Einder Bloodline

Chapter 11: Hannah

Back at Cray's old house, there were a lot of armed men who were walking around in patrol. There were also men who were examining inside the house. Some even started to secure the whole neighborhood by surrounding them and preventing entry. They also stumbled upon Hannah's house only to find it now devoid of human presence.

Hannah was at the Battle Arena waiting in line for the military recruitment. She was convinced of herself that if she wanted to see Cray then her best bet would be at the military recruitment as that was where she thought would have the highest possibility of them seeing each other, though that was not just her only reason, she also wanted to become stronger.

After having a series of tests, the results came out and Hannah having a fitness index of 20 she was immediately admitted inside the military camp. The examiner even praised her saying that she would probably become a noble if she were to raise quite a bit of achievement. The average physicality index of the Empire would be fifteen, having a number above that would certainly mean that there's at least more potential for her to improve. In the case of Hannah, if she wouldn't call herself a genius then no one can claim that they are better than her unless they can have more than five points above the average physicality index.

However, Hannah was a bit worried, she had drawn the attention of almost everyone partaking the test but there were still no signs of Cray. She had been expecting for him to appear but to no avail, the tests had already ended, and she didn't get to see even a shadow of Cray. Dejected, she followed the directions of the proctor as they proceeded inside the underground training facility. There they would spend six months of basic training to be able to be at least used as foot soldiers.

"As you might already know, the whole training camp would be taken for half a year. But with the current circumstances, we will have to shorten it by half. So, you better expect hell." The man who was wearing a black eye patch spoke with a loud voice as he looked at the new recruits. A young man who was good looking, raised his hand and asked, "Why would the training time be reduced?"

The man wearing the eye patch glared at him with his one eye sharply. He then responded with a loud voice, "You maggots have no right to know that! All you need to do is just follow what the empire tells you to do!" He then furiously shouted. After that, he gave them a speech and proceeded with a quick rundown of what they would be encountering on the training facility.

"From now on you will live here, everything from your clothes to your food will be taken care of. All you need to do is to become stronger, to be the empire's sword! You will be divided into six groups. The division will be made in order for you to operate as a group because as soldiers of the empire you will not fight alone! You are the wings that will set forth new heights for our great empire!"

"As for the six groups, each one would be a class that you will specialize in, the first one being the melee class, the second being the support class, followed by engineering class, gunner class, scout class, and lastly the leader class. Each and every one of you will be given an overall evaluation guide based on the results from the examination that you have just undergone. You can use these to assess whether or not you are cut out for the job. That's all! Now return to your assigned rooms now!"

The eye-patched man then slowly walked backward as he turned around while he limped.

Hannah, doing as instructed, saw a brown envelope inside the room that she was assigned to. She looked at it only to find that it was highly recommended for her to join the leader class. She then browsed the paper to look at the whole content and saw that being in the melee class suited her the least. But she had already made up her mind on what class she would enter.

Meanwhile, Cray had just finished eating with Stan, they were once again on the move. Stan had mentioned that Cray would eventually have the whole empire as his enemy, it was his destiny. He also said that he is an ally and that there were others who were allies that were in hiding. He had also said that they were to meet up at the Southern Continent where they would hold a meeting.

But while Stan was leading the way, Cray had been thinking. He was thinking about the reason why he must do this. He thought about the reason why the empire would be his enemy. He asked why was it him, out of all the others that could have potentially had the Einder blood. He was the one to carry this curse when all he wanted to do was repay Hannah and her mother for taking good care of him.

Why? Why am I like this, he looked at his reflection as they passed through buildings that reflected him. He had finally noticed his red eyes. He had always had a dark brown colored one. He can't even comprehend why these things were happening to him. "Am I just unlucky?" He asked himself as he made a wry smile. He usually didn’t believe in things like luck and such, but with what he has been through, what else can he say other than being unlucky? No other person would have even thought that just after coming of age, all this complicated stuff would happen one after another.

"Wait!" Stan yelled at Cray as he was still absentmindedly walking through when Stan had already stopped in front of a wooden door. He then made three fast knocks followed by two slow ones. It looked as if it was a code. "Who's there?" A somewhat metallic voice sounded out behind the door. "Holder of the Dagger."

As if magic words the door had suddenly opened. As they went in the dimly lit room came into view. The door then closed by itself after they had walked right in. Stan then walked towards the stairs heading downwards. Cray still following behind him looked at the surroundings, it was very eerie as the room appeared to not have been in use for a long time with the dust and cobwebs surrounding the room.

Then a loud thumping sound suddenly echoed as they continued to go down the spiral staircase. Cray, who was a bit frightened, looked for the source but couldn't find it and gave up. They then reached the pitch-black bottom.