lt. Brax. She expected that, eventually, they¡¯ll have to go for a swim. That she, too, will get naked in front of thirty men. There were no gender discrimination in their order. Jobs were assigned according to one¡¯s skills, and gender has got nothing to do with it. She still couldn¡¯t understand though why she was chosen for the job, she was one of the best assassin in their order, and the third prince, she previously thought, was a small fry, barely existing. Now she know why the order sent her. The prince was clearly no ordinary man. Her order gave her potions to disguise her womanly features. Though, the potion only lasts a week, it was still very potent. The potion doesn¡¯t physically alter one¡¯s figure, it will only mask the body in accordance to the user¡¯s preference. It was more magic than alchemy. Her preference was a lean body. Not too skinny, but not too muscular either. After she drank the potion, everyone will see her according to her preference. It was quite a nifty tool, a must-have tool in every assassin. As long as no one carefully groped her body, they won¡¯t discover that she was, in fact, a woman. || || || Musk hated being here under the prince¡¯s command, running under the blistering sun with his heavy backpack. He was a Materials Apprentice Crafter and an Inventor¡¯s apprentice, he knew he should be helping in the design of the new water mills. Instead, he was deep in sweat running towards some unknown coastal village, while the prince was showing off his ability to run very fast and very far. He knew nothing of the prince, except that he rarely leaves the comfort of their castle. Some say, in the academic circle, the prince was intellectually challenged¡ªa retard. Because of that, the King rarely show off his third son in balls or any event. But now that he had the chance to meet the third prince, the rumors were all ungrounded. He had this strange feeling that the prince was far more intelligent than he let on. More experienced, more mature despite his age. Musk fought the urge to throw up. He was exhausted, and have been throwing up since they left Calis. I should have been in my workshop, he thought, working. ¡°Have some water.¡± Spiel said. Stolen story; please report. ¡°Shit, Spiel. I¡¯m dying.¡± Musk said. If there is someone other than Musk to blame for being here, it was Spiel¡ª¡ªthe infamous thief ¡®Night Crow¡¯, his orphan brother and his best friend. ¡°Look on the bright sight, at least you get to travel.¡± ¡°I always find your optimism quite ironic to your secret profession.¡± Musk said. ¡°It¡¯s a necessary requirement.¡± Spiel said. Spiel was the same as age as Musk. Twelve years in the orphanage, three years more on the streets before they go their separate ways. Musk had always wanted to build things, while Spiel had always wanted to steal things. Musk applied as an apprentice to some old Master Craftsman while Spiel honed his own special set of skills. But never had they lost contact with each other. Spiel always visited Musk telling him stories about his nightly conquest in different noble house. Weeks before Musk and Spiel got arrested. News of a blueprint of a Kurgs¡¯ weapon being stolen and intercepted by Calis¡¯ spies spread in the black-market. Rumors on the underground world that it was a special bow that can fire multiple arrows consecutively in a single notch. Musk, being a tinkerer as he is, expressed great interests on seeing the blueprint for himself. Spiel told his friend, Musk, that he planned to steal a book from the very same noble, who was keeping the blueprint. Spiel teasingly said if Musk came with him, he might see the blueprint. ¡°That¡¯s military grade property, now. We can¡¯t just steal it.¡± Musk said. ¡°Who says I¡¯m stealing it, I¡¯m only stealing the owners diary.¡± Spiel said. ¡°So, we will just have a look at it?¡± ¡°We?¡± ¡°I thought you were inviting me.¡± ¡°I¡¯m just kidding. You''ll only get us caught¡± ¡°Oh, come on. I know how to sneak, remember when we were young?¡± Spiel laughed. Musk frowned. He knows he wasn¡¯t very good at it. Spiel was small, lean and graceful on his movements, while Musk was on a heavier side. However, the idea of seeing the blueprint was already planted inside Musk¡¯s mind. He wanted to see it, study it, but he knew Spiel would not allow him to join in his escapade. Spiel was a professional, and so was Musk, though in different aspects. Musk begged for a week offering various stuffs, and soon Spiel caved in. ¡°What do you think of our commander?¡± Spiel asked. ¡°I hate him.¡± Musk said. ¡°Because he made you run for a very long time?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I think he is different.¡± Spiel said. ¡°He¡¯s arrogant and brutal. Both quality I despise.¡± Musk said. Spiel nodded. Musk looked at his best friend. If the Royal Forces found out that Spiel was the Night Crow, and that he was associated with him, it was death sentence for both of them. Luckily, the police have a strong belief that Night Crow, with his cunning, was an old man on his thirties. Branding Spiel as the Night crow is the same as the authority admitting being bested by a kid for years. ¡°Did you see how fast he is on his cane sword?¡± Spiel said. ¡°That kind of proficiency takes years to form.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about sword fight.¡± Musk said. ¡°That¡¯s why we¡¯re here, remember?¡± Spiel said. ¡°Why are you still here?¡± Musk asked. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I mean, why haven¡¯t you escaped yet? With your contacts you could disappear if you wanted to.¡± Spiel thought for a while. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I think I¡¯m going to stick for a while. This prince intrigued me. Besides, he promised us great adventure up ahead, didn¡¯t he?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t remember him giving such promise¡± Musk said. ¡°He promised us, we will be facing innumerable dangers.¡± ¡°Same thing.¡± Spiel said. Musk sighed. ¡°I really hate your optimism.¡± Spiel laughed. When they have arrived in Sitio Village, Musk and Spiel was surprised when the villagers were very close to their commander. So close, that they just addressed him on his first name. They even throw a celebration in his name. Musk liked the lively atmosphere of the feast. They both tasted every sea dishes the villagers prepared, from dried fish to fried fish gills. The villagers were quite friendly and open. Spiel asked questions to the villagers about the Prince. It turned out the prince has been helping the villagers to fend off the sea goblin¡¯s advancement, since he was a kid. The slight drunk village chief told Musk and Spiel that the prince had taught them how to fight, how to properly use the spear, and how to properly record the moon¡¯s phases. The prince, according to Ben, would even sneak royal standard weapons and would gave it to the villagers for free. The village chief even told them, quite proudly, that since the prince arrived in their small village, they had suffered no casualty ever since. ¡°You couldn¡¯t believe it,¡± Ben said to them. ¡°A very young man was trying to give us orders. We all looked at him, puzzled, on what he was doing in our village, you know, we thought he was lost, we would laugh at him if we haven¡¯t lost four of our kind on that day. I remember, he fought like a madman on that day too, while we were busy running for our lives.¡± Ben continued. ¡°He demanded that we should fight, and that we should not cower. Everyone was like, ¡®what the fuck is this kid talking about, we fishermen, fight?¡¯ He knew we wouldn¡¯t listen so he revealed to us that he is a prince, our prince, and promised that he will teach us how to fight.¡± Ben burped for quite a long time. ¡°All of us had our doubts if he was a prince, for all we know he is just an opportunist, but we witnessed him fight that day, and I tell you young man, your commander, was the real deal. The sea goblins couldn¡¯t touch him, while his cane sword always found its target. We might not believe he was a prince, but we believed in his ability to fight. Ker stepped up, he had just lost one of his own son on that terrible day, really terrible, and he asked the kid to teach him how to fight.¡± ¡°Since then,¡± Ben said. ¡°We managed to handle ¡­¡± A young man, across the camp fire, dash towards the prince. Ben stopped to look and came closer. Musk and Spiel still awed by the narration of the old man followed as well. The young man kneeled on his right knee facing the prince. ¡°Sir. I want to join you. I have Ma and Da¡¯s permission on this.¡± Lt. Brax, who stood beside the prince said. ¡°Join us where, kid?¡± The young man looked at Lt. Brax without any shred of fear. Musk believed that was a great feat. ¡°Prince Calex¡¯s command, sir.¡± The young man said. ¡°How old are you kid?¡± Lt. Brax said. ¡°Old enough to go toe to toe with you, old sir.¡± Lt. Brax instinctively placed his hand to his sword. The prince cut him off. ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± The prince eyed Mrs. Vinny and Ker. Both of them just shrugged. Vinny said. ¡°Well, Milo have always wanted to be a soldier, we figured he¡¯ll be a lot safer with you, rather than to be under some incompetent officer.¡± ¡°Besides, sir.¡± The young man said. ¡°I know I am better than most of your men. You know it, sir. You personally trained me.¡± It was a proud statement that garnered hostile look from the prince¡¯s command. Musk looked at Spiel¡¯s reaction and saw he was smiling, clearly enjoying what was happening. ¡°Ok.¡± The prince said. ¡°At dawn, on the beach, don¡¯t be late.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± The young man stood up with so much energy, his face couldn¡¯t hide his excitement. Lt. Brax, however, clearly expressing his disapproval. He frowned at the young man, while the young man didn¡¯t back down and stared Lt. Brax. Everyone cheered when the prince accepted the young man¡¯s request to join his command. Soon, everyone sing and Cadet Tobi gave us another wonderful performance. || || || I asked Lt. Brax to appoint six squad leaders among my men, and let the squad leaders formed their own squad with five members each. There are thirty recruits in my command. Including Lt. Brax, Milo and me, there would thirty three in total. I told Lt. Brax that we will divide the six squads equally. Two for me, two for him and two for Milo. Lt. Brax frowned, he still hadn¡¯t approve of Milo. In the afternoon, six squads were formed. They had arranged themselves in six files/columns with five soldiers each. Each squad leaders stood in front. Cadet Pole was one of the squad leader, but the other five were unknown to me. I swear, I am not being irresponsible to not knowing their names. I just wanted for them to do something deserving for me to know their names. But now, there is a need to know, at least, the squad leader¡¯s name. So I ask them to introduce themselves. Cadet Pole went first, he was the first squad leader. The leader of the second squad was rather skinny, with average height. He introduced himself as Rain, funny thing is, his voice was cold as the rain. I could sense something was off with him, but I couldn¡¯t pinpoint exactly what it is. He has the eyes of a killer, that at least I can guarantee. Third squad leader¡¯s name was Bifor, a rather muscular young man with an unusual beard. I can see that he was very proud to be assigned as squad leader. Good attitude. The next was a lean, a bit skinny, and also with average height. His name was Spiel. He has one of those faces that always smile. When you see his smiling face you feel like nothing could go wrong in this world. Fifth squad¡¯s leader name was Remus. He¡¯s probably the third tallest men in my command. He has this huge scar on his left cheek. His hardened eyes speaks volume of rough experiences. I can see he¡¯s the type to follow orders without question. A soldier through and through. The last squad¡¯s leader was Fenrir. He is very timid, I don¡¯t why Lt. Brax chose him. He must have a talent that I don¡¯t know. He even stuttered when introducing his name to us. He even flinched when Remus glared at him. And that was all my squad leaders and their squad. I told them that Cadet Pole¡¯s first quad and Cadet Rain¡¯s second squad belong to me, while Bifor and Spiel¡¯s squad will belong to Lt. Brax and the last squads, Remus and Fenrir¡¯s squad will personally head by Milo. Everyone stared at Milo. Milo was older than me by few months. Basically, we are of the same age. But he looks younger than me and hadn¡¯t proven himself yet. But I can attest to his abilities, after all, I taught him everything he knows. ¡°Each members of each squad must look after each other, and each squad must look after each squad. Protect each other at all costs.¡± I said. ¡°Also ¡­ ¡± I withdrew my cane sword on instinct. Someone or something had just entered my circle of awareness and I could feel it wasn¡¯t human. I looked instantly at the beach, and I could barely see the sea goblins crawling upwards. Both Lt. Brax and Milo reacted fast when they saw my reaction. They unsheathed their swords and looked at me. Meanwhile, the rest of men are confused. ¡°Prepare for battle!¡± I shouted ¡°First squad and Second squad on me, draw your weapons.¡± I said. | | | End of Chapter 3 | | | Thanks, Real29 and Haeru, for an awesome review. You guys are freaking awesome. To Killashard, you''re a lifesaver man. Thank you. Please don''t forget to review and rate if you have time. Thank you!!! Chapter 4: Sea Adversaries and Allies Chapter 4 Sea Adversaries and Allies People had gathered in front of Duke Kramnik¡¯s house when the news of his passing was leaked. Guards had a hard time to contain the crowds. Everyone knew that Duke Vestibel Bron Kramnik was a lousy ruler, that his extravagant lifestyle had earned him animosity throughout his land. Tax increases upon tax increases were levied on the fishermen, farmers and nobles alike. People had been suffering because of frequent attacks by the sea goblins and occasional visits from the mountain gnomes, yet Duke Kramnik demanded more and more from his people. It is not clear, however, if Duke Kramnik was assassinated. Though, it was on everyone¡¯s mind. Some felt bad for thanking the gods that he was dead. While some, the brazen few, celebrated with style¡ªsinging merrily in front of the duke¡¯s house while drowning themselves with free ale. Everyone had turned quiet when someone exited the manor and headed towards them. In the midst of the darkness that Duke Kramnik shrouded his lands, there is one light that his people turned into. It was his daughter, Lady Joanne Kramnik. Joanne was the only daughter of the late duke, and his constant headache. Joanne was every bit a leader one should hope to be, and every bit a proper woman one shouldn¡¯t aspire to be. She rides horses instead of carriages. She wields spear instead of needle, and she brawls instead of attending balls. When she announced that she would step up and become the Duchess of East Lothingshire, everyone cheered. People didn¡¯t care that it was supposed to be a sad day because a duke, their own duke, had just passed away. The idea of Lady Joanne being their leader clearly surpasses their false grief. Lady Joanne promised things would be different. That she wouldn¡¯t abandon anyone who needed help. Her first action as the Duchess was the relocation of the people living in distant small villages back into her city. She knew it would be hard task, people don¡¯t left their homes easily, and for it to work, she knew she had to do this personally. And she succeeded more easily than she expected, people were tired fighting the sea goblins and wanted to leave their homes as well, and they were quite optimistic under her new rule. ¡°Captain Mon, where to next?