One month later.
Maxime was not far from the village, in the middle of the forest.
With the help of his apprentice mercenaries, he had cleared a 50-meter radius to build a training area.
Thanks to the tools they had brought with them on the first day, the area was quickly cleared, and the first muscle-building aids soon appeared as well.
2 huts had also been built with the help of some villagers to increase the intensity of training, as well as to create a real bond of camaraderie.
"Congratulations on surviving my hellish training," Maxime announced to the group of young men in front of him with a smile.
The sun setting behind him, and the orangey glow it gave off, created an atmosphere particularly suited to the situation.
"You've grown a lot mentally and physically during this training. I'm proud that none of you gave up halfway through."
The young men, including Andrew, rolled their eyes slightly at this. The training was undoubtedly hellish, but the results were apparent the very next day, thanks to their leader's monstrous talent.
A man's greatest fear was to suffer horribly and see no improvement. In Eternity, this was very common.
What's more, there was another factor that motivated them to give their all.
"But the village chief will only let me get four of you, so that means half of you will have to go back to your previous lives."
Maxime gave them time to absorb the information, then continued:
"I've already chosen who will continue the adventure with me, and who will return to the village."
"I hope you could understand that I can't just make you fight each other and see who's the strongest."
"Do you all know why?"
One of the young men stepped forward, the smallest and least muscular of the apprentices.
"Yes, because we're not soldiers, we're mercenaries. Being a mercenary requires physical strength, of course, but it also requires an ironclad mental toughness, as well as mental flexibility, quick reaction time and a heightened ability to keep emotions in check."
"That's right Terry," says Maxime in a serious tone.
"So, according to his standards but also based on our own personal affinities and your potential, I've decided to keep by my side..."
"Andrew."
The flamboyant-haired young man nodded calmly in response, but inside he was still excited. He knew he was going to be chosen because his potential was far superior to the others, but to him Maxime was a total enigma.
He could never guess what he was thinking, and he never showed his pain during training. Yes, their leader had trained with them.
What's more, Maxime never talked about his personal life or where he came from. No one even knew how a young man like him had managed to reach their village alone and still alive.
So he didn't dare to be 100% confident.
"James."
James was a close second to Andrew in terms of physique, but he was one of those with a rather high emotional side which was clearly a great disadvantage as a mercenary who has to rub shoulders with death every day.
However, he had a talent for building friendships and boosting morale that Maxime couldn't miss.
If it had been before, James would have jumped with excitement, but Maxime's training instilled in them values to respect, including respect not only for the boss, but also for his friends.
Instead, he just contained his excitement by lowering his head to hide his smile, and clenching his fists tightly.
"Piedro."
The latter seemed surprised at the mention of his name, but discreetly restrained his glee, in the same way as James.
Indeed, Piedro was in the lower league in terms of strength, but Maxime had detected an ironclad mentality in him, and above all he put in a lot of effort during training. It was just a pity that both his basic physical constitution and his talent for growth were naturally extremely low.
Without a doubt, Maxime's talent allowed hidden talents to reveal themselves, and to develop in a direction that should never have appeared in Eternity.
"And finally Terry. That will be all for the constitution of our mercenary group," concludes Maxime in a pronounced tone.
"I'd like to ask each of you to take all your belongings from this camp and bring them back to the village. We'll spend one last night there, then head for the nearest town."
"Yes, sir!"
An hour later, the small team made their way back to the village. But the silence seemed extremely heavy.
The faces of the 4 mercenaries who hadn't passed the selections seemed to be totally decomposed.
Maxime noticed this, but said nothing. Missing out on this kind of opportunity felt much worse than having a green hat on your head.
They were all aware that they had either saved their lives by not going into battle and tragically dying on the way to glory, or lost the opportunity to stand among the heavyweights of this world.
But from now on, each of them will have to return to a normal life, and perhaps in the future join an ordinary mercenary group and then die like trash on some battlefield in some remote corner of this world.
After all, successful mercenaries were extremely rare.
"So painful, I'd so like to take them all with me..." mentally thought Maxime as he walked calmly towards the village.
