The long caravan meandered its way along the snaky trail, the wagons constantly jolting up and down as the drivers tried to steer the horses around the many potholes that littered the road that was in a horrible state of disrepair due to the fact that the Royal Engineers safety could not be guaranteed by the region's garrison. And now some of the holes had become as large as the openings of wells and those were the hardest to navigate around, the procession almost always grounding to a halt as the men tried to make sure the wheels didn’t get disastrously caught by such hazards. The constant whinnying of horses and the curses of the men laced the air, many clearly complaining about the horrible start to their morning whilst the wagoners set to their tasks with resignation.

It was then that the atmosphere changed like a rumbling before a storm, voices could be heard from the woods all around them and the wagoners tensed, suddenly becoming apprehensive before the woods exploded all around them with the giant figures of vicious Orc raiders, charging towards the narrow road with ululating battle cries. The men yelled in panic as they tried to run away towards the front of the column…. only to gather into a tight circle around the lead wagon and flinging their dusty grey cloaks aside to reveal the uniforms of the Rosenheim Army, the soldiers instantly pulling out their swords as one.

"SHIELD WALL!", the order rang out as Gerhard stood up from the lead wagon to which a clattering of shields shuddered and locked tightly against their neighbours before the men rested their long swords on top of the metal reinforced rims of their kite shields, pointed edge ready to thrust into the faces of their enemies.

The orcs were in too much of a bloodlust to care or noticed that the caravan was actually a trap before they barrelled into the shields of the soldiers, hammering rusty swords or glaives with wild abandon at the humans while some with more sense of mind tried to pull the shields forward to get to the men behind them. For their efforts, many of the orcs lost their fingers, were struck in the eye or grabbed their throats in reflex to stop the sudden gush of bleeding as the 22 soldiers responded like a well drilled machine, their hearts swelling as one as Gerhard sang above them, striding back and forth on the edge of the wagon while lashing out his sword over their heads with deadly results.

" Drei Lilien, drei Lilien,

Die pflanzt' ich auf mein Grab,

Da kam ein stolzer Reiter

Und brach sie ab."

To which the soldiers responded to him, voices raised in song as they felt themselves gaining courage and becoming stronger.

"::Juvi valle ralle ralle ralle ra::

:: Juvi valle ralle ralle ralle ra::

Da kam ein stolzer Reiter

Und brach sie ab. "

Gerhard was smiling wide, feeling fully in his element as he nimbly stepped out of the way of a glaive chop before loping the head off the weapon and then the owner.

"Ach Reitersmann, ach Reitersmann,

Laß doch die Lilien stehn,

Die soll ja mein Feinsliebchen

Noch einmal sehn".

":: Juvi valle ralle ralle ralle ra::

:: Juvi valle ralle ralle ralle ra::

Die soll ja mein Feinsliebchen

Noch einmal sehn."

As they sang the refrain, already Gerhard could see movement in the trees behind the Orcs and he smiled almost savagely as he tried to rouse his men to sing louder, to drown out the roars and cries of the orcs, to draw all attention only to them.

"WAS SCHERT MICH DENN DEIN LIEBCHEN,

WAS SCHERT MICH DENN DEIN GRAB!

ICH BIN EIN STOLZER REITER

UND BRECH' SIE AB.

The men didn’t let him down, roaring the refrain into their enemies' faces and making several of them recoil back, the sheer numbers of the fierce orcs unable to dampen the spirits of the completely outnumbered and surrounded humans.

":: JUVI VALLE RALLE RALLE RALLE RA!!::

:: JUVI VALLE RALLE RALLE RALLE RA!!::

ICH BIN EIN STOLZER REITER

UND BRECH' SIE AB."

Gerhard kept singing, mastering his emotions and memories, singing to drown out the voices and echoes of the past, singing to reaffirm his presence in the here and now as he pointed his sword at the forest.

"UND STERBE ICH NOCH HEUTE,

SO BIN ICH MORGEN TOT,

DANN BEGRABEN MICH DIE LEUTE

UMS MORGENROT!"

Suddenly, explosions rippled in the rear of the Orc’s ranks, huge area of effect flame magic igniting the clothes of the nearby Orcs and turning several in its epicentre to cinders instantly , followed by the appearance of the remaining squads, roaring the final refrain back to their surrounded comrades in response as they charged.

:: JUVI VALLE RALLE RALLE RALLE RA!!::

:: JUVI VALLE RALLE RALLE RALLE RA!!::

DANN BEGRABEN MICH DIE LEUTE

UMS MORGENROT!