¡± Joanne said. Atop of her black stallion, she wore a silver chain mail with her family¡¯s insignia¡ªa half heart shaped spear tip, with a wing on the right¡ªengraved in the middle. Her golden hair breezed through the wind, while her pale, pretty face took the brunt. ¡°Sitio Village, around East Wind Valley, My Lady.¡± Joanne had known of this little village. She had once argued to his father on why he was not asking the king for some aid. Because, geographically speaking, the village was situated nearer to the capital than their own estate. She hated what was his father¡¯s answer on that day. Pride. She couldn¡¯t understand why such nonsensical things should get in the way of helping people¡ªhis very own people. ¡°Lead the way, captain.¡± Joanne said. || || || Musk Musk couldn¡¯t see what was the fuss all about. The prince drew the long, slender blade in his cane, followed by an order to prepare for battle. When Musk looked around, he could see the frantic and confused expressions on his fellow recruits. The standing order to prepare for battle still stands, however, it seems not everyone had heard of it because only about twelve people managed to withdraw their swords. Much to Musk¡¯s dismay, he was not one of them. ¡°Musky. Hey. Musky.¡± Musk heard Spiel¡¯s voice calling for him. And all of a sudden, the once deadening silence was shattered by clanking of swords, distant sound of bells (village alarm), shouts of orders and his own beating heart ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Musk asked. He hated being called Musky, but Spiel only do that on the direst of occasions. Spiel said that calling him ¡®Musky¡¯ had made his attention sharper. In a way, it must be true, Musk thought. For he felt a bit of clarity. ¡°Stay behind me, ok?¡± Spiel said. ¡°I was thinking the same thing.¡± Musk shrugged. Musk had heard the prince¡¯s order. ¡°Milo get your squads to reinforce the villager¡¯s defenses. Lt. Brax cover my left, we will sweep the goblin¡¯s left flank when they reach the fortifications.¡± He had studied the villager¡¯s wooden fortification a while back. And he admitted, though insufficient, was well built. Long line of sharpened tip of wood fashioned in multiple cross-like formation stood in the shores of the beach. The fortifications has three openings for the sea goblins to use. Musk theorize the openings would serve as a sort of delimiter of flow or a choke point for the villagers to take advantage of. Right now, he really wishes he was behind those fortifications instead of following the prince heroically charging towards the sea goblins. Musk was somehow glad that Spiel was with him. They¡¯ve been through many difficult situations before and Spiel had always managed to get them through it. Well, except the last time that had landed them here. Spiel argued that despite of everything that had happened, it rather went well. But seeing the sea goblin¡¯s made him sure that Spiel was dead wrong. Musk wanted to throw up, again, when he saw the giant webbed, three pointed ears of the sea goblins. Their elongated, hound-like mouth filled with razor sharp teeth, their multiple fins at their back, their slime-like, green shaded small body and their bone-like weapons that they were raising in the air quite enthusiastically had made him trembled. Though, the sea goblins stood half shorter than humans, Musk swore the sea goblins stood a lot taller than Lt. Brax. And damn scarier, too. The prince¡¯s squads were nearer to the sea, their job was to cut off the sea goblin¡¯s reinforcement coming in from the sea, while Lt. Brax¡¯s squads were to clear out the sea goblins trapped in between. A nasty sea goblin managed to slip through the prince¡¯s line and leap at Musk. Are you kidding me? Musk thought, there are ten soldiers on his right and another ten alongside him, yet somehow, the sea goblin chose him. Musk raised his sword in defense, then the sea goblin¡¯s bone-like weapon and his sword met. The stroke was slow but heavy. Their weapons were on the lock down, and both refuses to give in. The sea goblin¡¯s opened his green jaw and tried to bite Musk¡¯s right arm. The goblins stood half shorter than Musk, but he swore the elongated jaw of the sea goblin he was facing could snap at his neck easily. Luckily, his training, though little, had kicked in. He managed to step back a little that saved his right arm. ¡°Musky, keep on running.¡± Spiel shouted. When he turned around, Spiel was already steps away from him. When he glanced around, he saw the prince¡¯s squad was already running ahead of them, leaving an opening behind them. Confused on what was happening, he rushed towards Spiel. ¡°Deal only one blow and move on.¡± Spiel said. ¡°It¡¯s the prince''s orders.¡± His confusion increased but he obliged, after all, he doesn¡¯t want to get left behind in the company of little green sea monsters. He ran like his ass was on fire. He saw a sea goblin up ahead, but Spiel¡¯s quick blow had wounded the goblin on his left arm, but Spiel didn¡¯t stop to finish it, instead he moved on. And the very same wounded goblin appeared in front of him, this time he managed to stab the goblin in the neck. An azure blood spurted on the stab wounds, and Musk felt good. His first kill, he thought. He quickly uprooted his sword and quickly rushed to Spiel. He gets it now, the prince¡¯s tactics. The sea goblin¡¯s were quite slow on the land, probably due to their unproportionate short legs, Must thought. hat was why even when they laid their backs open, the sea goblin¡¯s didn¡¯t pursue them or rather they couldn¡¯t catch up. A hit and run strategy. However, this strategy bets on the assumption that the front lines will deal a substantial damage for the next line to deal either the finishing blow or another substantial damage for the third line to capitulate. If the first line were not skilled enough this whole strategy will fail. If the sea goblins were also quick on their webbed feet, the whole strategy won¡¯t work either. They would be butchered in the front and at the back. Musk was quite impressed on the strategy. To come up with something like that, Musk believed, that a knowledge of the enemy¡¯s strength and weakness beforehand was necessary. He easily thought of the prince, and the villager¡¯s story about the prince¡¯s fighting alongside them since he was a kid. He admits that it was quite a well thought out plan, and glanced at the prince. He saw the prince was using both his cane and the blade to attack. Stabbing, slashing on his right hand, while bashing the enemy on his left using the wooden casing of his cane sword. It was a sight to see, Musk thought. Even when he knew nothing of sword fight, he agreed on his best friend that the prince was certainly proficient. When they had reached the end of the shore, everyone stopped and turned around. The trail they left behind was riddled with sea goblin¡¯s corpses. Though, quite a number of sea goblins still slipped through and managed to reach the wooden fortifications. Musk swore that any minute now his heart will jumped out of him. They had just ran the entire shore and Musk was not even half exhausted. This must be the rush everyone talked about, Musk thought. When he looked at the sea, he saw there were fewer goblins emerging, unlike before. Musk had counted he had slain two goblins. He imagined how many the prince¡¯s and lt. Brax had killed, then he tried to sum that up on the goblins his fellow recruits had slain. He counted sixty goblins fell on their hands. At least twenty for the lieutenant and the prince, and the rest was to his fellow recruits. But when he saw the battlefield and the goblin¡¯s corpses, the number doesn¡¯t add up. He estimated at least a hundred of sea goblins were killed. He shuddered when he realized that he just went through a hundred-sea goblin army and came out unscathed. It seems unreal for him that he was still alive. When he looked around, he swore the rest of them were thinking the same thing. ¡°It¡¯s not so bad, isn¡¯t it?¡± Spiel grinned. ¡°I still don¡¯t understand how we managed to come out of that alive.¡± Musk pointed at the battlefield. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t sell yourself short. I saw you kill two goblins.¡± Spiel said. ¡°On your own, I might add.¡± ¡°Not quite, you guys have already wounded it.¡± Musk said. ¡°Quite a strategist, isn¡¯t he?¡± Spiel looked at the prince. ¡°I think it was more about experience rather than tactics.¡± Musk said. Though, he believed it halfheartedly. ¡°Depends.¡± Spiel said. ¡°On whether he fought like this with the villagers before.¡± || || || Rain The assassin urged her own squad to keep up. She understands quickly what the prince was trying to do. She knew based on the information she got from the Order that the sea goblins will lose their agility and dexterity when they step foot in a land. A penalty of some sorts. She wished she had her twin daggers on. It felt awkward for her to wield a single sword. Nevertheless, she showed a degree of mastery in sword that allowed her to deal with the sea goblins in one hit. She used the goblin¡¯s incursion as an opportunity to fully observe the prince¡¯s ability. She was surprised when she saw the prince could dual wield. Basically, everyone could dual wield. But not everyone could fully integrate their less dominant hand in an attack pattern or combo. Her experiences in using her twin daggers had allowed her to see that the prince knew what he was doing, and that he was quite doing it well. Though, she believed that the prince could double his damage output if he¡¯s using a real blade on his left hand instead of a wooden cane. She twisted her body and delivered a round house kick that sent a sea goblin flying towards her squad. She believed that her kicking abilities would be the deciding factor when she¡¯s up against the prince. But to her surprise, the prince used a side kick that sent a sea goblin in a distance farther than she admitted she could possibly do. From time to time, she observed, the prince had also incorporated kicks in his offensive repertoire. She wondered how the hell he learned those things, atop his swords skills. She bit her lip when the realization dawned on her that her chances on beating the prince in a one-on-one fair match had just turned from small to infinitesimal. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. The prince was clearly faster than her, and a lot stronger, too. She believed the prince¡¯s was probably above captaincy level. A level where one could employ mystic arts, yet to her frustration the prince didn¡¯t use any. Was it arrogance or just tactics to make sure his cards up his sleeve remain hidden, she wondered. She also wondered if the prince had yet to evaluate himself on a StarStone. Last time she checked herself using a StarStone, her Mystic Star Level was at 26, an equivalent rank of 1st lieutenant. But she had to conceal it down to Mystic Star level 9, a rank of first cadet to enter the prince¡¯s supposedly army of recruits. Lt. Brax was a bit higher than her, a MS level of 29, nearing the captaincy level. Though, rumors has it, that he was stuck at that level for almost two years now. She estimated the prince at around MS level of 35-40, although, she couldn¡¯t be sure if she had seen everything the prince had to offer. Only a StarStone could tell. ¡°Deal a fatal blow if you can!¡± the prince ordered. ¡°But don¡¯t get stuck against a single enemy for far too long!¡± A half-awake sea goblin was startled when she shoved her sword at its chest. She then gracefully turned around to pull her sword, then she used the carried momentum to slash another sea goblin. She felt a pair of dark eyes was looking at her, gauging her, undressing her and revealing her very nature¡ªa trained killer. She hated those ever-penetrating, ever-observing eyes, the prince¡¯s dark eyes. She shrugged the uneasiness she was feeling and pressed on. || || || Calex Zath A bit disappointed that it took my men a minute or two longer to prepare for battle. One of the things I needed to polish. It was no excuse even if it was their first brush against sea goblins or any monsters for that matter. A bit proud that most of the villagers had already taken battle formation behind their fortifications, quite fast, too, I might add. Those wooden fortifications had helped us quite a few times in the past, since then, the villagers made various upgrades and adjustments to strengthen those fortifications. They even include pits along the choke points. The sea goblins kept on coming even though the full moon¡¯s next schedule was supposed to be next week. That is really a strange, and what''s more strange, the sea goblins have increased their numbers. They usually numbered forty to sixty. I had estimated around fifty, but more were still coming from the sea. My men were nervous. I could practically hear their heartbeats. I have no idea what to say in this situation, even back before I led the villagers to make a stand. I never say any introductory, awe-inspiring speech before battle. I just gave orders as I see fit, then charged ahead. And most of the time, it turned out just fine. And so I just charged. Expecting everyone to follow me and give it their all. I have always known that the sea goblins weakness was they got slowed when they reached the land. But, if you ever got stuck in the middle of the sea in a boat, fighting for your life against sea goblins, you better pray. I have come up many ways before on how to defeat the sea goblins when I had an army behind my back. I may not have an army, but I have thirty men behind me. Unlike what I and villagers had done before¡ªsticking behind fortifications, then wait for the goblins to attack. I believed that method was rather slow, albeit effective. My plan was to charge ahead, deal a substantial damage, then charged back again. Mobility was the key. When I charged, I shouted. Then it was answered by a collective roars of men behind me. I could feel the energy seeping off of us. A very powerful energy that felt like a drug to deceive us that we¡¯re invincible. In a way, that made me think that I could get through anything. And we just did. I had lost count on how many I have killed and how many I have fatally wounded. In the midst of the battle, I saw some of my men could actually fight. The second squad leader, for instance, Rain, I think his name was, moved in a very precise and elegant motion. Those weren¡¯t an amateur moves, and that made me believe there were more to this guy than meets the eye. First squad leader Pole also knows what he was doing. His explosiveness could be seen in his attacks, though they need a bit of refinement. Lt. Brax charged forward cutting the sea goblins as if they were an overgrown grass. When we reached the end of the shore, near the cliff. I stopped and turned to have a look at the battlefield behind us. Countless corpses of sea goblins decorated the once golden sand. Those goblins that were still alive, tried their luck against the wooden fortifications. I could see Milo did a perfect job on helping the villagers against the oncoming sea goblins wave. Back then, the villagers used fish spear/lance as their primary weapon. Now, behind the safety of their wooden fortifications, they used real steel-forged spear. I must say, though, they have become good at wielding it. It was quite amazing what a dire threat to existing could do as a motivation. And it was no time to rest either. I ordered my men to prepare for another charge. The goblin¡¯s reinforcement stopped coming after we did another run. Though, there were still quite few remaining. I let Milo handle the cleanup of the rest. It took us roughly ninety minutes to completely defeat the sea goblins. There was a moment of silence before someone shouted ¡®Victory¡¯. Then, the rest of my men raised their swords like a madman and let out a roar. ¡°Lieutenant, have the squad leaders check on their members and report to me.