FOLLOW ME!

As explosions occurred in the artificial minefield Andrei made for the test, just like ants that scattered, the group of strong men who were confident of their strength ran for their lives in panic, however with the smoke blocking their vision and with the succeeding explosive sounds that made them panic each time, either they bumped into each other, triggered another <<𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤>> explosion or they fell towards the ground.

Believing that quality is better than quantity, Andrei didn't intend to have so many gun carriers to join his platoon, aside from the slow deliveries of the ingredients for the gun power, the blacksmith's flintlock line of production was also slow on its own.

This was due to the fact that in the end, Ethareri wasn't that big of a country, most of it's economy relied on trade with its allies, in the continent and on some of the small island nations around it.

As planned, in two months time, Ethareri will declare war against the dark elves-infested Kydus Empire, who are currently building up its force by butchering the citizens within it, since dark elves heavily relied on a human host.

Michaela received this tip from the spies within the Kydus, they described the situation as horrible, women were being raped, the elderly were being used as target practice, and babies were being killed as sacrifices, and men were turned into dark elves' hosts.

Luckily the spies found a safe haven for themselves as such they were able to send messages to the queen, but were unable to receive orders or responses, all they did was to send info as much as they could.

"The more time passes, the greater the force they become" Michaela stressed out her point as to why the attack should be in a short span of time such as two months.

As a result, everyone worked hard to do their own part.

"𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑦 𝑗𝑜𝑏 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑟, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒, 𝑖𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔," Andrei said to himself as he saw the chaos under that platform he was standing on.

With their builds most of them bumped into each other, some screamed for help, Geraldine kept looking at the scene and her task was to make sure that no one would die by using her eyes which has a gift of vision, it was reported that she could see much better than normal knights, it was a valuable asset and she would have been accepted to become a golden knight, but her gender kept her in her position as an average knight.

However she didn't regret it, it was this way she met her commander, the man who also saved him from the brute during the golden knight selection.

Even in the chaos there were certain people that stood out in Andrei's eyes, these were people that got out of the chaos immediately and finished the assignment by taking the guns and getting out of the minefield circled by Golden Knights, the Golden Knights were only there to be the finish line on contrary to Andrei's instruction that the candidates were to get away from them - in fact, all they needed was to cross the line they were standing from, there were those that remained calm throughout the chaos even with the smoke and explosions, there were some that covered their mouth as they searched for an opening. There were others who tried to form a group in order to get through the crowd holding hands with each other while bracing through the sounds of the explosions.

The explosives used didn't have any splinters within it, although it did have a small knock-back effect, what Andrei made was no more than firecracker level, still for these citizens who heard it for the first time, it was surely devastating enough.

But this is in line with what Andrei wanted to happen.

"𝑊𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒, 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ, 𝑠𝑜 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑖𝑡, 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑒," he thought as he remembered the timeline of the overall war preparation.

For Andrei, it was just like a firecrackers party, but for most of the candidates it was a horrible and scary first-time encounter, that they even thought that Andrei was seriously trying to kill them.

The gunpowder used within them are those that were of bad quality or had lower concentration, as there were required measurements and amounts of the powder, but due to human error, lots of powder came out bad, this was the perfect moment for Andrei to use it for something productive rather than throwing it.

After 10 minutes, Andrei had Geraldine mark the ones he had eyes on.

"𝐽𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 10 ℎ𝑢ℎ… 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑓𝑒𝑤" Andrei realized that the number was too low, so he decided to make the 10 the squad leaders and to find members for them by giving the others a second chance.

So he took a step forward and announced.

"What you have witnessed are my inventions! They are the weapons you will be using but they far more lethal than that, it could either disintegrate or put holes through your body, 𝘊𝘖𝘕𝘚𝘐𝘋𝘌𝘙 𝘠𝘖𝘜𝘙𝘚𝘌𝘓𝘍 𝘓𝘜𝘊𝘒𝘠 𝘛𝘏𝘈𝘛 𝘠𝘖𝘜 𝘈𝘙𝘌 𝘖𝘕 𝘛𝘏𝘐𝘚 𝘚𝘐𝘋𝘌 𝘈𝘕𝘋 𝘕𝘖𝘛 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘌𝘕𝘌𝘔𝘐𝘌𝘚 𝘖𝘛𝘏𝘌𝘙𝘞𝘐𝘚𝘌 𝘠𝘖𝘜 𝘒𝘕𝘖𝘞 𝘈𝘓𝘙𝘌𝘈𝘋𝘠 𝘞𝘏𝘈𝘛 𝘞𝘖𝘜𝘓𝘋 𝘏𝘈𝘝𝘌 𝘏𝘈𝘗𝘗𝘌𝘕𝘌𝘋!"

