As explosions occurred in the artificial minefield Andrei made for the test, just like ants that scattered, the group of strong men who were confident of their strength ran for their lives in panic, however with the smoke blocking their vision and with the succeeding explosive sounds that made them panic each time, either they bumped into each other, triggered another <<๐๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ค>> explosion or they fell towards the ground.
Believing that quality is better than quantity, Andrei didn't intend to have so many gun carriers to join his platoon, aside from the slow deliveries of the ingredients for the gun power, the blacksmith's flintlock line of production was also slow on its own.
This was due to the fact that in the end, Ethareri wasn't that big of a country, most of it's economy relied on trade with its allies, in the continent and on some of the small island nations around it.
As planned, in two months time, Ethareri will declare war against the dark elves-infested Kydus Empire, who are currently building up its force by butchering the citizens within it, since dark elves heavily relied on a human host.
Michaela received this tip from the spies within the Kydus, they described the situation as horrible, women were being raped, the elderly were being used as target practice, and babies were being killed as sacrifices, and men were turned into dark elves' hosts.
Luckily the spies found a safe haven for themselves as such they were able to send messages to the queen, but were unable to receive orders or responses, all they did was to send info as much as they could.
"The more time passes, the greater the force they become" Michaela stressed out her point as to why the attack should be in a short span of time such as two months.
As a result, everyone worked hard to do their own part.
"๐ด๐๐ ๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐ ๐กโ๐๐ ๐ข๐๐๐ก ๐กโ๐๐ก ๐ค๐๐๐ ๐โ๐๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐ค๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐ผ ๐๐๐'๐ก โ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ก๐๐๐, ๐๐ก ๐ โ๐๐ข๐๐ ๐๐ ๐กโ๐๐ ๐ก๐๐ ๐ก ๐๐ ๐๐๐กโ๐๐๐," Andrei said to himself as he saw the chaos under that platform he was standing on.
With their builds most of them bumped into each other, some screamed for help, Geraldine kept looking at the scene and her task was to make sure that no one would die by using her eyes which has a gift of vision, it was reported that she could see much better than normal knights, it was a valuable asset and she would have been accepted to become a golden knight, but her gender kept her in her position as an average knight.
However she didn't regret it, it was this way she met her commander, the man who also saved him from the brute during the golden knight selection.
Even in the chaos there were certain people that stood out in Andrei's eyes, these were people that got out of the chaos immediately and finished the assignment by taking the guns and getting out of the minefield circled by Golden Knights, the Golden Knights were only there to be the finish line on contrary to Andrei's instruction that the candidates were to get away from them - in fact, all they needed was to cross the line they were standing from, there were those that remained calm throughout the chaos even with the smoke and explosions, there were some that covered their mouth as they searched for an opening. There were others who tried to form a group in order to get through the crowd holding hands with each other while bracing through the sounds of the explosions.
The explosives used didn't have any splinters within it, although it did have a small knock-back effect, what Andrei made was no more than firecracker level, still for these citizens who heard it for the first time, it was surely devastating enough.
But this is in line with what Andrei wanted to happen.
"๐๐๐กโ ๐ ๐ข๐โ ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐ก๐๐๐, ๐๐ก ๐ค๐๐ข๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ฆ ๐๐ โ๐๐๐ ๐ก๐ ๐ก๐๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐โ, ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐คโ๐ ๐๐๐๐ค๐ โ๐๐ค ๐ก๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐ ๐๐ก๐ข๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ก๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ก ๐กโ๐๐๐ข๐โ ๐๐ก, ๐ค๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ก๐," he thought as he remembered the timeline of the overall war preparation.
For Andrei, it was just like a firecrackers party, but for most of the candidates it was a horrible and scary first-time encounter, that they even thought that Andrei was seriously trying to kill them.
The gunpowder used within them are those that were of bad quality or had lower concentration, as there were required measurements and amounts of the powder, but due to human error, lots of powder came out bad, this was the perfect moment for Andrei to use it for something productive rather than throwing it.
After 10 minutes, Andrei had Geraldine mark the ones he had eyes on.
