Year 567 of the Harley Dynasty, 4th month, 24th day.
I was standing in front of my team, prepared and ready to go. Each of them was wearing their leather armor with a backpack, a sword on the hip, and another spare weapon along with the bag.
We call it leather armor, but it was a heavy armor made of thick, layered leather with metal studding, covering all the body and protecting the vital organs. The heavy term in the name was truly not a joke.
Dereck was the tallest of my guys, at least a head taller than me. A really big dude. He had short black hair with a square jaw eaten by a large beard. He had black eyes, the kind of eyes so deep that you felt being absorbed inside when looking straight into them.
He was a lumberjack before becoming a soldier a year and a half ago. Fitting him if you want to know.
Jean was the same size as me, with blond straight hair and blue eyes that could make any woman fall for him in a tavern. And he was pretty much liking that, this womanizer. Before becoming a soldier at the same time as Dereck, he was working as a bartender.
I was sure it should have a great business as Jean had talent with people. Well, if we forgot about his other talent of being a problem magnet.
Anis was a tall guy, a bit taller than me and shorter than Dereck. But in contrast to Dereck who had bulging muscles everywhere, Anis was thin with only the skin on the bones. He always had an expressionless face, as if he was always wearing a mask. Well, I knew a bit less about him than the other as he didn't talk that much.
But still, I was not that stupid, and it was pretty easy to understand that he wasn't a clean guy in his past. But even so, I wouldn't hesitate to put my life into his hands when needed. If he hadn't already fled though.
Jimmy was the last one, and the youngest in my team. He was also the shortest. Maybe even the weakest. Truly, he was the guy you didn't expect to be a soldier, with his short blond hair falling a bit into his green clear eyes. Compared to the other three who became soldiers at the same time, he came later, less than a year ago actually.
For this reason, while the others were all 1st Class soldiers already, he was still a 2nd Class. Not that it changed anything though, as he still needed to do the same job. Before being enrolled, he was a farmer working with his father. I couldn't imagine this frail-looking boy using a hoe, but still, he wasn't lacking in courage.
We were ready. Well, as ready as we could be. Because today was the day our regiment was going to war. It had already been two years since it began, and now was the time for fresh meat to be slaughtered.
I ordered my guys to meet the other team now that our camp was disassembled. The departure time was dangerously approaching.
After the whole squad was complete, we moved forward to join the 5th Company. The other squads were also coming along us as soldiers were rushing all around to finish their task: we wouldn't leave anything behind us.
The five companies were forming a demi square with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd companies in front of Colonel Spencer. The 4th one was flanking the left, while I was standing in the middle of the 5th company which was on the right side.
The colonel was an old man, so old you would ask yourself if he could even fight. I was wondering if he could even run without his horse. Not that I cared about his life, but this old man seemed to be somewhat inadequate to lead a regiment.
He was speaking before all of us. Babbling was probably the best word. No one cared about what he was trying to say, something about the greatness of our country or whatever. Maybe some soldiers were buying his words, but not me.
Fight to defend my country? Sure. Fight to conquer new lands for no reason? Don't try to make it as if we were the good guys. That was what I was thinking. Nothing more, nothing else.
But damn standing here like a fool for no reason was stupid. And what was pissing me off, even more, was that this guy talking there, he was wearing fancy clothes. Fancy, but light. Us soldiers, before this great being, could only wear armor, weapons, and a bag. Bag weighing more than Jimmy.
And this fucker was talking more and more. Didn't he know we still had to walk after this speech? Of course not. After all, this guy would have his beautiful ass on a horse or a carriage.
After a few more minutes of pure torture, it was the end. I was even surprised that no one had fallen.
Under the orders of our captain, then of our lieutenant, the long march toward our death began.
Since I was in the 2nd Platoon of the 5th Company, I and my team were at the rear of the army. That was seriously giving me some ideas on how I could flee.
Since we were marching on a large road, each row was made up of five soldiers. The corporal on the left, and the rest of the team on the right of their leader.
It was Dereck who was walking beside me. And damn I hated that. Walking alongside such a big and tall dude was probably one of the worst things ever.
But hey! It wasn't as if I could say anything about it. Well, maybe it left my mouth one or two times, but I was sure Dereck wouldn't mind it.
The long march was taking weeks. Each night, before the sun was completely set, we prepared a camp by making a fence around it and digging a hole to make a small moat.
During these weeks, the morale was at its lowest. After all, we were all simple citizens before being enrolled. All the real soldiers were already on the battlefield, and the few among us wouldn't change anything.
Of course, some of us were foolish enough to think with joy how they would eviscerate their enemies for the empire. These ones, I avoided them as much as possible. Not that I didn't like them, but, well, they would die first anyway.
The night after the camp was finished, the soldiers could drink a bit of rum while some of us were telling stories. The best one at that was Jean. Always with a story in his head and even that night, that was him talking near the fire, as the rest of the 2nd platoon was listening with smiles on their faces.
"And at this moment, the husband enters the bar. I knew it was him, I only needed to look at the expression of shock in the delicious woman near me. Right there he enters, at this time! I thought 'damn I'm sure he had seen me kissing his wife', so I stepped back and jumped behind the counter of my bar at lightning speed."
Some laughter echoed around as others were mocking him.
"Yeah, yeah I'm a coward, I know. But you didn't see this guy! It was a Dereck but much uglier!" He avoided the piece of wood launched toward him by Dereck and resumed his story as if nothing happened. Everyone was restraining their muffled laughter.
"And he approached his wife with an expression, god I thought the guy had killed at least a hundred persons before coming here. Each of his steps were like a knife cutting my skin, and before long...Bam! He was in front of me."
Everyone wanted to know what happened after that, was he beaten up, or did he find a way to calm the situation?
"And you know what he says to me?" He made a pause while looking at everyone, before answering his own question. "He says to me with a big voice making the walls of the bar tremble, 'a chop of the best beer please'."
Everyone was bursting with laughter at this end no one expected. Even myself, I couldn't stop a smile from rising. This bastard always knew how to make everyone laugh. At least he relaxed the atmosphere.
Each night was the same, then the long days of march took over.
Then one day, after a very long march, we stopped in front of a forest. It was the Greysh Forest. I knew of this forest. Not because it was well known, or anything, but simply because if we saw this forest, then it meant we were already out of our empire.
For how many days, I didn't know. But all I knew was that from this day onward, hell would become our daily days.