Chapter 25 - Test of Insight 1

Darkness.

“Ba-dum.” the heartbeat sounded once.

Still darkness with the aroma of a briny air.

“Ba-dum. Ba-dum.” the heartbeat sounded twice.

Again darkness, but now he could feel his body tingling.

“Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum.” the heartbeat sounded too many times to count.

He awoke, back rising up as he quickly sucked in two lung’s worth of air.

“Arnest!”

The boy looked to his right and saw two boys, one older and the other younger. They looked like brothers, with their similar facial structures and dark brown eyes.

“Maarav, Lajos? Where am I?” Arnest asked as he looked around. The bed was rocking back and forth and the wooden walls seemed to be moving.

“We’re on one of the Sixth Army’s ships. Lieutenant Marco found you after you defeated that monster.” Lajos explained.

“I defeated… that monster? I didn’t die?” Arnest tried to rack his brain, but the last thing he could remember was the lion suddenly stopping its attack when it had him pinned on the ground.

“Ah!” he exclaimed, remembering Marco’s words.

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“So, you’re a magus, Ingras boy?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone for now. After all, you did risk yourself for a Raloman.”

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“Damn, I let someone see me use magic…” Arnest muttered to himself.

Lajos and Maarav looked puzzled at Arnest.

“What’s wrong? Did you catch a fever from the rains last night?” asked Maarav as he held the back of his right hand up to Arnest’s forehead.

“Haha, perhaps. I might have a slight fever.” laughed Arnest as he laid back down on the cot.

“Well you should  get ready to rest for the third part of the exam.” said Lajos.

“Third part? What happened to the second part?”

“The monster attack was the second part of the exam. Since you fought the monster directly head-on, you’ve passed and are moving on to the third part.”

Arnest thought for a moment but then he realized what that meant. “Wait, so what about you Lajos? You passed, right?”

Lajos bitterly smiled and said “No. Since I ran away with Maarav, I didn’t pass the second part of the exam.”

“I’m sorry Lajos, it’s my fault.” Arnest said with an apologetic face.

“No, it’s fine. If I didn’t protect my little brother, then I wouldn’t be fit to be a Raloman either way.”

“Well said. Well said.” Lieutenant Marco said as he walked into the room.

“Lieutenant Marco.” Lajos said as he bowed.

Maarav just looked at the Lieutenant dumbfounded but Lajos forced him to lower his head too. It was customary to show an officer respect like so when directly facing them, at least if you were an Ingras. Ralomans saluted to their superiors instead but only to those who commanded them. A Raloman didn’t have to salute to another officer who was from another squadron.

“I need a moment alone with the Ingras boy to talk about the third exam. The two of you should wait above deck for now.”

“Come on, Maarav, let’s go.” Lajos pulled Maarav out and up the ladder.

When the door shut, Marco looked at Arnest. “Why are you taking the Raloman exam, Ingras boy. Or should I call you esteemed magus?” he said, accentuating the “magus” part.

“In private, I think I’d rather be called the latter. But in public, you can call me Arnest.”

“You didn’t answer my first question.” Marco’s eyes slanted into two thin serious slits.

“I just didn’t have anything better to do. Killing monsters sounded like fun.” Arnest answered haphazardly.

Marco gripped onto Arnest’s arm. “Cut the bullshit. Answer me seriously or I will tell the Captain about you being a magus.”

The two of them stared at each other with such intensity that proverbial sparks flew. A few moments passed by when Arnest finally said “I’m here to gather forces to attack the Aster clan.”

Releasing his arm, Marco then started to rub his chin as if he was pensively thinking. “Oh, so you want to join the Raloman army, move up the ranks and by doing so, gain a free army to attack Zanabo?”

“Basically, yes.”

“In order to move up the ranks, you need to be good at killing monsters. And with your skills, you’ll never be able to take down an actual monster without magic. Your footwork is messy and you swing a dagger like an amateur. It should be more like this.” Marco pulled out his own dagger and started displaying a few casual swings.

“Well I’m only twelve, what do you expect?” Arnest was feeling quite annoyed.

“When I was twelve, I could’ve taken down Leo easily.” Marco said smugly.

“Anyways I think I understand you a bit better now. I just came here to feel you out. Also since I’m keeping one of your secrets, you also have to not tell anyone about Leo attacking that kid last night. If the Captain found out then he’d probably execute Leo himself.”

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“Fine. As long as you don’t tell anyone about me using magic.” Arnest rubbed the arm that Marco had gripped.

“Glad we could come to an agreement. See you at the next part of the exam then.”

Marco walked out the door and closed it. A Raloman soldier was silently waiting to the side of the door.

“Lieutenant, did he agree?” the soldier nervously asked.

“Don’t worry, Domado. The Captain shouldn’t find out about your mistake with Leo.”

