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It was 18th day of the 2nd month of the year 1118 in the Calendar of Light. The humans followed this calendar, which was introduced by the Holy Church of Light, over a thousand years ago when it was founded. It had now been around 2 months since Add had transmigrated. Summer was at its peak and the temperatures remained . The year of this world started, with the spring and ended in winter, fairly simple. Today marked the second day of training for the group of guards. Add woke up from his sleep before the sun had even risen, thanks to his years of discipline as a soldier. The servants however seemed to have been up before him and had already began their work.
He quickly finished his personal morning tasks, changed into some rough but easy to move clothes, and after a short breakfast of dried bread and meat jerky, left for the training field. The first rays of sunlight were just creping across the dawn sky, and Add slowly walked on while feeling calm in the cool breeze of the morning. The Weismann estate was fairly big, covering an area of around four hectares in total. This included the mansion, which was moderately large, at the centre, the field behind it followed by a small stretch of woods. There was a garden at the front of the mansion, while the servant quarters and the guard barracks were located on its two sides. There was also a stable for horses and few small sheds lined around used to store supplies and other necessary things.
"Lazy sloths…"
Add mumbled, as he inspected the cadets. Even though he had repeatedly reminded them to arrive at dawn, some of the cadets had still not arrived yet. It seems the punishment yesterday was not serious enough. The cadets that did arrive on time, appeared sleep depraved and watching the expressionless face of the young master who was giving of a dangerous aura, they all felt scared. The later, however did not say anything to them and told them to stand in lines like they had stood yesterday, while he kept waiting for the others to arrive. It took over an hour for all of them to finally arrive at the field. Like the day before, they were not wearing any armour or weapons and the men stood in lines. Add waited for the remaining few to arrive, a stifling silence covered the field. Finally after half an hour the remaining cadets all arrived. The 'instructor' looked at the late arrivals for some time and finally opened his mouth, his voice chilling.
"When did I ask you all to arrive ?"
Facing his chilling eyes, all the late arrivals looked at each other, but no one dared to speak. Seeing this Add's complexion became even colder.
"So no one wants to speak… fine then. All of you we will spar again! Same as yesterday one by one, you over there, come here!"
He pointed at a random cadet and called him over. The man trembled and said in a shaking voice.
"Bu-but, I was not late!"
"I don't care if you were late or not, since members of your group were late, everyone in the group will be punished! Now get over here!"
The guard went to spar, but unlike yesterday where he was given chance to try his moves, today Add mercilessly beat him down. Then he called the next, that guard was also beaten. All the guards were mercilessly beaten down by Add, and by the time he was done, all of them were lying or sitting around groaning. The young master had not shown any leniency with his blows, and he had effortlessly defeated 20 men without breaking a sweat. The group of men really looked pitiful today. Add then looked at a cadet who was groaning on the ground .
"What is your name ?"
Being called out suddenly, the cadet was immediately scared and tried to retreat back. His entire body was still aching from the many blows he had received. Still he dare not make the instructor angry and replied…
"Iska….my name is Iska, young master…"
"Oh so it is Iska. Well then Iska, what did I tell you to call me while in training ?"
The guard named Iska was drenched in sweat, as he tried to recall what Add had said previously. Fortunately, he remembered.
"That.…you told us to call you instructor…"
"Since you remember that then don't make this mistake again. Next time I hear you or anyone else call me young master during training it will not end up good for you, I assure you...you all understand?"
The cadets all hurriedly nodded.
"Then back to the point, Iska does your body hurt ?"
Add again asked with a smile. Iska hurriedly shook his head, and replied,
"NO! it does not it does not hurt at all!"
At this Add's eyes narrowed,
"Oh so it does not hurt, it seem I was not serious enough. Come lets have another spar, I will be serious this time, I promise"
All colour drained from the poor man's face and he bean trembling…
"no no young---I mean, Instructor! It hurts a lot! I think I broke a few bones, please have mercy ….."
Add patted Iska's shoulder and looked at the remaining guards.
"Any of you still not hurt ?"
And all of them began wailing in pain and some even began crying.
"Do you know why I did this"
The guards were silent, they had many theories but no one spoke lest they anger him more. The instructor shook his head as he explained.
"You must understand, that when your superior, in this case me, gives you an order, you must fulfil it at all costs unless it is too dangerous or impossible."
"All I asked you to do was arrive early, and you lot couldn't even do that. How laughable. If you were soldiers in the battlefield, the enemy would have killed you in your sleep, do you morons even understand that!?"
