Chapter 44: Initial Stage
Translator: Nyoi_Bo_Studio Editor: Tennesh
Blavi took the pill from Anfey. Anfey looked very sincere, but Blavi still wasn’t sure if he should take it or not. This was understandable; no one wanted to ingest an unknown substance. It had nothing to do with trust.
Zubin suddenly grabbed Blavi’s hand and forcefully shoved the pill into Blavi’s mouth.
Blavi scrunched up his face, angrily staring at Zubin. However, he had no other options besides swallowing it down, since the pill was already in his mouth. If he spat it out, it would look like he was rejecting Anfey’s kind gesture, and he didn’t want to hurt Anfey’s feelings.
"You’d better wait for me!" Blavi said with his teeth clenched.
Zubin made an apologetic gesture with both of his hands.
"Ok, since everyone is here now, I need to tell you something important." Anfey smiled.
"What is it?" Niya asked. She was the first one in the group to show curiosity toward Anfey’s question.
"You don’t think we are a disorderly group, do you? Without organization, responsibilities, and rules, it would be a mess if something happened to us. For example, right now, if we all go to rest, there will be no one on watch! Let’s imagine. If someone attacked us by surprise, how could we effectively defend?"
"Anfey, you give us orders and tell us what to do. We trust you," Christian said.
"Time is really tight right now. I can only assign you some work. Hmm… We should divide into four groups. I am in direct command of the first group. Let us pick three people to be in charge of the other three groups." Anfey looked at Christian, "Christian, you are an entry-level mage. I recommend you be in charge of the second group. The first group will block our opponents when they appear. Your second group will quickly attack them with magic!"
"I got it." Christian nodded.
"Does anyone have any suggestions for the leaders of the other two groups?"
"I recommend Blavi be in charge of one group. He has a great grasp of various magics," Christian said.
"What do you guys think?" Anfey asked.
"Besides Christian and Melinda, Blavi is the best mage among us. The professor had already considered having Blavi take the mage exam, but there was suddenly a battle at the frontier, so he didn’t get the chance to take the exam. I agree that Blavi is a good fit." Riska smiled.
"But my body…"
"Your body will be fine in a day," Anfey said. "Since everybody agreed, then it’s set. Everybody, can you think of another leader candidate for the last group?"
"Zubin could be in charge of the fourth group," Christian said.
Zubin hesitated for a second. "I think I should be with Anfey. If there are mages among the opponents, someone in the first group should be able to fight them. This is for Anfey’s safety, otherwise he will be in danger."
"Yes, Anfey does need a good assistant." Christian nodded.
"How about Sante?" Riska suggested.
"Sante is too impulsive. I think you are a good candidate," Blavi gave his own advice.
"Me? I’m too careless. I’m not a good candidate." Riska waved his hands.
"Then give a suggestion for the last candidate. We have to pick the strongest one among those remaining, so you are our best choice," Blavi said.
"What do you mean by that?" Riska was not happy about this.
"Habits can be changed, especially after you take on more responsibilities. When you think your forgetfulness may cause harm to your peers, you will know what you need to do."
"Can I not take that role?" Riska said with his face scrunched.
"That’s it." Anfey didn’t respond to Riska’s response, instead making the decision that Riska would take the role of leading the fourth group.
"How about me?" Niya asked unhappily. Niya had waited quite a while to see if Anfey would give her the job, but now she was very upset.
Christian and his fellows gave each other a look, and then they all looked down. In their quiet and peaceful life, Niya was their dream girl. However, when in danger, they just hoped Niya would not bring them any trouble. It would be a joke to let her lead a team, but they could not say anything in front of her, so they quieted down instead.
"We will talk about you later." Anfey smiled.
"Oh…" Niya nodded and showed a hint of smile.
"I am going to announce the rules. There is only one rule today, but I will add more rules later on." Anfey’s face became stern. "All orders come from me. Everyone should obey the orders, including the group leaders! If anyone fails to obey an order, that person has to leave our team immediately, or he will become our enemy! Any questions?" Anfey knew it was not practical to have everyone following his lead, so he had Christian and two other leaders make a "leadership team" to take some stress off him.
"No questions." Christian nodded. He was the first to agree.
Blavi and Riska followed him and nodded. Although neither of them had any combat experience or any sort of training, they had seen others fight. They would do just fine. To overcome this difficult time, everybody had to come together and be united. Discipline was the prerequisite for a united group. Without discipline, they would be a mess, because each of them had different ideas and opinions on how to do things.
"That’s good. Christian, you guys go and find your group members. Whoever doesn’t have a group will be in my first group." Anfey smiled.
"Anfey, what will Blavi’s and my groups do?" Riska asked.
"Blavi’s group will be the first responder team. Depending on the situation, your team might need to help the first group or protect Christian. You make the decision." Anfey looked at Riska. "Your team will remain at the back of the carriages. When the battle starts, no matter what happens in front of you, your team has to ensure no one will attack us from behind."
"I got it."
"Anfey, Sante should go to your team. He is hot tempered, but he is a good mage. He can provide a lot of help," Christian said. Among the four groups, Anfey’s team would undoubtedly take the most stress and encounter the most danger. Christian thought that Anfey’s team needed to be stronger.
"Okay," Anfey accepted Christian’s suggestion, smiling. "Also, after you pick your team members, you and your team have to think about your strategies. You need to make plans for how to respond to opponents with starter attacks, how to collaborate with other teams, and how to intelligently fight against your opponents. You will have no time to rest for the next few days."
"Anfey, are the starter attacks you mentioned the magic my team could use to start the battle?" Riska asked.
"Yes! You know that my magic…" Anfey scoffed at himself, "so I cannot offer any useful advice on the techniques. You and your team will have to figure it out yourselves. Christian is very talented in magic! Do you still remember what happened at master’s house? If Christian hadn’t used electrical arcs instead of lightning to attack that person, the battle would not have ended so soon! You guys can ask him for advice."
"Haha, that was because your swordsmanship was too advanced. I have confidence in you." Christian blushed a little.
"Confidence? Right, that is the most important thing for us!" Anfey said. "Everyone has to have confidence in each of their team members, and each team has to have confidence in the other teams! Maybe we are not strong yet, but confidence will be an important weapon when fighting our enemies!"
"I got it!" Christian and the other two team leaders nodded sincerely.
"Okay, go ahead and pick your team members."
At the same time, Sante’s voice arose outside the carriage. "Feller, did you bring any food back? Hurry up, I’m starving!"
Anfey lifted up the curtain. "Sante, hold on! Feller, come in!" Discipline started with the little things. Everybody should have dinner together. No one should just eat whenever they felt hungry.
Feller crawled into the carriage, wiping the sweat off his forehead. He said, "Anfey, thank you. If you did not ask me to take off my mage’s gown, I would not have been able to come back."
"What happened?" Anfey grew tense.
"I saw us on a wanted poster!"
"A wanted poster? All of us?" Christian yelled.
"Yes! It said that we killed the Palace Guards and wanted to overthrow the king. They were offering large rewards; a gold coin for reporting our locations, and ten gold coins for killing any of us."
"Only ten gold coins? You call that a large reward?" Riska smiled. "Feller, have you ever seen a gold coin?"
"There was also a wanted poster from Philips!" Feller smiled bitterly. "They are giving one hundred gold coins for reporting our locations!"
"How could the information on the poster be passed to Baidah City so quickly?" Anfey asked.
"This should be credited to the Mage Union." Christian sighed. "Anfey, what should we do now?"