One month later.
Maxi was not far from the village, in the middle of the forest.
With the help of his apprentice rcenaries, he had cleared a 50-ter radius to build a training area.
Thanks to the tools they had brought with them on the first day, the area was quickly cleared, and the first muscle-building aids soon appeared as well.
2 huts had also been built with the help of so villagers to increase the intensity of training, as well as to create a real bond of camaraderie.
"Congratulations on surviving my hellish training," Maxi announced to the group of young n in front of him with a smile.
The sun setting behind him, and the orangey glow it gave off, created an atmosphere particularly suited to the situation.
"You've grown a lot ntally and physically during this training. I'm proud that none of you gave up halfway through."
The young n, including Andrew, rolled their eyes slightly at this. The training was undoubtedly hellish, but the results were apparent the very next day, thanks to their leader's monstrous talent.
A man's greatest fear was to suffer horribly and see no improvent. In Eternity, this was very common.
What's more, there was another factor that motivated them to give their all.
"But the village chief will only let get four of you, so that ans half of you will have to go back to your previous lives."
Maxi gave them ti to absorb the information, then continued:
"I've already chosen who will continue the adventure with , 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's the strongest."
"Do you all know why?"
One of the young n stepped forward, the smallest and least muscular of the apprentices.
"Yes, because we're not soldiers, we're rcenaries. Being a rcenary requires physical strength, of course, but it also requires an ironclad ntal toughness, as well as ntal flexibility, quick reaction ti and a heightened ability to keep emotions in check."
"That's right Terry," says Maxi in a serious tone.
"So, according to his standards but also based on our own personal affinities and your potential, I've decided to keep by my side..."
"Andrew."
The flamboyant-haired young man nodded calmly 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 to him Maxi was a total enigma.
He could never guess what he was thinking, and he never showed his pain during training. Yes, their leader had trained with them.
What's more, Maxi never talked about his personal life or where he ca from. No one even knew how a young man like him had managed to reach their village alone and still alive.
So he didn't dare to be 100% confident.
"Jas."
Jas was a close second to Andrew in terms of physique, but he was one of those with a rather high emotional side which was clearly a great disadvantage as a rcenary who has to rub shoulders with death every day.
However, he had a talent for building friendships and boosting morale that Maxi couldn't miss.
If it had been before, Jas would have jumped with excitent, but Maxi's training instilled in them values to respect, including respect not only for the boss, but also for his friends.
Instead, he just contained his excitent by lowering his head to hide his smile, and clenching his fists tightly.
"Piedro."
The latter seed surprised at the ntion of his na, but discreetly restrained his glee, in the sa way as Jas.
Indeed, Piedro was in the lower league in terms of strength, but Maxi had detected an ironclad ntality in him, and above all he put in a lot of effort during training. It was just a pity that both his basic physical constitution and his talent for growth were naturally extrely low.
Without a doubt, Maxi's talent allowed hidden talents to reveal themselves, 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 rcenary group," concludes Maxi in a pronounced tone.
"I'd like to ask each of you to take all your belongings from this camp and bring them back to the village. We'll spend one last night there, then head for the nearest town."
"Yes, sir!"
An hour later, the small team made their way back to the village. But the silence seed extrely heavy.
The faces of the 4 rcenaries who hadn't passed the selections seed to be totally decomposed.
Maxi noticed this, but said nothing. Missing out on this kind of opportunity felt much worse than having a green hat on your head.
They were all aware that they had either saved their lives by not going into battle and tragically dying on the way to glory, or lost the opportunity to stand among the heavyweights of this world.
But from now on, each of them will have to return to a normal life, and perhaps in the future join an ordinary rcenary group and then die like trash on so battlefield in so remote corner of this world.
After all, successful rcenaries were extrely rare.
"So painful, I'd so like to take them all with ..." ntally thought Maxi as he walked calmly towards the village.
"Hmm?" A small noise escaped Maxi's mouth as he saw that over the village a black smoke covered part of the sky.
