As the night fades into day, Katsu awakens to find himself in a completely unfamiliar place.
He stands up and stretches, yawning as he dismounts from the vehicle.
His eyes adjust to the bright morning light, and he sees that they are parked on the outskirts of a large city, surrounded by dense forest.
Sho salutes the garrison guards as they board their trucks and depart, leaving Katsu and the others behind.
"Good morning," John says from behind him, causing Katsu to start slightly.
"Hm... Goooooood morning..." Katsu replies drowsily. "
Looks like you slept well."
"Not really, I'm still pretty sleepy," Katsu admits. "Well wake up soon, we'll be meeting more people who'll join us on the way to the fort," John advises.
"Where's May and June?" Katsu asks. "They're taking a nice walk around," John replies.
"Oh, I see, that's nice," Katsu says.
Just then, Sho approaches and calls out to Katsu.
"Hey! Katsu! You're finally awake!"
He sighs heavily as he joins them.
"They finally left... And hastily as well, they didn't want to stay with us a little longer," Sho complains.
"What's up with them anyways? They don't seem to be very friendly with us," Katsu observes.
"Ah, they weren't always like that, they used to be very honored even to see me," Sho explains. "Why? What happened for them to be like that?" Katsu asks.
"It's a really long story, Sho will tell you that while we're on the road," John interjects.
"Yep, I think that's best, Katsu, get May and June and we'll leave immediately," Sho says, his tone becoming more serious.
"Yes sir!" Katsu replies, turning to walk away.
Katsu follows the highway, his footsteps pounding on the wet grass as he stretches and relaxes, enjoying the peaceful solitude of his walk.
The sound of old cars speeding past distracts him briefly, but he quickly falls back into his thoughts.
"I wonder how far they went," he mutters to himself.
After what seems like a long walk, he finally sees May and June in the distance, deep in conversation.
May is seated on a fallen tree trunk, while June stands over her, looking worried.
Katsu can't quite make out what they're saying, but their body language suggests a serious, even somber, exchange.
Sho's order to move out so he has to interrupts their conversation, and Katsu calls out to them. "Hey! Sho is calling you guys! He said we're moving out pronto!"
May and June stop talking, and May rubs her eyes as June lets out a disappointed sigh.
June faces Katsu and yells back, "Yes! We'll going!"
As Katsu stops and waits for June and May to approach, he observes the way they help each other, noticing that something seems amiss.
June steadies May, who is still rubbing the sleep from her eyes and smoothing down her disheveled hair.
"You guys sure took a long walk, is everything alright?"
"Yep, nothing out of the ordinary," June answered.
"Yes, everything is alright!" May answered as well.
Katsu can't shake the feeling that he's interrupted something important, but he trusts that June has everything under control.
Despite his curiosity, he decides to let the matter drop as they walk back to the truck in silence, the only sound the hum of passing cars.
Finally, they reach their destination and find Sho and John deep in conversation.
Sho notices their arrival and calls out, "Oh, you sure took your time in getting them eh?" Katsu apologizes and explains that June and May had walked quite far ahead.
Sho chuckles and says, "Haha! You two should've just walked to our destination instead of using the truck!"
June and May laugh and explain that they just enjoy walking in the countryside and didn't realize they had gotten so far.
Sho nods and says, "That's a good trait. If I had the time to enjoy nature, I would certainly take my time... Now, let's get going, we're going to fetch four people today."
Katsu is surprised by the number.
June comments, "Looks like the General has a lot of friends."
Sho explains that he rarely makes friends, especially with children, so when he does, he has strong reasons for doing so.
He adds, "Ha-ha! I like making friends! I just don't have much time to do so. Come now, we must get going. Oh, I know you all haven't eaten yet, so I was able to negotiate some bread, they're at the back."
June jokingly scoffs, "I wondered where the food went."
"June that's rude! Thank you General for the food." May bows.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Sho throws a thumbs-up as the trio enters the truck, ready for their journey ahead.
"This is the last day we'll be traveling right Sho?"
"Hm, yep, this is the last stretch of your journey to the fort."
May hands Katsu his share of bread.
June bites in and, CRUNCH.
June grunts.
"What is this bread!?"
"It's... really hard. O_O" May continues.
"I don't know what will break first, this bread or my teeth! 〒▽〒" June complained.
Katsu silently chuckles, barely keeping a straight face.
John slightly smiles while Sho sighs in annoyance.
"The Garrison Guard didn't want to give us the softer ones so we have to make do with the hard ones."
May continues to bite the hard-as-stone bread.
"Bread is bread." She muffledly said.
Katsu breaks the bread off into smaller pieces, in that way, he doesn't have to worry about the hard bread.
May and June stare at him in disbelief, and they start doing the same.
The two start munching and breadcrumbs are scattered along the floor.
Katsu stops and remembers the story that Sho was supposed to tell, so he briefly reminds him.
"Huh, the story? Oh, right..."
Sho checks his watch.
