Chapters 88-91 Revised (Patreon)

Didn't quite manage to get through Ch. 93 this week, I apologize for that.  I did get through 91, though! =)

I think I'm finally getting to the parts of the Knight Academy arc that need much less attention.  Coincidentally, they'd also the parts of the arc where Leon is interacting with Gaius much less.

I've been needing to cut less, though not for lack of trying.  I originally wanted to cut all of chapter 88, but I felt like there was enough useful information and character scenes that it was worthwhile enough to keep.  I'd have to keep at least some of it anyway, to explain the Snow Lions losing their weekend privileges and to show that there's some actual punishment for losing their banner.  I did cut out the entire First-Aid training course, though that was fairly short and didn't involve Leon, so I doubt anyone would really miss it.

Other than that, I just merged 89-91 and touched them up a bit.  Not too many drastic changes, other than altering some character details to bring them into line with changes I made earlier in my revisions.

Anyway, as always, leave a comment down below if you feel like these chapters aren't working!  I hope you enjoy that changes that have been made! 

=D

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Chapter 88 - Where They Were

On the night of the Deathbringers’ assault on the Snow Lions, the three Instructors had arrived at the Snow Lions’ tower to find it deserted and the banner missing. After tearing through the tower, they confirmed their initial findings and met back in the first-tier common room to discuss the matter.

“Couldn’t find the third-tier mages, either…” said one of the flabbergasted Instructors.

“Where could they possibly have gone?!” asked the other in an angrier tone than the first, but still just as confused.

“Wherever they’ve gone, it doesn’t seem to be for good,” said the Senior Instructor. When he had first seen the missing banner, he had been thrown headfirst into a pit of rage and didn’t stop to properly analyze the bedrooms. But after a few minutes, his head cooled and he took a second look while the other two instructors searched the upper floors. “They left many of their personal effects, like clothes and even silvers. They’ll be back soon enough, and when they are, they’ll all run the circuit until they fucking die!”

Almost as if it were given a cue, the door of the tower opened. The eyes of the instructors immediately darted over to see who had opened it, and they locked gazes with Aemilius, a son of one of a vassal of Castor’s family, and one of the second-tier mages who’d accompanied Castor to the Knight Academy.

“You!” shouted the Senior Instructor, his cool head immediately heating up again with a Snow Lion before him. “Where the fuck is everyone else?! And where the fucking fuck is the damned banner?!”

“Sir… we, uh…”

“Speak up, damn it!”

“We lost it! The Deathbringers stormed our tower and seized our banner!”

With Aemilius’ words, all three instructors fell silent in shock. This would be the fastest in the history of the entire Knight Academy that a unit had lost its banner! Not even a full month had passed since the training cycle had begun!

And this humiliation happened to their unit. Most of the third-tier nobles treated their banners and the seizure of them as a game, but it was for more to the Instructors. They stayed in those training units for longer than a single training cycle and had a far greater attachment to the banners than the trainees did.

“Sir, Castor, Alphonsus, and Leon came to a decision about how to deal with this, I’ve been asked to lead you to them,” said Aemilius.

It took a moment for what he said to sink in for the Senior Instructor, but when it did he was as livid as he could possibly be. “… Lead me to them?! Who the fuck do they think they are?! They should be the ones who come to meet me! Fine, whatever. I’ll go tothem. And they will experience hell…”

About twenty minutes and several miles later, the four found themselves in the western mountains. The mountain range wasn’t that big, relatively speaking, but it was certainly large enough to get lost in and contained a veritable maze of valleys, gorges, and cave systems.

It was to one of these hidden gorges that Aemilius took the instructors. It was quite beautiful, with vivid green grass, tall trees replete with leaves, and a crystal-clear stream running through the middle. Set into one of the rocky walls were a series of caves that led all the way up to the top of the gorge, and it was in the largest cave closest to the ground that the instructors found the Snow Lions.

Most of the first-tier trainees were sitting and resting in a fairly spacious cavern located down a fifty foot long tunnel from the entrance, lit by a number of mundane, candle-lanterns that looked newly-bought. Looking around at them, the instructors could tell that few of them were particularly happy about the current arrangements. There was some light conversation, but most of the first-tier commoners looked defeated and depressed and were simply sitting in silence. A couple of them didn’t even look up when the instructors arrived.

