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A soldier's point of view:
The sun rises in the sky and the birds start whistling.
"yawwwwwn, I want to sleep some more..." I said tiredly and tried to go back to sleep.
After dozing for an indeterminate amount of time, the sunlight began to seep in through the bedroom windows, waking me up and keeping me awake. Finally, I had to force myself to wake up after patrolling the dark and silent city streets all night. My mind still wanted to sleep and my body wanted to rest, away from the hustle and bustle of the city and the street that was starting to come alive, I knew I had work to do today.
I opened my eyes slowly, trying to wake up fully. I rubbed my eyes, massaged my temples and tried to shake off the clouds of sleep that were floating in my mind. My head was spinning, my body ached and I felt totally exhausted.
Glancing out the window, I saw that the sun was almost fully up. Lost in my thoughts for a few seconds, my heart suddenly sped up. I remembered that I had received a promotion and that I now had to park at the main gate of the city. I took a deep breath and forced myself out of bed, looking around to see where my guard outfit was and quickly put it on. As I put on my guard suit, I walked over to the window to take a look at the city as it began to come alive, the alleys slowly filling with townspeople shopping in the stalls that littered the street.
"-1 copper coin for 1 apple! 5 apples bought, one free! Take advantage of the promotion, it's only valid this morning!" shouted the long-nosed old woman, apples in hand, showing them to the people who passed by her stall.
"-I sell high quality tools! Come and test, the tools have been checked by an expert, no scam! 1 silver coin for an axe, a pickaxe and a hoe!" said a smiling young man with bulging muscles demonstrating by cutting a tree trunk with an iron axe in his hand.
After I finished putting on my guard's outfit, I took my eyes off the window and headed outside, sensing that it was going to be a long day. Taking a deep breath, I ran through the streets of my neighborhood to the guardhouse at the main gate of the city, which was on the other side of town.
After walking breathlessly for about ten minutes, I arrived at the guardhouse and saw my scary elder waiting for me at the gate, who saw me enter sweating.
"Hey, new guy. You're late today! What am I going to do with you if you're already late for your first shift at the main gate? You want to go back to the night patrol?" he said sternly, looking at me like he was going to eat me.
"Sorry for the delay, senior, I ran into a few incidents on the way! To make it up to you, I'll buy you a nice beer at the newly opened bar on the west side of town, ahah?" I said with a nervous laugh, hoping he wouldn't report the delay to his superior at the risk of being demoted from my hard-earned promotion. So I offered to buy him a beer to make up for it, thinking my wallet would be empty for this month.
"Ah, there's no need, there's no need to empty your wallet! I was joking, you won't be demoted just for a mistake, unforeseen things happen along the way, but learn to manage your time so that you arrive on time the next day," said the senior, who was scary because of his smile, but was understanding for the delay.
I sighed with relief, acknowledging the senior's understanding. "Thank you, senior, that really relieves me. I really need this job right now, I can't afford to be late," I said, shaking my head.
"Don't worry, kid, the old man with the scary face in front of you even forgot to report to the post on the first day of his promotion," an old man with a happy face said as he walked out of the guardhouse, mocking the senior in front of me.
"Shut up, Jave! You're making me look bad in front of the younger one," he angrily calls out to his colleague.
"Ahah, with your face, it's hard not to look bad," Jave says as he walks out of the guardhouse and approaches us.
"Nice to meet you, you're Jim, aren't you? I received the news of your promotion from your superiors, you'll be here with us now, follow me, I'll introduce you to your new colleagues" he said as he walked towards the guard post while I followed him.
"By the way, no need to stress, feel free to ask questions, if you have any of course" Jave says until we pass the other members of the post.
"This is our new member Jim, Jim this is Parker the leftmost member, Jack the tough guy on our team and finally Tom the nerd from our barracks. Give him a warm welcome, won't you guys?" he said as he introduced me to the other three guards who were the same age as me.
"Welcome to our team," Jack said, holding out his hand.
"Hello Jim, the new guy!" added Parker in a relaxed tone.
Then Tom nodded his head in welcome and said "Welcome Jim, I hope you are ready to work hard with us".
I smiled in response and shook hands with each guard.
"Thanks guys, I'm happy to team up with you too. I can't wait to start working with you all."
After greeting all my colleagues, we headed for the door, which was 10 metres high. I was amazed at the length of the door, which was more than five times the size of a human being.
"You are surprised, aren't you? You've never seen the main door before?" laughed Parker beside me.