Caught in a pincer, the orcs began to buckle under the enormous double pressure before Gerhard leapt down into their midst and began to cut his way forward to link up with the reinforcements. The shield wall suddenly shifted and formed into an arrowhead formation with Gerhard as its violent tip, carving their way step by bloody step over the corpses of the orcs, as accurate explosions rained down all around them, Lydia providing invaluable fire support. For once helping out…

Receiving constant devastating AoE spells, surrounded on both sides and being cut to pieces rapidly… the courage of the Orcs finally fell as hundreds lay dead, the mobs attempting to break out of the encirclement in blind panic to which Gerhard shouted, "Remember your orders!"

The men around him nodded and even though he couldn’t see their replies, Gerhard grinned as he felt it, knowing that the men would take prisoners to be questioned later. And to this, the scene drifts slowly upwards to the sky, fading to white as a song begins to play in the background…

INTRO SONG: Kono Sekai e Moeru

*********************************************************************************************

*Ding!

You've leveled up!

You've leveled up!

You've leveled up!

You've leveled up!

You've leveled up!

You've leveled up!

You've leveled up!

You've leveled up!

You've leveled up!

You've leveled up!

You've leveled up!

Leadership has risen by 20 points (+20 LS)

Charisma has risen by 14 points (+14 CHR)

Fighting Spirit has risen by 13 points (+13 FS)

The overwhelming victory rewarded Gerhard with a wealth of exp as the men clanged sword hilts against shields in a thumping rhythm, over and over again as they chanted repeatedly, "EAGLE! EAGLE! EAGLE! EAGLE!"

It was a nickname given to him as he brought them victory after victory, the title stemming from the fact that the men viewed him as the successor of Ernst Rommer, the current Eagle of the East and it was only a matter of time before he inherited the rights and titles of a true knight. Over the past two weeks of brutal ambushes and expeditions into the forest, this latest plan was set in motion as Gerhard recounted his own experiences of countering guerrilla warfare…often with intensely bad memories that it helped resurfaced.

Orc prisoners were being tied and rounded up in a long single file, guarded by a single squad on either flanks as Denarions went up and down the line, questioning the Orcs in the hope of locating their stronghold. Gerhard left them and walked towards the edge of the road, gazing out into the wide forest below, the canopies of the trees spreading out far and wide as the eyes can see.

"Do you always look so gloomy after winning?", Lydia complained as she stood next to him, "I mean, look at all the loot we got! Fufufufu, I can soon buy a new dress and staff with this collection".

"As usual take my share and divide it amongst the men"

"As your personal accountant, I object!"

"Wait what?", Gerhard turned to look at her, "Since when did that happen?"

"Since you couldn’t EVEN save a copper coin let alone maintain your own gear! THAT’s when!", Lydia scolded, "I still can't believe you refused the reward from that last quest, the muffins that mute Sister Angelica bakes is made to boost your stats by 30% for an hour! Do you know how much money you could have made if you sold it at the auction house!?"

"…but the children needed it more than I. They have few things to enjoy eating as it is".

"Grrrr…. How many times must I tell you this! They are NPCs! THEY don't FEEL or NEED anything like we players do. At least you got a ton of fame for doing so or else I would have gone crazy!"

Gerhard shrugged as he returned his gaze back over the roof of the vast forest below him, dismissing her worries as another concern still lay across his mind: Where was Eric the Red now?

*********************************************************************************************

Max surveyed his surroundings as he lugged the knapsack with all his belongings in it and sighed, wondering how he was going to get to his grandfather safely without getting jumped by every monster on the way due to how weak he was. Max had chosen the blacksmith profession due to the fact that he was a mechanical engineer student in university and wanted to try his luck with the unlimited supply of materials that can be found in the virtual world… only to his horror he realised, he was overwhelmingly weak. Fragile as a glass cannon, only he wasn't even a cannon. More like a rabbit could out DPS(Damage per second) him against another mob. So he decided to do what his grandfather did and went to train at the hall to make up for his insufficiency… only to find a large crowd of women moping around and asking passing players if they had;

"…seen a beautiful man with a voice like an angel"

"… who makes you want to leave your current husband and elope with him"

"…no no he makes you want to cook meals for him..", a blushing man said.

"…lets see if I could compare him with something, I would say perfection."

"…if you find him please tell us… but if you touch or fall in love with him we will break your fingers. Teehee", the woman smiled scarily.

'UWAAAAH! GRANDFATHER HOW CAN I BE AS POPULAR AS YOU!? TEACH ME, DAMNIT! None of the girls in my class would even look at me', Max sobbed internally as he raged at the straw target, hitting it to vent his frustrations.

