For Thom, the day started when the sun broke through the horizon. It wasn't because the countless years of farming had made him get accustomed to it, but because the training routine would start one hour after that.

The entirety of the army made use of the same yard every day— a 400 by 100 meters space, where no matter the time, one would hear the struggle of at least one hundred men at the same time.

On a regular day, the higher ranking officials would stay at their quarters checking papers or updating old folders, although they would also be appointed missions every now and then. There were exceptions to this rule, with Chamgue and Petyo as a clear example. All of their days were fieldwork, and nothing else. As for the other captains and colonels, they used to stay in their place.

Today was a special day.

Once every three months, the different companies directed by the captains would take turns to be evaluated. The army of Pontya was one of the most organized of the whole kingdom, and kept a detailed record for all of its 8,000 soldiers. If it was already ridiculous for any other region to possess so many soldiers, it was, even more, to keep seemingly perfect track of them.

The first brigade was to be tested last. After all, many of these soldiers were stationed far away from Pontya, and the ones who were inside the walls were not nearly enough to make a proper summary of the brigade's development. In its place, the stationed groups sent a report of their improvement every three months, and Chamgue was in charge of keeping track of it.

This left the second brigade next. Although they were not kept in the quarters either, many of them lived inside the city's walls or in the slums. Those who did not count with such convenience either lived in a close settlement or had rented a bunk in the quarters. They were to be tested third, at eleven in the morning, to give time to the soldiers that lived the farthest, and also to process the information from the test done before their own.

In second place was the upper battalion. Regardless of how often they were sent off in missions, the upper battalion was laid off to rest 3 days before the tests started. This meant they were all rested and gave a meaningful result for the test, and most importantly, they were all stationed in the bunks of Pontya's quarters that same day.

They would be tested at eight in the morning. One hour after the first test was performed, the one for the core battalion.

Fifty people in total, lined up in the yard. The place looked extremely empty taking into account the number of people it had been made for. The core battalion wasn't comprised of all high-ranking soldiers, in actuality, the people between its ranks were soldiers who the general, Miel, had placed his trust onto or had taken a particular liking to.

If Thom, for example, were to compare his strength with Erina's, he would probably end up depressed and thinking he was undeserving of the position. This was also true if he compared his stamina, skill, and leadership with the rest of the people surrounding him. He did not think himself to have any prominent ability, yet, he was a part of the core battalion. Not because of his skills— but because he was distinct to the rest.

"Very well. You know how this goes. We're gonna make some tests, and y'all are gonna ace it or I'll beat you to a pulp. Understood?!" Miel yelled with a stern face at the group of motley people standing in front of him.

"Aye, sir!" Everyone replied in unison, making Miel nod in rather condescending pleasure. Thom couldn't help but steal glances to his captain every short breath, a smile etched on his face and a low hum on his throw.

Thom could see Valta for the first time using clothes other than thickish adventurer garments, which he was rather happy about. The uniforms were the same for men and women, a tank-top with a pair of loose, baggy pants that always needed a belt. Thom felt he was getting more excited than what he should have for looking at Valta's shoulders.

Are you a fucking kid? Oh, my gods.

He sneered at himself as the woman turned after feeling his presence, stabbing him with a curious gaze. Thom looked back to escape those hawk-like eyes and saw that Suu was also peeking at Erina from afar.

Pair of helpless idiots we are.

"Alright, I wanna see y'all sweat so much that we could fill up the damn Great Rift! Are you ready?! I don't really care if you are, you should have warmed up before coming! The first test is endurance! A hundred rounds to the yard you shits!" Miel yelled and everyone clapped their feet. They turned around, and started to jog along the white border surrounding the outline of the yard.

The results were clear from the start. The general Miel had eyes on him like a judge that was trying to figure every weak point in a convict's argument as he observed the performance of the group, scanning for anything he could use to review them. Thom, however, only cared for the ones he recognized. Chamgue, Petyo, Araba, Erina, Valta, Suu. He didn't know anyone else, and most sincerely, he wasn't interested either.

Woosh

After just fifty seconds of running, Erina had already needed to retire. Araba, the healer, followed suit thirty seconds later. Thom was surprised he wasn't the first one to go. After a good five minutes, Thom was already on his fifth lap. He could see how no more than ten people had dropped out. The rest were running steady. And, what to say of Valta and Suu, who had been at the front lines the whole time.

"Huff... Hufff..." Thom's legs were already failing him. It wasn't the sun or the physical strain that bothered him— he had plenty of that as a farmer. It was, simply, that he had never needed to run as much in his life before that very moment.

"Two laps ahead, bro!" Suu slapped him in the back as she ran by.

"You...!"

"..." Valta simply glanced and continued.

"Fuck..."

Five minutes later, Thom had started to feel like he was about to die, and fell down in front of Erina as soon as he finished his tenth lap.

"I'm dying." He muttered. "Help."

