Chapter 14: Filter Trap

As all the juniors stood before him, he remained quiet, building some sort of tension in the atmosphere. He slowly looked around to see each one of them. Even though it was still so early in the morning and the place was still mostly dark, this was just by the gate, so the illumination of the area was well bright.

After scanning through the children in front of him, Daru Shama sighed a bit like he was tired or so.

"I am Daru Shama, and from today I'll be your squad captain of the fifth squad. You may refer to me as Daru, or if you must captain Daru." He paused for a while.

Maybe it was because of his higher senses, Kazi heard Daru curse under his breath in a tone that none of the others heard.

"Fuckers, isn't this just a platoon?" Luckily, no one heard him cursing the superiors, it was seen as negative in the eyes of many and would just give him a bad reputation from the get go.

Kazi could understand though, they were ten after all, not so sutori like. The sutori were more like units that completed missions in the fastest and most efficient way possible, so eleven people walking around isn't that convenient. 

"I only have one rule. Follow orders, don't ask useless questions, don't be useless, and don't be stupid."

"..."

"..."

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"..."

'THAT's FOUR!!' Was the thought that was on everybody's mind except Daru himself!

"Now, let's introduce ourselves, keep it short."

With that everyone went through their introductions.

"My name is Daima Koro, from the powerful Daima clan. I like blah blah blah, and I'm looking forward to working with my teammates." Koro actually had a powerful voice and fit perfectly in the category of extroverts.

After him was Rakasa Linx. "Rakasa Linx, happy to be here." Even though he said he was happy, everyone couldn't help the feeling that it didn't come from his heart truly, after all, he didn't even smile or use an enthusiastic tone, he just sounded flat with no character behind his voice.

"My name is Agani Lanira, I am the daughter of the great Agani Mahho who fought off dozens of powerful enemies during the last great war and led the land to victory. I, blah blah blah..." All the while she spoke, the arrogance emanating from her came like a strong wind that interfered with sounds frequencies to others so much so that they couldn't even listen to what she had to say after a certain point. When she was done, she went back to her position with a full chest. For a child, it didn't even make sense.

'What do parents do these days in the Agani clan? This one will pester my life to no end in future, I have to prepare for that.' Kazi made a mental note about her to remind himself even though he had already done so when he first saw that they were in the same team. 'I certainly won't put up with her bs. Such a teammate could kill me in my sleep, I can't have that.'

There were two things Kazi didn't want, teammates that will drag him down with them, and those that pose a threat to him.

The rest introduced themselves in similar ways before Daru got to speak again. Daru himself looked like he couldn't be bothered by the young ones, and this look even showed that his face was in this state for most of the time, it was just so natural.

"Alright, good. Now for the mission briefing." Daru said to the shock of everyone there even Kazi.

'Mission? What is this guy up to?' Kazi thought to himself. The others thought same and some murmurs could be heard shortly before it stopped.

"It's alright, I'm not forcing you to go on this mission, if you feel you can't go and its to much for you, step to the left so I can identify you." Daru said.

Kazi noticed something with the way he said what he just said. He was sure that whoever stepped forward had a chance of being sent away and removed from the squad. This kind of test was common in his previous world also.

Out of the ten of them present, five stepped over to the other side. The ones who remained were Kazi, Linx, Lanira, Koro, and Ann, the innocent looking petite girl.

"Very well, you five are free to go, you have been removed from this team. You will be missed." 

Although the five of them tried to argue and put in some words, Daru didn't give any chance for that, and soon they were gone, probably back to their respective homes to cry on their beds. Kazi couldn't help but think how brutal this trap was. Some of them may actually turn out to be good sutori in future, but then again this trick was to test decisiveness and towards the right thing, or at least what was expected.

"You that remained, be proud of yourself. You will become comrades in the near future, so get along and build a spirit of teamwork, it'll prolong your lives." Daru said in a carefree tone. It was already very clear that he had to be forced to do this.

"Before I explain the mission details, we need a name for this squad." Daru said. It seemed like not everyone understood the reason why they would have to name their squad, so Lanira asked.

"Sir,"

"Don't call me sir."

"Captain Daru... Why do we need to name our squad? Don't we already have a name?" She asked.

It seemed like Linx couldn't handle it, so he answered. "Our seniors graduated last year, our juniors will graduate the following year." It was a bit surprising to see Linx take such initiative, so the manner in which he answered the question wasn't unexpected to some at least.

Though Linx answered the question, it seemed like Lanira still didn't understand. "So? I don't understand."

'Seems like she might not be as smart as I thought.' Kazi half concluded in his mind.

"Well said Linx. Lanira, you'll understand eventually." Everyone could sense the lack of spirit from Daru's voice, so even Lanira didn't push forward with the question. Instead, she just nodded.

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Author here. Fore future sake, please for give any blatant contradictions, I have really terrible memory so anything I haven't documented that n my info document, I'll probably forget, so forgive me in advance 🙏