Chapter 21: Legendary Mercenaries of Antara

 The next day, the sun was high in the sky.

 Nadeem didn't organize a team training. Everyone was sitting or lying down in the forest, breathing in the breeze that smelled of green leaves, staring at the leaves swaying in the wind, and letting the dappled light shine on their bodies.

 Those who had escaped from the arena stretched out their arms and sighed, "What a free wind!", death was a little farther away from them.

 Nadim had a few veterans hide in the shadows on all sides of the unit, guarding against enemy attacks.

 For days afterward, Alva secretly changed his medication at night; she didn't want everyone to know that she was so close to the man she had cried out for certain death.

 Everyone was tacitly oblivious to this as well.

 Each time the medicine was changed, Vahan tensed, perhaps thinking of the scenes he would see every day when he was rubbed by his boots and whipped. He couldn't figure out what was going on with this woman, how she had become so gentle; just as he couldn't figure out how he had kept his mouth shut against begging for mercy when he knew she wouldn't kill him.

 But when he remembered that the woman had said "kill them" in the arena, he felt a chill down his spine, and wondered why the woman had spoken so decisively.

 After a few days of rest, Nadeem organized training again.

 Alva never asked anything about these training matters, as Nadeem and Para had taught themselves the same way in their youth.

 Para had purchased a large amount of armor, weapons, horses, etc. from the city of Memphis, and these weapons and equipment were distributed to over one hundred and twenty men. And how those who came out of the arena looked on enviously, who knew very well that having good armor and weapons was equivalent to adding a few more lives to one's own on the battlefield.

 Alvar gave Vahan a lot of knowledge about leading troops, as well as some of the do's and don'ts during troop battles, and Vahan listened quietly from the sidelines. Looking at this man with a handsome face, a slightly dark complexion, and an angular jawline, she actually choked on her words for a moment, and after regaining her senses, she quickly turned around and left, leaving him alone in his place, unsure of what to do.

 "From this day forward, the fifty or so of you who have come out of the arena form a mercenary group that will follow only Vahan's orders and accept only Vahan's control. You are no longer slaves, no longer peasants, thieves, or bandits, no longer Asele soldiers, no longer Southern Empire soldiers, you are free men, free mercenaries. In this mercenary corps you will be paid your own pay, you will be paid more than you could ever be paid as a soldier in any country, provided you can obey orders and survive the battle, and after the battle you will be able to do whatever you want with your pay, whether it be sending it to your family or eating, drinking, and enjoying it," Nadim said as he addressed the people who had made it out of the arena alive in one of the mountainous forests Shouting, something he was very good at and happy to do.

 There were murmurs from the crowd, they were all too familiar with Vahan, the man who had survived the arena for so long, anyone who had entered the arena with Vahan had never made it back to their cage alive, and not a few of them had been in the same cage as themselves. Inside the arena, they were always worried that they would enter the arena in the same batch as Vahan. And now that they were able to fight alongside such a man, they were somewhat relieved, after all, they were able to walk out of the arena alive because of this man's words.

 "Those who agree to join the mercenary group sit down in place!" Nadeem didn't let the small murmur last long.

 Most of the people all sat down honestly, after all, being a mercenary would be more free than any country's soldiers. A dozen or so of the Southern Empire's soldier captives stood in place, scanning their surroundings, and after seeing the soldiers with bows and arrows at the edge of the crowd, they all sat down on the ground as well, one by one.

 "Since you have all agreed, anyone who disobeys orders and runs away from the battlefield in the future will only be more miserable than the corpses you saw within the arena."

 With that said, Nadeem had the veterans train the men. It was just a walk in the park, after all, those who were able to live in the arena were those who had experienced real killings. Besides, there were many soldiers who had gone to war captive. And from today, they became mercenaries.

 Nadeem and Vahan turned to leave.

 "There are mercenary groups in every place, the Brotherhood of the Shield made up of Nords, the Golden Boars made up of Valandians. The Jawole, also known as the 'Wanderers,' are the main Bedouin alliance in the Nahasa Desert, and they roam between the highlands and lowland ranches, claiming large swaths of the desert as their 'territory,' charging protection money for wayfaring caravans, and they mock the Banu A The other tribes of the Serra abandoned their black wool tents, a symbol of freedom, to live in stone houses in the oasis. The other clans considered them self-aggrandizing nuisances, but also reluctantly respected their status as upholders of the Aserai tradition ...." Nadim tells Vahan a few things about the mercenary groups.

 "There are some of these mercenary groups that you should have heard of. Each mercenary group will be ruled by a clan, and you will need to build yours up quickly to be able to connect with the Emirs and the lords of other nations."

 ...

 Vahan listened attentively to these things that were incredibly foreign to him.

 During the night, Vahan walked into Alvar's tent.

 "Nadim says the mercenary group needs a title to make it easier for the outside world to know we exist. What do you think would be a good name?" Vahan asked in a slow voice.

 "Why! Do I need to make up my mind about everything?" Alvar looked at him calmly as he sat on the blanket.

 "That's fine," Vahan said as he sat down smoothly on the blanket.

 "Let's call it the Legend of Antara, and hope that everyone in this unit will be as valiant, virtuous, and supportive of the weak and the poor as Antara ben Scheidard, and hope that every mercenary here will write their own legend, and so will you."

 "I assume you've read a lot of books?"

 "When I was a child, my father only let me read books in the main building, not letting me come into contact with all this fighting and killing, and at that time, I developed the habit of reading books, only in recent years, I seldom read books ..."

 "Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo woo ..." A constant horn sounded from the mountains.

 "Enemy attack," Alvar blurted out and quickly got up.

 Only to have Vahan tug on his arm again, "It's okay." Alva was momentarily unsteady on her feet and slumped against Vahan.

 "It's Rada and the others, Rada's horn blowing is still such a mess," Vahan said to Alva in his arms.

 The coppery glow of her amber skin caught his eye.

 She blushed and tried to get up, but he held her tightly in his arms. She didn't move again, and the two of them just reclined together. He gently stroked her veil with his hand.

 "Why don't you let me stay in your troop, but let me lead mercenaries?" Vahan voiced the question in his mind.

 "Have you forgotten what I told you in the arena? I don't marry nobodies. You'll just take these mercenaries and build up your reputation as a man like Antara ben Scheidard," she whispered.

 "But I just want to be by your side..."

 Before the words were out of his mouth, Alva had slapped her hand lightly on his face, "Getting whipped around me!" She said, tilting her head.

 "That's fine too!" He looked at her and laughed.

 She raised her hand to slap him again, but he grabbed it and they twisted together.

 Suddenly, Nadeem appeared at the doorway to the tent, saw the two writhing on the blanket, froze for a moment and then immediately turned around, "Ahem, Miss. Ramtor and the others have arrived."

 The two didn't respond as if they hadn't heard, and Nadeem raised his voice again and repeated, "Ahem, miss. Ramtor and the others have arrived."

 Only then did the two men realize Nadeem standing by the tent. Alvar sat up straight on the blanket, his back to the tent door. Vahan quickly got under the blanket and covered his entire body, thinking to himself that he couldn't see me.

 "Got it, get them some food and let them rest," Alva said calmly.

 Nadeem answered and left.

 Alva lifted a corner of the blanket and the two men locked eyes, then both hemmed and hawed.

 Vahan sat up straight and kissed her forehead lightly.

 "Go on, they're waiting for you."

 Vahan walked out of the tent.