Raph and Leah were all loaded up and ready to move the next morning, the rest of the caravan was just finishing it’s final preparations before it set off.

“So Leah, I’m not running this time right?” Raph asked tentatively.

“Hmm, you can have the day off I guess, but tomorrow you run again.” Leah said thoughtfully.

“Uhh, right, ok.” said Raph.

“I want you to help me look at some things while we’re en route.”

“Ok? What can I help you with?”

“I have some maps here and information about high priority targets, a second set of eyes might help make sense of it. Bishop already gave the ok on you looking at this so don’t worry about it.”

“Alright, well I’ll have a look but I don’t know if I can be of any use.”

“It’s ok Raph, sometimes it just takes another perspective.”

It wasn’t long until the caravan was ready to move, Raph and Leah got into the carriage and Lincoln set off with the rest of the carriages. Once they were on the way Leah laid out some documents on a small table that was set up inside the carriage.

“We have some maps of the lines, marked with areas of increased activity as well as a list of possible targets for Breawen.”

Raph spent the next thirty minutes or so looking over the documents that Leah had presented to him, he really didn’t have any experience looking at anything like this so he was unsure what to offer.

“Leah, I don’t know what to say really. I haven’t studied military tactics before.” Raph said apologetically.

“That’s alright, I was just hoping for some inspiration that’s all.” said Leah.

“Leah, can I ask you something?”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Why did you join the army? I mean, I haven’t seen any other women at your rank so far.” Raph was tentative in his question.

“Ah. I was waiting for this one.”

“I didn’t mean to-”

“Raph, it’s ok. I don’t mind telling you. I recall you saying you know what level I am, do you know my class?”

Raph looked a little on edge, but he trusted Leah.

Identify

Maj. Leah Raycraft -- Floraomancer Lv.185

“Floraomancer, level 185.” Raph said.

Leah looked Raph over as he accurately identified her. “Yes. Well my family are from Preunia, down in the south of Ustral. We’re a family of magic users that specialize in natural magic, most of us are plant mages or druids and the like.”

“Ok, so you’ve got green fingers.” Raph chuckled.

Leah looked confused at Raph’s statement but continued anyway. “As I was saying, the people in my family aren’t usually ones for anything militaristic or warring. All of my relatives as far as I know are either researchers, teachers, or some kind of royal aide.”

“So why did you join the army? Given your level I’m sure you could have done anything.”

Leah smiled. “Well maybe I could have, but eight years ago my brother went on a research trip over the front lines. There was a ceasefire so it was supposed to be safe.” At this point Leah’s eyes were starting to water.

“Levi went over into Breawen with a small group of other researchers to gather up some information on a small micro-climate that was found in a secluded valley. They were looking for unique flora and fauna that could only be found there, the expedition was only supposed to be a few weeks.” Leah paused again and took a deep breath.

“Around a week into the expedition we heard news that the crew had been captured by Breawen soldiers and the ceasefire had been broken. All hells began to break loose, Breawen tipped the balance and took the expedition hostage. A negotiation was attempted but it broke down for one reason or another. It was actually the last time Bishop personally made a move, that day he killed one of Breawen’s generals. They eventually…”

At this point in the story Leah started crying, Raph leaned over the table and put his hands on hers that were resting on the table. “It’s alright Leah, you don’t need to go on.” Raph tried to comfort her.

Leah wiped her eyes. “No Raph, it’s ok.” Then she continued. “After negotiations failed and Breawen refused to trade the hostages, they began to execute them. My family tried to personally get into the negotiations, my Aunt is a royal aide to King Griffon. We couldn’t do anything, Breawen wouldn’t negotiate. Even Bishop went in and tried to get them back, which only worsened the situation. He was held back and the whole expedition crew was executed, which resulted in the tension between Ustral and Breawen that we have today.”

Leah was crying quite hard now; she raised one of her hands up to wipe her eyes, she squeezed Raph’s hand harder with her other.

“Thank you Leah, thank you.” Raph said in a hushed voice, he couldn’t imagine what it would have been like to be in that position. Raph tentatively moved around the table to sit on the same side as her. He moved his arm around her shoulder and lightly rubbed it, Raph wasn’t exactly experienced in this kind of thing but he felt like it was the right thing to do. They spent a while in silence like this, Raph’s arm around Leah’s back while she was crying lightly. By the time the silence was broken the sun had gone down around them. The caravan was nearing its destination for the night, a small town called Lastmire where they would stop and rest.

