Side Story:
From rags to cleaner rags
Two people are seen walking through the slums of Walgonia’s capital on their way to one of the Walgonian guard's stations. A large Ogre Demi-Human along with a disheveled man with tanned skin and black hair. The Ogre is missing his right eye, wearing a torn-off sleeve to cover the nasty scar. He is also wearing tattered, stretched, and badly sown-together shorts with a large light brown sleeveless coat. His human friend is also wearing old and worn clothing, wearing a once white and now yellowish cotton shirt, black pants with holes in them, a poorly grown and unshaven mustache, and shoes with holes in them. All of this information points to their identities, JJ and Boid, the two thugs who attacked Soku and Gray on Gray’s first day in this world. The same men later met them again and helped them set up the main refugee camp while the raid on Walgonia was ongoing. Now, waiting to help the city even further, help themselves get out of the slums, and use the chance that Gray and the other knights of Walgonia gave them to become better people.
Boid: “Are you sure this is a good idea?”
JJ: “OF COURSE BRO! Look at us! We’re dirty, stinky, all those nasty things! This is our chance!”
Boid: “But they won’t let us become knights immediately, we’re going to have to biome soldiers, squires, and then we’ll have to get chosen. What are the odds we can make it through all of that?”
JJ: “Zero with that attitude! Look, the outpost is up there.”
Right in the space between the district of the East side and the North side is a two-story stone tower that holds the city guards. Ever since the raid on Walgonia, which at this point in time only happened a few weeks ago, the city has been growing and rebuilding. All across the capital, buildings are being rebuilt, people are giving their homes back, and those who didn’t have homes are giving them. Shops struggle to regain their valuables, because how most people have lost a lot of their money under Arthurs’ rule. They walk up to the front of the building, looking at the soldiers guarding it. They all shake with fear in the presence of the large and imposing Boid. Most people already don’t trust Demi-humans, but an Ogre is much more monstrous than a normal dog or cat, they are monstrous. His face dosn’t look much like an Ogres though, it actually looks like the face of a normal adult man. A few stands of beard hair on his chin, a mix of thick peach and light green skin, and large teeth.
The tower-like building has an iron door on the side and a window for you to speak to the men inside. Under the window, which is made of iron bars instead of glass, is a wooden table for you to slide things to them. JJ confidently slams his hand down, catching the attention of the soldiers inside. A cocky guard grabs his helmet, put it over his head, and walks up to the bars. His sly grin, well-groomed blond mustache, and shiny silver armor cause JJ to hate his guts.
The guard is instantly repulsed by JJ, covering his nose due to his smell being a mix of sweat, dirt, and the grime on the streets.
Guard: “The hell do you want!”
JJ swipes his messy hair back, closes his eyes, and states his desire.
JJ: “I WOULD LIKE TO BECOME A SOLDIER!”
Guard: “Sorry, we don’t need any help.”
The guard goes to walk away, but JJ continues to slam his hand on the table, demanding he come back.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
JJ: “YEAH YOU DO! The whole damn city needs help! My friend and I here helped the heroes of Walgonia!”
Guard: “LIKE HELL YOU DID! If you wanna lie, I can teach you a lesson of why you might not want to!”
The guard shifts his hand down, grasping onto his arming sword, the generic sword that most guards and knights use. The guard shoves his face into JJ’s, about to grab his collar, until he hears a loud grunt. The prideful and ignorant man looks over, about to yell at whoever made that noise, but his face instantly drops when he sees Boid. He becomes raveled in fear, about to fall to his knees, but with a shivering smile, he greets the both of them.
Todd: “Sorry sirs, My name’s…Todd! Yep! Todd Brine!”
Boid: “Um…hello…my…name’s…”
As Boid gets quieter and quieter due to his anxiety, JJ smacks his back to get his mind back into place.