The second-tier trainees were further into the cave system in an adjacent cavern. They hardly looked happier than the first-tier trainees, but they were at least active and busy taking inventory of whatever they had brought from the tower. Training weapons and healing spells were the two big ones, but there was also enough cloth and wood to build a few crude tents. It wasn’t much, but the instructors were still quietly impressed that they had brought even this much.

In the smallest cavern at the back of the cave system, the instructors finally found the three third-tier mages. Castor and Leon were enthusiastically making plans—or at least, Castor was quite enthusiastic; Leon was his usual stoic self. Alphonsus was listening in to their conversation, but he seemed to prefer to sit a few feet away and sulk rather than participate.

“What is all this?” the Senior Instructor demanded upon arrival.

“We’re moving out here, Sir!” responded Castor as he swiftly turned away from the stone table he and Leon were hunched over to greet the Senior Instructor. He then continued, going into the why before the Senior Instructor could even ask. “After we lost our banner to the joint Deathbringer-Black Viper assault, we came to the decision to set up somewhere that will be difficult to find, let alone assault.”

“We didn’t decide on shit…” Alphonsus bitterly mumbled, causing Castor to briefly glare at him before turning back to the Senior Instructor.

“This place was found by Leon last week and it was his idea to come out here, Sir, and I liked it. And since I’m in charge of the Snow Lions, we go where I want us to go,” Castor said as he gave Alphonsus a sidelong glare.

The Senior Instructor could tell that his last sentence was just another way to tell Alphonsus to deal with it, so he didn’t argue semantics about who was in charge. In fact, his anger at the unit losing their banner had nearly vanished after seeing how far they were going in response to their miserable defeat.

He took a seat on a nearby rock while the other two Instructors went back out into the rest of the caves to take stock of what the Snow Lions were doing and how well they were setting up their living facilities. “So, what’s your next step?” he asked.

“Well, Sir, we’re working on setting up a few water runes to give us access to at least some clean water without relying on the stream outside. We got very lucky finding these caves; they seem tailor-made for a unit of about our size to hide out in…”

The Senior Instructor was well aware that the presence of these caves was not down to luck. When the mountains and forest were built, a great many hidden places for the units to establish themselves in were scattered around the Academy’s training grounds. It was the units that found and exploited these ‘natural’ forts that typically excelled during the training cycle’s competitive field training exercises that ended the year of training.

While there was still some work to be done to the cave system to make it habitable, most of the hardest work had already been done. There was enough room for the entire unit to live comfortably with a modicum of privacy, as well as rooms that were perfect for baths and toilets—though they lacked the water runes they needed to work.

Beyond getting their water running, they would also need to conceal and fortify the caves, which the Senior Instructor would be only too happy to show them how to do over the next few weeks. The loss of the banner still infuriated him, but given how much initiative the Snow Lions were now showing—the unhappiness of the trainees notwithstanding—he couldn’t really be angry at them.

“We’re also working on getting some tools out here to help with what we need to do. I was planning on sending some people out with a few thousand silvers to get what we need in the forums tomorrow,” continued Castor. “This place isn’t much, but it’s where we’ll be when we’re not in class.”

After a moment of thought, the Senior Instructor said, “No. You’re not going to go to meals or morning classes anymore.”

The three trainees gave him confused and surprised looks when he said this; Alphonsus in particularlooked like he was about to argue until he went bluein the face. However, the Senior Instructor continued after his short pause, cutting all three off before they could speak.

“I’m invoking the Centurion’s Rights of Command. This will give me the full authority to remove you from your classes and teach you wherever and however I see fit.” In response, the three third-tier trainees gave him relatively blank looks, though none asked the question that was on all their minds. The Senior Instructor decided to answer it anyway. “The Legate has been considering banning the Centurion’s Rights of Command, but he fortunately hasn’t. That being said, the policy can only be called upon for a unit that has lost its banner.

“This will give me the ability to requisition what you need to live outside of the tower. That means meals will be brought to the tower and you’ll need to organize some people to go and bring them back here. Tools will also be provided for you. However, this also means that the entire unit loses their weekend privileges, so no more going into the capital on Saturdays and Sundays. From now on, we’ll be training as much as possible. I will make men out of all of you boys, and we won’t stop until the banner has been retrieved!”

The Senior Instructor gave the three third-tier mages a sinister smile. The Knight Academy gave a great amount of leeway for the third-tier trainees to shine, but these three had lost their banner due to almost non-existent leadership. With the Senior Instructor now taking full charge, that short time of lacking leadership was now over.

