20 Conquered (1/2)

The rest of that week consisted of nothing but conflict, the demon soldiers were confused by the initial attack and completely disorganized, but they were still a few of them entrenched that we had to take our time exterminating. My squad and I killed hundreds ourselves, even still we lost some good men. There were roughly 300 men from the initial 2,000 that gave their lives to conquer the city.

With their sacrifice, we were able to kill 700 demons within the city and capture another 300. It was a great achievement that everyone was proud to accomplish. We brought an extremely important asset back to the Order's fold and freed thousands of occupied human civilians. This victory was the stepping stone to freeing the Lord's Union southern territory from demon occupation.

The platoon commander, whose name I would learn was 1st Lt. May, was good on his word. After giving his briefing of the mansion siege, I was called into our battalion commander's tent. I passed through the canvas flaps and was greeted by Lt. May and the 12th and 9th battalion commanders.

I froze in the middle of the doorway, not completely knowing how to approach such high ranked officers. The two battalion commanders were brothers from the Order but still, I was panicking internally. The 12th battalion leader cracked a smile at my internal confliction, motioning to the seat positioned in front of them.

I slowly sat down and waited for them to address me, my heart was racing and I was sweating buckets, what did I do? I'm don't think I've done anything wrong, unless.... Do they know about me playing my mandola late at night? Is that why they called me? Crap..... I thought my [Noise Suppression] Field would work. I can't get in too much trouble for that, right? I guess I'll just take my punishment like a man.

My battalion commander started speaking, but I lowered my head and quickly said.

”Sir before you decide on your punishment, please know I thought I wasn't bothering anyone. If it's what you want, then I'll stop playing entirely. Just don't punish the men in my squad, they all just wanted to hear me play, it wasn't their fault.”

A dead silence hung in the air until finally, the 9th platoon commander asked. ”I'm sorry son, but what in god's name are you talking about?”

I looked up questionably, asking. ”You were going to reprimand me for playing my mandola at night, Right?”

He looked at me, then to the other commander and to 1st Lt. May. Then the three burst out laughing, unable to contain their surprise at my stupid assumption. I looked at them in disbelief, not understanding what was happening.

The 12th battalion commander finally answered once he was able to suppress his laughter. Wiping a tear from his eye he said.

”No, although I wouldn't punish you for that anyway. I guess if that's the only thing on your conscious, then you couldn't have be doing anything I'd actually punish you for. But anyway.”

He regained his composure and assumed a commanding tone. ”What we called you in here for is your outstanding achievement when capturing the archdemon.

We want to promote you to a platoon commander, but before that, we wanted to see who it was who could actually beat an archdemon with his bare hands.” He looked me over saying.

”If it wasn't for Lt. May's testimony, I wouldn't belive you were the one to do it. You're so.....young, who were you a squire to?”

I easily reply. ”Paladin Knight Sir Richard.”

Everyone in the small tent looks at me with shock and surprise, the 9th battalion commander rubbed his temples with his head resting in his palm. ”Of course he was, I should have expected that old coot to raise such a monster.” I glare at him not fully appreciating or understanding his comment.

He continues. ”It doesn't matter, I can't ignore rewarding the hero that beat an archdemon with his bare hands, so you will replace 1st Lt. May as commander of the 4th platoon and your current squad will be incorporated into it. So I need you and your men to rep...

I quickly interrupt, ”Sir with all due respect, I don't want to be promoted just yet. I want to continue leading the squad I have now, I don't have enough real experience and I don't think I would be able to lead a larger force effectively just yet.”

He looks at me with surprise and a hint of respect, ”I've never had anyone deny a promotion before, qualified or unqualified. I'm amazed that you have enough self-control to know your own limits, I respect that son. But that presents a problem, we need to reward you, otherwise, it'll lower the moral. What to do....what to do...” He mumbles.

Deciding begrudgingly, he asks with caution. ”If you don't want to be promoted, what is it that you want?”

I think about it for a few moments, but I can't find an answer. I don't really want money, it's hard to keep up with on the front and will just be more to carry. I've never been one to care too much about wealth anyway, but what else could I ask for? I think hard, then it hits me. I don't have to use it for myself, I look quickly to the commander and say.

”One of my men is a convict that's serving to reduce his sentence, he helped immeasurably during the operation.” Stretching the truth slightly, but not exactly lying. ”His efforts were so commendable that I want you to reduce his sentence completely, I want you to free Jake Parsons and give him a month of paid leave.”

They again look at me with shock and surprise, like they can't believe the words coming out of my mouth. I look at them with determination, my eyes set stubbornly.

After many long seconds, warming to the notion he grins and says.

”You're a very interesting person, more than I ever anticipated, selfless too. Sure, compared to capturing an archdemon freeing a convict isn't a bad trade. Heck, I'll even throw in 100 gold coins as compensation for bringing him in alive. That sound fair?”

I nod enthusiastically, he sticks his hand out and I shake it with gratitude, sealing the deal.