Chapter 31 : The First Step Toward an Elite Army

Chapter 31: The First Step Toward an Elite Army

Just a moment ago, the conference room had been quiet, but now it became noisy.

“Ah.... This sword is really in the way.”

“Exactly.”

“Oh-ho. If you find it bothersome, that means you need more training!”

After I finished my conversation with Seah, the time for the meeting was about to begin.

All of my younger siblings aged seventeen and older, along with Uncle Burson, Rivera, Kalserik, and others, had gathered.

It was as if all the key figures of Kushan City had come together.

In truth, my younger siblings were only present as observers, and the actual discussion involved about seven people.

The subject of the meeting was the recruitment of new warriors.

Rivera began.

“Currently, the military force that Kushan City can mobilize as regular troops numbers 3,400. Back when Count Kxias was around, the Kushan domain’s army was 7,500, so it has been reduced by more than half.”

When I checked the documents he had prepared, the current situation became clear.

‘To keep the demonic beasts under control, at least 2,000 more soldiers need to be recruited, and to make moves against Kashu City, where Kxias’s remnants remain, at least 7,000 more would be necessary? Hm...’

The reason Seah had stopped me from killing them all was written plainly on this paper.

Normally, it would have been impossible to recruit even 500, let alone 2,000, within a reasonable time.

Well, that problem had been solved in one go when we discovered ‘Glowingsteel.’

Rivera also mentioned that point.

“But soldiers can be recruited, so that’s not the real concern. Even now, warriors are flocking in from all over Roberland. What’s more urgent is the absence of high-grade power at the Expert level or higher. Without them, who are essential when hunting mid- to large-scale demonic beasts, everything else becomes meaningless.”

‘Looking at the numbers, it really is serious....’

The more skilled they had been, the more they had colluded with Kxias and committed all kinds of vile deeds, so none of them had escaped the purge.

Low-grade Experts had decreased by 80, leaving 100.

Mid-grade Experts had decreased by 50, leaving 10.

High-grade Experts had decreased by 25, leaving 5.

As for Peak Experts, there had been six, but all were dead except Rivera, the sole survivor.

Of course, when adding in my younger siblings and Kalserik’s four subordinates, the situation had improved just a little, but... it was still far from enough.

We had to make moves against Kashu City, after all.

Uncle Burson, flipping through the papers, cut in.

“Indeed... this is a problem. Even among Experts, we would need to select disciplined elites, but in Roberland, most Experts do whatever they please....”

Oh, Burson!

Just now, he had softened his words, clearly being mindful of Rivera and Kalserik, who were natives of Roberland.

If it had been just us, he would have called them ‘bandit-like scum who know nothing of honor,’ but he had toned it down to ‘do whatever they please.’

Perhaps sensing this?

Kalserik gave a faint laugh.

“Can you really select people like that and form an army? Here, in Roberland?”

Oh,

That too was him softening his words, considering his own position as practically a prisoner.

Originally, wouldn’t he have wanted to say something like: ‘Those Gloryland noble bastards... act that uptight and you’ll just get beaten to death.’?

Anyway,

this was certainly a problem.

I agreed with Uncle Burson.

What I wanted was an army with clear hierarchy and discipline, just like the elite troops of Gloryland.

For that, not only the soldiers but also the commanders, the Experts, had to be carefully chosen.

The problem was, we weren’t really in a position to be picky about people right now.

Uncle Burson and Kalserik’s gazes clashed in the air.

The atmosphere heated up slightly.

Rivera tried to ease the tension with a bright laugh.

“Well, we may have to find a reasonable compromise, don’t you think?”

A compromise...

That was indeed the practical way.

But,

did we really need to act practical?

There was an old saying.

If something isn’t working out,

isn’t it perhaps because you lack money? That’s what you should consider.

“Whether soldiers or Experts, we will select them strictly.”

I declared.

There was no room for objections.

“Hmm....”

Kalserik furrowed his brows,

“Ah, but....”

Rivera let out an awkward laugh.

I spoke solemnly.

“You’re all overlooking one thing.”

Why were they even trying to lock horns over this?

“We have money. And I mean, a lot of money.”

Money was pouring in from the ancient ruins, Glowingsteel!

“All we need to do is provide proper incentives. Let’s start with this, shall we?”

I slapped the papers I was holding down onto the desk.

“A regular domain soldier’s monthly pay: 12 Dallons.”

“!”

