Chapter 55: 28.2

Chapter 28-2: Kingdom-wide Conscription (2)

Erwin could still clearly recall all of his matches from the Pillow Sword Tournament, so he had a vivid recollection of Lanyon's powers. Of course, what was most memorable about Lanyon to him was his appearance. The Pillow Sword Tournament was a tournament exclusively for students attending advanced academies, so it had come as quite a surprise to see a middle-aged participant in the tournament.

In reality, Lanyon was only 25 years of age, so he was far from a middle-aged man. His appearance was a little mature, but that was solely dictated by genetics, and there wasn't anything he could do about it. With Erwin picking him out from the crowd, his status as a middle-aged man suddenly became acknowledged as the undeniable truth.

"Master Erwin, we came here specifically for you," Lanyon said with a smile, clearly completely unoffended by Erwin's joke. The group of people behind Lanyon immediately put on serious expressions and extended respectful bows toward Erwin.

Thus, Erwin and Lanyon chatted for a while, and after learning Lanyon's true age, Erwin couldn't help but lament the cruelty of the passage of time. For some reason, it was picking on Lanyon and seemingly making him age faster than others!

During their conversation, Erwin learned that Lanyon and his group came from Jooloo Academy in the province of Fooz, an academy that he had never heard of before, and he couldn't help but wonder how such an unknown academy had been permitted to recommend students to the Pillow Sword Tournament.

Lanyon explained that Jooloo Academy was an academy founded by Governor Jenkins for the children of mine workers who had passed away on duty. All food, accommodation, and tuition costs were covered by the department of finance of Fooz, and only then was Erwin made aware of the fact that hundreds of mine workers passed away each year in the mines of Fooz. With the main breadwinners of these families gone, they wouldn't have sufficient income to support their children's tuition. After hearing what Lanyon had to say, it was no wonder to Erwin that Governor Jenkins was able to hold down his position as the governor of Fooz for so many years. It was clear that he had done many things to serve the people of Fooz, thereby making him a popular figure among the masses there.

Lanyon also told Erwin that even though the students from their academy all came from humble upbringings, they were prepared to work hard and were far more conscientious than the average student from noble backgrounds. Thus, regardless of whether it came to martial techniques or magic, their abilities definitely weren't going to be inferior to those of the students from renowned academies for nobility in Sarus.

Erwin had no doubt that Lanyon was telling the truth, but he still told Lanyon that all those who wanted to join their mercenary legion had to pass their examination.

Lanyon wasn't expecting any special treatment from Erwin anyway, and he told Erwin that he and his friends were more than willing to undergo the examination.

Through their conversation, Erwin discovered that just like his appearance, Lanyon had a sense of maturity and levelheadedness that was beyond his years, presumably due to the fact that he had gone through more hardships than others throughout his life. Furthermore, the fact that so many people were willing to follow him clearly meant that there was something special about him.

In addition to being the deputy commander of the Four Winds mercenary legion, Erwin was also the commander of the legion's magicians, and he thought to himself, Sherry is a skilled martial artist, so when we go into battle in the future, he'll definitely be leading our troops from the front. In that case, I'll have to arrange some people that answer exclusively to me among the magicians in the back. Seeing as Lanyon already holds a great deal of respect for me, why don't I make him my deputy?

After that, Erwin caught sight of another familiar figure, namely the assassin whom Princess Onean had fought against during the first round.

Erwin no longer remembered his name, but he still had a clear recollection of what he looked like. In particular, the pair of black crescent daggers that he had used during the match had left a strong impression on Erwin.

At this moment, Larwood also made his way over to Erwin to look at the assassin with an intrigued expression.

The assassin's appearance was quite youthful, so it seemed that he was even younger than Erwin and his friends.

It was clear that he had never been stared at so openly by a pair of men before, and he lowered his head, feeling a little shy and uneasy.

"Your name is Georgina?" Larwood asked in a quiet voice as he looked at the registration form that he was holding.

"Yes." The assassin's voice was very clear and pleasant to the ears.

Larwood gave Erwin a meaningful look, and Erwin made his way over to Larwood with a perplexed expression to look at the registration form. Larwood had confirmed Georgina's name very quietly, so Erwin hadn't heard him. Now that he had taken a look at the form and discovered the assassin's name to be Georgina, he couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Georgina?" Erwin was doubled over with mirth as he turned to look at the assassin. "How do you have a name like Georgina when you're built like a tree?"

Larwood tapped Georgina's chest with the registration form in his hand as he chuckled, "Look at these pecs! How is your name Georgina?"

Georgina's face had become quite flushed from being teased by Erwin and Larwood.

Georgina's steed was a rare unicorn, and it seemed to have sensed its owner's discomfort as it suddenly reared up onto its hind legs and threw its head back as it neighed to the heavens. Both Erwin and Larwood were given quite a fright, thinking that they were about to be attacked by the unicorn.

Georgina hurriedly rushed over to his steed and began stroking its name in a comforting manner. "It's alright, Momo, we're just having a laugh together."

The unicorn quickly calmed down, but there was still a menacing look in its eyes as it exhaled loudly in Erwin and Larwood's direction, as if it were issuing them a warning.