“Sir?” asked Leon, speaking for the first time since the Instructors had arrived. “What about our afternoon classes?”

“Magical Theory is just time set aside for meditation at this point. The first-tiers can easily do that here. Beyond that, if any of you or the second-tiers want to attend your afternoon classes, that should be fine, but you three need to make sure that no one leaks the location of these caves, understand?”

“Yes, Sir!” Castor answered immediately. Leon nodded, responding nonverbally. Alphonsus barely responded at all, only nodding when both Castor and the Senior Instructor glared at him in expectation.

“Alright! No time like the present to get started!” shouted the Senior Instructor. It was time for him to show these boys how to get their camp set up!

Over the next few hours, he guided the trainees through setting up proper water runes for their toilets and baths. Since Leon and a few others had taken enchantment classes, they did most of the work on that front.

After getting their water situation squared away, the Snow Lions got to work setting up where they would sleep. The supplies they brought with them were turned into a few large tents and set up in the biggest cavern in the cave system, allowing the seventy-six first-tier trainees to sleep relatively comfortably. The second-tier trainees would sleep in the second largest cavern under similar circumstances, but each person would get more personal space compared to the first-tier trainees. Leon, Castor, and Alphonsus each got their own small cavern to sleep in; despite how prohibitive these caverns were, they still had the most personal space out of the entire unit.

During that time, one of the Instructors was sent to the administration building to inform the Legate about the Senior Instructor’s invocation of the Centurion’s Rights of Command, and he returned as the Senior Instructor was finishing up his initial evaluation of the Snow Lion’s new situation. Everything needed to get meals to the Snow Lions’ tower had been taken care of, and several trainees were organized to get the food and bring it back to the caves. They were led by Leon and included Henry, Charles, and Alain, and managed to accomplish it in only a couple of hours.

After they finished that meal, the Instructors left, and the Snow Lions almost all immediately went to sleep. With the loss to the Deathbringers and the move to these caves, the Snow Lions were exhausted and slept so long that the Senior Instructor had to start waking them up when he returned Sunday morning.

Leon and his group of a dozen or so Snow Lions returned to their tower to fetch the unit’s breakfast and found a number of much-needed tools that had been requisitioned for their use with the food. After eating, the Senior Instructor began guiding them to properly fortify their caves using those tools. By the end of the day, the front entrance to the cave system had been sealed off from the rest of the densely vegetated gorge with a moderately strong door—it wouldn’t even stand up to any other unit if they found this place, but it would at least give the Snow Lions some time to organize their defenses.

The only problem they had was that their cave system was more extensive than the portions they were inhabiting, and had other distant entrances throughout the valley and the ridge it had been built into. The Snow Lions would have to fortify those entrances, too, if they wanted to truly secure their new home.

All this work helped the Snow Lions get their mind off their defeat, and they were even feeling fairly good by Monday morning.

And then their training under the Senior Instructor started.

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Chapters 89-91 - Field Training

On Tuesday morning the day after the handful of Snow Lions who wanted to showed up for their afternoon classes, Leon grabbed a dozen trainees and made the trip back to the tower to pick up the Snow Lions’ breakfast. He kept them moving as quickly and quietly as he could; he didn’t think the tower was being watched, but he decided to be cautious anyway.

Upon arriving at their tower, he left the group a few hundred feet into the tree line and personally scouted out the area immediately around their old residence, only calling them to pick up the food when he was satisfied that no one was watching.

After they returned to the caves and the rest of the Snow Lions had eaten, their training began. The Senior Instructor had arranged for the materials he needed to teach first-aid to be delivered with the food. The same things taught to the rest of the battalion at the training field was taught in the Snow Lions’ camp in the hidden gorge. The three Instructors even had the three third-tier mages help out with the class—after ensuring that all three knew what they would be teaching, of course.

Leon wound up showing the three guys he usually hung around with how to properly apply bandages and tourniquets, as well as the proper application of healing spells—he still remembered the inability of many of the first-tier Snow Lions to use the healing spells on those who’d been assaulted in the capital not long ago, and he didn’t want a repeat of that failure. The application of bandages and tourniquets was practiced with the actual medical equipment, while applying healing spells was practiced with simulated spells that only lit up with bright light when correctly activated. They couldn’t heal the tiniest of splinters, but they could be used repeatedly, making them perfect for training and instruction.

After several hours of this, Leon led his group back to the tower to carry their lunch back to the camp, following which the Senior Instructor had the first-tier trainees head back into the caves to meditate and practice their breathing exercises.

