Chapter 2 A Letter

Four years of war had given Locke the habit of eating quickly. He finished the meal, wiped his hands, and said to Hans, "Hans, let's go."

Locke arrived at the munition depot again. It was noon now, and most people were either sleeping or soaking in taverns. Locke walked straight to the posthouse at the rear of the munition depot, took the money pouch from Hans, and walked into the courier station.

"Warner! Warner!" Locke shouted.

"What! What's the matter! Damn Locke, I heard it. You ruined my afternoon nap. You damned bastard!" Warner, who was in charge of the courier station's communication duties, walked out of a room and complained, "Is it sending money to your family again? Come on, give it to me!"

"Here, this is mine. And those bags belong to other guys in my team. Don't mess it up!" Locke warned.

"I know, I know. It's not the first time I worked for this. None of the other teams are as fussy as you!" Warner was still dissatisfied with Locke waking him up from his nap.

"You such guy, if you mess things up, wait and see how I'll punish you." Locke gritted his teeth at this lucky guy. Warner was lucky because the person in charge of the courier station not only enjoyed the third-class soldier's salary, but the most important thing was that this position was safe. After all, anything could go wrong, except for logistics. Moreover, in this position, there was no need to be that respectful to others. Generally, the Lieutenant would not mess with Warner. But there's no promotion here. Warner was in charge of the post when Locke was a third-class soldier. Now that Locke had been promoted to a second-class soldier for more than a year, Warner was still there. However, Locke heard that Warner was related to Lord Baron's housekeeper, so Locke thought Warner will have his way to promote in the future.

"Well, do you have any other requests? Message or something." Warner had been dealing with Locke for a long time. He knew that every time this guy received his pay, he would send it home with a few words.

"Yes. Please tell my parents to take care of themselves and tell my sister that she doesn't have to keep saving money, she can buy whatever she wants. I'm not short of that kind of money right now." Locke had already thought of what he was going to say. He believed his sister knew what he meant: to buy a silk scarf for hair, which was Locke's obsession.

"Got it. The caravan to Cadozzi Barony will set off tomorrow. We will first go to the territory occupied by the eastern province, Peters Barony, and then to the capital, Flor City. Finally, we will return to our southern region, Del Duchy. We will be able to get back in 20 days at the latest." Warner said. After chatting with Warner for a while, Locke left. He did not want to disturb Warner's lunch break. Although Warner was idle now, he would be busy in the afternoon because today was the payday.

Walking out of the courier station, Locke brought Hans back to their tent. "Hans, what do you think our village is like now?" On the way back, Locke and Hans chatted. They came from the same village, and their families were neighbors.

"I guess the village is still the same. The maple tree at the entrance of the village should be taller. My elder brother had another son this year, so I now have three nephews, and in the future the family land is not worried about no one to plant. It is said that this year's harvest is very good, so the village killed a pig for our military families, each family has a share, and..." Hans was usually quiet, but when he opened the conversation, he couldn't stop talking until the two of them returned to the tent.

"This battle has been going on for four years, and it's almost over. I really want to go back quickly!" Locke sighed.

After Locke and Hans returned to their tents, apart from janissary Phil, the rest of the team were taking a nap. Those who had been to the battlefield knew that abundant energy could allow them to live longer on the battlefield.

Locke walked to his bed, took off his coat, and went to bed. However, he did not fall asleep. He was thinking about how he could get promoted to a first-class soldier as soon as possible. In the army of the Kingdom of Faustine, there was a system of promotion: janissary, cannon fodder on the battlefield. After joining the army for two months of training, you can be a janissary. Third-class soldiers, the main force of the kingdom's army, required at least two years of military age(required more than a year in wartime), and also had the strength to deal with three janissaries. A second-class soldier, the Lieutenant, who managed a team of ten, needed at least three years of military age(more than two years of wartime) to have the strength to deal with three third-class soldiers. First-class soldiers, the trump card combat strength of the army, to serve as a Captain leading 100 soldiers, required more than four years of military age(more than three years of wartime), and had the strength to defeat at least three second-class soldiers. That's right, it was "defeat". First-class soldiers had the right to learn techniques to cultivate Battle Aura. The army did not clearly state the requirements for the promotion of a first-class soldier to a knight. Maybe the requirements will be announced when you were qualified.

Locke was clear about his own capacity. He could deal with three second-class soldiers for a while if he tried his best. Though his military age was enough, he was not sure if he could gain a promotion. There were many soldiers who were similar in strength to him. A third of their battalion had been killed in the battle two months before, and the Captain of the third squadron and the Deputy Captain of the fourth squadron had been killed, leaving two vacancies. There were too many monks and too few porridge. It was unknown how many people were secretly watching these two positions.

