Demonic Beast
A few days passed and Roland finally completed the blueprint of his first steam engine and was getting ready to build the first prototype to try out if his blueprint is alright. In his free time, he used the chance to go hunting together with Iron Axe. Since Nightingale was usually around, he asked her to take him outside the town with her ability.
At first, she was really reluctant to take a prince out of town without a bodyguard but in the end, she agreed and in secret kept an eye on him. The first day nothing special happened and Roland grasped most of the knowledge Iron Axe passed to him. The trouble came next days when they ventured deeper into the forest, as Iron Axe predicted, they actually met their first demonic creature of wolf species wandering around.
When both Nightingale and Iron Axe wanted to step out to help Roland with his "prey"...
"Stop! This is my chance to confront the first demonic beast. Having knowledge about your enemy is important but getting experience of fighting the enemy is as important. I will also be able to gauge their capabilities and choose what tactics I should use when we face them." Roland shouted almost as if he wasn't only talking to Iron Axe and brandished his two silver daggers made from the feather steel he purchased from the store.
'That fool!' Nightingale clenched her teeth while watching, already preparing herself to help if things were to go south.
Even Iron Axe was reluctant but Roland already had a talk with him about this and he even showed him his trump card which could kill the demonic beast instantly. Iron Axe just didn't understand why would Roland want to fight it in close quarters but just as Roland said, he wanted to gauge the opponent's abilities.
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[Name: Roland Wimbledon
Titles: Fourth Prince (+2 CHA)
Stats:
STR: 6
AGI: 8
END: 6
STA: 9
INT: 9
CHA: 8 (10)
??? [locked]
Undistributed stat points: 7
[Current money: 1700 Gold Coins]
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Roland assumed that regular people who eat regularly usually have balanced stats around 5 while minor knights should be around 10 but every person differs, someone can have higher strength but lower agility also for example scholars will obviously have much higher intelligence than other stats. Roland was trying to gauge Iron Axe's stats by watching him the first day and all he could assume was that his strength was around 15 points and as for Nightingale...he couldn't even take a guess but he knew that she was quick and deadly. Roland tried to do the same with the demonic wolf in front of him and since Iron Axe could kill one, he assumed that their stats are around 10.
While Roland was thinking, a demonic wolf finally spotted them and pounced right at Roland with unbelievable speed.
'?! Iron Axe was right, their agility alone should be around 15, no wonder he said that one needs to prepare a trap in advance to take care of wolf species!' Roland's eyes widened when he saw the speed of the wolf and just thanks to his reflexes he was able to roll out of the way at the last moment.
"?! Your Highness, are you alright?!" Iron Axe immediately shouted, sounding frustrated that he can't help. During the time he was teaching Roland, he quickly got to know that Roland is not like other nobles, to be honest, after a few hours of teaching, he was viewing Roland as another fellow hunter. He was aware of Roland's bravery and confidence and he was also slightly worried that it might be his downfall so it's also one of the reasons he let him fight the demonic wolf on his own, to let him feel the fear and know the dangers of the wilderness.
"I am fine, don't worry..." Roland shouted back with his eyes on the wolf who was now observing him as if he was its prey.
'I can't even feel a bit of dread knowing that Nightingale is watching my back.' Roland thought with a slightly disappointed expression.
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[AGI: 8 -> 12]
[Undistributed stat points: 7 -> 3]
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'Heh, my entire body feels much lighter!' Roland smiled before kicking off the ground, this time attacking first.
'?!' Nightingale's eyes widened as she saw something in Roland's body flash for a split second.
Even Iron Axe was surprised how Roland's speed drastically increased.
Roland slashed dagger at the wolf's eyes but the wolf quickly jumped back, however, while it was still in the air, with a high precision Roland threw his second dagger at the position of where the wolf was supposed to land and didn't waste any second instantly following it.
The second dagger hit the wolf's eyes and the wolf began releasing ghastly sounds nothing like the regular wolves, however before the wolf was able to recover from Roland's first attack, the dagger still in Roland's hand pierced the side of its neck. Roland quickly pulled the second dagger out of its eye and drove it into the opposite side of the neck before twisting its whole neck in a gruesome way. Since Roland didn't know the demonic beasts' endurance, he quickly pulled the daggers out of its neck and retreated.