“Thank you Raph.” Leah said quietly as they rolled into Lastmire.

“Don't mention it Leah. Thank you for sharing that story, I know it wasn’t easy for you. I really appreciate it.” Raph still had his arm around her and he gave her a little squeeze as he smiled at her.

Leah blushed a little as he did so which caused Raph to realize how long they had sat like this. Removing his arm Raph’s face started to heat up, he coughed lightly.

“Oh, it looks like we’re almost at the first stop for today.” Raph said, a tad embarrassed.

Leah smiled, “yeah, we are.”

The caravan pulled into the town and started to set up for the night. First thing in the morning they would call out the recruitment in the public spaces. As Lastmire was only a small town, they would only stay for the day with the recruitment being held in the afternoon. Raph left the carriage and watched as a group of officers began to set up a multitude of tents and desks where the recruitment would be held the next day. Eventually everything got set up and everyone began to retire for the night, which left Raph awake by himself. Leah had already fallen asleep when he went to check on her, the recollection of the story must have really tired her out. His nightly routine was becoming very solitary as no one else was awake so late. Raph would do some combat training by practicing his skills and movements squad 20 taught him, then he would just sit and look at the night sky as a form of meditation.

---

The morning brought a very busy town into Raph’s view, he was sitting outside of their caravan with a mug of covee in his hand. He’d borrowed a kettle back in the main base which he was using to boil water, with a small fire pit to heat it. The covee was a welcome luxury in the morning. Raph watched as the officers prepared for the afternoon recruitment with fascination, they were like worker bees swarming around. Leah walked up to him, now in her dress uniform as was protocol for her rank.

“Raph you need to be in your dress as well, I have a uniform for you in the carriage somewhere. If you are going to be with me on this you have to be in your dress, we are representing the best of Ustral here.” Leah said.

“Alright Leah, I will get changed now.” Raph said as he finished the covee and went into the carriage to look for the uniform. The military dress was a solid deep forest green with a rank insignia and a small Shepherds cane on the epaulets, it was very similar to what Raph had seen on Earth. The only real difference was the cut was looser making it more appropriate for combat if it came to that, and there were no hats to speak of. Raph changed and made his way out to Leah who was waiting for him outside.

“Wow, now you look like a proper soldier.” said Leah with a smile.

“Why thank you Major.” Raph was a little flattered.

“Alright Raph. The tests will be pretty much the same as when you did them a few weeks ago; a run, weights, strength test, and a combat test. I’d like you to watch the tests to see if there are any promising candidates. I know you have some kind of special analysis so maybe you could use that to see if there is anyone with a rare or unique class. If you see anything or need any help come and find me, I will be in the tents somewhere. Feel free to walk around for now, just remember to be back at noon.” Leah said, then she walked away into one of the tents that were set up last night.

This gave Raph a few hours to kill before the tests started so he decided to have a walk around the town. Lastmire wasn’t very big, it had; some shops, a cafe, and an inn, but that was really the extent of the town. Raph’s first visit was to the only cafe which was still reasonably busy at this time in the morning. The cafe was called The Pot and Kettle, it was quite small but clean and very pleasant inside. Raph sat down and a waitress came over to him a few moments later.

“Good morning sir, what can I get for you?” The waitress asked as she eyed his uniform.

“Um, what would you recommend? I don’t usually eat out a lot.” Raph was curious as to what they had, his culinary knowledge of this world was still very limited.

“We do serve a lovely vanilla pound cake, if you are interested?” The waitress said with a smile.

“Hmm, sounds good. I will take one of those and a breakfast tea please.” said Raph, the waitress took his order and went off to the kitchen.

Raph looked around the cafe, inspecting its patrons. They seemed to mostly be locals, all except one man in military dress like him. Raph didn’t recognise him so he assumed he was from the main army, he did however notice his rank: Major. As Raph was looking at the Major, he turned his head towards Raph and raised an eyebrow then gave a small nod. Raph nodded back to the man, just as his food arrived. The pound cake, as it turns out, was excellent, small and sweet but very nice. Raph carried on finishing his breakfast while he watched the comings and goings of the cafe, the Major eventually left, presumably he had something important to do. When he was finished Raph paid up then he decided to have a bit of a walk around before the recruitment began.

