Part 23

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***

Treading through the dense thickets of the Haiho forest, Yuu hurried forward, unable to see the road. Covered from head to toe in abrasions and cuts, he had long since stopped feeling pain from minor wounds. Fatigue and hunger were much more preoccupying to the boy.

It had only been two weeks since he had started training and three days since he had arrived, but he was already regretting his agreement to join the squad. The training under Yuyangz was completely different from the other teachers. After reaching the edge of the forest, they camped near the source of the river. Upon waking up, Yuu found himself all alone. The small fire that his mentor had lit before going to sleep had been extinguished and covered with earth. And he was nowhere to be seen. Trying to look for footprints on the ground, he found a small message.

'Good, you've thought of looking for footprints, here's your first task. Stay in the forest for a week. I'll keep an eye on you, but I'll only intervene if your life is in real danger.'

Since that morning he hadn't encountered a single hint or sign of the tracker's presence. Going round the car park in a circle, Yu tried to look for other clues, but to no avail. The first day went relatively smoothly, the river provided drinking water, and not far away in the forest he found the edible berries he remembered from his grandmother Toma's stories. All the trouble began in the evening. Having no flint and kindling, the boy could not light the fire and went to bed in the dark.

In the morning his hungry stomach demanded more nutritious food than berries. Gathering his rucksack, the child set off along the forest, hoping to find other edible plants, but instead encountered a family of duck bears. Panicked screams and the crunch of breaking trees echoed through the forest for hours. Having lost all his belongings during the escape, Yu managed to save only his halberd, which was held in the 'dead' grip of the children's hands.

The further journey through the Haiho forest was remembered by the orphan in fragments. Encounters with the local inhabitants always ended the same way. Smaller animals ran away with their heels blazing, while larger ones tried to snack on the succulent human.

After not sleeping for two days and eating only moss and berries, the exhausted child leaned against a tree. His eyes struggled to fight sleep, and his mind was filled with thoughts of the rashness of such an act, but his tired body demanded rest, and Yu could no longer resist.

The teacher who had been watching the cadet all these days tiredly covered his face with his open fist. Over the past three days, he had slapped his forehead so often that the red spot burned with pain. Jumping down from the tree, the man froze in front of the boy that even in his sleep had not let go of his weapon.

-Well, at least you have one good quality.

Muttering to himself under his breath, the archer commander shouldered the child's body and walked away towards the car park his men had created. He made his way through the thicket without hitting a single blade of grass. Dodging overhanging branches, Yuyan deftly stepped on tree roots. Not looking under his feet, the man moved forward confidently, if Yuu had been conscious, he would have used some of the swear words he had heard from Ping.

Coming out of the forest into a small cosy clearing, the tracker saw a depressing picture. Beside him, almost all of Yuyang's archers were in the camp. A hundred warriors were minding their own business, paying no attention to the bodies laid out in a row. Few of the cadets were conscious and now sat slumped, giving their mentors angry looks that promised terrible punishments.

Every one of the students had torn clothes, and the number of injuries could not be counted. Some had been hurt by beasts or bandits, others poisoned because they had never been outside the city walls. Most were simply exhausted from lack of sleep and hunger.

Glancing around at his students, Commander Yuyang pressed the bridge of his nose with his fingers, cursing Sun Jian and his scheme. Having received orders from Tao Qian, the tracker felt that this whole event wouldn't take much effort. A little training for the youngsters, a few tricks and that was it, but instead, the Viceroy of Liping had them conduct a real survival course behind enemy lines. After getting permission from the Fire Master, long may he live, Jian had pulled almost all of Yuyang's archers out of Pohai Fortress, forcing them to do this nonsense, though his men would have been more useful to Prince Airo in his search for marauders and savages.

-Damn aristocrats...

Putting the child in a row with the others, the squad leader sat down next to the son of the organiser of the whole adventure. OWLs noticed him from the moment of his appearance in the clearing and did not take his eyes off him, but it was unclear from whom exactly. Turning around, the man followed the heir's gaze and was surprised to realise that Tse was worried about the condition of the boy he had pulled out of the forest.

-He's fine, just hasn't eaten or slept for a couple of days.

With no outward reaction, the cadet leader exhaled to himself. Giving himself a mental smack, Sun Ce scolded himself for being so attached. In such a short period of time, he had become attached to the orphan for reasons he didn't understand.

'Although, maybe understandable.'

Pushing away his sad thoughts, the young man stared expectantly at the Pathfinder commander.

-And what is the verdict?

Looking around, the man laughed viciously, pointing at the string of unconscious bodies.

