Chapter Seventy-Three: Enlisting

  The new recruit camps of the Northern Volunteer Army are scattered around the city of Rielgen. The brave warriors who come from all over to register in the city will be taken to various new recruit camps for a brief training. These trainings include Osadin's military discipline, military etiquette, battlefield precautions, and...

  That's it. The new recruit camp is just to make these undisciplined warriors a bit more disciplined, that's all. For the giant swordsmen, charging forward is the only option, especially when facing barbarians.

  The Arquebusiers are the ones who emphasize discipline, they are all in the West.

  As the crowd surged forward, Johnny caught sight of the registration desk in the distance. It was set up outside a military barracks in the city, with a group of soldiers maintaining order. From time to time, young men eager to enlist were tossed aside by four burly law enforcement officers for trying to cut in line and disrupt the formation. Apart from those troublemakers, the rest of the crowd remained relatively orderly. The only problem was that the line was too long.

  "Odin is up." For an exclamation of surprise, Johnny learned the phrase quickly. "How long does this have to be?"

  The team has turned four corners under the command of the soldiers, with about fifty people on each straight line.

  Everyone around Johnny was in mourning.

  There are four such teams, each of roughly equal length.

  "It's too inefficient." Jony sighed, "Can't we just open a few more windows?"

  No matter how much they complain, the team still has to line up.

  The crowd was slowly moving forward, the people in front of Johnny had quieted down, but those new arrivals behind him were getting restless. Naturally, the soldiers had their work cut out for them again.

  Without a watch, Joanie didn't know how long she had been queuing. She looked up and saw that the sun had moved a long way, then looked down and found herself almost at the first straight line.

  Joni let out a sigh, turned around, and gazed at the long queue, taking in the anxious expressions of the people and the scene of soldiers throwing people. When queuing up, it's often just one glance back that can bring great comfort, as if all the waiting before had been compensated for.

  Then Johnny smiled and continued moving forward with his head down.

  Finally, it's Johnny's turn.

  "Name."

  "Johnny Smith."

  "Native place."

  "Uh, Vishir Village."

  The registrar looked up and stared at Johnny: "Which Vishir village?"

  "What else could it be?" Jony was a bit puzzled, but then he immediately understood: "The one on the edge of Olvisa Castle."

  "How old?"

  Seventeen.

  "A weapon?"

  "Giant Sword in Both Hands."

  "Wait over there for a while." The registrar pointed to a soldier standing beside him, "He will take you to the test next. May Odin bless you."

  Joni bowed slightly in return, then walked up to the soldier.

  "Just wait a moment, young man," said the soldier. "Three people at a time."

  After three people were full, Joanie and several others followed the soldiers through the back door of the registration office into the training ground of the military camp.

  "First." The soldier led Johnny's group to a corner of the camp, pointing at wooden boxes on the ground and said, "You go move those boxes to the place with white lines drawn, then move them back, one by one."

  Joni went first, bending down to lift a wooden chest. The chest was not light, if it were the little blacksmith from those years ago, he could probably only just lift it. But for Joni at this time, it was effortless.

  For the remaining two people, this challenge is not difficult either.

  "Alright, you're all qualified." The soldier took them to the side of a track and pointed at a flag about one hundred paces away, saying "Now, run over there and back as fast as you can, four times back and forth."

  As he spoke, he picked up an hourglass from a wooden table beside him and said, "If you exceed the time limit, it's considered a failure. Let's begin."

  The word "ba" was left hanging in the air, and the hourglass had already been turned over. The three people were stunned for a moment, then simultaneously took off running wildly.

  Joni was the first to return to the finish line, with the second place rider about half a lap behind him. By the time the last rider returned, the allotted time had already been exceeded somewhat.

  "Regrettably, warrior." The soldier's expression didn't show much regret. "You've been eliminated. Thank you for your devotion to Odin and loyalty to Ossetin, but we can't use you."

  The eliminated strong man was obviously not very convinced. He supported his knees with both hands, panting heavily, but his head was raised, trying to look at the soldier who decided his fate.

  "I am the strongest in our village... huh, why huh, because I'm not fast at running, huh, and then they eliminated me?" He said with a stutter.

  "I don't know how you are in your village, but if you can't run fast, whether it's advancing or retreating, you'll be at a disadvantage and slow down the whole team."

  "I refuse to accept this!"

  But he couldn't help but feel resentful. As they spoke, two idle soldiers at the side of the field had already approached them.

  "Please follow orders." The two men, one on each side, sandwiched the big man in between them, "We hope you can cooperate with our work."

  This little episode ended quickly, and the conflict was nipped in the bud before it even began.

  "Congratulations to both of you, you can enter the volunteer army's new recruit camp." The soldier didn't show any congratulatory expression either, his emotions had been worn down over the past few days. "Go to that entrance over there, someone will take you to the campsite."