"I don't know what you have been doing till now, or what your jobs were till now! I don't care about any of that! All I know, is that I don't need some lazy watchmen, but soldiers who can do their jobs! Do you understand!? If you think this is too much for you, and you want to leave, well then I will surely make you reconsider. You all are not allowed to quit until I allow you too, no matter how unwilling you are!"
"Today, I am letting you off with just this much, but if any one of you is late tomorrow, and I hope some of you are, then I promise you will regret sleeping late, for a long long time."
'The Young Master, no, the instructor is a devil! Till now he just wasted money and enjoyed life, but now he has gotten so much worse!' Is what all the cadets thought. The 'I will surely make you reconsider', was said with such a smile it sent shivers down the spines of these grown men. Anyway, the job paid quite decent, and they were reluctant to leave it anyway.
"Then, before we begin today's training, I am going to mention some things which you should know and remember. So make sure you all listen carefully."
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The layout of the town of Rigel was fairly simple. It was roughly circular in shape, surrounded by a three metre tall wooden fence. Outside the town there were mainly the farms and some scattered houses, while most houses, and other buildings were all inside the town. There were two gates, one in the east and one in the west, which were guarded by the troops of the militia. The Weismann estate was located at the centre of the town. Beside it was the town square, a large open space where people gathered everyday mostly due to the various stalls, which together, made up the market in Rigel.
After talking with Martha, Kent headed straight to the Army barracks which was also situated near town square. The two hundred strong militia was stationed here. They had been personally trained by Rudolf and Henry Weismann to be proper soldiers, and although their level was nowhere near that of the imperial army, which they had previously commanded, they were good enough to defend the town. Unlike the guards who were only responsible for guarding the estate, the militia did all the major jobs, including the defence of the tow, maintaining order, fighting off monsters who had strayed too near the town or the surrounding villages, fighting off the bandits, etc. They had decent experience in these matters, however their condition was not any better than the guards. Currently, some 15 men from the the militia were serving as temporary guards at the Weismann Estate as well. Kent went to the barracks, to get an escort of a few soldiers.
After the death of Henry Ritter Weismann a man named Dave had become in charge of the militia. He was the commander of the 200 man strong force, and since the young master had never taken any interest in administration, this man had grown fairly arrogant of his position. In the past year, the militia had been growing increasingly lax and were often neglecting their duties. Kent was very dissatisfied with this man who had no qualities of a proper soldier. He had even heard that Dave had been harassing many people to give him bribes, by virtue of his position. But he was powerless to do anything. Dave was stronger than him as a warrior, and he was only answerable to the Lord, that is the young master, and not even Martha had any say over his actions. The Young Master, for his part had never taken any interest in managing the army till now, and he could only hope that he would do so soon.
"Old man Kent, what a rare visitor. What brings you here today ?"
Kent frowned looking at the man who was sitting with his legs on the table, drinking alcohol while being on duty. His room stunk of alcohol and there were various food scraps thrown around. Dave was a tall man, over two metres , with a broad frame and strong build. He had long brown hair and an fairy prominent beard. Kent suppressed his disgust and for this brazen man, and said,
"I need to borrow a few soldiers"
"Huh ?"
Dave put the mug of alcohol down and looked at him strangely.
"What do you want my soldiers for ? Don't you have those guards under you?"
"By the Young Master's orders I am to recruit people to join the guards. I only need a few soldiers as escorts during the recruitment to maintain order."
Dave's eyes narrowed.
"That brat is recruiting more guards, what's that useless boy up to now? Does he plan on making a gambling army ?"
"Dave how dare you disrespect the Young Master!?"
Kent flared up. This man had no respect for the lord and even insulted him blatantly. Dave smiled at this and stood up, his build towering over Kent.
"So what if I did, what are you going to do old man ?"
"You….."
Kent really wanted to teach this man a lesson, but he knew his own limits, Dave could easily kill him if he wanted to. His strength was no joke, which was partly the reason why he had been appointed the commander of the militia. He could only grind his teeth and stay silent. Dave laughed at his state and said..
"Old man, you should mind your age, don't try to lecture me. The previous lords were worth serving somewhat, but that brat, tsk tsk tsk, he dare order me hah! You can have your escort but remember, I lead the troops here! Even if it is your young master he has no saying about what I do…Someone come!"
A soldier hurried inside at his call.
"Yes commander?"
"Send five men with our old man Kent here. The 'young master' apparently wants some new guards or whatever….go."
The soldier hurriedly left. Dave patted Kent on the shoulder and said in a low tone.
"…and send this message to your 'young master' he can play all he wants, but if he tries to order me around and annoys me, then I won't mind removing him permanently… ��
A blatant threat! Kent almost lost his mind, he barely managed to hold himself back. Dave laughed and went back to his drinking, not caring for anything else. Helpless, Kent dragged himself out of the barracks. Five soldiers followed him and he went on to do the job given by the young master.