It had only been three days since they lost their banner, so most of the second-tier trainees still felt too much shame to show their faces during afternoon classes. Consequently, most of them did as they had on the previous day: staying in the caves and passing the time by joining the first-tier trainees in meditation. Castor and Alphonsus decided to do likewise.

However, Leon had no intention of missing his enchantment class. A handful of other second-tier trainees felt the same, so he led them back to the tower and gave them strict instructions to meet him back at the tower after classes were over. They didn’t want to lose their camp’s greatest strength—its hidden location—with a few moments of carelessness.

The group attended their classes, much to the lessening astonishment of the other trainees. When the classes were over, the Snow Lions returned to their tower to meet Leon, just as he had instructed. Leon carefully looked around the tower to make sure none of them were followed, then led them all back to the camp, while laboriously carrying the unit’s dinner that had already been delivered.

This was generally how the next week progressed. The Instructors and the third-tier mages would teach the trainees in the morning how to stop bleeding, apply healing spells, and otherwise treat their fellows who might get wounded while fulfilling their duties as a knight. In the afternoon, everyone—save for Leon and about a dozen others who still wanted to attend their afternoon classes—would meditate or train in their sword techniques.

There was one event that broke the new routine, though: One afternoon, Leon noticed that some of the second-tier trainees had been followed by spies from other units as they assembled at the tower—the other units seemed like they were finally starting to get curious enough about the Snow Lions’ whereabouts to send some people to try and find out where they had hidden themselves.

In order to deal with this problem, he softly whispered to the group, “Head a few hundred feet into the forest. Don’t head toward the camp, but make sure to move with purpose. You’ll be followed, so make it look convincing that you’re actually going somewhere. I’ll be right behind you…” After he finished speaking, he calmly walked back into the tower, leaving the other Snow Lions a little confused and on edge due to the sudden predicament.

After waiting a few moments, the group of Snow Lions started walking off to the north-west of the tower. They walked quickly, not bothering to keep an eye on their surroundings. Instead, they started up a conversation about what they had done that afternoon, acting fairly well as if they were completely unaware of what was happening.

Leon allowed them to get a good head start, then quietly followed. The Steel Century, Crimson Tigresses, and one more unit Leon had not yet come into contact with, the Silver Legionaries, had all sent a second-tier mage to follow the Snow Lions back to their camp.

Leon doubted that the other Snow Lions would’ve noticed these three spies if he hadn’t, given their seeming proficiency at hiding among the trees and underbrush of the forest. However, Leon had spent almost his entire life hunting in a forest much denser and wilder than the one in the Knight Academy, so these three watchers from the other units stuck out to him like sore thumbs.

It took no more than three minutes for Leon to take care of the situation so silently that the other Snow Lions didn’t hear a thing. He crept up behind the spies one-by-one while they were captivated with the other Snow Lions, and with a single slash of his training sword apiece, stunned them all into unconsciousness.

“We’re good! Help me with them!” he shouted when the last spy had fallen, summoning his aimlessly walking unit mates. They carefully carried the three second-tier nobles back to the tower. The two noblemen from the Steel Century and Silver Legionaries were rather unceremoniously dropped at the door, while the lady from the Crimson Tigresses was carried inside and left on a chair in the entrance hall.

Leon and the group then grabbed the unit’s dinner and made their way back to the Snow Lions’ camp, with all of them alert for any more signs of uninvited guests.

Fortunately, Leon had taken care of the only spies, and the three units who sent them seemed to get the message and didn’t try again. At least, they didn’t try again that week.

The week ended with a scenario the Instructors ran each squad of Snow Lions through, ten trainees at a time. First, they were ‘sent on a patrol’ to the other end of the gorge, where they would find an ‘injured’ Snow Lion. After notionally treating the nonexistent wounds, the squad would have to carry the injured trainee back to the camp while keeping an eye out for the Instructors and the third-tier mages, who may attack them if they think things aren’t going so well.

For the most part, the Snow Lions did fairly well running this First-Aid course, and afterward, they even had the pleasant surprise of having one of the more powerful first-tier trainees ascend to the second-tier. But Leon knew full well that they still had a long way to go before they were ready to storm the Deathbringers’ tower and retrieve their banner.

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Finally, the day came for the Knight Academy trainees to receive their armor. The other units had to go to the training field for their armor, but the Snow Lions simply returned to their tower, where they found several dozen large boxes waiting for them.

