5 Suiting Up

"Hey you little brat, why are you not even wearing armor? I do not recognize you, but we have plenty of armor for you to wear since you seem old enough to hold a short sword properly. Hurry up and head towards the militia hall so that you can properly be prepared for tonight!"

To Leo's surprise, there were about fifty militia men covered in worn out armor around him preparing themselves for the wave of monsters at nightfall. The older man seemed experienced and was rather disappointed that Leo was delaying so much.

Upon entering the small hall, Leo saw many teenagers and kids his age suiting up in armor and grabbing spears and short swords. Helping all of them, were the older women of the village while the younger girls were concentrating on taking care of those under what seemed to be children under the age of ten.

"Hey you brat, I do not care how scared you are of tonight's attack. It is part of your job as a citizen of this village to protect the women and children as us adults battle the wave of monsters in the front lines!"

Walking over to Leo, was a man with an eye patch covering one of his eyes. This man was extremely muscular, but did not have the same heroic aura he felt when looking at those other guard's master.

"Do not worry, it is very unusual for even a single one of those monsters to reach the inside of this building during a monster wave. Just suit up and make sure that you have a proper weapon and you should find yourself surviving very easily."

"Plus, you will have the older teens taking the lead if a monster just so happens to sneak by."

Leo now understood just how terrifying these monster waves were to a village of this size. For a village to implement giving armor to ten year old children and weapons just to ensure survival, was not something that was done, unless there truly was a high level of danger.

"Oh little one, you do not need to listen to that brute. Just come over here and I will make sure to give you proper equipment, just promise this aunt that you will protect her. Deal?"

Walking over to Leo and grabbing his hand, a middle aged woman started to pull him towards her small table that had equipment scattered all over it. Within just a few minutes, Leo now had a full set of worn out armor and a leather cap on. The middle aged woman also gave him a short sword.

"Now now, look how strong you appear to be. If you pretend to be a strong warrior, your presence alone might scare away any monsters that appear!"

Chuckling, the middle aged woman showed Leo an image of himself. Though he looked like a terribly poor mercenary, he still accepted all of the equipment before heading into a small corner. He would be a fool to not accept free equipment, since his only objective was survival right now.