At long last, Claire has finally completed her training. By the time she fully recovered, she was instructed to show up at the Special Infantry Troop Headquarters. She was a bit nervous, having no idea to expect there, she held her head high and entered the place with confidence. "Good afternoon, ma'am, sirs!" She greeted with a salute.
"Oh my, and who do we have here?" A woman spoke, her presence commanding attention and respect. This woman has muscular physique and sharp features giving her an intimidating and imposing appearance. She is known as Bernadette, the 3rd most strongest fighter in the troop.
There were three individuals gathered around a large round table in the headquarters. Each of them creating a strong and dominating aura, intimidating anyone that dares to approach them. And all had their eyes on Claire.
"This must be the person that the Captain was referring to. We're actually expecting you!" Claire recognized the man who spoke, he's known as Leon, the 4th strongest fighter in the troop. He doesn't seem as dangerous as the woman earlier, but rather captivating and more approachable than the rest of the people in this place.
"Don't just stand there! State your name and evaluation ratings." An ill-tempered guy complained, he was twice as intimidating as the woman. He's absolutely massive, his size and stature alone is enough to make others wary and intimidated by him. His face with scars marring his features, it adds to his fearsome appearance. This man is known as Gunther Neumann a.k.a. Guns, he's the 5th strongest fighter in the troop.
"I—" Claire was cut off by Leon.
"Chill out Guns, Captain Wright already dropped off her evaluation documents. Check it out here." He calmly said and handed him the files.
Whilst Claire's superiors were checking out her documents, the woman who first spoke to her gave her some sort of pin. "Here, you should put this on."
"This is?..."
"It's a chip that's made out of the same material as the shifter. It synchronizes with the shifter to analyze and determine your strength and power in wielding the shifter weapon. That's where fighters in our troop get their rank." Bernadette explained.
Claire then wondered. "May I ask the reason why there's ranking based on strength? Is that something we really need to have?"
"That's a pretty good question," Bernadette grins. "The ranking system brings out competitiveness within anyone. Those who ranked the highest are often idolized and influences others to become like them."
"And to mention that the higher the rank, the better the privilages." Leon added.
"Right, that too! Though some people just do it to see whose stronger than who..." While they were explaining, Claire have already put on her pin expecting it will give her a rank but nothing happened. "It's not working?"
Leon chuckles. "Of course it won't, you just put it on just now. It can only determine your rank once you put your strength and abilities to use at the battlefield."
"But before that, I'll make it clear that I won't be taking her in my platoon." Guns declared.
"If that's the case, I'll—" Leon was cut off by Bernadette. "Then I'll be glad to take her in! Claire Duvent, welcome to my platoon!"
"Thank you ma'am!" Claire smiled.
"No need to thank me, it's my pleasure! I don't get to see much cuties like you around anyways." Bernadette said with a wink whilst Leon sighing beside her. "Just a reminder though, our unit will be deployed to gate N only a few hours from now. In the meantime, you should head to the dormitory of platoon III and inform them to gather at the preparatory grounds." That was Claire's first order as an official soldier of the special infantry troop.
She salutes to her new commanding superior. "Understood ma'am!"
On her way to the dormitory, Leon decided to tag along. "Is there something you'd like for me to do sir?" Claire asks.
"Oh that, since you're new to the troop, I might as well introduce you so your platoon can acknowledge you." Leon smiles.
"I appreciate that!"
"There's also a lot of other things you gotta know too. So I figured that I tell you all about it on our way to the dormitories."
"But, er, is it really okay for a commanding superior to escort an underling?" She worries that people might perceive this in a wrong way.
"Don't put too much thought about it. I'm also going to inform my Platoon to head to the preparatory grounds. So anyway..." Leon began to talk to Claire about the basic stuff that the special troop does. Although there's not much need for him to do so since Claire was already oriented about it during her training.
She figured that this might be his way of swaying some ladies in the army since he's known to be a player, but she never expected that she'll be approached as well. Though this was a good opportunity for her to observe and analyze him overall.
When the two arrived at the dormitories, the whole platoon III made a formation instantly at the presence of a fellow commanding superior. And just as he said, he introduced Claire and had her join them.
Meanwhile, back at the headquarters, the two commanding superiors Bernadette and Gunther were intrigued by the new additional soldier. "That woman was also trained by Captain Zahi. I think I know where this is going." Bernadette grins.
"She'll either replace the five lower ranking single digits soon, or maybe even take our position from us. Will you be fine with that?" Gunther asked.
"Like hell she will! I haven't even beaten that damn bastard Raphael nor Devian yet... unless if she's one of those freakishly strong new generation brats then, ugh." Bernadette sighs at the thought.
"It doesn't matter if the younger ones beats us in terms of strength. All that matters is that we put a stop to this stupid war that's been going on for years." Gunther stands up and had a determined look on his face when an alarm rang, it's the signal that they're going to be deployed any minute now.
"It's time. Let's go."