"Boss, I got some news about Sergeant Fitney," Berklin said mysteriously as he approached Claude.
Claude was playing war flag with Aboyev, Dyavid and Moriad. It was a card game similar to Army Chess in his previous world. It was a popular game for soldiers to kill time in the camp.
"Oh, tell me about him. What's his background?"
Claude moved his warwolf piece and devoured the centaur scout sent by Moriad.
However, Aboyev immediately moved his elven archer piece to surround Claude's warwolf unit.
Dyavid's gryphon, on the other hand, was being held back by Moriad's pegasus and couldn't form an effective defense with Claude. It seemed that Claude's warwolf piece would have to be sacrificed again.
War flag was said to have been passed down from the ancient magic era. Players could choose different races to fight on the board.
There were four races in total: humans, elves, orcs and demons. Each race had twelve pieces that represented the different types of troops.
The most popular races were the elves and humans. Those were the races that most players chose.
However, the game he was playing only had one complete set of human chess pieces, so Dyavid managed to snatch it first.
Aboyev and Moriad both chose the elves, so he had no choice but to choose the orcs.
It was his fault for throwing the dice that gave him the lowest number of points, so he could only choose the last race.
As he wasn't familiar with the range of the orcs' attacks, he was forced to retreat on the board. It seemed that he was going to lose again.
"Boss, the orc's Beamon King crawls the slowest. Choosing the orcs is like sending food to the elves. The elven phoenixes can burn the Beamon King to death just by breathing fire. The range of their fire is two squares longer than the Beamon King's claws.
Boff and Maud both chose the Elves and the two Phoenixes. By the time your Beamon King climbed to the side of the Phoenixes and could attack, it would have already been roasted according to the rules of the Battle Flag Game … "
Berklin wasn't in a hurry to reveal what he heard. Instead, he stood at the side and discussed Claude's mistake in choosing a race.
According to him, the races in the Battle Flag Game restrained each other. For example, the Human Race restrained the Elves, the Elves restrained the Beasts, the Beasts restrained the Demons, and the Demons restrained the Human Race.
As a veteran Battle Flag player who had been playing since he was 12 years old, there was no game strategy that could stump him.
"Forget it, I admit defeat." Claude tossed the chess piece in his hand back into the box. He had only just learned how to play and wasn't an expert yet.
To play the game, he had to keep flipping through the rules at the side. This game was also very troublesome to learn.
Legend had it that during the ancient magi era, the magi would infuse mana into the chess pieces and the pieces would automatically attack the enemies within their effective range. It wasn't like how it was now, where players had to read through the rules to understand that their pieces had been attacked.
Just like the Behemoth King of the Orc race, it was the BOSS with the highest HP and the highest ATK among all the races. It was set to have 40,000 HP and 30,000 ATK, but it was the slowest. It had to move one square at a time, and its ATK was limited to the nearest square.
The Elven Phoenix, on the other hand, had the lowest HP of 10,000 and could only spit fire two squares away.
The Beamon King only had to get close to the phoenix to kill it with a single swipe. The problem was that it would have to endure two attacks from the phoenix and lose half of its HP. Two phoenixes would have 40,000 HP.
Berklin was right. According to the rules of the Battle Flag Game, the Beamon King would be roasted when it reached the phoenix's side. It was no different from sending roasted meat to its doorstep.
The moment Claude admitted defeat, his opponent, Dyavid, was outnumbered. Even if the humans countered the elves, that was only in a one-on-one situation. He had to be careful not to be overturned.
Dyavid couldn't handle the two elves on his own, so he quickly surrendered.
Only after the game was over did Berklin remember what he had heard. "By the way, Boss, Staff Sergeant Fitney is quite a formidable figure."
"How so?" Claude asked.
"He's an expert fighter. When he was young, he was quite famous in his hometown, the city of Lindes in Chaniaral. He was forcibly conscripted into the army at the age of 21 and was undefeatable during the new recruit training.
He's a generous and forthright person and is admired by the new recruits. The veterans you sent to the infirmary joined the army at the same time as him. It's said that they even shared a tent with him during the new recruit training. They're quite close.
"When Staff Sergeant Fitney first joined the army, he had a fiery temper and was easily ignited.
That was why he would often get into fights and make trouble in the barracks, and would be locked up and whipped every now and then. He was the most famous person in the barracks who gave all the officers headaches.
It took him three years to finally be promoted to corporal.
However, two years ago, when he was suppressing the riot of the residents of Gonigada, he defeated five or six rioters with his bare hands and rescued Captain Kantaya of the logistics department who was purchasing supplies in the city. Because of this, he was promoted to sergeant.
After he became a sergeant, under Captain Canthaya's care, he started to calm down and stopped causing trouble. His temper also became much better. He did not show up for many things himself, but let his brothers, the veterans like Jim, do the work while he hid behind the scenes.
Because of his change, the officers in the barracks were very surprised. They thought that he was a prodigal son who had turned over a new leaf. So last year, he was promoted to Staff Sergeant and made in time for this period of training. After the training, he will be promoted to Sergeant Major. "
Berklin thought for a moment and said, "Boss, the veteran who told me this information said that Fitney didn't turn over a new leaf. Instead, he became a cunning scoundrel. Jim and the other veterans bullied the new recruits and extorted money from them, and most of it was Fitney who instructed them to do so.