"Looks like we've got time for two."
Sho sits up straight and clears his voice.
"Alright kids, listen closely, I'm going to tell you all two stories, but both of them are connected. Story time.
Back around 3-4 years ago, A good friend of mine, Shane Antia was the Garrison General of the North, he is the one who put all these forts and training centers all over the northern kingdom.
The Northern Kingdom is also a hive of Revolutionists. Any mountains you climb, any forest you explore, the revolutions are crawling everywhere. So most of his time as Garrison General was spent fighting the revolutionist.
He was very known in the north, loved by many, and respected by countless more. He often joins soldiers in patrolling, and guarding, and even sometimes he invites them to party and rest. His motto was "No soldier left behind". Through that, he has secured loyalty to all his subordinates.
He had an apprentice who he treated like his own son, their bond was unbreakable... Although at first, that's how it seemed...
He was also a very good friend, I try to visit him once or twice a year, but even with the distance between us, we were still best friends.
He had a firm grip over what news got to the masses, and he made sure that nothing was filtered out, not even those that criticises the Military. He was a firm critic of the Military, he made sure that he voiced out his opposition, and it was heard.
Although this is based on speculation, I believe that this story is true, it goes:
One day, the General Assembly got tired of Shane's opposition and they sought to get rid of him. That day, General Shane was out with his soldiers doing patrol duty, and they saw a large truck of what seemed to be revolutionists. Apparently, under his direct orders, they opened fire immediately. The truck was filled with civilians, all in all, 15 died.
Through the outcry of the masses, his own apprentice betrayed him, and he was sent to the General Assembly Tribunal. Of course, I didn't believe that he did such a terrible thing. I know him very well, he wouldn't do something like that...
But alas, the General Assembly had already made up their minds, all I could do was soften the punishment... He was stripped of the rank of General and the seat of Garrison General. He was hated by his men and subsequently me.
He was only given charge of the military base and was given the task of training future soldiers. Many Generals would rather him out of the army than the rank of instructor, but I told the Generals that if they are going to remove him entirely, I will also leave the army. Bit of a gamble, but it worked out in the end.
He went on and on crying about how I saved him and his life, that he was very thankful, that he owes him something more bigger than life but all of that didn't matter.
He's safe, he's alright, and that's all there is to it... No need for him to pay me back, but he persisted.
So I told him to train the recruits like they are live children, and not robotic superhumans. I told him to train them like a student, to have fun and see the bright side in the dark world. I told him to do all that, even if he had to make drastic desition to achieve it, I told him that I would handle the consequences...
Well... that's that, the reason why the northern guards hate us... Because of me defending Shane."
"It's alright General! Don't blame yourself!" May yells out.
"Eh?"
"That's right Sho! You did the right thing! You defended your friend, you don't have to blame yourself for it!"
John silently giggled.
Sho scratches his head.
"I didn't expect that kind of response hehe, thanks everyone, I'll remember that."
"That's actually kinda sad, I feel bad for General Shane," Katsu said sadly.
John joins in.
"Well, that goes to show that even our own kind can be our enemy. Uncle Shane's situation couldn't be helped, he made himself an enemy of the Military and stuck his head too far out." John said calmly.
"Hmm, I agree with you on this one. But the past is the past, look what he's doing now, he has created a system that is not only approved by the Militia Training Department but also by the Special Forces Training Ministry. You'll be training in the equivalent of the Special Forces!"
May grunt in surprise.
"That sounds like... A lot of work..."
"Yeah the training is grueling, but if you want to survive then you must do everything that prevents you from dying," John admitted.
Katsu continues to ask questions.
"What happened to the seat of Garrison General of the North?"
May and June continue to try to eat the food.
"Ahh, that, Shane's apprentice took over as the current Garrison General."
"Really??"
"Yep, he was nominated and was eventually elected. A mistake that will haunt them."
"Why is that?"
"Arthur Havens was never qualified enough for the position never in a million years. Although he is his apprentice, Shane never planned for Arthur to replace him, thus, he never trained him to lead a region. If you've been following the news, the Northern Kingdom is practically dead in the revolutions-infested water."
Katsu's hair stands up as he feels a short shiver traveling down his spine.
"It's that hopeless for the Northern Kingdom?"
"Yep. Oh, in fact...:" Sho quiets down to a whisper Let me tell you a little secret, did you know Arthur Havens actually-"
"Sho, we're nearly there." John cuts him off.
"Really? That was quick. Aright then everyone, get ready to meet new faces today..."
Everyone stopped what they were doing and yelled out in response.
"Yes sir!"
They pulled up to a small house on the outskirts of a small village.
Sho redies his uniform and cleans his hair.
"You don't need to look too good to meet him." John sarcastically commented.
"First impressions last."
"But this isn't the first time-"
"I'll be going out now!"
Sho opens the door and hops out.
Katsu and co peak out to see the new faces that they're about to meet.
"Alright, first Northern Kingdom recruit, Edinburgh Hale!"