As Ajax started to walk away from the amused receptionist and the fuming recruiter a wave of laughter broke out from the tables across the room. All of the attendees were adventurers and despite their merry attitude and drinking they all had enough perception and innate curiosity to pay attention to the conversation to catch the last few exchanges. One or two of the older ones went so far as to give Ajax a pat on the shoulder as he passed by their tables.

Knowing what was going on now helped Ajax put things together with the change in the atmosphere he witnessed as he walked to the Adventurer’s Guild. There were barely any food stands left in the streets, they were replaced in turn by stalls selling long term provisions. You could hardly go more than a few streets without seeing someone selling some type of jerky or another.

The other thing being sold throughout was armor and weapons. From the look of what was on sale and how people were going about buying it Ajax could tell that this was clearly not the first time many of them were called up like this and that the gear he will be provided as part of conscription wasn’t going to be very good.

Spears seemed to be going for quite a premium. While he would understand why the army would be looking to outfit and conscript with spears, seeing as they took the lowest amount of time and skill to use at a decent level, why would the people be looking to buy them as well? Wanting to satisfy his curiosity he approached the next weapons merchant on his way to Tom’s house.

“Excuse me, sir. I was wondering why it is that spears are being sold at such a higher price?” He decided to be upfront about what he wanted to know. If there was a good reason for it any half decent merchant would take the time to explain it in hopes of making a sale.

“Good eye there, young man. Indeed spears are the thing to get right now” he complimented while trying to draw attention to one of his more expensive spears. Equipment Ajax ignored since the gear he already had made by his father outstripped almost everything he had seen on his walk in the city. “The reason why people want to buy spears is safety.”

“If they are looking for safety wouldn’t a shield be a much better choice?” He had barely seen more than one or two stalls selling shields.

“Oh no. That would be a very bad idea if one was looking to be safe.” The merchant looked a little outraged by the idea that getting a shield for safety was a good idea. Seeing his confusion he began to explain. “You see, while it may have been a few years since the last little skirmish the baron has dragged us all in, anyone over thirty years of age has seen at least two of them before.”

“Since one of the baron’s sons left the city a few days ago going towards the mountain range this conscription is for a squabble over one resource or another with a neighboring baron. Very few people tend to die in these engagements, half of those that do come from foolhardy young people charging veteran soldiers.”

“Now because the conscripts they have will be low on training the most used tactic will be a shield wall with a row of spears behind them. Anyone bringing a better looking spear with them than what they are provided is more likely to be part of the second row, whereas a good shield will see you on the front lines.”

Taking in the information Ajax just nodded his thanks and started to walk in the direction of his brother's house once more, without even glancing at the wares to the disappointment of the merchant. Ajax was a little confused about what the vendor meant about charging soldiers but those were questions he could ask his brother.

Thanks to his increased Perception Ajax was able to notice the change in lighting a lot easier despite the amount of light needed for him to see being lower. After the last experience he had in the city after dark he decided to get to his brother’s house before then despite the lack of vampires in the city.

As he got there he knocked on the door and waited. The door started to open a few seconds later.

“Yes? How can I he- Ajax!” Kate’s voice started off bored before growing welcoming as she registered who was at the door. “ Please come in.”

“Evening Kate.” Ajax greeted her back and was a little surprised at how she was hurrying him inside.

Contrary to how it had been before, when Ajax walked into the kitchen he found the table to be stacked high with all sorts of different vials of liquid and bandages instead of the usual evening meal.

“Please excuse the mess, we’re going to be deploying for this skirmish in a few days and I was still getting everything ready.” She brought up a few packs and started empting the table.

“Don’t worry about it, I will probably need to be doing the same thing. I just got conscripted.” Ajax just waved away her apology and complained about the bothersome situation.

“You got conscripted? Did you happen to catch the name of the guard who let you into the city?” her voice going cold and carrying a promise of violence.

“Darren I think his name was, said to tell Tom he sends his regards.” Throughout their talk the table was quickly emptied of medical provisions and filled with food that still needed to cool for a little while longer.

“Darren did what? After all the regulations he let people skim by while on patrol he goes and requirts you?” her pitch and volume rising before her voice going into a quiet whisper he barely caught. “When I get my claws on him…”

“Oh no, he didn’t recruit me. He just waved me on into the city. I went to apply to the Adventurer’s Guild before coming here hoping to get there before they closed. Turns out they have a recruitment ban and some recruiter there approached me.”

Hearing his words the fire in Kate died and she slid into a chair and put her head in her hands. “How much bad luck can one kid have?”

“In fact I asked a bit around town about whatever is going on and people don’t really seem as worried about the conscription as I thought they would be. One of the vendors even said that half of the deaths would come from foolhardy people charging soldiers.” he decided to get a better idea of what was going on.

“Well he’s not wrong about that.” she muttered to herself before looking back to Ajax and started explaining. “ You see, this skirmish is going to be a small campaign against another barron over a resource or another. Since they are part of the same dukedom if not under the same viscount they aren’t really looking to have people die in combat.”

“The whole thing won’t take longer than four months as the harvest will need to be harvested and they won’t be willing to risk that.The conscription barely covers three cities on each side so I doubt there will be more than twenty thousand people altogether.”

“As for the part about charging soldiers, that refers to the guards. Each of the cities also sends a contingent of guards along. There always are a few brave and stupid people thinking they can just charge to a quick victory and end up trying to ambush or charge a bunch of armed guards. Even with that the death toll is rather low, though the injuries sustained give healers a thorough work out.”

As she finished speaking they both heard the door open followed by Tom’s voice carrying through.

“... quite a bit anxious about going.” Tom said.

“It’ll all be fine, we’ve been through this before and have yet to lose anyone.” The new voice wasn’t one that Ajax recognised.

“I’m home Kate.” Tom called out a few seconds before entering the room. “Ajax! Welcome, when did you get here?”

“Hey, Tom.” Ajax said as he moved and gave his brother a hug “I actually just got here a few minutes ago.”

“Well Ajax, I’d like you to meet Captain Rogers. He’s been my direct superior since I joined Commander Grievous.”

“Pleasure to meet you.” Ajax said politely, offering his hand.

“Likewise, I've heard a bit about you already, though you’re quite a bit bigger than I expected when Tom said he had a younger brother..” the Captain replied while taking the offered hand.

“Congratulations on finally reaching the age of majority.” Tom continued. “Normally I would say we should go out to a restaurant to celebrate, though it would be best if you stayed inside until all this conscription business is sorted.

“Sadly, that ship has already sailed.” said Kate, drawing everyone's attention.