Yago Sevitaleon didn't know how to answer for a moment.

He was silent, as silent as a dead man. A gloomy twilight began to creep over the boy's face, and Carlil waited patiently, not rushing.

He wasn't going to be too a child, even if the other party was from Nostramo.

However, if Sevita agrees, then he will hear the grandest ideals he has ever heard of in his life. He may be captivated by these words and nod his head in agreement and throw himself into it.

However, he may also hesitate for a moment to realize the real reason why this ideal can stand on the top of a mountain and look down on everyone else.

Accumulated bones, endless blood.

"What the hell are you trying to say?" Sevita asked in an extremely slight voice.

"Do you want to hear it?"

"I want to hear it."

"Good." Carlil leaned against the door, her head down at him, his gaze making it almost impossible for Sevita to breathe.

"You've read that pamphlet, and you know about the Emperor's Eighth Legion, so do you know who the Emperor is?" He hissed as he asked.

Emperor in Nostramo is a long string of words, the first half is soft, the second half is heavy, and there are no legatos. The combination of these conditions gives the word emperor a great contrast to what it meant to be meant in the Nostramo language.

Sevita stiffened and spoke, "Emperor? ”

"Yes, Emperor, but we won't mention him today."

"But I've just learned the new word." Sevita said boldly. Then, he discovered, Carlil wasn't smiling.

There was no smile in his eyes.

"We won't mention him today, Yago Sevitaleon." Carlil said. "Maybe in a year or two, there will be people on Nostramo who will come and publicize his achievements, to let the world know what he has done for humanity – but not today."

"Today, you don't need to know about his deeds. What do you think we came to you for, boy? ”

"I don't know." Sevita did her best to keep her calm. "I don't know what you're looking for me for, I've never seen anyone as tall as you before, especially you, Instructor Carlil."

"I'm not your instructor yet." Carlil said. So you don't have to call me that, now, let's get down to business. You've seen gangs recruit new people in the past, right? ”

"I've seen it." Sevita replied very quickly, and he had unconsciously put his hands behind his back and stood straight.

"How do they recruit new people?"

"Kill."

"No, it's more than that. Go on, Yago Sevitalyon. ”

"Selling medicine, eating meat, stealing, robbing, or beating each other until only one person is standing."

"Looks like you've seen a lot." Carlil said in an emotionless tone.

"Yes, they use many different ways to recruit new people, but they all have one purpose in mind – testing."

"They use these things to test the newcomers, to test whether they have the most basic guts to survive the next few months of gang life. It only takes a few months, and if these newcomers don't die, they'll immediately be even worse. Isn't that right, Sevita? ”

"Yes, Mr. Carlile." The boy pursed his lips, and some familiar faces flashed through his mind.

They used to be street children begging for a living on the streets like him, but it only took a few months, or even weeks, for them to immediately become a different picture.

Most people will turn into skinny monsters with sparkling eyes and high spirits. Others will disappear forever, never to be seen again.

"And we're going to recruit you now." Carlil said. "You're good, you're even the best for the Astarte reserves. Company Commander Fer Zaloster and Chief Medic Officer Jairziño Guzmán, who are now waiting outside the gate, are undergoing a transformation, and they were not as strong as you before they entered the Legion. ”

Sevita silently memorized the two names, and contrasted the two faces he had just remembered with them.

His left hand held the wrist of his right hand, and his back was shaking—he didn't know what the word Astarte meant, but that didn't stop him from catching the word 'legion' in Carlil's words.

Corps.

The Emperor's Eighth Legion.

Astarte.

He keenly connected the words, and other speculations began to take root in his mind quickly—he began to think back to Fell and Guzmán as they walked out of the room, the sense of strength in their pace, their speed, their gestures.

Sevita unconsciously took a deep breath, and her back was soaked in cold sweat in an instant. He tore off the veil in front of him with his own hands and saw the truth. He began to realize some facts that no one in this room talked about.

They are soldiers. Sevita thought. Soldiers belonging to the Emperor

"So, what do I have to give?" After a deliberate silence by Carlile, Sevita asked.