Boid: “I’D LIKE FOR MY FRIEND AND I TO JOIN THE SOLDIERS OF WALGONIA SO WE CAN BECOME KNIGHTS!”
Tood: “Really now!? That’s great!”
Todd rushes to find paperwork from underneath the desk, grabbing two pens and a tub of spilled ink as well. He lifts it all onto the table, and without reading a single bit of it, mainly because they cannot read, they sign it, officially becoming soldiers in training. He runs over to the iron door, struggling to unlock it, and lets them inside. JJ enters, but Boid is stuck outside due to his stature, so he kicks JJ out and goes to retrieve some things for their training.
Then that’s basically that. So for the next few weeks, JJ and Boid begin learning the basics. They live in the barracks with the rest of the soldiers, train daily, and even get armor made just for them. Spend their days helping rebuild the city, assisting the citizens with their daily needs, while also working themselves to death. JJ even begins training to use a whip alongside a dagger, while Boid is forced to use a large double-sided war hammer.
It takes a while, but with Todds' help as a station leader, they’re able to get the hang of it. Their bodies get in better shape, they further their studies and become overall better people. Even Todd begins to mellow out after a while, arguing with JJ less and less until he begins acting like a real leader to the both of them, he even gets a better attitude with the rest of his men. It takes months, but the capital finally begins growing to its’ original state even surpassing it in some regard.
Then, after a few months of doing tedious manual labor to help the capital, only being paid by having a place to live, they join a squad with Todd. As they enter a carriage to finally start their knightly training, JJ and Boid are stunned to see Todd.
Todd: “Oh no. I worked as a soldier for half a decade, and you guys work for them for barely under a year and they’re letting you go?”
JJ: “Oh, well since Jong is retiring, they’re trying to find a new Commander of the Walgonian Knights. Since we helped in the raid, they’re sending us out to go meet the main candidate and work as a squire under him!”
As they all get into the carriage, Boid realizes he’s far too big once he tries to get in and almost breaks it. He walks up to the driver, telling him about the issue. The driver shrugs his shoulders, not really caring, causing Boid to begin walking away with a somber look on his face. JJ jumps out of the carriage, going to help his friend feel better.
JJ: “Come on man, maybe you’ll be able to fit!”
Boid: “Dude, it isn’t gonna work. I should have known this would be bull crap. I’m a Demi-human, an ugly one at that. Look man, you’re human, you can go be a squire.”
JJ smacks Boid on the top of his bald head, screaming at him.
JJ: “NO YOU IDIOT! We grew up together, scrounged for food together, and lived on the damn streets. This is it, months of hard work, hell years of hard work! This is our chance!”
Boid: “Look man, even if I wanted to go, the carriage can’t take me. This is your chance, you’re a human, you had to work harder than me to get strong, you put in more work. I don’t know why they chose us out of the thousands of guards around all of Walgonia, it’s sheer luck.”
Todd jumps out of the carriage, approaching the two.
JJ: “The hell do you want!?”
Todd: “It wasn’t luck. I help you get started, I saw how badly you wanted it. I know I’m a dick, but most of the guards just wanna that little bit of power over everyone. They don’t care about being a knight, and that means, that you two do. You came up to me eleven months ago, you wanted this since the start. I trained you and watched you grow, watch you try. You’ve got a long way to go, but this is your starting line.”
Todd walks away without saying anything else, though he does try and get a wagon to attack to the back of the carraige, struggling to do so. Boid gets up, walks over to him, and begins pulling for him, attaching it to the carriage.
Todd: “I didn’t need your help you know.”
Boid: “Yeah I know.”
Boid and JJ hop in the wagon while Todd gets the entire wagon to himself. Then, under the blue sky of Walgonia, their carriage leaves the main gate of the castle and begins their journey all the way to the north of Walgonia, to meet Henry Barclay. Jongs’ cousin, who’s stationed all the way in the Ever-Lagoon, the giant Lagoon near the border of Ravoria, weeks away.
Fin