The way of a Recruit

Since nobody was around so early in the morning, they would normally go to sleep. But all of them wanted to impress their boss and searched the place for anything to do.

"I guess I'll use this!" Us quickly found a big iron greatsword, worn out and for practice, but he was still smiling like a big baby. Without anybody complaining, he started to beat the straw doll senselessly. Steve watched him carefully, unsure about him. His voice deep and rough, just like his muscular body. He obviously had his share of battles. While Steve knew Relf and Velis, he still knew nothing about Us and was too shy to start a conversation with a man beating the shit out of a practice dummy.

"In that case, I'll train my bow skills," Relf casually picked up a bow.

Velis looked at some books without a weird so Steve opened a door showing him a small chemistry room, well it looked more like a dark alchemist layer, but he could tell that most of the liquids were simple chemicals.

"Now this looks fun," he entered the room and carefully examine the insides.

"Hoy! Step away from there! Put that down! Do you have any idea what that does?" only after an hour, somebody came inside.

"...It burns you?" Steve was about to say acid, but he rather dumbed it down.

"Oh... yes... It doesn't matter!" the man who yelled at Steve came from a small door near Velis. He was wearing a decorative monocle and had a katana on his waist. Steve put the chemicals down and came closer to the man.

"Everybody comes to me! I am your captain and I'll train you so be grateful!"

"Why did you picked us?"

"Muscle," the captain points to Us.

"Stealth," points at Velis.

"Guts," points at Relf.

"Interest," points at Steve who didn't understand, but could not speak up, because the man started explaining what are they going to do.

"It's simple, you will train your brains, muscles, and spirit every day. I'll teach you the sword and everybody will focus on their best skills! For now, I'll show you how to train," the master showed them how to use the katana and they all wondered about the sword's origins. After that, he took Steve to ask him about chemistry while the rest did their own training. Since Steve could easily show interest in the chemicals, the man decided to teach him more.

***

Since the training wasn't that exhausting, they got three meals a day and a bed, Steve decided to stay here. While he hated to admit it, the biggest reason was the sudden warm feeling of people he could talk to. He grew to like Us as well, he was not a big talker and was mostly focused on fighting all the time, but he gave Steve no trouble. While his days were filled with sword training, chemistry lessons, and other classes, he had still time to talk with his three new friends.

It was a tight schedule and their new boss was not holding back, the training was brutal, focused on building up stamina. The chemistry lesson was hard mostly because of the difference in vocabulary and the other lessons, like tactics, meditation, archery, hand to hand combat, military knowledge were randomly sparkled in between.

Steve could feel his muscles grow, he could feel his reflexes sharpen and it felt great. Especially when he managed to beat Relf or Velis. Us was unreachable for him, and only if he ganged upon him with the other two they had a chance.

After weeks of this training, Steve realized this place become his new home and he even made friends. Steve was staring at the dirty wooden ceiling of their room, ignoring Relf's snoring.

"It's been three weeks..." he said out loud. It was a difficult feeling to pin down, a mix of fear, confusion, and paranoia swept through him like a typhoon. He stood up and start breathing heavily, looking at the sleeping Velis. He calmed down enough to stand up and go outside.

It was a beautiful night on the moon, the stars were covering the sky and the planet was reflecting enough light to simulate a cloudy day. He sat down on a bench and looked up. The thought about Earth being somewhere up there felt corny, but also slightly comforting.

"Why are you up? Was the training that easy?"

"Velis?" he looked surprised at the boy.

"Tell me your troubles," he cut right to the chase and sat next to Steve.

"I am sorry to wake you, It's just that today is a bad day,"

"Bad day? Why?"

"Well... it's been around four months since I got lost and I am already forgetting how my world looked like."

"Hmpf, bummer. But hey at least your family is not some random bandit!" Velis tried to comfort him. "Tell me about your home..." Velis asked.

"No, it is okay,"

"Just talk, take it out of your chest,"

"It's nothing special..." Steve started talking about his family and Velis simply listen.

"I-I am sorry," Steve realized his eyes were watery and quickly cleaned them.

"There is no shame in your tears, as the master said. We need to stick together!" Velis stood up and put his hands on his shoulders.

"It is the first time for me to have people I can count on! So count me too! All four of us will quickly rise in ranks and we will help you find your family!!"

"Yes! Thank you!" Steve responded with a warm honest smile.

***

"Hey! Come with me!" the master suddenly yelled from inside. They run to him as fast as they could and he looked at him holding a letter.

"What?" Relf asked.

"I was holding some information from you, so you could focus on training..."

"Yeah, about the army destroying cities?" Velis jumped in.

"What? You knew?"

"Well, you thought me that information is valuable..."

"He sold us the information for cleaning duty," explained Steve.

"Well done! Anyway, the army was defeated, but it completely ruined the politics... the details are not important for you...simply put they want to use you as a backup,"

"What? Only after a few weeks of training?"

"Yes, I guess only Velis and Us could be considered prepared, but because you are all under a captain... well..."

"Shit,"

"Are you saying I am not prepared?" Relf was surprised to hear that after all, he defeated Velis many times in mock battles.

"There, there... I think you all are strong enough to survive a fight, but not a battle... I think you should be fine, the place is not dangerous. It's just now there is a lot of places with disturbances and so they need men! Because of that I'll have to give you my parting gifts now, but don't worry I'll convince them to send you back as soon as possible," the master said, but only Velis was listening to him as everybody else was looking in the distance, taking in the sudden information.

"Also choose your leader, you will obviously have to listen to your higher-ups, but still need a leader for your unit!" master came from his chemistry lab with a big chest and drops it on the ground.

"Velis!" Steve said first, without thinking.

"I would appreciate that, yes,"

"But..." Relf was hesitant, but Us pointed at Velis as well.

"Great! Let's start with you then, leader! Here... you are the best in this bunch at throwing knives, so use these well. Now you Relf! Stop looking like a dead fish and take this! I believe every group should have a good archer! Now you Steve! Your knowledge of chemistry is great so use this recipe with care! Now you all receive your own katana, but Us will get this," the master had to go back to bring a big glaive. Steve was glad for the chemicals, he could make a bomb or a smokescreen, but Us roar in thanks as he wielded the glaive, was even more honest. Steve looked at the katana and was proud to own such a blade, but it only reminded him of his future.

"Now go to the Gate hall, they wait for you,"

"Yes!" they all bow and left the captain. Although it was hard for Steve to walk towards the possible battle, thanks to his new friends he managed to get in the Gate hall in no time.

"We have the recruits coming as a backup for the festival!"

"Let them go, the gate is opening,"

"Oh, I hate this," Us said while the gate was spinning. It's been a while since Steve saw the gate or any other technology except his gun. The gate strangely felt as if it belongs to the hall, even though the obvious difference in the technological level.

"Don't hold the line!"