If they hadn’t been accompanied by their Instructors, they would’ve swarmed the boxes in excitement, tearing them open in a manner more reminiscent of a riot than a cohesive unit receiving gear.

Instead, the Instructors had the Snow Lions organize themselves by tier and size, then had the third-tier mages pass out the armor.

As this was only the Knight Academy and not a place that expected to see actual combat, the armor givenout was defective—unfit for any real battle, essentially cobbled together from various bits of armor that had hadn’t come out of the forge intact. As heavy as real armor and good enough protection from training weapons for the Academy’s purposes, but not nearly as expensive or as effective as properly made armor.

But that didn’t stop the armor from looking authentic. Every trainee in the unit was issued a red gambeson for padding, plus metal greaves and a leather bracer for their sword arm. Finally, every trainee was given a skirt made of leather strips to protect their legs from where their greaves ended to the bottom of their torso armor, as well as a simple metal helmet to cover their head but left their faces bare.

However, the armor that covered their torsos differed considerably depending on the trainee’s power and effective rank, despite the rest of their gear being identical. The first-tier trainees were only given a chainmail shirt that covered everything from their upper bodies to just below their hips, plus their arms down to their elbows. The second-tier trainees were given armor made of tiny dark red metal scales, as well as a bright red sash around their waists. The armor given to the third-tier trainees were a series of interlocking metal plates much larger than the scales given to the second-tier trainees which, if the armor hadn’t been defective, would’ve provided a much more robust defense. They were also given black sashes to denote their rank.

This was the typical armor issued to members of the Royal Legion, to ensure that every soldier was both adequately protected—though they could wear custom armor if they could afford it—and could be identified by their rank. Given what they were paid, most knights of the fourth-tier and up could absolutely afford better armor, though they were still required to wear either their sashes or some other highly identifiable marks so their subordinates wouldn’t have trouble distinguishing them from their enemies in the chaos of battle.

Despite normal armor being fairly effective, Leon found himself profoundly disappointed in what he was given. As this armor was defective, it would be returned at the end of the training cycle and he would be issued new armor when his squireship began, but it still represented the quality of what he would gain. And it made him seriously regret not buying armor when he had the chance.

He immediately made the decision to inquire about custom-made armor the next time he was in the city. Given that this was the capital, with both the headquarters of the Royal Legions and a large noble district, there were quite a few armorers around, but when Leon thought of Elise, he smiled and made the only decision he could’ve: he’d go to Heaven’s Eye to get his needed armor commissioned.

It took about twenty minutes for all the trainees to get into their armor. However, there were still several unopened boxes waiting for them. They weren’t filled with food, as Leon had already led a team to fetch their breakfast earlier in the morning.

Castor nodded to several of the waiting second-tier trainees, who immediately opened the boxes. Inside, they found several dozen short bows and hundreds of arrows. Each arrowhead was blunted and had been made with the same white metal as their training weapons, so they knew exactly what they were for.

Both Leon and Castor wore wide smiles when they glanced inside those boxes. They recognized the advantage that range would give them in battle.

“All we lack now are shields…” he muttered just loud enough for the Senior Instructor to hear.

“Those come later when we start running you lot through larger-scale training,” he responded.

Leon and a few second-tier trainees passed out the bows and arrows, and once they were finished, the Snow Lions took off back to their camp.

“First thing first! Who here can shoot a bow?!” asked the Senior Instructor as soon as they returned. Leon smiled and stepped forward, as did about two dozen other trainees, including Castor and ten second-tier trainees. After the Senior Instructor passed them a bundle of training arrows and a bow each, there were still fifteen bows remaining.

“Pick fifteen more,” the Senior Instructor told Castor, “though it hardly matters who, you’ll eventually get enough bows for everyone.”

“Who wants to learn how to shoot?!” shouted Castor to the Snow Lions.

Charles, a second-tier noble named Hostilius, and five more trainees stepped forward. Castor randomly grabbed six more trainees of the second-tier, and the Senior Instructor gave each of them one of the remaining bows and arrow bundles.

Leon, Castor, and the Senior Instructor took over teaching archery to those with bows, while the other two Instructors went with Alphonsus to run the rest of the Snow Lions through some sword drills. The Instructors kept at it for about an hour and a half when they transitioned to teaching the trainees about the actual tactics and formations—most of which included archery—that they would be expected to be familiar with if they were assigned to infantry roles in the Legion.

