Proving oneself

"So… that's what happened?" A manly voice said as 2 men were standing in front of him, it was no other than the guard that greeted the group of 5 men in the gate and Aiden himself.

Aiden remembered what happened earlier that day

After encountering the group of 5 in the road while being chased by about 11 men, Aiden gathered the group and ran toward the castle with them. He explained the situation on them while on the run, but one of them didn't want to believe him. It was no other than the annoying brown-haired kid, Jackson, that got killed.

Well, the rest of the stories are about them knocking desperately at the castle wall and being captured by the castle guards. They were about to be handed out to city guards (evil guards) but the noble saw them and wanted to talk to them and that's how they ended up in a room with the noble behind his desk.

…

The nobleman has a ginger hair and beard, you could say he looked like a really nice and a muscly guy, "Okay… city guard, from now on, you will be fired and all those men, you can exit the room now!"

The guard gulped, and then quietly left the room. Right after he closed the door, the nobleman turned his attention to Aiden, "I apologize for what happened earlier. You don't deserve to almost lose your life as a young man because of some coruption by the guards"

Aiden nodded, and the nobleman wrote something in his book before raising his face, "I apologize once again for what happened… But I'm kind of interested in your skill, from the very same window in this room, I saw you holding them off with your bow while your comrades were basing their hands on the door…"

Aiden nodded once again, and the nobleman continued, "Are you perhaps… a disciple of some master? You are quite young to be a master of bow and arrows yourself. So that's the only answer right?"

Aiden answered, "You can say it like that, my master didn't want to go to war and sent me instead so I can 'gain experience' but I knew it was all but an excuse"

The nobleman chuckled, "Well, your master is quite funny, I would gladly take him or even you as a trainer for the archers in the army. Anyway… uhh… excuse my impoliteness, but can you help me on something?"

[Quest]

[Known as a man and a noble, he was called the true knight, honest, modest, brave; you name it. Because of this, every young man under the age of 20 that comes to join his army would be tested so that they could actually survive the war. Pass the test that is disguised as 'Favour']

[Winning condition: Pass the test]

[Losing condition: Fail the test]

Aiden sighed, "Sir, I know it's a test and not just any random favour, you can actually go straight to the point"

The nobleman laughed, "Ahaha, yes, it is a test but also a favour at the same time, I don't want young men to die. Anyway, the incident that happened to you and your group, I suspect it is related to some dangerous gang in the city. From what I heard, many young men joined the gang and became corrupted instead of doing good deeds for their family, home and country, so your task is to gather information. You don't really need to fight them"

2 days later…

Sitting in one of the local pubs is Aiden, now covered in a thick leather robe while the hood is off and with his weapons in inventory, he seemed like a normal young man, 'Okay… now I just need to wait for them to take the bait'

Not long after he said that on his mind, someone bursted open the door, bashing it against the wall on the process. He turned around and saw muscular men, around 7 in total, walking inside the pub, one of them, with a bald head, locked eyes with him for a few seconds and he quickly directed his eyes to another place.

It was all but a body language and it seems, that one man that locked eyes with him placed his hand on the shoulder of the 18-year-old and whispered to his ear, "Hey young man… do you want to avoid conscription and join our gang instead?"

…

3 minutes later, he found himself standing on one of the dark alleys with the bald man that approached him, "So you are telling me that you have a way to avoid conscription? Ahaha! Of course, I would want to avoid it!"

The man giggled, "Don't worry, you just need to give me 1 silver that equals to 10 copper coins and with this, I will bribe one of the officers in the army. But you must join our gang! The main reason that I can bribe the officer is because of the gang"

Aiden smirked, "Sure as heck I would do it! I have been waiting for this day, the rumour about the gang seems to be true after all"

Aiden gave the man the amount of money said by the man and the man chuckled before wrapping his arm around the 18-year-old, "Let's take a walk while I explained about all about our gang"

…

Writing on his book with a quill, the noble said, "So that's all the information you got b talking with that one man alone? He must be someone high in the hierarchy for knowing that much"

Aiden nodded with a smirk on his face, "Yes sir, now do I pass the test?"

The nobleman smiled, "You passed the test, in fact, this much of information could bring down at least 95% of the gang in this city. Well… gladly, we have some strong young men joining the army…"

[Quest completed]

[You have proven your worth to the nobleman, Sir John]

"Aiden, here take this, from now on, you are the part of my army, tomorrow at 8 am, gather at the field outside the city and the army will depart from there," Aiden nodded once against while taking the badge on the table, placed by the nobleman.

[Acquired infantry badge of the army of Count John]