  Having said that, the soldier walked away without looking back.

  Johnny and the young man beside him watched the soldier disappear through the doorway leading to registration, then looked at each other.

  "Johnny Smith." Johnny broke the silence, introducing himself.

  "William Brown." The young man replied similarly, "Hello."

  "Hello."

  After exchanging greetings, it seemed like there was nothing more to say.

  "Let's go and report." Johnny broke the silence again.

  "Good."

  When Johnny and William arrived at the reporting point specified by that soldier just now, there were already many people waiting there.

  "Exactly twenty. Line up and follow me." Another soldier yelled.

  The young men who had not undergone military training naturally did not have very strict discipline. Twenty people were divided into two rows, and at the beginning, they still looked like that, but after walking out a hundred steps, they were completely scattered. Some places had only one person, while others had four people side by side.

  The team is like this, so it's natural for people in the team to talk and communicate with each other.

  "What does your family do, William?" Johnny asked, leaning in close.

  "Oh, I'm a blacksmith," William replied. "But the craft of blacksmithing is what my brothers are learning, I've never been interested since I was young."

  "Hey, my family is also in the iron business!" Johnny exclaimed excitedly, "What a coincidence!"

  On the way to the new barracks, William opened his mouth and said a lot, and Johnny also talked a lot, stirring up the desire for conversation. It wasn't until then that the two of them really got familiar with each other.

  William Brown was born into a family of blacksmiths in Usk, Monmouthshire. As the youngest child, William grew up in an environment that was relatively indulgent. Even his lack of interest in blacksmithing was accepted by his family.

  William, who didn't want to be a blacksmith, liked all kinds of weapons. Osyadin's blacksmith usually made the most axes and greatswords, occasionally making longswords and other medium-sized weapons to sell to merchant caravans that came from afar. William, who grew up in the pile of military equipment, said this to Joanie.

  "I'm telling you, I can use any weapon!"

  Well, nothing is perfect anyway.

  "In the end you still chose to learn the giant sword?" Jony asked curiously. He saw that behind William, just like him, was a giant sword wrapped layer by layer with cloth.

  "Because the old soldier nearby is using a giant sword anyway," William explained. "So we can only use a giant sword too."

  The two exchanged their life stories and various interesting experiences. When Johnny talked about the last defense of Tabriz, the military camp arrived.

  "Alright, new recruits." The leading soldier said to the twenty people who were no longer in formation, with a hint of mockery at the corner of his mouth. "We've arrived, remember, once you step through this gate, you'll be soldiers of Osedin. Those days of walking crookedly and chatting casually during marches are gone from now on. Get ready, new recruits!"

  Everyone stared at him blankly.

  "What's wrong? Can't a soldier say that?" The soldier glared at him, "Can't nobles be soldiers too?"

  A group of new recruits nodded in unison.

  After finishing the handover, the soldier who led them walked back and forth on the road. Johnny vaguely heard words like "damn", "didn't let me go", "brother", "doing this kind of thing".

  Before he could make sense of it, a sturdy man with a serious face and dressed differently from the previous few soldiers appeared before them.

  "Another bunch of trash?" The burly man swept his gaze over the crowd, saying disdainfully and discontentedly, "It's only been a few years since our Othard has been at peace, how can there be no one left?"

  Joni felt the atmosphere around him suddenly become oppressive, followed by a rough, heavy breathing sound. He carefully turned his head to look at William, and this blacksmith's son was also staring at that burly man, whose chest was heaving up and down, up and down...

  The instructor saw that Joanie was unmoved, and continued to add fuel: "You bunch of trash, look at your disorganized state, not even comparable to those idiots from the south of Velsa. Odin, is Odin going to rely on these people to defend? They're not even as good as the people of Velsa!"

  Joni felt the atmosphere was even more oppressive. But he didn't feel any pressure at all. Firstly, this kind of inferior provocation Joni had seen countless times in the past, it was just the instructor speaking nonsense with his eyes open, his eyes having a shrinking effect, making everything standing in front of him say that new recruits were worse than useless things. Secondly, strictly speaking, he was a Versa person.

  The instructor finally couldn't bear it. In these days, new recruits came in waves, and nearly two hundred people had been brought into this training camp. Although some of those two hundred new recruits were a bit violent and some were gloomy, when they heard "you're not even as good as the Velsers", no one had ever reacted like the guy in front of him, without any unusual expression.

  "Newbie!" He walked up to Johnny and bellowed, "Don't you have any shame?!"

  "Yes, sir!" Johnny stood at attention and replied loudly in the same manner as the long gunners of Tabriz.

  "Huh?" The instructor was taken aback by Johnny's military-style response, but quickly regained his composure. "Then why didn't you react at all when I called you a Vorsan? Answer me, recruit!"

