Chapter 024. A ‘warm’ welcome from the instructor

The thing about life is that it always works hard to make your life miserable with unmet expectations.

“Stop!”

‘In what world does this look like a vacation ha Keid?’

Ayla wanted to laugh at herself for thinking such bullshit at the beginning.

She stood among this year’s aspiring applicants of the military academy with the blazing heat of the sun right above their heads.

She forgot how unbearable the sun rays is after being cooped up inside the building all the time. Why the fuck do they have to bask in the sun when they have plenty of space with a roof inside?

“You there!" She heard the instructor shouted, looking down gravely at a familiar blond boy. It was Hika, the guy Miroh defended against the noble brat days ago.

Right now, Hika looked like he couldn’t even swallow his own saliva. But amazingly enough, he wasn’t slouching under the pressure. He also lift his chin up amidst the trembling of his legs.

"My name is Hika Nusa from the town of Mimosa, sir!" He yelled from the bottom of his chest, giving his best military salute for the demon instructor. Of course, nobody from this batch of recruits would deny that nickname from now on.

Ayla observed closely the blond boy being interrogated by the demon instructor. She feel bad for the guy. It seems like he was continuously barked down by people since coming here.

"Good name for a retard!” Instructor Heath screamed mockingly. "Who named you that shitty name, boy?" He sneered, obviously doing it to raise a reaction from Hika.

"My grandfather named me, sir!"

He leaned over right at Hika’s face somberly. Ayla felt a rush of pity for Hika. Imagine how digusting the instructor’s spits were when it keeps hitting his face.

"Why are you here, recruit?" He demanded authoritatively.

The instructor was a tall tanned man with a bald head. However, his sunken expression that resembles death will probably stick to your mind more…as you sleep.

‘When will this end already?’

Ayla discreetly scratched her hair, observing her future classmate’s demeanor and stature to distract her from the uncomfortable heat. Every kid can’t help but slightly flinch every time the instructor passed them, thinking it was their turn to taste his ire.

Most of them are already intimidated and scared shitless even when the instructor, Heath Jansel, have yet to introduce himself. They hadn’t done a lot yet except march for a bit in the field until the instructor stop them then choose someone new to intimidate.

However, there are some who clearly doesn’t give a fuck. Whatever the reason is for everyone, it had driven them to a point where they can take basking under this scorching sun.

"To contribute to mankind's victory, sir!" He squeezed his eyes shut as he yelled out his answer sincerely.

"What a righteous bastard!” The instructor stated sarcastically. “You'll make a good leviath fodder. Get in line!" He placed his hand on top of Hika’s head and made him turn around.

Beads of perspiration dripped down her cheeks as she forced herself to look straight ahead. The heat and doing nothing had gradually wore her down making her face look extremely grim.

The instructor soon rounded down the next row after he’s done pressuring Hika to scream out his aspirations as a knight.

She’s unsure whether she’ll be impress with the instructor for making a simple ‘what is your name?’ traumatizing for everyone.

He passed by a lot of people before finally marching toward his new found victim.

"You! Who the hell are you?" He demanded right at the face of a light haired guy.

"Neil Hitcher from Gaia city, sir!" He yelled back, standing rigidly to psychologically put more space between them.

“Speak up! Are you daft, ha?!"

"N-Neil H-Hitcher-"

Ayla simply zoned out the play happening around her immediately after that. At this moment, she would rather sit through Vega’s enthusiastic chatter about leviaths than being here.

She did see the logic of beating them down verbally especially with people carrying their snobbish attitudes here. Doing this can help them disregard their life before coming here and hasten their transition to become knights in service.

By starting over with a clean slate, instructor Heath can create great soldiers.

A couple of meters away from the noisy and boiling field. Two knights appeared to be passing by the area to another building. Because of Heath’s enthusiastic screaming test, which low key test how long can you endure without going deaf, every knight within the vicinity can clearly hear everything.

The two were ordinary Summer Tide knights as seen from their standard white and gold ensemble. "There he goes again." The one wearing glasses mused to his companion. They must have seen this scene happening every two years that it was like a tradition for them by now.

"I remembered. I was like them too just cowering my ass in front of Heath." The other knight remarked drily. He’s unsure whether to laugh or cry as he reminisced his awful time as a recruit without any sign.

"This brings back a lot of memories.” The one witb glasses snorted.

“Is your mouth a piece of trash?!”

The voice was closer than expected causing Ayla to snap out of her trance. Ayla looked over to see him glaring down at a female recruit with dark hair tied down in pigtails. Those sweat dripping down her face could actually not because of the sun but by the psychological horror from this.

"Wrong. Say it louder! Your ass can’t even hear you!" He barked out.

Back to the two spectators. The younger man sighed exasperatedly. He still can’t understand why the instructor always put every applicants in this hurdle. As someone who also went through that, the terrible feeling is suffocating that almost made him pack his bags back home.

"What's the point of intimidating them?" He asked the man as they continued walking to cut through the training ground.

The man with glasses looked at the myriad of expressions displayed in their faces with a thin smile. He can see the same expressions of fear, pain, passion, indifference and so much more from different people every time.