「learning successful. The passive skill [Superior Endurance] (Grade F) has been acquired. Endurance has been increased twofold.」

That would have been more useful before...

The other tests didn't go much different. Firstly, the strength test.

"Erina! 950kg on dead weight. Very well. You have increased 50kg from last year. Chamgue! 300kg on dead weight. Excellent. Corporal Suu! 290kg, not bad!"

It had been absurd enough when he heard Erina's weight, but now he felt a little bad for his own score.

"Lieutenant Thom, 150kg. Keep working on those legs! Lift that stone over your head for five more minutes!"

"Y-Yes, my general..."

「Learning successful. The passive skill [Superior Strenght] has been acquired. Strength has been increased twofold.」

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Next, they were given a bow and three arrows and asked to hit the mark a hundred meters away from the white line. If they hit the outer rim, 10 points. Middle rim, 30 points. Inner rim, 60 points. Bullseye, 100 points."

Thump thump thump!

"Captain Valta, 300 points! I'll give you a bonus because you fired in less than 2 seconds! 400 points."

What the hell was that I just saw?!

She had placed the arrows so quickly on the string that it looked as if she had fired them all in the same moment, and the arrows landed one after the other in the bullseye, splitting the wooden body of the former arrow in half. Although Thom couldn't ignore Valta's incredible aim and speed, he shot his own arrows with the best he had.

"Lieutenant Thom, 180 points. Not bad! Keep working that aim!"

"Yes, general, sir! Slash competition is up next, y'all!"

When Thom heard the words slash competition, his eyes brightened. He had not excelled at any aspect of the evaluation up until now, but he had a certain amount of confidence in his skills with the sword. They were given an iron longsword from the armory, several blocks of tile, and asked to cut it in half.

Just when Thom was happily accomodating himself in front of the piled-up tiles, and ready to cleave down the target, he heard a thunderous sound that reverberated in the yard. When he and everyone else turned to look at the origin, they saw Erina standing before a 100-meter crack on the ground, the tiles all smashed into a million pieces.

"Erina, you cut trough 50 tiles and the f*cking stables. Go pick that up and come back. 500 points!"

Is she human?! Are all Clawgold that damn scary?!

Thom started to notice all his prowess with the sword could only be attributed to the extremely overpowered sword he had been given by the magic bag.

"Lieutenant Thom, were you distracted? I heard you cut through the iron bars at Fort Kollin, but I guess they were wrong! You cut through nine tiles. 90 points and I want to see you do a down-slash twenty hundred times!"

"Y-Yes, general, sir!"

「Learning successful. The combat art skill [Vertical Slash] has been acquired. Using this skill enhances the power of a downwards cleave threefold the usual damage. Repeated use may cause exhaustion.」

Stone tossing.

"Erina! That landed on the other side of the waterfall, you damn brick! Do you know how far that is?!"

"No, sir!"

"Half a mile from here! Go pick it up!"

"Yes, sir!"

"I'm kidding!" Miel grabbed Erina by her cheeks. "You'd fucking die! You get 1000 points for that throw!"

"Yes, sir!" She exclaimed even higher.

Being a soldier is much more fun in the stories of bards and the epic scrolls the scholars handed me...

Thom couldn't help but think after having sent his stone only 150 meters away. It wasn't that it was little— no, it was probably too much for a normal human. But after seeing Erina's brutal throw, it was embarrassing.

"Lieutenant Thom! Go pick it up and throw it until it reaches the 200 mark! Now!"

"Y... Yes... General."

「Learning successful. The active skill [Power Throw] has been acquired. Throwing items while activating this skill will make the throw twice as powerful.」

Then came the 100-meter dash.

Unsurprisingly, Erina was last with 25 seconds. Thom was in the middle with 12.3 seconds. At first, he had thought his own score had just been average, until he saw Valta running from the start of the line to the end of it in only 6.2 seconds, and figured he was as slow as a turtle could be.

"Everyone who took more than 11 seconds, do it 20 more times!"

Thom felt his soul leave his body.

「Learning successful. The active skill [Dash] has been acquired. On use, the user's speed will be doubled. Repeated use may cause exhaustion.」

"Huff..."

When the hour had passed, there was nothing more than they could do. Miel took his papers and left, and everyone was dismissed. Thom was about to leave the yard to take a cold shower and cry in bed when he felt someone tug from his shirt. He turned around expectant, and saw a face that put a smile on him.

"You were really good at the tests, no wonder you're the captain." He gingerly praised the woman for her more-than-excellent effort.

Valta took her hand away from Thom's shirt and nodded slightly. "You were good, too." She said.

Since her voice sounded dull and bored as always, Thom wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic or simply pitying him. However, he did not want to find out and simply took it as a compliment. He didn't wish to make her feel bad if her intentions were honest.

