Chapter 3 - A Good Harvest

"But it's not all bad news," Leopold said to get the crowd's attention, he didn't raise his voice or shout, but everyone heard him as if he were on their side. "We the crusaders. We destroyed a fallen tyrant and purified fertile land. twice equivalent to Ortea! We come here today, on this day, to declare that as long as the Order persists, humanity will prevail! As long as there are young people willing to give their hearts, humanity will have glory, as long as we breathe, taking Ortea back will be a fact and not a prospect! That's why we've advanced the selection and that's why we'll do it once a year from today! For as long as there are crusaders serving the Order and humanity, we will inevitably rid the world of all evils!"

 Leopold raged as he looked at the crowd to lift their spirits, an act that moved and inspired everyone, the whispers of fear replaced by cries of bravery and glory, everyone rejoicing at the prospect of so much new fertile land, well... Almost everyone.

 Pan was unimpressed by Leopold's act and words of bravery, so many fertile lands are a decoy for those who don't realize that the price the Order paid was unimaginable. Only Pan and a few wealthy and well-educated sons understood this fact, a fact that filled them with doubt.

 'Also, to cleanse the world of all evil? What a joke.' Thought Pan. From his point of view, Leopold's words only sounded like fanatical arrogance.

 The Order's realm was great and mighty, but it wasn't the only ruler of this world, nor the only one fighting the fallen.

 And shortening the selection time could only mean one thing, the Order has lost more than it can sustain and needs new crusaders as soon as possible to heal their wounds.

 'I bet taxes will rise again.' Thought every merchant with a working brain.

 "One step forward, young heroes, one step for the Order," said Leopold, oblivious to Pan's thoughts and the merchants' fear.

 Upon being called by Leopold and inspired by him, a young man who was in the front row advanced up the stairs. As he passed the pillars, they shone with modesty and upon arriving in front of the great stone the young man was instructed to put his blood on it. Cutting his hand with a ceremonial dagger, he placed his palm on the stone, the stone then vividly absorbed his blood, but to the young man's dismay, there was no reaction.

 Seeing the young man's disappointment Leopold encouraged him, saying that there were many things a mundane man could do for humanity, agriculture, commerce, medicine and so on and on seeing the sparkle return to the boy's eyes he continued to encourage the young men to rise to the podium.

 After twenty minutes a reaction finally took place, a small boy was in front of the big stone that glowed with an intensity of brown color, making the crowd sigh.

 "A brown crusader, a type of strength, very rare and very intense, congratulations boy," congratulated Leopoldo.

 The boy who was grinning awkwardly was placed beside the large stone as he watched the crowd admire his rare inclination towards brown.

 It is said that every Crusader can do a little of everything, but it would be foolish not to focus on their inclination, especially if it is for physical enhancement, after all, the fallen will not kill themselves.

Every fifty or one hundred youths a crusader appeared. This greatly impressed Leopold, considering that normally only one in a hundred or two hundred were selected.

 'What prosperity.' Thought Leopold.

 'That'll get me some good credit.' Thought Baron de Lark.

 'Wasn't it one in a hundred? What the hell is this?' Thought Pan, feeling anxious.

 Most of the selected youth had the white aptitude, the most common of all, it was focused on purifying and healing, it wasn't the best for battles, but together a white team was a tough nut to crack. The downside is that the whites had difficulty improving the essence to cause damage, which makes them weak when they are alone. After all, healing even though the essence had its limits, a bite of the fallen ones stuck in the heart cannot simply be cured .

 Apart from the whites, there were lots of reds, some browns and a few blues.

 "Come on boy," said Leopold.

 Realizing Pan that there was no one else in front of him and that the crusader master was looking his way, he sighed internally and started up the stairs, the pillars glowed again and the ceremonial dagger was passed as he stopped in front of the stone. After a moment's hesitation, he cut off his hand with an ugly face and placed it on the stone. Pan felt the old relic greedily suck his blood and then it glowed.

 The stone glowed an intense green forcing Pan to close his eyes. A single thought landed in his mind.

 'I'm fucked.'