"It's a rite of passage." He answered after a while.

"By forcing them to accept the cruelness of humans will they be able to continue as a knight fighting leviaths. The military don’t need faint hearted ones."

Nobody will warmly welcome them in this place. To be completely honest, their presence isn’t something that is a loss for them until you prove your usefulness and potential.

“Of course, this is just the first phase of the examination process. There are still a lot of opportunities for them to figure out if they want to continue in this career path.” The man with glasses explained to his companion lightly.

This kind of method was more like plucking out the bad weeds right out the bat which ever way you see it.

The young man suddenly paused after noticing the instructor simply passed by several other recruits in the row.

"Looks like there's a few people he's ignoring." The man with glasses sighed in pity. That kind of thing happening still leaves a bitter taste in people’s mouth once they dig deeper to the reasoning behind it.

"There's no need for them to undergo the rite of passage again. Whatever world they live in before has been their personal hell for a long time.”

“You can clearly distinguish their expression from the rest." The younger knight muttered. It was still disorienting to see such contrast of emotion no matter how long they saw those gazes. Gazes full of grit and unspeakable madness.

Up until now, the aftermath of the Kingdom’s greatest tragedy still reflect to every generations. How much injustice did they feel to live bearing this hatred against an enormous power without any way to enact vengeance.

"Well, that’s that. Let's go, we’ll be late again."The bespectacled man patted his companion on the shoulder, facing away from the large training field.

Back on the situation at the field. Ayla saw that Heath was just about to called out another person. It was a tall guy with dark hair and a regrettably punchable face.

"And who the hell are you?" Heath demanded.

"Dotr from Gaia City, sir." He saluted. He was different from the previous ones interrogated as he was very composed and happy under Heath’s pressure.

"Why are you here, shit face?!” Heath pressed on even when he’s eyes was twitching dangerously at the seemingly unperturbed smile on the guy’s face.

Dotr flash him a breezy smile as he relaxed his posture. “To join the incumbent knights of Summer Tide and live in the capital peacefully, sir." He smirked as if showing off to everyone for his honest answer.

‘You don’t have to say it out loud! Do you want to get beaten up?’

She finally get it why that guy has a punchable face. People like him are the most irksome and regrettable to encounter. It’s because they were the people who chooses to burrow further in this godforsaken hellhole—naivety with that arrogance is a dangerous combination.

Ayla had met different kinds of people since working outside the barrier. Most were hard criminals, beggars, commoners, former slaves, and runaways. However, only a few in between can move their feet when thrown in that brink of life and death.

People who had come in with a flimsy motivation are usually those who had a superficial idea of what is truly at stake here.

Being contented and optimistic without accepting the foreboding future doesn’t sit well for Ayla.

Ayla looked at him like he had grown a pair of horns. ‘What kind of steel balls?!’ Others had also look over at the absurd exchange dumbfounded and half in awe.

Ha….you did not just tell that to the demon, shit face.

"I see. You wanted to live in the capital?" Heath taunted before he suddenly head butt Dotr on the head. That must've hurt. With that blow coming from a knight that’s still active on duty.

….that display of boldness will never sit well in front of any knight.

"You taking a shit down there? Think you can get to capital if you can't take that?"

Dotr was left groaning on the ground, cupping his head in pain. In his disoriented state, he can vaguely see stars revolving around his vision.

Wrong move dude, wrong move.

“Ugh…ha…I’m so…hng…hungry…” A voice suddenly groaned beside her as if in the pit of hellish suffering. Ayla turned to look at the person just in time for her stomach to let a low rumble.

“…”

Ayla, in her many years of navigating life with a tyrfing wielder’s keen hearing, didn’t deathly wish she wasn’t able to hear that rumble like right now.

That sound screams bad news in this delicate period especially when it is right beside her.

She eyed the people who were oblivious to what’s happening right here helplessly. This girl…looks like she was starved for a long time. Her face contorted to contain that obvious crave for food.

Fortunately, Heath turned his back to their side and marched off to a completely different platoon. His next victim was someone who immediately brighten up with an abnormal amount of freckles in his cheeks.

“Yah…girl, stand properly. The instructor will see you.” Ayla uttered softly without lifting her mouth.

However, the girl didn’t heard Ayla’s warning and became more sullen on her own.

“You! What kind of shithole did you come from?!” Instructor Heath shouted to another recruit.

The recruit must have been pretty tensed since the beginning. Ayla mentally facepalmed as she glanced down at his left hand forming the salute. The standard military salute was executed at the right hand. Doing it wrongly is seen as disrespectful especially to an old senior like Heath.

“My name is Yael from the southern part of Jemima, Deux City, sir!"

That's just peachy. Even toddlers know the standard military salute shared by the tri-military branch.

Heath obviously noticed his hand position quickly and wasn’t amused by the blatant mistake in front of him. “It seems like a lot of you need to evaluate if you are willing to enter the military! Even your grandparents know how to properly salute. Recruit! Do it properly or you’ll have no use of that hand soon!”