“!!”

Not only Kalserik and Rivera, who had been showing disagreement, but even my siblings all opened their eyes wide.

Even Seah took a moment to mull over my words.

“12 Dallons. 120,000 As.”

One Dallon was,

10 grams of gold.

In other words, 2 fins of gold—that is, two 5g gold coins.

Most citizens of Kushan City, after paying taxes, didn’t even have 1 Dallon left in their hands each month.

12 Dallons meant,

an astronomical sum that required 120,000 pieces of the smallest currency unit, As (1g iron bits).

Normally, regular warriors of Roberland earned about 5 to 6 Dallons a month, and only as seasoned elite warriors did they barely reach 10 Dallons.

But now I had declared that even ordinary warriors, as long as they were enrolled in the domain’s army, would be given 12 Dallons. Of course, they were shocked.

But this was only the beginning.

“On top of that, elite warriors will receive 15 Dallons as monthly pay, and after serving for five years, they will be awarded an ancient sword and armor forged from Ruceras Steel. High-quality, finely restored, first-class equipment.”

“!”

“!!”

This time, everyone even gaped with their mouths wide open.

Ancient swords and armor of superior grade were treasures valued at 1,500 Dallons, but even then, they were so scarce that they were hard to obtain even with money.

To receive such things for free after just five years of service—

any warrior would have their eyes light up.

Tok tok

I tapped the desk lightly with the back of my hand to draw attention.

“How about it? Don’t you think they’ll still enlist even if we run things strictly like this?”

Even Kalserik and Rivera, who had voiced objections earlier, said nothing.

They only nodded their heads repeatedly.

See? When you have money, there’s no need to worry.

“Good, it’s decided. Now, let’s set the wages for the Experts as well. And let’s make it truly groundbreaking.”

Everyone stared at me with weary eyes.

They probably thought this was excessive spending.

But,

To build a real army, this much was necessary.

An elite, disciplined regular army drilled with standard tactics to the bone, capable even of facing the Imperial Army.

The ultimate force that would allow me to make use of the tactics and strategies I had thoroughly learned from Uncle Burson since I was young.

The war professionals who would bring to life the Three-War Strategy created by Seah.

This was an investment for that purpose.

*         *         *

Notices were posted all across Kushan City: the newly appointed Count Ransen was recruiting regular troops.

“Regular troops? In such a small city like this? If you’re going to enlist, you’d be better off heading west and joining the Storm King’s army. They’ve been doing massive recruitment lately under great conditions.”

“Right. Especially since the new Count’s already throwing money around, and there’s plenty of food to go around. Why bother with regular troops? Seems suffocating.”

But they didn’t know.

They didn’t know that the new Count hadn’t even begun to spend money in earnest.

The lukewarm reactions of the warriors flipped completely, one hundred and eighty degrees, the moment they actually read the notice.

“What the hell?!”

“What is this?!”

“Did you read that right?”

“Move over, let me see too!”

At every posting that announced recruitment for the regular army, warriors swarmed like clouds.

“Monthly wage, 12 Dallons? Insane. At this rate, I could retire in just seven years!”

“That’s modest. I’ll take ten years!”

“If you want to be called rich, you’ve got to serve at least fifteen! Damn… living life without worrying about money forever.”

“Huh? Are my eyes deceiving me? For elite warriors… it says they’ll be given ancient weapons and armor…? Is that right?”

“Unbelievable!”

The 25,000 warriors who had flocked in from all regions after hearing about the ruins excavation buzzed with excitement.

The entire city trembled.

“Wow… I was hesitating between joining the Storm King’s army or coming here. What luck I chose this.”

“This is a must. If you don’t, you might as well cut off what’s hanging below.”

“Yeah! Whether it’s below or above, cut something off if you miss this chance! Let’s go!”

Men and women, young and old alike, anyone who lived by the sword flared their nostrils in excitement.

Applications poured into the recruitment offices that had been set up throughout the city.

*         *         *

One week later.

The plaza in front of the Lord’s Keep of Kushan City.

I looked around at the warriors packed tightly together.

There were as many as twenty thousand.

An overwhelming number, accounting for eighty percent of all the warriors who had flowed into the city.

‘But… there are fewer Experts than I expected.’

I scanned the crowd, but I couldn’t spot even a single Peak Expert.

I saw only about six High-grade Experts, fewer Mid-grades than I had hoped for, and just a larger number of Low-grades.

