The Archaic System 44 Ceremony

After Morrow was done narcissistically staring off into s.p.a.ce, we left the room. We made our way back through the building towards the entrance I had came through earlier. As we went through the last door, the s.p.a.cious training ground opened up in front of us. The mercenaries that had been aimlessly milling about before, were now lined up in rows. The group looked organized, but nothing like armies of the past.

Means of production and access to resources had been established in Black Lion Village for some time. However, that did not mean Morrow could arbitrarily allocate everything where he desired. Many of the mercenaries had mix-matched clothing and were not at all uniform in appearance or grooming.

This is one of the reasons they used tokens for identification. Morrow was simple unable to produce enough uniforms to outfit all the mercenaries. Only a portion had uniforms and those were mostly gate guards or patrols that couldn't be at the ceremony because of their duties. There were also a large variety of weapons among them, due to them still needing to use the free one from the care package.

Eventually, most major cities would have a standing army, but that was a long way off. The biggest difference was their unified spirit. Armies of Earth's past and armies in Agatha's future were able to project a kind of unique spirit. Depending on the army you would get a distinct feeling from their presence. For instance, some armies would feel like a giant steel wall. You knew breaking their defense would be like climbing the Heavens. Others would feel like a fiery tiger, as if at any moment their attack would pounce on you ferociously. Very few would even feel like a n.o.ble dragon, it's might so unreachable that the thought of facing them whether offensively or defensively would seem impossible. In front of this group, I felt nothing.

An army without a spirit, a unifying purpose, an undying will, is doomed to be defeated. I don't know how they managed in the past, but without change this force would have no hope in facing the dangers I know are coming.

At this point we were standing on top of a wooden platform at the edge of the training ground. The mercenaries were lined up in front and the eight remaining Lieutenants were standing in a line towards the rear of the platform. I walked over and stood nearby, but still in front of them. As Captain, it would set a bad precedence to diminish my position by standing beside them. One of the basic concepts of an army is the importance of hierarchy and respect of position.

Of course Morrow went to the front to a makes.h.i.+ft podium. Without the a.s.sistance of technology to amplify his voice he had to speak loudly and project his voice so people could hear him. He began the ceremony with remarks about the progress of the village, about how important the role the mercenaries played in different aspects of that progress as well as a few miscellaneous announcements.

After the pleasantries he finally arrived at the real important topic, " As some of you may have noticed we are missing two Lieutenants as well as other mercenaries who should have been here by now."

Instantly, the mercenaries looked around nodding and mumbling a little.

Morrow waited for them to calm down...., "This is no accident, in fact, they are dead."

Immediately an uproar sounded from the mercenaries. Many men began shouting, demanding justice, asking who the culprit was, for a moment I thought they would storm the stage.

Morrow's eyes became cold and he swept the crowd as he shouted, "SILENCE!"

As quick as the uproar began it fell back into complete silence. I had no choice but to admit Morrow's charisma and his ability to effectively control the emotions of the crowd were top notch.

Morrow let the silence linger as if daring someone to break it....., "Now, do not worry. There has been no attack. However, there has been a betrayal."

A few gasps could be heard, but most of the mercenaries remained silent after last time.

"Fortunately for Black Lion Village, I had a contingency in place for exactly such a possibility."

So typical for Morrow, even in rewarding me he is going to take the credit and uses it to further cement his power.

"When establis.h.i.+ng the mercenary group I entrusted an important mission to the person I knew I could trust the most, my only brother."

A small ripple of shock pa.s.sed through the crowd, most reacted with a slightly confused look.

"I know most of you were unaware and there was good reason for that. His mission was to pretend to be a commoner and infiltrate Black Lion Village looking for weaknesses and corruption in my mercenary group."

This time many faces appeared shocked. I was even able to take note of two who looked slightly nervous. I made a mental note of their appearance since I would want to check into them later.

Morrow took a moment then continued, "Imagine my surprise when my brother revealed to me an organized attempt to start a coup and take over Black Lion Village. Luckily, my brother was able to find this out without tipping off the man behind it..... That man was Captain Sauer."

This time there were audible sounds of shock coming from the mercenaries, almost everyone was stunned in disbelief. However, the two who were nervous before had relieved looks instead of shock.

"I know, I was even more shocked than you. I had placed a lot of trust in Sauer, but the evidence was irrefutable."

He paused, letting the silence linger as if he the betrayal was truly hurt him.

"I wanted to eliminate this threat without upsetting the peace of Black Lion Village. However, to do that I needed your help and with Sauer being both culprit and Captain I couldn't do that easily. So I came up with a plan. I wanted Sauer to be the finalist for the Arena the next day so he could be killed without raising suspicion from his co-conspirators. The only problem was Sauer was our best fighter, no one would be able to beat him."

Many nods of understanding and agreement could be seen in the crowd of mercenaries.

After a short pause Morrow continued, "Except for one man, and even though I wanted him to stay in the shadows protecting the village he was willing to reveal himself to resolve this danger. My brother stepped out from the darkness and in front of everyone he killed Sauer in the Arena. Many of you have already heard his arena name, young lion."

The looks of surprise and shock of Sauer being the man behind the coup paled in comparison to their faces now. Even the two men hiding something were shocked this time. I couldn't help but again take note of how skillful Morrow was in leading his audience to feel the way he wanted them to. A lesser man could not have evoked this much of a reaction. Especially while weaving a convincing lie at almost every step of the story.

After giving the crowd a chance to process, he began again, "Of course, after he killed Sauer we had to keep up pretenses so we could dismantle the organization he built to cause chaos in our wonderful village. We knew the names of every member of the coup, and with Sauer gone could round them up last night. Also, my brother young lion, was not punished for disobeying my order to not kill Sauer, since we planned to kill him all along."

The mercenaries began to nod as they realized why young lion was spared by Morrow the day before. More than a few people had been discussing why young lion was spared on the streets yesterday. With that statement Morrow would erase any talk of him being weak.

"Due to his appearance being known by many in the arena my brother cannot continue his work of protecting us from the shadows. I will need all of you to be more vigilant against nefarious plots and corruption in the future."

Morrow took a deep breath, "Now, with Sauer dead I need a new captain. Who better to serve as Captain than the man who just saved the entire village, my brother, Troy."

In a sweeping motion Morrow gestured towards me and waved me toward his side. I came up and stood next to Morrow.

Morrow placed his hand on my shoulder and faced the crowd, "Mercenaries, from today forward the new Captain of this mercenary group will be my brother, Troy Hargrave."

He placed a large token with the word Captain on it in my hand and then raised my arm in the air. A cacophony of cheers and applause erupted from the crowd of mercenaries. An obvious effect of Morrow's speech.

It was no wonder he rose in power in my last life. His ability to take advantage of circ.u.mstances was at a ridiculously high level. He managed to solidify his power, explain why he didn't kill me in the arena, convince the mercenaries I deserved to be Captain, raise the mercenaries defense against future plots, and portray everything in a way that painted him as a benevolent caring leader. He managed to do all of that with one convincing and elaborate lie.