He then sniffed and with an embarrassed face said, “Ah, the food will take awhile to prepare. Why don’t you wash up? I’ll replace your clothes with some clean ones.”

I bowed my head, “Of course, we understand. Besides, it’s not like we like the smell of sweat either.”

He smiled and he had a servant lead us to the baths, where we freed ourselves from our armor and stripped off our clothes. Doing so revealed the many scars that covered our bodies, a testament to the countless battles we survived and won in the name of our country. Mine were more numerous than the others, I had outlived several battalions, each one of them on the frontlines and did not know the meaning of retreat.

I too did not know the meaning of retreat and yet I alone survived. I survived because I knew better than to save those that were doomed, to become attached to someone and to risk your life for them. That was useless, you must only risk your life for your country, for the singular purpose of a soldier is to fight and die for his country, nothing more, nothing less.

I left the clothing room and headed toward the waiting bath, not hesitating to let the hot water envelop me. I breathed a sigh of relief, it has been long since I could relax, though my dagger and sword were within reach. My comrades joining me, silent but all enjoying the bliss of the hot bath. Once I was clean, I got out, my hair washed and my body refreshed.

When I went to redress, I found my armor neatly stacked and a pile of clean folded clothes that awaited me. I pulled them on and donned my armor once more, sheathing my dagger and sword. I briefly checked the armor for the crystal chest piece, really the most important thing of the entire armor for it was what allowed for the armor to regenerate if you fed it some iron.

Of course, I didn’t know how it worked, only that this armor was the result of the great technology that Morsad either researched itself or took from the nations it conquered. The same was with my blades and that of my comrades’, as long as there was good steel or iron around, we could keep our armor as good as it was the day it came off the forge. It was slightly worn but not in dire need of repair. I could go on a few more months of rough fighting.

I waited for the others to finish their bath, a servant soon appearing to guide us to the dining room. We followed the maid a short distance through a few hallways, entering the dining hall that had an obviously long table. It was laden with opulent foods, the simplest being three cooked birds covered in an unknown honey-colored sauce that glistened invitingly.

The smell was also quite enticing, simply a mixture of smells that got my mouth salivating and my stomach grumble impatiently. Hmph, it seems my stomach needs more training but as of now, I had no reason to refuse such foods. I’ll have to take it slow, it wouldn’t do to be killed while drunk.

The master invited us to sit and we did so, taking off our helmets, doing so to be polite. We set them on the ground and bowed our heads to the master. He invited us to eat, saying,

“Please, eat.”

I did so first, not because I was hungry but because I was the only one in the group with a full poison immunity, I checked to see if it was poison. Luckily, it seemed like there was not and at my nod, the others dug in, though slowing down so as to be respectful to our host. I ate as well, stopping once I was full, though all of us combined cleared at least three fourths of the food on the table. When the master asked if we wanted seconds, we shook our heads, me saying,

“It is not wise to overfill on stomachs in the army, it just leads to unnecessary discomfort.”

He nodded, “I understand.”

I stood, as well as my comrades, “We thank you for your hospitality but it is time for us to go. By the way, do you know of any good jobs for men like us? We are in need of money in this country of yours.”

He mused, “Well, you could try becoming adventurers, guilds are in constant need of new men and the jobs requested of them are often in need of those who know how to fight. I could help you get in one but I cannot help you further.”

I nodded, “I understand, but if you can do what you have said, it will be more than enough.”

He then had a servant bring up an envelope, a paper, pen and ink. He then wrote a letter, sealing it with wax and his ring, handing it to us. He then dispatched a servant to lead us to the guild he mentioned, the Hallowfall. We promptly left, the servant guiding us to the guild with no problems. I turned the letter over and waited for the guild master to appear, soon greeted with the sight of a scarred man who wore haphazard armor which on closer inspection was far more useful than it appeared.

Flanking him were two adventurers, one in a similar getup and the other in full silver armor. The guildmaster inspected us, finally saying,

“What are you, soldiers?”