‘This is all because of Haarun, the Storm King.’

The Storm King who ruled over the Ailun Region west of Kushan City.

Because he had recently expanded his military and launched a massive recruitment drive, many reputable Experts had been drawn there instead.

And since we already had to carefully select which Experts to accept, the shrinking recruitment pool stung all the more.

‘Still, I can’t lower the selection standards.’

I quietly observed the warriors.

Sure enough, typical of Roberland’s outlaws, they were already on the verge of chaos.

“What’s going on here? Are you going to keep us Experts standing here like this?!”

“I’ve been living by the sword for twenty years, and now you’re putting me with these brats…”

“What did you say, old man?! Want to butt heads?!”

“You’ll only learn the fear of this world once you’re dead!”

Normally, the recruitment process separated regular warriors, elite warriors (Aura users), and Experts, and each was selected individually.

But I had ignored all of that, lumping every warrior together in one place regardless of experience or level. Of course it was going to be noisy.

The Experts in particular were especially dissatisfied.

In every city they went, they were treated with respect, so being mixed in with regular warriors here felt absurd to them.

“Call out the Lord! What is this farce?!”

“They say the Lord is some kid in his twenties, and it shows he doesn’t know a damn thing! This is going to end badly?!”

Some even dared to raise their voices and mention me directly.

But I didn’t so much as twitch an eyebrow.

‘Let them bark all they want. Do they think I raised the treatment to the highest level for nothing?’

There was only one thing I wanted to show them right now.

‘Control.’

Not acting however they pleased, but behaving with discipline and obeying orders thoroughly—control.

I had gone through the trouble of purging all the scum of the city, so I wasn’t about to let in a new crop of thugs.

The entire selection program from here on out was centered on one thing: ‘control.’

I slowly climbed up onto the pile of broken stones from the ruined Lord’s Keep.

“Boo—”

“Boo—”

The warriors, brimming with anger, hurled jeers recklessly at the city’s ruler.

But,

“Attention!!”

Kuuuuung!

“....”

“...!”

With just that single shout from me, everyone who had been jeering fell silent.

Because I had shouted while pulling up my Aura, my voice alone drowned out the jeers of twenty thousand warriors.

The cry had been so thunderous it shook the ground, and the warriors standing closest to me even turned pale.

As expected—unless I showed my strength, these people would just keep climbing over me.

I swept over the warriors with a haughty gaze.

“From this moment, the first selection test begins. Before you, you can see the ruined fortress.”

The warriors’ eyes moved toward the collapsed Lord’s Keep of Kxias and the countless bundles laid out in front of it.

Could it be?

Such expressions appeared across their faces.

Yes. Exactly that.

“From now on, you will move this rubble to the designated location. The weight of the stones you move will all be recorded, and the first-round passers will be chosen according to the weight transported.”

Perfect, wasn’t it?

I needed to clear away the ruined Lord’s Keep anyway, and here I had twenty thousand workers gathered.

They would now carry the rubble four kilometers away to the Outer City.

With those stones, I planned to build residential districts to house the influx of warriors.

Killing two birds with one stone.

And it was perfect as a test as well.

The work of carrying heavy stones four kilometers all day long would push the body to its limits.

Through this, I could filter out those with poor basic stamina.

And not only that…

“But Count, my lord. Is that supposed to be a command or a joke?”

I could also weed out fools who couldn’t tell night from day.

“What? I’ve got twenty years of warrior experience, and you’re telling me to carry rocks?”

“What about the Experts? Surely we’re given a separate place?”

The carrot I had presented was undeniably sweet, but people were different.

Some had the self-control to endure considerable hardship for that carrot, while others could never, even under threat of death.

Elite warriors, and Experts.

Could they really endure doing the grunt work of hauling stones?

The first test was to measure their self-control.

So, from the start, I had already decided.

“What? You don’t want to move stones?”

I asked one conspicuous Expert, and he answered with displeasure.

“Of course not. I’m an Expert….”

Yes. That figured.

Experts—the asymmetric force that formed the foundation of all tactics and strategies. Wherever they went, it was natural they would be treated with respect. For such people to be told to do manual labor… it would be stranger if they accepted it without complaint.

That was why I made up my mind.

“Ah, so you’re far too no~ble to move stones, is that it? Then don’t get in the way, and disappear right now, if… you don’t… mind?”

I decided to treat them as irritatingly as possible.

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