“Thank you for this Lieutenant. I won’t forget this debt.” Domado started kneeling on the ground, sobbing.

“Oh stop crying you blubbering idiot. Let’s head back up before anyone we came down here.”

A few days passed before the start of the third part of the exam. The second exam had started the night of the storm and the Sixth Army released tamed monsters into the jungle. It was only a test of courage, to see if one would run in the face of overwhelming danger or stay and fight. Those who fought against the tamed monsters would pass and everyone who ran failed. No one was meant to actually have to fight a monster to death, it was just mostly to scare the young boys.

Of course in the case of Leo, Domado had accidentally lost control of the monster lion and it no longer attacked to scare but instead to kill. Fortunately the only victim was a single Raloman boy who lost one of his arms and Arnest who had tried to fight the beast head on. The Raloman boy was silenced with the promise of being able to pass the second part of the exam. Since he failed the first part, he figured he’d have better chances if he passed the second part. As for Arnest, he exchanged his silence for the Lieutenant’s silence.

“The third part of the exam is a mock battle. Those who passed both the first and second part of the exam will be Generals. If you passed the second part of the exam you’re a Captain and if you passed the first part you’re a Lieutenant. Anyone who failed both parts are considered regular soldiers.” Captain Ramiro started to explain the rules.

Captain Ramiro lifted up a crimson flag with a golden six weaved into the center. “There are going to be twenty bases that have this flag. If you capture a flag, a general and his entire team will have passed the third part of the exam. And if you pass the third part of the exam, you automatically will be enlisted as a Raloman.”

“Generals can only recruit Captains, Captains can only recruit Lieutenants and Lieutenants can only recruit regular soldiers. There is no limit on how many men you can gather but there is a time limit. By noon tomorrow, when the suns are at their highest point, the mock battle will commence.”

“Remember not to kill anyone, but I understand that fists have no eyes and accidents can happen on a battlefield.”

“I wish you good fortune in your battles to come.”

When the Captain finished, everyone started to hurriedly run around in a frenzy. Anyone who failed the test were trying to appeal to stronger contestants or ones with the largest groups surrounding them. It was like a mob of unemployed laborers suddenly heard of an easy job opportunity that paid extremely well and were clamoring in the streets, hoping that they would be chosen by a winning team.

However for Lajos, no one seemed to want to ally themselves with him even though he was one of the first to finish the first part of the exam. Lajos just bitterly laughed to himself again. He couldn’t help failing the second part of the exam nor could he help the stigmatism associated with himself and the Raloman army, especially the Sixth Army.

“Let’s be on the same team, Lajos.” Arnest reassuringly patted Lajos on the back.

“But you’re a General, you can only recruit Captains.” Lajos was still feeling downhearted.

“That’s pretty simple to solve. All I need to do is recruit a Captain and order him to recruit you. Come on, follow me.” Arnest then dove into the huge crowd.

“I’m not smart but I’m strong like an ox!”

“I promise to follow whoever takes me in for life!”

“Please recruit me!”

The people who failed were all yelling out random things in hopes to get noticed and recruited. Arnest and Lajos just kept walking past them. They were looking for some Captains to recruit to make sure that Lajos had a spot on Arnest’s team. Also if they didn’t have Captains, they couldn’t recruit Lieutenants and also they couldn’t get any regular foot soldiers. An army’s heart may be the general but its arms and legs are made up of leagues and droves of soldiers.

“I assume you’re looking for some Captains.” a voice whispered from the side of Arnest.

He turned and saw a short Raloman soldier. There was a crest with a golden six in his armor. “You’re from the Sixth Army?”

“Yes, Lieutenant Marco sent me to help you.”

“How do you plan to help me?”

“Like this.”

The soldier then took a deep breath and tilted his head to the sky.

“Wow! You’re Arnest, the guy who fought a Two Headed Lion and lived to tell about it! Please let me join your team!” he shouted so that everyone in the crowd could hear.

Everyone stopped talking and they turned their gazes towards Arnest. They looked like dogs eyeing a juicy slab of steak that just fell into their laps.

“Names Sabino by the way. You can repay me later when you join the army.” the soldier said as he sneaked away.

A burly teenager, who looked uncharacteristically older than his age, walked up to Arnest. “I am Urbano of the Bosque family. I passed the second parts of the exam and am a Captain.”

Arnest could understand his pride and made the first move. “My humble self is named Arnest, I was lucky enough to pass the first and second part of the exams. I wonder if you would want to team up with me and become comrades?”

“Yes, that sounds fine with me.”

Urbano was not the first to join Arnest that day. Many of the Lieutenants especially wanted to team up with Arnest and when Arnest was crowded with requests, Urbano was the next person they went to when they couldn’t reach Arnest. By nightfall things started to calm down and Arnest had amassed quite a large army for the mock battle the next day.