Chapter 38: A Duel

“A duel?” I asked. “Is that…allowed?”

The Dupe—Brawl, was that his name—nodded eagerly. “We are allowed to duel each other, brother. It improves our potential ranking. If you win and your rank is lower than your opponent, you will swap ranks.”

The people around me had gone quiet, and everyone was staring at Brawl. Their gazes shifted between him and I, waiting to see what would happen.

“Can I decline?” Challenging people to duels seemed like the opposite of what I needed to be doing—it certainly didn’t seem like the way to make friends.

“You cannot!” Brawl laughed. “Not unless you would like to be known as a coward! And no one wants to team up with a coward.”

I guess he had a point there. “What’s your rank, then?” I asked.

“Number three hundred and eleven!”

“Hm?” I raised my eyebrows. “Is that the lowest rank in our cohort?”

Everyone who was watching the fiasco snickered, and there was plenty of whispering. Brawl didn’t seem to care. He puffed out his chest and said, “Second lowest! You are currently the lowest. But I have challenged every Dupe here—every Dupe except you!”

“So you’ve lost every duel.”

“Correct!”

I rubbed the bridge of my nose. There was something wrong with these people. But if Brawl lost every duel and lived, then at least that meant there wasn’t too much risk. And frankly, I didn’t have much dignity left to lose. “Alright, alright. When do we fight?”

“After dinner! Seeing as you have finished your plate, that would be now! You do not want to look—”

Before he could finish, a metal mug clinked at the end of the hall. The Drillmaster stood on a raised plinth, and he was tapping the flat of his sword against the edge of his mug. “Good evening, all.”

“We shall wait until the master has finished his speech,” Brawl whispered. “Then we fight.”

“You didn’t need to add the fighting part,” I whispered.

“Yes I did.”

“I mean, you could’ve just not said it. I could’ve guessed.”

“Implications are for slimy cowards.”

“I suppose.”

The Drillmaster stopped clinking his mug. He raised his voice and said, “Excluding tonight, you will have two more days until the entrance examination. I highly suggest checking your equipment and confirming your squad. You will need four members in your team—three Dupes and one healer. You will need to decide on a temporary sergeant. One will not be appointed to you. We have found that the teams who can pick an effective sergeant are the best teams. If your team succeeds at the exam, and your squad remains pleased with your performance, you will then be officially promoted.

“These are not the same squad compositions you know from Homecamp training. You need to be nimble and precise. If the regular armies are the sword of the Warlord, then we are his sewing needle. Six men will slow you down too much.

“Your test will be of speed, precision, and teamwork. If you cannot complete the objectives we give you in the labyrinth with the equipment we provide, you will be considered unfit for our halls and return to the battalions you came from. Only the top twenty-five most effective teams will be allowed.”

“Most effective?” I muttered.

“He has a list of different criteria that he will judge us on,” Brawl whispered to me. “It was an implication. Slimy coward.”

“Hey, you challenged me to a duel. No friendly talk.”

“I would not challenge an enemy to a duel. I would simply kill him.”

I opened my mouth, then decided against saying anything else and closed it again.

“If you are not among the top twenty five squads,” the Drillmaster continued, “You will return home to your battalions as well, no matter how fit for service you are. The SAP can only afford to train a certain number of squads. However, once you are in, we will do everything in our power to maintain you. Usually, after your two years of training, we have only whittled our numbers down by about three squads’ worth of men.

“This is, of course, your reminder to keep working and keep coordinating, to plan and prepare for your examination. That is all for tonight. Enjoy your dinner, train, rest, and I look forward to seeing you all at your examination.”

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After his speech, I glanced over at Brawl. “Right, then. Let’s get this over with.”

“It is a pleasure to duel,” the large Dupe said.

“We’ll see,” I said. “Lead the way. I have no idea where we’re going.”

“Do not fall behind. You cannot slime your way out of this duel.”

“I’m not…slimey,” I muttered. “You like that word, don’t you?”

But Brawl was already walking away. He strode toward the exit of the hall, and I followed him, jogging to catch up. Each of his steps was worth about one and a half of mine, making it slightly awkward to keep pace with him.

As far as I could tell, we had free movement around the castle. After all, we were Dupes. It was pretty easy to tell when someone was a Dupe and when they weren’t—and those who weren’t, the druids, they all had their leaf sigils to identify themselves. Of course, with me being new, I was sure to draw some suspicion. Sticking with Brawl was probably a good idea for now.