Faced with that kind of situation everyday for weeks… Max went berserk. When the instructor finally went to give him his new sword for completing the course, Max's eyes were glassy and out of focused as he muttered, "Women are blind, women are blind, women are blind…….fufufufufu grandpa you will teach me your secrets won't you? Fufufufufuhuhuhuhu".

"Haha, you are a funny one, aren’t ya?", said a voice behind him.

Max turned around, only to be floored by the sight of a young beautiful girl who was actually TALKING to him. He ogled at her, her petite figure covered in a red silk dress with patterns of Japanese style gold coins under a rose red segmented armour where two katanas were strapped to her hips, her long luscious pink hair tied up in a topknot under which a face of a Yamato Nadeshiko gazed at HIM with mild interest.

'……YAHOOOOO! Mother! Father! Your son is about to become a man!', Max celebrated in his head although he didn’t show this on his face as he said, "Only because I find it strange that the gods themselves do not descend from the heavens to proclaim your beauty, my dear", he gave her his best smile.

'TAKE THAT! MY SURE ONE HIT FALL IN LOVE WITH ME LINE! LOVEME! WANTME! LOVEME! WANTME! LOVEME! WANTME! LOVEME! WANTME! LOVEME! WANTME! LOVEME! WANTME!', he projected mentally to her with all his might.

"N..nee-san , that man is making a weird face", replied a soft pitched voice from a person who was almost the spitting image of her only that this other half had glasses with black hair tied in a pony tail and whose armour was pure white under which a simple dark blue gi and hakama was worn. The way the person moved… must be a boy. No way he was going to fall for a trap. All those special dating games from Japan he played secretly in the early hours of the mornings has given him a trained eye for this sort of thing.

'Must be the brother', he thought as he promptly ignored him and returned his attention to what the girl was saying.

"Maa.. maa.. isn’t that ok Masumi? He's exactly what we need", she smiled at her sibling before she turned back to Max.

"My name is Mayumi and this here is my twin, Masumi. You look like you are going on a journey. Mind if we ask where?"

"…East? Out into the frontier", Max prayed that they were going there too, to which she smiled widely, making his heart beat like crazy.

"Really? Us too. Want to travel together? We are going to visit a friend"

"Eh… ehhhhhh, why me too! Haha, can't leave friends alone now can we?", Max laughed robotically.

Mayumi clapped her hands fast and repeatedly in joy, "Excellent! I hope we will be good friends too!", as she replied leaning in close to him, the scent of her perfume wafting up into his nostrils.

'…..Thank you god for this wonderful bounty….', Max thought dreamily to himself before he realised that his back was kinda heavy….EXTREMELY HEAVY.

Finally, he realised that there was luggage stacked almost twice the height of him tied around his body with rope as Mayumi skipped away ahead whistling happily. Masumi stood in front of him and bowed slightly.

"S..sorry. My sister knew you were strong enough to carry our entire luggage since she saw you complete the basic training course, when that NPC awarded you the sword."

"Eh… that’s ok, I am use to it".

"R..really? You kinda look like you are crying?"

"Oh this? Its just the sewerage flushing out along with all my hopes and dreams. Nothing to worry about"

"Haaa… Ok we better catch up with her. And don't worry, we know a shortcut to get to the frontier quicker so you can go meet your friend sooner".

The words jolted Max for a moment as he realised what he was really supposed to do in this world. Surprise grandpa with a gift entrusted to him by his parents. That was the reason why he didn’t contact his grandfather to tell him that he was in this world, he didn’t want the old man to be suspicious of his motives. In saying so, Max touched the pocket of his shirt lightly where the treasure now sits and just resolved himself to a few weeks of minor inconvenience.

And thus he set forth, following the Samurai Twins into the east.

*********************************************************************************************

Eric knelt in the centre of the road, analysing the recent flow of events that had befallen this place. With his keen eye, taking note the strategy that was implemented and what the force had then decided to do. For some reason he was sure that MAN was leading this group, not because of the signs of devastating efficiency marked in the terrain everywhere based on the tracking skills he had gained in the game… but purely his soldier’s instinct ...

The force must have found what they were looking for, as only a single squad led away a long line of prisoners towards whence they came and the rest proceeded onwards, Eric traced their footprints with a finger and knew that they were travelling with an increase in burden, perhaps extra rations for the journey. Which meant speed was of the essence.

One can't help but admire the decisive and straightforward manner of this commander… before Eric lightly shook his head to remove all such feelings as his face resumed the lifeless cast that had become second nature to him. He was here for only one purpose. To finish their duel.

*********************************************************************************************

Ending Song: Gentle Light