"Please excuse us." The six people immediately left the tent, bringing both Noel and Anna away.
The first thing they did was actually warn them.
Stella came to them and said in distress, "You two… Can I assume that both of you addressed her other than 'Captain'?"
"Yes. We called her Ma—" Anna wanted to answer, but her mouth was covered by Noel to stop her from continuing. Noel even said, "It seems we have made a mistake. Please forgive us."
The group was speechless by Noel's reaction. They knew what Anna wanted to say, but Noel seemed to know it would just cause more problems and stopped her.
Stella scratched the back of her head and said, "Well, it seems you've understood it. I just want to say you should call her 'Captain' instead of anything else. Understood?"
"Yes." Noel nodded while whispering to Anna. "You don't want me to call you 'old hag,' right?"
"!!!" Anna widened her eyes before nodding her head, understanding what they were talking about.
After that, Noel released her and stepped back.
"Well, it seems that we can introduce ourselves." Stella smiled. Stella looked like she was in her early twenties. She had an energetic appearance and a cheerful smile. Her red hair was tied into a ponytail so that it wouldn't go in her way while making herself look enchanting by wearing the military uniform but with shorts.
They could ask for a tailored made uniform, so she must have done something like that.
"My name is Stella, I am from the group A. And these two here…" Stella pointed at two guys that seemed to be in her group.
The first one was a fat guy with slanted eyes. He had a calm expression. It gave a peaceful feeling that seemed to be able to de-escalate a situation. He introduced himself. "Hello, I am Zion. I'm also from group A.
The second one was a tall but skinny guy. He was the complete opposite of Stella, one without energy. In fact, Noel and Anna could feel his gloominess. He didn't really express himself other than when he was scared of Captain Clara. He only nodded to them as a greeting.
"Then, this is the B Group as well as our Vice Captain, Paul." Stella pointed at the muscular guy brimming with fighting intent. One would wonder why a guy that seemed to be planning to fight everyone to be the vice captain of the Demon Relief Squad.
Paul gave a thumbs up and said, "Nice to meet you, newbies. I'm Paul! You don't have to respect me or anything, but I hope you can listen to me in an emergency. These two will be with me in group B, they are Benjamin and Rose."
Benjamin might be the most normal among them. He wasn't skinny, muscular, or even energetic. He was just an average guy. "Hello, I'm Benjamin. Well, my name is too long, so just call me Ben. We don't care much about seniority here."
The last person was a woman with glasses. Her sharp gaze seemed to be scrutinizing Ben and Paul. However, she didn't say anything to them and proceeded to introduce herself. "I am Rose. You might be annoyed when talking to me, but I don't care much about it."
Noel politely nodded to them. "I'm Noel, a fallen noble. Even if I want to flaunt my title, I'm now just a commoner. So, I hope that all of you can treat me as such."
"I'm Anna Stargaze. I'm here not as a representative of the Stargaze Family, but as a knight from the Demon Banner Army."
Stella nodded, satisfied. "Alright. Since we have done with the introduction, let's move on to our jobs. It's hard to explain our work, so you have to experience it yourself. But I'll give you a brief explanation.
"To put it simply, we're doing all kinds of works that the villagers usually do. We can become a carpenter, a farmer, or even a hunter. We kill demons and help the reconstruction of the village. Of course, we are Knights from the Demon Banner Army, so we are not burying our talent here.
"I don't know if you have noticed it or not, but all of us here are Spirit Masters, except for Paul, who became a Spirit Grandmaster last year," Stella explained while showing a bit of her Spiritual Energy.
Anna was more sensitive than Noel, so she had felt it from the start. All of them were indeed Spirit Masters.
However, Noel was more interested in their groups instead of in their strength. He raised his hand. "May I ask a question?"
"Yes, you can. There's no need to be that polite. Just treat us as your colleague or comrade."
"Then, I can see all of you are different and seems to be specialized in something. Why do you work in different groups instead of working together? I'm pretty sure it's going to be more effective…" Noel furrowed his eyebrows, assessing them.
"Hoh?" Paul grinned as if he liked this newbie. Stella, on the other hand, explained to him. "We always work together as you said. But because of your enlistment, we'll work separately for the time being. In other words, these two groups will only exist for two weeks to introduce you to our work.
"In two weeks, we're going to another place, which might require us to hunt Peak Level Demons. As for the Captain, she is not really with us every time. She often inspects other groups as well, so you'll only be with us most of the time."
Noel nodded in understanding, thanking her for the explanation.
"Do you have more questions?"
"No, I believe I'll observe everyone first to learn what my role is." Noel shook his head.
"How about you, Anna?"
"I have one. What kind of place does this group usually visit?"
"Hmm, our Demon Relief Squad goes all around the kingdom, but our Zero Squad is near the border because the Demons are stronger and no ordinary squad can handle them. So, it means we'll be facing one dangerous place after another. If you're scared, I don't mind telling the captain to move you to another squad though." Stella smirked as if provoking Anna.
"So, it means there will be more Demon Crystals?" Anna wasn't scared of her.
"Yes." Stella's expression became calm again before pointing at the village. "If you don't have any more questions, let's go inside the village. We'll show you our jobs."