54 Chapter 14 : Create a militia

"AGH!"

*Bang* Bratatat* *Bang* *Bratatat* *Booom*

"Call for reinforcements, the enemy is attacking us!"

"63rd Brigade use grenades!"

*Booom* *Booom*

"The enemy has broken into the prison and released the captives! Surrounded the area!"

"First Lieutenant's dead! Immediate withdrawal!"

"The captives are attacking us! We await the order of Warrant Officer Joseph!"

"All our troops in the city centre are dead! The rebels have taken possession of the city's command center, they currently hold General Armstrong and the State Scientific Alchemists."

The different brigades of the city were completely in Chaos, it was one of the three cities most occupied by the army, there was a great quantity of weapons and equipment and as it was quite close to the border of Amestris the convoys were easy there.

It was also one of the important places of "secret experimentation" of the army, but in only two days all the soldiers of the city were killed and the great General Armstrong was captured, which shocked the officers of the army.

. . . . . . . . .

In the center of the city, the command center of the army.

James was standing in front of about a hundred people holding weapons with rather old and dilapidated clothes and a thin body showing signs of poor nutrition.

"Listen to me, brothers." Said James out loud, but no one listened to him, they were all busy arguing amongst themselves or ignoring him.

Most of them were chatting amongst themselves or looking at James cautiously creating a small din in the room.

"Listen to me, brothers," said James aloud, but no one was listening to him, they were all busy arguing with each other or ignoring him on the one hand, and the others were chatting or looking at James cautiously, creating a big din in the room.

James closed and reopened his left palm, creating a ball of Nen, which exploded and the sound of which silenced everyone.

"My brothers, my name is Gagan, like you I lost relatives, friends and family, our whole village was massacred by the army of Amestris."

Hearing James' words the people present became more attentive, seeing that, James' face became more solemn.

"It was then that in seeking revenge, I had to betray my religion. I ask Ishvala's forgiveness, for I have learned alchemy."

"He learned alchemy? Then he is a heretic."

"But he saved us..."

"One who can betray his faith is not to be trusted."

Whispers began to spread throughout the room, but James paid no attention to this and continued.

"But even if I have betrayed belief, I absolutely do not regret my actions, for it is thanks to my alchemy that I managed to save you, you my compatriots from certain death, it is thanks to my sins that I managed to save our children, our sisters and our elders, it is thanks to my sins that I was able to help my fellow countrymen in their suffering."

"And I am willing to commit thousands more sins if it will save or bring back to life one of your relatives, friends or fellow countrymen!!!"

"Thought of your dead relatives, your dead friends, take up arms with me my friends and let's build a better Ishval! Sacrifice ourselves, sacrifice our souls for a better future!"

Most of the men and women present clenched their fists firmly, some even began to cry at James' words.

"I would only ask the question once! Who wants to join me!" James shouted with all his might at the points where his voice echoed outside.

A young woman in her early twenties stepped forward and raised her right fist in the air and screamed.

"Long live Gagan! Long live Ishval!"

Then a second one, a middle-aged man also raised his fists in the air.

"Long live Gagan! Long live Ishval!"

Then followed by a third, a tenth, thirty, a hundred, finally all the people present chanted these words.

"Long live Gagan! Long live Ishval!"

. . . . .

Three days later James created his own militia that he named The First Hope, a name that was very much appreciated by the militiamen who easily accepted it, some of them with an artistic fibre even made a dark flag with a rising sun as a symbol.

During his last days James spent his time counting the members of his militia and analyzing the speciality of each of them.

There were a total of 871 people who had joined him, so he appointed three lieutenants, the first was Kanwal Holkar the woman who had talk first in his speech, she was a doctor with a good reputation and ran a hospital before the war, so James put her in charge of the Logistics and Medical Team(L.M.T).

The second, Ravi Munshi, was a man in his forties, who was a priest before the war but after the death of his family, he joined a militia at the beginning of the war of which he was the deputy leader, as he had experience in troop management, James appointed him to head the The Offensive Squadron (O.S), who will handle direct combat.

The last one was a young man by the name of Maha Vad, he was one of the key members of a militia that was wiped out, he was a specialist in booby traps, tactical weapons, he also had a perfect geographical knowledge of all Ishval and the neighbouring countries with great capacity in strategic planning.

He then gave him the command of the Tactical Response Team (T.R.T), whose role was to carry out surprise attacks, intelligence gathering (espionage), exfiltration of prisoners, or assassination.

It took James five days with the help of his lieutenants to divide the members of the militia, the L.M.T. had 137 members including 14 doctors, the O.S. now had 519 members and the T.R.T. 215 members.

James tried to organize them as quickly as possible because he knew that the army would soon retaliate with great violence.

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