The Legendary F Rank

After Jake had finished filling in the register with the names of all of the soldiers present, he then took the initiative to do what all the other sergeants would do during the day. He ordered all of the soldiers that were now under his control to go about their daily business. After all, they already knew what they had to do during the morning since it was the same as what they did every morning.

It was time for the morning combat classes with Captain Liegan. However, they weren't in combat at the moment. The basic standard for soldiers was that they had to be ready for battle at a moments notice, and the new regulations of the army required all the soldiers to learn hand to hand combat for the moments when they couldn't use magic, like if they were stuck in a magic sealing trap.

Or if they ran out of mana. But even though they had classes in hand to hand combat, it wouldn't be any use if they were up against someone who still had a lot of mana left. They would be killed without mercy, so that was why all the soldiers were required to carry a lux. 

Most of them had guns within so they could take care of enemies at any distance, but the daring people who liked to be up close and personal during the fight often opted for close-range weapons like spears and swords, although they weren't that popular. 

Jake waited for his soldiers to go about their business before walking over to Haru, who was waiting for him. 

"You had something to do with this, didn't you? What did you do to get them to make me a sergeant? I have been here for less than a year, and I already outrank half of my old classmates. You know Mia isn't even a sergeant yet, and she has been in the army since she was sixteen." Jake exclaimed as he still didn't understand why they had promoted him.

But Haru didn't do anything. Not that would make the Major promote Jake to sergeant. He guessed that he just did it to make life easier for Haru during his stay at their base. If his commanding officer was someone he got along with, then he wouldn't get into any trouble.

"I really didn't do anything. Maybe he was thinking about doing it for a while but did It now because the old sergeant is no longer here?" Haru asked, trying to take the suspicion away from him. But it didn't work. In fact, it only made Jake suspect he did something even more. 

"Well, Thank you. I don't know what you did but thank you. I was waiting to try to become a corporal, but now I don't need to. I am already a Sergeant, and now I can make sure that Reina can quit her job since I will naturally get a pay rise. 

Do you want to come and visit my house at the weekend? I'm sure she will be surprised to see you. I haven't gotten the time to tell her that you are here, so she still thinks you're in a coma right now. I bet she will freak out when she sees you." Jake laughed as they planned a reunion at his house as they walked down to the beach where the combat class was being held. 

But before they could get another word in, Captain Liegan spotted them from a distance and shouted out to hurry them along, so she didn't have to wait to start beating people up.

"Come on! I Won't wait all day! If you don't get your asses here within ten seconds, I will make you do a hundred laps of the island." She called out aggressively as Jake and Haru both looked at each other and then decided to run. 

Although Jake had been promoted, he was nowhere near a captain, so in front of Captain Liegan, he was just the same as all the privates that were sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of her.

Jake used a gust of wind to propel him forwards to try to get to the beach within the ten seconds that they allowed, and Haru began to use Qi but then quickly remembered that he had to keep it a secret.

'Shit, I almost exposed myself. Do I know a movement spell for a body enhancing mage?' Haru asked himself before remembering a spell that would allow him to use mana much like he used Qi to put more strength into his legs. Although it was nowhere near as fast as it would have been if he used Qi, it still allowed him not to be punished for being late and keep his cover as just a regular mage.

Jake and Haru arrived within five seconds, but somehow Haru still managed to get there before Jake and sat down just as he made it there.

"You're lucky. That's cutting it a bit close don't you think." Captain Liegan said with a smile before starting her lesson. 

"Do you all know the most important thing about hand to hand combat?" She addressed the large group of soldiers that were sitting down as she began to stroll up and down with impatience as she waited for someone to answer her question. 

"Dodging?" One of the soldiers raised his hand before asking. He didn't know if it was right or not, but from the number of times she had told them that dodging was necessary, he thought it was a pretty good guess, but the look on Captain Liegan's face said otherwise.

"Wrong, One hundred push-ups. Now!" She shouted out viciously as the man quickly got onto his front and started doing push-ups as fast as he could without protest. 

'It seems like they respect her a lot to listen like this. I wonder what kinds of things she teaches them?' Haru thought as he looked at how eager the soldier was to do push-ups when she ordered him to, but as soon as a smile cracked across his lips, he became the target of the question.

"Tell me, What's the most important thing about  hand to hand combat?" Captain Liegan asked again, but this time with her finger pointed directly at Haru.

"Well, there are many factors. But I would say defence. If you can't block an attack, then you won't get the opportunity to hit them back. You never know how strong their first attack will be, so if it hits you and you get knocked out, you are as good as dead." Haru stated his opinion on the subject as Captain Liegan began to nod her head in approval.

"Yes, that's right. You can't fight if you can't defend. It's the fundamental of fighting. I don't know if any of you have seen boxers fight. But they keep their guard up to stop themselves from being knocked out and losing the fight.

It's pretty much the same for actual combat too. And the JDF hand to hand combat technique takes a lot of inspiration from many martial arts, but our defence is based on western boxing. Since it's vital that you keep both your torso and head protected.

As long as your vital organs aren't damaged, you will be able to fight on, so we developed our own martial art to make sure that you all remain safe on the battlefield. I need some volunteers to demonstrate how to block. It will be your job to hit me, and I will block it. So don't feel shy. Come on up." Captain Liegan explained and then taunted the soldiers to see if anyone had the guts to go up against her.

But as she expected, not a single one of them volunteered. They all remained seated and then looked up and down at each other to see if anyone would be willing to do it. 

"Fine, since non of you want to do it, then I will pick the two trouble makers that were late for my class. Now both of you get your asses up here." Captain Liegan smiled as she pointed at both Haru and Jake. 

They looked at each other for a moment as the rest of the soldiers began to chuckle so they wouldn't piss off Captain Liegan, but their attempt at being quiet didn't get past here one bit. 

"Shut up, or I will line you up, and you will all get a turn too," She threatened, which made Haru think that she planned something much more than just showing them how to block.

Jake seemed worried as they were called up, but Haru didn't know what he was in for and immediately stood up to do what she had asked them to do. 

"Oh, You don't seem nervous. But I guess you should already know how to fight since you're also a body enhancing mage." Captain Liegan quickly analysed Haru as he stood with his back turned to the rest of the soldiers.

"Yes, ma'am," Haru said as he agreed with her that he knew how to fight. 

"Hmm, is that so? Then why don't we flip the script a little and show them what a real fight looks like?" Captain Liegan said before twisting her hips and aiming her fist towards Haru's face, without giving him any time to react.