6 months pass…

Six months of the most grueling physical training you've ever had the misfortune of dealing with! However you fared better than some of your fellow cadets. Guess all that farm living paid off.

You've certainly improved what combat skills you had, but your marksmanship has improved greatly. You know that Drill Sergeant Kosser has been paying special attention to your abilities. You're not sure if that's a good thing of not.

In any event you're being told where your first assignment is going to be. Most of those in your group are being sent to Tulan border. Not the most pleasant assignment. The fighting is getting worse there.

What started as a minor border dispute has turned into a series of battles with neither side making too much progress. Even before you joined the military you'd heard stories of the greedy king who runs the Tulan Kingdom. You heard from traveling merchants about how he allows a few demons to walk around in his lands! Utter madness in your opinion. The Zalan Empire might be a little strict on the rules and regulations, but better that than demons letting walking around, in your opinion they should all be killed on sight regardless on whether they're obeying the "law" or not, they're evil.

You sit anxious on your bed in the barracks as name after name gets called off. Finally Kosser calls off your name, and you fully expect to get sent to the Tulan border.

"I want to talk to you in private." Is what you hear instead.

This makes you even more nervous. What's he going to do? Send you on? A mission to assassinate the Tulan King?

After everyone else has gotten there assignments you follow Kosser back to his office. He sits down and speaks direct.

"Alright farmboy, I'm sure you've noticed me watching your marksmanship skills. You're one of the best ones that have come in here for awhile. You have a natural talent and you've only improved it through training. It would be a blessing to have someone like you up at the Tulan border. The gods know we could use anything to help break the stalemate there."
"…but?" you ask hoping that there is one.
"But…your skills might be better served in a place that has a better mortality rate, yet still needs taking care of."
"Where's that sir?"
"Here." Kosser points to a map to a nearby location. It's the Retlad Kingdom. You can't imagine what's going on there, since as far as you know, you're Zalan is at peace with them.
"Retlad? I thought we're at peace with them?"
"We are…in fact rumors are saying we'll probably incorporate them into the empire in the near future. I dunno how much you know about politics out there on the farm, but Retlad is basically a bankrupt kingdom. Their dumb ass royalty spent a shitload of their treasury on building ships in some vain attempt to find more land mass on this world. Hah! Doesn't exist! We learned than centuries ago! Anyway now they don't have enough to pay for a proper military and their kingdom is being overrun by hostile Quillar tribes. They want us to help. Begging us practically and we have, but it's a pain in the ass. Quillars are fast and as their name suggests shoot multiple sharp quills at their enemies. I've seen them go through plate armor."
"That doesn't sound good."
"No, it's not good. The Retlad knight orders got decimated within two months of the first invasion wave. We're taking a better approach. We need to have equally quick troops that can at least match the fire power. We've sent a couple of war wizards, but most of them are serving on the Tulan border. Gunpower weapons are a little too slow for this sort of thing, so we're looking for people good with a bow. Quick enough to at least get a few shots off from a distance and run. Because hit and run tactics are what the Quillars excel at, so you'll have to do likewise."

Kosser pauses his talking for a moment. You take this opportunity to interject a question.

"And this assignment you say has a lower mortality rate?"
"Well, we haven't sent as many people there yet, but so far we've made a little more progress there than at the Tulan border. But of course I won't say it's a safe assignment. Those Quillar bastards are vicious and merciless. Up to you farmboy. You're getting a bonus here. You're actually getting to choose your assignment. Not many that get out of boot camp get that privilege."

Some "privilege"

You go to the Retlad Kingdom

You've never even heard of Quillars before, but they still sound less dangerous than the Tulan Border, that place is only going to get worse, you know it.

"I'll take the Retlad assignment sir."
"Hm. Smart. Here's your first month's pay, I suggest you live it up here in Zal, for the couple of days you have off before you leave."

You take the small bag and look inside. This will certainly help your family. You take a few coins for yourself and then ask if arrangements can be made to have your payment sent to your family from now on. He tells you yes, but asks that surely that you will still want some of it. You agree to just taking 10% of it. You don't need much.

"Sheesh, living bare minimum huh? Don't you want to eat anything other than military rations every once in awhile?" Kosser questions again.
"Nah. If I need extra food, I'll just hunt."
"You know even the booze and brothel girls in Retlad aren't THAT cheap. You sure you don't want more?"
"Nope. I'll be fine. My family needs that money more than I do."
"Alright then, family man."

