The Nomal

Week four. A whole month had passed for the 75th Cohort since inducting. Cain was sitting on at the red table for lunch, joined by the rest of the squadron. He had his eyes closed, deep in thought. A small smile found its way to his face.

By Fa's name, I've done it.

Cain was extremely proud of his achievements the last month. Particularly last night's. The mark on Eleni's left cheek was a testament to his blood, sweat, and tears. He held in giggles whenever he caught a glance of her injury. Eleni's expression soured whenever she caught Cain's gaze.

For the first time since beginning training with Eleni, he had landed a hit. A clean hit. She was still using her offhand and purposefully being less aggressive, but still. A hit is a hit.

Eleni's dominant hand was essentially completely healed. She no longer felt the trace pains that would come from blocking with her sword in her right hand. Yet she still chose to spar with Cain with her left, only using her right in Sir Bradforth's lessons. She had gotten scarily proficient with her offhand. At this point, Cain wouldn't be surprised if she was an ambidextrous fighter.

He remembered gloating after managing to damage her pristine skin. After he had, he puffed out his chest and gave her a proud smile. That must've pissed her off because he took a pretty harsh beating afterwards. She had only stopped once he literally ran away. She had pretended not to hear his earlier calls for mercy. Eleni had called him a coward. While he wasn't particularly proud of the way he acted, he had no real choice.

I don't enjoy being hit you know. I'm not into that kind of stuff.

His swordsmanship wasn't the only thing that improved. The constant physical training and plentiful meat-filled meals had done him an incredible service. Within the last month, the acute lethargy he had been plagued with before inducting had disappeared. He cheeks were more full, his limbs and torso wrapped in newfound muscle. He was still on the skinnier side, but he could confidently say he no longer looked like a skeleton. His eye bags had cleared, and his healthy diet and set sleeping schedule had washed away his pimples. He had grown taller too. But the others weren't exempt to this change. Cain could swear Jorn was nearing two meters in height.

After that morning's training, both Sir Bradforth and Head Instructor Junpar had decided the Inductees were ready for the next stage of training. The entire month during swordsmanship lessons they had simply practiced offence and defence. Sir Bradforth had also built up their footwork and basic muscular and cardiovascular endurance. He also introduced them to multiple katas, or salvos. Head Instructor Junpar had finally finished teaching all the basic formations they needed to know. Red Squadron truly operated as one unit. Overall, Cain and the others had improved by leaps and bounds. They were all now completely different people.

Other than their skills and bodies, the squadron had gotten a lot closer too. Small close knit groups had formed, but they were all comfortable with each other. Even Jorn got over his initial aloofness, talking occasionally to Corova. He had yet to speak a word to Cain however. Eleni and Cain had also gotten close considering the amount of time they spent together. While they rarely had the time to discuss anything other than training, they had developed an unspoken bond. One that could only be forged through shared pain.

In the quieter moments of the day, Cain would converse with Horrow about a multitude of topics. Horrow had told Cain about life in his family's city of Pology. Horrow had explained that his family governed the region to the south of the capital. Their city sat above the mountainous regions of the city states. There, they acted as a liaison between the Emperor's court and the south. They also managed the trades and production of that area. While Cain had thought that the Patrician families all lived in the capital, it appeared not to be true. According to Horrow, the Patrician families enjoyed a certain degree of autonomy from the Emperor, ruling their regions with their own laws. Of course, the Emperor could also veto said laws or order the the Patriarchs to do as he wished. Only the eldest child of each family were required to reside in the capital. They were to receive education in the Emperor's court and Babylon's universities. But perhaps the most surprising fact was that they were even allowed to have their own private armies! Even if they were regulated in size.

I wonder why they don't use their armies to stage a coup. I know for a fact there's nobles that wouldn't mind sacrificing their eldest to take the seat of power.

If there was one thing Cain was sure of, it was the fact that most nobles were power hungry. Although, after hearing of Horrow's past, the Fabii did seem a lot nicer than Cain expected. Horrow referred to his father with awe and reverence. Cain would've expected more bitterness considering he had sent his own sun halfway across the continent to serve as a soldier thousands of kilometers from home. He explained that the people of Pology and beyond loved his family. That they were known to be strong and fair. But every noble loved to claim so. Therefore, Cain took Horrow's words with a grain of salt.

Cain in turn would share stories about his time in the orphanage and playing with other kids on the outskirts of Laconia. They had grown up in complete opposite environments, so it made for interesting conversation. Cain told stories of stealing food from local food stands and bakeries, only to either be caught by the owners or chastised by the brothers and sisters of his temple. He explained how he had to take care of many younger orphans. They had all lived off donations of the locals, and therefore were hungry most of the time. Cain told Horrow how he sent off three of his older orphan siblings to the Institute for them to never come back. He had no clue if they were still alive or not. How he had worked multiple jobs once he got older just to earn some savings and purchase extra food and clothing for himself and others.

Horrow's expression had been incredibly dark the entire time Cain shared about his childhood. To Cain it was simply life. He had always tried his best to provide for himself and the other children. He had no time to feel sorry for himself. As Horrow had grown up in a rich household, he was mostly oblivious of lives of the poor. But Cain didn't judge him for it. Everyone had their own lives to focus on.

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Not as if nobles could randomly start tossing money to the poor. Or would they for that matter.

Soon, Head Instructor Neptune entered to begin his lessons. Cain had grown incredibly fond of his time with Head Instructor Neptune. He had a penchant for teaching, always managing to hold Cain's attention. Also, learning of the world filled Cain's mind with the wonders of discovery and exploration. He had only ever known the streets of the outskirts. By Fa, he hadn't ever even visited the heart of Laconia where the streets were the busiest. He realized every day how much the world held and how little he had seen.

