Winterseed -IV-

Winterseed Village is one of the smallest villages in the southern region. In the past, despite its size, it was popular among other villages for its vast supply of fresh food and the strength of its defense against savage monsters. Nevertheless, this fame ended when the previous village head left to get milk and never returned.

It was the bright hours of the morning, the gentle morning sun had risen, providing a bright, calm light over Winterseed village square where a large number of youths and middle-aged men had gathered around Rowan Winterseed, their village head who had miraculously recovered.

The village square was a large expanse of land, purely covered with green lawn grass. Every important meeting is held in this place. In the middle, Rowan stood, surrounded by his guards and Brandon.

Rowan observed the men around him with a slight frown on his face, 'They aren't that many in number, around five hundred or so. If we should fight Glenwood, we would be at a disadvantage in terms of numbers.'

"Is this everyone?" Rowan asked, scanning the gathered men.

Brandon nodded. "Yes, sir. These are all the men fit for fighting. The rest are either too old or too young."

"Hmm," Rowan nodded.

While the numbers weren't that many, adding those men Brandon mentioned would be a waste of time.

"Alright then, we will work with the men we have."

Rowan turned to the men who gazed at him with respect and admiration.

"Great men of Winterseed, thank you for heeding my call and leaving the comfort of your homes to present yourselves today. I promise the meeting will be worth it," Rowan began by giving a long speech of appreciation.

If the game mechanics work the same as the online game, a reward would be given for triggering the emotions of his soldiers.

"Our village has fallen into the hands of those bastards who harshly treated our people. But that will end now as I have returned. We will claim back our land and theirs and make their people go through the same fate!" Yelling the last part, Rowan lifted his hands and gazed upon the expressions of the men around him.

"Yeahhh!!"

"Lord Rowan has grown! Our village is blessed!"

"We will fight for you, Lord Rowan!"

Reacting to his speech, the men cheered with determination and happiness.

[ Goal: Motivate more than 500 soldiers has been achieved ]

[ Reward: 500 evolution points ]

[ DING! 100x reward activated ]

[ 50,000 evolution points have been rewarded! ]

[ DING! You have an impending repayment. 50,000 evolution points have been deducted. 

(Remaining: 50,000) (Evolution points: 0) ]

A series of prompts popped up before his eyes.

'It worked...' Seeing the initial prompts, a smile crept on his face. But noticing the later prompts, the smile on his face disappeared faster than it had appeared, 'Fuck, it didn't even wait a second before collecting the ones I owe, and I still have more to pay!'

Rowan let out a short sigh and waved at the men to calm down.

"For those of you who have completed your military training, proudly step out so I can identify you," he announced.

Following his words, five middle-aged men from the crowd walked aside. They were tall and muscular, which displayed the evidence of the training they had undergone. After walking out, the five of them bowed their heads slightly before Rowan, who then nodded and proceeded.

"Starting today, you five are our new captains," Rowan declared. "Your job is to train the untrained and turn them into soldiers."

"Thank you, Young Lord," one of the men said, clearly moved.

Rowan smiled at them, "You all deserve your new titles. Make good use of this and make our village strong again."

"We will," they replied with emotions in their voices.

"That is all for today. A lot of development will take place in the village and details of it will be passed to everyone. When you return home, pass the news that your village head is alive and is ready to conquer our enemies."

* * *

Two hours after the meeting, the news of Rowan recovering reached every nook and cranny in the small village. It was a thing of joy, as finally, a leader would be able to comfort them in this hard time. 

However, while they were joyous, they couldn't help but wish the village head would act faster. 

In a small hut, a woman with tattered clothes could be seen holding a baby wrapped in rag, but of better quality than the rag she wore. 

"Darlin, are you sure the village head would save us?" The woman asked her husband with worries in her tiny voice. 

The baby in her hands looks malnourished and hungry, it started to cry and the mother patted its head with tears in her eyes. 

"I believe in the village head, he is active now and is ready to claim back our village from those devils. I, as one of the new captains, will fight for our village," the husband replied. He is one of the new captains Rowan had elected today. 

While his words were comforting, it didn't hide the starvation of his wife and little kid. 

However, seeing their condition, he became even more motivated. 

* * *

Rowan was sitting inside his small room alone at this moment, his mind was active as he plotted out all strategies available from his game experience. 

"System.. is the 'Planner' feature available for use in the real game world?" Rowan suddenly asked the system. 

Planner is a special feature available for gamers in his previous life, it helps them input their goals and the system keeps track of it, informing them about every improvement and decrement. 

[ Positive ] 

[ Planner Lv. 1, Cost: 200,000 evolution points ] 

'Crap,' Rowan cussed inwardly but he already expected it as this feature costs over two thousand dollar in his previous life. 

'I need to evolve my skills and my power, I can't borrow evolution points anymore,' Rowan sighed. 

As he fell into a deep thought once again, the wooden door pushed open and Brandon ran in. 

"Young Lord! Soldiers from Glenwood are arriving from the south!"