¡± I said. ¡°Aye, sir.¡± Lt. Brax said. If he was happy, I couldn¡¯t tell. According to my squad leader¡¯s reports, we suffered no casualty. My squads and Lt. Brax¡¯s suffered some though nothing lethal. I dismissed all of them and ordered to go help the villagers for cleaning the beach. I looked at my men, and saw some, in fact, most of them, were grinning like idiots while looking at some stone. I approached Cadet Pole and Tobi who was also looking at a similar stone. ¡°Sir.¡± They both saluted. ¡°What is that?¡± I pointed at the stone. Both of them looked at each other, confused. ¡°This is a Mystic Star Stone, sir.¡± Pole said. ¡°And?¡± I don¡¯t know if they were afraid or just unsure of what to say next. ¡°Sir?¡± Pole said. ¡°What does it do?¡± I clarified. ¡°It displays your Mystic Star Level, sir.¡± Tobi said. ¡°Mystic, what?¡± I have no idea what he was talking about. ¡°Mystic Star Level, sir.¡± Tobi said. ¡°It determines our rank, sir. Here, sir, you could give it a try.¡± He tried to hand me a half-fist sized yellow stone. I could sense every set of eyes were looking right at us. I grabbed the stone, then asked, what to do next. Tobi said to hold it firmly and wait. I could sense a bit of magic inside the stone, before it broke into two. It didn¡¯t display anything either. Never had it occur to me that such method exists in determining ranks. ¡°Should it break like that?¡± I asked. ¡°Um, no, sir. Here try it again, sir.¡± Pole offered his stone. I held the stone again, though not firmly as before. Again, it broke into two before it could display whatever mystic crap it should display. ¡°It didn¡¯t work. So, I assume, A higher Mystic¡­¡± I fished for the word. ¡°Star Level, sir.¡± Pole supplied it for me. ¡°A higher star level means higher rank, is it?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, sir.¡± ¡°What was your Star level?¡± I asked Pole. ¡°twelve, sir.¡± Pole said. I could hear gasps from my men around us. ¡°I just leveled up, sir.¡± ¡°Twelve, then what was it equivalent rank?¡± I asked. ¡°Corporal, sir.¡± Pole said proudly. I never had any idea such system exists in the royal army. I thought skills, achievements and sucking up to high officials determined the ranks. Now, I know why my men were grinning like fools while looking at some stone. Probably all of them had leveled up. This means a rank up, and a considerable increase in their monthly stipend. ¡°How about you?¡± I asked Cadet Tobi. ¡°Just level ten, sir. Private First Class, sir.¡± I nodded. Then I urged them to continue what they were doing. I need to learn more about this star system thingy. I got to ask Digby about this the next time he¡¯ll arrived. I saw Squad Leader Spiel and another recruit playing with the sea goblin¡¯s corpse. They both saluted when I had approached them. I asked them what they were doing with the sea goblin¡¯s corpse. ¡°Sir, we¡¯re examining the sea goblin¡¯s body.¡± Squad leader Spiel said over a smiling face. ¡°What have you found?¡± I asked. Spiel looked at his friend, quietly urging him to speak up. ¡°Sir, these bone-like weapons, the goblin¡¯s used, they have a good properties on them. For one, they are light, yet sturdy, and with a bit of elasticity on them. If you look closely here, sir, you could see the grain patterns on the cross section of the bone that they are quite scattered evenly. This is a good sign of a good grain structure that indicates a good resistance against shearing or cutting, or tearing of the material along its horizontal plane. Also this one¡­¡± Spiel coughed out loud. Probably letting his friend know that he have already said a hundred words without nearing to the point. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, sir. What I am trying to say was, this is a very interesting material, sir, the kind that warrants further study.¡± The cadet said. ¡°What is your name?¡± ¡°Musk, sir.¡± ¡°Were both of you a crafter before?¡± I asked. Musk looked at Squad leader Spiel. ¡°He was, sir.¡± Spiel pointed at his friend. ¡°A damn good one at that, sir. While yours truly was an aspiring businessman and entrepreneur sir.¡± I nodded. ¡°Then, Cadet Musk, can you make something useful out of it that could greatly aid us?¡± ¡°I could before, but now I can¡¯t, sir.¡± Musk said. ¡°I have just lost my apprentice license, and was forbidden to touch or fabricate something made out of Rank D or above material. And these bone-like weapons are clearly above rank D, sir.¡± ¡°License or no license, that doesn¡¯t stop you from observing and studying them, right?¡± I said. ¡°What¡¯s stopping you, now?¡± ¡°I was just curious, sir.¡± Musk looked down. ¡°I say, let¡¯s put those curious brain of yours into action, then. Wouldn¡¯t you agree, Cadet Spiel? Or was it still cadet?¡± I pointed at the stone at his left hand, I had witnessed him fight, and I say he¡¯s quite fast, despite everything he does were all calculated moves. ¡°Unofficially, a Corporal, sire. And I most definitely agree with you, sir.¡± Cadet Musk then looked at his friend. But Spiel, with his smiling face, just nod. ¡°So, Musk, what say you?¡± I asked ¡°I¡¯ll get right on it, sir.¡± || || || END OF CHAPTER 4 || || || Thanks for all those reviews by Killashard, Tolack, Real29, Haeru and AomineZaky. You guys are freakin'' awesome. And also to those who rate the story. You guys are great. I''m not really sure I could have done it without you guys. If you find mistakes, please feel free to point it out to me, and I''ll be more than glad to fix it. That would certainly help me elevate the quality of the fiction. Thanks in advance. Chapter 5: Sea Goblins Pit Chapter 5 Sea Goblin''s Pit Rain The assassin had tried her best to act as if she doesn''t care about the ongoing conversation between her fellow squad leader, Pole, and the prince. In truth, she was more than interested to find out the prince''s MS level. But in the moment of revelation, something impossible happened. The assassin had never heard of a StarStone that broke during appraisal. Twice, for that matter, and it happened on the same person. That can''t be coincidence, the assassin thought, the Order needs to be informed. She thought of sending a bird but she dismissed the idea being too risky. The prince was really full of surprises. She wondered at the extent of the knowledge of the Order about the prince. She shuddered at the idea that the Order had to keep off few things regarding her own mission. The Order of the Silent Talons, being one of the oldest institution in all the continent of Karibor, had a massive network of spies scattered throughout the continent. She knew the Order have everyone in the royal family observed. Yet, the only information the Order had given her was that the prince was a sixteen year old who always sneaks out of the castle. It is possible, she thought, that the prince had managed to throw off the spies that were observing him, thus, no one knew what he really does during those times. Not even the Order. The Order of the Silent Talons, throughout the course of their long history, had been responsible in sculpting the history in the shadows. Every major event that could potentially change the course of history, chances were, the Order was behind it. After their last scuffle with the horde of sea goblins, the prince had ordered them to continue their physical training. However, during the morning run, the prince ordered to empty their bags and stuff it with sand. Everyone wanted to voice out their complains, however, they sucked it up when they saw the prince had fully stuffed his bag with sand as well, unlike the rest of them with only a half-full bag of sand. After the run, the prince personally taught some of the basics of swordplay. Though, the assassin knew most of them, she played along. The prince taught the correct body position when delivering a stab at different angles to maximize their effect. "Move your legs spread apart, you need to lower your center of gravity to obtain a better balance." The prince said to one of the recruits. "you wouldn''t want to sprawl in the ground when you parry an attack, would you?" The assassin couldn''t tell if the recruits were actually eager to learn or they were just good at pretending to be. They should be thankful, the assassin thought, this kind of training will save their life someday. The sea goblins didn''t come today, instead everyone suffered from continuous repetition of sword strikes in a whole day. The assassin was a bit impressed that the prince, and the Milo guy, spend their whole day in correcting everyone''s mistake. She could already see an improvement in everyone''s swings. During the sword training, the villagers were also busy fixing their wooden fortifications. The villagers were quite surprised, and deeply worried, by the number of the sea goblins that just attacked. The prince had asked the chief to fix and strengthen their fortifications. Though, the assassin believed, the prince did that to extinguish the growing anxiety of the villagers about the sudden increase in number of sea goblins. The next day, the prince ordered to increase the sand in their bags. Everyone was still sore about the yesterday''s morning run, even the assassin felt some of the fatigue. ''The more you bleed in training, the less you bleed in battle.'' She knew there was truth on that saying. Her many experience in near-death missions were a living testament of that. At least, she thought, there were less and less recruits who have puked their guts out. She could sense, though, the prince was going easy on them. She wondered quickly, but managed to come up with the answer: the prince was actually worried of another surprise attack by the sea goblins, and having his troops near exhaustion before a battle is a dire mistake. Besides, the assassin thought, there''s not enough amount of training that could replace the experience gained in a real battle, the kind where the stakes are real. In their fourth day in Sitio Village, the prince''s sword training was upgraded to one-on-one mock battles. Each fighter had to execute some of the basic attacking combos, while the other had to simulate the possible counter combos. When the sun was at its highest, everyone seems to have a good grasp on how to correctly parry a slash or when to dodge a stab, though, their execution may be lacking. The assassin had the chance to observe Milo, the prince''s friend. When the two of them had to demonstrate a combo. The prince was the defender and Milo went on the offensive. Milo, she observed, know by heart the basics of swordplay. His movement was fluid, like the kind you would expect on someone who had performed a certain move a thousand times. Milo didn''t hold back. The combo he had just executed was meant to kill an opponent. Yet, the prince, with an extraordinary fluidity, managed to dodge and parry the attacks. Everyone''s jaw had dropped, everyone was so sure the prince would be skewered, and chopped to little pieces, yet for some unknown reason he had deflected and dodge everything. "You have been slacking off, Milo" The prince said. Milo sighed. "I have no excuse, my prince." The assassin knew she had to watch Milo as well. If a certain time comes, she knew Milo could be a hindrance to her mission. || || || Musk He was dead tired, the overflowing energy he felt during the battle seems to have been vanished along with every reserve of energy in his body. But, the thirst for learning, the ever burning curiosity within him had managed to found some energy to dragged Spiel with him to examine some of the sea goblin''s corpses. "Come on, Spiel." Musk said. "we could probably earned some money if we could find some valuable material over the goblin''s corpses." "You were not interested in selling them anyway, you just want to study it." Spiel said. "Oh, come on. Where''s your sense of adventure?" "I think this would hardly classify as an ''adventure''." Spiel said. "That my friend is where you are dead wrong." Musk said, rushing to the nearest goblin''s corpses. "For there is nothing more grand than the quest for knowledge." Spiel sighed. "You sound like Master Uchivev." "Or master Uchivev sound like me." Musk smiled. Spiel resigned, and returned the smile. He knew it was pointless to argue with Musk when he''s on his quest for knowledge. And now that he thought about it, it was the very reason why Musk was here, fighting for his lives against sea goblins instead of basking in the heat of a furnace. Musk turned the green corpse around, revealing a massive wound in the chest area. Musk found the sea goblin''s armor rather thin and weak. He suspected it was made out of a dried skin of a large sea animal. He examined it and found it useless. The leather armor had all its moisture removed making it vulnerable to shattering. He knew he couldn''t reuse it anymore. On the other hand, he found the bone-like weapon the sea goblins used, and was surprised by the lightness of the weapon. At one point in the battle, when he had to exchange blows with a sea goblin, he thought the heaviness of the sea goblin''s strike was due to the weight of their bone-like weapon. But it seems that was not the case. It weighs like a wood, Musk thought. He then asked himself, if not due to the weight of their weapon, what makes the goblin''s strike so heavy? The answer came to him fast, and he shuddered. He then thanked his luck that he had managed to survive the battle against the sea goblins. The bone-like weapon had intrigued him. It could withstand a blow from a steel-forged sword without being shattered or sheared into two. His mind quickly work to seek possible answers. He had observed the strange grain structure of the weapon and compared it to his knowledge about grain patterns in steel, iron and other materials. It has little similarity to a cold-rolled steel, the kind the blacksmiths and the crafters popularized in the western Kingdom of Averin. That might explain the lightness, Musk thought. "Musk, the prince is coming." Spiel whispered. They both saluted. The prince had asked them what they were doing. Musk looked at his friend to say something or lie to bail them out. Musk knew Spiel was the better liar between them, no, probably the best in all Calis. But to his surprise, his best friend looked at him. Must returned the look, with an implied question of ''What are you doing? Tell him something''. Spiel gave Musk a ''Tell him you are grave robbing'' look. Even without words, Musk knew what Spiel was trying to say with those look. Their years of friendship had made them achieved such sensibilities. When Must was about tell the truth, Spiel beat him to it with his usual grinning face. Spiel told the prince that they were examining a remain. The prince quickly asked what was their discovery. Musk though fast, he didn''t know whether to tell the prince about the interesting property of the bone-like weapon or to tell a lie that he found nothing interesting. He knew he sucked at lying, so he went on and tell the prince the truth, in fact he couldn''t help himself and told the prince a very detailed truth. When he was finished telling the prince the truth, he sighed, such an interesting discovery has the potential to be a good source of profit. If the prince was motivated in such thing¡ªmoney, his chances of examining and studying it on his own has dropped down to zero. When the prince had asked him about his name, he knew it was over. He expected the prince will order them to collect all the bone-like weapons for the prince to sell. Unexpectedly, the prince had asked them if they were a crafter. Musk anxiousness grew, he had probably let out technical details that only a crafter knew, and if he told the prince the truth¡ªthat he was a crafter apprentice¡ªthere might be a good chance that the prince knew the law about the forbidding of unlicensed crafter to craft, fabricate, or examine above D-rank material. If the prince knew that law, he could report Musk to the Freethinkers Association, and that could land him in jail for a week or three months depending on the extent of the raw materials wasted. But that was not the worst thing that could happen, the Court of Calis will be forced to revoke their agreement about serving his time in the army instead of jail. This could put Musk in jail for a very long time for thievery. He knew he had to lie, so he looked at the best liar, the best thief, and the best conman in all Calis¡ªhis best friend. He had remembered his best friend had once tricked a visiting merchant that he was a customs inspector with nothing but flowery words and a few good clothes But to his surprise, his supposedly rescuer had blurted out the truth. ¡°He was, sir.