After asking around, Zaos finally found the commander's office. Still, in the end, he hesitated in knocking on the door since he was thinking about what he heard. Zaos already knew the kingdom wasn't that peaceful, but he didn't imagine they had problems with invaders or bandits. He had never heard rumors about that, after all.
"We are stationed in the middle of nowhere for a reason…" Zaos thought. "I made some wrong assumptions just because my father didn't have to leave the capital often."
Zaos had no idea if he was ready or if he was strong enough to fight and kill criminals or invaders, so in the end, he could only hope that he won't have to fight for his life anytime soon. Still, if the time comes sooner than expected, he will have to make up his mind.
After that, Zaos knocked on the door in front of him, and then he heard Elius's voice telling him to open the door. As expected, he quickly showed an expression of annoyance when he saw Zaos.
"Excuse me, sir," Zaos said. "I brought the list with the name of all the members on my squad."
Elius took his time checking the paper, but Zaos made sure to write carefully and the names, even his, to avoid that kind of problem.
"Your squad will participate in some army drills for the next six days," Elius said while he passed a piece of paper to Zaos. "The details are written in there, as the leader of the squad, you have to make sure that you and your entire squad won't be late for the drills, if you do, you will receive the punishment for your entire squad."
While Zaos was finally going to learn something new regarding combat, he already heard something troublesome. To think that he will be held responsible for the failure of his squad… Zaos read the paper, and he just found a few lines written in there. First of all, the first drill will start at sunrise, and it will only stop half an hour before breakfast. One hour after breakfast, they will have another exercise that will last for three hours. After that is lunch, and they will have two hours of rest… and then another drill. That was quite harsh, considering that the recruits never wield their weapons for so long. It was also written their standard equipment was the only thing they needed to carry.
"Sir, is there a way here for me to send a letter to the capital?" Zaos asked.
"No, the communications methods we have at our disposal can be only used for military matters," Elius replied. "However, once a week, a man from the nearest town comes bringing personal letters to the soldiers, you can pay him to send the letter for you."
Once a week, that was a problem. Hopefully, this individual that comes every week was someone trustworthy. Otherwise, Lyra won't hear of him for a while. Either way, Zaos will only be able to confirm that after a few weeks.
"What about the seventh day, sir?" Zaos asked.
"That is your day off, it is also the day where you will receive your next assignment," Elius replied. "Anyway, I am busy, so leave now."
Busy… Zaos almost said that was bullshit since the table in front of him was completely clean aside from the papers he had to give to the other squad leaders. Regardless, since Elius was more annoying than a stomachache, Zaos decided to leave.
"I have some time before dinner, maybe I should check what kind of facilities this place has, after all," Zaos muttered.
Zaos found a library pretty close to the commander's office. However, in the books, there were basically registers of things that happened along with the base's history. Several events and battles had been written in extreme detail. There was a soldier who was guarding the place and was writing something, while he said that Zaos could read the books but couldn't take them to his room.
"I will probably learn more about tactics here, but studying by myself shouldn't be a bad idea," Zaos nodded to himself.
Before dinner, Zaos also found a warehouse where spare weapons could be found. Swords, spears, bows… the variety was perfect. Zaos other skills won't get rusty. He also found a great sword that was the exact same length as the commander, but it was too big for Zaos. He will need to train with a considerably smaller one. Unfortunately, only the second and third years of that place could take a new weapon to use without permission.
Zaos also found a healer in the base and in his room, several types of medicines. His stock was complete since that guy who comes once a week also brought things for him, so Zaos couldn't sell his ointments. After that, Zaos also the stables. It was pretty impressive that horses could be used in that cold region. The number of horses was insane, and there were also some helpers taking care of them. It was another thing Zaos didn't have to worry about.
"I read and by thinking logically, polearms are the best weapons to use while mounted," Zaos rubbed his chin thoughtfully while he was walking toward the refectory. "A weapon like that doesn't feel right in my hands, so I really need to get used to an even longer sword… I also need to learn some horsemanship…"
Things were pretty quiet on Zaos's table, even though his squadmates once again had a meal with him. As for the other tables, things were pretty lively. Regardless, Zaos told everyone at which time they had to be up the next day. It was hard to know if they would be ready or not, so Zaos made a mental note to wake up one hour early and check things with them. No matter what happens, he couldn't let some mistakes happen right in the beginning. After writing another letter to his mother, Zaos went to sleep.
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