Arthur ended up visiting the military hospital with the others. Other than Simon, each of them had bruises. They were not that bad, but they needed to be healed before the afternoon since Layla said they would have weapon training.
‘I need to at least learn how to handle a weapon. I can’t drag Riley down every time,’ Arthur was thinking about what Layla said to him before.
Some people might argue that a bond is part of his strength, but for Arthur, it's what people who see their bond as a weapon would say. For him, Riley is his partner, and he doesn't want to depend on it to save him each time.
“Hey, are you guys healed yet? What took you so long?” Simon peeked into the room.
“Shut it! Can you tell us why you are here again? You are not even injured!” Tamara glared at Simon, who had a smile all over his face.
“Well, as everyone's big brother, I’m obligated to take care of you all!” he smugly said.
“Hey, did anyone hear a dog barking?” Stevan asked without even looking at Simon.
“Nah... It's just your imagination. Let's just wait for the healer,” Arthur joined him in ignoring Simon.
The healer they met yesterday entered the room before going to the nearest patient. “It's you guys again!! And why do you always have the worst injuries? Did you guys get in a fight or something?” the healer asked in exasperation while pointing at Arthur.
“Let’s just say our Sergeant believes that practical experience is a more effective method of training, and she is particularly fond of me” Arthur laughed awkwardly.
The healer healed them quickly; he did not need to feed anyone a potion and just used his ability to quickly mend their injuries.
“There you go. Now get back to training, and don’t let me see you again this week!” The healer kicked them out.
The 4th squad returned to the barracks for lunch with the other recruits and soldiers. Arthur could basically hear the table beside theirs gossiping about his fight with the Sergeant on their first day.
“That's the guy who talked back to Sergeant Hawkins, The Blue Flame of Flaming Dragon Battalion! I heard from the new recruits that he told her to accompany him to his bed! He even pushed her down and molested her during their fight!”
“Push her down my ass! He got beaten black and blue by the sergeant! He was so pathetic that he bit the sergeant during the fight!
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“No, you guys got it wrong! He only managed to push her because she let him! I heard she let him push her and molest her because she is lonely!
“Is that so? If she is lonely, I can give her company. Do you guys think I have a chance?”
“Might as well try; I heard the guy who pushed her looked like a beggar. If she is that desperate, I bet you can do anything with her!”
The rumors spreading within the military gave Arthur a headache. “Why do even the full-time soldiers know about that? They're saying so much nonsense!” he groaned.
“Well, I can’t wait to see them try to flirt with our Sergeant. I bet they will get introduced to Karina instead!” Simon laughed, but his laugh was cut short when another soldier talked about him.
“I heard from Simon, he is in the same squad as this guy who pushed The Blue Flame down. He said that day, the guy went to the Sergeant's house and slept there!” the soldier said.
“Simon! You asshole! I told you nothing happened that night! Just wait until I tell the Sergeant about what you said!” Arthur threatened, which caused his squadmates to laugh at Simon’s panicked face.
After lunch, they returned to the yard where Layla was waiting with Karina on her side gnawing on a piece of meat.
“We are going to do weapon training. I will put you in teams for the next week. You guys will train with your team; you can spar, teach each other, exchange some pointers, or do nothing. But remember, you need to improve your combat proficiency and do better when you fight Karina again! Any team that shows no noticeable improvement will be kicked out of training, which means you can’t be a soldier anymore!” Layla told them seriously with her usual stern expression.
“Do you understand?”
“Yes, ma’am!” they said in unison.
“Alright, first team, Aroon and Tamara. Second Team, Arthur and Athena. Third Team, Simon, Kale, and Stevan. Anyone have any objections?”
“No, Ma’am!”
“Good! If you need my help, just ask, but each time you ask me for help in your training, Karina will have one extra tier of cultivation when you fight her next week! So if you ask me for advice twice, you will be fighting Karina at the 3rd tier Spirit Animal level.” Layla had a grin on her face.
“Of course, since you are a team, that means the increase is for everyone in your team,” Arthur could see her smile turn sadistic.
“Alright, if you need me, I will be in the Barrack!” She said before leaving them.
“That prick! She can just tell us to train by ourselves! There is no need to make this like a challenge!” Simon cursed.
“Simon, I would keep it low if I were you. She might be observing us,” Stevan pointed at the Barrack's window.
Simon practically scrambled to pick up his training spear and act as if he were practicing some kind of routine.
Ignoring the man’s antics, Arthur went toward his teammate, “Athena, how would you like to train?”
She gave him a glance before raising both of her shoulders, as if saying she did not know.
“Umm... how about sparring? Are you fine with it?” He tried hard to talk with the silent girl.
Arthur knew that this was probably Layla’s plan to let him get to know Athena better and find out if she is the spy or not.
“Sure,” She said shortly.
Arthur was not a social person; he rarely talked to people before he joined the military, so he is not that good at making conversation.
‘Ugh... How to make her talk? Should I make her angry? No, I don’t think making people angry is a great way to find out their secret,’ he bit his lips as he tried to find a way to make the girl start talking.
Both of them picked up their training swords and put some distance between them so they could spar.
Arthur knew that he would lose, but he wanted to know how far behind he was.
‘I shouldn't be that bad, right?’ he thought.