¡± Spiel pointed at his friend. ¡°A damn good one at that, sir. While yours truly was an aspiring businessman and entrepreneur sir.¡± Musk fought the urged to tackle his best friend. Entrepreneur, my ass. Musk thought. However, Musk had learned over the course of their relationship that Spiel would do nothing to endanger him. Well, except the last time they were caught stealing a nobleman''s diary. But to Spiel''s defense, Musk thought, it was mostly my fault. As his best friend had expected, the prince had said something that impressed Musk. The prince asked Musk if he could do something out of it that could help them. He told the prince that he can''t since he had lost his license. But Musk wanted to do it. He had already thought of ways on how to refine the material. Musk sighed, such a waste of opportunity, he thought. Even the prince would be smart enough to go against the Association''s laws. But the prince clearly doesn''t care, for he had given arguments compelling enough for Musk to accept the duty of making something out of the bone-like material. At morning, Musk ran along with his fellow recruits with bag of sand on his back. At midday, Musk tried to instill in his body the correct posture in holding and swinging a sword. He tried his best to concentrate but the thoughts and ideas of what to do with the collected bone-like weapons seems to keep on entering his mind. At night, he always visited the village''s blacksmith house. The blacksmith''s house was also his temporary workshop. It was small even for Musk standards who had worked with the poorest master craftsman in Calis. But the villager''s blacksmith tasks was usually mending and creating fishhooks, fish spears, fishing weights and fishing net anchors, in a way, the small workshop was sufficient. The Blacksmith was a rogue crafter. Basically, the association had insisted that all person that alters the properties and composition of certain things should be listed under them. The association''s main reason was the regulation of rare materials. The Association strongly believed that it would be such a great waste for a good, possibly very limited material being handled by a poor craftsman. The Blacksmith mostly worked on F-Rank materials, thus, even if the Association knew, he would receive no punishment. Because F-Rank materials, after all, are the most common and most abundant material that could be found in nature. So the threat of that running out in the world is non-existent. "Still working on your bones, eh." The Blacksmith said to Musk. "Yes, Mr. Dankel." Musk said. "I''ll be in your care again." "Just fine with me being called Dan, and you''re always welcome in my shop." Dankel, the blacksmith said. The blacksmith towered over Musk, and with burly arms that could compare to Lt. Brax. "Though, I am worried that it might not be enough for you, eh." Dankel laughed and pointed out the towering stacks of the bone-like weapons just outside his shop. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Musk sighed. The prince''s recruits had collected at least twenty and hundred bone-like weapons. His heart ached when he had found out that the villagers used to burn every sea goblin''s corpses they slain, including the bone-like weapons. Such a huge waste, Musk thought. He tried every tests well within his new workshop capabilities on the bone-like weapons. Tests such as application of sudden shock (using Dankel''s big-ass hammer), bending, tension and compression tests, shearing, flammability, abrasiveness, and others. The more tests Musk performed, the more he found the material interesting. For one, the material was surprisingly ductile despite its lightness--the material tends to deformed instead of shattering, he also found out the material can''t easily be cut into two. It requires a special cutting tools, unfortunately, Dankel doesn''t have any. Musk started to feel the fatigue both in his body and mind. He knew he could do it, he could refine the material if need be and produce something out of it. However, reality had a queer and cruel way of revealing your limitations. This time, Musk was beset by the limitations of the tools and methods currently at his disposal. And it is very far from being easy to obtain it, especially if you were a convicted felon and an unlicensed crafter. He thought of asking the prince: ''your royal highness, the most benevolent, and most kind, would you humble your poor servant a truckload of fire bricks and clay, and some coals, a new anvil, tongs, hammers, basically a new workshop, my greatest commander, sir.'' Musk laughed when he had heard himself. Despite all the flowery honorifics, he knew the prince wasn''t an idiot that could fall for such flattery. "Had you created something worth selling, yet?" Spiel asked. as he entered the workshop. Musk sighed. "Oh, I''m fine, not tired and all. Thanks for asking, my good friend." Spiel laughed at his friend sarcastic tone. "Alright, what''s bothering you?" "This place won''t cut it." Musk said. "I need a forge that has no cracks in it for the heat to escape, I need a hammer that won''t give me worry that it might flew off every time I swing it." Spiel held the hammer Musk was talking about. It has been repaired by Musk but it was from far okay. "Let''s just ask the prince for some of the stuff you might need." Spiel said with a grin. Musk sighed again. "Do you think he''ll agree?" "Can you give me a reason why he shouldn''t? Besides he''s the one who ordered it, you know." "It''s really expensive" Musk said. "He''s a freaking prince, Musk. In case you forgot, he''s loaded." Spiel said. "Come, I saw him just near the camp fire eating some fish." || || || Calex Zath "Here, sir." Milo offered me a grilled fish, then sat down beside me. Milo had changed. Hard times really changes people. Milo and I have been known each other since the first time I had arrived in their village. Our first encounter was in the middle of a sea goblin raid. They were on their way to the mountains to hide from an incoming sea goblins attack, they could have escaped if it were not for the fact that Vinny had just given birth to another twins. Milo, Miko-Milo''s twin brother and their father, Ker, tried to fend off the sea goblins so that Vinny and the newly born twins can escape. If I had arrived a minute early, I could have saved Miko from having his skull bashed in. Ker broke three bones in his rib, while Milo had a perforated, bite wound in his right arm. When the sea goblin''s had their fill for destruction they scurried back to the sea. I remembered Milo crying over his twin brother''s corpse, with his Dad beside him. Now, he was not the same sniveling kid who I had met back then. I taught him how to fight, and fueled by his burning desire for vengeance, he became very good at it. He did everything I had asked of him, and sometimes even doubled the tasks. He had become a warrior. The kind I''m gonna need to help me fight this world''s cursed fate. Lt. Brax came up behind us, eating, again, god-knows what. This time, he''s eating a stretch of worm or gut intestine skewered in stick. It looked liked an entrails. No, it couldn''t be, a sea goblins? But, we have enough food to be that desperate. Lt. Brax sat in an empty log in front us, where the fire was between us. Milo and I looked at the lieutenant, and probably thinking the same thing. Lt. Brax seems not to notice that we are looking right at him, and clearly enjoying his food. When he was done, he gave us a confused look. "What is it, sir?" Lt. Brax said. "Nothing." I said, while Milo shook his head. Lt. Brax licked his fingers, then said. "By the way, commander. Some of our men wanted to go back to the city." Glad that Lt. Brax called my men, as his own too. This means, I think, he approved my men. That kind of bonds only develop when you dipped your blade alongside everyone. But the real issue made my heart sank. Different thoughts flooded my brain. Am I being too hard on them? No, but I was going easy on them. "Just for half a day, sir." Lt. Brax quickly added. "Why?" I asked. "They want to apply for promotion. A lot of them had leveled up, sir." Lt. Brax said. I know. The mystic star thingy. If I don''t let my men go back to the city, they might lose motivation to continue the training. On the other hand, I can''t let something like this disturb our training. We already had a lot in our plate. "I won''t allow it." I said, firmly. "We will not go back until all of them can properly wield a weapon." "Very well, sir." Lt. Brax said. "However, please give me the list of everyone who had ranked up, their previous position, the required increase in their stipend, everything" I said. "I''ll take care of it." "You will have it in the morning, sir." Lt. Brax stood up. "How about you, Lt. Brax?" I said before he could leave. "what about me, sir?" "Do you also wanted to go home?" I asked. But he knew what I was really asking. I know the rumors that he was stuck at being lieutenant for years. Back then, I thought he just pissed off a high ranking officials, but clearly there was more to it than petty politics. His face showed sadness and disappointment directed at himself. "No, sir." Lt. Brax said, then he left. Minutes later, Squad Leader Spiel and the craftsman Musk sat came at us. Spiel was with his usual ''nothing could go wrong'' face. While Musk, was seemed a bit uneasy. They were an odd pair. The other was confident while the other is a bit timid. "A pleasant evening, my prince." Spiel said. I could always sense the mockery behind people''s voice when they call me their prince. But not this guy. He was sincere though he sound as if mocking. A very strange individual. I really wondered if I am being too hard on my men, for a brief moment I considered asking this guy. But, I can''t. I have started this path, and I shouldn''t be having this doubts now. Instead, I tried to offer my grilled fish, a friendly gesture. "Oh, thank you, sir." Spiel quickly grabbed it. I really expected he will decline. That''s what I get for trying to socialize. "How''s the shop?" I asked Musk, the craftsman. "Um. Not good, sir." Musk said. "We lack some tools and equipment, sir." He sound defeated, but I could see a lingering drive in him. I had expected it, Mr. Dankel is very kind, but his workshop is as ancient as he is. Musk sighed. "I ..." "You can have everything you need, but, I need something from you." I said. Musk''s eyes glowed like a wildfire. I knew it, he really wanted to do this so badly that he didn''t even care what I wanted in return. "Yes, sir." Musk said. He looked at his friend, who now chewing my grilled fish, and smiled. "I can sponsor you to create your own workshop if you like, but I need it to be mobile." I said. "I need this workshop to be transferred wherever I want without so much a hassle. Can you do it?" Musk, the craftsman, thought for a while, and nod. "Is that a yes." I asked. "I''m sorry, sir. I mean, yes sir, I can." Musk said. "Then draft me a plan and give me the list of things you wanted, and also don''t hold back. The thing must be sturdy and should lasts for a very long time." Our very own workshop, that would come very handy in the future. "Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." Musk said. Then pulled his best friend along. "Thanks for the fish, sir." Spiel said. Then they were gone, heading back to Mr. Dankel''s workshop. Now, I''m hungry. Milo offered his uneaten grilled fish to me, with all the distraction that happened, he wasn''t able to take any bite. I was reluctant to accept it, but... "You have to eat, sir. If Master Digby saw you on that state, he might really stay here, and worse, he will scold me, Da and Ma for not taking care of you, just like the last time you spent a week in our house. Besides there''s more where it came from." I sighed, and took his grilled fish, then started ravishing it, wishing there would be no more distraction. || || || Rain The sun was still shy away from completely revealing itself when another horde of sea goblins started to emerge from the depth of the sea. Shouts of warning, sound of bell, and distant accumulation of groans by the sea goblins echoed throughout the valley. The villagers quickly grabbed their spears, her fellow recruits quickly arranged themselves in their respective squads. The prince was looking at the sea horizon. If there was any sign of anxiousness or worry in the prince''s face, the assassin didn''t see any. The assassin roughly estimated the numbers of oncoming sea goblins based on the fins sticking out in the sea. She guessed around a hundred, highly likely many more. "Lt. Brax, Milo get your squads to prepare to cut off their reinforcements when I gave the sign." the prince had ordered. "My squads. on me." The assassin lead her squad to follow the prince into the front of the wooden fortifications. She remembered the exact same place because it was where the prince had ordered them to dig a massive hole. Along with her fellow recruits, they had poured buckets of sweat in digging a fifty meter long, three meters wide, and three meters deep hole. It was already a hard task, but the prince made it even harder by imposing a strict deadline. Granted, the sand was rather soft compare to a stony ground, but still, digging that big of a hole in a sand, in a matter of hours, was really challenging. When digging, she wondered if the sea goblins would actually for it. The assassin and her squad, along with Cadet Pole''s squad followed the prince in charging towards the sea goblins. She guessed their primary job would be to lure the sea goblins into that pit. They had engaged few sea goblins emerging from the sea, but soon they were overwhelmed. The sea goblins just kept on coming. "Retreat slowly to the pit." The prince ordered. Slowly, but assuredly, they had reached the pit and hidden bridge created in the middle of it. One by one, they passed through, spread out behind the hidden pit. The prince was the last person to have stepped onto the bridge. What a reckless behavior, the assassin thought. Even without order, the members of the Prince''s squads started to give out annoying noises to draw out the sea goblins into them. Ten goblins charged mindlessly towards the pit. Then, one goblin, then another, fell into the pit. "Now!" The prince shouted to where the Lt. Brax and Milo''s were hiding. "Cut them off and try to push them into the pit." Roars of men charging for battle obscured the groans of sea goblins falling into the pit. It just took a minute or two before Lt. Brax and Milo had entered the battlefield, and they had already making huge waves. Their wedge formation broke through the messy formation of the sea goblins easily. Soon, they reached the edges and divided themselves. Lt. Brax''s group dealt with the sea goblins coming from the sea, while Milo''s group along with Cadet Spiel''s squad fend off the sea goblins trapped in between. The assassin saw Remus and Fenrir unbelievable ferocity in killing