"Wake up and get out of bed!"

"Get your ass dressed and in position!"

"Run! Stay in formation!"

"Now stop!... Go Go GO! Formation 3! Charge!"

I get near whiplash from the pace of the training exercises. I was sleeping peacefully a minute ago, until all of a sudden, Bythem comes charging into the tent like a maniac, scaring me to no end, demanding everyone to start moving. I thrust, thrust, thrust, fall back and crouch behind the shield wall. Take a step forward, take a step back, forward, back, forward, back.

"Formation 1! Move!" Bythem roars.

Huh? Formation 1? Which one was that again- I get shoved as another soldier, wasting no time, barrels straight into me while I look around confused. I stumble forward and crash into another soldier, disturbing the formation.

"Roak! Get your ass out of there and run 25 laps around the camp! Maybe you'll stop being a piece of dead meat by then." Bythem notices the break in formation and singles me out.

"Yes sir!" I shout, too intimidated to challenge him.

I leave the group and start sprinting. Or rather, I pretend to move my legs and sprint as I let the wind carry me around the camp.

"Fast—! Nevermind keep up the pace." Bythem shouts, slightly surprised at my speed. I turn a couple of heads as I whizz circles around the camp, but it seems like even my speed isn't outside the realm of possibility in this world.

Ten minutes later, I take up my spear and rejoin the formation.

"Fast one aren't ya? Now let's see if you can keep up that energy." Bythem said.

"Formation 6!"

I thrust my spear over and over again. "Ah!" I yelp as I lose focus and put too much wind into pulling back the spear, resulting in my driving the butt of the spear right into my gut. Once again, the formation buckles as I mess up.

"Roak!" Punishment once more. Thirty laps

"Ah!" I mess up once again. Forty laps.

"Damn you!" Fifty laps.

The cycle continues three more times until finally, Bythem raises his hand and stops the training. "Roak, I need to talk to you."

I groan with the expectation of what's coming next, but I comply and walk out with shame. Bythem stands in silence, his hands on his hips as I approach him.

"Roak, I hate to say this, but sit the next campaign out." Bythem says sternly.

"Wait I have to-"

"No debate. There's a reason we've had the fewest casualties out of every squadron, I am not going to risk the lives of all 63 soldiers here just to satisfy your petty goals. Wait this one out, then train hard and get better for the next round. You are not weak or unskilled, you were simply unlucky to arrive at the time that you did." Bythem turns around and walks away.

Wait. I can't sit the fight out.... I reach my hand out in desperation. All that I've done, all the mistakes I've made along the way, I have to redeem myself! I grab his shoulder and bring my other hand up to his eye level. As Bythem turns around he recoils away in surprise as a flame the size of a marble pops up on my finger. I shut it off almost immediately in hopes that nobody else sees it, and if they do, they would think it's just their imagination. But there's no way that Bythem didn't feel the heat from it.

Bythem widens his eyes as he slowly realizes who I really am. Instinctively leaning away from me in fear, his mouth opens, trying to bring words to them.

My breath begins to come out a bit quicker. There was a reason I’m pretending to be a regular foot-soldier. If Bythem chooses to, he can now expose me to everyone if he so desires. We both have a tense moment, unspeaking as my stress quickly pools up.

However, I soon see his shoulders drop as he calms down, approaches me and pats my shoulder.

"I think I understand you a little better now, you can join." He says before switching to a whisper. "But you better not a single one of us die. Unless it's me, you got it?" I nod my head and Bythem returns to the rest of the squadron, his overall demeanor seemingly not affected one bit.

I take a deep breath and calm myself down. There were dozens of ways this situation could have gone south. I thank whatever God that lives up above that I was assigned with this particular man. I grab my spear and go over all the formations in my head again. I then nod to myself and follow Bythem back. However Bythem immediately holds his hand out, signaling for me to stop.

"Get back out there and run 180 laps!"

By the time I got back, the training was already over.

Stab, stab, stab, jump to the side, stab stab stab, fall back, stab, stab, stab, crouch down, stab, stab, stab. I continued practicing on my own time. My control of wind is unacceptably bad, when I get out there on the battlefield, I can't be caught slacking like this again. Three more days, that's all I have to perfect my skills.

"I see you're working hard, even after everything." Lydia walks up to me and watches me as I practice.

Stab, stab, stab, my mind working in overdrive. I need to learn, I need to practice, my movement needs to be indistinguishable from an Ankudo. I dash to the side, the wind carrying my off my feet as if I took the step with my own strength.

"Don't push yourself too hard, and I'm not saying this out of pity; if you push your body too far right before the campaign, you're not going to have any energy for the fight itself." Lydia said.

"Do not worry one bit about me. I recover quickly." Plus I'm not really pushing my body and muscles. Just my Tetsu, which for me, recovers fully within 8 hours, or even faster if I take a nap in the meantime.

Lydia doesn't respond and continues watching me silently as I practice the drills.

"Your form... It's nowhere near perfect, but the spear always charges out of your hands unexpectedly fast." Lydia said.

"Mhm." I respond, unsure if she was trying to start a conversation or not.

"Ah, sorry, did you hear that? I was thinking to myself, but I must have said what I was thinking out loud." Lydia scratches her head in embarrassment.

