After a day of walking under the scorching hot sun, Charles, Andreas, the two young fighters and the head guard finally saw the town that was situated at the border of Zhong Zhou. "We finally reached the border! The 4 of you need to remember that you all serve general Er Hong now so when you refer to him you say, Sir, got it!?" The head guard reminded. The 4 of them nodded as they all looked at the town in the distance. The buildings were shaped much more differently than the houses they saw when they exited the arena at Roaring Silk City! The roofs of the houses were upturned, with the tips of the roofs pointing to the sky While the walls of the houses were made from wood and stone. The positions of the houses were also rather odd as they were all symmetrical to each other.
The 5 of them arrived at the front of the town they spotted two soldiers who were wearing lamellar leather Armor with cloth clothing under it, and both each held a spear with a wooden shaft, and an iron tip in their hands held their hands up to signal the Charles and the other 4 to stop. "Halt foreigners! State your reason for entering Zhong border town!" One of the soldiers asked. "We are here under orders of general Er Hong! We come from the Roaring Silk city!" The head guard replied. "General? You must not have heard the news, but the government has changed the ranking system for the military, it is Commander Er Hong now! Anyways, we have been expecting your arrival, though the commander had said that there would have been at least ten people." The soldier said.
"Our camp was attacked by a large group of villagers! They killed 4 of the guards and 6 of the young men that were supposed to arrive here as well. The villagers had also stolen our supplies." The head guard explained. "I see, you should report this to the commander! I'll lead the way, please follow me and don't wander off. The other soldiers have gone on high alert after the battle we had two days ago." The soldier said as he began to walk into the town. The 5 of them followed the soldier closely as Charles asks, "Is that battle related to the villagers having to take our supplies?" "No, I doubt so. The battle we had were just with bandits. I bet that the villagers had just left a village that had a famine. It's common as of recently. It's like the gods are starting to punish us." The soldier sighed.
Charles then remembered how his parents had sold him off when they were in the same situation as the villagers in this region and started to empathize with them. But after thinking of the villagers, Charles tried remembering the people he killed a day back and realized that he couldn't even remember the number of people he killed. The number of people he cut down was way more than the amount he had killed during his time in the arena. 'The outside world is more different than the arena...'.
After walking past a few houses, they reached the middle of the town where a mansion that was twice the size of the regular homes and had a wall as tall as a man surrounding the house and its courtyard. The Gates to the mansion was surprisingly not guarded, and they walked in with no troubles. "Wait here in the courtyard as I tell the commander you have arrived." The soldier said as he walked into the mansion. Charles looked around and saw that the courtyard was very clean, there wasn't a single dead leaf on the ground. The mansion had the same type of structure as the other houses with the same odd roof and was made from wood and stone, and the only difference was that it's twice the usual house's size.
Just as Charles finishes looking around him, Andreas, the head guard, and the two young fighters suddenly felt a slight pressure pushing down on their shoulders, holding them in place and caused them to lower their heads and look to the ground. "Ah, so these are the fighters that man sent. Though the amount is half of what I asked for." An overbearing voice rang throughout the courtyard as all 5 of them started sweating in fear. 'Why am I so afraid of one person talking?!' Charles thought while gritting his teeth as he used all his strength to raise his head up and sees a tall man muscular man wearing iron lamellar Armor with a halberd on his back made entirely of iron. Charles then saw the man's face; he had a rectangular face with a strong jaw, sharp eyebrows, deep black eyes and a full short beard. Charles also noticed that Andreas and the head guard had also raised their heads, but were shaking from the pressure.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
"Hmph only 3 of you here could handle this pressure, but only barely! I expected a bit more, but I shall not dwell on this further." The man said as the pressure started to disappear and all five of them started breathing normally again. "I am the 100-Man commander Er Hong and you 5 serve me now! I was expecting 15 people to survive the road here, but to think only five would arrive. What a shame." Er Hong said as he looks at them. "Sir, does that mean that the guards that were sent by the arena master are to serve you as well?" The head guard asked. "Oh? Did he not tell you? Everyone that traveled out of that arena is to come into my command! Though it should have been a way for him to hide this from those nobles in his empire." Er Hong explained.
"So, what will we be doing, sir?" Charles asks "Actually; I obtained you all initially because I wanted bodyguards to protect my family. But with the recent events happening in the region I have decided to make the 5 of you enter my command." Er Hong replied. "We will have to go to war?!" the two other young fighters shouted in shock. "The arena the 5 of you lived in should have trained you to survive harsh conditions so a battlefield will be fine for you, unlike the peasants who joined for the glory of being in the army but vomit their rations out as soon as they enter the battlefield." Er Hong said. " Now the two who just asked that stupid question go to the barracks, one of your fellow soldiers will bring you there. As for the 3 of you follow me inside the mansion.
The two young fighters walked out of the mansion with their heads down as they followed a soldier while Charles, Andreas, and the head guard walked into the mansion with Er Hong. They entered a room that was furnished with tables and chairs like a living room with paintings and calligraphy on the walls. Er Hong sat down on a wooden chair and gestured the 3 of them to sit as well. After all, three had seated did Er Hong starts talking. Now I have said that you five would be enlisted in my army where you will be under my command on the battlefield. But I have decided that the 3 of you will control a 5-man squad each. That means each of you will have four people that will follow you during battle.
The 3 of them opened their eyes widely in shock! Er Hong had given them each a chance to lead a squad of men! "Sir, I don't know a thing about commanding people, is this a good idea to give me this position?" Charles asks, "Are you defying my orders?" Er Hong looked at Charles and frowned. "No, sir!" Charles quickly replied. "My orders are final; a soldier will guide the 3 of you to the barracks to rest for the day. Tomorrow you will meet the members of your squad! And next time refers to me, as Commander! You may leave!" Er Hong declared, and a soldier enters the room to escort the 3 of them out.
As they walked towards the barracks, Andreas looked at Charles and said: "So, we are going to be leaders of our groups!" "I am more surprised about how he had given us so much responsibility," Charles said as he thought about how he will have to lead men into battle. "Fighters that are from the arena have a reputation of being great fighters. Commander Er Hong must have trusted the arena master's choice in letting us come here and gave us such a big responsibility." the head guard said. "Anyways, Charles, since we are the leaders of our little squad how about this. Let's have a duel regarding our leadership prowess! The first person to leave a good impression on the Commander will win!" Andreas said with excitement.
Charles looked at the excited Andreas and nodded in agreement: "Alright let's do it then! I assure you that I will win again!"