Convoluted Beginning; Part 2

"Enough sleep, little shits. It's time to wake up." A gruff voice boomed through the long sleeping chamber, and a sturdy man stomped inside, waking the kids.

One didn't need to look further than his large size to know how muscular he was.

It was clear that he worked very hard to gain such a body. Since he wasn't willing to go easy on his own body, the man wouldn't change that for some brats, despite the pressure from his peers.

To some, that might mean he disregarded their opinions for good, but that line of thought was wrong. At his age, he had learned to consider other people's ideas, especially from his brothers.

All of that talk didn't fall on deaf ears, as the man, despite his harsh-sounding words, wasn't running these kids into the ground as one might think.

"I want you all up and ready in 5 minutes. Today will be a busy day, as usual, so I don't want to hear anyone crying 'cause I did not notify you beforehand. Breakfast will be ready in two hours, and then we will give you your tasks."

After saying his part, the man stepped out of the room. Behind him, two dozen voices made their dissatisfaction known.

A minute later, the kids woke up and dressed up.

Alex looked at Ezek.

"Good thing we weren't late." He said and got down from his bed.

"Yeah. Today was a close call."

Alex clicked his tongue.

"We wouldn't be in this situation if you uncontrolled your lust for once."

Ezek didn't look bothered by Alex's words, blankly watching the latter.

"Hey Alex, what do you think about that Emily girl from the nearby village?" He suddenly said, wriggling his bushy eyebrows.

"There he goes again." Alex was exhausted by now and ran his hand through his hair.

"What about her, Ezek?" He put a lot of emphasis on his name. Maybe this fucker would wake up from his fantasies. "Want me to help you get under her skirt?"

Ezek grinned lewdly, thinking about that but shook his head.

"I wouldn't mind doing it with her, but that isn't what I wanted to talk about."

He moved closer to Alex and whispered.

"Her dad is a famous merchant who traveled more than anyone his age, merchants or otherwise.

"I talked with her a bit and got to know that there's movement between the noble families. It seems like they're starting to move against each other."

Alex raised an eyebrow, clearly confused about this knowledge.

"And why did you feel the need to share this with me? It doesn't help us at all."

Ezek shook his head, looking at Alex as though he were stupid.

"Don't you know what this means? It means something caused these noble families to rub against each other."

Alex continued. "And what's that got to do with us?"

"Money." Ezek rubbed his fingers together. "These families would need a lot of manpower. And who would they come running to? Exactly, to us."

Alex thought about it and had to agree with his friend. Recens were more expensive to hire than your average mercenaries, but unlike a rugged band of peasants, Recens were trained killers and monster killers. Not to mention they were several times stronger and faster than the average human.

"You want us to leave the fortress to help these nobles?

"We aren't Recen yet, Ezek. We're just normal humans with a bit of training. Hell, we haven't even learned magic yet."

Ezek raised his hands.

"I know, I know. I just wanted to inform you of our next journey."

"You're aware we need to survive first, right?"

Ezek just shook his head and said nothing more.

*Clap*

A sudden clap resounded throughout the chamber, grabbing everyone's attention.

Larok, the huge man from before, returned and looked at every kid, youth, and young man inside before making way for another Recen to enter the room.

Alex and Ezek started sweating as their eyes lay upon the second man, who was auguring holes in them with his blue eyes.

"Shit.." The two cursed at the same time.

Pyrus saw the look on their faces and smiled warmly as a grandfather smiling at his son or grandson. The meaning behind his smile wasn't warm

at all.

"Do you young men have any free time in your busy schedule? The headmaster wants to have a word with you two."

"Fuck!" The two friends cursed once again and meekly walked out of the room, heading for the headmaster's office, followed by two Recens.

***

Five minutes later, the fortress' courtyard filled with boys of all ages, ranging from a bit older than toddlers to young men in their twenties.

Inside the keep itself, four people stood out like sore thumbs. No one usually had anything to do inside the fort outside of eating, sleeping, or warming up the place.

All the training and lectures were held inside the inner courtyard, and that was the place where the kids spent most of their time.

They weren't held there against their will, and everyone could go outside or inside the nearby city or village if they so wish. That said, if the kids want a place to sleep and eat, they must return before dusk.

This was the problem Alex and Ezek were dealing with. Furthermore, unlike young kids, who could do basically all they wanted under the law, the older boys were under heftier restrictions. The closer one got to becoming a Recen, the more restricted they become until they finally leave the place.