the sea goblins. Remus had always wanted to compete with Fenrir''s frenzied state. Fenrir was very timid at normal times, he can''t even look at someone''s eyes properly. But, when he snapped onto his berserk-like state, the Assassin thought even the prince might not be able to stop him. The assassin had observed that Milo was fast. Not insanely fast like the prince, but very close. Along, with Remus, Fenrir''s squads , Milo lead the charge toward the prince''s location, easily cutting everyone in the way. The goblins must have felt their combined frenzied and crushing aura, since most of them started to back off toward the prince, thus, making the pit very profitable of sea goblins. The battle lasted an hour and the Assassin easily counted hundred or more sea goblin''s corpses lying in the sand. Last time they had killed around a hundred of sea goblins, now those numbers had increased by a hundred more. Not counting the fifty that had fallen in the pit. If that kind of number had attack them last time, the assassin swore they won''t escape such ordeal unscathed. But, with the prince''s physical and sword familiarity training, they have gained enough confidence to deal with the sea goblins. In fact, their improvement in sword had made them grow enough confidence not to pissed in their pants. || End of Chapter 5 || Sorry, about the long wait for this chapter. I have actually written this weeks ago. It just that some technical problems had arisen forbidding me to upload it. Now, that it has been temporarily fixed, I''ll try my best to keep up. Thanks, again everyone. Note: I''m sorry for the quality of this chapter. I encoded it on someone''s laptop, so my time for proofreading was very short. Chapter 6: The Lady Chapter 6 The Lady Musk Musk hasn''t got any good night''s sleep ever since he gave the list of the things he needed to build a portable workshop to the prince. He fought the urge to ask the prince when will it arrive, or if it will arrive at all. After all, it was quite a list. Musk tried his best to list cheaper versions of things he needed, like ordering a one meter wheel with rubber padding to Master Ventrol will costs more but if he orders the same size of a wheel to Master Karuk with his special animal hide padding, it will costs significantly less and with almost the same quality. But in parts that Musk felt very important, he didn''t take the chances of being a cheapskate. After all, it wasn''t his money to begin with. He had listed the best clays and fire bricks the city could offer, and it was from master Uchivev. It was also quite a help for his previous master whose business was going poor, even though, Master Uchivev creates the best foundry in all Calis, his business didn''t flourish. For one thing, he only creates few of them and in need-to-order basis, and another was the uncontested popularity of the Alchemy division of the Association. Musk didn''t hate the Alchemya Ven (Alchemy division''s name), sure, a gifted alchemists could probably purify metal a lot faster than traditional method, but they couldn''t do it on a massive scale. Hence, most of the products of the members of Alchemya Ven are potions, trinkets, gauntlets, and special clothing that could grant resistance from cold. When king Crast, the Wyrm Slayer, Prince Calex grand grand grand father, had ordered a sword to the Alchemya Ven, it had required thirty alchemists and two master craftsman to create it. But no one had actually seen it, some say King Crast had lost it during his trip in the south. Musk often dreamed of crafting the things told in the legends. Like the chain mail of General Drake, the Fireblader, where rumors has it that it was crafted using the actual scales of a fire drake he had slain. But now he has to satisfy himself with the Sea goblins bones. He knew he lacked many things, disregarding the equipment¡¯s, Musk knew he still lacked skills. Though, Master Uchivev often praised him of his talent and always urged Musk to look for a richer and better master to further hone his skills. Master Uchivev workshop may be lacking, but Musk had witnessed his skills, and he was nowhere near that level yet. Now that he remembered it, he deeply missed his Master. He was his first father figure, and he had gravely disappointed him. When he left to Sitio Village, Musk visited his old master and asked for his forgiveness. Musk eyes welled up when he remembered it. "Master, I..." Musk said. "I''m sorry." Master Uchivev continued forming a cylinder shape clay and said nothing. Musk knew his master was a man of few words. But the silence was eating his heart. "Goodbye, Master." Musk finally said. "Thank you for everything." Musk then started to dart off away from his master''s workshop. But before he could get out. "Wherever you go," Master Uchivev said, his voice was low. "You¡¯re a goddamn craftsman.¡± Musk was shocked by those words. His apprentice status has been revoked and along with it was his license. In short, he thought his dream was over. But when he heard what his master said he couldn''t help but cry. Musk had killed five goblins. More than twice since his first encounter with the green little beasts. His body was lighter during the battle, his hands didn''t tremble as much as before. In fact, during the second battle, everything felt fine. He was neither afraid nor confident but somehow he knew he has the sufficient skills to survive, and kill. When the battle was over, Musk had estimated they had killed twice the number of sea goblins that had come before. And when he found out that the pit had another fifty screaming sea goblins trapped on it, he shuddered. He wondered where this sea goblins came from. Deep below the sea? Or an island somewhere, his curiosity flared up as he looked across the sea. "Exotic treasures, my friend, and a lot of it could be found where these things lair." Spiel said, coming behind him. Spiel face was covered with blood of the sea goblins and just finished wiping it, but few still remains in the edges of his angular face. "I was thinking if there was trace of civilization that exists on where these things came from." Musk said. "Same thing." Spiel said. Musk sighed. The next day, after their morning run, Prince had added another form of exercise. It was three repetition push-up and squats. Musk couldn''t tell if the prince was joking when he said that they had to do a push for three times only. After what they had been through, even with a bag of sand at their back, a mere three pushup was kind of an insult. And what''s more, it wasn''t even a complete push-ups. Two ups and one down only. But when the prince ordered everyone to get down, everyone thought it would be over in a second. But the prince remained in the upright position of push up, and so the rest of them. Five minutes passed, and the prince didn''t move a single muscle. Musk, however, felt a tingling sensation in his arm. Ten minutes passed, Musk''s arms started to tremble a little. Sweats started pouring down on their chins, while the sun continued on beating down on them, and the heat in the sand furiously assaulted their palms. Another five minutes had passed, and Musk wanted to swear. His arms trembled like a wet chick in winter. Musk could feel everyone¡¯s endless attempt to shift the weight of their body away from their arms, but it was pointless. One of the recruits tried to outsmart the prince, but he didn''t knew Lt. Brax was exempted from the exercise and was watching them from behind. "If I see your knees touched the sand again, I swear, I''ll make you run another round." Lt. Brax shouted at them. Twenty minutes passed, and they had only finished one out of the three pushup. Musk dreaded what comes next. The downright position of the pushup. And as if on cue. "Down!" The prince shouted. Lt. Brax amplified the order. "Down, down, down." Musk pushed his body near to the sand. His arms trembled like they were about to explode. "Lieutenant, if one of them faltered, be sure to teach them a lesson in the one-on-one mock battles." The prince said. "Yes, sir." Lt. Brax said. Everyone groaned. Lt. Brax had caused more pain during the mock battles than the exercises combined. He is just incapable of holding himself back on one-on-one. Musk shuddered at the idea of facing the hulking lieutenant who has a directive to punish anyone who fails. Another Twenty minutes had passed. Musk couldn''t feel his hands now. And the prince had ordered again for them to rise. All in all, the three repetition incomplete push up was, in fact, a sixty minute routine. But it was far from over, for another three repetition of squats was coming. The first squat had taken twenty minutes. And it was a half squat, meaning their knees was only slightly bent. Musk''s arms was still trembling after the pushup, but now his thighs started to tremble as well. The second squat was much lower, their calves almost touching their thighs. The only relief musk felt was that the pain he felt in his arms has now shifted to his thighs and legs. But the pain was way worse than before. Musk argued that it was because in squat, the legs had to support the entire body weight, whereas, pushup has only need to support at least half of the body weight. Nevertheless, they were both painful. When two hours had passed since they started their new exercise routine, everyone was silent. Everyone felt pity on the squad whose turn to dig another pit. And it was Bifor and Spiel''s squad--Lt. Brax''s group. Musk sighed, and cursed his luck. | | | | | | Rain It was early afternoon when the assassin''s squads turn to dig a pit came. The previous squads did a lousy job on furthering the depth and the width of the pit. She knew it was because of the push up and the squats they had done in the morning. The assassin remembered the days when she did the exact same thing when she was an apprentice assassin. She was probably the only one in the prince''s army who didn''t feel a thing during that exercise. Try hanging on a mountain cliff with one arm for almost an hour, then another hour for the other arm. That''s the kind of training the Order had given to their recruits to ensure they could scale walls, castles, and even towers. "Damn, my arms and legs hurt." One member of her squad said. "I wonder if we had to do that again tomorrow." Another one said. "Maybe. But somehow, despite everything the prince had ordered us to do, I think I''m glad that he won''t order us things that he wouldn''t do to himself. Heck, he even dig a pit, for fuck''s sake, I mean, what kind of a noble does that?" One of her members said. The rest of them nodded in agreement. It was somehow gratifying to them that the prince, a royalty, shared their pain, even if he is the one who had caused it in the first place. The assassin looked at the prince, who was on the other pit with Cadet Pole''s squad. I wonder if he will come this pit, the Assassin thought. The assassin shook her head. What the hell am I thinking? Why would I want him to come to us? The assassin searched in her head a reason to save her dignity as an assassin. Of course, this pit is kinda perfect for assassination. Feeling satisfied with the reason, she nodded and smiled on her own. "Are you alright, Rain?" One of her members said. The assassin had forbid her squad to call him Sir, or Squad leader, though, she doesn''t know why. "Yes, just tired." The assassin lied. "Why?" "You were grinning and nodding to yourself." "He''s probably thinking about his woman, or women, back in the city." Everyone laughed. The assassin, after all, was quite handsome, and everyone had this notion that he was a ladies man. The assassin coughed, trying to hide her embarrassment. "Let''s take a rest." Everyone cheered. | | | | | | Calex Zath Lt. Brax, Milo and I had seated around the camp fire. I just discussed with them my idea of a Three versus Three mock battle. It was three squads against another three squads. I asked Lt. Brax and Milo to carefully decide based on the performance of each squads and each individuals to divide my army. I asked them to alternately choose squad that will belong on their group. I tossed a coin, and Milo was the first to choose a squad. He picked Remus''s squad, a squad that actually belonged to him. Then, Lt. Brax, on his turn, chose Bifor''s squad, a squad of his own group as well. The only squad that could match Remus''s squad in terms of size. They have one squad each, and it was Milo''s turn again. This time he chose Pole''s squad, a squad that belonged on my group. Cadet Pole''s squad strength lies on their speed. Their group has the fastest and most agile members. Lt. Brax chose another squad of his own, Cadet Spiel''s squad. The squad who had displayed an unbelievable teamwork during the second sea goblin''s attack. If I had to guess what brings out such level of teamwork, I''ll say it was due to Cadet Spiel friendly nature and his easygoing attitude. Their group had become friends in such a short amount of time. They even help Musk the Crafter to collect materials in the battlefield. Not only that, I believed that Spiel was more than what he say he was. His members trusted his decision, and moved with no hesitation to follow his orders. He was cunning but let on a display that he was sort of a guy who was never serious and likes to fool around. Merely a trick for people to underestimate him. Milo then chose another of my own squad, Rain''s squad. In terms of speed, they could go toe to toe with Cadet''s pole squad, in terms of strategy and teamwork they are in par with Cadet Spiel''s squad. Cadet Rain was a mystery to me. In terms of ferocity and swordplay, they could give Remus squad quite a match. And their leader, Rain, was also a skillful warrior. I sensed he was different, he had carefully hidden his true skills but during the battle, he sometimes slips and display a graceful movement that could even stunned me. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. All in all, I think Rain''s squad has the potential to be the second best squad in my army. Exceeded only by Remus squad on second place, and Fenrir''s squad at first place. Milo had chosen Remus''s squad, Pole''s squad and Rain''s squad. While on the other, Lt. Brax had no choice but to choose the last squad, which belongs to Fenrir. The most bloodthirsty squad in my army, and the most unreliable. Their pivot of attack depends on their leader, Fenrir. But he was very timid and shy. But when he snapped, he unleashes a great amount of ferocity that could outmatched everyone easily. I stood. "Gather them around, Lt. Brax." Lt. Brax with series of shouts, curses and foul words had made the entire recruits gathered in front of the bonfire. "Listen up" I said, with my most menacing voice. "The day after tomorrow, we will conduct our first actual mock battle. Three squads will go against another three squad. The aim of the mock battle tomorrow will be to capture the flag that the commander of the other team was holding. Anyways, rest up, tomorrow I''ll discuss the full details of the battle. ¡°And one final thing.¡± I said. Everyone eyes were on me. ¡°I want each members of each squad to pick, decide and vote a name for their respective squad. Try to come up with a name that will make you proud that you belonged on that squad. ¡°You can use names of heroes in the legends if that will make you proud. And remember, the name you guys will come up with will be a permanent one, we may be few now, but in the future, when we number in thousands, the name of the squad will turn into platoon, to a division, then to a brigade. Also, I¡¯ll be open to suggestions on what our little army should be known. That¡¯s all. Lt. Brax and Milo gather your squads. " "Fenrir, Bifor and Spiel, on me." Lt. Brax shouted. "The rest is our enemy." I could see the worried look on some of our recruits, but some have eager faces excited for the mock battlers. Those who are eager couldn¡¯t help it. They had tasted victory after victory after all. Their confidence and skills had increased significantly. And the coming mock battle will give them a chance to test their skills against their fellow recruits. | | | | | | Musk ¡°Yanfeng, Vorkis, Drax, this name sucks¡± Spiel said. ¡°And what¡¯s wrong with you? Do you actually want our squad to be called the Aluminium Squad?