"Graduates!" Eidos Luther spoke the moment he got into the carriage.
"There's a report a hobgoblin was spotted further ahead in the forest. All of you should get ready to fight." Eidos Luther continued. But he was somewhat dumbfounded by what the graduates were trying to do when he came inside.
"This..." one of the graduates had his bow pulled to its limit.
**Weng!**
The arrow was fired into the darkness. A few seconds later, a loud goblin cry came from where the projectile went.
"Err... Leader. The tower fired an arrow, and it got the hobgoblin by luck. That thing is dead now, and the goblins are dispersing." said the scout hiding further in the forest.
"Luck? Luck my head!" Eidos Luther wanted to scream out his lungs for everything that happened tonight. He previously thought he had complete control over the situation tonight. But to his surprise, the graduates handled it better than he did.
Hespar arrived at the eastern tower minutes later.
The three officers finally noticed the faint white glow on both Hespar's pupils. Sweat was covering his forehead, hinting that he's been using his Aura from the beginning until now.
"Have you been using your Aura all this while?" Eidos Luther asked. He had no idea what kind of power Hespar had, but he's sure everything happening here was related to the Aura.
"Yes, Sir." Hespar nodded in response.
"I'll expect a detailed report in the morning. You guys may continue. And... Good job handling the monsters before they manage to get closer to the camp." Eidos Luther said before leaving the carriage with his two young officers.
There's a hint of the amazement shown in their expression.
The night watch assignment continued. There were two other attacks later, but both were small battles that were handled rather quickly. This continued until the convoy continued on their way after breakfast.
"So, what do you have in mind?" Eidos Luther asked. To make it not as severe as it seems, he had his two young officers avoid coming or disturbing them.
"I apologize if my action yesterday was overboard." Hespar started the conversation with an apology.
"There's nothing to apologize for. But instead, I'd like to know more as long you feel comfortable telling. I am curious about how the graduates could do so well last night. Was it due to your Aura?" Eidos Luther asked again, although he already had his answer last night.
"Yes, Sir. The night duty was much easier because I occasionally helped with my Aura." Hespar answered. And since the convoy leader had already asked, Hespar could continue with his explanation.
"The name of my Aura is Mortal's Authority. Upon activation, I could bestow a clear line of sight to 50 people at once. The radius of my Aura is 500 meters around me, and the time limit would be between 10 to 15 minutes." said Hespar.
"That's quite... Overpowered." Eidos Luther said. He initially had a low expectation of Hespar since his Aura's color was white, which is widely known as trash or utility Aura. But to his surprise, it wasn't as trashy as people said.
"Calling it overpowered is too much on an ability like mine. This second officer's power is still far from stable." Hespar, once again being humble, responded to the leader's praise.
"Still, it was great knowing we can rely on you. Would you mind taking over the job of Nightwatch for the next four nights until we arrive at Fonterra's Eleventh Camp? Once we're there, let me introduce you to the commander. I'm sure he would be glad to see you." said Eidos Luther.
"It is my honor to be given such an important task. Please leave it to me." Hespar nodded.
After listening to what Eidos Luther had to say, he couldn't help but feel curious about the commander. On top of that, Hespar could see a hint of reverence from Eidos Luther in this individual.
For the next three nights, Hespar has been handling the night watch duty responsibly. Besides giving everyone an equal opportunity to grow, he's also been grooming his own Aura whenever possible.
In these few days, Hespar has given a hand to Lucas and Victor to manifest their Aura faster. Although their progress won't be as quickly as Hespar's, it shouldn't take too long before they can start harnessing the power on their own.
On their fifth day of departure, the group eventually encountered a problematic issue.
They came across a burned-down village. This settlement could at least hold about five hundred villagers, based on its spaciousness. But right now, only the sight of charred buildings and abandoned corpses can be seen here.
"When did this happen? The third convoy should depart a few days after us. When we left the eleventh camp a week ago, this settlement was still intact!" Eidos Luther said.
