The aftermath of a battle was still part of the battle… that was why no one said anything about Hei helping the kid who was being whipped. With the exception of a few short breaks to have a nice meal, Aleph worked until night,

During the day, he considered the merits and demerits of joining a group… first of all, he would have the chance to train as much as he wanted and also obtain some fighting experience by training with others. There was a limit to how much he could learn by being self-taught and swinging a club at nothing.

The demerits were that he would have to follow the group for a while and follow orders, and the idea of things going exactly the way he wanted in a mercenary group seemed laughable. Since he was a kid, he would also have to prove himself for quite a while. Some people would also know his current level of strength, and who could tell if everyone in the group would be a true ally?

“I would rather work in the wild and keep everything secret, but… is that the best option? Is it the most efficient and quickest method to become strong enough to do what I want?”

Aleph couldn't tell. Without experiencing both sides of the coin and without anyone to give him some insights, he could only trust his guts. Still, he decided to take his chances because the time to take risks was when he was young. The later a person makes mistakes, the more they affect that person…

After the allies' bodies had been cremated and the wounds had been mostly looked after at night, the soldiers returned to their own camps to celebrate their victories. The camp now had around two hundred people. Somehow, half of them were still fine, and the other camps looked much worse.

As Aleph approached the commander's Tent, he found some smaller ones being used by the former slaves. They were eating while looking around, waiting for all that to end and for the true colors of the people around to be shown. Such was the level of their suspicions and trauma.

Hei was drinking in his Tent and by the smell of it, it was alcohol. He still looked fine since he wasn't drinking his bottle like it was water. At times like that, the commander should be celebrating with his underlings, but it seemed that he had a lot of thinking to do.

“You have come. I take it that you decided to accept my offer because you want to make sure that the kids are looked after well. You can rest easy since we lost a lot of manpower, and we need to at least find more manpower for non-fighting activities. They will be paid accordingly, and they will be treated well.”

“I actually came to accept your offer and work for your group for a while.”

“... I expected that you would. I shared what happened with my friend that you saw earlier. He realized that there was something a bit different with you and also offered you to join them. His group does a lot less fighting and tasks related to that. They serve as bodyguards and even temporary defense forces for those who can pay for their services.”

“What about your group?”

“We do a little bit of everything. We have a territory of our own where we use the downtime between battles to build our strength, prepare our resources, and rest as well. It is like a proper territory with a large farms and everything.”

“What am I going to do there?”

“You can do as you see fit as long as you don't cause trouble and answer the call when the time comes for the next battle. Still, money comes easier to the tasks that need priority. Farm work, guard duty, occasional jobs outside are things that you should be expecting.”

“That looks like it will be better for me.”

Another factor that made Aleph decide on that path was the chance to learn more about the world at his own pace. Getting involved in fights all the time before building his strength properly might not be the best idea…, but the second option seemed more efficient for what he had in mind as well.

“All right then, welcome aboard. We usually don't recruit anyone under fifteen, but you might fool people with your calm demeanor. We will depart tomorrow morning; rest properly. There are plenty of free tents outside; choose any of them you want.”

Aleph nodded and then left the commander's Tent. As he did that, he saw the other kids paying attention to him. It was hard to say what had happened to the others, but he couldn't count more than forty of them.

“... They will have to look out for themselves now… we all will have to since things are supposed to be improving from now on. Regardless… tomorrow things will start earlier once again, so I should get as much rest as possible.”

As he looked for a tent, Aleph confirmed the obvious… the kids were all shaking and having a hard time falling asleep. They saw a bunch of corpses, after all. While they were all orphans, they hadn't seen the results of war so close to them.

Aleph was the same, but while he saw war closer than them, he still didn't feel that much bothered. There was something fundamentally different with him. Perhaps wrong was the best option instead of different. Either way, his behavior certainly was abnormal…

In any case, Aleph decided to take the first free tent he found, and he also found some rations in it. For the first time in his life, he went to bed feeling like his belly was about to burst. He had no idea when he would have the chance to eat freely like that, so he decided to stack up the calories for the sake of the future.

When morning came, Aleph realized that while he couldn't train until he reached their next destination, he could still use his trait and level it up along the way. He never thought that he would have the chance to do that effectively since he always had to work, or so he assumed before. Regardless, he could hurt himself and then recover during the day.

“The previous owner of the tent left some clothes and knives here… they will be useful with that in mind.”

Aleph didn't hesitate in cutting his right hand with one of the knives… a lot of blood began to fall from it, but soon the wound closed. Thanks to that, he lost around ten percent of his health. He covered the wound with a piece of clean cloth and then prepared to dismount the Tent.

“Showing this to others will make them think that there is something wrong with me, but keeping my fist clenched should keep the wound from hurting and preventing it from healing completely. This definitely will make people avoid interacting with me… I really should be cautious about this.”

When morning came, the entire camp had been raised, but the other camps of the other groups were still there and would remain for a while longer.

The camp's supplies, such as tents, weapons, tools, and rations, were being transported on several wagons, but Aleph decided to keep some of the stuff to add to his weight so that he could exercise.

The wounded were also being transported in some wagons, but their numbers had halved overnight thanks to the work of the healers. Aleph was starting to think that his trait was pretty good since he could recover from any kind of wound in half a day, as long as he had enough nutrients in his body.

Regardless, considering their movement speed, it didn't look like their destination was that far away… perhaps three to five days away from the front lines. Aleph never had the chance to travel, so he got curious about what he was going to see… he found nothing aside from hills, grass, and the occasional tree.

“I wonder what I was expecting. Anyway, I have a lot of time to think without having to worry about anything, so I guess I should make the most of this while planning for the future.”

Aleph had no idea how long he would work for Hei and his mercenary group, but he would probably be fine if he planned with a short future in mind, like six months. Depending on the result of his training and life from now on, he might make some big adjustments, so it is better to focus on the simple things.

“I guess this will do… and this will do it as well. After that, I just need to chop a tree and make another wooden club.”

Aleph found some nice rocks along the way. They were pretty round and heavy, so they would help him with this strength and finesse training. For now, he decided to store them in his backpack and wait until night to use them properly. Still, even when night came, they kept marching.