Chapter 5

A/N - 1146 words

"100 SITUPS!! 100 SQUATS!! 100 PUSHUPS AND A 10 KM RUN!!! THAT IS THE WAY OF GETTING STRONGER!!" Darius shouted as Kneric finished his 75 pushups,

"Haaa....ha...I ...think....I am in....the wrong universe for that!!" Kneric spoke between his reps as he pushed on while the seekers that were with them enjoyed the show of Kenric being rolled around by his instructor even before reaching Montsimmard.

(FYI - Montsimmard is a training facility for the seekers as well as a base for the grey wardens after they retreated from the Adamant fortress in the Western Approach.)

"He is holding better than I thought" one of the seekers spoke as he hammered the nail into the ground as they were setting up the tents for the night, as the others around just smirked this was a regular thing the older seekers did to recruits to get their heads straight after being selected although the one Kenric was going through was a little bit more difficult.

"Don't you remember what he did with Ricardos...that was his name right?"

"Yeah, he got the worst treatment of them all. Andraste good thing I was with Elrask for my training otherwise I would have been back to being a templar." the other one answered,

"I can hear you, damn brats!" came the growl from the old seeker as they got back to what they were doing trying to avoid the glare of the old man.

"90....91...93..."

Wack!!

"OUCH!!! That hurts geezer" Kenric shouted as the stick hit against his back.

"Stop skipping fucker!!" Darius replied as Kenric clicked his tongue and continued with his pushups. He still had his 10 km run left. This geezer was thorough.

" 95...96...97....98..99..100" Kenric flipped onto his back as he felt Darius toe him just below the ribs.

"See that tree over there, " He spoke pointing at a birch tree quite the distance away standing alone in the surrounding grassland,

"Yeah, unlike certain someone, I don't have problems with my eyesight... ah!" Kenric was hit again as he rolled away to dodge the second hit.

"Run! motherfucker!!" Darius spoke as he swung his stick again, and Kenric had to jump back to avoid it.

"Fuck you old man" Kenric spoke as Darius raised his eyebrows.

"Why don't you come here and say that?" Darius replied smiling lightly, as Kenric ran towards the tree.

"Just wait I will be there in a minute" He spoke as he started jogging towards the tree.

Darius smirked as he saw the figure growing smaller as Aldren walked up to him.

"You are smiling a little too much, Darius." He spoke as Darius' expression soured as he saw the smiling Aldren.

"heh...what a disrespectful brat he is? I will have to beat him into shape!!" Darius grumbled

"Sure you will!"

"Urgh you making my blood boil seems like you forgot that I am your senior huh?"

"Of course, I haven't"

"Oh, really it sure feels like it. humph"

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-Kirkwall City-

"So this is Kirkwall huh?" a teenager spoke as he stood looking at the tall wall rising in the sky. Walking in between the gates he could feel the eyes on him as he fiddled with the Darwen artefact, on his wrist that glowed lightly as he hid it under a leather armguard.

"you should be careful, your mana can't be handled by just one artefact." the woman beside him carrying a bow and a quiver while wearing leather armour making her indistinguishable from the other mercenaries that streamed in and out of the port city.

"I know but are you sure we won't be suspected?"

"Hmph you have no experience of the world around you, do you? Humans tend to ignore things that look normal that is why we are using mercenary clothes"

"Ooof, you don't have to be so harsh on me" the teenager spoke, wiping away a fake tear as he looked at the amount of Templars that seemed to patrol the streets.

Seems like the reports they had received were far too low of an estimate, they were a lot more iron-handed than he had read.

They seemed to looking over the people pulling over anyone who seemed suspicious.

The woman beside him slightly nudged him forward as they were easily able to get past the Templars and the city guards.

Heading towards the lowtown that was the hub for major markets and trade, as the old imperial slave outpost still bore the structures constructed by the slaves into the cliffside.

The smell of smoke filled the air as the woman moved into a Tavern called The Hanged Man which was quite lively considering it was still day outside.

"Lovely place I must say" the teen muttered, as the woman ignored him and walked towards the counter as the blonde-haired man greeted her.

"Name's Corff. What can I do for you beautiful?"

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-Campsite night-

"You want to what?" Aldren asked raising an eyebrow.

"It is best that he get some hands-on experience on how to deal with stuff," Darius spoke as Aldren looked at him.

"But Kirkwall directly?"

"It is better that way since things can only go up after that"

"Quenrd is pretty close in that regard"

"Well, I will be staying with him at Kirkwall for a few days,"

"Darius be serious, if things do go bad he will have to deal with mages and no matter how talented he may be with the sword, he won't be able to do anything if he ends up in a trap."

"That is why he needs to learn, do you expect him to learn when he would have subordinates depending on him?"

"No, but he hasn't even begun his training yet"

"This is training, and this is how I am going to proceed with him."

Aldren looked at Darius who stood in his tent before sighing, he knew Darius had a few screws loose but he didn't expect this much from this old man.

"At least take Walter with you?"

"Fine, we will part ways at Kirkwall," Darius spoke before leaving as Aldren smiled defeatedly maybe he should apply for retirement just to get Darius to sit in his place though the old man would refuse to take up the position like last time making someone else do all the work.

William wouldn't really want Kenric to stay at Kirkwall after what had happened in 9:14 Dragon but even Aldren knew that Kenric needed to go through his demons before he could become a seeker as things could end up really bad if he had inner demons.

"Sorry, William this is something we have to do." He muttered as he lay back in his bed,

For some reason, he could not shake a cold feeling crawling up his spine.

"Something's wrong I can feel it"