"Captain, we all accept your leadership. No need for further comparisons. You are our team leader now, and that's final."
"Yes, we accept you as our captain. We all support you."
The other team members quickly agreed with the agile and skinny young man in Jake's squad.
"Good. Go and bring him back and wake him up," Jake said, referring to The burly man he had knocked out. Two team members immediately went to retrieve the unconscious man. Meanwhile, members of other teams dispersed as the competition had ended. However, the impact of the fight didn't end there. Many people were discussing the match, and some would occasionally glance at Jake. This brief contest had given Jake a certain level of reputation within the Third Battalion.
Jake didn't mind the attention; he knew that this would happen once he decided to intervene. In a way, this newfound reputation might even help him avoid some unnecessary trouble.
When Jake was fully dressed again, The burly man had been revived by his teammates. As soon as he saw Jake, he recalled what had happened before.
"Do you accept defeat?" Jake asked. "If you don't, we can have another match."
"I accept," The burly man, Brenton, said with a downcast expression.
If the defeat had been a close one or if Jake had used some underhanded means to win, Brenton might not have accepted it so easily. He might have asked for a rematch. However, in this case, Jake had won with overwhelming superiority. Brenton had no resistance against Jake, like a child facing a strong man. The gap in strength was too vast, making any further comparisons unnecessary.
"I, Brenton, am willing to gamble and accept my defeat!" Brenton declared. "From now on, you are my team leader, forever. If you ask me to go east, I won't even glance towards the west. I would follow you through thick and thin, no matter what."
"It's not that serious," Jake chuckled. "This conscription only lasts for three months. When the time is up, we will all go our separate ways. We might not even see each other again. Just obey my orders during these three months."
Jake hadn't expected Brenton to be so straightforward and accepting of his defeat. It seemed that he had truly won Brenton over.
However, when Jake mentioned the three-month conscription, Brenton's expression turned strange, and he said, "Captain, don't you know? This conscription is just the beginning. Once we're enlisted, we will be called upon almost every year. We are already registered, and we will have to serve every year. In times of war, we might be conscripted for long periods, with no chance of leaving."
"What?!" Brenton's words surprised Jake: "How did I not know about this?"
"The people from the county who came to conscript us told us so," the clever-looking young man added. "Captain, you didn't know?"
"I didn't know!" Jake said with some frustration.
Jake understood now that the village chief must have known about this, and that's why he didn't inform Jake. Perhaps he was afraid that Jake wouldn't agree to come. No wonder the village chief had been so kind, offering to lower the fees for renting the back mountains and providing him with so much equipment. It turned out that this conscription was a lifelong commitment!
"Don't worry, Captain. The nation has been relatively stable in recent years. The service period won't be too long. After three months, we should be able to return," Brenton reassured.
"And if someone serves ten consecutive years, as long as they're still alive, they won't have to serve again," the clever young man added.
Ten years? Jake was shocked. If he had to serve for ten years, even if it was only three months each year, the total time would be quite lengthy. Would he still have time to farm, cut wood, and mine? He didn't come to this world to become a soldier; he just wanted to live a peaceful life, farming and logging.
He had been tricked! At this moment, Jake realized that he had been duped by the village chief. the village chief was truly cunning, and he had also been careless. He should have known that people in this world have their own thoughts and aren't just data. He should have been more cautious.
If Jake had known this situation earlier, he would never have agreed to come here. Even if he couldn't rent the back mountains, he could have secretly mined and logged. As for farming, he could have found other villages to lease land from. There were many other villages around, not only this village. He had been thoroughly deceived!
"Is there no way to shorten the service time? Do we have to serve for ten years?" Jake asked, still unwilling to accept the situation.
"There must be a way," the clever young man replied. "The best way is to achieve meritorious deeds!"
"Meritorious deeds?" Jake inquired.
"Yes," Brenton added, "achieving something significant on the battlefield. The court may reduce the service time based on the circumstances. If you achieve great merit, they might even exempt you from service."
Meritorious deeds! Jake had a goal and motivation now. He absolutely couldn't serve for ten years, so he must achieve something significant on the battlefield, something of great merit!
"And if you achieve great merit, you can become a true soldier, and even becoming a high-ranking official in the future isn't impossible!" Brenton said, his eyes filled with longing.
Unlike Jake, who wanted to escape the military camp, Brenton seemed to be very enthusiastic about the army and was eager to achieve merit on the battlefield to build a career in the military.
Jake snorted internally at this. It's not so easy to become a high-ranking official. Out of hundreds of thousands of soldiers, only one or two might achieve such status, and the odds were extremely low. Neither he nor Brenton was likely to be that lucky.