Faust slept like a baby. Sadly, for him only 4 hours later he was woken up roughly by one of Lucon’s soldiers.

“You have 30 minutes to prepare and suit up. Then we leave.” He shouted before going to the next tent.

“For fucks sake!” Aquila cursed as he threw his blanket aside. Faust grunted as he put the comfort of his bed behind him. He didn’t think a lot, there was no time for it. 30 minutes was a short amount of time to pack.

‘Spear… shield… cloth armor… chainmail… helmet…’ he went through his mental checklist as he suited up.

In addition to his combat gear, he wore a long knife on his belt. He sighed as he shook out his blanket. It was his coat, and it was made of thick wool. It was a woodland green in color. He also wore a small leather bag with food and 2 flintstones.

When he had gathered all his equipment and put it on, he felt a lot heavier especially due to the chainmail, but he had gotten used to the weight in training. His body had gotten much stronger in the past months.

“Tailors and smiths be damned!” Cassius groaned as he squeezed himself into his armor.

Aquila couldn’t contain his laughter. He had long since finished dressing. He wore only his light armor and a kettle helmet. It reminded Faust of a smaller straw hat… made of metal.

“Cassius, maybe you should just eat a little less.” Faust snickered and that earned himself a barrage of his friends scolding.

“You baffoon! You deplete an entire village's food storage every day! Don’t you dare lecture me about eating!” he exclaimed as he got all worked up, puffing himself up.

Faust did eat a lot more than everyone else. He didn’t lose that habit. Yet in his case, it had transformed into powerful and useful muscle mass. He was much stronger than the average recruit now.

In front of Cassius’s eloquence, Faust felt a bit helpless. He smirked at his friend who broke into a laugh.

Aquila shook his head.

“Let’s finish this. We’ve only got a few more minutes left.” He said and left the tent to look for Leona, leaving Faust and Cassius to finish gearing up.

5 minutes later they all met at the well where they filled up their water skins. Leona smiled cheerfully and when she looked at Faust she was surprised.

‘He looks much more at ease today… something happened yesterday after we went to sleep… but it must’ve been something good.’ She concluded and smiled.

Then a shout from Lucon resounded through the camp.

“RECRUITS GATHER AT THE GATES!” he shouted out loud and over a hundred men quickly moved over. They were split into their respective groups. Faust and his group stood on the side and soon one of Lucon’s soldiers approached their group. He was tall and around 30.

“Recruits. Follow me.” He didn’t speak much and only as much as necessary. They were the first group to leave the fort. They walked for a few hours before they reached a marker on the side of the road. All they had seen so far was forest on both sides of the road.

‘Does this forest ever end?” Faust asked himself and sighed. He knew the answer, but the thick woods seemed too vast, endless.

The forest varied greatly. Some parts of it were so thick one wouldn’t be able to pass through while others were accessible very easily.

This place was marked with a wooden obelisk about 4 meters in height. On it hung directions to the fort. It was one of the parts of the woods that allowed easy access.

“Be back at the camp as early as possible, make sure to be back within a week. We will wait for two weeks before leaving.” He turned around and wanted to leave.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

He turned around and smiled.

“Good luck comrades. Don’t die.” Then without another word, he left back into the direction of the fort.

When he left, he shook his head. ‘The Baron’s daughter sure has it good. An archer that’s also a tracker, a smaller group and the least dangerous hunting spot… still, it will serve its purpose of giving them experience.’

“Dang. Now we are all alone, are we?” Aquila scratches his head.

“Rather with you than with someone else.” He mutters.

Leona laughs.

“You really have weird ways of making compliments.” The group snickered.

They had a short rest before Aquila inspected the forest.

“They said we will only encounter orcs once we will be a day’s march inside of the forest… we better get going. The faster we get out again the better.” He nimbly made his way a bit into the mossy forest.

“We should not be hasty… I would prefer it if we all made it out in one piece.” Cassius commented and they all knew he was right.