"It's a shame you're not appointed to missions. It would be nice to see you take some bandits out like that. I know I'd pay for that." He sneered. "Were you looking for something?"

"Yes." She nodded. "We had... Talked about a coffee."

Thom's heart immediately skipped a beat after seeing Valta shyly mention those words. Her face hadn't changed at all, but there was a certain difference to the way she had said them.

My... Yeah, we had talked about that. Like two weeks ago. Shit... She must have waited for me to tell her something about it but ended up calling me because I had forgotten! Ahhh, what a mess I am... Well, at least I'll treat her to something nice, then!

"A coffee is just that." Thom said with a  calm gesture from his hands. "We could go for one right now at the cafeteria. But what do you say if I treat you to something a little more... Delicate?"

"I..." Valta's lips slightly shrunk when she started her sentence. It was an imitation of a pout that didn't really get to be, but still expressed some discomfort. It was noticeable even coming from her, so Thom felt like he had badly messed up somewhere in that sentence.

"... I don't mean it like that." Thom sighed slowly. "A noble is used to noble food. I learned that when I was a kid. Perhaps I chose the wrong words, yeah."

Thom noticed he had hit her soft spot. Valta never talked about it, but the way she showed herself made it pretty clear. This woman was a noble, and she had been all of her life. Yet, she didn't one to be one. She would probably find more joy in a mud fight than a tea party with a pesky duke. In the same way, she probably preferred to take a simple cup of coffee over a grand dinner at some expensive restaurant.

Could that also be the reason why she's taken a liking to me? That would be rather fortunate. Then... I've been an idiot. It doesn't matter. I can fix it!

"Hmph." He smiled. "Maybe I chose the wrong words when saying delicate. Valta, would you find a hunting trip to the woods to look for our own dinner something delicate?"

Valta's eyes immediately glowed up as soon as he mentioned that. She opened her lips very quickly as if about to mention something in a haste, but then retreated, and started to speak slowly.

"... I'm very good at hunting."

Thom's cheeks flushed red. There was something more alluring to her than before, but he couldn't find out what it was. For a while, after discovering her age, Thom had thought he wouldn't be able to keep seeing her with the same eyes, but now that thought had been proven to be quite wrong. He had never known he had a thing for older women up until this point, but now he was glad he had found out.

Well, five years apart isn't much. He mischievously smiled to himself.

"Very well. After the evaluation for our groups in the upper battalion are done, we'll go. It's gonna be a rather interesting date."

Valta's eyes opened slightly for a second, but then they returned to their normal size.

"Date." She stated.

"Ah. Yes... That's what I was thinking about. Where we on the same carriage? Damn. Did I make it weird? Wasn't it a date? Did I go to fast, was it that? I mean, three weeks isn't too fast for a first date. Then again, that would depend on who you ask. If you don't wanna see it like that it's okay. Hunting is always fun anywa—"

Thom wanted to keep talking like a madman until his embarrassment was washed away, but his rambling was interrupted by the soft movement from Valta's head, telling him that it was okay. Then, having breathed in heavily, the corner of her lips lightly, almost unnoticeably, very remotely, arched upwards, and she spoke.

"It's a date, then." She said.

"Ah... Good, good." Thom giggled to himself as he couped his hands.

The both of them were so focused on their chatter that they didn't notice Erina staring from afar with a dead smile, and Suu by her side. They were in the brink of laughing, but the conversation between Valta and Thom seemed so strange that neither of them had the courage to do it.

"Do you think it's okay for soldiers to have relationships like that?" Erina asked. "No, more importantly... Do you think it's okay for a lieutenant and his captain to have a relationship like that? Dude, that's like... Cero professionalism..."

"Hehe..." Suu simply giggled with a dark intent to her smile. "Quite the opposite, dear. A love that's faced with all kinds of obstacles and still stays strong is the truest of loves!" She declared with a serious voice in a rather low tone.

"I think it's too early to call it love, Suu." Erina bitterly smiled as her only reply.

"But what if it isn't too early? Huhu. The cold duchess falling for a country bumpkin! A captain risking her position and status for the love of a lieutenant! This is exciting no matter how you look at it, and so unusual you could write a novel about it! What do you think general Miel would do if he found them all lovely-dovely like that?" Suu whispered to Erina's ear as she saw Valta and Thom heading for the barracks.

"If it's Miel... He'd surely behead them." Erina said without a trace of doubt and a nod.

"That's harsh!" Suu cried out as she jumped back.

"Tsk. You're right, corporal. It is."

A chill ran down their spine, and they quickly turned around to see the general standing there with his back against a wall, writing digits and notes on the papers he held. He looked pensive on the letters for a while, until he finished writing, and lifted his head from the forms.

"It's bound to happen in such a diverse army. And I couldn't care less for what the status quo is." Miel's smile turned grim and dark as he looked at the pair of corporals spying on their superiors. "Love, hate, it doesn't matter. I'll find a use for it."