Next to the room that was being used for the central command of communications, Alon was sitting on his desk reading from a tablet. Right in front of him, Bartel was sitting on a chair, waiting for the reason he was called. In the same room, more people were talking and going in and out of the room itself.

‘I’ve read your battle report, but I want to hear from you what changes we should make, Bartel.’ Alon was looking at a tablet.

'First of all, do more scouting; after that, request more personal if the situation demands it. That is the first thing I wanted to say because I didn’t do this; only after our first engagement did I call for reinforcements and, at that point, didn’t even scout the enemy fortress.’ Bartel leans forward in the chair.

‘I understand, from what I read, you were just overly confident and that applies for your soldiers too; the majority of the injuries were because they just didn’t care to take cover properly, putting too much confidence in their protective vests and helmets.’ The captain stroked his chim.

‘Yes, you are right, Captain. I almost killed my entire platton but they too played a part in it.’ Bartel took a deep breath.

‘Another recommendation that I saw was to not do the rotation of squads anymore.’ Alon taps it on the desk with his index finger.

‘The individuality of the squads and the teams is a good thing, but the rotation is just too much; they don’t form that bond with the platoon as a unit, just squad and team bases.’ He was sad with confidence in his tone.

‘I understand, I did that just because we don’t have enough people to switch plattons around the border; if it wasn’t for the magic weapons, we wouldn't have people to defend the towns, let alone this city.’ The captain passed his finger on the tablet again.

‘The idea that Edmund gave about the radio communication is also good; in the middle of the fight, sometimes I was confused talking with the squad leads and the way it is now is too slow. I have some recommendations based on Edmund’s feedback in the report.’ Bartel continued with a confident tone.

‘We are going to apply all of your recommendations, Lieutenant; you have first-hand experience in what works or not and with the information that we have now, it just makes sense; you can leave now.’ Alon started to read from his tablet.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

‘Yes,sir.’ Bartel gave him a salute, turned around, and got out of the room.

As he walked in the corridor, he remembered that day. As much as nobody died, the chaos and the fear he felt assaulting the fortress still remain within him; even when he sleeps, the screams and the smell of blood are still in his mind.

‘What is happening to me?’ He sigh.

Ariadne got out of her office the moment he passed in front of it. He stopped and looked at her. At that moment, the feeling he had and the memories vanished the moment he saw her light smile and heard her voice.

‘Lietenant, I’m glad that we have people such as yourself taking care of our brave soldiers.’ She came closer to him and touched his shoulder.

‘It was nothing, your highness; they are all brave men.' Bartel saluted her while closing his eyes.

‘Don’t be modest; I’ve read your report and the recommendations will prevent that things like this never happen again. Walk with me.’ She gave him a light tap on the shoulder and walked away.

He walked beside her and like always, Alya was right behind her, prepared for anything the duchess suddenly asked from her. The soldier noticed that the maid was always focused as he looked behind him for a moment as his eyes were drawn to Ariadne.

‘What I hope every day is that nobody dies wanting to be a hero; this feeling only grows inside me as I know more about every single one of the citizens of the duchy. Take care of yourself and the people under you.’ She continued looking forward with a serious expression.

Her words touched him in a way that he had never felt before. He took a deep breath while looking at his fist and realizing the air from his lungs and opening his hand, revealing his palm. For a moment, he was confused because this simple motion relieved all the worry left he had. Bartel felt a smile forming on his own face, happiness filling his being.

‘Your words are my will, your highness. I’m not going to let you down.’ He nodded to her.

‘Well, I need to visit the peasant for a moment; you will never let me down; I can feel it deep inside my heat.’ She smiled at him before stopping in front of the door.

‘Have a nice day, your highness.’ He saluted her and continued to walk.

Bartel got out in the back of the mansion and there his platoon was standing in four lines, three of ten and another with only five soldiers. As he positioned himself right in front of them, everyone looked at him patiently waiting, sargents up front with the corporals right behind them.

‘As for today, there will be no rotation; this is it. This platoon was forged in fire and we almost died. The duchess personally said that she doesn’t want people to die trying to be heroes and that I needed to protect myself and the people under me. I hope this for every single one of you too.’ He spoke in a loud and firm tone while making eye contact with the soldiers.

‘Yes, sir!!!’ All spoke in unison.

‘We are going to be stationed here until next mission; we are going to use this time to train from the ground up; squad leaders will write me a report on improvements in tactics using your men's experience in the fortress assault.’ He looked to the three squad leaders up front.

‘Yes, sir!!!’ The three raised their voices.

‘Let’s start running; we need more speed and more resistance. Remember, what we do now will be the template for the next generation of soldiers; follow me.’ Bartel starts to walk to the training area.

Every soldier felt the weight of those words as they followed the lieutenant in order; the pressure was already high because of the fact that they were protecting the duchy with their lives, but in addition to that, the realization that they were the pioneers in what some of them thought would become the goddess army.