selection

Clap .. clap… 

" good...good … you did great Xeander"

the silhouette in the darkness spoke.

Hearing that voice, Alexander didn't make any more moves but bowed to the person before and spoke in a happy manner " General…"

The silhouette came to the light laughing. An Old man with cropped red hair, clean shaved face and beastly red eyes. 

If Dror was here he would instantly recognize this person as the minister of war.

" don't call me general anymore, I have retired and am just a civilian now … I am glad to see that you are still as vigilant and sharp…"

the minister spoke with a chuckle.

Alexander replied in a humble manner

  " it's nothing much General, old habits seldom die away… I heard that you were the chief guest, but I didn't think you would figure out that 

I am here and surprise me like this.."

" Humph… lad you are still too young to hide from my watchful eyes. You are really thoughtful, you changed your name and appearance, even  erased any clues.

But  if someone like me or your grandfather wants to find you it is still a piece of cake for us…. Kid why don't you return with me, what is in the past is in the past. 

Even though you can't cultivate anymore you are still an excellent pilot , Someone like you should be in the fields not in some dumb library…."

The minister gave a long sigh after finishing what he wanted to say.

Alexander thought to himself " I was not hiding, I just wanted a little peace for myself. 

My old name and appearance would bring too much attention, that is why I changed it… I hate those sympathy filled eyes more than the mocking ones…  hah "

Alexander was silent as he was arguing in his mind, but then he spoke up

" You have a great timing General… If it was before, I would say that I want to continue my research on ancient technology to improve the overall strength of the rebel army. 

But I met with an interesting person out here, his ideologies are different from ours, yet he was able to somehow convince me to join his  company.."

The minister was really surprised this time, he knew exactly how stubborn this guy standing before him was.

This stubbornness that doesn't waver from their opinion no matter what, run's in Xeanders family and the minister is very much familiar with it.

He couldn't believe what he had heard.

It was around 10 years ago that Xeander left the space military camp, saying he will find other ways to help with the rebellion.

The minister had seen the determination in his eyes at that time, he had believed that Xeander would never again take upon the role of a soldier.

But things seem to have changed now.

The minister wanted to confirm what he heard again.

" Really … are you speaking the truth… then I will take you to the space base now itself…"

Alexander interrupted

" General you seem to have misheard, I am not returning but just joining the company of someone that I admire as a noncombatant soldier.."

The minister couldn't hold back his anger and yelled " what …you want to join a company here on Earth base as a noncombatant soldier…. You were a colonel once, how dare someone let you join a company as an ordinary soldier…"

Alexander was still calm " general this is a favor that I want to ask of you, can you please keep my identity and past a secret. I don't want to create any unnecessary misunderstanding with my new friends.."

Even Though the minister wanted to refuse immediately, but after remembering the past he could only agree 

" hah..alright… but at least tell me who is the person that recruited you…"

Alexander replied with a smirk " You already know him, he is the reason why you came to the award ceremony… "

A valiant hero medal could only be awarded by someone at least at the level of a minister.

The minister immediately understood who Alexander was referring to and he spoke in an amused manner 

" Dror the barbarian, I thought he was a rough gem that needed years of polishing to show its true worth… but that might not be the case…. Interesting.."

" That reminds me, I am supposed to appoint a deputy major for his company… Why don't you take on that role? I will make sure your identity is kept a secret and you just have to keep an eye on him and report if there is anything unnatural.

After meeting the guy personally I have a good opinion of him, but the king and council have already decided on this.."

A deputy officer was not preferred in the army as it could disrupt the chain of command.

Alexander wanted to refuse the offer 

" This…. I don't know how my friends will take it.."

The minister spoke with a smirk " If you don't take the post, then someone else will take it and the person might not be that friendly to your friends…. If you take it you can say your uncle is a high official and arranged for this post.

  You can also speak about the current opinion of the king and council towards your friend… this would be a win-win situation for all…"

Alexander didn't have to ponder more and agreed.

The minister and Alexander discussed different things until almost daylight before saying goodbye.

The Minister was beaming with smile and smirking every now and then when he left for the Space base.

He had two surprises today. One was a new powerful young hero  has risen from the rebels and the next was a young hero who has retired from a soldier's life  has returned .

He couldn't wait to meet his old friend and reveal this matter, after all the hero that has returned is his friend's grandson.

...….

Few more days passed without any major incident, Frank came to visit Dror with a list of soldiers to recruit to his new company under the first prince's order.

  Dror clearly refused this offer.

The prince was not as angry at this as he was expecting this, but what surprised him was that Dror had also refused the list of soldiers recommended by Commander Luke Mando.

While all kinds of things were going around him, Dror himself was preparing a set of questions for the interview he was going to start.

Dror, chaow, Alexander and Levi were busy sorting through the details of all kinds of soldiers. 

Dror had asked to shortlist the soldiers  according to different criteria, the main focus was on those soldiers whose close ones had died in combat against the Allied army.

Then he has chosen soldiers who were experts in different fields, like mechanics, pilots, trackers,  beast tamers, doctors, geologists and many more.

Dror himself had a small fan base in the Earth base which included Chaow.

These young soldiers really admired the  Barbarian god for his courage, they were also included in the interview list.

After compiling a list. 

With the help of the commander Dror was able to arrange for an interview for these people.

There were five interviewers in total, three visible and two hidden. 

Dror, Alexander and Levi were the visible ones, while Evil sword and Maya were the invisible ones.

Of Course no one else other than Dror knew about them.

Maya had the special ability of perceiving the emotion of people and seeing through facades, while Nympho had its own techniques of analyzing the mentality of the person.

Alexander had proposed to include the Commander or some other old veteran in the interview panel. 

But Dror had replied to it  that

" We are not recruiting soldiers but comrades and we need to choose our own comrades.." 

In the end 598  soldiers were shortlisted to interview. 

The chosen soldiers were also ecstatic for different reasons.

Mostly the main reason was that the young Dragon battalion would be provided with a large amount of resources to develop. 

Which meant their salary and all other perks would be much better than any ordinary soldier.

When the interview concluded,  only 182 people were selected. 

Everyone was really shocked at this result, Alexander and Levi wanted to select some of the rising geniuses among the candidates.

But Dror clearly refused most of them.

At the same time hustle bustle was going on even in Kings court.

Every young dragon major could select 300 soldiers and the soldiers were to be at a minimum level of warrior level 5 or above.

Even Though these conditions were not explicitly stated anywhere, all the other young dragon majors have followed these conditions except Dror.

  Dror had not only selected 182 soldiers and half of them were not even at warrior level 5.

Even the first prince who had recommended Dror was finding it hard to chew and many were also criticizing him for this matter. 

He even felt like beating some sense into this barbarian.

But at the same time some people like the prime minister and Minister of war found this selection amusing.

In their view this was not an army, but an amalgamation of different kinds of experts from different fields along with some soldiers. 

In a sense this was an oddball that could face any kind of situation that appeared before them.

It was like a mini army within an army. 

What more to say Dror had even recruited some young apprentice scientists to his company as soldiers.

But with the suggestion and support of  both the prime minister and minister of war, the council decided to watch how the situation will unfold in the future before taking any drastic actions.