I nod, “Yes, we were part of an expeditionary unit of the empire of Morsad, a place very far away. For the longest time, we thought that Morsad was the only place of civilization but new discoveries prompted the Emperor to order expeditions. Unfortunately, my unit was attacked by goblins and me and my comrades were part of the rearguard. We are now stranded here and are in need of a job, at least until we can find a way to return.”

He nodded, “Very well, but we don’t just accept anyone, we are going to have to test you.”

I nodded, “Of course, what is our test?”

“To fight against me.” He grinned, hefting a battleaxe that I just now noticed.

This man was skilled, not just anyone could slip an axe through my senses. I grinned at the challenge and stood to accept it, drawing my blade. I raised it one handed and held the point diagonal, its point toward the ground. I kept my left hand on my dagger, the man noticing it. I then took a step forward, keeping a slow, rhythmic pace, the grin fading, replaced by an impassive face.

He mirrored my movements, walking forward until we were but inches from each other. I stared up into his eyes and they stared down at me, each trying to find a moment of weakness to exploit. Then in a sudden flash of movement, there was a clash of steel, a cloud of dust and the sound of ringing metal filling the air. We were now ten feet apart, standing still until the dust settled. The moment when the last dust mote fell upon the ground, I struck, swinging my sword one handed, spinning to add to momentum. He blocked each with hardly any trouble, beginning his counterattack once my momentum had gone.

I went on the defensive, outlasting his momentum and returning with great fervor, wanting to see how far I could push him. I then gripped my sword two-handed and slashed away with even greater fervor, the sword moving at twice the speed from before. It began to get faster and faster and I poured more strength into my arms and wrist, analyzing every movement of his and configuring my attack to counter it.

But my momentum soon faded and I had to block a cleaving strike, using this chance while he gripped his axe with two hands to reach for my dagger and stab fiercely. He dropped his axe and leapt away, drawing two long daggers and continued the battle, my dagger clashing against his and his blades blocking my sword.

Eventually, I did a downward slash, cleaving toward his head. He blocked it with both of his swords and in an instant, my dagger was at his throat. He grinned,

“Not bad, though I feel things would have been far different on the battlefield.”

I grinned, “Not really, on the battlefield, I could kick your balls, gouge out your eyes and do anything that would make me win. I’m a soldier, not a hero and a soldier must do anything necessary to win.”

He matched my grin, “I like you, I think you and me are gonna be great pals.”

I bowed my head, “I hope so as well.”

He tested the rest of my comrades, each of them fighting the guildmaster to a draw. We were all accepted in the guild, becoming bronze level adventurers. We immediately went to accept a quest, as we were in need of money for better food, luxurious items and a place to stay while we still had food to fuel our bodies.

It was rather easy, we just had to hunt down twenty goblins and bring back something to prove that we killed them. We went out to hunt, each of us deciding to kill three, me doing four. We brought back their ears as proof we killed them, gathering their poor equipment as well.

It only took a day and we returned with their ears, the guild master grinning wildly. He seemed to accept money from another guild member, it seems that we were the source of a bet. It doesn’t matter as long as it doesn’t concern us directly. We got some money, a single gold coin, I recognized it as such as I questioned the noblewoman intensely on this subject while we escorted her.

Bronze coins are the lowest form of currency, silver being next and gold being highest. Similarly, Bronze is the lowest rank for adventurers, Silver is intermediate, and Gold is highly skilled. There are further levels, such as Emerald, Diamond, Obsidian, and Adamantite—-in that order.

We continued to go on quests, hunting on the go and taking turns sleeping. We continued to do quests until we had fourteen gold coins. With two gold coins each, we chose what to buy, though I didn’t buy, choosing to hunt and sleep in the great outdoors. Similarly, my comrades didn’t really spend much, sleeping in the outdoors with me but using the money to eat cooked food and delectable snacks.

We were promoted to Gold very quickly, as we soon proved our skill by taking down tougher and tougher monsters. We stayed at that level, there was a reason why it was known as Gold. It was the perfect level of adventurer for someone who just needed money, all the quests available were at least the price of five gold or above. We gained a lot of gold, now able to afford a few rooms for us to live in with comfort.