“Then let’s go somewhere in between,” Faust suggested and grabbed his heavy shield again as they moved into the outskirts of the forest. The trees were old and tall. Their tree crowns shut out most of the daylight. It was rather dark, though it didn’t impair their movements much. They had to climb over fallen trees, small hills, and other obstacles.

‘Are we walking uphill?’ Faust asked himself as he had the feeling that they had moved up a lot after a good 6-hour march. Slowly it was getting dark, and they had trouble seeing.

“Halt. Enough for today everyone. Let us rest and get into the range of orcs tomorrow, fresh and rested.” Leona commanded and since it was the best course of action, they looked for a small clearing, large enough for them to sleep and they all wrapped themselves into their thick wool cloaks.

It was still early spring. In the nights it was still very cold. Especially if one’s clothes were sweaty, and the forest was very humid.

The march had been incredibly exhausting with their heavy armor. Their bodies felt extremely exhausted and sighed in relief when they removed their chainmail and fell asleep quickly.

They woke up the next day, their clothes still wet. They stuck to Faust’s body like a second skin.

‘Wonderful.’ He thought and forced himself to stand up and gobble down a few handfuls of sunflower seeds. They tasted bland, but when one was hungry, they were wonderful.

The group readied themselves to march on. Today they wanted to cover a great distance.

“Marching, marching, more marching… by the time this mission ends my chainmail will be a few sizes too big…” Cassius grumbled as he huffed and puffed.

He complained from time to time, but he was able to keep up with the others. Aquila had it the easiest. He only wore light armor after all and no shield or spear.

Leona had a lighter chainmail from a more expensive alloy that was tailor-made for her. It was lighter and allowed for better movement. Her shield was also slightly smaller since she had less mass to cover.

It was a long day for all of them. The forest had many small streams going through it where they could fill up their waterskins and move on. After half a day they rested once more and Aquila sat on a stone, sweating.

He took a sip of water and had a worried expression on his face.

“We should be close to the territory they told us orcs were present in. We’ve been marching for a good day by now… and I’ve found footprints a few minutes ago.” He explained.

Everyone’s eyes grew round. “Footprints? And you didn’t tell us?” Faust asked, taken aback.

Leona and Cassius had the same question on their minds. When Aquila saw them, he chuckled.

“Don’t worry. I’m not trying to kill you. They were old footprints. They aren’t around here anymore. I’m sure.” He explains.

Leona sighs and her body relaxes a bit. She was very nervous. After all, this would be their first encounter with an orc. Even if it was only Stray Orcs, they could still pose a substantial danger.

They sat there awkwardly for a bit, resting before Cassius cleared his throat.

“And you aren’t nervous at all?” he looked at Aquila and couldn’t contain a chuckle. He saw how Aquila’s eyes glinted. He was looking forward to it. Leona looked a bit nervous.

“I guess it's all new for us, but we’ve trained for it for half a year… I want to prove that we can complete this mission. I want to show my father I can perform as a soldier!” she scratches her head, laughing at herself nervously.

Cassius looked at Faust and saw an expressionless face.

“What about you Faust?” Aquila asked.

Faust looked up at him. ‘What do they want to hear? Am I scared? A bit maybe. But I’m looking forward to it. I will enjoy sticking my spear into their ugly faces…’ A creepy smile showed on his face.

“I’m a bit scared, but I am going to enjoy every minute of it.” He said and Cassius raised an eyebrow.

“Hmm. At least I am not the only one with a healthy dose of fear. Let’s see how it will play out.” He replied and nodded at Faust.

“Don’t piss yourselves.” Aquila mocked the two. That caught him two angry glances that made him raise his hands in his defense.

Leona smirked to herself and sighed. ‘I just hope every one of us will be able to return unh-‘ her thought was cut short as she heard a shrill screech resounding in the forest. It sounded very distant, yet it was soon followed by several more screeches.

The entire group jolted up and put on their helmets, readying their spears. Aquila chose a slightly elevated position and looked into the direction of the screeches. The dim light made it difficult for him to see anything.

Faust gripped his spear and shield tightly.

‘And so it begins…’