Stic Village

Waking up early in the morning we set off to the Village.

"How far off are we, Captain Tom?"

"You can just call me Tom and we are around 2 days away from the village."

"What are you going to do there?"

"We are being called by the village chief to help protect the village of core beasts."

"You mentioned them yesterday. What are these so-called core bests?"

"You don't know about them? Well maybe your memory about them got lost as well. Kid core beasts are very dangerous. No one knows where they come from but they are very strong. They are called that because they have a beast core instead of a heart like other animals. This core feeds them with a lot of power and only special people like our group are able to go against them."

"Wow. I didn't know there was something like that out there. Why are you special though?"

"That's a little secret. Hahahahah"

Our travel went smoothly for these two days.

"Open the gates!" A guard screamed from the top of a stone wall.

"We are here kid." Benjamin said to me.

"Wow, it's so big."

"Hahahaha, big? Wait till you see real towns. This is just a village. Where we come from its almost twice as big as this."

We went inside the town and the guards escorted us directly to the village chief.

"Welcome to Stic Villager. I hope your trip went smoothly. Huh? I didn't know one of you had a kid."

"The kid isn't ours. We found him on our way here."

"Wow, that's quite strange. Kids aren't allowed outside the villages normally."

"Yeah, we were surprised as well."

"So let me show you around the village."

The village chief showed me and the mercenary group around the village and we then returned to his house.

"So that was all. I hope we can count on you guys for any problem we might face."

"Yeah, no problem. While we are here nothing bad will happen."

The mercenaries and I went outside the house.

"So kid. This is as far as we will take you. We are not so kind-hearted. We brought you here because we couldn't leave a kid in the woods alone, but we are mercenaries and we work for money. So I hope you have a good stay here, and if we meet again, let's share some stories." Captain Tom said to me while David and Benjamin nodded their heads.

"I am very thankful to you all. I will never forget this kindness of yours." I said, giving a slight bow to them.

"Yeah, yeah. No need to be this formal. Let 's go guys."

"So i guess ill have to find somewhere to stay for the night. I still have some food I prepared for my travels. That should last me for a while. I need to find that thing that was called a job in the books. I need to earn some money. But what can I do? I think the best thing would be to ask around if anyone is willing to give me a simple job."

I walked around the village and entered some restaurants, Inns and some stores but no one was willing to offer me a job. I was feeling kind of bad but wouldn't give up just because of a little rejection. I found a small alley between two houses and decided to sleep there. The village was way noisier than the lonely woods, but I wasn't uncomfortable with that. I have always practiced the Ki gathering technique and the Ki mode. I didn't use them for the past two days because I didn't know if the mercenaries would take notice of something.

Early in the morning I woke up. Having had a nice sleep i got ready to go for another round of job search. I walked around the village but I guess most were still sleeping or something. I keep walking around when I notice a group of people doing some exercise along the walls. Curious I get near them. They all have a uniform of some kind.

"Hello mister. What are you all doing?"

"Huh? What do you mean? We are the soldiers who protect the walls of the village."

"Wow. I would like to be a soldier as well."

"How old are you, boy?"

"I am fifteen."

"Fifteen? Well I guess you could try to join the training grounds. They usually accept only kids around the age of 16 but you seem to have a very toned body for your age."

That was true. My body was much stronger than usual for fifteen year old boys. The activities I did back at the old man's cabin and the 4 months in the forest all gave me great endurance and strong muscles.

"Where is this training ground?"

"If you keep going in that direction you will find an establishment with a sword and a shield crossed. There you will maybe find what you want."

"Great, thank you very much mister."

I went where the mister told me to go and I found the establishment he was talking about. When entering I found a reception table with a lady sitting behind it.

"Hello, how can I be of help to you today?"

"Hello, I am here to join the training grounds for the soldiers."

"Is that so? How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"Well, come with me."

The receptionist left her seat and went further inside. I followed her behind. We stopped in front of a door that had a sign saying 'Captains office'.

'Knock, knock'

"Captain Louis, I have someone here that wants to join the training grounds."

"Come in."

The receptionist brought me inside the room where a muscular man was sitting behind a desk.

"Please leave us Fiona. Thank you for bringing him here."

Fiona gave the captain a bow and left the room.

"So you want to join the training grounds?"

"Yes."

"What is your name?"

"William."

"Do your parents know about this?"

"My parents are dead."

"Hum. How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"That is the acceptable age even if I myself prefer trainees to be a little older. Do you know what soldiers do, William?"

"Ehhh, they protect."

"Yes, they protect. Are you ready to protect the lives of the other people living here?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Read this form for the application and if everything is according to you sign it and give it to Fiona at the entrance. You can now leave."

I left the room with a paper in my hands in the direction of the reception.

"That was strange. He has a strong aura surrounding him. I'll have to keep my eye on him."

At the reception I sat on a sofa and read through the paper. It said that I would commit to 3 months of daily training with accommodation and food being taken care of. After that i would be considered a soldier's assistant. I didn't know much about what kind of stuff a soldier assistant did but I couldn't imagine it to be a bad thing. Its not like I had a better option at the moment. I signed the paper and went to deliver it to Fiona.

"I see you have made up your mind. Come back here in a week. That's when the training starts."

"Thank you."