Thinking back to the battle two months ago, Locke shuddered. This was a ruthless battle that was second only to the Battle of Gedeng Highlands. In order to take down the Fermer Grand Canyon that led to the heart of the enemy kingdom, the three groups of legions fought with their lives. In order to break the deadlock, the three groups took turns attacking the canyon Highlands. It was said that there was only one regiment of the enemy defending the canyon, so how could they defend? This battle was extremely difficult. The enemy had risked their lives to defend this last line of defense. Locke had experienced more than once when the heavily injured enemy soldiers were surrounded by his own side and attacked crazily. Was this to protect their home? Locke asked himself, if his kingdom was invaded, would he do this? He recalled how his army had successfully defeated Karlaw Kingdom's main force last year. After occupying Peters Barony, they had done what they had done in Karlaw Kingdom. They burned, killed, plundered, and those with a bit of assets were demoted to slaves. The beautiful women were either seized by the nobles or became military prostitutes. He also remembered his simple parents and kind sister. Locke also understood these opponents, because in the same situation, Locke would be even more ruthless.

Facing this kind of courageous opponent, Locke was full of respect, but he did not show any mercy. This was a war, and his brothers were also suffering casualties.

Taking down Fermer Grand Canyon costs the three groups of legions nearly a month. Locke's battalion belonged to Legio Aquilae, the Fifth Brigade of Legio Aquilae's Second Step Corps. During that battle, the Second Step Corps was the vanguard of the entire corps, and the Third and Fourth squadrons of their brigade were the vanguard of their battalion. The first battle was attacked by their two squadrons. During the war, the earth-shattering sounds of killing never stopped. Even Locke, who was resting in the rear, could hear the screams, shouts, and the sounds of swords clashing. From time to time, a fireball or lightning would flash across the sky, which was said to be the power of magic. The sky was stained red with blood.

When it was Locke's squadron and the first squadron's turn to participate in the attack, the third and fourth squadrons had already lost nearly half of their members. This caused quite a bit of panic to the soldiers in the barracks. However, Locke, who had fought for four years, suppressed the panic in his heart. Locke thought a battlefield was like a meat grinder, and one could not be timid on the battlefield. The more afraid one was, the faster one would die. Under the command of Locke, their team managed to avoid a few waves of magic bombardment. Locke did not fight head-on against the enemy. This kind of enemy with a death wish was the worst to provoke. He advised Captain Uncle Joshak to attack the flank of the canyon. There were many dangerous walls and strange stones there, so it was easy to avoid arrows and magic attacks. The enemy did not have many troops there. Moreover, occupying the commanding height of the canyon flank could be considered a contribution.

War was war. Locke's team still lost two men. Third-class soldier Gale, a sword-shield man with great strength; janissary Cal, a funny little boy, only sixteen years old. In this battle, Locke killed a lightly wounded second-class soldier, a third-class soldier, and five janissaries at the cost of a stab wound to his right chest and several minor injuries. In total, their team had killed a second-class soldier, five third-class soldiers, and more than ten janissaries. Such a good result was not only due to their strategy of power play, but also due to the cohesion of their squad.

After killing the enemy, you can use their identity tokens to exchange for military contribution points: a janissary takes one point, a third-class soldiers take five points, and a second-class soldiers take ten points. Locke had accumulated almost 50 points. Military contribution points could be exchanged for promotion, 100 points could be exchanged for the rank of a first-class soldier, and it could also be used as currency. Soldiers could use military points to exchange everything they wanted in the supply camp. This was more common than silver ducas, and the purchasing power was stronger. Lastly, you could exchange it for money, one point for one silver ducas. Exchanging military points for money was the choice of most of the soldiers. Faustine Kingdom had experienced a drought for two years, so the food was expensive. Most soldiers enlisted to earn money to support their families. The rich nobles and military forces would not dare to embezzleand the money exchanged by contribution points. If this money was sent back to their families, their relatives would be able to live.

Locke had always exchanged his contribution points for money, but since last year, he had changed his mind after going through the bloody war of Gordon. If he couldn't live, how could he let his family live better? The ones who died the most on the battlefield and the ones who died the fastest in the high-intensity war were the lowest level soldiers—janissaries. Even with the strength of a third-class soldier, he was exhausted in the end and hid among the dead to survive. After that bloody battle, his strength had improved a lot. With the large number of enemy waist tokens he collected, he became a Lieutenant, and under the care of Uncle Joshak who had also survived and had been promoted to Captain, Locke was not a hothead soldier any more.

Locke considered that his current strength should be in the middle among the people participating in the competition. Although his military contribution points might not be the highest, he must be higher than most people. There was still a chance for him to increase his rank this time. He believed that Uncle Joshak would also help him.