"๐ฝ๐ข๐ ๐ก ๐๐๐๐ข๐ก 10 โ๐ขโโฆ ๐๐ก'๐ ๐ก๐๐ ๐๐๐ค" Andrei realized that the number was too low, so he decided to make the 10 the squad leaders and to find members for them by giving the others a second chance.
So he took a step forward and announced.
"What you have witnessed are my inventions! They are the weapons you will be using but they far more lethal than that, it could either disintegrate or put holes through your body, ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐!"
Then he looked at everybody who stopped and was shocked, because of them stopping, the minefield stopped exploding, some of them have already run out of energy, only a number were either still on the ground or were just too scared to do something as they held their heads and knees as they cowered in fear.
Instead of feeling rage for pulling a prank like that, what they felt when they looked at Andrei was pure fear, because not only did he have a bit of authority for being the queen's fiance, he also was ruthless as to put them into such an experience.
Now, his impression from the masses of being the cool, awesome and kind commander turned to the opposite, but Andrei wanted this from the beginning, he wanted soldiers that can work on pressure, it was also the perfect time to destroy the nice-guy image of him in their eyes.
"Now tell me how you feel?" Andrei walked around with his hands at his back.
"Are you angry at me? Do you despise me for what I just did to you?"
Andrei paused a bit but no one answered so he proceeded.
"Whatever it is, I don't care, do you know why?"
Andrei looked down for a bit that they couldn't see his face and when he raised his head again his demeanor, his voice and composure has completely changed, his eyes gleamed with passion and rage, such look made him appear very angry at them.
"๐พ๐ฏ๐จ๐ป๐ฌ๐ฝ๐ฌ๐น ๐๐ถ๐ผ ๐จ๐น๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ, ๐จ๐น๐ฌ ๐ผ๐บ๐ฌ๐ณ๐ฌ๐บ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฌ๐ช๐จ๐ผ๐บ๐ฌ ๐๐ถ๐ผ ๐พ๐ฌ๐น๐ฌ ๐จ๐ณ๐น๐ฌ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐ซ!!
๐พ๐ฏ๐ถ ๐ป๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ณ๐ณ ๐ป๐จ๐ณ๐ฒ๐บ ๐พ๐ฐ๐ป๐ฏ ๐ป๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐ซ? ๐ต๐ถ ๐ถ๐ต๐ฌ!
๐จ๐ต๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ป ๐ฐ๐บ ๐ป๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐บ๐จ๐ด๐ฌ ๐พ๐ฐ๐ป๐ฏ ๐ป๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ต๐ฌ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฌ๐บ!
๐ป๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ ๐จ๐น๐ฌ ๐ฝ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ช๐น๐ฌ๐จ๐ป๐ผ๐น๐ฌ๐บ ๐ป๐ฏ๐จ๐ป ๐ป๐ผ๐น๐ต๐บ ๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ด๐จ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐บ ๐จ๐บ ๐ป๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ฐ๐น ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ด๐ฌ ๐จ๐ต๐ซ ๐ผ๐บ๐ฌ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ป ๐ป๐ถ ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ ๐๐ถ๐ผ, ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐น ๐ญ๐จ๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐บ, ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐น ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ซ๐น๐ฌ๐ต!
๐จ๐ต๐ซ ๐ป๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ ๐จ๐น๐ฌ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ต๐ต๐จ ๐ผ๐บ๐ฌ ๐ผ๐ต๐ฐ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ต๐ป๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ซ ๐ด๐จ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ช ๐ป๐ฏ๐จ๐ป ๐พ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ ๐บ๐ป๐จ๐น๐ป๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ป๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ป ๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ถ๐ญ ๐๐ถ๐ผ!
๐จ๐น๐ฌ ๐ป๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ต๐ต๐จ ๐พ๐จ๐ฐ๐ป ๐ญ๐ถ๐น ๐๐ถ๐ผ ๐จ๐บ ๐๐ถ๐ผ ๐ช๐น๐จ๐พ๐ณ ๐ซ๐ถ๐พ๐ต ๐ท๐จ๐ป๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ป๐ฐ๐ช๐จ๐ณ๐ณ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐บ๐ป ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐๐ถ๐ผ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ซ ๐ฏ๐ฌ๐น๐ฌ? ๐ต๐ถ!
