“Hello, by order of the lord you are hereby conscripted, you are to present yourself to the Guard hall in two days time”

The words ring in my ears, I stay there motionless trying to comprehend what the man is saying. It all seems so surreal to me. After all this effort I spent trying to stay under the radar of the nobility I ended up conscripted.

I take another look at the man who found it fit to put my life in jeopardy. He’s a short pudgy man, with slimy brown hair that he’s had trimmed in a military fashion and a rather noticeable gut hanging a little over his belt.

As I fully take in the meaning of what he’s told me, the guilty expression on the receptionist's face makes a lot of sense to me. Members of the Adventurer’s Guild can’t be conscripted without the express request of the current ruling monarch, the guilds can however be forced to stop accepting members, clearly this guy was left here to pick off anyone who thought they could get out of it by joining the guild.

“Now Mr. Ajax, if you would please sign this form I can give you your token. You had also best take care not to lose it as without it you won’t be given any of the standard gear from the quartermaster.” The man continues saying.

“How do you know my name?” I frown as soon as he addresses me. I had been practicing gathering information with my higher perception as I moved through the city and hadn’t noticed anyone following me from the gate, which is the only place I gave my name.

“I have a simple inspection skill that allows me to inspect the name, age and species of anyone or anything that doesn’t have something to mask it. It’s why I am in charge of recruitment, it's much easier to catch deserters if you have their name and age along with their appearance.” The smugness of his tone makes it clear how high he thinks of himself for having the skill.

This makes me relax a little as he probably doesn’t know anything else about or he would have definitely shared it, from the way he keeps glancing at the receptionist it is clear that he is trying to impress her.

Realizing that there isn’t much I can do in this situation I go ahead and grab the document and start reading it.

“You just have to sign it, all it says is what I told you.” he says as he waves his hand in an impatient manner.

Reading something before signing it is something that my mother has drilled into me, and something that has been a sticking point in any stories shared by both Judy and Alana over the past few years. Getting him to wait on me was just a perk as far as I was concerned.

The document itself was very much what he had said it was, the front of it explained in big letters that the baron was calling forth conscripts for an undetermined amount of time and spelled out what the punishment for desertion was, a long fifty years in jail.

That is until you turned it over, on the back of the document was a whole list of reasons for exemptions to conscription. There were quite a few reasons why somebody might be exempt from conscription. Having two children under the age of twelve, being under the age of fifteen, or being widowed were all reasons mentioned. Also mentioned was that for them to apply a person had to refuse conscription when it was called and not later.

While all of that made me think a lot less of the recruiter there wasn’t anything there that would help me avoid the draft, so I continued reading. Halfway through the document was a small box stating “Mark this box if you wish to receive monetary compensation instead of keeping the provided gear. Ten gold.”

Ten gold was a lot more than most people made in a few years working, I wonder why it would be placed there. The reminder of the document described the gear that was to be provided for us. The gear didn’t sound like much, all in all it was probably worth no more than two gold so I decided to question it.

“Is there something missing from the description of the provided gear?” I asked the recruiter. “My dad is a blacksmith and an order like this is worth about two gold, three at the most.”

“Nothing is missing.” he says with a hint of irritation replacing the smug smile he’s had since the beginning.

“How am I supposed to mark this then, I would like to make sure I get my ten gold.” I had no use for their provided gear after all of this was over.

“Anything but leaving it blank would do.” he says as he starts to put forth an emotionless expression. I also catch a quick smirk that vanishes as soon as it appears on the recetionitis face.

I sign the document, pick up the coin and give a nod to the receptionist before I start heading for the exit. I take no more than two steps before a thought occurs to me. If I was going to get fucked over by something like this I might as well go down swinging so I turn back.

“Excuse me miss, I am expecting a friend of mine to pass through here sometime in the next few days. Any chance I could leave him a message.?” I ask, feigning having just remembered something.

She gives me a questioning look with a raised eyebrow but responds with a terse ”Sure.”

I walk over to the bar, grab a small empty blackboard stand that rests there, I see a few more spread out listing out drink prices throughout the hall, as well as a piece of chalk.

“Do you mind if I borrow this?” I ask the bartender who has been following the situation but didn’t seem all that interested until I approached him and responded with a lazy nod.

I fill the board in the biggest letters I can fit and move to place it on the receptionist desk.