This meant navigation in harsh environments, marching formations, and quickly establishing a defensive line in case of attack.

For the first three days, it was all archery lessons and tactical theory, but on Thursday, they put that theory into practice.

The exercise was simple: The Snow Lions would ‘patrol’ the gorge, walking from one end to the other, in squads of ten. The Instructors would watch these patrols and offer critique.

Unfortunately for the trainees, a few of the groups were failed by the Instructors during these patrols, usually from being unable to maintain a good marching formation.

Needless to say, the Instructors were fairly harsh with their punishments. The offending trainees couldn’t run the circuit around the tower anymore, so the Instructors had them do squats in full armor while carrying logs or small boulders. Sometimes, if the Instructors felt like it, the trainees would be forced to run around a clearing that had begun forming around the mouth of the cave.

By the time the punishment was over, the trainees would invariably look half-dead.

Castor made great efforts to get the Snow Lions up to snuff, constantly reminding the second-tier trainees of their responsibilities and organizing additional training after the Instructors had left for the day. Leon wasn’t so zealous, but he certainly helped wherever he could in his own subdued way. This mainly manifested in training the first-tier trainees who weren’t running the patrol course in slightly more advanced sword styles and making sure those trainees who wanted to learn the bow were remaining diligent in their practice.

Alphonsus didn’t participate nearly as much as the other two third-tier trainees, but after the first couple of days where he mostly sulked around doing the bare minimum, he started getting used to their new living situation and participating.

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At the same time as the Snow Lions were getting situated, the other nine units were doing largely the same drills, though with a significantly lower intensity. In fact, by the end of the week that the trainees received their armor, the absence of the Snow Lions was no longer something that most of them thought about. The only real reminder they had of it was the sight of the Snow Lion banner rolled up and rather unceremoniously attached to the Deathbringers’ banner upon the wooden platform during morning training.

But a few of the third-tier nobles did miss the Snow Lions. It was only two of them that truly held strong feelings on the subject, though: Valeria and Alcander. Their reasons were basically the same, Valeria missed having someone so close to her own skill level to spar against, while Alcander desperately wanted to duel Leon himself. That Leon refused to skip his enchantment classes made it that much more difficult for the two of them to forget their desires, though Leon would always vanish after the first class of the afternoon which made challenging him somewhat difficult.

Since the Snow Lions were nowhere to be found and the Deathbringers seemed to be in no hurry to find them, the rest of the trainees had started to pay attention to a new source of drama. Over the previous weekend, a trainee in the pointlessly and dramatically named Blood Eagles had started a fight with another trainee from the Black Vipers, Tiberias’ unit. That fight had escalated into a brawl that dragged more than five other trainees from both units into the mix.

There wasn’t any official retaliation from either side since then, but the air between the two units was tense enough that their Instructors and the knights assisting them started putting them right next to each other during morning training to stoke the fires of their conflict.

And those fires grew fast. There would’ve already been fighting had the knights not intervened by telling the units to save it for when training was over.

But since the third-tier nobles who led those units hadn’t escalated the conflict beyond some jokes and friendly teasing about paying a visit to the other’s tower, there hadn’t been much actual progress in the conflict—especially since Tiberias didn’t particularly care about seizing banners.

This certainly wasn’t nearly so dramatic and exciting as the Deathbringers attacking the Snow Lions on the streets of the capital or storming their tower, but it was more immediate, so it easily covered up for the missing Snow Lions.

But just because almost everyone else in the Academy had stopped paying attention to their conflict didn’t mean it was over and done with. Castor, Leon, and Alphonsus met many times to talk about when they would take their revenge against the Deathbringers and steal back their banner.

Alphonsus, for as much as he was getting used to living out in a cave in the Academy’s mountains, wanted to retrieve their banner as soon as possible, then move back into their tower with their honor and dignity restored. Leon and Castor, however, were of slightly different minds. They could see how much improvement the other Snow Lions were making out in the gorge, away from other distractions, and they wanted that to continue. Plus, the Deathbringers would be unable to retaliate against them if they didn’t know where the Snow Lions were, so returning to their tower wasn’t on their minds.

With both of the other third-tier mages advocating for more training and less immediate action, Alphonsus grew frustrated, but he could do nothing except grudgingly accept their decision.

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The second week of Small Unit Tactics started off with a pleasant surprise. When Leon’s group had gone to get Monday’s breakfast, they found a few extra boxes which contained enough bows and training arrows to equip the rest of the Snow Lions, greatly expanding their ranged potential beyond just those who had wanted to learn the bow the week before.

