"Okay, Dragã. Draw the bow string ever so slowly. Now wait till you have the target in your sights." said Morte, looking at Rei adjusting his bow. Rei had recently asked if he could learn archery, as he believed his skill set was lacking. "Okay....If it's in your line of sight, feel free to fire."
Rei fired the arrow, but it hit the edge of the target.
"Expected. This kinda thing isn't something just anyone can do. I trained for a year and I still miss bullseyes." said Morte. "Like that one with the dagger," Rei said, chuckling as he drew another arrow from his quiver. A vein burst in Morte's forehead.
"That was a month ago you little shit!" Morte shouted, throwing his dagger at the target and getting a bullseye. He sighed, calming down and getting back to the lesson.
"I'm gonna teach you a trick. Don't aim straight, aim higher." He said before leaving Rei, whose mouth had dropped from watching his squadmate nail a dagger bullseye from this distance. He collected himself and took Morte's advice aiming higher.
He fired an arrow but completely missed. He tried again but at a lower angle. This time the arrow flew sideways. "Don't forget about wind too," Morte shouted, leaving Rei with resentment.
That evening Rei fired 50 arrows, 35 of which hit the target, and 9 near bullseyes. He retired for the day, knowing he'd have to go through Mayln's special training. He found his way to the outpost greeting some passing trainees. Some gave him vicious looks while one bowed.
"The Dragã name is a bit inconvenient. Maybe I should do some looking into it later." he thought while knocking on his section's door. Gars opened the door, giving his same stale expression. One wondered how he always kept it, even during subjugations.
"Dragã the archer. Well, I doubt it'd be your main weapon. Most demons have skin too thick for measly arrows." said Pierre, eating bread. "May almost ate your rations you know."
Rei looked at May who in turn looked at the sky, then looked at his rations. It was the usual hard bread with meat and water. The meat wasn't part of the assigned meal but was demon meat cooked and added on by May. He began to eat this 'feast'.
"The bread on the farm I came from is still better," Rei said, eating the hardened mass that the Vanguard called food.
"At least we eat bread. And at a regular frequency too," said Gars as he ate his bread greedily.
"Hey Gars. What did you eat before now?" asked Rei. The room went dead silent.
Pierre, Morte and Mayln looked at Rei with eyes saying 'You shouldn't have asked that question'.
Gars waved his hand at them. "It's alright. It's about time he knew about me," he said. "I ate wheat soup every three days."
"What the heck is wheat soup?" asked Rei.
"It's a meal for slaves," Gars said casually, drinking water as he finished the statement.
Rei was beyond shocked, looking at the others in a way that said 'Why didn't you tell me sooner!'.
"11 years from today I was born. I had a father...but no mother that I know of. As for where I was born... It was a slave camp.
My father was an imperial soldier who'd racked up debt. He'd been dispatched from his position and made to work as a merchant's slave, in exchange the fact that an imperial soldier was broke would be covered up." Gars said. He ate another piece of bread and then cleared his throat.
"Eventually he was sold to an emperor in the far south who needed slaves for construction. There my father felt he had no restrictions, and decided he'd play around with the women. He got one pregnant. I'll never know who she was."
"For the first few years, I was protected by the slaves. They gave me out of their food and made sure that I would live at a certain standard. Then I turned 7. I was discovered due to my new body...And ultimately joined them. It was painful, being whipped." Gars said, feeling his back.
"My father saw my pain...and came up with a plan. He told me that to the north was our nation, and if I could survive the month-long trip, I'd make it. When I asked about food he showed me something unbelievable. He had saved up about 3 months' worth of food for this very plan. When I asked where he got it...He told me it was his."
Gars stopped himself for a few seconds to wipe off some tears. "He decided to teach me basic defence skills so that I wouldn't be killed immediately. We trained together for a month. I asked about the food stock. He slapped his forehead." Gars laughed. "So we threw away 3 months' worth of wheat soup. And spent the next year training. I was ready."
The squad had at this point stopped eating their meals and were paying full attention. "We both saved up enough soup for a month, and I snuck off in the middle of the night. From that day I promised myself. I'd buy my dad back, and free him." Gars continued, eating the last morsel of bread on his plate.
"I set off on a journey; passing by many traders and travellers, and spending nights in vegetation or caves."
" There was this one bandit, but my sword skill made me win with just a branch. I took his weapon and left him unconscious. Then a few days later...I was attacked by imps...3 of them. I won, but I lost all my soup in the process. So I took their meat. I'd make a fire and cook them, and although the meat was good, it was noticeably harder to preserve. Eventually, after many days of travelling...I reached a place called The Empire des Huit, our Empire. I got to the gate and a guard asked for my name."
"My father advised me not to say my real one as they could trace it back to him which would send me back to the slaves. So I told them my name was 'Argent Gars'...which means Money guy." Gars said with a smile on his face.
"It's been 2 years since then...I've saved up enough money from exterminations to pay over a quarter of it...but It's a ridiculous price...apparently, he's a valuable asset."
Rei looked at Gars in a whole new light and began to ponder on his story. "Wait....how did you carry a month's worth of soup on your back?" he asked, deciding that was the least painful question.
"With this." Gars said as he brought out a massive clay jar from under his bottom bunk. It had straps to be carried on a person's back.
"You manually carried that much soup..." Rei said stumbling backwards. "It was either that or a lifetime of slave work," Gars said petting the jar.
"One more question...What's your real name?" Rei asked, deciding one more was fine."...It's Temorós Tonnerre. My first name is from my mother...though I don't know what it means." Gars replied. "Well, that's enough questions...I'm going to bed now."
As he lay down on his bed the others slowly finished eating. Then laid down on theirs. At midnight, May and Rei sparred once more, but with a certain silence between the two, reminded of their reasons for being here.
The scene was grim. Paix, a once thriving town, had a certain eerie quiet this day. The street which were usually filled with people was now filled with bodies that looked half cremated.
A little distance in front of the city, bodies encased in black armour were smoking. The walls of the city had been broken through, but the path was abnormal. It went straight to the other side of the wall, and barely caused any destruction.
All that could be found were footsteps that were larger than an elephant's body, and traces of white fog spread out across the city. A short distance away, a massive figure's silhouette could be seen, being covered barely by white fog and moving...moving in the direction of Asfaleia.