'This Dave is growing more and more dangerous by the day, I am afraid he will harm, the young master sooner or later. I must inform him of this threat as soon as I get back.'
Kent made up his mind, he had to talk with Martha about this serious matter and let the young master know as well.
_ _ _ _ _
Back at the training field, Add began explaining the rules of training to the cadets.
"First, whenever I ask or tell you anything, you will reply in 'Yes sir' or 'No Sir'. Unless I allow you to say more, that is all you will reply with. When you have something to say to me, you will use Sir, before your sentences. You all got it!?"
"""Yes Sir!"��"
"Secondly, you will refer to your fellow cadets as 'comrades'. I know the words sound new to you, but deal with it! You must remember that you all are a single team! Unless there is no other way, no one will abandon their comrades, you all will watch each other's back, if one is in trouble, the others will help him. Always remember, wars are not won by a single man, but an army as a whole!"
"Finally, you must forget all you have learnt about fights and any training you have had till now! The way I will train you, is very different. In fact, you all might not find it anywhere in the world, it will be painful, it will be terrible, it will make you want to quit, but too bad I won't let you! But once you all make it through my training, I assure you you will be the best soldiers the world has ever seen."
Edward the former escort turned cadet, gulped as he heard all this. Add's words were a bit scary, but the way he said them calmly with a straight back, didn't seem like he was bluffing or lying in anyway. His face was tranquil, and his eyes cold and steady, coupled with his pretty appearance, it made other subconsciously nod their heads. Edward was almost reminded of the late Lord, Henry Ritter Weismann.
'He really is the Lord's son…'
"Alright then, let's begin! We will start with running today! You all have become too damn lazy over the years! Now get in a line and make 20 rounds around the field! Go! Everyone has to complete 10 rounds! I don't care if you run, or you crawl, complete your rounds! You won't get off until you do that, Is it clear!?"
"""Yes Sir!"""
The guards, no, the cadets immediately formed a single line and went towards the perimeter. The field had a perimeter of over 400 metres, so making 20 rounds would be over 8 kilometres. Helpless, they began running, but to their surprise their 'Instructor', was also running behind them, maintaining a steady pace and keeping a fixed distance from the group. Add didn't make them run too fast, but didn't allow anyone to leisurely walk either, he made them maintain a jogging speed, scolding the ones who ran too slow. By the fifth round, the cadets had begun growing tired. Most of them were out of shape with many even having pot bellies, and they had it worse and were sweating and panting like dogs. Perhaps the only saving grace was that it was still early day, and the sun was still bearable. By the last rounds, most guards were panting and some had even sat down unable to keep going. Only a few including Edward and Iska still hung on. But the instructor won't let them off now, would he?
"You lazy sloths! Get up, get up and complete your rounds or all of you won't have any food today!"
The cadets were shaken. Even if a single person didn't complete their rounds, the entire group would have to skip lunch and dinner.
"Sir! That is not fair!"
A cadet who was running at the front complained. Add increased his speed and arrived next to him.
"You think that is not fair cadet? Well the world is not fair either! If you want to have your food, make sure that all of your comrades complete their rounds!"
After saying this he retreated. He originally wanted to make them do foot drills, but he realised that they were very out of shape, so a physical exercise course was needed to make them ready for actual military training. Edward was quite a sharp person, and after hearing that, he suddenly understood something. He stopped running front and instead went towards a cadet who was unable to run anymore and had sat down. Edward pulled him up and supporting him on his shoulder, he smiled and said,
"Let's go 'comrade' we don't want to miss our food now!"
'Comrade…this word sounds strangely nice..' he thought. The cadet, who was panting like a fish out of water, thanked Edward and used his last strength to keep moving, their speed was slow, but they were making progress. Looking at this the other cadets also turned back and began helping the ones who couldn't run anymore. The group was no longer running, but they were definitely still moving. Add watched this and nodded. They had to learn how to work as a team and fill each other's shortcomings. Only this way would they succeed in any battles they face. After a long time the group finally completed their 10 rounds and then they collapsed.
"Well done, looks like you get to eat today after all. Now take a rest, we will continue shortly afterwards."
'There's more!?' is what everyone thought.
_ _ _ _ _
At the town square.
