End of training

One month later.

Maxime was not far from the village, in the middle of the forest.

With the help of his mercenary apprentices, they had cleared a 50-meter radius area to build a training area.

With the tools they had brought with them on the first day, the area was quickly cleared, and the first weight training aids also quickly appeared.

Two huts were also built with the help of some villagers to increase the intensity of the training and to create a real bond of camaraderie.

"Congratulations to you for surviving my hellish training," Maxime announced to the group of young men in front of him with a smile.

The sun setting behind him, and the orange glow that came from it, created an atmosphere particularly suited to the situation.

"You have grown a lot mentally and physically during this training. I'm proud that none of you gave up halfway through."

The young men including Andrew rolled their eyes slightly at this. The training was undoubtedly hellish, but the results were apparent the next day thanks to the monstrous talent of their leader.

A man's greatest fear was to suffer horribly, and to see no improvement. In Eternity this was very common.

In addition, there was another factor that motivated them to give it their all.

"But the village chief will only let me get 4 of you, so that means half of you will have to go back to your previous life."

Maxime gave them time to absorb the information then continued:

"I have already chosen who will continue the adventure with me, and who will return to the village."

"I hope you could understand that I can't just make you fight each other and see who is the strongest."

"Do you all know why?"

One of the young men stepped forward, he was the smallest and least muscular among the apprentices.

"Yes, because we are not soldiers, we are mercenaries. Being a mercenary requires physical strength of course, but it also requires a strong mental toughness, as well as mental flexibility, quick reaction time, and a heightened ability to contain one's emotions."

"That's right Terry," said Maxime in a serious tone.

"So, according to his standards but also according to our own personal affinities and your potential, I have decided to keep by my side..."

"Andrew."

The flaming-haired young man calmly nodded his head in response, but inside he was still excited. He knew he was going to be chosen because his potential was far superior to the others, but for him Maxim was a total enigma.

He could never become what he thought and he never showed his pain during training. Yes, their leader had participated in the training with them.

Moreover, Maxim never talked about his personal life or where he came from. No one even knew how a young man like him could have reached their village alone and still alive.

So he didn't dare to be 100% confident.

"James."

James was right after Andrew in terms of physique, but he was one of those who had a rather high emotional side of it which was clearly a great disadvantage as a mercenary who would have to deal with death every day.

However, he had a talent for building friendships and raising morale, which Maxime could not miss.

If it had been before, James would have jumped with excitement, but Maxim's training instilled in them values to live by, including respect not only for the leader, but also for his friends.

Instead, he just contained his excitement by lowering his head to hide his smile, and clenching his fists tightly.

"Piedro."

The latter seemed surprised at the mention of his name, but he discreetly contained his joy, in the same way as James.

Indeed, Piedro was part of the lower table in terms of strength, but Maxime had detected a strong mental capacity in him, and above all he gave a lot of effort during training. It was just a pity that his basic physical constitution as well as his growing talent was extremely low naturally.

Without a doubt, Maxime's talent allows hidden talents to come to light, and to develop in a direction that should never have appeared in Eternity.

"And finally Terry. That will be all for the constitution of our mercenary group," concluded Maxime in a pronounced tone.

"I will ask each of you to bring all your belongings from this camp and bring them back to the village. We will spend one last night there, and then we will leave for the nearest town."

"Yes, Chief!"

An hour later, the small team was making their way back to the village. But the silence seemed extremely heavy.

The faces of the 4 mercenaries who had not passed the selections seemed to be totally decomposed.

Maxime had noticed this, but said nothing. Because missing this kind of opportunity was a much worse feeling than having a green hat on your head.

They were all aware that they had either saved their lives by not going to the battlefield and tragically dying on the way to glory, or they had lost the opportunity to stand among the heavyweights of this world.

But from now on each of them will have to go back to a normal life, and maybe in the future join an ordinary mercenary group and die like a piece of trash on some battlefield in a lost corner of this world.

After all, successful mercenaries were extremely few in number.

"So painful, I would so much like to take them all with me..." mentally thought Maxime as he calmly walked towards the village.

"Hmm?" A small noise escaped from Maxim's mouth as he saw that above the village a black smoke covered part of the sky.