"This time, you sent Jim and the other veterans to the infirmary and made Fitney lose a lot of face. Many people in the army are laughing at him for not being able to protect his own lackeys.
That's why Fitney said he was going to teach you a lesson in the canteen. Many people heard what he said. You have to be careful in the future. Don't get tricked by him. "
Claude smiled and nodded, indicating that he understood and that he would be more careful in the future.
However, Staff Sergeant Fitney was currently in NCO training while he was in recruit training. As long as they didn't bump into each other in public places like the canteen, it would be hard for them to meet for the next two to three months.
Not to mention, Staff Sergeant Fitney definitely wouldn't provoke him before the training ended unless he didn't want to be promoted to sergeant major.
"Boss, why don't we make the first move and find out where he is? Then, we'll find a chance to ambush him. We'll cover his eyes with lime, put a sack over his head, and beat him up with sticks. We'll break both of his legs and make him a cripple. Then, we won't have to worry about him taking revenge in the military camp anymore …" Aboyev suggested a bad idea that he thought was pretty good.
Claude shook his head with a smile.
Berklin gave Aboyev a pat on the head. "Don't be silly. Do you think we're fighting a bunch of rats in the outskirts of the royal capital? Lime and gunny sacks?
This is the army. There's no place for you to set up an ambush.
Besides, Fitney is an expert fighter. He's not like those hoodlums we've fought before.
If we ambush him, we'll be sending ourselves to his doorstep. We'll be punished after that! "
"Alright, it's fine as long as we know what to do.
He's currently undergoing officer training and we're in the midst of new recruit training. We won't have the time or opportunity for him to provoke us. Just be careful, "Claude concluded.
The new recruit training continued. The first month was basic training, which mainly consisted of marching in formation.
What confused Claude the most was that there wasn't a military band to accompany them. The marching rhythm was basically based on the copper whistles the instructors had in their mouths.
Claude recalled watching a foreign movie in his previous life. It was about a war that took place between France and England during the colonial era.
It was also a war where the soldiers were lined up to be shot. However, the soldiers in the movie seemed to be using flintlock pistols instead of matchlocks.
In the film, the British Red Shirts marched forward in rows and rows, and there was a military band playing a lively piece of music. It seemed that the song was very famous.
During his free time, Claude found a chance to ask Most why there wasn't a military band in the camp. After all, a cheerful tune would be more pleasant to listen to than a sharp whistle. The soldiers wouldn't get nervous easily either.
Most was taken aback for a moment before bursting into laughter. He told Claude that there were indeed military bands in the earliest wars, but they were no longer practical in later wars.
Not practical?
Claude didn't understand.
Most then taught Claude a lesson. First of all, it wasn't easy to train people for a military band. Those who could play musical instruments and understand music were considered top-notch talents in this world. It would be a waste to send them to the battlefield.
Second, even though military bands were made up of soldiers, they weren't that useful on the battlefield and wouldn't be able to harm the enemy.
How many military bands were needed on a battlefield with tens of thousands of soldiers? If they were used for combat, there would be a brigade of them. Sometimes, victory would only require one more brigade.
If they were replaced with a military band, they wouldn't be able to fight at all and wouldn't be of any help in battle.
Thirdly, on the battlefield, the sound of artillery and gunfire was like thunder. Under such circumstances, it was difficult for the soldiers to hear the music played by the military band. It was not as good as the sharp whistles to keep the soldiers awake. Therefore, the military band was basically abolished in the army.
Most importantly, a war broke out between two kingdoms a hundred years ago and the victorious side captured a military band from the other side's army.
So the victorious king let the captive military band play to celebrate at the signing of the armistice agreement. This slap in the face made the defeated king unable to step down on the spot. The first thing he did after returning home was to cancel all the military bands in the army.
Nobody would be willing to have their own military band celebrate the enemy. That was one of the reasons why there weren't any military bands in the army. It was costly, they had no fighting power and the possibility of being humiliated by the enemy was high.
"So, do you think there's a need for a military band?"
Most asked Claude in the end.
The second month of recruit training was for them to familiarize themselves with their guns. As the ace of the field, Bluefeather was given the aubass mark 2 muskets that Claude was familiar with.
"It's a pity that these aren't the latest models," Most said, "My friend sent me a letter from the royal capital. The aubass mark 3 has already been developed.
While the aubass mark 3 muskets developed by the firearms research institute have the same range as the mark 2, there's a huge difference in accuracy and aiming. It's said that it's easier for soldiers to aim and fire accurately. It's a breakthrough. "
Most said that as he stood beside Claude. Claude had just won first place in marksmanship and stood out from more than 400 other recruits.
Be it in terms of firing speed, accuracy or loading speed, he far surpassed the other recruits. According to the instructors, Claude's marksmanship wasn't inferior to that of the best veterans.
When the last month of recruit training began, Claude realized that the first two months of training were far too easy compared to this.
The content of this month's training was also to walk in formation, but they had to hold a gun and listen to the instructor's whistle command. They had to load the gun and follow the instructions to raise the gun to fire in unison, so as to achieve the greatest damage within the maximum range.