Kent was busy, trying to recruit the new batch of men Add had asked him to. He had only four days, which didn't allow him to be lax. He had arranged for a small stall through which he was going to conduct the whole process. With the help of some hired people Martha had already spread the news through the town that the Lord was hiring more guards. Soon many young men came to apply. Most of them were within the age range that Add had specified, but some older ,men had also joined hoping to lie their way through. Working directly under the lord was one of the few, if not the only stable source of income in this backwater town, so many people came to try their luck. But Kent was not so easy to fool, and though the people had no birth certificates in this era, but Kent through his experience was able to roughly determine who met the criteria and who not.
Most of the young men he selected were poor people from the town, and some were from the nearby villages as well. The first day ended with a total of 25 people being selected. Their names were noted down and they were told to pack their belongings and arrive at the Weismann estate two days later. Kent also reminded them that after this if they did not show up on the given date, by the lord's order, they will be dragged from their homes no matter how much they resist. This caused some to have doubts, but most agreed anyway, the salary of 10 silver coins was very lucrative to these poor people.
After sorting all this Kent returned to the Estate. He immediately went to report to the young master, but when he wanted to meet him, the servants informed him that Add was still in the fields. 'What is the young master up to today ?' he thought. Yesterday Add had made the guards stand for hours under the sun, he could only wonder what punishment he gave them today. As he made his way to the field, he saw the guards-turned-cadets lying n the ground like dead men. The young master was standing before them and saying something,
"….Although I cannot say that I am even slightly satisfied with your performance, you all have made some progress today! Listen up, that's all for today! Go straight to your barracks, have your dinner and sleep, I don't want to see any morons making merry till late at night you understand!?"
"""Yes Sir!"""
The men who appeared to be dying immediately struggled to their feet and shouted , their faces were filled with happiness as if they had just been pardoned from execution, and it was no wonder that they were feeling such emotions. After having them run 10 rounds, Add had then made them do push ups, until they could no longer lift their arms. Then he had them do many sorts of strange exercises, which made their body hurt like hell. By the evening, there was no part in their body which was not hurting. Actually, these were common physical exercises which soldiers did in the army back on Earth. But the people here had not seen many of them, and these appeared completely foreign to them.
"I want to see you here tomorrow morning! You better not be late or you know what will happen! Do you want that ?"
"""No Sir!""" they shouted back again.
"Good! Iska, Edward! Stay back, I have some work for you, rest of you are dismissed!"
As soon as he said that, the remaining men dashed away as if running for their lives. Add handed over a small clock to Iska. He had purchased it from the system previously. It was a simple alarm clock operated by a spring which had to be loaded by a key. Clocks had not yet been invented in Iseria, and people mainly used the hourglass for measuring time. Most people however, used the sun for determining the time. Add roughly explained that it was a small gizmo used for tracking time and his father had purchased from a city years ago. There were many strange gizmos showing up here and there, so no one found it that strange. He taught Iska that the clock would ring like a bell every morning and he had to press a small button to stop it. Also, he had to load the spring by winding the key behind the clock 9-10 times to keep it working. He had also given one to Martha earlier, who had demanded to know its origin. Add didn't want to answer, and seeing this the old maid didn't pester him, much to his relief. He planned to have the locals manufacture simple clocks such as the pendulum clok soon, but that would have to wait.
These types of spring loaded clocks were very simple in design and even Iska, someone who had never seen modern technology could use it. These clocks however were not very accurate, but they were enough for now. Add had roughly adjusted the time, based on his calculations using the sun and and its movement, which he had been taught in the special forces. When the clock rang in the morning, Iska was to immediately wake up all the men in the barracks and have them arrive at the fields as fast as possible. Next he tasked Edward with reading out the rules he had previously given, to all the soldiers, every day before sleeping, the cadets were to memorize the rules, and if they couldn't then they would be punished. After this he dismissed the two as well. After the two left, Kent who had been watching from the sidelines finally found his opportunity.
"Young Master, you have been working hard."
"Just a little. How did the recruitment go?"
"Although many people came, only 25 men who fit your criteria were enlisted today, I think the number will increase tomorrow, as more people get to know about it."
"Thanks for the good work Kent, you can also go rest now."
As Add was preparing to leave, Kent stopped him.
"Young Master, there is something I must report to you.."
Watching the serious expression on his face. Add realised that it was not a light matter, he took Kent to the study where the later explained the matter about the Dave and his threatening actions. After he dismissed Kent, Add's face was calm and detached as he pondered on the subject. The actions of that man could not be tolerated, but Add didn't put him in his eyes at all. He had more important things to deal with now, but he made a small note to surely solve this issue at a later date. A chilling smile crept up his lips, unknown to him.
"….Commander was it….interesting, and here I was wondering why no one was trying to resist my actions….and one just showed up….how convenient…..how very convenient indeed…. "
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