Sally POV

Shit! Shit! Shit!

“You lot are supposed to be warriors and soldiers! WHAT THIS?! KEEP YOUR HEADS DOWN, AND CRAWL!”

That bitch needs to shut the fuck up!

Left knee forward, right knee forward, and then push with your elbows, knees and whole body. It sounded simple when she was explaining 20 minutes ago.

My whole body hurt, as if it had been through a mill. Not even running for hours hurt as much as crawling in mud for 20 minutes. The gear didn’t help either. Who goes to battle wearing 30 kilograms?! The backpack was catching every single thorn on the wire, but it wasn’t the worst offender. It was the stick on my hand. Its shape was weird, it was heavy as heck, and it was cumbersome to carry. Yet, we would go through hell if we moved more than a meter away from it.

I knew it was going to be hard before I joined up, and I wasn’t disappointed. I wish I was, though. I would rather not be crawling in mud under barbed wire, with a bitch shouting in my ear. Worst part was that she had made us make the ground muddy. Last week had been a dry one, so she had us line up in full gear and buckets, march to the river, which was 2km north, and come back with water. Anyone who spilled too much water, or didn’t march in step had to go again until they had done it to her liking. It was that very water which we poured here that made the earth muddy.

“What do you think you are doing, Recruit Sally?! GET UP AND RUN! HEY, YOU! Recruit Colin, why did you stop there? No, recruit, I don’t give a fuck whether you want it or not! JUMP OR I’LL COME THERE AND PUSH YOU DOWN MYSELF!”

I felt a hand yank me up from the ground. It was Auda, Drill Sergeant Auda. I started to run in the mud after stabilizing myself on my 2 feet. In my thoughts and exertion, I had continued to crawl even after the barbed wire section had ended. I ran forward, still caked in mud and sweat, but not for long. I reached the beginning of the last section of the obstacle course. Swimming section.

First, I had to climb a thick rope. It wasn’t supposed to be hard, as it was only 6 meters high. But it was almost as hard as the crawling part, since I had to climb while wearing a 30 kg backpack and carrying a 5 kg stick. Thankfully, the weapon shaped stick had a strap, which was connected to the vest that was given to us a week ago, along with the stick. I tightened the strap until I couldn’t anymore, which meant that it was securely tied to me, even if I let it go from my hands. I began to climb, under the constant shouts of Auda, and the grunts of my fellow tortured recruits.

I couldn’t feel my thighs anymore. They were hurting badly from all the crawling and running, but this one was especially hard on them, as I had to squish the rope with my thighs while I dragged myself up. At least, nothing was chafing. Couple days after I notified Lieutenant Reba of the issue, she introduced us to our new uniforms. Expanding on what I had told her, everywhere that could possibly chafe now had a thin cotton lining. It helped with sweat absorption, too. Also, new uniforms had its knees and elbows reinforced with orc leather.

There was one more person there when I reached the platform. It was Colin, who still hadn’t jumped to the pool. Idiot.

“Come on Colin! If you don’t jump she is going rip all of our ears. Jump!”

His legs were shaking, just like his ears. Was he afraid of heights? But Sergeant had asked us about that, and he had been silent back then.

“I-I can’t s-swim.”

“Wait, wasn’t your village on the river banks? How do you not swim?! O shit, look Sergeant Auda is coming! Hold your breath!”

I caught his vest and dragged him off the edge with myself. 3 seconds later, I realized that I might have made a mistake. The pool was only 2 meters deep, and everyone knew it, as it had been us who had filled the 15 meter long pool a week ago. There was no chance of drowning, as even if you couldn’t swim, you could breathe by jumping a little.

“Calm down! Calm the fuck down idiot!”

He was squirming like a squirrel, drowning. I had thought he would be able to swim once in the shallow and dirty water, but he was panicking. I had no choice but to drag him to finish line. Grasping him by the vest, I pulled his head out of water, allowing him to take a deep breath. I managed to reach the end of the pool by half swimming-half hopping, and Colin hadn’t made it any easier. He was still panicking, and had made me swallow more than one gulp of dirty water. I pushed us both out of the water, and began drawing deep breaths.

I was looking at the Sergeant’s feet when I stopped gagging. I was on the ground, with all limbs resting on floor.

“What the fuck is wrong with you two, Recruits?! Tomorrow’s free hour is cancelled for you two. Both of you are to run this course again after everyone leaves. Understood?!”

“YES SIR!”

“Did you understand, Recruit Colin?!”

“y-YES SIR!”