¡± Musk was checking on the bones he submerged on water and the other on sea water. ¡°Why not? Aluminium is very light, and durable.¡± Spiel sighed. ¡°No, I won¡¯t allow it.¡± Musk didn¡¯t really care about the names, he just wanted to piss off his friend to even the score. ¡°If you don¡¯t want Aluminium, Hot-Forged-Thong squad sounds good to the ears.¡± ¡°Ok, you suck.¡± Spiel said. ¡°We need something cool. Something, that when people hear will make them proud just by hearing and saying it.¡± ¡°Oh, sure. You mean just like Night Crow?¡± Musk said sarcastically. ¡°How dare you? Night Crow is an awesome name.¡± Spiel said, trying to defend his other identity. ¡°What did I just say?¡± Musk smiled. Spiel sighed, and continued on reading the lists his members gave him. ¡°Zephyr, Garutha, what the heck? Iron-Ore?¡± Spiel looked to his friend. On that, Musk laughed. Musk woke up early. It had become his routine to look in the road leading to the Capital waiting for the arrival of the materials he had requested. It takes a whole day to ride from the capital to the village if one was inclined, and three days if they ride in a carriage. This was the third day since he gave that lists to the prince. Alas, there was no sign of any approaching carriages. But, Musk didn¡¯t give up yet on the idea that his items will arrive today, after all, there is still a whole day ahead of him. After a while, everyone started to wake up as well, preparing for another morning run with bag of sands on their back. Every muscle in Musk¡¯s arms and legs ached. Just when he thought his body had finally adjusted on the punishment its taking. The prince had issued additional exercise. After their morning run. Breakfast was cooked and served by the villagers. If there is another thing to be thankful for about joining the prince army was the food. The villagers had done their best on serving their usual breakfast of eggs, dried meat, milk and fish Musk considered it as a nobleman¡¯s breakfast. Musk previously thought that he could only eat such things, every day, if he had become a master craftsman. It turned out that one only needs to become a convicted felon to have such a lifestyle. The prince was really spending a lot of coins on them. Lt. Brax, Remus and Bifor alone could eat a share for twenty men. It was like the prince was actually feeding a hundred men. And what¡¯s more, the food that came last week were also being shared by the entire village. Musk tried to count the coins the prince had actually spent, but he stopped midway. He realized it was rather pointless. A royal prince could spend his money on whatever he wants. Musk was just thankful that the prince had decided to spend it on them and to the villagers. After the pushups and the squats, Musk and the rest continued on polishing their sword skills. Raising the iron swords the Army had issued on them was quite taxing on the arms. Musk wished the Army had at least issued them a cold-forged steel sword rather than a very heavy iron sword. Everyone stopped midway when a commotion in the village had erupted. Musk squinted his eyes to see and his heart skipped a bit when he saw dozens of carriages had arrived in the village. ¡°Everyone, let¡¯s go.¡± The prince ordered. Musk rushed towards the prince with a renewed vigor. The prince looked at him, and Musk couldn¡¯t tell if the prince had smiled on him or not. ¡°Go ahead.¡± The prince said to him. Musk ran towards the carriage like a boy who is about to receive his toy. An old guy dressed in black coat was talking to the village chief. The old man has a dignified air around him. Musk knew it was the prince¡¯s butler Digby. But what surprised Musk was there were another two figure standing beside the old man. The two figures were hooded, the other was tall, and the other was a bit small. Digby and the two figures turned to look at him. Musk was rushing towards them after all. Suddenly, Musk was a bit embarrassed. However, all of a sudden, the old man changed his stern expression on his face to a happy one. Musk felt the gaze shifted away from him, and onto his right side. When Musk looked at his right side, the prince was there. ¡°My prince!¡± The old man said. ¡°Zaaaath!¡± A woman¡¯s rich voice erupted on one of the hooded figure. Then the one who spoke removed his hood. Musk couldn¡¯t help but looked at the woman. She was probably the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her golden hair swayed as she stormed towards them. Her puffed rosy cheeks was a cute indication that she was clearly pissed. The other hooded guy followed the beautiful lady. Musk could see that it was a very young lady, probably a year or two younger than him. When the lady was few steps away from them, Musk could smell a sweet fragrance emanating from the lady, and somehow he could also smell a hint of Ashfoil herb on her. Musk remembered the scent of the herb because of its many uses. It was used to cure wounds, and also can be used as an anti-rust agent for metals. ¡°How dare you leave me alone in Calis, again?¡± The woman spoke. Her fiery eyes tried to pierce the prince to his core. ¡°Lady Aysha, I¡¯m glad to see you again.¡± The prince simply said. ¡°Zip it!¡± the lady called Aysha said. ¡°I can¡¯t believe it. You didn¡¯t even said goodbye to your fianc¨¦.¡± Musk¡¯s jaw dropped. It was probably the first personal thing he had learned about the prince. ¡°How did you know I was here?¡± The prince said, then looked at his butler. Digby lowered his head, a sign of embarrassment. Aysha produced a small glass container with two flies flying inside it. ¡°Male Sicamore Flies could smell the pheromones of a females ones from a great distance.¡± Aysha produced a small vial with green liquid inside it. ¡°And this is a female Sicamore pheromones I had gathered and altered to increase their potency. I secretly sprayed them to master Digby¡¯s coat.¡± Lady Aysha said. The prince sighed. ¡°So you use your alchemy skills to find me and outwit Digby.¡± ¡°Hmm. What else should I do, Master Digby wouldn¡¯t tell me where you had gone.¡± The lady said. ¡°It was for your own protection, Yesha.¡± The prince said. Musk could see the lady¡¯s face turned red. Musk thought it was probably the name the prince had called her. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter now, I am here and so are you. I have decided I¡¯ll stay here after all.¡± Aysha said. ¡°Milady, please.¡± The other hooded guy quickly said. ¡°Gio, prepare my things and set up our carriage.¡± Lady Aysha said to the hooded guy. Musk was dumbfounded how things happened so fast. Just a second ago, the beautiful lady was scolding his commander and a second after she was gearing to stay. ¡°Fine¡± The prince finally said with a defeated tone. ¡°Good. Then call your men and let¡¯s all have a restorative tea.¡± The lady said. | | | | | | End of Chapter 6 | | | | | | Hey guys, many apologies if I wasn¡¯t able to quickly fix the previous chapter. I have a very limited time on the internet, I wasn¡¯t even able to read some of the comments, until today. After posting this chapter, I¡¯ll be out again. I¡¯ll probably be able see the comments and reviews for this chapter next week again. I was really saddened by that. But the important point is you guys took the time to do those things. For that you have my sincerest gratitude. Note: Fixed some of the errors from previous chapters, and this one probably had a lot of errors as well. If you spot one, don¡¯t be shy to point it out, I¡¯ll try my best to quickly fix it. Chapter 7: The Sea Goblin鈥檚 Final Invasion I Chapter 7 The Sea Goblin¡¯s Final Invasion I Musk Musk didn¡¯t waste time in assembling the workshop. It was a lot of work, luckily Spiel and the rest of their squad joined in to help. But that was only after Spiel promised them that they¡¯ll be the first to receive the things that Musk will soon create. Musk sighed. He had grown accustomed to his friend¡¯s shamelessness that nothing his friend does will ever surprise him even more. Aside from that imaginary reward, the prince had cut off their physical exercise by almost half until the workshop was finished. This made Spiel¡¯s members ecstatic at first, but soon they¡¯ll found out that they had just traded one hell from another. Musk said. ¡°Here, place it here.¡± Three men were holding and transporting a crate of bricks outside the carriage. Musk did a quick tally of the things that had arrived and found out that everything he had listed was there. The prince was true to his words. And Musk knew he had to reciprocate in kind. He had already planned everything, from the base of the workshop to the crucible he will use. The hardest part, Musk thought, was the base. It must be able to support the weight of the forge, from the stack to fuselage. He had originally planned on using hardened lumber as base, but the prince had insisted that it should be able to stand every punishment it take, especially against the never-tiring enemy, that is time. So Musk decided to use cast iron as axles and bricks as the flooring. Creating the base alone would be probably take me two weeks, Musk thought, if Spiel and I worked night and day. When Spiel heard his friend of his project timeline, Spiel could do nothing but complain. ¡°Why do I have to work night and day?¡± ¡°Because among these people, you and I are the only one with enough crafting skills.¡± Musk said. Spiel had always loitered in Master Uchivev¡¯s workshop and bothered Musk and Master Uchivev every chance he get. Musk had retaliated in kind by manipulating his friend to do some of the tedious work. And Spiel was very talented. Musk thought it was a shame that his friend had decided to be a thief instead of pursuing a more noble profession, say a craftsman. But Spiel said in defense. ¡°There¡¯s nothing more noble than stealing from the nobles itself.¡± Musk knew that if he dragged Spiel into the project, Spiel would dragged the rest, by whatever means necessary. When Spiel¡¯s squad finished unloading all the materials needed. Musk, then, started giving out orders. Spiel laid out the bricks that they were going to need in the flooring, while Musk repaired Dankel¡¯s forge using some of the clay he had requested. Even Mr. Dankel''s offered help, and Musk was surprised at the strength of the old blacksmith, and to his skills as well. Musk estimated they would finish the workshop faster than he thought. Musk knew the repairs he had done on the forge was only a temporary fix. It would probably allow him to turn the forge and fire it at its maximum temperature for two consecutive days before the heat started leaking again. Musk then started heating the Classification 41-A steel shaft, the same classification of steel used to make anvils. Two of his Spiel squad members were holding a brand new hammers and Musk held the glowing, hot shaft using a brand new thong and gave the order to start hammering it. Ding, dang, ding. Sound of alternate metal strikes resounded throughout the shop. The rest of the prince¡¯s squad couldn¡¯t help but looked at the worn-out workshop and only guessed what was happening. But they were only distracted for a minute because the prince had increased the pace in their morning run, and Lt. Brax had sworn that everyone that would fell behind will be in-charge of whetting all the sword and cleaning the armors. That alone was enough motivation for the rest to keep up especially everyone¡¯s swords and armor have been rusting at a pretty alarming rate. In the next day, Musk was surprised that along with their usual breakfast, a soup was being served by a beautiful lady. Such wonderful luck, Musk thought. For the first time Musk thought of getting married, and he would be the luckiest man in the world if lady Aysha would be his bride. ¡°Here.¡± Lady Aysha said, as she handed a bowl. Musk couldn¡¯t look at the lady in the eye, thus, he quickly noticed the abnormal texture, color and smell of the soup. It was no soup, more like a sewage dump. Musk looked at the slightly smoking, black ichor that filled the small bowl, then to the lady. But Lady Aysha wore her innocent smile that made Musk¡¯s heart skipped a bit. ¡°Come on, it¡¯s delicious.¡± Lady Aysha urged him on. Musk, with great reluctance, took the bowl of disgusting stuff. Musk thought he¡¯d probably die on the spot if he drink it, but his honor as a man forbids him to reject such gesture coming from a beautiful lady, and from a nobility no less. ¡°Drink it.¡± Aysha said to Musk, smiling. Musk cursed his luck again. Why do I have to be the first one in the line? Musk asked himself. Soon, everyone looked at Musk, cursing him for hogging the beautiful lady¡¯s attention all to himself. But, Musk would gladly trade his place right now just for a chance of not having to drink the soup. ¡°That tiny bowl of soup is worth three months of your stipend.¡± The prince said out of nowhere. Musk looked at the prince who had just arrived with a dried fish on his hand. Seeing he has no way out, Musk forgo all of his earthly desires, and made peace to himself then quickly gulped the soup. | | | | | | Ok¡¯tar Thousands meters deep below the sea, Ok¡¯tar roared. He had just received the word that the two hundred sea goblins he had just sent to secure the eastern village were obliterated. Granted that along those two hundred, only fifty were veterans. What Ok¡¯tar didn¡¯t knew was that it had only taken his enemy a few minutes to subdue his best goblins. Ok¡¯tar was losing face. All of the villages in the eastern sections have been neutralized by his fellow sea hobgoblins, all except Sitio Village. Ok¡¯tar was the youngest among the sea hobgoblins that was tasked to clear out the eastern section of the lands inhabited mostly by humans in order to build forward bases. At first, Ok¡¯tar thought the mission was a piece of cake. That''s why he had conserved his goblin army, and only sent gobliraks or disgraced goblins to terrorize the village. Most sea hobgoblins used the same strategy on other villages and it worked just fine . But after some time and a hundred gobliraks, Sitio village stood stronger than ever. This pissed Ok¡¯tar, he was already way behind the schedule, and his fellow hobgoblins didn¡¯t waste time on making fun of his failure. When he send two hundred of sea goblins, he had expected the village will finally cave in. But that was also a futile attempt on his part. Now, he had no choice but to do it himself. Ok¡¯tar had arrived at one of the elder hobgoblin¡¯s territory. ¡°Ok¡¯tar, son of Mok¡¯tun, greets elder Ba¡¯Yek.¡± Ok¡¯tar bowed. ¡°Speak, Ok¡¯tar, son of my friend.¡± Ba¡¯Yek said. ¡°I need goblins, elder Ba¡¯yek.¡± ¡°Last time I checked you still have over three thousands of goblins at your disposal.¡± Ba¡¯yek said. Ok¡¯tar shrugged. He was surprised that his Elder knew the exact strength of his army. But Ok¡¯tar cannot use them all and charged at the surface. He needed at least two thousand goblins and more to guard his territory. After all, the sea was far more dangerous than the surface. At best, Ok¡¯tar could summon one thousand goblins to his aid. But most of those were newly born goblins who haven¡¯t had a taste of real battle. Ok¡¯tar estimated he could only send around five hundred goblins to the surface with him leading the charge. In theory, he knew it was enough. However, something had bothered him, and when the report came to him that there was a human encampment set up on the village and was mostly comprised of young soldiers, Ok¡¯tar felt like he needed more to completely win. ¡°Then you know, Elder Ba¡¯yek, that I can only send a third of them in the surface. I need more, and you know the curse dampened our ability by half.