You exit the barracks and wander the city a bit. You find it very interesting. You sort of wish you could stay longer to take in more sights. However one thing catches your eye. A small store and in the window is a lute. Looks almost like the one you had before it was taken away from you in basic training. You haven't gotten a chance to play in six months and you'd really like to…

Hey you're a soldier now, you've proven yourself. You figure you can take one personal belonging with you to Retlad as long as you keep them packed properly. You enter the store and with the little money you have you buy the lute. You spend the most of the day and the next practicing it. You didn't forget as much as you thought. You also finish up writing a letter to your family and give it to a Zalan messenger carrier.

Finally the third day arrives for you to move out. A couple of officers arrive to take most of your other fellow cadets. Mostly to the Tulan border, however, it would appear you have a different escort. A young man in loose robe approaches you. He looks like a wizard, but you wonder for how long since he seems about your age.

"Hey, are you the one going to the Retlad Kingdom?" he asks
"Yeah, who are you?"
"I'm Wessel. And don't you dare get cute and call me weasel, or I'll have to blast you with a lightning bolt."
"I wasn't planning on it." You say which causes Wessel to start laughing.
"Geez, I was just fucking with you. Don't be so serious! So you ready to go?"
"Yeah I guess, are you my superior officer?"
"Huh? Oh no. Look I got our horses waiting outside; we can do all this getting to know you stuff on the way."

You and Wessel get on the horses and ride towards your destination. It would appear that you're the only one from your group to be going, but of course you were the only expert marksman.

Wessel begins to tell you more about why he's with you. In fact he doesn't really let you do much talking at all. He says he's a native citizen of the Zalan Empire, but he just graduated from the esteemed magic university in the city state of Nuro. Wessel goes on to and says that when he heard they needed a few wizard over in Retlad, he decided to volunteer to test his skills and get paid while doing it. He explains that the pair of you will be following the orders of a Captain Vhalat.

Everyone knows about Nuro. It's very famous, and you always wondered what kind of magical wonders existed there, so you're eager to hear more and he's all too happy to tell you. Despite Wessel's primary focus on himself, it sounds like a place you'd want to visit one day.

Eventually you arrive at the border and so far the Retlad Kingdom doesn't look very well kept. The road begins to show evidence of disrepair and the sign posts are broken. You begin to keep your eye out for a possible attack at any second.

"Look! Over there! It's a village and it's under attack! Come on!" Wessel yells and rides towards the village in the distance. You try to tell him to wait, but he's already well on his way, so you ride after him.

You've never seen a Quillar before, but the closer you get to the village, you start seeing humanoid creatures covered in sharp spikes running around at a fast speed which could only be them. They are indeed fearsome looking. You also see a lot of the people running from them, and even a few people dressed in protective gear similar to yours…not that its doing them much good.

"Alright you prickly bastards here's something for ya!" Wessle shouts riding into the village with one hand raised in the air for a lightning blast attack. He shows no fear. You have no idea if all wizards are like this, but he's either got to be brave, stupid or just suicidal. Of course he could be all three. Up until now you always thought wizards were supposed to be meek types that didn't charge into battle and preferred to kill from afar. You guess you were wrong.

You stay with him to back him up

This reckless idiot is probably going to get himself killed if you don't stick by his side. You ride quickly to catch up with him in the village, and draw your bow.

Surprisingly for your first battle, you manage to keep calm and focused on the enemy. Hard to do considering the Quillars aren't the easiest of foes. They're quick and they're firing their quills faster than you're firing your bow.

The problem though isn't the Quillars, its Wessel. He's having such a "good time" blasting the Quillars, that he's causing a lot more collateral damage in the process. During one of these moments, your own horse gets spooked by the incredibly close fireball blast and rears back causing you to fall off of it.

You're still shaking the cobwebs when one of the Quillars unleashes more quills and hits you with several of them. You collapse in pain, as the Quillar charges at you. It doesn't kill you though. Wessel makes sure of that when he throws a bolt of lightning at it.

Unfortunately the Quillar happens to have grabbed you just as its hit by the lightning. Your current pain is increased severely as the electrical current passes through your body, but not for long and your fried body eventually stops its deaths throes.

Wessel has a hard time explaining that the other transfer was hit by "friendly" fire.