[+ 200 Gold Coins, + 2 Undistributed stat points for killing your very first demonic beast]
[+1 STR]
"Your Highness! I can't believe you actually managed to defeat demonic wolf all on your own when even knights have trouble dealing with one." Iron Axe praised Roland with a wide proud smile.
"Well...don't forget to keep this secret and not only this but the entire thing with hunting." Roland replied with a slightly forced smile as he didn't really enjoy this fight. The only reason why he used his free points was that he wanted to kill it quickly. He actually wanted to fight it in his previous condition to feel some danger but he knew that he would inevitably get injured a few times to defeat it however before that, Nightingale would definitely step in.
"Anyway, let's head back, I still need to work on that trump card of mine" Roland said with a smile.
"Huh? W-Wait a minute...Do you mean to say that Your Highness wasn't even sure if it works properly?" Iron Axe asked with a widened eyes but Roland just smiled, ignoring his question but that was enough of an answer for Iron Axe who felt a chill down his spine.
Both of them were heading out of the forest with concealed Nightingale behind who was wearing a troubled expression as if she has just witnessed something impossible.
'What was that flash of light inside His Highness's body? Was that a magic power? No! That's impossible, His Highness is a male, he can't be a witch and even now that I look at him, there is absolutely no magic power in his body but what was that flash of green light inside his body? It had no shape but the color was definitely light green He even seemed to have gotten faster after that.' Nightingale couldn't help but steadily stare at Roland's back.
After Roland arrived back at his office with Nightingale's help, he was immediately informed that Carter was looking for him due to the matter of recruitment so he went to the field right outside of the finished wall.
There he found Carter together with quite a lot of recruits, certainly more than he expected.
"Your Highness!" Everyone immediately kneeled with their heads down once they spotted Roland.
Seeing this "discipline" Roland's right eye twitched a few times.
"Stand up everyone, I want you all to understand a few things first. You will be joining the very first Border Town's army to ever defend the town from demonic beasts. The benefits you get for joining are certainly good at the first sight but don't be fooled by your eyes. We wouldn't be willing to give you meat, eggs and so many gold royals if it wasn't for how horrific your training will be. We will take care of both you and your families BUT- the price is your sweat, blood and tears during the training! Anyone who has some second thoughts is free to leave now but once you decide to join, there is no going back, think very carefully!" Roland started talking aloud while walking back and forth in front of them with his hands behind his back.
It didn't take them even 10 seconds before everyone kneeled again.
"We wish to fight for Your Highness!"
Seeing this, Roland narrowed his eyes while stopping in front of one of the younger-looking recruits who in turn raised his head once he noticed Roland standing in front of him but after he saw Roland's cold grey eyes, he immediately looked down.
"Hmph, is that enough to scare you? One mere look from me, a prince born with a silver spoon in his mouth?!" Roland scoffed at the recruit before he walked away from him.
"Everyone stand straight! While here on the field, I will be your commander. Forget about any fourth prince, anyone who is going to kneel in front of me from now on is going to be punished! If you want to speak out, you are going to stand straight and do this gesture while staring right into my eyes, understood?!" Roland said while showing a saluting gesture before asking whether they understand.
"Uh, -understood." It took them some time to absorb the information but in the end, they did as they were told but their reply was so weak that it left Roland frustrated.
"I didn't hear you!" Roland shouted at them with an annoyed expression.
"U-Understood!" Maybe due to feeling slightly annoyed themselves, everyone shouted at the same time which made Roland finally form a satisfied smile.
"I am going to make real men out of you all and after this training is over...I promise to all of you that the demonic beasts will no longer feel so scary, believe me..." Roland said with a slightly shrewd cold smile which made everyone audibly gulp down at the same time.
Roland plan was to make them all feel both fear and respect towards him at the same time. Obviously, he didn't want them to respect him out of fear but he wanted them to truly admire him and he is going to achieve it by besting them all despite being a "measly" prince. He is going to be taunting them to make them feel ashamed of how weak they are compared to a prince who was born with the silver spoon in his mouth. Motivation is one of the most important things during the training and not the physical one but a psychological one.
'Be it anger, admiration, respect, all emotions can be used as motivation, you only need to know how to induce them and to make a use of them.'