A soldier was a title that represented honor, strength, and duty.
Soldiers fought for their collective's honor, wielded strength on behalf of their country, and carried a shared mission.
In Mu En's view, one of the important things that distinguished soldiers from ordinary people was whether they could truly obey orders and prohibitions without fail.
That meant, "Carry out an order the moment it is given, and stop the moment something is forbidden."
Those words looked simple, but in reality, they ran counter to ordinary human nature-
Why should I entrust my will and safety to someone else without question?
Therefore, only those who overcame their nature and achieved this deserved to be called soldiers. Only they could turn hundreds or thousands of independent individuals into an army that moved as one.
Clearly, the men before Mu En, who were even hesitant to fight, did not yet deserve that title.
Fortunately, the "troublemaker" named Por had struck first, acting as the catfish that stirred up the pond.
The others soon realized that Mu En's order was serious.
Besides, those selected as militiamen were almost all hot-blooded young men.
The sting of pain and mud soon ignited the tempers of these hotheads, and the woodland came alive with commotion.
One man took a heavy punch to the bridge of his nose and staggered back, clutching his face; another was lifted by the waist and slammed into the mud, where he struggled to get up.
By the end, they had resorted to every dirty trick, from eye gouges and elbow strikes to biting. Everyone had rolled into a ball of mud, and the whole scene had become both comical and violent.
Soon, some called out their surrender, while others lay on the ground playing dead, terrified of taking another punch.
At last, beneath the cold rain, only two figures remained standing.
"Come on, Kamlin! Show everyone whether your little tricks still work against fists!" Por wiped blood mixed with mud from his face, not knowing whose it was, and took an attacking stance.
"Pah! You get to launch a sneak attack, but I'm not allowed to use my brains? His Highness said whoever's left standing gets to be captain!"
The soldier named Kamlin, who sported two thin strips of mustache, spat out a mouthful of bloody froth and retorted without backing down.
The result came as no surprise to Mu En. The last two fighting were the very troublemakers Mito had singled out.
As troublemakers who had still been selected and sent here, they naturally had their own exceptional qualities.
The fight just now had offered clues.
Por had been the first to obey the order. Bold and ready to fight, he was a courageous man who would stop at nothing to win.
Kamlin, on the other hand, had only attacked after Por made his move and confirmed that the order was genuine. He had also dodged left and right during the melee to avoid getting drawn into a prolonged fight. He was a shrewd schemer who knew how to protect himself.
But regardless, they had both relied on their own abilities to last until the end.
After facing off for a moment, the two lunged at each other at the same time.
Using his height advantage, Kamlin landed a heavy punch on Por's chest first, but Por delivered a headbutt at the same time, smashing hard into Kamlin's face.
Both men staggered back several steps from the heavy blows, then fell onto their backs almost simultaneously, sending muddy water splashing.
Rain fell on their motionless bodies, and silence settled over the area.
Just as Nausicaä's face filled with worry and she was about to step forward to check on them, Por's fingers suddenly twitched.
He let out a low growl and struggled bit by bit, swaying as he tried to push himself up out of the mud.
Even Mito, who usually had plenty of complaints about this unruly soldier, could not help cheering him on inwardly.
In the end, Por actually managed to stand again through sheer astonishing willpower!
Though his whole body trembled from pain and cold, he faced Mu En and Nausicaä and managed a bright smile:
"L-Lord Divine Tree, Your Highness... heh heh... I can be the leader now, right?"
Mu En felt that he might need to adjust his earlier assessment of these Valley of the Wind militiamen a little.
Even among them, without any rigorous training, there were naturally promising talents.
Unlike with Nausicaä, Mu En could not communicate mentally with someone until he had established a blessing link with them.
So instead of answering Por's question, he expressed his approval through action: two surging waves of golden light descended upon all the soldiers.
The first, Erdtree's Favor, healed their wounds and woke those who had lost consciousness.
The second, Law of Regression, turned the mud on the soldiers into dust, which could be removed with a light pat.
Every soldier felt as though bathed in a spring breeze, wishing they could remain immersed in it forever.
It had to be said, these two incantations were incredibly useful.
Useful as they were, however, they were not the incantations best suited to warriors.
As it happened, after a night of nourishment from the power of faith, Mu En had unlocked a new incantation. He planned to have the soldiers before him volunteer to test its effects.
"All right, everyone, attention! Lord Divine Tree is about to bestow his favor!"
At Mito's command, the soldiers quickly lined up again, and even the two troublemakers still glaring at each other did not dare slack off.
Unless someone wanted to experience the delightful feeling of being singled out and thoroughly dealt with by this hard-bitten veteran, no one dared openly disobey Mito's orders.
Soon, eleven pieces of "amber" appeared in the woodland.
There was an extra one because Mito, a capable minister, had naturally been included. It was his well-deserved reward.
With the support of faith from more than five hundred people, Mu En now obtained enough Runes in a day to transform more than a dozen people into Blessed, so he naturally no longer had to be as stingy as before.
The blessing process went smoothly. A moment later, eleven "Blessed-grade" warriors had completed their transformation.
Por clenched his fists and raised them before his face, feeling the energy surging endlessly through his body, his heart full of delighted surprise.
"Such tremendous power! No wonder Grandpa Gol shows off to Elder Mito every day. So becoming a Blessed really does feel this wonderful."
The other ten, including Mito, felt much the same.
"Remember, from this day forward, you are my warriors, fighting for the glory of the Erdtree."
"Yes, Lord Divine Tree!"
Hearing Mu En's grand voice left them even more excited.
So a god really was just as the legends said: every word and action carried boundless holiness and majesty.
Until now, that had been the privilege of the noble princess... no, of Chief Nausicaä!
As the Blessed soldiers' heartfelt chorus reached him, Mu En gave a satisfied nod with the head he pretended to have in his consciousness.
"All right, I will grant you your first ability for combat-Order's Blade."
Since they were warriors, they needed a spear and a shield.
This incantation would be the sharpest spear in the hands of the Blessed warriors!