"So that mountainous zombie was Count Rolalt's champion?"
A fresh recruit moaned in front of the largest illusion screen.
"It must have been him. I mean, who else could've knocked me out like that?"
Lily had to mend his broken arm, but now he was chatting with a knight as if they were best buddies for life. They weren't even on the same squad, but that no longer seemed to matter.
"Well, there is that Blood Moon blacksmith, too," the knight replied. "Welf, or whatshisname."
Once the pain and the shock of realization were gone, they all tried to guess who fought whom.
"The rest of us are much shorter. But if it was your team fighting near the crooked inn's corner, we might've crossed blades as well," he added. "That was a nice brawl, you had us running back."
"Oh, that was you?!" the tribesman yelled. "That's when I realized, the zombies were too smart."
But in the end, nobody suspected a thing.
Konrad had to explain the situation to every team for the first few times, but he took it as a compliment. They had no idea what happened to them.
"This was one hell of an illusion," the knight agreed, laughing.
"Yeah, I'm glad my brother didn't enlist. I couldn't have recognized even him like this."
And that was Konrad's goal with it.
He didn't have much left to do at this point, but to listen to the carefree feedback and oversee the remaining teams. All but the men of the four 'finalist' squads were here now.
Tired, beaten—some of them upset about his trickery.
But most forgot their grumbling once they realized they could watch the rest of the battles live.
"I'd pay a fortune to see those two giants duke it out amongst themselves."
"What was the count's champion called again?"
"Kade Enpe," a champion offered. Konrad could only guess the spelling, but they pronounced it as if it were only four letters. K, D, N, and P. "A weird name, you ought to remember it."
"What the hell? Isn't he from Kasserlane?" some tribesman raised their eyebrows in confusion.
"They say he's Rolalt's bastard from a nomad woman he captured," the knights whispered. "But if he hears this, he'll rip your tongue out—and mine, too, so shut the hell up about it."
No sign of hostility, only friendly banter, even after fighting to 'death'.
And this morning, they still measured each other with suspicion.
Now they were chatting, sharing rumors, and knights slammed tribesmen's backs.
"Those two will fight soon, mark my words," one of them claimed. "And hate to say this, but my money is on your odd-named champion."
"Kade'd win on one-on-one, sure," the knight agreed. "But your Welf has four of us with him."
"Hah, and the count's pet has the best of the Blood Moons flanking."
In case it wasn't obvious, Welf was still in the game. It was funny to hear champions and tribesmen praise him, and they had no clue this whole simulation was his idea.
Well, no, not the simulation itself, but to throw the men into the deep.
And Konrad had to thank him, because it sure worked wonders.
"Those two are in another league," a warrior joined the discussion.
"No kidding," someone laughed. "We'll have to up our training, or they'll leave us in the dust."
And that was yet another victory for Konrad.
Surviving a life-or-death situation—and depending on each other—brought the men closer.
Even the opponents. And if it also gave them motivation for the future—
"It's a shame we got beaten out so soon. I would've loved to try you in battle."
Once they realized there was no lost child or zombies, they were curious about how they did.
How they could've done, whom they have fought, and who was about to 'win' this wargame.
"I thought Bor would be killing it, too, but he didn't last a minute against Kade's onslaught."
The vibe reminded Konrad of the pubs of his past life. He grabbed a drink and watched football there on the big screen after work. He didn't even care about sports.
It was to turn off his brain, and while he wasn't a regular and knew no one—
Everyone always became an expert. People shared their opinions without anyone asking.
No second thoughts, no shame. And they had some beer here, too.
"He's not half bad," a knight admitted," but he's more of a skirmisher than a brawler."
"Yeah, a strategist. But you guys are scary in hand-to-hand combat," the tribesman said. "If he were smart, he would've flanked you with his team, and then it's game over for you."
"Well, don't forget he was still looking for that poor child, and wasn't planning to fight."
The champion took it upon himself to defend the tribal commander's honor.
"And he thought he was fighting zombies. He wasn't expecting us, haha."
"Yeah, this was mind-bending. Remind me never to piss off the bossman."
And that, too, was music to Konrad's ears.
He had high hopes for the day, but the outcome far exceeded his expectations.
And it still wasn't evening yet.
"I'm surprised Welf took over his team, though," a Blood Moon noted, joining in. "He flat-out refused every role or responsibility in our tribe. He'd rather follow his crazy sister instead—"
The sentence ended when he realized that the 'crazy sister', Lily, was right behind him.
The demoness worked overtime on healing duty.
It was only thanks to her insane powers that there were no fatalities so far. Training weapons or not, these fights were real, and many bones broke.
She checked the wounds of a tribesman and pretended not to overhear the banter.
Her ears still changed color, turning red, and Konrad expected her to snap.
Or at least prank the tribesmen. She never left anything without a quick reply after all.
But she didn't react.
Konrad had no idea about the details of her exile. It must have been strange for her to grow up in this world. Heck, it was odd for him, too, but with her powers and that attitude—
Yet another beaten group's return broke the awkward silence.
"Eyy, Bor, you still have both arms?" the tribesmen greeted their commander and his limping squad. The veteran warrior needed a few minutes to take in the unexpected sights.
At least Konrad didn't have to explain what was actually happening.
His fellow tribesmen were more than eager to fill each other in amidst laughter.
Bor sped through the five stages of grief like the others.
"For the spirits' love," he groaned. "I thought I escaped one crazy Halstadt wizard, but this one's even worse. It was all a lie? Brigida wasn't even here? Then who the hell beat me up like that?"
The tribesmen found his rant entertaining, ushering him towards the illusion screens.
"I saw it live," one of them gushed. "It was the big knight guy, Count Rolalt's champion."
"Kade?" Bor seemed disappointed. "Damn, if at least Welf kicked my butt, I'd feel less bad."
That elicited some more laughs.
"Look, two teams are fighting again, which ones are they?"
"Who cares. If they fight now, the duel between the blacksmith and our champion will start soon." Once they've figured out the limitations, they were looking forward to that showdown.
Konrad wasn't about to disappoint, luring the last two teams towards each other.
Their enthusiasm might've poisoned him, too.
The climax of his simulation was about to come.