Chapter 240: How we met

The scene changed to when the a drill instructor is training us immigrants to fight, and with my luck, he picked me and a few others to fight him all at once. He even gave me a knife and everything.

But due to my size and lack of training, I was easily overpowered as the instructor who had no pity towards a child landed several blows on me, and grabbed one of my arms before flinging me to the other side of the room hitting the wall, coughing up a lot of blood.

"The monsters on those fields can't even be pierced by a regular bullet, much less a child who can't even throw a proper punch" the drill instructor snarled "It's a good idea to use you maggots to reduce our loses, but this is just pitiful"

"Go easy on the kid!" his assistant pleaded as he ran up to me "Broken arm, ribs, even with out new advanced equipments made using the cores of those monsters, it'll take him at least 2 weeks to heal properly"

"Well it's to teach the rest of these maggots what's it like out there, it's hell!" the drill instructor shouted "Those monsters are stronger than a trained soldier, so we need to toughen these stupid ability-holders to match them. Look at him, pitiful"

"He's crying because he's still a kid, go easy on him! I'm taking him to the medic for emergency medical attention" the assistant said as he picked me up and rush out of the room

*****

3rd person view

"What's his English name again?" The drill instructor asked as he looked onto his list when he checked on Pich "Pana-pah what? You know what? I'll come up with a name for ya like with the others, you look dirty and fought rough so...Grace should do. Maybe one day, you'll live up to your own name and fight more elegantly"

"But sir, that's a girl's name" the nurse pointed out

"Well he cried like wimp, so make sense to be named like one" the drill instructor scoffs "He'll be assigned to squad 11, so that makes his last name Leven. Grace Leven, not a bad name."

Elektra who is spectating from the realm of the gods isn't happy. She was really tempted to strike the guy down on the spot

"Calm down, Elektra" Phantasos ordered "I want to kill that stupid instructor too, but we interfered enough, if the higher ups find out that we helped raise the boy, we'll be punished. At least wait till he reincarnates, then we can reveal it and no punishment can be carried since he would technically be in a different body"

"He's a child, how could anyone treat him like that, my beautiful boy..." Elektra choked up a tear

"Well it won't be long till he's fired, which is at least several more years."

"Yeah, injuring other children in the process!" Elektra retorted "I'll make sure that when he dies, he'll suffer eternal punishment!"

"Well luckily you taught him a bit, so he should be smart enough to figure out how to get things going from here" Phantasos reassured her

"Oh he's awake" the nurse commented "Please don't be scared, he won't hurt you any longer"

"What do you want?" Perseus asked

"You need to toughen up if you want to fight, and if you don't fight, you'll be sent back" the drill instructor threatened "Not that there's anywhere you can go back"

"Wh-why are you here?"

"Well, the barracks is running out of space, kid. So orphanages have offered to take kids in, we'll send cars to pick you up for training at Monday morning before returning you back to your respective orphanage at Friday evening." he explained "But due to the mass amount of kids, even some orphanages are full. With limited volunteers, I'm tasked to ask some kids whether they are willing to live by themselves with no caretakers, of course, there will be others. When training finishes in 4 years, you'll be staying there 24/7 with your new room mates."

"What do I get out of it?" Grace asked

"You'll get extra rations every month with an extra bit of money since you will have no caretakers, unless you want to cook yourselves, then we'll just liquidate your rations into money for you to do your own shopping instead." the drill instructor answered "Of course, we'll send someone every week to make sure you're okay. It's basically asking whether you're willing to sacrifice your spot at a regular orphanage to live by yourselves."

"I'll take it then, that means someone else who's in a more desperate situation will have someone to take care of them." Perseus replied

"Funny how that came out a kid wrapped in bandage" the drill instructor chuckled "So well, you're in luck, you'll be staying with 3 others all of whom will be assigned into the same squad. So your place should be the least crowded, some have 10 living a small house. You'll get to meet them soon, you'll have a week to know each other before we start your official training"

*****

1st person view

-This is where I met them-

After my recovery, they gave me my files and ID before transporting me on a bus to the new place. I still to this day can't believe that the house we stayed at qualifies as an orphanage. It has a sign that says 'Squad 11' and looked a bit run down.

I got in and cleaned up the place a bit, it has 1 floor and has 5 small rooms, even the furniture are dusty

Another bus arrive, 2 boys and a girl my age stepped out. Nostalgia hit as I see them again, we are all around the same age all coming from different corners of the planet.

Bennett Leven, Kennett Leven and Kelly Leven. All us here aren't even taller than 120cms.

"Yo I'm Bennett Leven" Benny introduced himself "Call me Benny, this guy with the glasses is Kennett Leven and and the girl is Kelly Leven. You can call him Kenny, he really doesn't mind"

Benny has dark brown hair, amber eyes, olive toned skin and has a big smile on his face.

Kelly has black hair and dark green eyes with a small smile on her face. She's probably hiding her sadness, everyone here have lost someone, some adults got drafted and never returned or they were never there in the first place.

Kenny has black hair, brown eyes and wears glasses. He fits the stereotype of a guy who will rank #1 for his intelligence, the definition of a nerd.

"I do mind. Well we're all Levens here, so I'll make an exception" Kenny pointed out "What's your name?"

I guess this was where it all began.

"My name is Panhapich, and my um English name is Grace Leven, nice to meet you, I guess"