The Legend of Carmine

The next day, Carmine was officially appointed as one of the General Of Norand- General Carmine, who would be stationed on Shar.

When she received the title from Cyanx. She said, "Your Imperial Highness, Thank you for your gracefulness for bestowing the Title of General on me. Now, as per the duel's condition. I wish to see all my assigned soldiers tomorrow in the training field."

Cyanx gave a sweet smile and replied," Yes, of course. We have not forgotten our conditions but .. .. this is the first time for any General to request for such a thing. So, we have discussed that we would like to see the process in person so that there are no future troubles."

"Is it okay?"

Carmine answered calmly," Since it has been decided by all. How can I object to it?"

The Norand court had used other persons of the defeated country as court officials but this was the first time for them to bestow such a high title- the title of General to someone and that also to a woman. This had never happened in their history, they had never appointed any women in an official position. Therefore, Carmine was the first woman to be appointed in Norand official court.

The next day all the officials and General including Cyanx was present in the military training field.

All soldier who would be soon appointed to Carmine, gathered in the assembly.

Carmine knew that it will be difficult to make them abide by her command but she knew that she had to make it work for her to be a good General. Therefore, she knew that she need to make it absolutely clear that those who wanted to join her must be absolutely committed to her.

As she marched down looking at all the soldiers one by one. She stopped in front of one of them, who was not standing properly in his attention position. Then she commanded, "Soldier, Who do you see in front of you?"

That soldier finally propped up his body in layback attention position and answered casually," A woman" and gave a cheeky smile as if he was making a joke of her. She could also see that other soldiers were displaying the same cheeky smile as they heard what he said. As if to make it clear that she was nothing more than a woman in their eyes.

All these soldiers were called from different postings of Norand for their posting on Shar. None of them had seen her in action or battlefield and had no clue how good she was. When they arrived there they were notified that they would have a female General in Shar, and about which none of them were thrilled.

Carmine just smiled and said, " Oh... So, you only see a woman in front of you. Okay...Anything else?"

The soldier again replied, "I just see a woman."

Carmine, who was still cool and calmly asked, "Do you think you can defeat this woman?"

The soldier laughed and replied cockily," I do not attack a weak woman."

"Oh.. okay. How about this then." She gave him a punch that knocked him down on the ground.

Carmine squatted down and towered her face over him and said," Since you can see that I am not a weak woman. How about you attack me now and show me if you can defeat me or not?"

Alor, who was beside Rulean observing from their location, thought to himself that this was a bad idea for the soldier because he had seen her skills and he knew that the soldier's skill will be no match for her.

As the soldier charged angrily towards her and tried to attack her. She happened to hold his fist, twist it around on his back and kick him in his knees and made him kneel down. Then she punched him real hard, that it knocked him off.

Officials and Generals who were observing this from distance were aghast to see the sight.

And Carmine knew that their eyes were boring even deeper on her but she did not care. She continued by turning to the soldiers and said, " Does anyone still think that I am just a woman, Please step forward."

After that small demo, all the soldiers realized that she is a fierce woman and no one dare to challenge her because the guy whom she had knocked on the ground was above an average soldier. And the way she defeated him made it clear that she was very good at combats. Finally, they started to understand why she was appointed as a new General.

Then as she moved along and asked another soldier who looked timid. This soldier had a very contrasting personality compared to the previous soldier.

"Why are you here?"

The soldier replied hesitantly, "Because my General assigned me to be here."

She gave a smirk and said, " oh... Whoever thinks like this man and that their reason to be here is simply that their commander said them to be here. Wait .... How shall I put this? I no longer want you under my command. Because that beliefs of yours evidently stated that your loyalty lies with your old commanders and not to your nation. I do not want any of you with me in that case"

"Think about it carefully, if you cannot absolutely abide by my command then I would rather take on rookie soldiers than you all. "

Carmine finished looking after all her soldiers and walked towards the shade where officials and Cyanx were stationed.

This all was heard and seen by all the Generals and officials and it made them furious.

When Carmine arrived there. She heard one of the General saying, "Your Imperial Majesty. This is an insult to us. We have been generous and had contributed our good soldiers for her battalion and she is openly rejecting our good gestures."

Carmine knew this was coming as they had wished to come to the training field today. She said, "Since you all object for me to select my soldiers, therefore I had won the right fair and square to reject your's selections. "

Carmine turned to all of them and questioned," Do you all think that a war can be won only by a General? No,... War is never won by a General alone it is won by including each and every soldier's effort. And today if all these soldiers do not believe that they are here to protect their nation but rather believe that they are here because they are following their old commander's order. Then, they will always follow your orders before mine even when they are assigned to me. I want my soldiers to follow only and only my command because if they have doubts in their master's command they will never be able to conquer the war. As they will always be conflicted with themselves in their mind. If their attitude does not change, I will reject all of them. I would rather request to get rookie soldiers or new recruits. I will train them to be the elite soldiers under my command."