When it was morning, a man came shouting into our room. His hair was completely white showing his old age, and he wore an eyepatch on his left eye. His uniform looked rugged, and was colored a dark red with highlights of white. Everyone got up, annoyed, but I knew that I have to be obedient and observant if I want any chance of protecting what’s most important to me: my friends. 

Which is why I woke up early and took the leisure of looking out the window for a while. It seemed we were in the castle but our room was situated near the wall, where most people traveled from east to west. How did I know which direction is north? Well, I had my mobile phone which was about to die, so I opened up the compass app and noted the direction. 

Although what I have isn’t really correct, since it isn’t what’s known as ‘True North’. Compared to ‘True North’ which points to the geographic location of the north pole on earth, the magnetic north can change based on the shift of magnetic fields. Nonetheless it doesn’t deny the usefulness of knowing which way is north. But this doesn’t mean that this world would follow the same convention, then again this information is only for my own use. 

If I had to summarize the information I saw, it’d have to be:

• Logistics: It wasn’t advanced at all. They used horse carts which are extremely slow compared to the transportation in our world. What I’m probably looking at is the best case scenario since I’m in the royal palace. The situation is probably worse outside here. This is probably why they summoned us. They can’t really do prolonged wars with supply lines like this. It’s cheaper to have a smaller squad they can deploy wherever, rather than have armies.

• Slavery: As I expected, it seemed that there was a system of slavery placed in this world. Although the minority group that was exploited was a bit shocking to me to say the least. It was a group of people who I could only describe as sub-human. They had a variety of animal-like features. Some looked more human than others. But they were all used as slaves here. Mostly used to do labor to carry things and serve things. 

• Nobility: I’m not exactly sure if they’re nobility, but there definitely was a class system. There seemed to be people who were higher on the hierarchy than the others. And they didn’t hold back with their orders either. They were pretty brutal with their methods.

I then saw the man looking at me, he smiled at me, I’m guessing this is because he saw me up before everyone else. 

He shouted, his voice sounded coarse and harsh “Get up! And assemble in the courtroom!” And he promptly left the room along with two others who seemed like his aide.

I immediately went to the royal court as I wanted to see the others, chances are that I won’t be able to, still I want to try. And as I passed through the corridor, I saw someone with long brown hair, I immediately recognized who it was, it was Isabella. I excitedly ran to her, but for some reason my legs stopped midway through. I didn’t understand why, but for some reason I just didn’t have the courage to call her name and talk with her. I wonder why I’m acting up right now? It wasn’t like I wasn’t nervous on earth, yet why here?

‘Death.’ It was the fear of death. Maybe it was because I felt the fear that I’d die after telling her. It was especially evident with how much of a gap existed between us, I was part of the duds. I wondered if I could even help her. But... all those doubts melted away when I saw Isabella running towards me. I just wondered why I didn’t have the courage to tell her.

“Liam! Are you okay?” She asked worriedly. I felt a smile popping up onto my face, but I covered it and answered, “Not really. I had to share the room with four others, but I never thought Micheal was such a loud sleeper.”

“Pftt- Still though, we didn’t have to share our rooms... I wonder if it’s because you’re part of the duds group...” She held a gloomy smile upon her face. 

“Well, it is what it is. I’m okay for now, what about you guys?”

“Dai and Amy still aren’t here yet, and the bathrooms are a struggle here. They aren’t exactly convenient.” She really looked fed up when she said that, I can understand though, the sewage system probably isn’t good either. If we’re being realistic here, our life here will be way worse than on earth just from a lifestyle standpoint.

Nonetheless all of us assembled and this time they didn’t separate us, so I stood alongside Isabella. Amy and Dai came late and so they had to be at the back. It was a bit awkward standing alone and beside Isabella but I calmed myself and just started to listen to what the man, who woke me up, had to say.

“All of you will have to train! There will be two training groups, one for the duds and the other for the heroes! The Duds’- I mean Carriers’ group is called ‘Roturier’, while the Heroes’ group is called ‘Helos’!”

I wondered why he backtracked on his words when he said ‘Duds’. The king also only whispered the word to me. Is it perhaps a slur here? Maybe so. But I wondered what kind of training we’d have to do. Seeing as how they probably want an elite squad. The training probably isn’t going to be easy. Nevertheless, I took a breath and readied myself for the training.