When Rhys met King Theon, he wasn't expecting to be recognised. What happened next, however, has been a source of extreme pride ever since. He was called a Hero of Arcadia, and just a few moments later, he was offered a new job. That was even more fortunate because his home budget had started running low. He and his team were diving into the most dangerous and most profitable zones of the Dungeon of Avalon, but the money wasn't sufficient enough to keep their company together. The same day, he went to the Royal Military Academy and received the work offer he simply couldn't refuse.

The following day, he gathered his people and they all made the vows required to work directly for the Royal Family. Thus, the most important duty of their life began. It looked demanding but it was a job that came with all sorts of unexpected benefits. His and his friends’ children were appraised by the King himself and they were provided with classes, according to their talents, alongside admission to the Royal University or the Military Academy. Rhys could only shake his head in disbelief seeing the generosity of the King. However, he knew it was to ensure his and his soldiers’ absolute loyalty. He also couldn't say that it wasn't working; they weren't just a typical band of mercenaries whose loyalty was only to the highest bidder. With them already feeling indebted to the Royal Family of Arcadia, the King's action only deepened their devotion. Their training started soon after, and since that time, they haven't left the training compound.

At this rate, however, they were never going to leave the Royal Military Academy's training grounds ever again. Rhys observed in shock how his team was mercilessly cut down and loudly swore. He was surrounded by the corpses of his friends and knew they fucked up. That he fucked up. He tried to raise his glaive, but he was slammed in the knees with a halberd, and he simply kneeled. The last thing he saw was a black blade of a Praetorian's sword that cut off his head...

"Fuuuuck!" Rhys screamed as his visor popped open and the same Praetorian that 'killed' him extended his arm to help him rise. "You bastards! That was ugly!"

"We are not some chivalrous warriors who dream about honour and glory, Captain Rhys." The Praetorian was unperturbed by being called a bastard. If anything, he was amused. "We are Praetorians and our only purpose is to keep anyone under our protection safe."

"You are so fast!" He complained.

"Agree. We are faster, stronger, more resistant, and far more resilient than you can probably imagine."

"I'm so fucking glad that I'm on your side now..." He accepted the decanter with cold water. "How it was, Sentinel?"

"Your improvement is astounding, Rhys." The armour replied with an absolutely badass metallic echo in his voice. "I noted at least ten percent improvement in your reaction speed and you finally remembered to use all the runes you had."

"That is impressive, Captain Rhys." The Praetorian shook his head.

"What about my team?" Rhys took another sip of water.

"They are progressing swiftly, and their scores are one of the best in the academy. I attribute that to the enormous amount of experience in protecting the VIPs. Their, and your theoretical knowledge is far below the Academy's standards, but that was deemed acceptable by Lady Luna. There is only one thing that might be recognised as a problem by you, Captain Rhys…" His armour's voice was a bit amused.

"What is the problem?" He froze in fear making a list of people who could be potentially failing that assignment.

"You and your soldiers can't be called mercenaries anymore. Your loyalty score is just a few percent lower than that of Lord Ban and Lord Blair, while your teammate's lowest score is ten percent above Academy's average."

"You can call us changed men, Sentinel." The large Wolfkin laughed. The last two days were crazy. "You can say that King Theon understands what drives men like us far better than Cridian nobles did."

"Are you referring to my lack of understanding why the Lord... Processing... Lord Bailey has not taken your families as he abandoned the city of Falmir? By doing so, he would secure your loyalty." The metallic voice was full of scepticism.

"I'm surprised that you haven't already figured that one out. I'll tell you then: he couldn't. If that bastard had told us about what was going to come, I would have killed him personally in his own office. Falmir wasn't just our base of operation but it was a home. We had families and friends there." Rhys closed the decanter and slammed the visor. He was ready to return to the training illusions. "He was arrogant and believed that we were the lowest kind of mercenaries. Those who cared only about the payment. We were different. We picked only jobs we liked and we have a code."

"Affirmative." Sentinel's metallic voice sounded a bit different with his visor shut.

"I must say though..." He grinned as his friends appeared near him. "The last thing I expected was to meet King Theon in person."

"While you and your people were not actively wanted, it was a matter of time before he was going to find you," Sentinel informed as he displayed the new training mission's details in front of Rhys' face. "All your mercenary jobs basically entailed one or another form of guarding. No matter if that was a person, item, or a town, you have achieved nearly ninety-five percent success."

"It's not a secret to tell you that the world under Cridian rules was a far darker place. Being a respectable team of guards for hire wasn't the worst occupation. It paid well and let us get older, which was fairly rare. We started as caravan guards and after some time we gained fame and better jobs... Well, after King Theon took over the country, the need for our services shrunk significantly." Rhys sighed and looked around at his comrades." All right... Back to the sweat mill boys!"

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•••

Mia was breathing heavily and rested over a large rock. Her entire body was aching but she wasn't going to complain. Her Valkyrie class was already at level fifty and if Theon was correct, they were going to reach level sixty. The last three days Mia and Tia spent on the intense training and they had achieved the levels of an average Hilgvarian soldier. Tia was drinking water and used the last few sips in her decanter to wash her face. She wiped the water and sweat with a towel and stood up.

