23 Recruits

"Your Highness!" The recruits greeted with a strong voice, standing straight in rows.

Roland smiled while walking back and forth in front of them, observing them but no one seemed to act nervous in any way. After a while, he stopped and approached the recruit who seemed to be the "local leader", simply said, who was sticking out among other recruits.

Roland walked up to him before putting his hand on the recruit's shoulder, staring at him with narrowed eyes. The recruit's body tensed up slightly but he quickly tried his best to calm down and stood straight without asking anything or moving entirely.

"Heh, what is your name?" Roland took his hand off the recruit's shoulder before taking a few steps back.

"V-Van'er, Your Highness!" The recruit replied, also taking this chance to sigh in relief.

"You guys are really different men from the first day you have joined. You have gained some muscles and your attitude is also better. All of this just in 1 month, however, don't get overly confident, you aren't still there. You might have what it takes to become "real" men, however, all of that is useless if you can't survive a few battles. I taught you most of the things I could but right now, the only thing that can make you stronger mentally is participating in life-and-death battles." Roland said loudly.

"Yes, thank you, Your Highness!" All of them shouted in unison.

'Maybe I was a bit too hard on them...Well, it's not like the time was on our side.'

"Iron Axe, Carter, have you both learned how to use musket? What about the other hunters, are they ready?" Roland asked, motioning recruits to follow them as they were walking towards the wall.

"Yes, Your Highness, as for other hunters, they adapted to this new weapon quite quickly. Thanks to Your Highness providing us with all the necessary materials for training, everyone should be more than ready...after all, Your Highness can even see it on the recruits' faces." Iron Axe said as he and Carter were walking next to Roland with the recruits marching behind them in an organized manner.

Roland glanced behind him and even though none of the recruits was completely smiling, he could swear that some of the recruits were probably even slightly excited to meet demonic beasts face-to-face.

'Training people who already had a very hard life is much easier than I thought. To be honest, the results are probably twice better than I expected. I want to keep these guys and form my own first army with them as a foundation.'

As Roland heard before, once it would start to snow, it wouldn't stop until the sun would come out. It was snowing really hard and some people were already working on keeping the road clean. Since they had enough food and warm clothes provided by Roland, most of the people were working outside despite the weather.

When they arrived at the wall...

"Your Highness, how come the snow isn't covering the top of the wall?" Carter asked, thinking that they would have to occasionally get rid of the snow.

"I spread the salt on the entire wall so that should help. Right now, it's not too cold so it should work but if the temperature gets even lower, the effectiveness of the salt will also drop." Roland said, walking on the wall with Iron Axe, Carter, and a few recruits that were meant to take the first guarding duty.

"Hm? So quickly?" Roland stopped and muttered while looking beyond the wall towards the forest.

"T-That's a demonic beast, isn't it?!" The recruits also quickly noticed a lonely animal in the distance approaching the town's wall.

"Your Highness, most of the demonic beasts that attack so early after the snow starts falling are usually weaker than usual demonic beasts." Iron Axe informed Roland who crossed his arms while looking at the recruits' actions.

"It's just one demonic beast, we can kill it quickly without sounding the alarm. Let it come closer to the wall and shoot it with an arrow, don't waste gunpowder. It's fox species therefore penetrating its fur should be easy." The recruit named Van'er said, directing the rest of the recruits but it didn't look like any of them even though of sounding the alarm.

"Your Highness, please get be-" Carter wanted to step forward but Roland stopped both him and Iron Axe.

"Let's watch what our recruits can do" Roland said with a calm smile.

Once the demonic fox noticed the people on the wall, it started running towards it at considerably high speed. The recruits stood still, prepared with drawn bows however none of them shot the arrow yet. When the demonic fox got close enough and jumped up, trying to get over the wall...

"Now, release!" The recruits with the bows shot and quickly switched with the recruits standing behind them with the spears but it was unnecessary as the fox fell on the ground near the wall with a few arrows inside its body.

"See...no need to interfere. Let's leave this place to them and move on." Roland said, taking only Iron Axe and Carter with him.

"Iron Axe, teach that kid named Van'er how to operate the musket, the next one will probably belong to him, he is decent. I will be returning to the castle, if you need anything send someone to inform me." Roland said with a satisfied smile before taking his leave.

Carter asked him if he can go with him and escort him back but Roland insisted on going alone. He used this chance to hide his face under the hood and walk around the town, observing the locals working hard. As he was walking around he could mostly hear praises about him or some mundane rumours about someone being pregnant. Overall, he quite enjoyed just walking around, occasionally speaking to locals while hiding his indentity but he decided to return before anyone would report him for being suspicious.

"Ah..." Roland sighed as he sat down in his office.

'I will have to regulate the trading between locals after this winter ends to prevent any scammers and to improve the overall economic situation. I could also start sort of child support, to encourage young people to make "bunnies" during nights, hehe, I can't force anyone to increase the birth rate but I can "encourage" them. The winter is also the best season to mate since the body contact generates heat and it's quite cold outside.' Roland thought while smiling to himself.

"...What are you thinking about? I am not gonna lie, that smile gives me creeps" Nightingale said, appearing out of thin air, sitting on the edge of the desk.

"Oh...Nothing important but now that you are here...I have something important to ask." Roland said, making her curious.

"Please ask right away."

"What do you know about the church? Something doesn't add up with them but I can't put my finger to what exactly it is." Roland said with a serious expression.

"Aside from being fanatical with hunting the witches? I know pretty much the same as you, however..." She said, hesitating a bit.

"What is it?"

"Well, one of my sisters has some history with the church so she knows much more but...it wouldn't be appropriate talking about it without her consent." Nightingale said with an apologetic tone.

"Hmm...Say, would you be willing to take me with you once you leave so I can have a chat with your friend? I believe we should cooperate since both our groups are against the church's ideals" Roland asked completely shocking her.

"What?! You know that we are wandering the mountains, right? I might not be able to take you back once you are done...it's too dangerous for just one chat. Not to mention, I doubt you would be welcomed there." Nightingale said with a worried tone.

"Hey, it's not just one regular chat, she might know crucial information we could use against the church. I don't have to be welcomed, it would be enough if you could arrange a meeting between us somewhere away from your other sisters. She also sounds like a good friend of yours, she wouldn't mind at least listning to what I have to say, right?" Roland explained, quite insistent to talk to her friend.

"...I am not sure, let's talk about this once I am about to leave. Who knows, maybe you won't be able to leave the town at that time." Nightingale said reluctantly.

"I hope you won't disappear on me without discussing this with me. If you don't trust me enough to take me to your hideout, that's fine but just be honest with me, please."

"That's not it, really! And don't worry, I won't just leave without saying goodbye." She shook her head and reassured him.