Xenarra: The Dragon Throne

"Eat this Adoh, it will help with hunger." He handed me a pill. After putting it into my mouth, I felt all of the hunger pains in my body go away. "Though you will need some real food though. That pill will not subsidise real food. It"s just useful to keep going in a battle." After that I walked off to go and find some actual food to eat.

I went to the cafeteria. After arriving I had a look at all the food they had available to be eaten. As I was looking at it I felt a hand slap on my shoulder. "You seem to be around Adoh, promoted to sergeant as well. Also a first tier unit. You have been busy." The speaker was the knight Ajax. In the end I choose the meat dish with some rice to go with it.

I went and sat down with Ajax at a smaller table at his invitation. "I heard that you are under the direct command of the general. It"s a good thing yes but you will get some of the hardest missions out there. It will have a high chance of death so be careful, ok."

I was surprised at the concern he was showing me after all we only met by chance and have barely spoken.

We didn"t speak much after that. We both just focused on eating our food. Which for me was delicious. It reminded me of home. The long days working on the fields for whichever farmer needed help the most. Then walking home with my brother joking as we went. To the well prepared meals by mum. It was nice back then.

After I had finished my meal I said bye to Ajaz and walked back to the barracks to get some rest in an actual bed. I said h.e.l.lo to the others as I went through and made sure Usha had her own room so that none of them would pep on her as she got changed. Once I had got into my own room which as a sergeant I got, I saw a bag on the bed with a note on it.It said it was from my uncle. It must be my clothes I thought to myself. I took out all of the clothes hanging them all up in a wardrobe or putting them into the cupboard I had. Then once that was done I fell into my bed.

The next few days were all very similar. I would get up, then get the others up. Get foid then head to the training field. The training itself changed from day to day. It included advanced weapon combat and some unarmed combat. This made us all be able to do a much greater range of attacks and defensive moves with the weapons we used and also be able to fight effectively without weapons as well.

We also had a range of cla.s.ses on demons going into further detail on how to tell each type of demon apart from each other as well as each type"s known strengths and weaknesses. This cla.s.s also included some advanced tactics to engage the demons as well. We were taught some basic first aid and survival skills as well. This would enable us to stay alive in the field a bit easier we were told.

The last thing was just unique to me for now. That was learning to use mana effectively now that I was beginning to be able to sense it. This included some basic incarnations such as enhance. Once I got that I had to direct it to the part of my body or weapon I wanted to enhance. The knights I was told could enhance all of their body and their weapons at the same time. This amazed me as I could barely get what I wanted to enhance, to enhance and if I did it would be fairly weak. Due to this I had to do mandatory mana practise in my own time. I was also taught a simple breathing technique that would allow me to enter the focused state to sense mana quicker.

Throughout the training period the squad became a lot closer as well. Usha also got no lewd looks anymore. At one time she caught Ordreath giving her a look and proceeded to floor him. After that point the looks stopped. Now they were only one of respect. Though they all kept on pestering me for the way to sense mana. This was starting to get annoying.

After another week of the training a knock on the door of our barracks came. When I opened it there was a messenger. The message he gave me told the squad to report to the general immediately. I quickly gathered everyone up and we all set off. "So why do you think the general wants to see us." Halstein asked everyone.

I looked at him, "It"s not our place to ask why, it"s our place to do and die."

Everyone looked at what I said with a hint of confusion etched onto all of their faces. "What sort of saying is that Adoh," Usha looked more confused than the rest. I smiled slightly and waved at the guards at the gate of the keep who let us in without any trouble. I guess they were told to just let us in.

"It is something I had read before, Usha. An old saying of the human empire"s soldiers. Then I would be given sucide orders a lot. They would say that to comfort themselves in the fact that the orders they were given weren"t there"s to question. Just to carry out." As I finished explaining the origins of the saying we got into the keep.

Once we got through the door we met the adjendunt. He scowled hard when he said more. We all gave him a salute. He just walked off down the hallway towards the general"s office. "Follow me trash."

Following him all my squad members gave me surprised gazes. I guess they are wondering how I managed to p.i.s.s off the adjendunt. It didn"t take long for us to reach the office of the general. I gave a slight knock before entering with the rest of my squad. We all formed a quick line and gave a salute.

"Stand to...….Now I want you all here today for a very simple mission, you all need to escort a messenger to the dragon palace in the duchies capital. You shouldn"t face any obstructions in this but if you do….Kill all who get in your way."

I was surprised at the effective kill order of anyone who questions us. It couldn"t help but make me think of what kind of message we were going to be effectively escorting. "Sir, it would be easier for us if the messenger wasn"t there. So, ummm, why not just give us the message directly?" I asked the commander.

He looked at me for a moment. "Dismissed, you have your orders, be ready to leave at first light tomorrow."