"Hmm?" A small noise escaped Maxime's mouth as he saw that over the village a black smoke covered part of the sky.
It wasn't just him; all the mercenaries saw the smoke more or less at the same time.
A bad premonition struck their hearts, as they all began to run, keeping only their weapons with them, without waiting for Maxime's orders.
"What a pain... But I hope it's not what I think it is, otherwise..." thinking this, a dangerous gleam passed through his eyes as he also began sprinting towards the village.
10 minutes later, Maxime reached the village first, but what he saw made his eyes widen and he didn't dare take another step forward.
A few seconds later, Andrew arrived as well.
Seeing Maxime's back totally motionless, an invisible arrow shot through his heart, but he pressed on.
What lay before him was worse than anything he could have imagined.
The wooden houses had all collapsed one on top of the other, with only the largest still burning slightly.
Corpses filled the village entrance and main street. Mostly men and children.
Looking down, he noticed a familiar face.
Stepping heavily towards it, he knelt down beside it, took the time to observe it, then closed his eyelids with 2 fingers.
"God bless you in the afterlife", Andrew murmured in a low voice.
Maxime watched the scene from a distance, and thanks to his keen hearing, he could hear Andrew's words, and it made his heart waver slightly.
He also recognized the face. It was that of the first face he'd seen on entering this world. The old man's.
From the emotions on his face, it was easy to see that the old man had died without fulfilling his most cherished wish.
To protect the village.
This affected Maxime deeply.
He knew he was in a game, and he'd been warned in advance, but it felt real, too real.
"Don't worry old man, I'll definitely find out who did this, and I'll personally see to it that you get your revenge," Maxime secretly promised, which slightly lightened the waves in his heart.
After a few seconds of silence, Maxime saw Andrew rise to his feet. The red-haired young man's back seemed so lonely.
Maxime almost felt as if he were in a painting in this kind of setting.
Little by little, Maxime saw Andrew turn around.
Finally, he met Andrew's blood-red eyes as tears slowly rolled down Andrew's face.
"I've lost everything", he whispered, staring at Maxime.
Maxime stepped towards him, passed his arm over the back of his neck, and with a gentle movement, he glued Andrew's head to his chest, then whispered in his ear:
"May my soul be damned to hell if I don't find the beasts who did this, and make them die in excruciating pain."
"Chief...From today on, I'll be following you everywhere. Then make my life meaningful," he said in a husky but deep voice.
"I will Andrew," Maxime promised firmly.
Following this brief exchange, Andrew knelt on the floor as he burst into tears. He was, after all, only 18 years old.
By this time, all the saber-toothed tiger mercenaries had arrived and could clearly see the bloody scene before them.
Still with his back to them, Maxime gave them no time to overflow with emotion and ordered:
"I'll give you 2 hours to prepare your belongings and give your loved ones a proper burial. If possible, bring me a map of the area. We'll then return to the training camp, spend the night, then head for the nearest town as planned."
"Chief, it's too dangerous to go straight back to the training camp. It's possible that the villagers will betray our position, so when we wake up, we'll find ourselves surrounded by bandits." interjected Terry, who had managed to more or less maintain his composure.
"You dare to say that our families could have betrayed us?" exclaimed James angrily as he lifted Terry by the collar.
"James," said Maxime in an extremely cold tone.
Somehow, several swords had appeared right in front of James's throat, suddenly bringing him back to reality.
They were the swords of his training comrades. But this time, they weren't looking at him with eyes full of goodwill.
No, they were eyes that showed they were ready to kill him if Maxime ordered it.
James regretted it intensely. He had committed a totally taboo act in a mercenary group.
"In this village, there were also strangers just like I was, and they were the ones who could have revealed us. And even if there weren't, Terry would still be right. In this world, you can only trust your brothers in arms. In the face of death, any relationship not forged by the blood of your adversaries is as fragile as a house of cards."
"Remember that, James. This will be my first and last warning," Maxime said dryly, sternly, still from behind.
"Yes, Chief."
"Now disperse, we don't have much time. Including you, Andrew."
"Roger that, Chief!" replied all the saber-toothed tiger mercenaries in unison, with the exception of Andrew, whose voice lacked vigor.