It wasn't just him; all the rcenaries saw the smoke more or less at the sa ti.
A bad premonition struck their hearts, as they all began to run, keeping only their weapons with them, without waiting for Maxi's orders.
"What a pain... But I hope it's not what I think it is, otherwise..." thinking this, a dangerous gleam passed through his eyes as he also began sprinting towards the village.
10 minutes later, Maxi reached the village first, but what he saw made his eyes widen and he didn't dare take another step forward.
A few seconds later, Andrew arrived as well.
Seeing Maxi's back totally motionless, an invisible arrow shot through his heart, but he pressed on.
What lay before him was worse than anything he could have imagined.
The wooden houses had all collapsed one on top of the other, with only the largest still burning slightly.
Corpses filled the village entrance and main street. Mostly n and children.
Looking down, he noticed a familiar face.
Stepping heavily towards it, he knelt down beside it, took the ti to observe it, then closed his eyelids with 2 fingers.
"God bless you in the afterlife", Andrew murmured in a low voice.
Maxi watched the scene from a distance, and thanks to his keen hearing, he could hear Andrew's words, and it made his heart waver slightly.
He also recognized the face. It was that of the first face he'd seen on entering this world. The old man's.
From the emotions on his face, it was easy to see that the old man had died without fulfilling his most cherished wish.
To protect the village.
This affected Maxi deeply.
He knew he was in a ga, and he'd been warned in advance, but it felt real, too real.
"Don't worry old man, I'll definitely find out who did this, and I'll personally see to it that you get your revenge," Maxi secretly promised, which slightly lightened the waves in his heart.
After a few seconds of silence, Maxi saw Andrew rise to his feet. The red-haired young man's back seed so lonely.
Maxi almost felt as if he were in a painting in this kind of setting.
Little by little, Maxi saw Andrew turn around.
Finally, he t Andrew's blood-red eyes as tears slowly rolled down Andrew's face.
"I've lost everything", he whispered, staring at Maxi.
Maxi stepped towards him, passed his arm over the back of his neck, and with a gentle movent, he glued 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 who did this, and make them die in excruciating pain."
"Chief...From today on, I'll be following you everywhere. Then make my life aningful," he said in a husky but deep voice.
"I will Andrew," Maxi promised firmly.
Following this brief exchange, Andrew knelt on the floor as he burst into tears. He was, after all, only 18 years old.
By this ti, all the saber-toothed tiger rcenaries had arrived and could clearly see the bloody scene before them.
Still with his back to them, Maxi gave them no ti to overflow with emotion and ordered:
"I'll give you 2 hours to prepare your belongings and give your loved ones a proper burial. If possible, bring a map of the area. We'll then return to the training camp, spend the night, then head for the nearest town as planned."
"Chief, it's too dangerous to go straight back to the training camp. It's possible that the villagers will betray our position, so when we wake up, we'll find ourselves surrounded by bandits." interjected Terry, who had managed to more or less maintain his composure.
"You dare to say that our families could have betrayed us?" exclaid Jas angrily as he lifted Terry by the collar.
"Jas," said Maxi in an extrely cold tone.
Sohow, several swords had appeared right in front of Jas's throat, suddenly bringing him back to reality.
They were the swords of his training comrades. But this ti, they weren't looking at him with eyes full of goodwill.
No, they were eyes that showed they were ready to kill him if Maxi ordered it.
Jas regretted it intensely. He had committed a totally taboo act in a rcenary group.
"In this village, there were also strangers just like I was, and 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 not forged by the blood of your adversaries is as fragile as a house of cards."
"Rember that, Jas. This will be my first and last warning," Maxi said dryly, sternly, still from behind.
"Yes, Chief."
"Now disperse, we don't have much ti. Including you, Andrew."
"Roger that, Chief!" replied all the saber-toothed tiger rcenaries in unison, with the exception of Andrew, whose voice lacked vigor.
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