  "Reporting for duty, sir!" Johnny puffed out his chest. "I was a Vorsan a year ago!"

  "Velsa?" The instructor shook his head, "You actually passed the test..."

  Then he loudly shouted at the new recruits around him, who also showed contemptuous expressions: "Look, even a Velsarian can pass the test! And this Velsarian is the only one among you who knows some discipline, do you still want to save face?!"

  "Reporting for duty, sir." Joni stood at attention and shouted loudly, braving the murderous glances from the people around him.

  "Speak."

  "I am now an Asgardian, I am a follower of Odin." Joni gazed forward, "I am a follower of Odin!"

  This explanation was too pale, so the crowd's gaze at Joanie was still very strange. The instructor didn't care about him and walked back to his original position, saying to the new recruits - this time with a normal volume: "Follow me, today is your last chance to enjoy civilian life."

  This is certainly an exaggeration, but it foreshadows some unsettling future.

  "Jony." William hadn't treated Jony any differently since he found out he was from Welsa, which had raised Jony's impression of him by more than a little. "You said it would be tough? I heard the old soldier in the neighboring house say that the early days of being a soldier were very painful."

  "Don't worry," Johnny patted William on the shoulder, "nobody will die."

  "This is hard to say, young man." The instructor suddenly turned his head and smiled, "This is hard to say."

  Everyone's face changed, including Johnny. But he calmed down immediately. As a man who could fight on par with Lancelot, Johnny had that confidence.

  But others may not have it.

  On the other hand, Lancelot had already entered his own dormitory. The customs of Ossedin were rough and untamed, but after all, there weren't many female warriors. When Johnny was still slowly moving in the queue, Lancelot had already completed the test and when he walked on the road to the female soldier's camp, Lancelot felt a little homesick.

  "My god, look at those guys, they really think they're heroes." The voice came from Lancelot's left.

  "Nothing in the crotch, huh? Look over there, those with their heads down coming out are really useless. They were actually eliminated." The voice came from Lancelot's right side - female soldiers and male soldiers were indistinguishable during the new recruit phase, and the team quickly became chaotic.

  "Alas, where are you from?" The sturdy maiden on the left... Well, the woman looked at Lancelot and asked.

  "It's at Alnwick Castle." Lancelot replied with a smile.

  "Little girl, you don't look very strong either, how did you think of joining the army?" said the man on the right, "War is very dangerous, you know."

  Then came an inexplicable fit of loud laughter.

  Lancelot missed home, but more importantly, she missed Astra.

  Astrid is the real girl! She thought to herself, smiling and responding to the two women's questions, her footsteps quietly slowing down, falling behind the group. Away from those robust women who were like tigers and wolves, it made her feel much better.

  This feeling of loss didn't dissipate until she entered her own dormitory. The figure with a slender build in the room made her feel like she had returned to the world of humans.

  The woman heard the noise, turned her head and smiled slightly: "Hello, my name is Daphne Walter, the eldest daughter of Marquis Walter of Dietrich City, nice to meet you."

  "Hello, I'm Lancelot Rudolf, daughter of Pastor Udis Rudolf from the affiliated village of Weichselburg, Olwis Castle. Nice to meet you!" Lancelot was very pleased, then slightly excited, "You're from the Walter family? Your father is a hero of Osedin, isn't he?"

  "Hehe." Daphne covered her mouth and giggled, "In those years, Osedin had many heroes. Your grandfather wasn't one of them? I grew up listening to his stories after all."

  Lancelot's eyes were about to well up with tears. Such a elegant girl! It seems that the military camp is a good place after all!

  "It's all right, after all, everyone is for the sake of the Olympics." She unconsciously used the tone she used when speaking to Aisley.

  At this time, Astrid was in distress.

  She held a bow in her right hand and was slightly panting. On the target about one hundred paces in front of her, ten feathered arrows were stuck.

  The bow was a strong one, the hardest composite bow that Ester had brought from Orvissa's castle, and even with the power of the barbarian technique infused in it, Ester could still feel the intense resistance of the bow arm as she drew it back. One arrow shot out, almost instantly hitting its mark. If Johnny reappeared before her, clad in thick armor, Ester would not let him escape a single arrow.

  But she felt something was wrong.

  Having gained strength, able to pull a strong bow, shooting accurately... But how to take revenge?

  Audin's army is not to be relied upon, Aethereia knew that Audin did not love expansion, even if he went to war with Tania, it would only be limited to the border area. If you want to find the evil spirit in the church of Tabris City, you can only rely on yourself.

  What's the point of relying on oneself? Standing still and shooting arrows at a temple?

  It shouldn't be like this, things absolutely aren't like this.

  Astrid furrowed her brow, gazing intently at the target ahead. There must be something, there must be something I haven't thought of. She thought to herself.