We were able to eat more luxurious foods but I only did it after a big quest, hunting most of the time. The others spent a bit more money on their own pleasures, becoming dangerously more human as the days went by. But they were still merciless on the battlefield so I had no complaints, though I did warn them not to go too far, otherwise they would be charged with mutiny and I would have to kill them.

I began to spend more and more time in the outdoors, forgetting about my room and completely forgoing the pleasures of civilization, though I still hoarded my gold. I still needed it to buy high quality metals in which to repair my armor with. Those cost quite a lot so I never was in danger of overflowing on gold. I began to go out alone more often, soloing quests that were easy and keeping the gold for myself as I did all the work. I still did large quests with the others, having them split it between themselves as I already had enough gold from my solos.

They accepted this with no problems, though Inaris began to join my on my solo quests, turning it into duos. I didn’t mind, I just knew that I could count on Inaris. Some time later, there was some trouble in North Shire, a region that was obviously north of here and the Hallowfall Guild was requested to help. The trouble appeared to be an increase of monsters that overwhelmed the stationed garrison and there was word of S-class monsters appearing in the area. As we were one of the few group adventurers, we were called up and with no reason to refuse, we accepted.

But I had one condition and I was not afraid to bring this up with the guildmaster, saying, “Sir, I and my comrades will participate if we fight under our own command. Primarily I will be leading. I have never served under any other than the Emperor and I do not intend to, because of his current absence, I will fight for you but on my own terms.”

He nodded, “Very well, besides I think I trust you soldiers to be better at battle than I am.”

I nodded and turned to my comrades, who all looked up to me. It was all agreed upon that I would be leader, seeing as I was the one who survived the most battles. Besides, it was about time that order was returned, my men were becoming too human. I barked,

“Well, you heard me, you all are under my command! No more vacation! We are soldiers of Morsad and though we are stranded, we must be ready to return at a moment’s notice!”

They all nodded grimly, play time was over. I began an intense training regimen while the guildmaster continued with his preparations, participating in them myself, pushing them to their limit as well as my own. We completely stopped with quests, me often dueling all of them at once and more often than not I won against them.

We fought without armor and weapons, just good old hand-to-hand combat, leaving a few broken bones and sizeable bruises. Our magically-modified bodies would be able to heal our broken bones in a week but since we didn’t have enough time, we used some of our money on medical care, having them healed in an instant and once more, we were training.

We moved on to fighting with our armor on on the second half of the day, the sound of metal fiercely clanging against metal filling the air. But for all the effort that we poured forth, not a sound emerged from our lips. The Morsadian Empire’s soldiers were very formidable because they were like an army unlike any other. Instead of intimidating the enemy with roars, we intimidated them with silence, charging without warning and killing in silence.

The only sounds that would fill the air was the sound of clashing metal and the screams of dying enemies, never our own men. The generals never spoke either, communicating to squad commanders with telepathic crystals while the squads had no need to speak to one another to understand how to work together. I possessed such a crystal but it only works if the recipient also had one. I checked it regularly, the Morsadian Army may go through the gate and the General will issue an order to all squad commanders, meaning me as well.

Five days passed with intense training and finally, we were ready to march to North Shire. We didn’t stop training though, I insisted we keep on our practise bouts. Finally, on our third day on the road, I stopped the training, instead setting up watches and assigning duos to go out hunting.

The guildmaster commented on my work, “I see you are quite capable as a commander, I was right to place my trust in you.”

I shrugged, “They are soldiers, they know how to follow orders. I am their commander, I know how to give orders.”

He said, “I notice that you don’t have a partner, why?”

I replied, “I have outlived three units, each and everyone I had a partner who would only fail me in the end. So I decided to dispense with it, partners are in my experience useless and it is redundant to continue to try when it would just fail anyways.”

He said, “You haven’t found the right one.”

I sighed, “If you are suggesting an intimate relationship, I’ll have to stop you there. A soldier must not have any weaknesses that could be used to turn him against his country such as family. If a soldier has no relationships, such as a wife and children, he cannot be blackmailed. One’s parents do not count, one must give up the ideals of family once one joins the army.”

He was silent, looking up into the darkening sky.