๐ป๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ ๐พ๐ถ๐ผ๐ณ๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ต๐บ๐ป๐จ๐ต๐ป๐ณ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ ๐จ๐ณ๐ณ ๐ถ๐ญ ๐๐ถ๐ผ ๐จ๐ต๐ซ ๐ป๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ต ๐พ๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ต ๐ป๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ ๐จ๐น๐ฌ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ต๐ฌ ๐พ๐ฐ๐ป๐ฏ ๐๐ถ๐ผ ๐ฐ๐ป ๐พ๐ถ๐ผ๐ณ๐ซ ๐ฉ๐ฌ ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐น ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฝ๐ฌ๐ซ ๐ถ๐ต๐ฌ! ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐น ๐ญ๐จ๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ๐! ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐น ๐ญ๐น๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ต๐ซ๐บ! ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐น ๐ท๐จ๐น๐ฌ๐ต๐ป๐บ!
๐จ๐ต๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ป๐ฏ๐ฐ๐บ ๐ป๐ฌ๐บ๐ป ๐ถ๐ต๐ณ๐ 10 ๐ถ๐ญ ๐๐ถ๐ผ ๐พ๐ฌ๐น๐ฌ ๐จ๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ป๐ถ ๐ด๐จ๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ป ๐ถ๐น ๐ฌ๐ฝ๐ฌ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ผ๐บ๐ป ๐จ๐ป๐ป๐ฌ๐ด๐ท๐ป๐ฌ๐ซ ๐ป๐ถ ๐ซ๐ถ ๐บ๐ถ๐ด๐ฌ๐ป๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ ๐จ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ป๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ป๐ผ๐จ๐ป๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต, ๐จ๐ต๐ซ ๐ด๐ถ๐บ๐ป ๐ถ๐ญ ๐๐ถ๐ผ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ต'๐ป!
๐บ๐ถ ๐ป๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ ๐บ๐ผ๐น๐ฝ๐ฐ๐ฝ๐ฌ๐ซ ๐จ๐ต๐ซ ๐ป๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐น๐ฌ๐บ๐ป ๐ถ๐ญ ๐๐ถ๐ผ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ซ! ๐ฐ๐ป๐บ ๐ท๐จ๐ป๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ป๐ฐ๐ช!"
Andrei threw his right hand to his right as if he scorned them with all his heart.
As if being scolded, silence filled the place, men lowered down their heads, thinking of the unforgivable situation they have been presented, they imagined the possible scenario where they were all already dead and their enemies started coming for their families one by one killing them using their own body, this made them grit their teeth and ball their fist.
At this moment, Erneis had just arrived at a side veranda overseeing the platform and the ground area, together with Michaela, Rara, and Claire, looking from the side they were also surprised, but they just continued looking at it as it unfolded, no one uttered a single word.
"But, my brothers, let me ask you this!
Why are you looking down?!
I repeat ๐พ๐ฏ๐ ๐จ๐น๐ฌ ๐๐ถ๐ผ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ ๐ซ๐ถ๐พ๐ต??"
His voice echoed throughout the entire place, and with his question they slowly lifted their heads and looked at him.
"What the hell is wrong with being afraid to die?
Isn't that just natural?
We don't want to die so we can live tomorrow with our families!
We don't want to die because there are still things we can only do by living!
That's why I need people like you who know the importance of living, you who care for your own lives!"
Their eyes were glued to him, a man wearing strange clothing, speaking about nonsensical things, however, strangely their attention became attached to him, that they never bat their eyes as they listened.
"Just right now you have died, but if you follow me now and take the path with me, I will breathe new life to you!
No matter how powerless you may be right now, it won't matter!
Powerlessness in the first place is how humans learned to make weapons! It taught some of us how to wield magic!
The same way this powerlessness has taught us how to take action during the crisis!
Just right now you were crawling in fear! Next time, you will be the ones who will place them under the enemies nose!
