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"You really want me?"

"Can you fight?" Zayda asked.

"I\'m competent," Carleine said.

"Then come," Zayda said before looking over at the only one of the arrivals she had not addressed so far, "And who might you be?"

Gillert held himself in a strong yet respectful pose as he cleared his throat before introducing himself,

"I\'m Gillert."

A cursory look by Zayda was enough to give her a sound opinion of his capabilities. She could quickly tell he was the most ahead in regard to cultivation base among the bunch and almost immediately pegged him as some sort of leader to this pseudo-squad. Their unspoken solidarity spoke of such.

\'He could be of use,\' Zayda mused.

As a new Commander, she only had the grace to sustain a small squad as she was still only in a \'testing\' phase meant to gauge her ability to lead. The more tasks she managed to lead her squad to conquer, the more meritorious points she earned which in turn would increase her squad depth and size...

A continued promotion system meant to eventually end in her leading a massive squadron or even an Army to fight the much larger threats to the Kingdom and the Temple.

"How well do you know him?" she asked Evian about Gillert.

The question surprised Gillert as he had not proffered himself to join the squad but he continued to stand straight in respect for the power and authority Zayda commanded.

"He\'s a very capable fighter," Evian said, "He led a Resistance competently for over a year and he\'s trustworthy."

"Led a Resistance?" Zayda repeated as that was the past her mind immediately picked out from the conversation.

Evian nodded,

"Yes," he said, "But it\'s a long story. The payoff is that this is a very competent group. I can vouch for their capabilities."

Gillert, Gryon, Carleine, and even Ember raised their brows. The first three were of the opinion that Evian didn\'t like their company all that much and Ember agreed because he had told her that much. Or at least said something similar.

Evian though acted unaware of their reactions because he had his motives.

A week had been enough to do the slightest bit of research to know what exactly an Outpost Squad entailed. He knew just he and Ember were not enough to be considered a Squad and he was aware that, for all her higher cultivation base, Zayda would take a backseat role, leading from behind mostly so, should they go ahead and join her command, they would inevitably have to get lumped up with strangers.

On that point, he preferred to fight by the sides of the trio he at least knew.

Besides, he felt there were opportunities to glean... Questions to answer.

"If you vouch for them, that is enough for me," Zayda said but in all honesty, she couldn\'t care less.

Evian was her target. He was the one she wanted to watch as he would bring her the data she sought and for now, she was very comfortable giving him whatever would put him in his comfort zone.

Gillert cleared his throat again and stepped forward,

"I wouldn\'t want to be a bother," he said.

Although this was surely a great opportunity that could catapult him to greater heights beyond the boundaries of Verdelen City, he saw it as a handout and found it a bit difficult to go along with.

"Can you fight?" Zayda asked.

"I can but-"

"I will be your Commander but your survival is in your own hands," Zayda said and while she faced Gillert, her words actually addressed everyone in the squad, "If you think you can\'t face and survive the fight against threats to the Kingdom and the Temple, don\'t just stay out of my Command, stay out of the Martial Temple entirely."

A few seconds of silence passed before Gillert, Gryon, and Carleine held themselves straight and steeled up their faces but it was Gillert who found his voice to speak and while he spoke about himself, his tone, grand as it was, made it about everyone else too,

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"I will try my best."

Zayda nodded resolutely,

"Very well," she said and retrieved an official seal from her Spatial Ring, waving it towards them all in a grand gesture, "Then, by the authority vested in me as a Provisional 3rd Ranked Commander of the Martial Temple, I confer you all titles of Martial Temple Outpost Knights.

Now get into the Carriage, let\'s be off. We already have a task and I shall debrief you on the way."

Before any of them could feel a crash after the sudden high of being conferred official Knighthood, they were ushered into the Carriage. Gryon got in almost immediately, followed by Carleine, and then entered Gillert, followed by Ember who was holding tightly to Evian\'s arm.

