"How was everyone's first day in the army?" Nero asked, his voice much too energetic and jovial for everyone's liking. "Did it match what you imagined? Or had you imagined a lot more fighting on your very first day?"
"I feel like I need to get a new body..."
"Everything hurts..."
"They took away my phone..."
"The major can tell me what to do any time..."
"I know right, he was kind of hot..."
"This is child labour..."
Like a dam that burst, all the complaints, as well as some perverted thoughts, that they had been keeping to themselves all day came pouring out. They hardly bothered to listen to each other, and all the recruits just spoke over each other, which just made Nero chuckle.
Everyone spent a few good minutes venting before he began to calm them down. They only had one free hour, and if he allowed them to keep complaining then they would just spend the whole hour doing that.
"To be fair, if you had all joined me on my daily laps around the campus, none of you would be as exhausted as you are now."
No one responded well to that. They gave him dirty looks, and probably more than a few unkind words in their minds, but no one spoke aloud. Who would spend their free time running?
"That's besides the point. I just wanted to talk with everyone a little about our future. Everyone can feel free to pitch in, I am just going to share my thoughts."
He paused for a moment, and gave everyone time to adjust. Even though they had been listening to him all day, it wasn't as if they had any obligation to keep listening to him. It wasn't like this had been planned by them or something - it was just something that occurred naturally. But if he became arrogant and started taking it for granted, then no one had an obligation to keep listening.
That was exactly why he asked everyone to stay back during their free time so that they could talk. If they officially came to an agreement about how to proceed, it would be in everyone's interests.
"I know everyone feels upset about the forced punishment today. It wasn't fair, considering that we didn't cause any ruckus. It sucks, and it's likely going to happen again. If you keep dwelling on it, it will only make your life here much harder. I am not telling you all to just accept the punishments, I am telling you that everyone needs to change their perspectives."
He paused again, just in case anyone had any complaints. It was better to give them a chance to speak up than be interrupted. Fortunately, even though most grimaced, they continued to listen.
"Our goal here is not to get treated differently. Or at least, that's not my goal. I won't tell everyone what to think, but I will share with you all what my mindset is."
Nero got up, and started walking in the big circle that they had naturally formed. For whatever reason, he found it easier to speak while walking than standing.
"I don't need to be treated partially here, I need the best training that they can give us so that whenever we're deployed, my chances of survival are higher. Everyone saw the Scorcher room as punishment, but I saw it as training. You all probably experienced it too. If we used aether, we could resist the heat.
"I don't know why we could resist it like that, but our condition was still much better than everyone else's. Even though it was so simple to resist the heat, most people didn't realise it until the end. That's because they're not used to thinking of solving problems. They were too busy resenting the punishment.
At the same time, I'm sure many people felt angry that the soldiers didn't tell us how to resist the heat either. But the way I see it, when we're out on the field, there won't be anyone around to hold our hands and guide us either. It's better to get used to it now rather than later."
He paused once more, to give everyone time to reflect. It was important to give these pauses, and let everyone absorb each of his talking points. Otherwise, if he waited till the end, they would only remember the gist of it, rather than all his points.
"Not to mention that I benefited quite a lot from the hour-long session in the Scorcher room. It allowed me to practise my control over aether, and reduce my consumption as much as possible.
"That's not to say it was easy, or that I liked it. But I just think that even though it was hard, it helped me a lot, and somewhat improved my chances of surviving in a similar environment in the future. After all, if we end up going to the ruins, who knows what we might end up facing. What if the Scorcher room is something they prepared specifically just to train us for that?"
Although Nero had no proof for what he had just said, his last sentence changed a lot of expressions, and many students began to realise that this might be a real possibility.
"Lastly, I don't know about you, but now that I have been drafted, I want to prove myself, not by listening to orders and being disciplined, but by performing well in my missions. But for that, I first have to get selected for missions.
"That is why, even if it sucks, I plan on doing my best while we're here. I don't know exactly what's going to happen from now on, or what they're going to have us do here. But the matter of fact is, we've been drafted. Some of our parents, or grandparents have been through drafts. Everyone knew this was a possibility.
It happened a little earlier to us than anyone could have anticipated, but that's life."
"Do you really not know what's going to happen?" asked one of the girls. "I heard you got a commendation from the sage? Didn't he tell you anything when you met him?"
Nero resisted the urge to sigh. One other reason everyone was so willing to listen to him was because of the endless rumours that had been spread about him. He was certain that many of them thought that by sticking to him they could avoid some kind of danger. He had to disillusion them about that now. That was also one of his objectives.
"I don't know what you all have heard, but the sage never really talked to me directly. Well, unless you count him telling me that I'm in shock and that I need to go to sleep. But besides that, we've never had any personal interaction. When I went to get the commendation, the sage was there. But so were hundreds of other people.
The sage told us about the war - about how Dolziya and Saint Codale attacked us, and how our armies fought back.
"He showed us pictures of the battlefield. Thousands of soldiers probably died, but that's just my guess. Even now, chances are that our armies are fighting on the border, protecting us from being invaded. That's why I have zero hesitation in my body towards this draft. All my life others have fought to protect and keep me safe.
Now, even if I'm not fighting in the war directly, I am looking forward to doing my part and helping how I can.
"If any of you want my help with anything, you can always come to me. I'll also continue to point out the obvious traps that they're preparing for us. These are just common tactics to help stubborn kids realise they're in the army now, and they need to get in line. They're easy traps to avoid, and like I said, if we continue to get punished for it, I'll just treat that as training.
Maybe no one will praise me for it here, and many may even think I'm trying to be a pet student or something, but since when have I cared about what others think?"
Nero's voice, which had so far been soft and compassionate, suddenly changed and became firm, along with his expressions that hardened.
"I am only here to become the strongest version of myself I can be. If others don't like it, I'll just ignore them, and if anyone gets in my way, I'll knock them aside. This is war, and I don't intend to treat it like a game. Like I said, if anyone wants my help, I'll continue to provide it.
But if anyone feels like I'm being too pushy, or want to do things differently, then you can feel free to do as you wish."
He looked at all the students, their expressions more serious now, but they were clearly caught up in their thoughts.
"I'll give you some time to talk amongst yourselves, and decide what you want to do. I'll be heading back to the barracks."
No one stopped him as he left, though everyone gave him a nod. They needed to spend some time thinking, and come to a decision themselves. Silas was the only one who quickly followed Nero as he left.
Right as Nero was about to exit the mess he paused, and looked at the far corner. There was a small group of recruits sitting there as well, all looking at him. Nero didn't recognise them, so he turned and left.
"Is that the one?" one of the boys who was staring at Nero from afar asked.
"Yup, that's the target."