The 2nd Campaign

Charlie stood on a wooden crate in front of the rose knights to get their attention. He looked visibly tired from helping take care of all of the injured in the temple.

But he stood tall and looked at each and every one of the rose knight trainees with a calm and sincere face.

"I would love to say that we finished the hard part, that after this little thing we could just go back and get out platoon name and become real rose knights."

Charlie paused and looked at the city lord who was watching him behind the crowd of rose knight trainees that had their eyes fixed on him.

"but sadly, that's not true we will be facing monsters, vicious beasts that won't hesitate to tear a person apart they have been terrorizing this city for the past few years, this is the hard part, and this is why many of the trainee platoons never become real rose knights and earn a platoon name."

The atmosphere around the rose knight trainees seemed to freeze up. They all came from different backgrounds some were orphans, others came from the knight school. But they all had one thing in common. From childhood, they had one dream, even when they were struggling to find food, or busy cramming for tests. Their dreams always were fresh in their minds as they lived their lives.

To one day stand up with the rose knight emblem on their amour and shields. To destroy the enemy while protecting the kingdom and its inhabitants with honor and chivalry. To be part of the knighthood that was famed for being one of the best forces in the kingdom.

These trainees didn't know how they could get into the rose knights, in fact, many still didn't know how they got in when they were young. What they did know was that a red-haired girl somehow laid eyes on them. She would look at them with these eyes that seemed to glow in a decerning manner and sooner or later they would be at the rose knight academy which was nestled away in a secluded mountain where they learned all of the important aspects of being a rose knight.

These young boys who had hopes and dreams were now grown up. They had matured mentally and physically they had taken the code of a rose knight and engraved it into their hearts. All that stood in their way was a trial. Their final trial.

Charlie slammed his dark blue sword in the wooden crate cutting a deep hole in it. He looked at the rose knights and shouted

"We have dedicated our entire lives for this title, a few monsters stand in our way"

Charlie stared deep into the eyes of the rose knights it felt like a few minutes but in reality, it took a few seconds. Each and every one of the rose knights seemed to gain a small connection to Charlie as he looked at them.

He gave off a smile reminiscent of Lyle and asked the rose knights, it was addressed to the entire crowd yet to each one of the rose knights it felt like a personal question.

"are you with me?"

From within the crowd, somebody responded. Jason didn't know who responded first or whether or not it was a blue, green, or red barrack member and frankly, it didn't matter.

Some people slammed down their shields, others hit the floor with the sheathed point of their sword some didn't even make a sound but instead clenched their fists in pure determination.

Baron Stiv who was watching everything from behind the crowd nodded his head. This was the spirit of a rose knight, this was why rose knights were so great sure they were the strongest, but that wasn't the real reason.

Each and every one of them knew the code of a rose knight, they were no longer fighting for fame and honor they were fighting for a much bigger cause.

Charlie swept his eyes over the rose knight trainees who were roaring. He quickly chanted and created a magic formula.

𝙹⍑ ꖎ╎⊣⍑ℸ ̣ i ʖᒷᓭᒷᒷᓵ⍑ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷᒷ, ꖎᒷℸ ̣ ᒲᒷ ᔑꖎℸ ̣ ᒷ∷ ᔑリ↸ ʖᒷリ↸ ||𝙹⚍∷ ⎓𝙹∷ᒲ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ᓭ⍑𝙹∴ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ∴𝙹∷ꖎ↸ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ℸ ̣ ⍑╎リ⊣ᓭ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ|| ᒲ⚍ᓭℸ ̣ ᓭᒷᒷ

ᔑꖎℸ ̣ ᒷ∷

A thin sheet of golden yellow light seemed to materialize right behind Charlie. The sheet of light started to bend and move around until it displayed a map.

In the center of the map was the city the light had altered to show a small city with walls around it. The city in the middle of the valley and on the left was the valley where the rose knights had their battle with the bandit army if you went further left you would see two large cliffs at the entrance of the valley. Beyond the entrance of the valley were plains.

Charlie pointed his hand towards the right of the city. Where the valley extended with tall mountains rose all around it, the valley grew larger and larger until a thick forest covered the entire valley past a certain point till the map ended.

All around the valley were mountains that stretched out to the north and south. It seems they were part of a mountain range.

Charlie pointed towards the forest

"our enemies are most likely holed up in there, we need to clear it"

Charlie looked at the crowd of rose knights

"that forest is notoriously thick and mazelike. Chances are we will get separated, so I will impart as much information as I have to you"

The rose knight trainees all watched Charlie diligently.

"the monsters that usually attack are goblins and kobolds and when things get bad, orcs, you all know about these monsters but chances are there is a higher-ranked monster leading all of them so keep your wits about you"

Charlie then pointed back to the map which lit up certain parts of the map. Jason counted 5 dots in the mountainous area and 2 in the forest area.

"these are the villages nearby we have lost contact with all of them after the bandit army attack so expect the worst, our job is to secure their locations and help and survivors if possible"

Charlie looked at the rose knight trainees who were staring at the map trying to burn it into their eyes. He quickly started to issue out commands

"we will move out in teams, the teams that move to the forest area will mainly consist of green and blue barrack members. The force that moves to the mountainous area will mostly consist of red barrack members team leaders on me we will discuss placement"

Jason watched as the team members of the platoons ran up to talk to Charlie. To say the least, Jason was a bit worried. If the forest was really that maze-like then sure it was logical to not move around in big groups but instead in small groups that could surgically attack enemies the green barrack members were perfect for that. But still moving in teams made Jason a bit worried.

But Jason decided to trust Charlie, he seemed to be a capable leader in the last few battles. He was just worried about what would happen if a team came across an encampment or something.

As Charlie was talking with the team leaders a notification came up for the quest

[you have a new sub-mission (the 2nd campaign)]

[the 2nd campaign: rank B+]

[description: you have finished the first part of your campaign! you are now facing the last and hardest part]

[mission objectives: take out the monsters]

[take out the source of the monsters]

[investigate the villages that have lost contact with the city of Muno]

[side objectives: keep all of the wolves alive]

[keep your team members alive]

The meeting Charlie had with the team leaders seemed to finish and the team leaders hurried back to relay the information.

Charlie walked over to where Jason was. Jason wondered why he was walking towards him until he realized that the entire blue 2 team was right next to him. Colby stood silently in behind him while Lyle and Mark just grinned and waved. Ethan was busy petting his horse and gave Jason and a quick nod.

Charlie went up to them and immediately said

"We are going to the forest, I think you guys already know, but we will probably have to be the ones who deal with the higher-ranked monsters"

Jason quickly asked

"what if another team finds the camp before us?"

Charlie smilled and answered

"they won't and even if they somehow do Ardem and his team will tell us immediately"

"So what's the point of splitting into teams?"

Charlie grimaced

"these monsters are masters of ambushing, walking in with a large group would have been suicide, the city of Muno already tried with a force of 5,000 a few years back when it was still prosperous. None of them came back"

Jason went into thought. If the monsters were good at ambushing he should bring along some guys who were excellent at detecting them right? Jason looked at Charlie and grinned

"I'm bringing the wolves"