He then shrugged and said, “I was like you once kiddo, then I met the love of my life. Don’t give up so early.”

I shook my head, “That is because of your humanity, a soldier—at least a soldier of Morsad—must give up his humanity.”

He shrugged and walked off while I returned to keeping watch, Inaris coming up, saying, “Torvus, me and Varin have returned from hunting, we both brought back a deer each.”

I nodded and jerked my thumb toward the pile of logs, “Take it there, the fire was going to start anyways.”

They nodded and headed toward the fire while I didn’t move from my position, peering into the dark shadows of the forest. I was increasingly more and more on guard as we neared the Northern Shire, the influx of monsters will surely flow here. Sure enough, during this night, there were a few instances but I took care of them with my squad, killing them in utter silence.

It was mostly small fry, goblins and the like though there were a few trolls and ogres. These were killed without trouble, the ogres died with a simple decapitation and though the trolls could survive their head being cut off, as it seems they can still control their body with it detached, they couldn’t survive their body being cut in half vertically. For a brief moment, I allowed a slightest bit of pride to fill my mind, we had taken care of the incidents without the camp waking up. But just as I let it fill my mind, I quashed it immediately.

It would do no good for it to stay in my mind. Hmm, most distressing, I am becoming more and more humans. I will have to cleanse myself in battle, I need to face the exhilaration of a battle to the death. I was then relieved by Izlir so I turned in, closing my eyes and entering the oblivion of sleep. I woke up just as the sun’s golden glow was beginning to color the darkness of the night, my comrades doing the same.

We began to clean ourselves from the monster blood, the dried brown stuff looking very disgusting. We all took off our armor and began to wash them with water, the camp waking up around us. They were rather surprised to see the corpses of dead trolls, ogres and goblins, shocked even. I just said,

“We didn’t want to disturb your sleep so we killed them as quietly as we could.”

The guildmaster was equally shocked but got over it quicker than most, his raucous laughter filling the air,

“Ha ha ha! Killed them as quiet as possible! Man, you guys are hilarious!”

He calmed down a short while later, saying, “Keep up the good work and I appreciate your concern of our need of sleep.”

He said this with a very serious face, though some adventurers were smirking in the background. I ignored them, as long as they didn’t confront me on anything, I would not confront them either. This continued for three more days until we finally arrived. We didn’t rush into action as expected, instead resting for the day as to go now would only waste precious daylight.

The village gladly accepted us, the villagers gladly accepting our large force. I looked over the village and saw signs of attack, clawed doorways, broken fences and stains of brown blood everywhere. The villagers, mainly the men seemed to be wounded, though there seemed to be women who were wounded as well. In the windows of houses, I saw the eyes of children, shining brilliantly as they watched us.

Most lingered on me and my comrades as we were the ones with any proper armor on, not whatever these adventurers slapped together. The children soon grew brave enough to venture out, heading toward me and my comrades. I ignored them, allowing them to curiously tap my armor but forcibly grabbed them if they tried to touch my sword or tried to climb me.

I decided to keep watch first, anything to get the children off of me and my men were of like mind. We kept watch, taking one hour turns as usual. The children had gone to sleep earlier, which was good, it meant no longer wasting time dealing with them. Once more, there were monsters that prowled in the night but after I killed a few, they stopped coming. It seems that they finally noticed that there was something at the village that didn’t make it worth to raid anymore so they stayed away.

The watch was still held, just in case the monsters grew brave or were stronger than the average small fry. Sure enough, some stronger monsters came but they were all defeated. Of course as quietly as possible, the guildmaster approved of our work and we had no intention of slacking.

Morning came with the sight and smell of dead monsters. Of course, it was in the surroundings of the village but nonetheless, it was quickly noticed. The guildmaster once more applauded our work and set about setting up squads, leaving me and my squad as is. We prepared to march out but before we did that, the village made us breakfast, saying that a feast would be in order once our job was complete. They had complete faith in us after seeing how me and my squad took care of the monsters.

We ate quickly and were once more prepared to march. I and my squad headed out first, first telling the guildmaster so that he was aware. We then headed out, cutting down monsters with no remorse and heading for the nest.