¡± ¡°I can send you two hundred of my goblins, but that would cost you.¡± Ba¡¯yek said. ¡°I know, Elder Ba¡¯yek. You¡¯ll have my support in the upcoming Chieftain selection.¡± Ok¡¯tar bit his green tongue. He has an ambition to be the chieftain himself, but only those who have evolved into Sea Goblak have the right to be nominated. Elder Ba¡¯yek was a hobgoblin himself, but Ok¡¯tar knew the old hobgoblin was about to evolve. Else he wouldn''t stay hidden in his territory surrounded by tens of thousands of goblins. ¡°Good, then you shall have them.¡± Elder Ba¡¯yek signaled one of his lieutenant goblin. ¡°I say thanks to the elder.¡± Ok¡¯tar bowed then left with two hundred goblins. Ok¡¯tar now has seven hundred goblins ready to swim towards the surface. He has more than enough, however, just as Ok¡¯tar arrived on his territory, a hundred goblins gathered around the entrance of his territory. ¡°Ru¡¯men sends us, Ok¡¯tar, son of Mok¡¯tun.¡± A sturdy looking goblin greeted Ok¡¯tar. ¡°Ok¡¯tar welcomes you.¡± Ok¡¯tar said. Ok¡¯tar couldn¡¯t help but smile, he has now eight hundred goblins rearing to go to the surface. It took only a half day for Ok¡¯tar to arm all eight hundred goblins. Then, massive surge of wave erupted as Ok¡¯tar and his eight hundred goblins swam fast towards the eastern section. | | | | | | Rain The assassin has no shred of hesitation and drink the bowl of soup lady Aysha had offered her. She has working knowledge about poisons and she had the feeling that the soup would do her no harm. Disgusting, sure, but harmless. Besides, a dozen of other recruits had drank it before her, and they turned out to be just fine. As the soup went down on the assassin¡¯s throat, she felt refreshed. The fatigue in her body slowly fading, the pain in her shoulders lessening. The assassin had guessed that it wasn¡¯t a soup at all, it was a rejuvenation potion. She had those before, but the kind the Order had given her pale in comparison to the soup she had drank. The assassin looked at the lady, she was the same as the prince. Not being bogged down by intricacies of being a noble. The lady wore plain clothes but her beauty still stand out. Not grace, but simply beauty. Unlike those stuck-up bitches in Calis, she thought. ¡°Thanks.¡± The assassin said. After the surprising breakfast, everyone secretly admitted that, for the first time, their body feels good. The pain in their muscles subsided, however, it was only a momentary comfort because the prince ordered their exercise routine to be doubled. After the pushups and squats, the prince told the details of the mock battle. Lt. Brax arranged his chosen squad at the right side while Milo did the same and positioned to the left. The prince had given each a small flag and ordered Lt. Brax and Milo to tie it on their backs. The goal of the battle was simple. Retrieve the flag. And there was only one rule: Everyone that was hit by the baton must play dead. With the danger of goblins attacking, the assassin thought it was a good rule. The assassin felt they have a glaring disadvantage. Almost everyone in Milo¡¯s group were afraid of the Lieutenant, that¡¯s why she knew, it was up to the squad leaders, and Milo to retrieve the flag. Armed only with wooden batons, Milo¡¯s slowly charged the enemy. The space between Lt. Brax¡¯s base and Milo¡¯s base was riddled with pits. Both teams were aware of it, but the group that will fully utilized the pit has a higher chance of winning. Milo¡¯s ordered Rain¡¯s squad to cover their left flank, while Pole¡¯s squad was to the right. And being the strongest squad in their group, Remus¡¯s squad and Milo took the center. Their formation was like an arrowhead, and Remus was the tip. Stolen novel; please report.Rain looked at the Lt. Brax¡¯s group charging towards them, shouting all the way. The lieutenant decided a straight on battle will net him the victory. In retrospection, the assassin agreed at the lieutenant¡¯s decision. Milo¡¯s group specialty was speed, having two of the fastest squad in his side. ¡°Remus and I will hold them off. Rain circle around them from their right side, while Pole on the left side. Our target wasn¡¯t the lieutenant, but everyone.¡± Milo said. The assassin nodded in agreement, and wondered at the same time. How did a fisherman¡¯s son has such good grasps of tactics? Even Remus silently agreed on his plan. She guessed it was probably the prince¡¯s influence. Milo¡¯s plan bet on the assumption that he and Remus¡¯s squad will be able to soldier on until they have arrived, assuming of course that they will defeat their respective enemy. If Milo and Remus were to be defeated before Rain and Pole arrive, then Milo had just wasted two of his squads. However, as the assassin and Pole branched out, two of the Lt. Brax¡¯s squad followed suit. It was Spiel and Fenrir¡¯s. Lt. Brax and Bifor continued their charge towards the center, while the assassin¡¯s squad was about to face Spiel¡¯s squad who was planning on intercepting them. The assassin was surprised by the flexibility of the lieutenants group. They were probably anticipating such move from Milo. Nevertheless, the plan remains the same. Eliminate everybody, then onto the lieutenant. Remus and Milo roared and charged to meet the lieutenant. Quickly, everyone found their target. Milo¡¯s target was the lieutenant, while Remus was up against Bifor. Sound of wood hitting wood exploded along with the villagers who were cheering from the sidelines. The assassin faced Spiel, and bombarded him with series of attacks, both high and lows. But Spiel was clearly intent on not engaging her, but rather focused on defending and dodging. They were buying time for Lt. Brax to capture the flag. The assassin knew Milo had little chance of defeating the lieutenant, since the opposing squad has no intention of fighting the assassin''s squad, the assassin tried to rush towards Milo. "Where you going?" Spiel said, blocking her way. She swung her baton at a frightening speed, but Spiel had dodge it at moment¡¯s breath. She was surprised that the fourth squad leader had dodge it. She knew the man he¡¯s facing wasn¡¯t to be underestimated either. The assassin then quickly twisted her body then threw a spinning kick. Spiel was caught off guard, and the kick hit his face. Luckily, the rule only applies on baton hit, otherwise he was already out of the battle. The assassin quickly followed her kick by a downward swing of her baton, but a crude looking man blocked the attack for Spiel. ¡°Spiel, are you alright?¡± Musk said. The assassin saw Spiel wiped the blood on his lips. She then turned around and looked at the rest of her squad, so far no one had been ousted on her side, but the same can be said on the other squad. She knew the fourth squad she was facing was the best at defense and have an abnormally good teamwork despite knowing each other for only a short time. And furthermore, the assassin realized that Spiel was deliberately luring her away from the central battle. He was doing all of that, while barely dodging her attacks. She knew she had to help Milo if she wanted to win, but then she grimly realized that she has no reason to win. It was just a mock battle, after all. Then, she quickly calmed herself into rushing towards the central battle, and put her entire focus at the squad she was facing. Now that she was calm enough. She realized it was the perfect scenario for her to train her members, and at the same time, an equally good chance for the opposing squad to further hone their defensive skills. After all, wasn¡¯t it the true purpose of the mock battle? She then gave orders well suited to five man to man battle. For example, she ordered her members to circle them around. That order was only possible because Spiel¡¯s squad had the tendency to cluster. Soon the entire fourth squad was surrounded by five people. The fourth squad arranged themselves in a circle formation facing towards every attacker. | | | | | | Musk Musk, along with Spiel and the rest, was surrounded by the second squad. And their leader, Musk thought, was a very good fighter, else he wouldn¡¯t be able to land a kick on his friend¡¯s face. Spiel said. ¡°Remember, when we fought Johnny and his gang of butchers?¡± Musk barely remembered it. Their lives on the street was a constant battle. Every day they had to face kids from other streets trying to pick on them, or bully them. Sometimes they had to fight older kids who stole from them. Musk always liked those kind of battles. At least it gave him a fighting chance. Compared to their one true enemies¡ªthe hunger and the cold. Now that Spiel had brought it up, he remembered the two of them were also up against five people. Spiel decided at that time that even if defeat was imminent, kicking Johnny¡¯s ass would be totally worth it. So Spiel and Musk charged at Johnny, completely disregarding the other four kids with him. The big butcher boy and the rest had barely enough time to react. Spiel quickly snaked his way into Johnny¡¯s back after Johnny had thrown a massive punch. Spiel then grabbed Johnny¡¯s back, his arms locked around Johnny¡¯s armpits and shoulder. Then Musk threw all of his weight into the punch that connected into the butcher¡¯s stomach. Spiel let go of the butcher as it fell on the ground, then the butcher crimped and writhed out in pain. Then Spiel and Musk started to kick the butcher on the ground. Musk hated violence, but sometimes, grim experiences had taught him that violence, though brutal and barbaric, could be an answer. And sadly, most of the time, a very effective one. The four kids who were with the butcher on that day, ran out of fear and leave the butcher on the ground. ¡°On three, then.¡± Musk said, as he nodded to his friend. Sands sprayed violently as Spiel and Musk hassled towards the second squad leader, Rain. The second squad members reacted fast, but so did the remaining member of the fourth squad. | | | | | | Rain The assassin braced herself as Spiel and his friend charged towards her. An ordinary soldier would have swing his baton towards the incoming enemy out of fear. But the assassin was far from ordinary. The enemy waited and so has she. Spiel was about to throw a stab, but it was a feint, and the assassin saw through it. When the Spiel and Musk was within her striking range. She jumped back, then threw a side kick towards Musk. She aimed at the lesser warrior between the two. Musk receive the full brunt of the kick, but he soldiered on and grabbed the assassin¡¯s feet. The assassin knew she was in trouble. Spiel had just rushed towards her left side, and made a swing of his baton. The danger of spreading around, just like the assassin¡¯s squad did, was that it would take others quite a time to rescue someone in trouble. However, one of the second squad strengths lies on their speed. Spiel¡¯s attack was blocked just in time by a member of the second squad, and the assassin brought herself closer to Musk, then she used Musk''s grip on her right foot as her foot hold then jumped, twisted her entire body then delivered a kick on her free leg. All of it happened in mid-air, and stunned everyone that had witnessed it. Musk sprawled to the ground, but quickly recovered and got up, but a baton had already touched his neck. Then, Musk stayed down. | | | | | | I just witnessed the gamble the Spiel and the crafter took that didn¡¯t paid off. I was surprised and amazed that the second squad leader could move gracefully like that. Looks like I have to reevaluate my squad leaders again. Soon, the fourth squad, being down by one men, was overwhelmed. Somewhere at the right side, Pole was against Fenrir¡¯s squad. The first squad leader dominated Fenrir¡¯s side quickly, and charged towards Lt. Brax. Pole knew he had to finish the fight against Fenrir as quickly as possible before he snapped into his frenzy mode. Pole just lost two of his members and headed towards the lieutenant. At the midst of the central battle, Lt. Brax was being held down by Milo. At first, it seemed they were on equal terms. Milo trading blows after blows at the lieutenant. However, I knew Lt. Brax had the upper hand. Lt. Brax¡¯s experience started to show, and his strength was superior to Milo. On the other hand, Bifor was being pushed back by Remus as well. If Remus defeated Bifor well before Lt. Brax could defeat Milo, or if Rain and Pole¡¯s squad arrived first, then Lt. Brax had no more chance to win. At the midst of the heated battle, a sharp sensation entered my body. It was a killing intent, a powerful one, directed at us. I fought the urged to draw my sword, however, seeing no actual danger, I satisfied myself in touching the pommel of my cane sword. | | | | | | Musk Spiel had helped his friend to get up. Their entire squad was annihilated. However, Musk knew it was not a complete defeat. Thanks to Spiel quick thinking, Spiel had managed to oust three people of the second squad. Spiel sensing defeat, turned all his attention towards the other members, while the rest of his members focused on Rain. In the end, the second squad leader only managed to pass through their squad with only two people. It wasn¡¯t a victory, but more like a lesson. Spiel was always like that. Now everyone at the second squad knew that if they messed with us, they won¡¯t escape unscathed. Musk stood up, wiped the sands in his armor, and then turned to look at the ongoing battle between Lt. Brax and Milo. ¡°Lt. Brax is so screwed. Even Fenrir lost.¡± Musk said. Musk was used to his friend having smart comments about everything. But when his friend didn¡¯t say something, he turned to look. He saw Spiel¡¯s troubled face. Only few people had actually witnessed Spiel¡¯s troubled face, because Spiel always did his best to act composed, calm and collected at all times. However, this time was different. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Musk asked. As if being woken from a trance, Spiel said. ¡°We may have to leave.¡± | | | | | | Rain The assassin felt it too. An overwhelming killing intent coming from the sea. She stopped her charged towards the Lieutenant and examined the sea. But before she stopped, she saw the prince¡¯s gloomy eyes directed at the sea, his hands was on the hooded man, wearing a giant scythe shaped pommel. The scythe formed the L-shaped of the pommel and served as the handle of the prince¡¯s cane sword. He felt it too, huh. The assassin said to herself. On the central battle, the assassin saw the Lt. Brax stopped his barrage of attacks towards Milo, and turned to face the sea. Lt. Brax''s action had granted the other team a victory, but she knew the lieutenant didn¡¯t care anymore. Especially now that a powerful individual coming from the sea was intent on killing them all. Everyone on Remus¡¯s side cheered. They had captured the flag, though they didn¡¯t why the Lieutenant stopped attacking. The assassin observed at Milo who was somewhat pissed that the fight was halted in the second. But soon the assassin witnessed a changed in color in the face of the young warrior. He probably had felt it just now, the assassin thought. Then Milo along with Lt. Brax rushed towards the prince. | | | | | | END of Chapter 7 | | | | | | Hey guys, I have a day-off today, so I decided to finish Chapter 7 that I have started writing since Monday. Anyways, enjoy. Next chapter would be a battle against Ok¡¯tar. If you guys have time, please don¡¯t forget to comment, rate or review. Thank you. Chapter 8: The Sea Goblins Final Invasion II The Wraith King, Rev 2.0. Chapter 8 The Sea Goblin¡¯s Final Invasion II ¡°Lady, things are about to get very dangerous. I suggest we leave now.