This news that Jack brought to me isn't something that someone should be happy about.
This would surely make my peaceful life ruined… it's okay if I got some powerful gifts from the goddess before as that surely would increase my chances to survive but without having anything at all. There's no way I could even survive after the first battle.
But if the army itself is going to the village to inspect the young men for the war. For sure I would be recruited almost instantly unless I fake an injury of course.
That idea does cross my mind but it wouldn't work as my friend would know that I am lying. Since getting sick all of the sudden when the selection occurred, that would be pretty obvious.
If it does get spotted out, not only would I be embarrassed but my family would be ashamed as well. Because in this kingdom, serving the army is a great honor for peasants like us and would help to boost our status.
That's part of the reason why Jack is so excited about this recruitment. As it's not easy for someone to join the army… because mostly most of the soldiers would need to join the training from a very young age. It kinda makes sense why we're kinda one of the last continents that haven't been conquered by the demons yet.
As we do produce some quality soldiers using that method. The only reason why we lost to the elf was the territorial advantage that they had in the sacred forest and their use of magic. At least that is what I heard from the rumors that have been circulating in the village.
Almost 60% of the soldiers don't have an affinity for magic as they could only use weapons.
I know that it seems weird in this fantasy world but I learned about it from a very young age. That not everyone had a talent for magic, only certain people had an affinity to use magic. Sadly I am not one of them as I couldn't harness any magic power at all…
For this kind of opportunity to occur for someone like our status, it's a rare chance as we should become a farmer for the rest of our life.
But of course, even if this sounds good, I wouldn't want it since I do not wish to be dead this early.
I just hope that I won't be recruited at all…
…
..
.
A week had passed…
The rumors that Jack told me were the truth after all. Because a few days before, soldiers arrived at the village and announced the recruitment. That all of the young men of this village would need to be at the inspection area near the meadow. As we would be given a few tests to see whether we are qualified to be in the army.
Of course, today was the day of the test…
I already had planned to fail the test by doing my worst as I probably thought that it would be a physical examination. Like how good our combat skills are and stuff that falls into the same category as that.
But my expectation fails shortly as the test wasn't even a combat skill at all, not even related to a physical test altogether.
There isn't a test at all! As all of the young men of this village would be recruited and the test they mentioned was about how to assign which division we would be in later on when we are in the army.
I didn't expect that to happen at all and now my hope was crushed. There's no way that I could quit now… I shouldn't have come in the first place, and I regretted my decision.
Jack, on the other hand, was excited about this and went ahead to take the test. He hoped that he would get assigned to the unit that would be doing the task of wiping out the elf in the war.
As I am not that eager on this stuff, I just waited for a bit to see which unit I want to take a test in. Since there are a few units that are available that wouldn't need to be in the front of the battlefield.
Like the supply units and the communication units. Of course, both of them would still need to be present in the battlefield but the chances of me surviving would increase if I join those two units.
I guess I take both of their tests as it will be better… if one failed then I had another one to lean on. There's no way I would fail both as I doubt the test would be hard for this type of unit after all.
…
..
.
A few hours later…
"I failed!?" I say that within myself…
How could this be! I never expected that I would fail both of the unit tests.
It's not my fault, to begin with… those tests are ridiculous. The supply unit test was for me to carry a very heavy crate that was full of metal armor. If one I would probably do it but for them to ask me to carry five at a time, that's insane.
The communication unit test was the same or might be worse if I were to say so. At first, I thought it would be just delivering some news but the test was about running. But it isn't just running like that as they shoot arrows at you and you have to dodge them, memorize all of the text, and say the same word to the person after finishing the course.
Of course, I didn't even take both of the tests as I simply walked out… as I know my limit.
As things don't go well for me, I decided to squat down for a bit to rethink my options here. Because surely there's something that I could do to minimize the risk of me dying out there in the war.
"I know that I could find you here!" A female voice utters those words to me…