"Let's proceed to your plan and deploy mercenaries to the boundaries around the town."

I'm glad that he agreed without any issues.

"Thanks for your cooperation, Leal."

He shook his head. "It's part of our deal, so I have to." He walked towards the door and opened it before looking back at me. "Let me show you the recruits. All of them will be more than delighted to show you how much they have grown."

I stood up and followed him out. As we walked outside the mansion, the trainees were still there. As we walked towards them, I saw Kuro standing in front of them with another man wearing a butler suit.

Leal raised his hand. "Casimir is here to check on you."

At once, all the trainees bent their waists and bowed before me, with such grace that I almost forgot that they were covered in mud. "Greetings, Lord Casimir."

I raised my hand. "Yo."

"This is the current batch of trainees we have. There were supposed to be 124 of them, but some couldn't make it and decided to quit after a week of training, which is completely understandable. Perhaps, they didn't expect that the training would be that hard. As of now, there are 86 of them." Leal pointed his hand at the trainees. "These ones were the toughest ones on their batch, they are still under training, but each of them has already proven that they have what it takes to serve under you as your extended shadow and will do everything to fulfill whatever your order is."

Wow, that honestly sounds impressive.

"Good." I shifted my gaze towards the trainees. "I'm looking forward to all of your outstanding performances."

"We will never disappoint you, Lord Casimir!"

What's up with the people calling me lord Casimir now? I thought that way of addressing me is just a thing to the Spriggan faction, however, before I knew it, more and more people started to call me that way.

"You may take your rest now. Go wash and change before going home." Kuro ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am Kuro!"

All at once, all the trainees walked towards the mansion to clean their muddy bodies, however, one of them stayed and ran towards me.

"Boss!" Japheth stopped a meter away from me.

His body was full of mud, I could no longer recognize what was the original color of the T-shirt and pants he was wearing due to the mud stuck all over them, but I could clearly see his dark gray hair and wolf ears. He's flashing a big smile.

I smiled back. "Oh, isn't it Japheth? You're still here? And I thought you were one of the trainees who decided to quit."

He scratched the back of his head. "That's harsh, boss."

I chuckled. "You know that I was just kidding. I always knew that you would make it the moment I saw you in the training camp. Keep up the good work, I can't wait to work with you soon, Japheth."

A huge smile emerged on his face and immediately stood up straight. "I will and I won't disappoint you."

"I know. But for now, go wash because you stink."

He chuckled, but suddenly, he stopped and just stared at me.

"Why?"

"Nothing, it's just you look different today, are you sick, boss?"

I shook my head. "Don't worry, I'm not. Now go there and join your colleagues."

"I understand." He immediately ran and followed the others, I just watched him until he disappeared from the crowd.

"Of all the trainees in this batch, he's the one who has got the most potential."

I stared at Leal beside me. "Really?"

"But I don't want it to go to his head so I will never tell him. He has the needed dedication and power to back him up, even I was surprised at how eager he is to become strong and before we knew it, he's already the best of his batch without competition."

"I just heard that he's doing good in training, but I never knew that he's already the best of his batch."

Leal smiled. "Of course, just like what I said, we will never tell it to him or anyone else but you. To be honest, I thought he would be one of the first who would quit due to how easygoing and young he is. From what I heard, he is just 14 years old. At first, he seemed like he had no plan in mind and just decided to join the Marionette corps because we're recruiting, and joining the training camp for the sake of fun was not a big deal, especially when you could easily quit when you got bored. We mistook his passion for something that it wasn't, but he proved to us his determination to become someone he wants to be. As of now, he's still not a strong force to be feared of." He stared at me. "However, I can recognize potential when I see one. He is what it looks like of how terrifying an inspiration can affect the growth of someone, he has a clear goal in mind and he is determined to realize it no matter what."

Japheth has people with him that he wants to protect, that may be his goal. He wants to become stronger to protect them. If becoming a mercenary is the way he's seeing to achieve that goal, then I have no problem with it.

"Seeing him determined to grow is not surprising, he went through a lot of shits, so it's understandable to see him like this."

Leal chuckled. "He reminds me of someone who gave off the same first impression in me before. Easygoing and seems like an unreliable person. But before I knew it, they were already proving themselves to be more than worthy of the things they wanted to achieve. Both of them haven't proved anything worth noting yet, but I know they will. I can feel it and I hope they won't disappoint me."

I stretched my arms. "You have a very high standard for the things you can consider as worthy. So, all I can say is, good luck to both of them."

"You should get some rest, you look exhausted."

I shifted my gaze towards Leal while bending my arms. "I will. Maybe after I'm done with this."

He nodded. "I highly recommend it."