Chapter 4: Rogue Lords (4)

A copper-skinned man threw down a soldier.

“Come on, next! Next!”

The man throws down one soldier after another. The faces of the soldiers distorted.

“Captain, let’s not do this anymore. Why are we always doing the training that no one else does……”

“What? Don’t waste your breath, take a shot at me!”

The tenth captain Bente bent his forefinger and signaled to the sorrowful soldiers. His face is smiling, but the spotted soldier looked like he is about to start crying. Immediately Bente put his arms around the neck of the soldier and strangled him.

“Ugh, ugh…….Captain, surrender……is surrender…..”

“I told you not to say those words.”

“Why do we always train…… while everyone else is resting? There’s even a gambling den open over there……”

“Don’t be silly we’ll train on our own. It’s training time, right? Am I wrong?”

“That’s true but…..”

The soldier cried again when Bente questioned him, Bente chuckled.

One by one, the soldiers had no choice but to confront Bente but of them were defeated easily.

All of Bente’s men more or less owed him a debt of gratitude. Besides, since they looked up to Bente as if he were their own brother, they came to train even though they were complaining.

“I don’t know about gambling, drinking or any of that stuff. I’m a soldier and I train for it. You are a soldier defending your land no for going into the town every day, taking the same people’s money under the guise of a nobleman’s order, all that’s bullshit, right?

Okay, so we’ll keep training and have a drink at night! That’s how I’m going to live! That’s what life is all about! Hey, guys! Where do you look when people are talking!”

The soldiers opened their eyes wide and pointed into the distance, shaking their heads.

“Isn’t that Deputy Garnet?

“You want to get hit, huh? I’m not going to be fooled by that lie.”

“It’s true, but …..”

Finally, Bente turned toward the soldiers pointing. Deputy Garnet, who was his immediate superior, was walking towards them. The two of them were at their worst, as Bente was unhappy with everything including the training policy.

Bente couldn’t ignore his superior and walked to him.

“How can I help you?”

“Assemble. Stop playing and move on.”

Bente’s head tilted as he was racking his brain to see what kind of fate he would have today.

“What? How can we assemble at training time? This is why the soldiers are so unprepared and can’t even fight properly. Even during this time……”

“Shut up. The former commander, Baron Haddin, has been reinstated. All the forces of the territory have been ordered to assemble in front of the south gate. Move quickly!”

Deputy Garnet interrupted Bente’s words.

Bente turned his attention back to the soldiers.

“What did he mean? The former commander? Anybody know anything about that?”

The soldiers only stared at each other.

* * *

In front of the south gate, the main gate of the city wall built towards the border. This wall was also the last line of defense between the city and the lord’s castle.

Walls surrounded the city.

I gave the order to gather them all together, but it was hard to believe that this was an army. I can’t look at them but there’s no more time. We have to get to work right away, if we prepare now we’ll be ready for the battle.

The strength of the army could be determined at a glance. The total force is 5,200 men, morale is at 20.

The first thing to do is to check the officers. The next step is a simulated battle to verify the combat system. Then I’ll know the right strategy to use.

The enemy will cross the border tomorrow, and we have about 20 hours left. Considering the time to set traps, there wasn’t much time to spare.

I first checked from the information of the centurions, of course, I was utterly disappointed.

The most important thing, given the current state of the military, is to be able to [command] a decent number of soldiers. Only then, when that centurion is thrown into the battlefield, the soldiers will do as they are instructed.

However, the reality in front of me was a disaster. No one had the [command] value to be entrusted with soldiers.

Command 30. 40. 28.

It’s terrible.

I do not want strength. Because there is no way that a soldier with great martial force is buried in this place. There are many people whose commanding values are higher than their martial force. I’m not going to be able to use anyone with this level of command.

At least, it helps that Haddin’s old troops are much better people than the centurions under Burke. So, soon after Haddin’s his men  were reinstated as well.

Except for them, there were no useful people at all.

I needed more people to be sure of victory in the upcoming battle. Even so, it was inefficient to check all 5,200 troops.

So, I was going to have the soldiers conduct a mock battle before the deployment for the real battle. Maybe, just maybe, there really might be some good people out there. If there is a good soldier who can be used I will promote him. Besides, this mock battle also had the purpose of combat practice.

“Now we will conduct a mock battle!”