Unbothered by the smell of charred corpses around him, Eidos Luther made his way straight into the core location of this village and broke into the chief's house. The wooden and brick wall that was maliciously burned in flames is nothing but a fragile cover.
Eidos Luther gave whatever remained a kick to bring the whole building down. And to Hespar's surprise, a golden scroll actually survived the fire. The convoy leader waste no time loitering around and picked up the item as soon as possible before ordering everyone to continue carefully.
The five Aura Users and Hespar soon gathered in the leader's carriage for a discussion.
"As much as I hate to admit... This attack was likely made by the soldiers from Fennis Empire. I'm sure you have noticed that fact by now, am I correct?" Eidos Luther asked.
"Does that even need to say? Except for those bastards from Fennis Empire, who else like to burn down a village after pillaging it?" one of the two young officers said.
"I noticed some empty recovery potions and stamina potions on the ground, along with some broken weapons. From the look of it, they're not doing too good either. I think they must be some runners or deserters." another one of them continued with the reply.
"Ceh! Who else except for them? There's no one else but these degenerates regarding burning down settlements, merciless slaughtering, and rape." the other two added. They had the attire of a scout done on them, stating their military post.
But in terms of position, they're considered below Hespar.
"Feeling aside, what do you suggest we do?" Eidos Luther gives the floor they're sitting on three knocks to change their discussion.
"Track these deserters down and get rid of them. They're too dangerous to be left alone so deep into our territories!" one of the young officers suggested. There's still a hint of anger in his words.
"Count me in."
"Me too."
The two scout-division members immediately expressed their standing. Currently, three people are supporting the idea of tracking down the remnant soldiers.
Only Eidos Luther, Hespar, and another young officer have yet to voice out what is in their minds.
"Hespar. Let me know your viewpoint as a new recruit. Remember that this fight is not the same as going against the monsters. Your opponent is going to be a fellow human. One capable of what we can, with trickery, and master of manipulating human's weaknesses." Eidos Luther said.
From Hespar's performance over the four days, he could see that Hespar was someone who hadn't been baptized with another fellow human blood yet. The other 99 graduates that came along likely hadn't as well.
This could be a weakness when tracking the Fennis Empire's remnants, especially if something wrong happened.
"I believe we should track these people as soon as possible before they lay their hand on another poor village. As for the issue of fighting with another fellow human, I'm sure we have to face it sooner or later."
"We could always treat this as an opportunity before we're sent into the real battlefield," Hespar said.
"Alright, in that case, I'll go with the plan as well," said Eidos Luther.
"Guess I'll be following you guys." the other young officer also agreed to the suggestion.
"Alright. Everyone should get themselves ready. We'll be departing in the next half an hour. The mission will be changed to tracking the cause and culprit behind this village's accident and bring them back alive to be trialed." Eidos Luther said.
"Yes, Sir!" everyone responded to Luther's order and left to make their preparations. In the short thirty minutes, the convoy's formation somewhat changed into a more agile setup to allow them to move faster.
Judging from their distance to the Fonterra's eleventh camp, the convoy shouldn't have had a food problem for the one to two days. This allowed them to openly dispose of some useless gears inside the carriage.
The scout's report returned when it was about time to move out. Through their expertise in tracking, they found a hint of the remnant soldiers' whereabouts.
The remnants should be heading to one of the similar size villages further into the Eastern Territories.
Their numbers are expected to be between forty to fifty people, lightly armed and fully fed. This means the possibility of them being active is relatively high.
"Are we ready to move?" Eidos Luther asked. Since this was their first mission together in hunting the remnants, he had to ensure everyone knew what they had to do.
"Yes, Sir!" everyone responded simultaneously with a fist on their left chest.
"Alright! Let us depart and search for the people that daringly step into our territories. Let's try capturing all of them and bring them back to be trialed! We shall show that the Sauro Kingdom is not a pushover!" Eidos Luther led everyone as they started picking up their speed and moving forward.