“Yes!” Yael lungs seem to have hiked up to his throat as he wore a terrified look and hastily switched his arms.

The sound of rummaging then caught Ayla’s attention, turning her head to the hungry girl in confusion. However, her expression blanked out once she saw the girl fished out a raw bell pepper out of nowhere.

She wore a triumphant expression, almost like hypnotized by the allure of eating the bell pepper. In the girl’s eyes, the potato was the greatest thing right now.

She had the gal to glance around cautiously, noticing that the demon instructor was preoccupied and went for it.

‘Don’t eat that!’

However, Ayla doesn’t have any telepathic ability to stop the girl from taking a huge bite of the bell pepper.

[crunch!]

"Who’s that eating right now? You dare to eat in front of your superior’s class?!"

A calibrated knight’s hearing is no joke. Heath’s voice boomed across the field like a portable megaphone. His enormous eye bags that made his ghoulish features more gloomy.

[crunch!]

Instructor Heath’s attention suddenly shifted from the dude with the clean shaven head to the girl beside Ayla, who was still munching casually. She made no attempt to hide she was the bell pepper eater in any way.

‘Can this batch get any weirder?’

Somethings tells Ayla that this wouldn’t be the last time the demon instructor will look like it want to emotionally combust.

Heath looked at her, speechless. A moment of uncomfortable silence passed by before Heath ignored Yael entirely. Going straight to the unsuspecting girl, who was still completely oblivious to her surroundings.

There’s only two likely scenario in here: either she's stupid or she doesn’t give a fuck. In any case, Ayla wants to light her ballsy fellow recruit a candle.

"Recruit! What are you doing?!” Heath bellowed.

She really did a poor job in hiding her food. What’s even more fearless is the fact that she’s still eating the bell pepper in front of the demon instructor.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Heath enunciate each words as if he was the death incarnate himself, taking your souls to river Styx.

The girl continues to munch loudly. Her eyes darting from left to right like nobody’s business.

Ha. That really set him off even more.

Heath was already screaming his shit out, but the girl was like a deaf bird…or just daft. Hey comrade, can you see everyone looking at you?

"I am motherfucking talking to you!" Heath fumed, putting his glowering face close to her face, which unsurprisingly scared the crap out of her. The other recruits also jumped in surprise, looking at Heath in fear.

Ayla worked hard to keep herself from laughing out loud by biting her lips. She felt bad, looking at panic stricken look on the recruit. However, it’s an amusing situation from outsider’s POV.

The bell pepper recruit quickly swallowed the piece she was eating with no problem, saluting still with the half eaten bell pepper on her other hand.

“Saterina of Madrid Village, sir!"

"Saterina,” He tested her name slowly coldly. A dark look cast over his face completely in rage.

“What is that thing in your left hand?"

"A steamed bell pepper, sir. I saw it at the kitchen and it looks delicious."

Ayla recalled a certain person with a heart of a plush toy hired in the kitchen and was feeling complicated. Hamal…must have seen Saterina lurking in the kitchen and gave her the bell pepper.

Instead of denying it, she even provided Heath with a logical answer that was problematic at the same time.

Heath was momentarily speechless at her casual answer, but pressed on. It seems like he had met first headache for this batch of recruit. "So you stole it. Why did you eat it now?" Heath asked slowly.

Everyone froze in a tense silence for her answer. Saterina looked at Heath seriously. "I got hungry from standing under the sun, sir!" She explained with the same energy of a patriotic knight.

Heath’s face crumpled at her answer. The iron fist instructor looked terribly defeated that his gloominess lessen a smidgen.

"No. I still don't get it." He trailed off dumbly. “Why would you eat a bell pepper?" He stressed out the word ‘bell pepper’ and was about to say more, but stopped himself.

It was not everyday that you will you see a recruit eating a bell pepper in the middle of training. Ans so, the strict compliance of hierarchical relationship in the military just flew out the window for Heath because of such ridiculousness.

Saterina looked up at Heath in sympathy. Damn, the military life is really the best. This senior official didn’t recognize a poor man’s food!

“You seriously don’t know that humans can eat bell peppers?" She raised an eyebrow, tilting her head at the side.

“…”

Ayla squeezed her eyes shut to keep the funny scene out of her sight as other recruits look at either Heath or Saterina alternately, dumbfounded.

Her mouth and jaw is aching for keeping her laughter and her sides hurt for contracting her diaphragm so bad. Goddamn…

Silence envelope the training ground with only the shrill of the wind at the background as Heath’s face became even more murderous.

After careful deliberation, Saterina decided to cut the bell pepper with a heavy heart. "Tch. I'll give you the half." She said, giving him the other half as if it was most righteous sacrifice anyone could ever receive from her.

Heath looked even more puzzled as he grabbed the bell pepper unconsciously, looking at it in disbelief.

"This...half?"

“Yes! (^^)”

Ayla’s face turned even redder from containing her laughter as her tears begins to sting her eyes.

‘Shit, the gods had really pit me to fail fabulously. Giving me front row seat in this comedy skit.’

“Run around the field until your knees fall out, Recruit Saterina.”