The group of four silently walked toward the headmaster's office, which was positioned on the highest level of the fortress. Although no words were uttered, communication existed between Alex and Ezek, who were talking through glances.

'Does the Headmaster know about last night?' Asked Ezek.

'Impossible. We spent half an hour making sure no one followed us. Unless a Recen followed us, there is no way they would know where we were.'

Alex then stopped explaining as they had reached their destination. A large, heavy wooden door stood between them and the headmaster.

Larok stepped forward and opened the door without so much as a knock while Pyrus pushed the two troublemakers from behind.

The room was large and minimally ornated. Besides the solid desk and chair in the back of the room, there was only one shelf full of records, maps, and other miscellaneous things that keep a fortress running.

Other than that, there was only the headmaster and his weapon. That was it.

Geralt looked up upon hearing the group enter his office and got straight to the point.

"What the fuck happened again?" He asked, feeling an incoming headache.

"Headmaster Geralt, I and Alex were talking about a few girls, jokingly yo..."

Not waiting for an elder to speak, Ezek grasped the opportunity and went on explaining himself at the rightmost moment, but Pyrus interrupted his teary 'confession' with a cold glance.

"Nah. This time I will explain the situation, understood?"

"Mmmm," Ezek nodded with a meek expression and quieted down.

Pyrus turned to Geralt.

"These two fuckers snuck out yesterday and only returned this morning one hour before the wake-up call...."

Geralt saw that the elder was going to keep explaining but raised his hand to stop the elder from continuing, as he got all the information needed.

"Were you two out whoring?" He asked without even blinking.

He knew what two 18 and 17-year-olds were up to, especially when left alone to their own devices.

"It was not whoring" Ezek blurted out, intending to correct Geralt's words. He whimpered after one look at the headmaster's face.

A deep sigh left the headmaster's lips, and he lifted his hand to his temple and forehead. These two kids were going to be the end of him.

Glancing at Alex and then at the boy's crime partner, he asked Ezek again.

"Who was it this time?"

Reaching this point, elder Larok approached them, a level more interested, leaning ever closer to the two as if to better hear the conversation.

"It was that new Erika girl." Said Ezek, keeping his eyes on the ground.

"Please don't tell me..." Geralt whispered as he looked toward Elder Pyrus, who nodded faintly with a surprised look.

"Damn..." Larok exclaimed with the tiniest bit of admiration apparent in his tone.

Geralt took a deep breath to calm his nerves. Then, he took another. And another.

The poor headmaster tried his best to keep his emotions under control, but this news brought the worst out of him.

"You mean to tell me you banged Baron Weiss's daughter? You know, the one that was supposed to become a FUCKING NUN?"

Locking his eyes onto Alex, Geralt saw him fidgeting nervously and asked in a tired voice.

"And what about you?"

Alex wanted to avoid answering at all costs, but upon feeling the searing gaze on his skin, he knew there was no way out of this.

He sighed and answered, looking straight into the old man's eyes. If he were to go down in this moment, he would go with his back straight and his eyes forward.

"I did her twin" His voice thundered through the office.

"HAHAHA!" Elder Larok couldn't contain himself, bursting with laughter, and wiped the tear on his cheek. These two really were something else.

Seeing the blank look on Geralt's and Pyrus's faces, he decided to help these two troublemakers a bit.

"Geralt, this isn't something that should be punished. Fucking some easy high-class ass isn't that big of a deal."

Ezek's eyes practically sparkled as he looked at Elder Larok in a new light. The man suddenly became his grandfather.

The headmaster, on the other hand, had a helpless smile on his face. "Calling Baron Weiss's daughters easy, haa."

He sighed and waved the two boys to leave the office. Just like Elder Larok said, this wasn't all that big of a deal in and of itself, but if this information about two 'Recens' sleeping with a noble's daughters was to become public, things would get out of hand.

All Geralt could do now was hope that Alex and Ezek had been careful enough and nothing significant would occur.

As the two made their way out, they bumped into an older teen who greeted them with a slight nod before turning his attention forward.

The youth in question bowed in respect towards the elders, even though he was also a Recen, which translated into the Common Tongue, meant the few ones.

"Our school was asked by the Ato family to provide fighters to escort their Heir on their travel to the capital. It seemed very urgent."

Although Alex and Ezek were curious about this information, the door closed behind them, isolating them from the conversation.