Chapter 57 - Guard Duty

Although that only happened a few times, Zaos's actions caught the attention of Elius. It wasn't that surprising, even though Zaos never let him see the plants he gathered. Regardless, the objective of that whole trip was to test all the newcomers' physical strength and willpower, so as long as Zaos isn't caught by the second group, Elius couldn't complain.

That being said, the other noble kids grew wary of Zaos. His actions were too weird, and he was standing out from Elius's perspective, and that wasn't a good thing. Adding all that to the fact that he belonged to a family that directly served the king, at the end of the day, not a single person aside from Drannor tried to talk with him.

Regardless, Zaos thought some kids would fall on the first day, but his predictions were way off the mark. While that was the first time these kids have been using armor and carrying a real weapon, they had to work before, and thus, they had some stamina.

In the end, the group led by Elius only stopped moving when the sun was setting. Much to everyone's surprise, Elius decided to stop in the middle of nowhere, as if that wasn't bad enough. There were no tents for them to use. Some people had them, but only because they brought those with them.

While most kids were moaning in pain since they were suffering a lot due to muscle pain, the few real soldiers in that group were distributing the food, which was essentially a single cup of water and one big, but very hard bread. Even Zaos felt like complaining since he was a kid who until now only had to eat the best food the people of the kingdom could afford thanks to his family. Still, Zaos didn't complain, but Drannor was sighing every time he finished munching a new piece of the bread.

There wasn't much to taste in that meal, so Zaos quickly finished it and then resumed what he was doing before the meal: cleaning his gear. Since they stopped at noon but didn't have time to do anything else aside from eating, a lot of dirt had become impregnated in his armor, and cleaning that would take some time.

"I have to do that as well, huh…" Drannor said and then sighed again.

Although he complained, Zaos noticed that Drannor knew how to do that. His father taught him well, even though he was such a slacker. After the meal was over, Elius joined the other soldiers to check the perimeter. While they weren't that far away from the capital, it looked like they needed to keep some level of caution. Regardless, they finished the job rather quickly and even managed to create some campfires around the place. Some recruits tried to warm themselves near those, but Elius stopped them.

"If you are a soldier, you need to make your own camp," Elius said. "There is plenty of wood around and the other tools necessary to create a campfire. Those are for the people who will stay on guard duty. Come over here, rich boys. Today is your turn."

As expected, most of the kids near Zaos and Drannor grunted in annoyance. It looked like they wouldn't have much of an easy time. Fortunately, Zaos had just finished his cleaning and didn't try to relax yet. Otherwise, he would have given Elius the excuse that he wanted to shout in his ears.

"On the battlefield while some rest at night, others stay on guard duty to prevent attacks, there is nothing worse for an army than being attacked while they are resting," Elius said. "That is why you will watch over the area while you stay near these campfires."

It was probably another test, and Zaos couldn't help but worry since he was a kid who liked to sleep quite a lot. While he had some energy left, he wasn't sure if he would be able to keep up until morning and endure another day of walks. Regardless, there were eighteen kids there, but the number of campfires was six. So, it wasn't a job he had to do alone.

"You are one, you are two and you are three…" Elius said and then a number from one to six to all the kids. "Those who received the number one will guard this place, the number two will guard there and so on. Your job is to make sure that no one strange will approach the camp. If someone infiltrates this place from the area you are guarding, your entire group will fail."

Zaos was a member of the first group. His temporary partners were two brown-haired boys who were having a hard time keeping their eyes open… they sure were sleepy. As for Drannor, he was part of the second group, and he would have to work alone with some tall kids who were making some difficult expressions… it was hard to say if they were tired or angry.

Elius immediately left without telling anything else. As expected, the boys will have to use their heads to ensure that they will have a decent amount of sleep while making sure that they won't fail. The boys looked at each other, wondering about what they should do. While they were also members of some noble families, they didn't feel like ordering or telling their opinions to Zaos.

"You two look tired," Zaos said. "You should rest for the time being and I will make sure to keep an eye on our surroundings. After a few hours, I will call one of you to assume guard duty."

"You are… Zaos, right?" One of the boys asked. "Are you sure this is a good idea? Maybe the lieutenant wants all of us to stay on guard duty at the same time."

"I don't think that is the case since he said that we will only fail if someone invades the camp in the area we are supposed to guard," Zaos said. "Since we will be disqualified together if we fail, it should be fine if we divide the work."