In my next life, I hope I'm born as an explorer.

After greeting the Head Instructor, the Inductees prepared to begin their lesson. He jumped right into the lecture.

"I've essentially covered all of the Empire's history. But now, let us finally get into the topic you all have been patiently waiting for."

He turned to the wall behind him. He only wrote a single world.

Nomal.

"The Nomal. They are a warlike people. They are brutal. They are savage. We built the Line for a reason. Because in an all out confrontation, we would all die."

He turned back to the wall, drawing a rendering of a Nomal man and a Nomal woman.

"There is not much known about Nomal history. What we do know is that they existed when the Empire invaded. Perhaps before that. We knew that the old kingdoms fought against the Nomal, hence the walled bastion cities. However, their armies back then were much larger. After war with the Empire, the population shrunk greatly and most of their armies broke against the Empire's legions. Now, we simply don't have the manpower to directly combat the Nomal hordes. Hence the Line.

"We similarly don't know much about Nomal culture. We have captured a few Nomal on multiple occasions. First off, they speak the old tongue. English was declared the official language of the Empire long before it reached our cities. Now it is the main language spoken on the continent. Scholars who study and speak old tongue still exist although their numbers decline every decade. It's been attempted to bring such scholars to interview the Nomal to no avail. They are extremely secretive about their ways. Even under torture they refuse to speak.

"All we know is that they are tribalistic in nature. They do not form larger organized communities unless they raid in the form of a horde. Luckily, a horde has not seemed to have formed since the Line's construction. We assume they currently live in clans: tight knit groups of one or more families. Of course this is all speculation since we have yet to discover a Nomal settlement. They seem to greatly revere nature and the cycle of life and death. They do not fear their own mortality. They never falter in the face of death. I know that from first hand experience."

Head Instructor Neptune took a moment to gather his thoughts. Cain could see Eleni listening with intense focus. This was the first time seeing her so engaged in Head Instructor Neptune's lessons.

"This makes them fierce foes. Most Nomal that are encountered are covered in many scars. The Nomal seem to fight from a very young age. Even children seem to take part in the violence. They also cover themselves in tattoos which we presume indicate the battles they fought in. Perhaps the people they've killed. Either way, they are no easy adversaries. That is why there are specialized Institutes that require a full year of training. The training centers of the central continent only require three months of training before deployment. We train four times as much as the standard foot soldier does.

"Now let me describe what they actually look like. And most importantly, how they fight. In terms of physical appearance, they have pale skin. Scholars suppose this is due to the fact they live in the Greatwoods. The dense forest canopy does not allow for much sunlight into the forest floor. They also don't cut down any trees, or at least live ones. Over the centuries, its presumed they adapted to the lack of sunlight. They also have almost jet black hair which they usually wear in braids. Their pupils are also black and much larger than normal, perhaps to see better in the darkness of the woods.

"But the most noticeable feature is their size. The Nomal are much taller than the average person. While most men of the continent grow up to hundred seventy five centimeters tall, the average Nomal male grows up to a hundred ninety. They also seem to weigh more with greater average muscle mass. This is same for females. You can essentially assume the average Nomal female is the same size as an average adult male from the continent."

Cain could see expressions of the Inductees waver. Especially some of the girls. Cain thought he was tall but according to Head Instructor Neptune, he would be shorter than the average Nomal male. That wasn't even considering the weight difference. Eleni's eyes were hard, already forming battle plans and changing her approach to taking on her enemies. He could see the gears turning in her head.

"As you can tell, they have an incredible advantage over all of us. Both in terms of speed and strength, they outclass us by a wide margin. But have no fear Inductees. First off, military organization is essentially nonexistent within the Nomal armies. No, it would be an over exaggeration to even call them armies. They don't use tactics or strategy. And I'm sure you all know how important that is in the grand scheme of war. No matter how strong an individual is, if the individuals cannot function as a group, they lose. Without a clear military hierarchy, they are simply a mob. I'm sure I've shown you multiple examples of that exact phenomenon in our history lessons, no?

"Secondly, they do not seem to have a style of swordsmanship. All they know is slash, stab, and bash. They do not actively teach martial arts. Instead, their battle prowess is learned directly through battle. While earning experience is most definitely a crucial part of becoming a good fighter, it doesn't matter if you cant learn from it. Experience doesn't mean much if it gets you killed. If every mistake you make is fatal. I would be surprised if they had the word 'spar' in their language. Either way, their style is incredibly brutal yet simple. While it may produce some vicious killers, it is extremely inefficient from a numbers standpoint.

"Lastly, they have far behind us in terms of technological innovation. They originally used crude bronze weapons of poor quality. The only iron or elion weapons they have are stolen. They don't wear metal armor for reasons unknown. And thank Fa they don't know how to make siege weapons."

Cain felt a bit more relaxed hearing so. There was truth in his words. Cain had seen first hand what a lack of coordination can do to a group of soldiers. He was most definitely glad that the Nomal didn't have access to the same education or equipment as those in the Institute.

"All in all, they are incredible killers. But that is all. They currently do not pose too much of a threat to us. Otherwise the creation of the settlements beyond the line would have never been approved. Do not underestimate them. But do not fear them. Respect your enemy but know you have the edge."

With that, Head Instructor Neptune's lesson had come to end. They had all left with more hope in their minds than despair. Head Instructor Neptune's final words had calmed the fear in their hearts, and for that Cain could not be more glad.