“Sir?” she asks, confused, not having seen the message.

“My friend is a very private person, he wouldn’t feel comfortable with me giving out his name, I’m sure he will get the message if I just leave it here.” I say placing the board on the reception desk.

The board has the words “To my friend, always read the back of a contract” written on it. As the receptionist reads the board a small chuckle escapes her as I also hear the recruiter gnashing his teeth.

The receptionist schools her face before stating. “I’m sorry to say that you can’t just leave a message like this for your friend.” the recruiters face breaking out into a smug smile again.

“To leave a message like this in the guild would have to qualify as a request. One as simple as this will need no filing but it still requires payment.” she continues as she breaks her professional expression to show a smile. “If you would pay the cost of one copper I will make sure the message is promptly displayed for you friend.”

Taking the coin out of my pocket and placing it on the desk I give her a quick nod and head for the exit and my brother’s house looking to talk to him and Kate about this unforeseen predicament.

Commander Grievous P.O.V

The last few days had been a clusterfuck of paperwork. The recruitment had sent the entire city into disarray. Considering that this was the fourth one in the last twenty years you would think that they would be at least a little more prepared for it.

This was a simple dispute between barons over a newly discovered silver deposit that sat on the boundary line between their territories. It wasn’t even that large. What it was was an excuse for these small little skirmishes to happen.

The whole reason it was allowed was because the king himself encouraged his nobles to have them once every thirty years. They were relatively low in terms of casualties, at most 3%. It also provided his citizens with some combat experience should he ever need to call on them for a real war.

‘

The reason why Baron Stillwater was such an eager participant was a different reason entirely. He would offer leadership positions to the sons and daughters of higher nobles. He would ingratiate himself and his family to theirs, and their sons and daughters would gain experience as commanders on a battlefield. That he had spent the last nine years without participating in one was a small miracle.

This was also the only time that I felt my complete rejection of noble ass-kissing was a detriment to my troops. As all the other commanders would ingratiate themselves to the barron, I would always be the one called up as the mandatory guard regiment to join the skirmish. Despite this I always made sure to take care of my men and in the last three encounters we had not lost anyone. And I will make sure to extend that streak.As I was looking over the contested area map to plan any engagements I heard a quick knock at the door.

“Come in” I called expecting my assistant.

“I have the new conscript list for you, sir.” Roger said as he slid an almost filled page over to me across the desk.

Most of the conscripts were rounded up in the first two days, with only stragglers being brought in later. I take a cursory glance at the names when I get a familiar feeling about one of them. I stare at the entry of one ‘Ajax fifteen’ and why I should recognise it. Ajax was a fairly unique name afterall.

It took only a few seconds to remember the vampire incident from five years ago. It was likely that this Ajax was the same as the one back then. He was the brother of one of the most promising recruits into my unit, being level twenty-four at only twenty-three years of age.

“Walter, Wayland is being excused from this conscription on the account of his recent newborn isn’t he?” I asked my assistant.

“Yes, sir, he is.” A questioning tone in his voice.

“Have this Ajax moved over to take his place.” I say underlining the name.

“If I may ask, sir, why? Do you know this Ajax?.” Roger was a good assistant, if a little too inquisitive for his own good. It was still quite a challenge to grab him from under the noses of the other commander, his skill to identify level making him quite a catch.

“You know Tom don’t you? He’s most likely his younger brother.” I say a little anger creeping into my voice. Tom had mentioned his brother might be coming into town, I was going to look into it and make sure whatever guard had conscripted him upon entering the city would join the expedition and be on latrine duty.

“Tom is quite talented, but are you sure about this?” he asks. A good question, if one he should be voicing. I also know there is a lot more to be gained by offering the spot to the son of an influential merchant despite my dislike for it.

“Tom being his brother is all the reason I need.” I say, feeling that if I can help out one of my men by just moving an assignment like this I always would. “But if you need further reason Kate is his sister-in-law.”

Walter's face changes to a look of surprise. Kate is arguably one of the best healers in the guard right now, the only ones who can match her being near retirement, building goodwill with her is worth a lot more than any merchant in this backwater town would be willing to pay.

I see my assistant nod in understanding before saluting and leaving the room. Ajax, how unlocky can this kid be. He was caught up in the vampire incident a few years ago, and now he shows up two days before conscription ends.