Leon passed out the new bows with a slight smile on his face as soon as his group returned to the gorge, not even waiting until after breakfast. So, in addition to the day’s training of running squad exercises, Leon started organizing everyone to practice their archery skills.

Their more formal training, however, took priority. The Snow Lions had practiced patrols enough that the Instructors saw fit to add in a few new elements to their training, those being a squad-on-squad battle.

Basically, one squad would post up on the other side of the gorge, while the other would launch an attack on them. Given the more competitive nature of these training exercises, the three squads with the third-tier trainees in them could only face other squads with third-tier trainees.

What made Leon happy was the Instructors allowing the third-tier trainees to pick their own squads. Leon filled out his squad with the expected three of Henry, Alain, and Charles, a pair of second-tier trainees named Hostilius and Obellius, and four more first-tier trainees—Theoderic, Matthew, Bohemond, and Martin.

On Monday morning, Leon’s squad was the first to undertake the training exercise as the patrolling squad, while Castor’s squad would defend a position. After they were done, regardless of who won, Leon’s squad would take the defense while Alphonsus would attack. Then Alphonsus would defend while Castor attacked.

And then the squads let by second-tier trainees would cycle through in a similar fashion.

“Everyone ready?” Leon asked, looking to the nine men at his right and left as they prepared to enter the forest in the gorge. Once he got an acknowledgment from everyone, he said, “Then let’s go.”

The squad entered the forest in a loose wedge, with Leon leading the way in the center. Hostilius and Obellius, were on both ends of the line, securing the flanks and making sure no one broke formation.

The squad moved with about five to six feet between each member, allowing them to both cover plenty of ground and to form a defensive line if they felt the need.

But there wasn’t a need; they came within sight of Castor and his squad after about ten uneventful minutes of trudging through the forest in the gorge. Fortunately, Castor’s squad had moved out about twenty minutes beforehand and seemed to have gotten a bit lax and inattentive in that time. Consequently, they didn’t see Leon’s squad approach, giving the attackers time to consider their options.

Leon silently halted his squad behind a line of shrubs big enough to shield them from view.

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Leon whispered, “Obellius, Theoderic, and Henry, you three will be our archers. You will make our first move by shooting as many of Castor’s guys as you can. Try and target the second-tier mages if possible. You can get set up over there.” Leon indicated a small cluster of trees to the side of the shrubs which had a decent line of sight on their target clearing.

When the three Leon singled out nodded back to him, he continued. “Hostilius, you’ll take Alain and Bohemond and fall back a few hundred feet, then swing left and hit them in the flank after the battle begins. Try to stay hidden until things kick off, got it?”

“Got it,” Hostilius muttered. He, Alain, and Bohemond silently ran back into the forest for a ways, then swung left relative to the clearing. Soon, they disappeared from view.

Leon had specifically built his squad for a maneuver just like this. Hostilius had proven himself quite competent in the last two weeks, so Leon put him in charge of the flanking action and gave him two of his strongest first-tier trainees. Obellius, meanwhile, was one of the more proficient archers among the Snow Lions. Leon figured he must have picked up his skills from his childhood in the swampy and densely forested Southern Territories, which had a rich hunting culture among its upper-class residents. Just like Hostilius, Leon put Obellius in charge of two of his better archers.

“And that leaves you three,” Leon said to Charles, Matthew, and Martin. “You’re with me. We’ll form a slanted line and try to keep Castor’s guys in range of the archers and have their backs exposed to Hostilius.”

“We got this,” Charles said with a confident smile.

“Without a doubt,” added Matthew.

Martin simply nodded.

“Then let’s get to it,” said Leon, his face breaking out into a smile of his own.

The four quietly walked around the shrubs they’d been crouched behind and started moving toward Castor’s still-unaware squad. They weren’t too far away, only two hundred feet at the most. They were lax, but it was inevitable that they would see Leon’s oncoming squad; one of Castor’s squad members glanced into the trees, made eye contact with Leon, and began to shout. In response, Leon made a quick hand gesture, signaling his archers to open up.

The armor the trainees were wearing did their jobs; the first three arrows didn’t do much damage and one even bounced right off one of the scale armor of one of Castor’s second-tier mages.

“Those arrows came from over there!” shouted the second-tier mage who had been struck in the chest. It was easy for him to identify where the arrow had come from and made even more so as Leon and his three companions charged into the clearing.