Evian looked back at the Stygian Estate, devoid of a goodbye party, and smiled like he could the entire structure bidding him farewell. Then he looked beyond, his mind on those he would be leaving behind,

"I\'ll be back," he said resolutely, and with a solid nod, he allowed Ember to drag him into the Carriage before they were followed by Zayda who closed the Carriage door and ordered the Coachman to drive away.

Within the Stygian Estate, out of sight, Lord Stygian, Lady Myrine and a select few Stygians who had a soft spot for Evian gathered to watch the Carriage pull away. They were all surprised by the extras that followed along but that hardly mattered in the face of Evian\'s departure,

"Go with grace, Son," Lord Stygian said.

Adrian was with them with a smirk on his face. He had received his call from the Martial Temple and glowed with pride that he would soon be in the four walls of a Sect receiving the best possible teachings to become the Greatest Stygian and eventual Stygian Lord the entire Estate had ever seen.

\'When next we meet, Evian, I will pay you back for your incessant disrespect- I Fucking swear it!\'

***

-Within the Carriage-

Evian could have sworn he heard someone swear to his detriment but with a shake of his ear with a hand, he shook off such unworrying thoughts or feelings and focused on the air within the Carriage.

The space within was more than enough to accommodate them all. He was sitting beside Ember who held his hand and on his other side, sat Zayda Vi\'thar. Opposite sat the trio of Gryon, Carleine, and Gillert.

Gryon could not hide his excitement and in all honesty, he didn\'t try too hard.

Carleine was making a pointed attempt at looking out the Carriage window, watching as the scenery blurred away. As they sped out with such incredible spatial awareness, they crashed into no structures or bodies. Surely a feature of the sophistication of the Enchantments that powered the Carriage.

Gillert felt almost naturally pushed into a position of leadership even if no one looked at him as such at the moment and he tried to temper that, feeling it would surely feel like subordination towards Zayda, the more powerful Knight and the one with the more authority.

As for Zayda, she looked from one face to the other.

Everyone here was a stranger to her.

She knew she had their respect already but still wanted, at the very least, an inkling of familiarity.

It was Evian who pulled her out of her thoughts eventually,

"So what\'s our task?" he asked.

"Mmm? Oh Yes," she said and with a few nods and the clearing of her throat, she flicked her finger and retrieved a letter from her Spatial ring, pulling it out of its quality envelope to unroll it and read through so she could paraphrase for her newly gotten Squad,

"We\'re heading to the City of KalBoa. They are currently at risk of an infestation they are ill-equipped to quell."

Silence,

"Extermination?" Gillert asked slowly, wondering if he had heard Zayda wrong.

Zayda nodded but her vocal response came out slowly even though it was a single word,

"Yes."

"This sounds-" Carleine started, turning away from the window to raise a brow at Zayda whose lips twitched as she proffered the completion of the sentence,

"Unimportant- Simple?"

"No, fascinating," Carleine said and Gillert nodded with a smile.

To battle people, they had done already and done capably. To kill they had also had to do but to battle a beast infestation- That was new and they saw it as a good enough start to their careers as Outpost Knights, especially if they were so quickly thrust into battle right out of the gate.

Zayda nodded, never actually worried how they would take it but glad they did not see it as dull because she certainly did.

She had fought a lot of infestations in her time and the pattern was always the same;

Complete dissemination of numbers or destruction of the hive to maybe cut off further production and threat. All in all, dull as she might have found the task, she did understand that it was appropriate for a starting Squad.

"We might need to stop at Fort Kankteen for Faux Squad members. They\'ll form temporary reinforcements till we can bolster our numbers with true members."

"How strong are the beasts?" Evian asked.

"Kalkoa has a surplus of Third Order Knights and they struggle so either within that range or slightly beyond or else they would have been completely overrun."

\'Assistant, do Beast have Souls?\'

[Not all but for those that don\'t, they always still have enough of an Essence to count for points usually at a discount.]

\'So I could amass Soul points from them?\'

[Absolutely.]

Evian\'s lips spread into a grin,

"Wonderful."