Six months had passed since the last day of the competition. Both Seulgi and Jongin rose quickly through the ranks and within that six months, they were made the Captain and Lieutenant respectively. This made Seulgi’s life so much easier as she had a tent, albeit small, all to herself.

The fact that the two buddies were always one rank above the other also became a topic of jest amongst their newfound clique, Chanyeol, Baekhyun, and Kyungsoo. Chanyeol and Baekhyun were sons of minor officials and were both selected into the Elite Troop a year ago. Meanwhile, Kyungsoo was a village boy who had gotten into the Elite Troop the same way Jongin and Seulgi did. Seulgi remembered Kyungsoo as the gentle-looking man that mostly minded his own business and was not pompous.  

Together, the five of them had bonded over field trainings and wine, with their strengths complementing each other’s weaknesses. Chanyeol was the master of using whips. He was so good at it that Seulgi had once commented that if he claimed being the second, no one would dare claim first. However, because the use of whips was limited in the military, his regular weapon was the sword. Similar to Seulgi, Chanyeol loves swift weapons.

Baekhyun’s weapon of choice was a bow and rarely gets himself involve in close-arm combat, because of that, his band of brothers often loved to for being a coward. Nonetheless, Baekhyun was still acknowledged by the rest to be their greatest support during their trainings when they were up against other companies. Once, it was also revealed that Baekhyun had even saved Chanyeol’s life when he put an arrow through the eye of a bear when they were hunting in the woods.

Meanwhile, Kyungsoo was extremely proficient at using the spear and because his body frame was small, like Seulgi’s, Kyungsoo almost always used his spear as a vault. Amongst them five, Kyungsoo was the only one from a family without political connections. Seulgi remembered during the fight with the beast, for the last segment of the competition, Kyungsoo was also one of the calmest contestant and Seulgi reckoned that Kyungsoo’s skills was honed from actual hunting experiences, for the survival of his family. The Captain learnt that Kyungsoo was the eldest son of a family of poor farmers.    

With its size of only one thousand men, this Elite Troop was expected to have less than one percent casualty during each battle. There were three captains, including Seulgi and each captain had two lieutenants. For Seulgi, it was Jongin and Chanyeol. Jongin was the slightly more hot-headed and righteous one whilst Chanyeol was the calmer one with more creative ideas. Seulgi loved them all as they helped her learn and grow. There were so many times Seulgi was almost tempted to entrust her secret to these brothers but alas she did not and figured out that she should never do so. Now with her rank as a Captain, she would only risk sullying her family’s name if the truth got out.  

“Kyungsoo! Come on, you are so small, you should be quicker on the roll!” Jongin laughed as Kyungsoo fended off another blow from Chanyeol just in time, without uttering any complaints.

The Captain who had been watching her men’s roguish fight was thoroughly entertained. As their superior, Seulgi also observed that Kyungsoo was by far the most easily bullied brother amongst them all because he was so quiet and so kind. Those two qualities were totally at odds with that of the military life. Seulgi sometimes worried about this brother of hers but with the rest keeping a close lookout for him, the Captain need not worry so much. She could only hope that Kyungsoo would toughen up and be able to survive well in the military.

Asides from acquiring this band of brothers, Seulgi’s life in the military had been rather… regular and insipid, especially with regards to her love life. Granted, she saw the Strategist almost every day of her life but there were so little chance at interactions especially when the Elite Troop trains almost every minute of their life. It was tough for many as for Seulgi who had trained for thirteen years. It felt as though all the Elite Troop have been doing was to train and have only been observing the battles that took place from the city’s walls. It felt like an irony that they were called the Elite Troops without being on the frontlines on the battleground for close to a year.

Things were beginning to look bad, especially on the Strategist, for she was the one who had put together this Elite Troop and for another reason, she was a female. In fact, it was only recently found out that the Strategist was not an official title and that Joohyun was able to break the convention and serve in the military only because her father was the Lord Commander. Seulgi scowled at that biased thought. Countless of times, she was tempted to break the jaws of the men who had made disrespectful jokes about the Strategist.

One time, she almost lost control when a fellow man had insulted the Strategist by calling her a . If not for Jongin, Seulgi would have sent the man flying backwards, carrying the tent along with him. Any insults hurled at the Strategist could easily trigger Seulgi’s moods. This was bad, Seulgi knew, because it made it so obvious that she was in love with the Strategist.

Six months… Seulgi only thought about the Strategist more and not less. The Captain would find every chance just to steal a glance at the lady and would feel the familiar race of her heart. It was only her family honour that made Seulgi remember her duties and contain her feelings.

That night, things in the Elite Troop seemed to finally be shaking up when the Colonel announced that Lieutenant Colonel, Captains, and Lieutenants would be convening in a week’s time for a confidential discu