“Don’t just stand there!” shouted Castor, “Get into line and go attack them!” Castor’s men had their own bows, but they were slung over their shoulders; it was clear to Leon that his fellow third-tier mage figured it would be better to get his people moving rather than stop and switch weapons. The next three arrows from Leon’s squad showed him just how bad of an idea that was, stunning two first-tier trainees unconscious and leaving the second-tier Aemilius with a stunned left arm. Fortunately for him, he was right-handed, but the arrows didn’t stop. In addition, Leon and his three squadmates had only moved about forty to fifty feet in their direction then stood and waited. It was clear Leon had no intention of giving Castor the straight fight the noble expected.

“You two! Get out your bows and shoot at them!” Castor shouted at the two nearest first-tier trainees. “Everyone else! Get in line!”

The eight remaining men in his squad scrambled into motion, with six forming a battle line and advancing toward Leon.

Three more arrows hurtled out of the trees, stunning another of Castor’s first-tier trainees.

Castor scowled, then started charging at Leon. It was a short enough distance that he didn’t need to wait for the rest of his squad, so he bolted directly at Leon.

“Hrrah!” he shouted as he stabbed forward at Leon with his arming sword. Leon dodged it with ease, then countered with an upward slash. His attack missed, and the two third-tier mages locked each other down with a series of lightning-fast attacks, feints, and counter-attacks.

The others in Castor’s squad caught up in only a few seconds, and to them, it looked like it would be an easy win. After all, they only had to take out the three first-tier mages at Leon’s side, then eliminate his archers. However, they were so taken with the enemy in front of them that they completely missed Hostilius, Alain, and Bohemond who seemed to appear from nowhere right behind them.

In fact, to Castor’s squad,the three of them had appeared so suddenly that two first-tier trainees were stunned by Alain and Bohemond before they could even react, while the second-tier mage that Hostilius targeted only stayed standing thanks to his armor absorbing Hostilius’ blow.

In that moment of panic that arose from being attacked from behind, Matthew, Martin, and Charles charged in and engaged the rest of Castor’s squadmates. As they did so, the three archers behind them let loose another salvo, stunning the two archers Castor had left behind and hitting Aemilius in the thigh. This additional paralyzed limb left the second-tier mage vulnerable enough that he was dispatched by Charles and Matthew in short order.

With the advantage in both numbers and position, the last two of Castor’s first-tier trainees fell after a brutally short skirmish and left Castor’s last second-tier mage effectively on his own. But that wasn’t to say he was helpless; in fact, Hostilius seemed a little overwhelmed by the man, to the point that he could barely get a hit on him after the first surprise attack.

But, Hostilius wasn’t alone. He was now backed up by five first-tier trainees, who managed to use the second-tier mage’s targeting of Hostilius to their advantage and struck him from all sides in the middle of one of his swings.

Despite his duel with Leon, Castor was able to see his squad fall. He knew he had just lost and there wasn’t much he could do about it. So, he dodged one more of Leon’s strikes by the skin of his teeth and started lowering his sword in surrender.

However, Leon wasn’t the type to stop and wait for his opponent in a fight, so all he saw was Castor lowering his guard. Leon immediately lunged forward and stabbed the other young man in the chest with his training sword. Castor’s armor did its job, though, and he remained on his feet with both eyes open.

“Relax, Leon, I’m beaten!” he shouted before Leon could attack again. Fortunately, this got through to Leon who managed to stop himself despite being halfway through a follow-up strike.

With Castor’s surrender, Leon’s squad had won, not that there was any kind of prize other than bragging rights. The trainees began picking up and carrying the unconscious Snow Lions back to the clearing, where the three instructors had appeared. They had been watching both squads from a distance and had gotten a rough view of both sides’ strengths and weaknesses.

The Instructors began attending to the stunned trainees, whipping out spells that could wake them up. Thanks to their armor, none of them had been hit in vital areas like the spine or the head, so they were easily revived. While they woke themselves up, the Senior Instructor pulled Castor aside so they could have a chat about what he could improve for the next training exercise, such as being more attentive, organized, and to always have at least two or three archers at the ready. He would have a similar talk with Leon when they were done, though there wouldn’t be as much criticism since Leon hadn’t taken a single casualty.

And so, the Snow Lions continued to train, to identify and fix their flaws, and enhance their strengths. It wouldn’t be long before they felt they were ready to launch a retaliatory assault on the Deathbringers and retrieve their stolen banner.