The Sixth Lesson, A Taste Of War (2)

Morning had come, with all rising earlier than normal. This was due to the duty that all of them were beholden with, to clear the dead that lay on the ground. While they had no need to properly send off their now deceased foes they still had to clean up the mess so as to prevent foul smelling rot and a possible undead incursion. Cyrus, who had awoken before anyone else, was currently frantically searching amongst the remains with his sense.

"I was so preoccupied last night that I forgot about how I equipped those two guards with the liquid version of death essence. While mine is of the utmost least quality, they will still inevitably turn into undead guaranteed. No need to repeat my disaster in the desert.." thought Cyrus to himself as he found another corpse laden with death essence, manipulating it so that it no longer becomes a threat. When that was not possible due to either his lack of skill or the advanced nature of the problem, he simply exerted a large amount of life essence from his Vita domain to scatter the essence.

After solving the immediate crisis, he sighed in relief, before moving about to assist the others in the clean up. It took but a few hours of hard work, eventually having finished clearing the battlefield. What was not buried was burned and what was not burned was buried. After they had finished they cleared the camp and fed and hydrated the horses, before all meeting up in what used to be the center of the camp.

"Men, the path has been successfully opened up once more. The scouts from Fimbria have already returned to report our success to the town, thus news of our success will resound throughout the area no doubt!" Cheering came from the local men, while the rest were content with having done their duty.

"Imperial Scouts, good work as always. You are herby released from my command and may return to your normal duties, may the Emperor be with you." Gabriel saluted towards the scouts, whom returned the salutes, before riding off to continue their duties. Their green cloaks fluttered slightly behind them as they sped off with a speed belonging only to they.

"Guardsmen of Fimbria, thank you for lending part of your towns core strength to our cause so dutifully. Without even being asked at that" Gabriel then saluted them as well to which they all responded in unison, "It was our honor to fight with you and your men, Honoris!" while giving an emotional salute as they gazed upon Gabriel and his men with awe and reverence of which Cyrus noted curiously. They too then mounted their horses and headed back towards the town, albeit with not the impressive speed of the scouts but at a steady trot.

Mere moments after the guardsmen had gone far enough away to be out of hearing distance, Fauve immediately began boasting

"Hahaha, what a good fight that was yesterday was it not? I killed at least a hundred…no A THOUSAND of those annoying bastards all on my own." He then began shadowing himself shooting a bow, "Ah my immense skill and bow shooting technique really was on full display wasn't it. I am just too talented after all huh…" finished Fauve with obviously fake melancholy and exaggerated.

Laughing the three brothers butt in, having just finished whispering something to themselves

"There was not even a thousand of them Fauve" opened Unas

"If I recall you only had two packs of 50 arrows each on your horse and you did not use them all" seconded Deus

"Not to mention you were taught that bow shooting technique when you got captured by the elv-" said Tribum as he was interrupted by a suddenly flustered Fauve.

"H-h-hOOOOOLD on. Perhaps I exaggerated a little bit…ok a lot. You still can't deny my shooting technique though" said Fauve, in a rare moment of him losing his cool.

The three brothers just laughed at that, before Gabriel took spoke up

"All right enough you lot." He turned to Cyrus saying, "I hope you enjoyed the lesson Cyrus. You first hand got to witness what it was like for a unit made up of different parts perform as one large cohesive unit. Depending on your path ahead in life you may find yourself either as apart of such a unit or leading one, who knows what your future holds. Whatever you may do, what you can be sure of is that you understand a part of what makes the Empire so great: Its ability to gather a wide variety of talent and put them to their perfect use. Not only that but being able to experience a true battlefield from a position of absolute safety and perfect vantage is not something that just anyone can get. I hope you find some useful takeaways from this lesson. Now…"

He then reached into his shirt and pulled out a necklace before taking it off and handing it to Cyrus. "Seeing as everyone has given you some kind of gift or another after their lesson, let this be mine. This here is a token that every Legionnaire is given two of. It has our unique identification on it, with an embedded medeis crystal in it to prevent tampering. Essentially it is just a type of crystal that interacts with sense, allowing you to place a unique mark on it. One of these is meant for a Legionaries liege while the other is given to one they regard as having earned their undying friendship. When you enter your respective academy, you can take this to the local warrior temple and have access to even more learning opportunities"

Cyrus accepted the gift, inspecting it in the moment. It was a small silver medal with the insignia of the Legionaries on one side, a skull with two swords crossed behind it. On the flip side was an engraved H, with a type of script below it that Cyrus could not read but understood to most likely be the 'unique identification'.

"Thank you Honoris" said Cyrus as he bowed slightly.

"Call me Gabriel, you have more than earned it" said Gabriel as he patted Cyrus on the shoulder. He then addressed everyone in the group,

"Now, let us be on our way once more. We would not want Cyrus to be late for his examinations now would we, especially not after he has earned our seals of approval!"

Everyone let out a resounding, "Of course not!" before they all mounted their own horses. As instructed by Gabriel, Cyrus also mounted his steed before the group took up a basic travelling formation once more and headed off to their destination.

As the wind rushed past Cyrus and he looked at the backs of his companions he thought,

"I have learned something valuable from all of them, as well as have been made aware of my numerous flaws and strengths even more so than I already did. Not to mention all the gifts I have accrued… I will strike myself to death with a leaf before believing that Cato did not at the very least predict this would occur when he arranged this escort, hmmph, it seems even though I have left him I am still dutifully learning from him." Though at this point, if one were to see Cyrus' face they would surely see him warmly smiling as he thought of his mentor.

"I do wonder if I will find myself companions like this in the future though…"

Leaving his thoughts aside, he focused on the journey forward as they finally left the grasslands and entered the trademark forestry that covered so much of the interior of the southern region.