As he was walking around the streets he occasionally saw soldiers walking around making announcements about the recruitment. There was to Raph surprise a blacksmith shop on one of the side roads, so he decided to take a look inside. The shop was quite small with only a few rows of weapons in the front and a small counter with a very tanned middle aged man sat behind it.

Identify

??? -- Blacksmith Adept Lv.60

‘Hmm, I’m not really sure what I expected.’ Raph had a quick look around, everything was of average quality. He noticed a medium sized piece of ore sitting in the corner in between two shelves. It was a very dark grey color that looked like it absorbed light somehow, speckled with a lighter grey flake.

Identify

Star Tungsten -- One of the densest materials that can be found naturally, hard to work with yet very powerful in the right hands.

‘That’s odd.’ Raph though as he turned towards the man at the counter.

“Excuse me.” Raph got the man's attention.

“What can I do for you?” He said with a rough voice.

“Is that ore in the corner for sale?” Raph asked.

“Hmmmm. Oh well yeah it actually, just one condition though.” The man smiled craftily.

“What would that be?” Raph was confused.

“Oh it’s pretty simple, you just have to be able to pick it up.” He chuckled.

“What?” Raph asked as he turned and walked back to the Tungsten. He bent down to get a firm grip around the metal and heaved. It shifted slightly but no one would really call that lifting it.

Hhuuuuu.

Raph strained, but no dice. The man at the counter started howling with laughter. Raph needed this so he tried again, he took up a proper position with his hands as far under as he could get. Back straight, legs bent he put everything he had into lifting it. He barely managed to get the thing off the floor, but he did it and the man at the counter stopped laughing. Raph placed the ore back on the ground before his back gave out.

“So how much?” Raph said, out of breath.

“I’m impressed, so for you kid; 1 gold.” said the Blacksmith

‘That does seem like a lot, but I bet this would be a great material to make some hammers out of in the future.’ Raph considered it. “Alright deal.” He handed over 1 gold coin to the Blacksmith, who then went into the back of the shop which gave Raph enough time to store the ore in his ring and flee before he was asked any questions.

As he left the blacksmiths shop he realised that it was nearing the time for the recruitment, he could see a few people from the town walking over towards the area where the caravan was stationed. When he got there he found more people than he expected, maybe there was around 100 or so. As per Leah’s request Raph decided to tag along at the back of the training to keep an eye out for any interesting characters. All of the current participants were assembled just beside of where the caravan was parked, Raph recognized the officer standing in front of the crowd. Sergeant Ellis, the same man who had run the tests in Langreth was here as well.

Raph walked over to the Sergeant before the tests began, he wanted to give him a heads up that he would be watching.

“Sergeant Ellis.” Raph nodded as he walked over.

The Sergeants head snapped to his direction and he briefly looked like he was about to bite Raph’s head off until he saw the uniform, then the rank, then the cane. Sergeant Ellis’ eyes narrowed, until he nodded at Raph.

“Lieutenant, I don’t think we’ve met before?” The Sergeant said, now more subdued.

“Actually.” Raph began with a smile. “We met a few weeks ago in Langreth.”

“Langreth? No, I’m sure I would have seen you there with Major Raycraft.” Sergeant Ellis looked perplexed.

“I was part of the test in Langreth, I’m not surprised you don’t recognise me. The uniform really does change how you look.” Raph smiled again.

“What? You were in the test at Langreth? Oh wait. I do remember you now, you’re the kid who beat the officer in the ring.” Revelation appeared on Ellis’ face.

“The very same. It’s a pleasure Sergeant.” Raph stuck out his hand to which Sergeant Ellis returned the gesture. “Anyway, the reason I wanted to talk to you is that I’m going to be hanging around the tests today to see if anyone interesting shows up. Major Raycraft instructed me to do so.”

“Well if you’re here under the Major’s orders, I can’t really tell you otherwise can I?” Sergeant Ellis seemed ok with the fact.

“Great, I look forward to working with you.” Raph said as he walked off to have a look at the crowd.