As the Heroes took their places within the Group of Heroes, Brutus took a position in front of them and started speaking once more. “As I was saying before, the majority of you have done well so far in the training. The next phase of our training will help to; uh weed out any of you who don’t have the stomach for this.” As he paused worried looks appeared on the faces of a few. “Don’t worry, though if you are not fit to be a hero nothing bad will happen. You will be given a job here in the Castle or something of the like.”
Brutus paused once more before he continued. “This will be to ensure that nothing happens to those of you who can’t cut it until either you become able to handle it or the threat is ended. The place we will be going is the Forest bordering the Capital. ” He paused as several of the Heroes started voicing complaints and confused utterances. “I realize that some of you may be confused as to why we will not be going to Dungeons or some similar thing, as is a regular occurrence in stories of your world about incidences such as yours.”
Richard and a few others smirked at that, Brutus frowned momentarily before he continued. “Unfortunately due to certain events years ago, the only dungeon accessible at the moment is one that is far too dangerous for even the Elites of the Kingdom to visit, let alone you lot in your current state. In the past we have lost far too many people who thought they could brave it, amongst their number is the late First Princess. She became distraught at the loss of her fiancé and sought to subjugate it herself. “Amongst the Heroes there were a few who imperceptibly frowned at Brutus’s statement, the action went unnoticed by many, but a few saw the gesture.
“Anyways.” Brutus continued after a brief moment of silence. “All of you will be divided into groups, and not the ones you have worked with over the past week, but new ones entirely. Though this may seem somewhat unfair to some of you, as you have just started to get used to your current pairings, this is needed. It will help you to adapt, for when you are put into true combat situations, you may not be familiar with your compatriots and allies in the battles to come. Hopefully, though by the time your Training has ended, you will be able to easily adapt to any combination of abilities among your allies in the future.”
He gave an apologetic look as he had stared to go on a tangent of sorts. “Sorry, about that, anyways. In the Forest we are going to, while there will be no real dungeons, there will be Monster Nests and Warrens, this is an unavoidable fact. Most of them will be of corrupted animals, in the form of wolves, foxes and perhaps even once cute bunnies. This will be difficult to overcome for you, killing a living thing, but it is something you must do to advance.” He paused for a moment as his serious gazed rifted over the crowd, noting those who were eager for the chance and those who dreaded.
Strangely enough there were those who were indifferent, coincidentally they were nearly all among those who he had chosen to spar against him in the beginning. It was not too unexpected for them to be somewhat familiar with such things, but to have so many in the same group was somewhat concerning. Then again the source of their knowledge about the other world Earth may not be entirely correct. It was not too farfetched to suspect that the source had fed them false information considering what happened in the end. Brutus only started here after the chaos involving the former hero and the Princess came to an end.
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Brutus gave a minute sad frown as he thought of the past. Before he rose to this position he was one of the Crimson Princess’s many admirers. Before the previous Head Knight resigned due to what he called the stupidity and self-centered nature of the arrogant nobles, Brutus had been a talented Mercenary. At the time he was not that well known and he only became a soldier of the Kingdom and started to become well known after he took part in the events that led to the demise of the Crimson Princess, who he had admired so much.
Eventually he came to serve under the current Princess, in more ways than one. For a time he was glad that he had her advances, as she looked so much like her sister, whom he held dear. Their relationship changed, taking on a more warped nature when he discovered why she favored him so. At the time he had born a certain physical resemblance to the last Hero. Needless to say when he heard her call him by that fools name as he brought her to the peak, he was more than a little irked. Certain things happened between the two of them.
It had changed them both into what they were now, though their true natures were hidden beneath a thin veil of cultured civility. “It will change you, though considering that they are little more than animals and not true sapients like everyone here, I hope you will not let it burden you too much. As I had said before most of them will be animals of sorts, corrupted by excess mana and Demonic influence. However you may encounter beings such as Kobolds or Goblins, perhaps even other stronger Variants, they are humanoid which will be more difficult for most of you.”
Brutus continued speaking once more as he returned his serious to the Heroes assembled before him. “However before we begin, there will be one final sparring match of sorts.” He gave a sweeping glance over the heroes to gauge a few of them, to see if any of their thoughts were visibly displayed. “Unlike the previous ones however, that took place against myself and the other Instructors, the next one will involve all of you and we, the Instructors will not be involved. You will fight against each other and the results will dictate who is placed with whom in the expedition into the forest.”
“In the forest you will be followed by the Kingdom’s Elite. They will not assist you, most likely, though an Instructor, will be with each group. There will be no strict-" Brutus broke off mid-sentence as he noticed one of the Personal Servants of the Hero whispering to one of the servants present, before taking her away. The servant’s older sibling, one of the Instructors, glared darkly at the sight. Brutus chuckled briefly, imagining the conflict that would happen. He shook his head before he continued speaking once more. “Sorry about that, now where was I?”
“Ah, yes, there will be no strict guidelines concerning the Expedition. What this means essentially is that there will be no rules, other than to stay with your team and to do what you must to survive. That does not mean that you can kill your fellow heroes, incapacitate them, certainly, but not injure them beyond all means of reparation. As soon as a Hero is incapacitated they will be retrieved by a separate team and taken from the Forest, back to the Castle. Now if you would all clear the area for a moment so that it may be prepared. You might want to take this time to ready yourselves as well.”
The Heroes all prepared for the mass spar, while the Guard and the other soldiers cleared the Parade Grounds. A group of the Castles magic users, Witches, Wizards and other Arcane classes, entered the Parade grounds and began setting up a massive Magic Circle of sorts. Soon enough the area was cleared and Brutus stepped forward and began speaking. “Be careful when you fight, though the Magic Circle you saw being put up will limit the damage you can deal to each other be careful nonetheless. With that being said BEGIN!!!” As the mass combat began, the Hero of Light was doing far different things than they.