Idiot had finally stopped panicking enough to answer. Yes, it had been a mistake for me to drag him into the water. Now, I had lost my only reprieve from the torture, my free time. Couple seconds later, other recruits also finished their training for the day.

We lined up at the entrance of the course for the second time, but now, dirtier. Everyone’s vests and suits were wet and muddy. Even the colors of the leather coated wooden helmets that they had given us had changed from green to brown.

“That’s enough, Recruits. Now, shower and change. I want you all in the classroom in 1 hour.”

“YES SIR!”

Finally, the torture session had ended, and the free hour had started. We only had to shower and eat in this one hour, and nothing else. Entirety of the remaining time could be allocated by us as we see fit. Not that there was much to do.

After that, we marched back to the barracks. It might have been free time, but it had been made clear to us that we were to march whenever we were in large groups.

3 minutes later, we reached our barracks. It was made to hold 40 elves at, so it was a bit roomy for our group of 28. We had 2 more initially, but one left as he couldn’t deal with the pressure. Other one, one of the 4 boys, had been forced to leave after it was discovered that his body was incompatible with the normal healing potion. During our first aid class, we had learned that it was very rare situation; about 1 in 500 elves had it. It wasn’t that they couldn’t drink healing potion at all, but the default recipe didn’t suit them. They had to order special potions from the Alchemists, and it cost little more. It wasn’t a big deal for anyone else, except soldiers, as we had to standardize everything as much as possible.

I took my spare uniform from the racks at the back of the room, where the cleaners placed fresh ones, and made my way towards the bathing area. I needed bath time before anything else, we all needed it.

The bathing area was large building with 3 interconnected rooms. We dressed in one of them, and bathed in another. The last one was a large steam room, something called ‘sauna’. Another one of the human’s inventions. Sergeant Auda had told us that it was enjoyable, and good for the skin. We were allowed inside, but not many still used it after what happened last week, when Auda made us march inside and sit for half an hour in full gear and a cloth face covers.

Almost half of the platoon was already here when I entered the first room. The females and a single male were in various states of undress, but no-one was sending a single glance or spoke a single sentence for that matter. For one, we had changed together like this for 2 weeks now, and second, I was not sure that they could do anything even if there was intent. Everyone should be as tired as I am, if not more. About third of us had already reached Tier 2, and the rest wasn’t much behind. They had given everyone an entire pouch filled with Tier 1 cores, and told us to swallow one as often as we could. Tier 2 cores were much rarer, but everyone at the same Tier got one every 3 days. I was one of these fresh Tier 2s. I wonder how Galdwin will react when he sees me, now in the same tier.

Done with the stripping, I moved on to the second room. The room had 2 parts. One side had water dropping from the ceiling like a waterfall. Other one was a giant tub, faced with wood. Even how to bathe had been instructed to us, as if we were little kids. I had no right to complain, as I was glad for it. I wouldn’t have wanted someone caked in mud to enter the tub while I was inside.

I walked to the shower area, and found a small spot with no elves. Workers had dug and buried a cement pipe from the stream a km away to the boot camp. Shower, bathtub, and the hundred different faucets in the facility were all fed from it. I reached for the newest creation of the Alchemist; the white and soft bar of soap. Unlike the normal soaps, it was gentle on the skin, and had a nice smell to it. When I asked, Sergeant told to me that it was for soldiers only for now, and that it was going to go for sale at the village in mid spring at the latest. It would have been great if I had any way to inform Mum about it, so she could start saving some money to buy it for the inn.

Scrubbing and washing myself took 3 minutes, but my hair delayed me by a whole 10. Untangling and washing the mess was a horror show. Perhaps I should have accepted it when I was offered to cut it shorter upon reaching the camp for the first time. My hair was at the maximum length allowed, any longer and it would give me problems tying it to a bun. I had to do it whenever I was training, or it would get tangled in equipment otherwise.

I started to hear slapping noises upon exiting the shower. And it got stronger while I made my way to the bathtub, and entering it. I finally lifted my head to see Colin fucking one of the girls, doggy style.

“Oi, Leatherboy, go fuck in the showers! No-one wants you to dirty the water.”

“Shut up Sally, I am too tired walk. Water circulates, right? It should be fine.”

It was the girl that whined. Yet, Colin decided to take charge for once, and lifted the girl by coiling her legs to his arms. She carried her to the showers with his dick still inside, fucking all the way till showers. Atta boy.  

Monk_Origins

This chapter was supposed to contain Lloyd demonstrating them the firearm, but I reached the 1800 world limit I had set to myself before that. :/ Never forget to <3