"It's really happening…!"
"I can't wait!"
"Oh, come on, just start already!"
The last day of the mandatory course of the knightling camp was traditionally free from all of the activities save for the two.
There were no more exams, no more trainings, no more lessons.
Just the score token bestowal ceremony that doubled as a camp's graduation celebration, and then the short interview the camp's chief would conduct with every cadet to determine their path for the future.
And right now, after a month of constant efforts, struggle, and challenges, it was finally time for all the cadets of Theo's batch to be rewarded for their efforts.
'Just a little longer,' Theo thought, doing his best to hold his emotions back.
He couldn't care less about the ceremony, as opposed to all the jubilant cadets all around him. He cared little for the act of receiving tokens too, with how he could already guess how many of those he had earned and how every last one of those tokens had already found their use within his plans.
What he couldn't handle, however, was the awful waste of time that this whole ceremony was, once one were to shed away all the ceremonies, speeches, and rites.
It was an event more for the camp's chief to jerk off to the sound of his own voice than a ceremony directed at the cadets themselves… Even if, judging by the quick look Theo spared to his fellow cadets, most of them failed to realize it themselves.
"Morning, company!"
Stepping out from the entrance to the logistics building, the camp's chief shouted.
"Morning, Chief Camp Officer!" All the cadets screamed back while stretching their backs and slamming their fists into their chests.
A month of constant discipline exercises finally revealed its worth, turning a bunch of the young men's voices into one coordinated scream that appeared to be much more than just the sum of all its elements.
It was the kind of scream soldiers would use on the battlefield, not to scare their enemies off but to make themselves forget about the fear of the nearing battle.
And judging by the small smile that emerged in the corner of the camp chief's mouth, Theo and his fellow cadets managed to nail this exercise.
"As I'm sure you are all aware, you are all going to be conferred the points you've earned in the three consecutive exams. Points for brawn, points for smarts, and, for those who seek the path of enlightenment in the royal academy, the points for wisdom. After this ceremony is over, during your interview with me and the camp's superintendent, a prized guest from the academy, you will decide how you wish for those points to be used."
Theo took a deep breath, ready for the chief's words to now diverge towards some meandering topics of tradition, history, noble tales, or some other bullshit he couldn't care less about.
That's what happened back in his original life, leaving him so bored of the process he could hardly recall a single thing the chief said back then.
Now, however, that the chief's speech was about to begin anew, all Theo could do was chill out and relax in hopes of getting the most out of this time anyway.
'If I can't train or be otherwise productive, the least I can do is get some well-deserved rest!'
"Normally, this is where I would give you one more exam, one more test of endurance to see whether you can handle mental strain as well as you did physical… But screw it. To those of you that wish to pursue a career in the noble retinues, you already know everything. Those of you that will go to join the academy, you are going to learn everything you need during the interview. So what's left for me to say here?"
Right as Theo completed the round of gradually compressing all of his muscles only to then relax them before settling into that sensation of slight bliss, the camp's chief decided to turn Theo's plans on their heads, opting out of the lengthy speech in favor of just moving things along.
"So, as to not waste your precious time, time I'm quite sure you have all sorts of other things to use for, let's get this over with," the chief called out.
At first, the cadets weren't exactly sure how to react.
"Yes, sir!"
"Yes, chief!"
"Awesome!"
A few of them tried to shout something, only to grow awkward when not only did no one pick up on their call, but there were also other people trying to get the crowd to shout something else.
Still, while the chants didn't pass, the noise gradually grew and continuously reforged itself, all the way to the point where it became something as simple as a standing ovation from the cadets expressing their happiness in the camp chief's choice.
"Tone it down, everyone!" Stepping up from the side, one of the camp's lesser officers cried out. "If you are so happy things will move on faster, stop trying to slow them down yourselves!"
The noise died down as quickly as it came to be.
As it was all happening, the camp's chief grabbed a stack of papers prepared on a stand near where he stood, only to then bring them up as he turned back to the crowd.
"I will now read the names from the highest score down to the lowest. It's a blink-it-and-you-will-miss-it kind of deal, so you all better listen carefully!"
The chief raised his hand to his mouth and coughed into it, clearing his throat before proceeding to the next and arguably the most important step of the whole ceremony.
"Leonard Kratus!"
One of Theo's fellow cadets, the kid Theo could vaguely remember taking the third spot during the marathon exam, marched ahead to the front.
"Leonard Kratus! You've obtained a total of two hundred and twenty-one tokens! Congratulations," the chief announced before reaching his hand out and then shaking Leonard's hand. "Your duty to the crown is hereby fulfilled. You are now free to proceed down this hall," the man raised his hand and pointed at the side entrance to the logistics center of the camp, "where you will be able to complete your interview."
Once again, the cadets started to clap their hands. Some even went as far as to whistle as the best one of their group left for greener pastures.
"Coming second, Mave Potocki, step forward!"
Once again, a cadet moved up to the front, shook the chief's hand, and accepted their two hundred score tokens before proceeding down to the logistics hall side entrance.
'And there we go,' able to guess the scores of his exam, Theo knew what to expect to happen next.
"Coming third…"
The vibe of anticipation filled the area as the cadets tried to all guess who would be the one to claim the last honors out of the top three ranks.
Would it be Mark, who topped the endurance exam? Or maybe one of the two Ygren siblings, who were known for their great academic inclination?
Yet, as whispers spread throughout the small crowd, as the chief did a double-check on the name on the papers in his hand, as some cadets prepared to clap…
"Coming third, Conscript Theo seven-seven-six-three-three-seven-nine!"
The chief looked down and cast a sweeping glance through the crowd, only to then lock his eyes on Theo's bored face.
"Step forward!"
'Wait, while I knew I was going to be third…' Theo squinted his eyes a tiny little bit, only to then start walking to the front surrounded by nothing but total silence and the stunned gazes of his fellow cadets.
He ranked fifth in the marathon. And for him to still claim the third spot overall…
While there were some muscleheads amidst the crowd of cadets who only knew how to swing their iron, most of them were capable of some basic math and reason. And faced with such a weird happenstance, they quickly calculated just how insane of a score in both of his written exams Theo had to achieve to secure the third spot for himself.
A spot above athletic Mark, above the Ygren siblings, above all three other nobleborn of the group…
For Theo, however, it wasn't his rank that made him so wary.
It was a hint of a weird vibe hidden at the bottom of the chief's eyes that caught his attention.
Still, there was nothing he could do but just walk up to the front where the chief shook his hand before passing over a small, rectangular trinket.
"You've obtained a total of two hundred and fourteen score tokens," the chief announced in a silent voice, as if too ashamed to announce it out loud.
Yet, as soon as Theo turned in the direction the two before him went, the chief finally showed his colors.
"Not so fast, cadet!" he called out… Only to point his hand in the opposite direction of the side entrance, guiding Theo in the direction of the camp's main training ground instead. "Your interview is going to be a little bit different," the chief announced, the corner of his lips making up something that, in a really critical case, one could consider a small smile.
"It seems you've caught the eye of quite the interesting bunch!"