He still struggled to keep his feet steady, staring at the giant by the door with his head held high. It's an interesting gesture, not like resistance, but rather anticipation of what's to come.

However, Karil stared into the boy's eyes and whispered another question.

"Do you hate gangs and aristocrats?"

Sevita was stunned.

He had thought he would hear things like, 'Are you willing to be loyal to the Emperor?' or 'Are you willing to give your life for the Legion?' The gangs are all asking about this, loyalty, life.

If you say yes, you'll get guns and status, and you'll have enough to eat. If you refuse, you die.

He didn't think that these people would kill him for his refusal, they were distinctly different from the nobles and gangs.

But

"I hate them." Sevita said. "I wish they had died dozens of more times."

"Why?"

"Need a reason?" Sevita's cheeks flushed, it was the first time he had shown such obvious mood swings.

His breath froze, as if something was blocking his nose. He felt a pinch of dryness in his eyes, and began to blink rapidly. After a brief pause, his tone became sharp.

"I don't think it needs any reason, Mr. Carlile. I hate them, and all those who survived hated them. Don't you hate them? He asked, slightly defiantly. You're a Nostramo too, aren't you? ”

"Of course I hate them."

"So so am I, sir, and so am I."

"Good."

Carlil nodded at him and smiled, but the smile was not gentle. Half a second later, he regained his expressionless appearance.

"This thing is essentially conscription. We recruit you, we elect you to join the army, and you don't have a choice, in fact, most people don't choose to refuse at all. But now the situation is special, so I'm going to give you a choice, Yago Sevitalyon. “

"I've given you many choices, and this one is the most important and the last. You can choose to join the legion, or you can choose to decline and go back to being a mundane miner. “

"If you choose the latter, we'll erase your memory and block your talent. You can be a completely normal person in the future, no more sleepless nights, nightmares, and no more inexplicable ghosts. ”

"And what if I choose the former?"

"You will suffer all the life." Carlil said slowly. "First of all, you will know how the world beneath our feet is connected to the sky. Then you will understand the true duty of the Eighth Legion. “

"You're going to go through surgery after surgery over the next few years, in other words, you're going to be dissected again and again and you're going to be added something new. You're going to endure a lot of complications, and you're going to have a lot of training on top of that. “

"These trainings are not going to be as easy and natural as if I were standing here and talking to you, they would be brutal, even brutal. If you can't make it through, or if you're careless, then you're going to die, and you're going to die a miserable death. No one will help you in this process, and the only person you can rely on is yourself. ”

Sevita nodded in silence, he looked like he was thinking, but he wasn't. He's just listening intently, that's all.

He didn't understand what Carlile meant, but he could extract some information from it that he could understand.

Death.

Suffering.

Torture.

"So," Sevita said, taking a deep breath and speaking again.

His complexion had turned pale—a pale that surpassed the natural complexion of the Nostramos, and Carlil's words of being dissected again and again still had a little effect on him.

"What happens if I succeed?"

"What? Do you still expect a reward? Carlil laughed again, coldly.

"There is no reward, Yago Sevitalyon. All you get is new responsibilities and endless quests, and that's it. You will be groomed by us to be a killing machine, world by world to kill aristocrats, gangs, or worse. You may die, but you may not be able to. That's it, kid. What you gain is not proportional to what you will give, so it's too late to give up. ”

"Nope." Sevita said. "I'm joining."

He let go of his hands, and they returned to his sides. He began to take a deep breath and repeated his own words: "I join." ”

"So, why?" Carlil asked. "What's the reason, Sevita?"

"I don't have a reason for you." Sevita said. "Actually, I don't even think I'm supposed to be standing here talking to you at all."

"I think I must have gone crazy today, or I wouldn't have seen so many things that I can't explain. I don't really understand a word of what you've just said, sir, but I'm still a little smarter than the others. ”

He grinned palely and smiled, "All I know I'm going to join, that's all, sir, believe it or not." ”

"Good." Carlil smiled too. "Well, the first order, Reserve Yago Sevitalyon"

"What, sir?"

"Call me Instructor." Carlil said. He turned and opened the door and walked out.

Yes, yards

(End of chapter)