You weren't able to get the weapons because you were scared? Next time you will learn how to get them even under pressure and use them to take down the enemy!
The enemies that will take your friends, parents, family or anyone you love into slavery, into lots of pain, and into torture!
So what will stop them?
The answer is the very thing that you encountered today! As well as the countless weapons in front of you that you weren't able to get because of your fear!
As I said living is good! But would you dare to live if your loved ones died because you let your fear take over? Because you aren't able to wield your weapons properly that the enemy became unstoppable?
Everyone in this world dies! But the worst way of dying is dying in fear, dying for your own sorry ass! It's selfish! It's meaningless! So how do we die with meaning?
Simple!
We do our best to live for the ones we love!
We take our weapons, wield it, and master it because we love them as much as we love our lives!
We struggle, we fight and but if death comes to meet us, we meet it with a smile! Why? Because we went down fighting for those that we love!
And those that we protected and passed our light on will remember us and give meaning not only to our lives but also to our deaths!
๐ต๐ถ๐พ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ถ๐บ๐ฌ!
Will you choose to remain to be an idiot who only cares for your self and give up? It is okay to give up! Raise your hands and a knight will guide you outside the field.
or will you choose to move forward and brave yourself throughout the explosions? Stopping your cowardice for the rest of your life to fight for what's important to you!
๐ต๐ถ๐พ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ถ๐บ๐ฌ!"
The whole place went silent, men only looked at him and others looked at the weapons in front of them. If they moved again more of those explosions will occur. Of course, they are scared, however, something stirred them up inside, as if their hearts are telling them that they could do everything, telling them not to be scared as images of their family, their children, their parents, and their loved ones came to their mind.
"I willโฆ fight!"
One man took one step while shaking, when he moved his foot forward and an explosion occurred, <<๐๐จ๐จ๐ฆ>> smoke filled up the area he was standing on, but when it cleared the man was there holding his weapon boldly and standing firmly.
As everyone saw this, more explosions occurred.
"This is for my family!!!!!" One man braced himself towards the weapon and <<๐๐จ๐จ๐ฆ>>
"I won't let them take away my wife!" <<๐๐จ๐จ๐ฆ>>
"I will get promoted to a knight and get married! <<๐๐จ๐จ๐ฆ>>
One, two, three, and four more explosions occurred until the whole place became a raging minefield again. Each and every one of them shouted something important to them as they braced themselves.
โฆ
After a few minutes, the smoke cleared up and the men who were once crawling to the ground now stood bravely with their chests out, holding the heavy flintlocks with one arm with a determined look on their eyes.
It was a moving spectacle for everyone, for the golden knights who were supervising it, and for Erneis, Michaela and Claire who were looking from the side.
"Okay, it's fineโฆ " Andrei crossed his arms and made a big smile. "You all pass! Now scream! And remember this day! From once you were dead! And now you were reborn as you brave warriors of the Kingdom! Follow me as I give you the power to protect!"
"๐พ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฏ!!" the whole place shook with the screams from the applicants who braved their final test, it wasn't a scream of rage, but a scream of relief when they felt the greatest sense of achievement they achieved in their lives.
Geraldine who was beside him almost teared up as she saw the unfolding of the events, as she saw the men who cared for their loved ones more than anyone, and much more she was moved with Andrei's speech.
Ideally, they wanted at least 50 to pass, however with only 10 coming up a way to get their weapons and made their way out of the fake minefield, Andrei had to adlib and devise a situation where they would be motivated to fight with him to the bitter end, no matter what unknown powers the enemy may possess.
Most of the men didn't just think of being a gun carrier just for the benefits anymore, all they wanted now was to have the power to protect, and they knewโฆ that if it's that man leading them, they would definitely succeed.
Andrei raised his flintlock, and the ray of the sunset shone through it. The others did the same and raised it and the place was filled with shouts and praises.
"I wouldn't mind dying for you commander!"
"Commander! Thank you! Thank you!"
"If it's this man, I wouldn't think twice of charging into the enemy"
"Yeah if its this man"
All 100 initial passers passed the final test, and 10 of them became their squad leaders.
Andrei achieved his goal today.