“Are you good?” I was in need of capable talents. I knew how fierce and capable the Hectors were from Lily. If he was half as good as her, then he would deserve my support.

“I’m not.”

“He is!” The highest ranking commander here spoke in different words than that kid. I inwardly sighed. This kid was either telling the truth or he just set a higher standard for him that he didn’t reach.

“I’m not!” he shouted back at the old Hector, “I’m just a minor leader! I haven’t got my army yet!”

“Kid, you are fifteen! How many did you guys see in his age reaching his stage? Leading your army? Come on! Only those in their thirties would have such a chance! And you are only two ranks away from it! I bet on my life that you will reach it before reaching twenty!”

“I’m still not there!”

Yes, that kid set such a high standard for himself then. “It’s your lucky day then,” I shrugged, “I’m in desperate need for generals to lead out my armies. So you are going to lead one, fight brutal battles and prove your worth.”.

“This… Lord, I don’t accept shortcuts!”

“Neither do I!” damn! It was so damn hard to deal with such aspiring talents! “Screw up and I swear you will serve your entire life as a soldier!”

I wasn’t exaggerating. Such a big war was a golden chance for such a warmonger kid. Fifteen?! Damn! He was younger than me by a few years already and was speaking such big words!

What did his family do to him to reach such a stage? Were they all in such regard and ranks in the army or what?

“I accept it then,” the kid slowly nodded, “but I have a request, weak battles aren’t my type or desire. I want strong and deadly ones to prove my worth.”

“Don’t look higher than you can reach, or else you might get your neck broken!” one of the other generals said in such a deep tone, seemingly despising this kid.

“I agree,” but who said any of those here had the authority to say yes or no? “I have the right battle for you.”

“Good. I will show you my worth or kill myself in the battlefield!”

Damn this kid! Why was his enthusiasm getting on my nerves?

“I’ll hold you by your words,” if he decided to show off like this, then he should be responsible for his own words.

“You, do you know about any other places of the beasts?” done from this kid, I continued my work in asking others about the places of other beasts here.

But unlike what I expected, either they came from the capital directly to here or they were stationed here in the first place.

“Tell me more about your capital then,” as I didn’t get much information from them, I decided to keep asking about something else.

The capital… It was the last destination I was heading towards, and the place where I was going to use that aspiring kid to prove himself there.

“It’s the biggest city in the entire continent, filled with many wealthy families, strong and with such deep heritage,” one of them answered while the others showed such unsightly expression on their faces.

They weren’t idiots, and were fierce generals, mostly. They got what I wanted by just this simple question.

“What’s up with all of you? Speak so I can see you,” I moved my eyes around those who had their faces darkened, including that old and highest in rank general.

“Lord, are you planning to hit it?”

“This is a war, and it won’t be over without getting the highest place in the continent invaded and controlled by me,” I didn’t hide such info from them, “what? Do you have an opinion about it?”

“Our families, lord, there are there,” another dude spoke in a tone that told me he was in his mid thirties.

“And?” I knew this was their home, and they all had families here somewhere.

“Can we ask for them to leave the capital then?” the oldest one said, before hurriedly adding, “we can ask them to leave in stealth.”

“Families of the big general’s of a defeated army are leaving the capital at the same time? Won’t this arouse suspicions in the higher ups there?” I said in such a cold tone, and they didn’t respond to me.

They kept glaring in silence and hesitation. They knew I was right, but their fear of their families prevented them from saying the right answer.

“I forbid you from telling anyone about this, not even your families or friends,” I said in a decisive tone, “as for your families, let them converge at a place easy for me to extract.”

“Lord… Are you possibly…” one of the other generals asked in such disbelief.

“You are my men from now on,” I shrugged, “I dunno how things are done at your race, but in mine leaders are not just in name. They have to take responsibility for their men.”

I paused, looking them directly in the eye, “Just tell them to move to a certain place when the time comes. You know the capital quite well it seemed, so select the spot carefully. I want something away from any military facilities, away from the heat of battle.”

“We have something like this already,” the oldest general said, “it’s the secret underground path provided for the royalties.”

“Royalties? What are those?!” I was surprised to hear about this word. Shouldn’t it be used to describe those who already had their own kingdoms?

“Lord, the ones who lead us aren’t the higher ups or the paragons,” Legend spoke, “they are the princes and princesses of already established kingdoms in other worlds. As part of their reward for clearing their apocalypse trial, they will lead other worlds into new apocalypses, acting as our real rulers.”

“I see…” that was why there was such a gap between humans and other races, at least Hectors. If such folks were here, people who already tested and ruled over other apocalypses, then any race could perform better, any race but humans.