Chapter 6

three days quickly went by, where Arthur toured around the military camp. He learned a few things in these three days. First, he learned that the small barracks in the city where he was at the moment were far from the whole camp. Most of it was actually placed outside, in temporary camps of tents.

The second thing he learned was that the reason there was this whole recruitment campaign was also why the whole army was here. They wanted to replenish the soldiers they had lost in a war they fought a few months back.

The army was at the moment on a big campaign, where they were on their way to capture a massive fort, which had a huge strategic value. It was a fort that was placed in a valley between two mountains and stopped this country's army from invading their neighboring country.

If the army Arthur joined could control this fort, they would be able to invade the neighboring country without risking too much. The problem is that this fort was very hard to infiltrate, as the walls were massive and made with a special kind of brick made from the stones found in the mountains. They were much more condensed than anything anywhere else on the continent.

This information kind of made Arthur ready for a battle. He wanted to get stronger and show off his abilities. His dream was still to become a kind of high-ranking noble and get his family a perfect life.

"Are you Arthur?" A manly voice suddenly sounded from behind Arthur. He sounded annoyed for some reason.

Turning around, Arthur could see a tall man, around 2 meters tall with a slender build. Even though his build was slender, Arthur felt quite oppressed in front of him.

"That is me. You need me for something?" Arthur said with a battle-hungry smile. He heard the annoyance in the man's voice, so he thought the man had wanted to fight.

"Gary wants to see you. Follow me!" The man saw the smile that Arthur had on his face, and he was quite surprised. Most people would not even dare look him in the eyes after feeling his oppressive aura, but Arthur not only looked him in the eyes, he even smiled.

"Oh, okay!" Arthur realized he had misunderstood the man, so he smiled wryly and followed him.

He did not know why, but after leaving his home, he started to feel more and more battle-hungry. He wanted to fight lots of strong people.

It did not take long for them to arrive at where Gary was. Outside on a small open field, he was standing in front of hundreds of men. Most of them wore commoner clothes, but a few wore fancy clothes. He figured that the ones in fancy clothes were low-ranking nobles like Arthur.

"Arthur has arrived, commander. I will take my leave now!" The man who had escorted Arthur said as he.

"Oh, thank you!" Gary said as he let the man leave. Gary then walked toward Arthur with a huge smile on his face. "I trust you have been well these last few days!" He said, arriving in front of Arthur.

"I have, yes!" Arthur answered. He did not know what else to say as he just stared at Gary.

"Good, anyway, I think you can guess why I called you here! Go pick your ten future soldiers!" Gary said as he pointed at the hundred men and women in front of them.

Arthur just nodded as he went in between all the men there. He did not care if they were commoners or not. All he was looking at was the feeling they gave off. If they gave off an oppressive feeling in any way, he would pick them, or if his gut told him there was something special about them, he would pick them too.

The first 20 people he went past had nothing special, really. None of them caught his attention at all. The 21st, though, did not give off an oppressive feeling at all, but his eyes were sharp, focused, and determined.

This person was not that tall, standing around 170 centimeters. His build was a lot like Arthurs, slender but still muscular. He seemed to be around 17-18 years old in Arthur's eyes.

"This is the first one!" Arthur then yelled out to Gary with a smile.

Seeing who Arthur had picked, he could not help but feel shocked. That guy was a commoner, but he had heard that when this guy was tested, he had beaten up the person in charge of the test. He did not give off a feeling of being strong, but you should not judge this person by appearance.

This guy had also been offered the chance of being a small team leader, but he had declined it. He was just a commoner, so he did not feel like he deserved the honor, and he would rather start from scratch and which the top through efforts.

"You have good eyes, kid, good! I will assign him to your team!" Gary didn't want Arthur to get him, but he had made him a promise, so he could not go back on his word.

"What is your name?" Arthur realized he had forgotten to ask.

"Franz, sir!" He replied, keeping his serious expression. He did not seem to be a person of many words.

"Good, looking forwards to working with you!" Arthur said. His face showed a warm smile before he turned to keep looking for more members for his team.

Going further down the line of people, Arthur found a few people he wanted to join. None of them were as special as Franz, though. All of them gave off a small oppressive feeling, but nothing that special in the end.

When he came to the last ten people, he had picked nine of the ten he could have in his unit. Looking at the last ten people, he saw that the last of them was someone he knew. It was the girl he had met in the queue outside of the barracks.

"Hey, Emily! How would you like to fight by my side?" Arthur said as he walked up to her with a warm smile. He already knew she was someone strong, so he would definately not mind having her on his team.

This sentence made Gary's eyes twitch. He knew exactly who this girl was, which was why he had placed her last, in the hope Arthur had already picked his ten people. Emily was the granddaughter of one of the ten great generals.

The ten great generals were the last generation strongest heroes of the country. They had done enough things for the country to be seen as national treasures and even have more say than the royal family did.

They had fought many battles for the country, mostly defensive once, though. Valterra had never really been an aggressive country until the new ruler came. They always had just wanted to protect the territory they had from the invasion of the neighboring countries, the Areretic kingdom, and the Kumlire empire.

Both of them being some of the strongest forces on the continent, this was a huge challenge for a small country like Valterra. This is why the ten great generals had earned so much glory from being able to keep these two forces at bay all the time.

Thinking of all this, one could imagine how strong the granddaughter of one of these generals would be, going through their training. She would definately not be just any rookie out there. Gary could only imagine how strong Arthur's team would be with exceptional people other than Arthur himself in it.

"Arthur! Of course, I would fight with you!" Seeing Arthur in front of her, she showed a stunning smile and answered. She had been nervous all this time since she knew no one. Seeing that Arthur was gathering a small team, she was excited to be asked to join him.

"Glad to hear it. Looking forward to fighting with you!" Arthur bowed his head slightly in a way to show his appreciation.

"Me too!" Emily was still just excited and smiled while answering back.

In the end, most of the people Arthur had chosen were young talents and not some older men with a bit more experience. His small team was probably the least experienced out there, but it was also the team with the most potential.

With fighters like Franz and Emily by his side, he was excited to start leading. He felt like these two were probably even stronger than him, which only made him even more excited.

"You have picked your team now, Arthur. I will arrange a tent for your men!" Gary said before hinting with his eyes to one of the men behind him to escort them. "Follow this man. He will show you the tent!"

Saying that a man with a kind smile walked forward, indicating for Arthur and the others to follow him.

Not long went by before they stood in front of a ten-man tent, which was where this team would be located for the time being. This was the place that would be their home, and it was a tent they had to care for. After all, they had to take it down and put it up again when the army was on a campaign.

Walking inside, they saw ten beds had been placed with even spaces in between. Each one has its own locker and a small room for changing clothes. The toilet was not there. It was a small shed that had been built for sharing between a few tents outside. They would not live under the best of conditions, but it was definately not the worst since they were getting paid for living here.