Erwin and Larwood's smiles had completely faded at this point. They didn't think that the unicorn would have such a short temper.

"Wow, that's quite a scary ride you have there," Larwood remarked.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Georgina hurriedly apologized.

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Larwood and Erwin certainly weren't so petty that they would hold a grudge over something like this. They exchanged a silent glance, and both of them decided to recruit Georgina so that they could continue making fun of him in the future. Of course, that was only a minor factor of consideration. The main reason they wanted to recruit Georgina was naturally for the skills that he had displayed during his match against Princess Onean.

"Which academy are you from?" Larwood asked.

"Pucil Academy," Georgina replied.

Pucil Academy and Teedus Academy were the two academies in Sarus that had the most stringent requirements when it came to their students' upbringing.

With that in mind, it was clear that Georgina came from quite a privileged background as well, so it was no wonder that Georgina had such a rare steed in the form of Momo the unicorn. However, what was rather perplexing to them was why he had come to join their mercenary legion rather than have his family arrange a role for him in the military. 

Georgina could also see the unspoken question in Erwin and Larwood's eyes, and he offered an explanation.

As it turned out, Georgina's family was going through quite a rough time. His father was a viscount, but he squandered away all of his wealth in order to fuel a severe gambling addiction. After that, he contracted a lung disease and didn't have money for treatment, so he passed away, leaving Georgina and his mother to fend for themselves.

Disgraced nobles like them naturally no longer had any wealth or connections left, so it would be virtually impossible to convince someone to arrange a role for Georgina in the military.

Erwin and Larwood were feeling quite sorry for Georgina after hearing his life story, and they decided that perhaps it wouldn't be a good idea to make fun of him in the future. Having said that, Erwin and Larwood had heard stories about many noble families who fell into ruin due to a variety of different reasons. Perhaps in the eyes of many of the common folk, Georgina's family was still doing quite well. After all, the grass always seemed to be greener on the other side.

However, Georgina was able to tell his life story in a very calm and indifferent manner, so it seemed that he was completely unfazed by the hardships of life.

Larwood patted Georgina on the shoulder as he said, "Best of luck with the examination. If you pass, we'll go into battle together to strip the Skycourt Kingdom's soldiers of their wealth."

Georgina nodded in response.

Only after hearing Larwood wish Georgina good luck did Erwin recall that Larwood hadn't seen Georgina's match against Princess Onean. In his opinion, Georgina was at least just as capable a martial artist as Larwood.

...

After a careful tally, Chase discovered that over 800 people had come to register. Among them were roughly 600 martial artists, and their examinations were to be conducted by Larwood, Kaiba, Chase, and Sherry. As for the remaining magicians, of which there were over 200, they were going to be selected exclusively by Erwin.

After some discussion between Erwin and the others, it was decided that they were going to recruit around 150 magicians. As such, Erwin was only going to have to eliminate 50 to 60 registrants, thereby making his job much easier than that of his friends.

He split up all of the magicians into a few groups, then pitted them against each other in an impromptu round-robin tournament, eliminating the worst-performing participants in all of the groups until there were only 150 left. Thus, his work was done by the time nighttime arrived. Over on Larwood's side, all of the martial artists had also been split up into groups, but there were too many of them, so it looked like it was going to take another half a day to complete the selection process.

Erwin spent the entire afternoon observing the top few magicians from each group, and he had a rough idea of who the best magicians of the bunch were. Lanyon and his group did indeed perform quite well, with all of them ending up in the top few spots in their respective groups. The only downside to them was that their equipment was a little shabby.

Erwin informed the remaining 150 magicians of the time for assembly the next day, then allowed everyone to leave, but he asked Lanyon to stay behind.

"Come grab some dinner with me and my friends. You can get your friends to return to the city first," Erwin said as he looked at Lanyon.

Lanyon nodded in response. He knew the purpose behind Erwin's actions, and he did as he was told, telling his friends to return to the city without him.

Meanwhile, the selection process on Larwood's side was still progressing rather slowly, not just because of the large number of martial artist applicants, but also due to the fact that none of the examiners were particularly hard-working and efficient people. In the afternoon, Kaiba was the first one to request a break, citing exhaustion as the reason. Not long after that, Chase also said that he needed a rest. Thus, Larwood and Sherry were the only two who persevered until nighttime.

After completing the selection process on his end, Erwin set off to look for Chase and Kaiba, upon which he discovered that the two of them were chatting with one another while lying on a haystack in the horses' stable.

"I should've known you two were slacking off! Let's go back to the city to get some dinner," Erwin said in a disgruntled voice as he pulled the two of them to their feet.

Chase stood up before taking a look, and he gave a despondent groan upon realizing that there were still around 100 to 200 applicants that had to be eliminated.

After a brief discussion, everyone decided that they were unwilling to continue the selection process through the night, so as the legion commander, Larwood could only announce to all of the remaining applicants to return the next day to continue the selection process.

That night, Chase used up the last bit of money he had to treat everyone to a good dinner. Aside from Erwin and his three friends, Sherry, Lanyon, and Georgina were also seated at the same table. After having a few drinks, everyone began to state their ambitions and their visions for the future, developing a deeper bond in the process.

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