Then he looked at everybody who stopped and was shocked, because of them stopping, the minefield stopped exploding, some of them have already run out of energy, only a number were either still on the ground or were just too scared to do something as they held their heads and knees as they cowered in fear.

Instead of feeling rage for pulling a prank like that, what they felt when they looked at Andrei was pure fear, because not only did he have a bit of authority for being the queen's fiance, he also was ruthless as to put them into such an experience.

Now, his impression from the masses of being the cool, awesome and kind commander turned to the opposite, but Andrei wanted this from the beginning, he wanted soldiers that can work on pressure, it was also the perfect time to destroy the nice-guy image of him in their eyes.

"Now tell me how you feel?" Andrei walked around with his hands at his back.

"Are you angry at me? Do you despise me for what I just did to you?"

Andrei paused a bit but no one answered so he proceeded.

"Whatever it is, I don't care, do you know why?"

Andrei looked down for a bit that they couldn't see his face and when he raised his head again his demeanor, his voice and composure has completely changed, his eyes gleamed with passion and rage, such look made him appear very angry at them.

"𝑾𝑯𝑨𝑻𝑬𝑽𝑬𝑹 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑨𝑹𝑬 𝑭𝑬𝑬𝑳𝑰𝑵𝑮, 𝑨𝑹𝑬 𝑼𝑺𝑬𝑳𝑬𝑺𝑺 𝑩𝑬𝑪𝑨𝑼𝑺𝑬 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑾𝑬𝑹𝑬 𝑨𝑳𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑫𝒀 𝑫𝑬𝑨𝑫!!

𝑾𝑯𝑶 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑯𝑬𝑳𝑳 𝑻𝑨𝑳𝑲𝑺 𝑾𝑰𝑻𝑯 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑫𝑬𝑨𝑫? 𝑵𝑶 𝑶𝑵𝑬!

𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑰𝑻 𝑰𝑺 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑺𝑨𝑴𝑬 𝑾𝑰𝑻𝑯 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑬𝑵𝑬𝑴𝑰𝑬𝑺!

𝑻𝑯𝑬𝒀 𝑨𝑹𝑬 𝑽𝑰𝑳𝑬 𝑪𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑻𝑼𝑹𝑬𝑺 𝑻𝑯𝑨𝑻 𝑻𝑼𝑹𝑵𝑺 𝑫𝑬𝑨𝑫 𝑯𝑼𝑴𝑨𝑵 𝑩𝑶𝑫𝑰𝑬𝑺 𝑨𝑺 𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑰𝑹 𝑯𝑶𝑴𝑬 𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑼𝑺𝑬𝑺 𝑰𝑻 𝑻𝑶 𝑲𝑰𝑳𝑳 𝒀𝑶𝑼, 𝒀𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝑭𝑨𝑴𝑰𝑳𝑰𝑬𝑺, 𝒀𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝑪𝑯𝑰𝑳𝑫𝑹𝑬𝑵!

𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑻𝑯𝑬𝒀 𝑨𝑹𝑬 𝑮𝑶𝑵𝑵𝑨 𝑼𝑺𝑬 𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑫𝑬𝑵𝑻𝑰𝑭𝑰𝑬𝑫 𝑴𝑨𝑮𝑰𝑪 𝑻𝑯𝑨𝑻 𝑾𝑰𝑳𝑳 𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑹𝑻𝑳𝑬 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑺𝑯𝑰𝑻 𝑶𝑼𝑻 𝑶𝑭 𝒀𝑶𝑼!

