Larry hated his job. As a retired soldier with no real military merits all he could do was this said job. He had a promising future once, learning all ten of the basic Markluzian weapon arts at the tender age of 15 made it seem like he was in the running for becoming a Captain. But the battlefield is something that is unforgiving, one fatal mistake at the hands of a powerful archer crippled him. With no healers provided and an empty potion box, he barely managed to get away from the battle.

Masters either had their own dojos or served as trainers in the military, Larry didn't qualify as either of the two. Which is why he took on the closest job that a person could to being one. He took on the job of teaching orphans the basic Markluzian weapon arts.

Blackberry Orphanage only had two instructors, Larry and the owner of the orphanage who taught basic magic to the children.

Raising them up from as early as the moment they could walk, these children are raised to be soldiers. The disposable kind that can be mass produced.

Larry knew that he was morally in the wrong, but what he owed to the orphanage was his own livelihood. Training these children in batches of 30, investing time in taking care of them only to eventually sell them to the highest bidders. Larry had become desensitized to what they were doing.

At this point he was just happy that he earns a sizable income. Despite their cruel and morally questionable practices.

"To think that Batch G actually sold, that Commander is something else." The owner commented.

"I thought those defects would be home free if we're being honest." One of the caretakers responded.

"Soldiers are soldiers, cannon fodder or not." Larry chimed in.

"I couldn't agree more." The owner smiled. "Here's your cut this time Larry, to think that you could raise a bunch of retards and turn them into serviceable soldiers. You have truly outdone yourself!"

Larry could only nod in response. His eyes were expressionless, he looked at the envelope that seemed to be filled with bills. He knew that he has been doing this for far too long.

"I'll be headed out to smoke for a little bit." Larry pulled out a lighter as he left the room.

"Do what you will." The owner waved him off. "To the rest of you. We have no time to lose, we saved these last batches for the noble didn't we?"

"Then we have to dress to impress, these are the cream of the crop. Do you know how much money we could be making?"

---

Batches A, B and C were the best soldiers that the orphanage produced. Boasting a minimum mana value of at least 10,000 or a minimum aura value of at least 7,000. Unlike the other batches of regular people or those who simply had no talent, these children are those that can be said to be equals to an elite adult soldier. Aura users among the regular soldiers commonly have an average of 4,000 to 5,000 in their aura while spellcasters raised for combat have a value of at least 8,000.

In the right circumstances, backed by the correct people these children could be raised up to elite soldiers worthy of serving even the King himself. Which is why for these respective batches, the starting price for a single one would amount to 50,000 coins at the cheapest.

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Unlike the other batches that were sold in groups, these ones are sold individually. With high class nobles and even the 4th Prince himself present, this particular auction was one that was highly anticipated.

Nobles picked and chose only when the prince decided not to bid. With everyone trying to get on his good side the auction was pretty much his to run. He only picked up a handful of soldiers from batches B and C.

But Batch A was where the real deal settled in, high value soldiers that can be considered gifted even without training. Those with either a powerful personal skill or a large amount of mana. Batches B and C both had 30 soldiers each, but Batch A would be home to just 4 of these elites.

Personal skills can awaken at any point in a person's life, those who forcefully awaken these locked abilities have either an enormous amount of talent or an advanced status screen that uses a certain resource to hasten the process.

Nobles and the Royals have Personal Skills that are passed down from generation to generation, nearly all of these nobles have an advanced status screen.

"For the first one in Batch A, we have Lina." The owner presented a small girl who appears to be carrying a wand.

"While her Mana and Aura values are only at a thousand each, her value comes straight from her personal skill." The owner then motioned for her to move.

She raised her left hand and a large magical circle presented itself, A large gust of wind pushed some of the spectators back. With a cerulean glow a wind spirit was summoned from the hands of the child.

"Her personal skill is [Wind Guardian], While we have not compared it directly to the summoned spirits of the Lumont family we can guarantee that this ability is nothing to scoff at."

And so the bidding began.

The children from Batch A sold off for a fortune but none of the first three could compare to the last one.

"With an Aura Value of 8,000 she was already part of the advanced classes even without her personal skill." The announcer began.

"Two months ago during a spar with one of her peers, she awakened her skill."

Her blade shined with a blue hue as she slashed down a test dummy. "Her skill with the sword would make it seem like fate that she awakened such a skill."

With a wave of her hand multiple swords appeared out of thin air. It was a personal skill that a lot of people were familiar with. [Sword Summoning] A personal skill that is often seen in relation to one of the noble houses. High Aura Value with a Personal Skill that complimented it. Eliza had traits that even the children of nobles would be jealous of.

But what captured the attention of the prince was her beauty, long blonde hair, green irises with the eyes of a siren. The prince was smitten and his personal guard could only look on in shock as the young prince declared a bid that none of them could even try to contest. Enough money for someone to build a mansion, no reasonable person would contest such a starting bid.

The Auction that was held only once every three years, sold its most profitable item of the decade. News would quickly spread around of the fourth prince's lavish spending, while buying slaves and child soldiers was a common occurrence the amount of money spent was one that would surely make anyone curious.

Eliza's name would soon make a wave amongst the populace, because SURELY the eye of the fourth prince could not be wrong. He had the blood of a Markluzian after all.

---

"It's been weeks since the auction so there's no use in trying to find Lina, huh?" Hektor was talking to himself again.

"I didn't promise her anything and she's probably living a better life than me." He argued with himself.

"And even if I wanted to I don't even know where to start looking." He set up camp at the forest, half an hour away from the main trail to stay away from onlookers. The last thing he needs is a fight.

"But I'll at least try… there's no harm in trying."

His plan was simple, he wanted to head west where the orphanage is located and gather information on who actually bought his friend.

The journey back was harder to do now that he's alone, the three week journey to the frontlines is one that was easy to do before due to the army that Commander Wallace brought with him.

Alone, Hektor did not have the same protection that an army would provide, he could die to a powerful monster or fall victim to bandits. It's just not feasible for a regular person to travel alone. But with the amount of minions he currently had and more coming in the future, the combat capacity of his entire party can increase.

He had a little less than two days left until he can test out the third option of his personal skill. "But at least I have a goal now."