Charles, Andreas, and the head guard were split up as their living quarters were in different parts of the barracks. Charles looked around the barracks as he followed the soldier to his living space. Soldiers like the one he was following were roaming around the area as they maintained their weapons and Armor while chatting with each other. Some soldiers were also doing routine exercises around the barracks, and some were practicing with their weapons. The barracks had a big open field where most of the soldiers spend their time at while houses surrounded the square field. Most of these houses seemed to be living quarters as well, and there doesn't seem to be anything interesting in the barracks.

"We have arrived, you will be staying in this living quarters with your squad until further notice." The soldier said as he stopped at the door of Charles's new living space. "Remember to see the vice commander after you have introduced yourself to your squad. You will have to go with your squad to the Vice Commander after that. Please do not take long introducing yourself. The Vice Commander will be in the largest building in the barracks. Please do not forget that." After telling Charles that piece of information, he quickly walked away. Charles then opened the wooden door to enter the living quarter. As he opened the door, he saw a rather small living space for five people. Five beds were placed together at the end of the room with a table that had five chairs with it. It was quite cramped with only one person being able to walk from the bed to the door at one time.

As Charles finished looking around, he looked at the four men that were resting on the beds, though they were sitting together they didn't look like they were familiar with each other. The 4 of them then looked back at Charles and sized him up. "So, we have a foreign kid leading us? That isn't reassuring..." The man to the left who had the look of a man who had never been in a fight and rarely went out, his skin complexion was fair that it was almost pale with no signs of sunburn that was typical of someone who regularly is under the sun. His body didn't look strong but was thin and somewhat frail, but his face was fierce due to his sharp eyebrows and his hair was long as it went over his shoulder, his height was average though. It made Charles wonder why this man was in the army.

"Don't say that we should give him a chance! After all, the army is the one who chooses the squad captain, so we should trust him!" the man beside him said with a kind smile. This man was much different than the scholar, His body was big and much more muscular than Charles and his height seemed much taller. He had dark tanned skin as though the man had been under the sun for most of his life and his hair was short and spiky. His face showed a kind man that would have never hurt a fly, which didn't fit correctly with the man's strong body, but Charles judged the man as a kind person.

"Y-yeah! I think it's alright too!" the boy next to the strong man said. The boy looked younger than Charles, who was ten years old. The boy had quite an average body size for a kid, the boy didn't seem to have much fat on him, but you could see some muscles on him. The kid also had an average height and was slightly taller than Charles, who was quite short and had medium length hair. His face was indeed a young boy's face with a look of innocence to him, but also looked a bit feminine. Overall the boy seemed quite healthy, though he had some muscles and seemed somewhat feminine, which made Charles confused for a bit.

"We will see in the upcoming battle." The last man said. He seemed to be 2 to 4 years older than Charles; the man had the typical body of a soldier with tanned skin and defined muscles which clearly showed that the man had exercised a lot and had substantial strength. His face had no real emotion and instead made him look like a calm person, as though he was some religious monk. Charles couldn't make out what type of man he was, so he decided to forget about it.

While Charles was examining them, they were doing the same to Charles as well! They looked at Charles as he entered the room. The first thing that they noticed was how young the boy was. They had expected an experienced soldier was going leading them, but instead received a kid who seemed as though he had just learned to hold a spear! Though the young boy beside the strong man thought to himself 'I have found someone of my age here! Maybe he could be my friend!'. The next thing they noticed was his clothes, Charles was still wearing the same clothes he had while he was in the arena. The hemp sleeveless shirt with long hemp pants and old cloth wrappings were all covered in dirt, sweat, and blood, making it seem like Charles was some sort of barbarian from the mountains!

His hair didn't help change that barbarian image too, as he had never bothered to groom his hair before, so now the tip of his hair touches his shoulders, his hair seemed to have not been washed in days, and his hair was messy. The only things that Charles had going for him were his face and body. Charles looked rather kind, gentle, and approachable face. When you looked at him, you wouldn't think that he would hurt you in any way and could easily trust. Though his body looked thin, he was quite muscular, though he wasn't as strong looking as the calm man. What they couldn't figure out was the dark wooden stick Charles was holding in his left hand. Charles during the entire time he had been in the border town had not once let his katana leave his left hand. But the most shocking thing to them was that he was a foreigner!

"My name is Charles; I will be the leader of this 5-man squad from now on. I look forward to working with you all." Charles said after examining them. "My name is Luo Cheng, though a foreign boy is leading us is rather hard to accept I will do my best to follow you." The weak man said. "Do not mind him! He means no ill will; my name is Dong Jian. Good to meet you!" The strong man said, apologizing for Luo Cheng's earlier words. "Um, my name is Chen Lei, I hope you will treat us well!" The timid boy said. "My name is Zhou Huang." The calm man said and didn't continue.

"Captain Charles! I've heard that we need to follow you to meet someone!" Dong Jian, the strong man, shouted "Captain?" Charles asked in surprise. "Yes, that is what squad leaders are called I've heard plenty of squad members call their squad leaders that!" Dong Jian explained. "Ah, that makes sense. Oh yes, the soldier that brought me here said something about that. Well then everyone, let's get moving!" Charles said as he and the four guys left the living quarters to meet the vice commander.

After walking past a few houses, they managed to reach the largest building of the barracks that had a huge sign that said "Training Ground" with a young man that had an aura that made him seem like a man who could command anyone to do something with a single word. The man was wearing Iron Lamellar Armor with cloth clothing underneath and a sword strapped to his waist. "Squad captain, your name." The young man asked. "My name is Charles, I've been told to come here by the soldier that escorted me to my living quarters" Charles replied. "Good, you are the first to arrive. Follow me inside." the young man said as he entered the "Training Ground." Charles and his squad enter as well.

As they entered, they saw a vast empty room with a dirt field in the middle. Charles recognized the field to look like the one he fought on the arena, but this field was much smaller. "I forgot to introduce myself, though you should have already guessed it. I am the vice commander; I am the second in command of 100-man commander Er Hong. I have been tasked with supervising the recognition of your squad leader. Normally this would have been held by a 10-man squad leader, but I am here instead." The Vice Commander sighed.

"What do you mean by recognition?" Luo Cheng, the weak man, asked. "In a 5-man squad, the leader needs to be recognized properly by their men before they can lead them. If their men do not even respect their leader how will they obey their commands? So, to not let our men die so easily only capable men are allowed to lead a squad. Therefore, Charles, you are to show your worth and make your squad respect you, this can be done in either martial strength where you will fight your 4 squad members by yourself and win, wisdom where you will impart knowledge in any field and impress them or military chess where you will play with each member and win." The Vice Commander explained.

As soon as Charles heard the three choices, he immediately shouted: "I choose martial strength!"