¡± The bodyguard that shadowed Lady Aysha said. ¡°What are you talking about, Gio?¡± Aysha said. Her attention suddenly shifted to her bodyguard. She had long learned to trust her disgraced Huntevar bodyguard in matters concerning her safety. ¡°Just one of those feelings, milady.¡± Gio said. Aysha looked at Calex, she saw the young prince gripping the pommel of his cane sword. A ritual that Calex used to do when he¡¯s nervous. ¡°Then we have to help them, ready your bow.¡± The tall body guard sighed. ¡°Yes, milady.¡± The pair went off and didn¡¯t finish watching the mock battle. However, soon enough, the mock battle was over. Milo¡¯s group had won. Those who didn¡¯t feel the impending danger, rejoiced at their victory, while those who felt it, anxiety poured over them. The prince had guessed they have only a day or two before the unknown enemy will arrive. For a moment, he weighed the decisions whether to retreat or to hold their ground. But, in the end he decided they will have to hold the beach. But the prince wasn¡¯t foolish enough to face the enemy alone. At the middle of the day, a crow had just landed on his shoulder. ¡°Caaaw¡­ cheapskate¡­.caaaaww¡± The crow chirped. ¡°Good to see you too, Cray.¡± The prince said, then handed the crow a half-eaten apple. The crow said ¡°Cheapskate¡± one more time before pecking the apple. The prince took out a small amulet that shaped like a small necklace and tied it to the crow¡¯s feet. ¡°Go!¡± The prince said, then the crow flew westward. The mock battle was quick but it had taken everyone¡¯s energy. The prince knew his men wasn¡¯t really a hundred percent ready. However, he also knows the value of a good rest. After all, from the improvement his men had shown him, the prince decided they all deserved a good, long rest. The fourth squad didn¡¯t waste time though in completing the workshop. The prince had to personally order them to have a rest. The prince saw the look of worry shadowed by a gleeful smile of the fourth squad leader. ¡°We are going to stay and fight, aren¡¯t we?¡± Spiel said to the prince when they were alone. The prince looked at the fourth squad leader¡¯s eyes and saw a strong sense of self-preservation. If the prince saw it on others, he would think of it as cowardice. But when he saw it on the fourth squad leader, he only saw a survivor willing to do everything to survive. ¡°Yes.¡± The prince simply said, knowing there was no point in lying. ¡°Rest up. I have a feeling we will need every ounce of strength we got to pull through.¡¯ Digby had been riding hard heading back to Calis ever since he had received the amulet tied on the prince¡¯s crow. The amulet was a coded message that meant the prince needed backup, as soon as possible. When Digby arrived to Calis, he didn¡¯t waste time and rushed towards king. But as luck would have it, Prince Calius was with the king. DIgby had no choice but to report to the king. ¡°What is it, Master Digby?¡± The king said. There were only three people in the king chambers right now. Prince Calius looked at the old man elegantly trying to hide that he was out of air. ¡°Prince Calex needs some help, your grace. And he needs it fast.¡± Digby said. The king was old, but there was still an air of command around him. But before he could speak, Prince Calius intercepted him. ¡°Father, send me. It is also my duty as his older brother.¡± Prince Calius said. But the king and Digby knows the truth. It was not helping for the sake of truly helping but merely a political move. However, the two of them can¡¯t deny the fact that Prince Calius always gets the jobs done. ¡°Fine.¡± The king said. Prince Calius didn¡¯t waste time and blurted out of the king¡¯s chamber. Digby remained and reported everything to the king that had happened to the third prince. As far as Digby and the king knows, the prince wasn¡¯t actually in danger. Not yet, anyway. Back in Sitio Village, the prince had explained to the villagers the impending danger that they were about to face. He had given the villagers a choice whether to flee or fight. Ben, the village chief, asked the prince on what he was going to do? The prince replied that they will try to hold the beach as long as they can until the reinforcements came. The villagers were silent for a minute. After a while, Ben stood up and said. ¡°I¡¯ll fight beside you, my prince. All this time we have been running away from them. But you¡± Ben pointed at the prince. ¡°You have given us the ability to fight, and I¡¯ll be damned if I¡¯ll run with my tail between my legs again.¡± Vinny and Ker stood as well. ¡°We¡¯ll fight as well.¡± Then the rest of the villagers stood up, and everyone cheered in unison. Some sort of morale-boosting cheer that was also heard by the prince¡¯s men. By this time, almost everyone felt the killing intent directed towards them. The last two battles against the sea goblins had somehow sharpened their senses. After hearing the cheers, the men knew they will stay and fight. During the night, the sense of uneasiness and anxiety spread to the prince¡¯s men like a plague. But Lt. Brax urged everyone to take a rest, saying that it might be the last, long rest they¡¯ll going to have for a while. That didn¡¯t help to increase the morale of the recruits, but it had forced them to sleep, whether their mind or body liked it or not. The assassin didn¡¯t have any trouble sleeping. She knew it was pointless to think about things that didn¡¯t happen yet. She¡¯d rather be well-rested than worry endlessly. But Musk was different. He thought of the things he hasn¡¯t done yet, and thought of what his friend said. ¡°We could leave if you want.¡± Spiel said. ¡°And go where?¡± ¡°Averin, you always wanted to go there remember? And see the city of the builders.¡± Spiel said. ¡°I''ve thought about it. But there is this feeling that I just can¡¯t leave them knowing what they are about to face.¡± Musk said. ¡°I know. It¡¯s a bond.¡± Spiel said. ¡°The kind you share on someone when you face numerous hardships and dangers together.¡± ¡°Spiel, we can¡¯t leave. I can¡¯t help them that much, but you can.¡± Musk said. ¡°Fine, Musky, we¡¯ll stay.¡± Spiel said. The next morning, the prince said what¡¯s on everyone¡¯s mind. The prince had told them they¡¯ll have to hold until reinforcements from Calis arrived. When the prince said this, everyone¡¯s eyes changed. For the first time, they felt hope. Originally, everyone thought their mission was to terminate every enemy that might come deep below the sea. But now that they only have to hold their ground. Even the sound of the word ¡°reinforcements¡± had a massive effect on their morale. The prince estimated that the enemy was only one or two days away. Whereas, reinforcements might came a bit too late. Though, he didn¡¯t say that. Instead, practicing battle formations all day long had occupied everyone¡¯s mind. Every meal, though, everyone had to suffer. Lady Aysha concocted a different potion and asked the prince to force everyone to drink it. Compared last time, the potion this time looked very decent. However, it was only a disguise, for it tasted every bit as the first potion should tastes like. Lady Aysha didn¡¯t have enough time to alter the potions taste. She just knew the prince¡¯s men needed it. The potion was supposed to increase everyone¡¯s strength for a period of time, and would also give them an extra amount of energy if they needed it. Though the price for it was, It tasted like shit. But Lt. Brax eyed everyone with malicious intent to those who dared not to drink it. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°Thank you, lieutenant.¡± Aysha said. She knew the lieutenant was sort of an enforcer. ¡°It¡¯s nothing much, milady. They just didn¡¯t know the value of your potion yet, but I assure once they feel it, they¡¯ll keep on coming back for it.¡± Lt. Brax said. It was probably the longest sentence he had uttered since. ¡°I certainly hope so, lieutenant.¡± Aysha said. The lieutenant almost frowned knowing what the lady alchemist actually meant. It is true, as always in every war, that there is this chance of not coming back again. The villagers prepared a feast, and everyone tried to enjoy it. The prince took the time in telling his men to always remember their training and always watched each others back. ¡°Hear, Hear.¡± Was his recruit¡¯s response. A pig was roasted and everyone ate like it was the last meal they¡¯ll going to have. To some of them, it might be. That night, with their belly full. Everyone slept peacefully. And morning quickly came. Everything from pits to wooden fortifications was ready. The recruits stood proud facing the sea. While the villagers was instructed by the prince to hold the wooden fortifications. ¡°They¡¯re coming!¡± Lt. Brax shouted. Multiple fins spotted across the sea. It didn¡¯t take very long for those fins to arrive at the surface. But by then, the recruits had already charged ahead and started cutting every sea goblins that emerged. Lt. Brax roared as he waited for more goblins, but none came. Fifty goblins laid dead in the beach, and the prince¡¯s group was still warming up. Everyone stopped as soon as they ran out of sea goblins to slay. Everyone cheered, but deep in their hearts they know it was only starting The prince guessed the enemy was only testing them, and that the second wave would be more lethal. It took only a couple of minutes before dozens and dozens of fins started to appear and swam towards them. Musk gulped down. He estimated it was more than twice than the number of the sea goblins they have faced before. Probably more. The rest of the recruits started to step back gradually. ¡°Hold your ground!¡± The prince shouted as he stepped forward, followed by Milo and Lt. Brax. The three of them stood proudly facing the incoming sea goblins. Then, one by one, squad leaders stepped forward as well, and stood at the prince side by side. ¡°I have a confession to make.¡± The prince said, aloud. Everyone turned to look at him. ¡°Quite frankly, first time I saw you guys, I saw a youngsters who have made poor choices in their life and end up joining me. But not today. Today, I see men who still made those poor choices but are now ready to own it. Ready to seize the world by its balls. Ready to show to everyone that we are more than a mistake. ¡°Today, I¡¯ll ask you to hold. Give everything you¡¯ve got for this would be our greatest trial yet. When this is over, and when we are old, you will tell these stories to your kid and you will them this was the beginning of everything. The beginning of the grandest adventures the world will ever know. So stand proud, my men! For today is the greatest day of our life! Hear-Raah¡± ¡°Heeeaaar ¨C Raaaaah!!!¡± Shouts echoed throughout the village. Sword hilts clanking on chain mails, and stomping of foot added to the din. The assassin couldn¡¯t help but nod. All this time, he thought the prince was making a huge mistake by staying and fight whatever is out there. But now, she wasn¡¯t sure. But one thing was certain to her, and that is she will not die here. When the first of the sea goblin emerged in the sea. The prince was the first person to rushed towards it and cut off its head. This made the prince¡¯s men livelier and started to charge as well towards the incoming goblins. Sea goblins bodies started to drop one by one. Some of them doesn¡¯t even managed to step on the sand. For a while things went well. The recruits could feel they have an unlimited energy inside them. They still didn¡¯t feel tired at all, even after cutting a hundred of sea goblins. Cadet Pole had just killed his sixth goblins. He looked at the prince cutting off another head of a sea goblin. This was the prince¡¯s twelfth goblins he had masterfully slain. As the prince¡¯s own squad, one of Cadet Pole¡¯s many tasks was to watch the prince¡¯s back. But as he saw the prince just killed his thirteenth goblin, he knew the prince didn¡¯t need anyone watching him. As Cadet Pole just slew his seventh goblins by a stab in the neck. An explosion-like sound battered his ears. As he turned to look at the source of it. He only saw a tall goblin-like creature which has uncanny similarity to a sea goblin but it was scarier, and bigger. And it was heading towards him. Cadet Pole saw the weapon of the giant goblin that looked like a spinal column of a giant sea monster, and also saw that it was coming straight at his head. This was it, Cadet Pole thought. The creature was fast for its size. Probably because it can take giant strides compare to the normal sea goblins. The green giant stood close to four meters. But its body was lean, with scales patterned like that of a fish. Pole stood frozen in fear as the spine-like weapon about to crash to its head. Pole thought of his aging parents and his younger sister. His younger sister was smart, and would probably go very far in life, if given the chance. And Pole swore that he¡¯ll be the one to give her that chance. His life had been full of regrets. Regret that his emotions got the better of him and assaulted a noble. He could have been hanged, luckily the judge that handled his case was a commoner just like him. The judge offered him a chance. The mine or the Army. Both were poor choices at that time. But compared to death, it was salvation. Having chosen the army, Pole expected he¡¯ll wind up being abused by the nobles or worse to a sadistic officer. And somehow his expectations were true. The prince had made them run, dig and battle goblins after goblins. But somehow, he was glad he had met the prince. He was different, of that he was certain. He had enjoyed his time with the prince and his men. He get to eat delicious foods, meet interesting people, and most of all, serve the most righteous noble he had ever met. As Pole about to raise his sword as his final act of defiance. A sharp pain exploded in his right rib, and he came crashing to the sand. The men who had witnessed it couldn¡¯t help but feel relieved to Pole and at the same time terrified. They saw in the last moment that the prince had kicked Pole and managed switched with his place. When the dusts of sand started to recede. They saw the prince standing in front of the green giant, unscathed. The spine-like weapon hit the sand and made a sizable crater in it. Everyone felt their blood boiling at the scene. But it was only for moment because the green giant raised the weapon from the sand then aimed at the prince. The prince dodged it. Then stepped forward and stabbed the giant goblin in the stomach. Horrors filled the eyes of the recruits as they witnessed the prince¡¯s cane sword didn¡¯t do any damage. The prince was shocked as well because he was a step too late to dodge the arm swipe of the giant. The prince was thrown several meters away from his position and hit several goblins along the way. Everyone¡¯s heart sank. Their commander was just sent flying and they couldn¡¯t do anything about it because several sea goblins stood between them. | | | | | | END OF CHAPTER 8 | | | | | | Hi guys, as for the comments. I¡¯ve thought hard about the things that you guys said, and I started to do some revisions. This chapter, as you have probably noticed, was different. I had to cut the chapter short, because to be honest, this chapter was sort of an experimental run. So please tell me your input about it, and sorry about the quality of the previous chapter. And also, thank you for your honest opinions. As always, I welcomed them. After all, it was for the benefit of all, right? Anyways, don¡¯t be afraid to give out such criticisms if you think it will certainly help me. As for the grammatical errors, I¡¯m deeply ashamed of it. Before I post, I always read the chapters several times to spot errors. It just that as the writer, it¡¯s really hard to spot the little ones. Again, if you spot one, feel free to tell me. Thank you and enjoy.