The Five Newcomers

The Sun Knights ran ten kilometers at a moderate pace by doing many laps around their training grounds. They stayed in a relatively close group while they ran, with no one falling far behind the group, or running far ahead. While the pace was moderate, it was also consistent and they had to maintain it for ten kilometers. This was not much of a problem, however, as the Sun Knights, including the new recruits, were already in at least decent shape, and had a fair bit of stamina built up already.

After the Sun Knights ran ten kilometers, they got into two-person groups and started some light sword practice with broadswords and kite shields. She paired up the newcomers with the most seasoned warriors of the order, and spread the five of them out to different parts of the training grounds. This was intended to gage the skill level of the newcomers, as well as bring them into the group as a whole and prevent them from forming a small subgroup of just newcomers where they might be more loyal to each other, who had all gone to school together, rather than to the whole order.

[All five of them are pretty skilled at hand to hand combat. They also have a lot of stamina, being able to keep up with the quick movements of seasoned warriors after just running ten kilometers. It seems that the five older fighters do have a slight advantage in their fights though. It's obvious that the older knights have the advantage of years of actual battle experience, but the newcomers are taking full advantage of their own youth and agility to keep the practice fights at least somewhat close to being even.] Thought Mia.

Mia herself practiced against Friedrich for the morning. Mia and Friedrich were pretty evenly matched in this, so it was a good pairing.

They practiced this throughout the morning, stopping for breaks occasionally, with water and shade available for these times. After all, while they wanted to get into good shape to run through enemy territory and capture a fortified town, it would be bad if any of the Sun Knights got any serious health problems from training in the hot sun with no hydration or shade for hours without stopping. They continued practicing in this manner until lunchtime. For lunch, they had fresh fruit, magically purified water, and some salty food, as these were thought to be the best at helping the body recover from strenuous physical activity.

"How do you think the newcomers are holding up?" Mia asked Hans and Friedrich, who were sitting next to her.

"I think that they're getting along pretty well. They all have a good attitude. They kept up pace with the rest of us during that distance run, and they seemed to really take their practice fights with the older knights as a learning opportunity. They generally seem friendly and in good spirits." Said Hans.

"I honestly think that they are mostly just glad that they got assigned to the us rather than to the Moon Knights, and frankly I don't blame them. One of the happiest days of my life was when I received a letter announcing that I would be assigned here. The Constellation Knights also wouldn't have been bad, but its most people's nightmare to be sent to the Moon Knights." Said Friedrich.

Mia knew exactly what Friedrich was talking about. News about how the Moon Knights treated new recruits was widely known. If it were on Earth, what the Moon Knights did to their new members would be called 'very extreme hazing'. It was not even unheard of that a new recruit in the moon knights would die in the first couple of weeks of training. Frequently, new recruits to the Moon Knights would be beaten within an inch of their life, given health potions to heal instantly, and then the process would be repeated several times on their first day, and it was called 'pain tolerance training'. The new recruits would sometimes be made to stand outside in either the middle of winter or the middle of summer all day in very little clothing, without being allowed to move, and with no water or food and it was called 'elements endurance training'. There were many other examples of abuse towards their new recruits like this, and frankly it disgusted Mia.

"Yes, I wish it were not so complicated in reality, but it would be nice to see that order the 'Moon Knights' abolished." Said Mia.

After lunch, it was free time for a couple of hours to practice magic and other special skills. Those who could cast magic did so, while those who could not practiced their other special skills. Two of the newcomers specialized in defensive spells, and could create 'bronze protective barriers' with ease. Another two of the newcomers specialized in attack magic, with one of them being able to create a 'short range lightning attack spell' and the other being able to create an 'moderate range area freeze' spell. The fifth newcomer did not use magic, but instead specializing in stealth and infiltration, being able to camouflage himself and move silently so that he could be undetected by any enemies if he wanted to be, or being able to disguise himself as an enemy if he wanted to.

After a couple of hours of this, They went to a nearby lake, and all exercised by doing group rowing on boats for a while. This was intended to build strength and comradery, while also not making it an overly difficult first day for the five newcomers.

After that, Mia told the Sun Knights that they could have the rest of the day off, although she warned them, focussing her warning on the newcomers, that the next day would be more difficult, and that they should use the time off to rest and recover for what was to come, which would be a tough second day of war preparation.