𝑨𝑹𝑬 𝑻𝑯𝑬𝒀 𝑮𝑶𝑵𝑵𝑨 𝑾𝑨𝑰𝑻 𝑭𝑶𝑹 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑨𝑺 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑪𝑹𝑨𝑾𝑳 𝑫𝑶𝑾𝑵 𝑷𝑨𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑻𝑰𝑪𝑨𝑳𝑳𝒀 𝑱𝑼𝑺𝑻 𝑳𝑰𝑲𝑬 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑫𝑰𝑫 𝑯𝑬𝑹𝑬? 𝑵𝑶!

𝑻𝑯𝑬𝒀 𝑾𝑶𝑼𝑳𝑫 𝑰𝑵𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑵𝑻𝑳𝒀 𝑲𝑰𝑳𝑳 𝑨𝑳𝑳 𝑶𝑭 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑵 𝑾𝑯𝑬𝑵 𝑻𝑯𝑬𝒀 𝑨𝑹𝑬 𝑫𝑶𝑵𝑬 𝑾𝑰𝑻𝑯 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑰𝑻 𝑾𝑶𝑼𝑳𝑫 𝑩𝑬 𝒀𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝑳𝑶𝑽𝑬𝑫 𝑶𝑵𝑬! 𝒀𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝑭𝑨𝑴𝑰𝑳𝒀! 𝒀𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝑭𝑹𝑰𝑬𝑵𝑫𝑺! 𝒀𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝑷𝑨𝑹𝑬𝑵𝑻𝑺!

𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑰𝑵 𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑺 𝑻𝑬𝑺𝑻 𝑶𝑵𝑳𝒀 10 𝑶𝑭 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑾𝑬𝑹𝑬 𝑨𝑩𝑳𝑬 𝑻𝑶 𝑴𝑨𝑲𝑬 𝑰𝑻 𝑶𝑹 𝑬𝑽𝑬𝑵 𝑱𝑼𝑺𝑻 𝑨𝑻𝑻𝑬𝑴𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑫 𝑻𝑶 𝑫𝑶 𝑺𝑶𝑴𝑬𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑨𝑩𝑶𝑼𝑻 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑺𝑰𝑻𝑼𝑨𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵, 𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑴𝑶𝑺𝑻 𝑶𝑭 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑫𝑰𝑫𝑵'𝑻!

𝑺𝑶 𝑻𝑯𝑬𝒀 𝑺𝑼𝑹𝑽𝑰𝑽𝑬𝑫 𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑹𝑬𝑺𝑻 𝑶𝑭 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑫𝑰𝑬𝑫! 𝑰𝑻𝑺 𝑷𝑨𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑻𝑰𝑪!"

Andrei threw his right hand to his right as if he scorned them with all his heart.

As if being scolded, silence filled the place, men lowered down their heads, thinking of the unforgivable situation they have been presented, they imagined the possible scenario where they were all already dead and their enemies started coming for their families one by one killing them using their own body, this made them grit their teeth and ball their fist.

At this moment, Erneis had just arrived at a side veranda overseeing the platform and the ground area, together with Michaela, Rara, and Claire, looking from the side they were also surprised, but they just continued looking at it as it unfolded, no one uttered a single word.

"But, my brothers, let me ask you this!

Why are you looking down?!

I repeat 𝑾𝑯𝒀 𝑨𝑹𝑬 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑳𝑶𝑶𝑲𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑫𝑶𝑾𝑵??"

His voice echoed throughout the entire place, and with his question they slowly lifted their heads and looked at him.

"What the hell is wrong with being afraid to die?

Isn't that just natural?

We don't want to die so we can live tomorrow with our families!

We don't want to die because there are still things we can only do by living!

That's why I need people like you who know the importance of living, you who care for your own lives!"

Their eyes were glued to him, a man wearing strange clothing, speaking about nonsensical things, however, strangely their attention became attached to him, that they never bat their eyes as they listened.

"Just right now you have died, but if you follow me now and take the path with me, I will breathe new life to you!

No matter how powerless you may be right now, it won't matter!

Powerlessness in the first place is how humans learned to make weapons! It taught some of us how to wield magic!

The same way this powerlessness has taught us how to take action during the crisis!

Just right now you were crawling in fear! Next time, you will be the ones who will place them under the enemies nose!

You weren't able to get the weapons because you were scared? Next time you will learn how to get them even under pressure and use them to take down the enemy!

