Swordmeister of Rome

Sian speculated the expedition to be a hard one from the looks of Panolan's actions. They needed strong, experienced warriors, not some newbies like Panolan. If it wasn't for Kalagul, Rian, and Sian himself, the group was sure to fail.

'That old man intended this for sure.'

Sian usually didn't question the motives, but even he could see that the King had some other motive for putting together such a crude team.

'Oh well, I guess I have to put up with it. If I have room left to spare after saving Rian…'

Sian realized there was nothing he could do about it and began swinging on his hammock. However, he was interrupted by another set of footsteps.

"HEY! Sian, why are you here? We were all introducing each other! Aren't you the Captain's assistant?"

It was Celine. Sian watched her weirdly and sighed.

"Are you coming along too?"

"What do you mean by that! I'm the Second Lieutenant Captain here! I'm in charge!"

"Whatever. So I have to add one more to the list along with my brother. Ugh…"

"Hmm? What are you talking about?" Celine asked. She couldn't understand what it actually meant, but it didn't feel bad.

"It's nothing. Don't we have two weeks left? Why have you all gathered up already?"

"It's already late. We need to calibrate and train before going out to war."

"… Are they really here to fight a war?"

"Oh?"

Celine looked impressed and Sian sighed. His speculation seemed to be correct.

"Won't Con Kingdom say something if we bring such babies to war?"

"We have Kalagul. What can they say if we send a Grand Bander? It's a good chance for them to gain some experience."

"Ugh…"

It was King Narasha's intention to train these new and upcoming warriors. There was no danger since Kalagul and Sian were together. Moreover, they could always retreat if things went south since it wasn't their war.

Besides, the current <Dragona> team setup was basically made with Sian and Kalagul as the main firepower. Con Kingdom would know what Tian was up to with the team, but they wouldn't complain with the Grand Bander as an aid.

They were allies, but no countries sent Grand Banders to another country to just help.

"Ugh, that old King… he's very… uh. Wise."

"Don't be polite and rude at the same time. Anyway, I'm counting on you! Haha."

"Nngnggng…"

The expedition was bound to be more annoying than what Sian initially thought. Sian then decided to enjoy his last days of peace more passionately and laid down on his hammock while Celine returned to her dormitory.

They had two weeks before departing for Con Kingdom. It wasn't enough time to have significant results with training, so the newcomers gathered at Dragona to train with together and they got to know each other. They needed to learn how to fight together. Even then, two weeks wasn't enough.

If <Dragona> were to function as a real warrior group, it would've required them more than two years to actually work well together. It just happened to be a good chance for these new warriors to gain experience in real combat.

The evaluation and general leading would be done by Rian and Celine.

Kalagul was to fill the role as an actual aid to the war. Training aside, they still needed to fill in the role as reinforcements. Being a Grand Bander was enough as a reinforcement on its own.

If it wasn't for Kalagul or Sian, Tian Kingdom would never send these new warriors out on the battlefield. They would be killed in an instant and it would bring shame to the Kingdom.

Sian, who understood all this very well, was looking at the training ground with a concerned look.

"Oh… that boy needs… some care. He looks okay. And him… maybe we should leave him here…"

Sian did not join the training ground as he was just a captain's assistant.

These men had potential. All of them had good results during the <Haron> tournament, so they weren't too bad. However, Sian had met so many powerful warriors lately that he couldn't consider these men for their worth.

All the men he had beaten up lately were either Grand Banders or Masters, so looking at Expert-level warriors training in front of him looked like children on a playground.

"Ugh.. but I guess it will be okay once we come back…"

As Sian repeated his words to reassure himself, Kalagul was calculating the survival percentages of these men.

"25%... 23%... 35%... 12%..."

Rian was 100% and Celine was 78%. People of his race connected to each other with their minds and souls, and that made them one as a whole. There was no companionship or teamwork. That was not necessary since they had the ability to act as one. But it seemed like humans had a hard time doing that. Besides, those men were too competitive. The kids named Rian and Celine were working hard on making them focus on teamwork, but it wasn't easy.

Anyway, Kalagul didn't care in the end. It wasn't him who was going to die. Surely, the leader of these humans, King Narasha, didn't think Kalagul would care either. He then returned to the book he was reading.

These books were a great help for acquiring information. This body's owner really had no information stored in it, so Kalagul needed to learn fast. He had to adjust and adapt.

Rasion was uncomfortable as he started living and training with his competitors. To build a friendship and work as a team when he hated Panolan! Sir Rian and Lady Celine emphasized teamwork, but it just wasn't working.

Besides, it was all because the others couldn't keep up with him. It felt wiser to just train by himself.

'But who is he?'

Rasion remembered a man looking down on them from the balcony on top of the training ground.

'Sian… was it?'

That captain's assistant seemed to be doing nothing. He watched the training for a while and went back to being lazy. It seemed like he wasn't doing anything that he was supposed to do. What was more irritating was that he was seen talking with beautiful Lady Celine multiple times. To think that he really was a brother of Sir Rian!

There was a reason why no one knew much about the second son of Roman family. As the son of the Roman family, he must have something up his sleeves, thus making him the captain's assistant. But what could one do with such a bad attitude?

It seemed like everyone else had the same idea. All the new recruits were blatantly ignoring Sian. Sian seemed to be enjoying it, but that was probably a bluff.

'Boy… you should look after yourself in the war.'

Rasion decided to leave Sian alone if he got into trouble during the war before going out to save him from dying. He then turned to the information given to them about Con Kingdom and the region they were going to be sent to. Information was power. He needed to learn more to increase his survival rate.

Two weeks quickly went by. Rian and Celine wanted to spend more time as much as possible, but the war progressed quickly.

'There's no choice but to rely on Kalagul and Sian…'

Rian asked the King if it might be too dangerous, but it seemed like he had no intentions of changing the plan. Rian looked at the Ra-Shar-Roa that was being activated in front of him with a worried expression and walked in.

All of Dragona followed after.

"Did they leave?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Good, good. We will have to get busy then."

"It's already in progress."

"Good. Let's hurry."

King Narasha and Viscount Talin smiled.