It wasn't just him, all the mercenaries saw the smoke more or less at the same time.

A bad premonition struck their hearts, as they all started to run, keeping only their weapons with them, without waiting for Maxime's orders.

"What a pain in the ass... But I hope it's not what I think, otherwise..." thinking this, a dangerous glow passed through his eyes as he also started to sprint towards the village.

10 minutes later, Maxime arrived first in the village but what he saw made his eyes widen as he didn't dare to take a single step forward.

A few seconds later, Andrew also arrived.

Seeing Maxim's back totally motionless, an invisible arrow went through his heart but he tried to keep going.

What was in front of him was worse than anything he could imagine.

The wooden houses had all collapsed on top of each other, only the largest ones were still burning slightly.

Dead bodies filled the entrance to the village as well as the main street of the village. Mostly men and children.

Looking down, he noticed a familiar face.

Taking a heavy step towards it, he knelt down next to it, took the time to observe it and then closed his eyelids with two fingers.

"May God bless you in the afterlife," Andrew whispered in a low voice.

Maxime observed the scene from afar, and thanks to his sharp hearing, he could hear Andrew's words, and this made his heart waver slightly.

This face he had also recognized. It was the first face he had seen when he entered this world. That of the old man.

According to the emotions on his face, it was not difficult to admit that the old man had died without having fulfilled his dearest wish.

To protect the village.

This affected Maxim deeply.

He knew he was in a game, and he had been warned in advance, but it felt real, too real.

"Don't worry old man, I will definitely find out who did this, and I will personally see to it that you get your revenge," Maxime secretly promised, which slightly eased the waves in his heart.

After a few seconds of silence, Maxim saw Andrew get up. The back of this young man with red hair seemed so lonely.

Maxime almost had the impression of being in a painting in this kind of setting.

Little by little, Maxime saw Andrew turn around.

Finally, he met Andrew's blood red eyes as tears slowly rolled down Andrew's face.

"I have lost everything," he whispered, staring at Maxine.

Maxime walked over to him, put his arm over his neck, and with a gentle movement, he stuck Andrew's head to his chest, then whispered in his ear:

"May my soul be damned to hell if I don't find the beasts that did this, and make them die in excruciating pain."

"Chief...From today on, I will follow you everywhere. So make my life meaningful." he said in a husky but deep voice.

"I will, Andrew," Maxime promised firmly.

Following this brief exchange, Andrew knelt on the floor as he burst into tears. He was, after all, a young man barely 18 years old.

By this time, all the saber-toothed tiger mercenaries had arrived and could clearly see the bloody scene before them.

Still with his back to them, Maxime gave them no time to overflow with emotion and ordered:

"I'll give you two hours to prepare your belongings and bury your loved ones properly. If possible, bring me a map of the area. We will then return to the training camp, spend the night there, and then head for the nearest town as planned."

"Chief, it is too dangerous to go straight back to the training camp. It's possible that the villagers will betray our position, and so when we wake up, we'll find ourselves surrounded by bandits." intervened Terry who had managed to more or less keep his cool.

"You dare to say that our families could have betrayed us!?" exclaimed James in rage as he lifted Terry by the collar.

"James," Maxime said in an extremely cold tone.

Somehow, several swords had appeared right in front of James' throat, suddenly bringing him back to reality.

They were the swords of his fellow trainees. But this time, they weren't looking at him with eyes full of goodwill.

No, they were eyes that showed they were ready to kill him if Maxime ordered it.

James regretted it intensely. He had committed a totally taboo act in a group of mercenaries.

"In this village, there were also strangers just like me, they were the ones who could have revealed us. And even if there weren't, Terry would still be right. In this world, you can only trust your brothers in arms. In the face of death, any relationship that hasn't been forged by the blood of your adversaries is as fragile as a house of cards."

"Remember that James. This will be my first and last warning," said Maxime in a dry, stern tone, still from behind.

"Yes, Chief."

"Now disperse, we don't have much time. Including you Andrew."

"Roger that, Chief!" all the mercenaries of the saber-toothed tigers answered in unison with a loud voice, except for Andrew, whose voice lacked vigor.