-Don't you see, Mr Tse?

-You know what I mean,' the Viceroy's son's voice became steely, 'are there any promising ones among them?

Not going to back down, the man continued the conversation in a mocking tone.

-There are no promising ones here, they are still in the forest. The only ones here who can understand our science. The rest of us, at best, will learn not to starve to death.

-At least something.

Tse rested his elbows on his knees, burying his fingers in his thick hair. His father's idea seemed a little crazy to him, but after explaining his reasons, he accepted it and even decided to participate. From the moment he moved to Lipin, the young man immediately went to a special class at the new school. He was long and carefully selected 'friends' peers that in the future will become faithful people who can be relied on. His parent's idea with a group that would be trained according to an improved programme seemed interesting and well thought out, until Tse found himself in the walls of the school, surrounded by spoilt children.

For the first few weeks he had to show his authority by force and influence. To impose discipline and teach his classmates to obey his commands. And if with children from small families everything went without problems, the third sons, which bore ancient noble surnames, succumbed to training with difficulty. Against the background of constant intrigues for his attention and the underhanded struggle for power, the appearance of a small commoner on the horizon added a breath of fresh air. After the first encounter, Tse had to work hard to ensure that the young talent would not be snubbed. Personal training and extra attention had kept Yu safe, but reinforced the negative attitudes of the others towards him. Most of the children didn't understand why he chose them over the beardless one.

'Because he has more honesty in him than all of you put together.'

His sincere thirst for new knowledge and simple attitude towards everything, including internal power struggles, was bribing. Yu did not enjoy his patronage from Headmaster Fang or the patronage of Tse, he continued to study hard, comprehending new difficult sciences and skills. Interacting with the child, Ce increasingly saw him as a little brother, tailing him, eager to learn more.

'Stop thinking about that, there are more important things to do right now.'

Shaking his head, the Lipin heir felt slightly dizzy. He hadn't pampered himself with food and sleep in two days either, participating in the trial on par with everyone else.

-You should rest, Mr Tse. I'll wake you up when the others are awake.

-Yes, thank you

Yui's awakening was disgusting: fatigue was replaced by pain. Countless falls and scratches covered his entire body, and his clothes had long since turned to dust. He struggled to sit up and looked at the camp around him with shock in his eyes. Beside him sat his classmates, who, like him, were trying to come to their senses.

Holding his sore head, the child stumbled upon the Pathfinder commander. The man was laughing merrily in the circle of his subordinates, talking about some mundane topics. When he felt someone else's gaze, he tensed up at first, but when he realised who had flattered him with his attention, he clapped his neighbour on the shoulder, rising from his seat. Seeing the commander's action, all of the Yuyang archers jumped up from their seats. Most of them surrounded the seated children, while the rest headed towards the forest.

-Good morning. Well, the last one's awake. Congratulations, only two of you have made it to this point, and the rest of you have failed the test.

With a cheerful clap of his hands, the bastard laughed gleefully. Walking in front of the angry children, he seemed to enjoy their hatred towards him. It was obvious from his eyes that he was smiling a genuine smile, provoking the little aristocrats.

-You'll be glad to know that we're not going to leave you in the woods for six months, all this was done to screw you over. Under pressure and a sense of real life threat, I wanted to test your skills,' the man pulled the mask off his face and crunched his neck, 'which turned out to be complete crap. Most of you will die on the first day, the rest of you will suffer.

He folded his hands behind his back and stood at the head of the Pathfinders. Lining up in a wedge behind his leader, they took the same pose in a single gust. Each of the archers now looked very much like their leader. They had been hiding their emotions until now, but now their true nature was coming out.

-But don't worry, we'll gladly teach you everything and more! From this day on, the real training begins. I warn you that you will not have any privileges or rewards until the end of your internship. You will do the same work as everyone else, i.e. digging shit holes, carrying firewood, fetching water and so on. I don't care about your position and surnames, Viceroy Sun Jian has received permission from the Fire Master for this training, so any complaints you have can be shoved to the back of my mind.''

Grinning contentedly, the man grinned eerily and rubbed his hands together. Right now, he was like a treasure hunter who had finally succeeded and made a fortune. Patting himself on the head for dumping all his problems on the Viceroy, the tracker put his feet shoulder-width apart, his arms at his sides. A short beard and a week's worth of stubble adorned his ugly, scarred face. His eyes were filled with evil spirits, ready to pounce on anyone who came too close. In his right ear was a golden earring in the shape of an unknown animal, and his hair was covered by a bandana of red colour.

-My name is Zhang Yan and from now on, I will teach you how to survive and kill.