"Let's go, sister. The break is over." Tia said with a determined voice, and Mia, tired and aching, stood up without a single complaint.

This gruelling training was meant to raise their subclass levels significantly and, thanks to the blessings of Zeus and Verka, the sisters obtained additional class and skill points per level, which was amazing. The two Valkyries released their glaives and took combat stances. The training denizens, seeing their readiness, started approaching them. The two huge Greater Wolves weren't as fast as they should be but fighting them was almost impossible. Or it would have been if not for their obvious sluggishness as it allowed the twins to kill them and obtain enormous amounts of experience points. Lady Gloria was observing them from behind and was providing healing if necessary. The threat wasn't big, but it was real: any mistake the Nekomi sisters made was instantly punished by the painful slam of a wolf's paw. While the twins couldn't die in this place, the pain and suffering were just waiting for their mistakes. The shields and barriers flashed again as the sisters worked their way through the Wolves' defences, but the high-level monsters weren't going to succumb to their wounds so easily. The two Praetorians were observing their moves, voicing their bits of advice and sternly correcting any error in their forms or stances.

Their glaives danced in the air, following the precise and deadly paths. At first, they felt embarrassed by their lack of any idea what they were doing, but at this point, their skill was more than decent. They could confidently say that they knew what they were doing. They found the versatility of their sword glaives impressive and often used the option of shortening the distance handy. The enemy, who was caught off guard by their sudden approach, often discovered far too late that their weapon was blocked by an Aegis shield that suddenly materialised in thin air. The short swords in the hands of Mia or Tia instead of long glaives allowed the twins to finish some duels quickly. However, they were still far from feeling ready. Their weapons flashed with the skills' effects and the sisters finally started overcoming the Wolves' defences.

"I would never expect that our last day in Avalon would be like this!" Mia complained as she managed to kill the Grand Wolf with her last blow.

"Then we must try very hard to sign these peace treaties with the Union as soon as possible," Tia replied and managed to plunge her glaive into Wolf's head, killing him. "Then we will return here forever..."

"Again..." One of the Praetorians said in a calm voice, making another type of enemy appear. This time, they were going to fight enemies that looked like Legionnaires.

•••

"We are almost done with installing launchers Janet."

"Excellent Ragnar. Will we be running tests?" The Admiral put away some paper she was filling.

"I don't think so. We don't have that many missiles to just waste them on tests. You will have to trust me that everything is working." The Dwarf shook his head.

"I kinda hoped to see those missiles in action but I guess I will have to wait." The Elf complained.

"Not a chance. If you want to play just use a Living Armour and play with them in the simulation."

"I already did it!" Janet moaned unhappily. "It's not the same."

"Deal with it." He opened his hands with an indifferent gesture and took out some documents from his holding space. "Anyway, this is the paperwork and official manual. Stressed?"

"I believe you refer to the peace conference? You can't even imagine, Ragnar." She took the papers with one hand and leaned on her second as she lightly pulled her hair. "I hate the very idea. Not peace, mind you, but the fucking conference."

"I can imagine." He sympathetically sighed and seated himself in the chair. "So, I was thinking about it. It happens that the copy of your orders was put on my desk and I took a look. Have you prepared the strike team of your Marines, Janet?"

"No, I haven't because I was ordered to leave them in Everlight, and I had to wait for the next resupply... God, damn it. Thank you, Ragnar." She leaned over the desk and pressed the intercom button. "Get me the new Marines, preferably the Mobile Infantry unit, before we leave!"

"Aye, aye, Ma'am!" The voice replied instantly and the connection was cut.

"I fully understand your concerns. If anything happens to the Queens..."

"I'm not afraid for the Queen!" Janet furrowed her brows. "I'm afraid about Queen Mia, Queen Tia, Princess Cassmira, and Prince Leonard! Queen Aoi will be just fine. She most probably could tank a few battalions before she starts running out of her mana. Well just maybe..."

"That's even worse..." The Dwarf sighed. "There is something I wanted to ask you, Janet. You were closer to the nobles before the rise of Arcadia. Have you ever heard about something like that?"

"Of course not." The Admiral laughed. "Sending the emissaries or exchanging the letters? Sure. All the time. But to do something like that? Nope."

"Then... What do you do at such conferences?"

"I have no idea!"

"But it looked like Princess Cassmira and Prince Leonard were attending them daily. They were so calm. Also, Queen Aoi was confident as if she had everything already prepared." Ragnar shook his head. "I'm glad they know what they are doing."

"Sure, bud..." Janet smiled warmly at her friend. She couldn't muster the required courage to tell him that yesterday Aoi was panicking about having no idea what she should do or tell.

Despite everything, Janet was sure that the young Queen was going to have everything under her control. After all, the forces of Arcadia sent by the King were enough to pacify the Union. She had her red envelope and confidence that the King had already prepared the emergency plan that was not only to her personal liking but also very easy to follow. When Ragnar left her office, she opened it and looked at a small sheet of paper with a simple sentence. The King's handwriting was, as always, simple-looking and pleasant to read. She already read the note time and time again. It was her anchor that was going to help her to survive those uncertain times.

"If everything goes FUBAR, you are allowed to use any force you deem necessary to ensure the safety of our people."