The enemies that will take your friends, parents, family or anyone you love into slavery, into lots of pain, and into torture!

So what will stop them?

The answer is the very thing that you encountered today! As well as the countless weapons in front of you that you weren't able to get because of your fear!

As I said living is good! But would you dare to live if your loved ones died because you let your fear take over? Because you aren't able to wield your weapons properly that the enemy became unstoppable?

Everyone in this world dies! But the worst way of dying is dying in fear, dying for your own sorry ass! It's selfish! It's meaningless! So how do we die with meaning?

Simple!

We do our best to live for the ones we love!

We take our weapons, wield it, and master it because we love them as much as we love our lives!

We struggle, we fight and but if death comes to meet us, we meet it with a smile! Why? Because we went down fighting for those that we love!

And those that we protected and passed our light on will remember us and give meaning not only to our lives but also to our deaths!

𝑵𝑶𝑾 𝑪𝑯𝑶𝑶𝑺𝑬!

Will you choose to remain to be an idiot who only cares for your self and give up? It is okay to give up! Raise your hands and a knight will guide you outside the field.

or will you choose to move forward and brave yourself throughout the explosions? Stopping your cowardice for the rest of your life to fight for what's important to you!

𝑵𝑶𝑾 𝑪𝑯𝑶𝑶𝑺𝑬!"

The whole place went silent, men only looked at him and others looked at the weapons in front of them. If they moved again more of those explosions will occur. Of course, they are scared, however, something stirred them up inside, as if their hearts are telling them that they could do everything, telling them not to be scared as images of their family, their children, their parents, and their loved ones came to their mind.

"I will… fight!"

One man took one step while shaking, when he moved his foot forward and an explosion occurred, <<𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐦>> smoke filled up the area he was standing on, but when it cleared the man was there holding his weapon boldly and standing firmly.

As everyone saw this, more explosions occurred.

"This is for my family!!!!!" One man braced himself towards the weapon and <<𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐦>>

"I won't let them take away my wife!" <<𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐦>>

"I will get promoted to a knight and get married! <<𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐦>>

One, two, three, and four more explosions occurred until the whole place became a raging minefield again. Each and every one of them shouted something important to them as they braced themselves.

…

After a few minutes, the smoke cleared up and the men who were once crawling to the ground now stood bravely with their chests out, holding the heavy flintlocks with one arm with a determined look on their eyes.

It was a moving spectacle for everyone, for the golden knights who were supervising it, and for Erneis, Michaela and Claire who were looking from the side.

"Okay, it's fine… " Andrei crossed his arms and made a big smile. "You all pass! Now scream! And remember this day! From once you were dead! And now you were reborn as you brave warriors of the Kingdom! Follow me as I give you the power to protect!"

"𝑾𝑶𝑯𝑯𝑯𝑯𝑯𝑯𝑯𝑯𝑯𝑯𝑯𝑯𝑯𝑯𝑯𝑯𝑯𝑯𝑯𝑯!!" the whole place shook with the screams from the applicants who braved their final test, it wasn't a scream of rage, but a scream of relief when they felt the greatest sense of achievement they achieved in their lives.

Geraldine who was beside him almost teared up as she saw the unfolding of the events, as she saw the men who cared for their loved ones more than anyone, and much more she was moved with Andrei's speech.

Ideally, they wanted at least 50 to pass, however with only 10 coming up a way to get their weapons and made their way out of the fake minefield, Andrei had to adlib and devise a situation where they would be motivated to fight with him to the bitter end, no matter what unknown powers the enemy may possess.

Most of the men didn't just think of being a gun carrier just for the benefits anymore, all they wanted now was to have the power to protect, and they knew… that if it's that man leading them, they would definitely succeed.

Andrei raised his flintlock, and the ray of the sunset shone through it. The others did the same and raised it and the place was filled with shouts and praises.

"I wouldn't mind dying for you commander!"

"Commander! Thank you! Thank you!"

"If it's this man, I wouldn't think twice of charging into the enemy"

"Yeah if its this man"

All 100 initial passers passed the final test, and 10 of them became their squad leaders.

Andrei achieved his goal today.