No one complained, they were aware that they were going to die if they did. I didn’t offer a reward, I wanted to check if there are soldiers desperate to engage in meaningless mock battles, those were the kind of men I needed.

From the looks of it, they were all in a terrible situation. No soldier seemed to have the desire to show off his abilities.

About two hours later, five soldiers were chosen. I didn’t dare to check their information.

“Your Honor! These five people were chosen. Shall we start the battle?”

“No, that’s not necessary. I’ll check them out myself.”

My martial force is 58.

It would be good if someone beats me in this confrontation.

I began to confront the soldiers, who as usual did not see the point in having a mock battle.

“Come on, one at a time!”

I hold the sword and the command Attack appeared, it’s just like in the game. It feels strange to see the word [Attack] in front of me in real life, but as a person who is ignorant of actual combat, the fact that this system was embodied as it was helped me a lot. It is extremely important to familiarize myself with the combat system for tomorrow’s battle.

When I typed [Attack], the attack continued according to my force value. Swordsmanship that I can’t use was unleashed to overwhelm the soldier. In other words, all I had to do was keep typing [Attack].

Of course, if I had a [skill], I could launch a more powerful strike, but right now I don’t have a [skill]. The basic command [Attack] is all I need.

My sword swung down to split the soldier’s head in half. The startled soldier reacted quickly to the attack, but his sword was overwhelmed by the force of the attack and went flying. I stopped the sword in front of the soldier’s face. On the battlefield, I would just cut his head in one fell swoop, but right now its just practice.

The soldier prostrated himself and started shaking, he had no intention to fight desperately.

“Next!”

Swords intersect again, this time the soldier was overwhelmed by my [attack] and was flung away without further ado. He immediately announced his surrender. I kicked him with my foot in disgust.

“Do the best you can! You have to put your life on the line in practice. Can you go into battle like this?”

I shouted at the soldiers, but it seemed to have the opposite effect.

The confrontation continued, but as soon as they were hit by my [attack], they declared defeat one by one. They seemed to be frightened by my words; all of them have the eyes of a dead fish.

All I could do was sigh, all four men withdrew and the last soldier came forward.

I don’t have any expectations. Once again, my sword and the soldier’s sword intersected. Like the soldiers before, his sword was flicked away by the power of the [attack]. In my emptiness, I raised my leg again, time to kick the soldier away.

“Huh?”

But my foot kicked just air, the soldier curled up and rolled on the ground and picked up his dropped sword. A brilliant move, then he immediately jumped at me.

I launched another [attack]. The soldier’s sword shot up high into the sky and stabbed into the ground far away.

This one is different from the previous soldiers. He rushed forward without giving me time to look at his face. As a result of trying to evade the [Attack] his arm was splattered with blood from the power of the sword I swung. I stopped [Attack] so as not to kill him.

However the soldier grabbed my leg and used all his strength to take me down. I was honestly surprised.

I’m not a man of exceptional ability but his perseverance was unusual. If it were a battlefield he would have jumped at the enemy even if he lost a limb.

“That’s enough!”

I shouted, because it is possible that he was hit by the attack and was unable to control his rage and jumped at me in a half-crazed rage. There is no need for a soldier that can’t maintain reason, but this soldier was not like that.

“Sorry, my lord, it’s embarrassing!”

The man clings to my arm and screams valiantly. Yes, this was a real fight, this was real fighting spirit.

“What’s your name?”

“My name is Bente! Lord I am honored that you would confront a fool like me!”

I immediately checked his [information].

Numbers aren’t everything, but they don’t lie.

[Bente]

Age: 25 years]

[Martial force: 49]

[Intelligence: 38]

[Command: 82]

[Affiliation: Ten captains of the Aintorian territorial army]

[People’s spirit: 94]

What is this!? 82 for command and 94 for people’s spirit!?

It was an eye-opening number; the martial force is not high but a B-grade [command]!

Given that A and S-class generals are rare, someone with a B-class ability value is absolutely critical.

“Kukukukukku, puh-uh-uh-uh!”

When I suddenly started laughing, the soldiers around me and even the chamberlain looked at each other with frightened faces. When the lord laughs something terrible inevitably happens.

“Bente!

“Yes!”

“You’re a centurion from today!”

The lord has absolute authority in the territory. Furthermore, no one would outright oppose the orders of the lord who behaved selfishly. No matter how much of an unconventional promotion it was.