"Yes, I'm surprised. I'm from a small tribe, it was only recently that my tribe joined the city, we used to pass through the southern gate of the city so we never got to see the main gate" I reply, looking at the gate with a curious look.
"Oh, I see, that makes much more sense. You're probably wondering why the gate is so gigantic, aren't you?" replied Tom next to me in an understanding tone.
"Yes, why did you build such a big door? I don't think there are any 10m tall humans in the world," I said, puzzled as to the real reason.
"The real reason is that in the early days of the city, monsters were doing a lot of damage to the citizens of the city, so the first head of the Johnson family came up with the idea of building a 12m high, 2m thick stone wall to make the citizens feel safe, but as you can see, the wall isn't even finished yet. In 6 generations, the wall has only just been completed. In those days, humans hunted monsters a lot, not for their safety, but for the materials they contained, like fur, mana cores or bones that are useful for weapons and so on, but as monsters varied in size and were often large, it would have been too difficult to get them through a human-sized door, So the biggest monster found was eight metres long, and it was also a leader monster that the first generation of the town managed to kill by a very narrow margin, which gave our town great prestige among the neighbours," Tom explained, recounting with admiration the time when the leaders had managed to kill a big monster.
I see, it wasn't for us humans, but to move the monsters from outside to inside the city. But one detail surprised me.
"A monster boss? What is a boss monster?", intrigued by Tom's words.
"You don't know what a monster is? A monster boss is a monster with a huge body and limbs as muscular as tree trunks, capable of crushing rocks by sheer brute strength. Their skin is as hard as steel and as brightly coloured as the sun. Their roar makes those who hear them tremble, and they are as formidable as the others, whether by their speed or their strength, they are the most ruthless adversaries one can meet, capable of decimating an entire city of ten thousand humans, and those who have been able to kill them are counted on the fingers of one hand. That's what a monster boss is, the merit of killing a monster boss can secure you a comfortable life in any city you want to live."
I smiled and shook my head, knowing he was exaggerating. "I think you're exaggerating a bit, they're certainly powerful but I'm sure they can't destroy a city by themselves. There are many of us, we have the order of knights, thousands of soldiers and the ruler who protects the whole city. For a monster to decimate us with all that, I'd like to know how the first rulers managed to kill a monster of such calibre," I said suspiciously.
As I was about to ask Tom how the early rulers could have killed such a monster, I saw soldiers coming towards us on their horses in the distance.
"Guys, look over there! There are soldiers coming towards us on their horses," I said, pointing to the soldiers who were getting closer and closer.
Jave, the oldest member of our team, approached the soldiers coming to the gate and, after a few minutes of talking to them, let them pass, watching them. Jave let them pass, watching them until the soldiers were too far away to see them. Jave, who was watching them, finally took his eyes off them and came over to us and started talking.
"I think this day will be very, very difficult. I advise you to prepare yourself for the future so that you can survive the disaster that is coming..." said Jave in a serious tone, frowning.
Parker, Tom, Jack and I were confused by the words coming out of our elder's mouth, but after about ten minutes we heard a bell and the order from our superiors to gather in the village square. So, apart from the scary-faced old man guarding the main gate, we headed, Jave in the lead, towards the mobilisation announced by the chief.
In the central square of Humec:
"Get your asses moving as fast as you can!" a man yells at a group of soldiers who are slow to assemble.
"Over here, vermin!" another man shouts angrily.
"Get in line! I know some are confused, explanations will be given by Sir. Silvester! Silence!" says a man with the look and bearing of a high city official.
A few moments later, a knight with the appearance of a Greek god came out of the castle entrance and approached the dais, followed by several knights a few steps behind him. The authoritative knight climbed onto the high platforms, followed by his fellow knights.
After the knight stopped on the platform, the whole central square suddenly became silent. It was as if the commotion of a few minutes ago had never existed.
"Good morning to you all! I am Sir. Silvester, the Commander-in-Chief of the Order of Knights. I am here to inform you of an order announced by the lord himself!
Suddenly, a lot of noise and astonishment ensued. Confused by what was happening, I asked my colleagues why everyone was reacting like this.
"What's going on? Why is everyone so surprised by what the commander just said?" I said this with a curious look on my face, while my colleagues looked at me as if a person from the countryside
"You really don't know? This is an order announced by the lord himself! It means something important has happened, the Lord never gives orders, big or small!" said Tom, with a puzzled look at my lack of knowledge.