She looked like she wanted to ask me something but just couldn't blurt it out. I observe her indifferently and decide to not to open my mouth. If she can't bring herself to speak up, then it's better to not give away any more inf-

"How did you get Bythem to change his mind?" Lydia asks me as if on queue.

"Why do you ask?"

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help listening into what you two were saying. When Bythem makes up his mind, I've never seen him change it."

I stand there quietly, wondering what my response should be.

"Ah, but don't worry! I didn't hear what he whispered to you, so if you want to keep it a secret, I'm fine with it." Lydia rapidly waves her hands in panic.

"Yea, I'd prefer to keep it a secret. I'm sorry." I reply flatly.

"It's alright! It's alright." Lydia smiles at me and backs away leaving me alone.

I turn my head back and put my focus back on the drills, a bitter taste lingering in my mouth from this interaction.

I lie on the ground, mentally drained and breathless. I definitely began pushing my Tetsu a little too hard there by the end, the usual symptoms of nausea and headache were beginning to take hold, and I didn't want to move a single inch from the ground. Maybe I should just fall asleep here...

The sharp sound of a horn pierces through the air. I instantly get up and look around confused. I narrowed my eyes and see decently sized group of knights, fully covered, head to toe in shining armor, march from out of the forest and into the plain.

Are we under attack?! I desperately scramble up and run towards to camp. However, to my further confusion there was now a crowd forming. Soldiers from every squadron crowding around the entrance to the camp, craning their necks to get a good look at the oncoming band.

"Where's the Tetsudo?"

"I'm getting nervous."

"Aw, we're saved."

An aura of excitement could be felt from all over. This wasn't an attack. This is the arrival of the other Tetsudo!

I instantly lower my face. What if they recognize me? Is that person someone important enough to have came in contact with me back when I was a prince? The crowd around me grows rowdy, jostling and poking me around. I don't give it any mind, my mind was only focused on the knights.

As they march through the camp entrance, confusion begins rising up among the soldiers.

"What's going on? They all look the same."

The knights stop marching and line up single file, every single one of them wore the the exact same helmet and armor, except the shape of the armor changed depending on if they were a woman or man. A single ordinary-looking, somewhat fat, middle-aged man makes his way out from the center of the group.

"Listen up! One of these knights is the powerful and mighty Tetsudo you guys have been waiting for. However, in order to mitigate espionage tactics the enemy might deploy, the knights will split up, one in each squadron, and we will not tell anyone, except for a certain few, which squadron the real Tetsudo is present in. As for the rest of the knights, don't worry, all of them are extraordinarily skilled, and some of our very best. That is all." The group of knights then split up and scatter around the camp.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! What's going on! I back away and panic as three of the knights directly pass me.

Did any of them recognize my face? Are any of these knights from the north capital? What if the Tetsudo just passed me just now? I tense up and wait for an excruciating couple of minutes, dreading the sound of any sort of alarm.

...

Nothing? Did I manage to get lucky? I relax a little bit and drop my shoulders, then let out a pent up sigh of relief. Then yelp as a hand touches my shoulder.

"Don't make such a reaction, it's me." I hear Bythem's deep voice from behind.

"What do you want?" I turn around and ask. I don't know how such a massive person managed to sneak up behind me and scare me like that.

"I'm just warning you-" Bythem looks around mid-sentence, there were still a few stragglers hanging around the area. He then silently crouches down and carves a number into the hard ground with his finger. Sixteen. He looks at me and gives me a nod. Then digs his feet into the ground and wipes the number away.

Squadron sixteen, Bythem must have been one of the people told about where the Tetsudo was going to be deployed! I give him an appreciative handshake, relieved from the information.

"The sun is setting, come on, let's go back and rest up for the next day." Bythem turns around and walks away. I follow him back, truly appreciating for the second time, that I just so happened to be put with a man like him.

For the next two days, I practiced my movements alone and in secret. Training is strictly prohibited two days before the campaign starts. That way, everyone ends up being fully ready and energized in time for the fighting. So Lydia helped me train in secret, making sure to give me a signal every time someone approached me. This way I managed to circumvent this restriction.

I also made sure to avoid any and all sighting of knights dispersed through the area. Whenever I saw that shiny armor glow, I swiftly backed away and held my head down. If I don’t practice enough, it’s over; however, If the other Tetsudo recognizes me, it’s also over.

As for the knight squadron four had been assigned to, she was always sitting down in the same spot, always keeping her helmet on, never speaking. Even though I was certain that she wasn’t the Tetsudo, I still avoided her at all costs, after all, she still could be from the north capital, and all of them definitely know my face.

Finally, by the time the two days were up, through extreme mental focus and frequent exhaustion. I was at an acceptable level of skill. At least, enough to ensure that I wouldn’t mess up the formation.

I stand up straight, spear in hand, watching as thousands of soldiers flood out of the army camp, getting into position. Our food and supplies were positioned around the middle where they would be the safest, and the knights were all positioned near the back of our squadrons.

As the last of the soldiers exit the camp, the mass of noise that plagued the sky suddenly disperses and disappears as the clanking of armor and pitter patter of feet stops and the soldiers all get into position.

The wind blows across the quiet field, not a single person would make a modicum of noise during these five seconds. I could even hear my own heartbeat…

The silence is shattered by a long drawn out horn that pierces the sky. “FORWARD MARCH!” Bythem roars alongside all the other squadron leaders.

And so, the campaign begins. I can’t help but let out a small laugh.

Finally…