Private Jack 1

Paul was a little surprised to hear this because he realized from his experience that Jack was really telling the truth, but that was a good thing because he could be more relaxed knowing that Jack would not try to kill Jan before something happened.

After Jack joined the army he started training with the other soldiers and guards who were in the defense tower, as Jack already had the necessary skills to be a good soldier he could train with other soldiers using wooden swords, and sometimes he could train using the bow.

Just as Max said Jack also had to learn discipline and how the hierarchy in the army worked, this was the most difficult thing for Jack who lived for several years being free and Tim let him do whatever he wanted.

Just as Max said Jack was forbidden to leave the defense tower inside the city, it was a precaution if Jack thought of running away soon after being released from prison, but that ban was only for a few months.

When Captain Max saw that Jack was taking training seriously, he decided to let Jack go to the city as long as a soldier or guard was with him, that was the same as letting Jack go, but whoever was with him would have the responsibility to watch Jack.

What Captain Max did not know was that Paul was a friend of Jack's grandfather and treated Jack as one of his family, so if Jack really wanted to run away Paul would allow Jack to run away smoothly.

At that time Jack was receiving a salary as a soldier and had his records as a citizen of the kingdom as a soldier, so Jack was from someone who had no record for a citizen with good social status.

Jack did not want to go for a walk around the capital because he was worried that he would find Jan Stokes around the city, but Paul insisted that Jack had to go around the city, it was important for him to know the capital and see how it was different from the village.

"You have to know the capital now that you are free again, it will be different than when you first saw it when the guards brought you here."

"Ok, Paul, I'm going with you to see the capital."

Jack felt he owed a lot to Paul and so he went with him to the capital, after all, Jack knew that Paul was doing this just because he wanted to help him, Jack put on a hat and had his beard that had grown during the months he was in prison.

He left like this so as not to risk being recognized by Jan if he were found now, after all, he usually looked like his mother, but with a beard and without showing his hair he was not so much like that.

Jack and Paul showed a paper that showed they were soldiers of the kingdom and they were able to get out of the defense tower easily, so they went closer to the capital's shopping center that Jack hadn't seen before he was really impressed by the number of people.

There were more people in this commercial aspect than in several villages gathered, Jack was impressed by seeing several young people in the capital different from the situation in his village where there were few young people.

Walking with Paul, he can see some blacksmith shops like his father, fabrics, and other interesting things, and he had a place with tents formed by merchants who didn't have that much money to open a store.

"Hahaha, I knew you would be impressed by this, this is the capital of the kingdom and the only city in the kingdom of Andaria, a king decided long ago that this city would be ruled by the royal family and would be a great place to live for the citizens of the kingdom."

"All the guards and soldiers of the kingdom live here in the city so there are practically no robberies and crimes here, when crimes like murder and rape happen, it is usually people of the nobility who do this."

"Even the nobles are punished at times and if they do these crimes, the king would often have them executed, but if there are few crimes the guards have no authority to arrest them and so the guards felt they understood the injustice of your prison because you did your duty as a hunter. "

Jack understood that well, he would find it strange if Paul said he had no crimes in a city as big as this with hundreds of thousands of people living in it, Jack felt sorry for the guards who would be punished if they did their job.

"Because the king thinks that everyone who does not wish to live in the city and the bandits also live outside the city and in villages or mountains, people who live in villages can decide to move to the city and before that, they are not considered citizens of the kingdom."

"I liked that, it's a good idea to make just one city in an entire kingdom, so the king has more authority and the citizens are happier."

"Yes, it is a good idea, but it has a major flaw, it is much easier to invade and attack a kingdom that has only one city, in other kingdoms the army of other kingdoms has to destroy several cities before reaching the king, but in Andária it's simpler."

"The biggest kingdoms have several cities and there are nobles who rule those cities, and some cities have their own army and even walls like in Andaria, so neighboring kingdoms have to attack several cities until they take over the kingdom."

"And the king of those kingdoms does not abandon the cities that are attacked, so it becomes even more difficult for a neighboring kingdom to invade."

Jack agreed with Paul that kingdoms with more cities had an easier time defending themselves, but citizens also had worse lives, Jack heard from other traders that it was much more common to see prostitutes and beggars in other kingdoms than in the kingdom of Andaria.

Furthermore, Jack thought that if the kingdom of Andaria had a strong army they could defend the kingdom even if other kingdoms thought to invade, the king of Andaria did not think that the army of his kingdom was strong, otherwise, he would not invest in creating a new tower defense.

"I know what you're thinking, Jack, but it is difficult to create a strong army, we don't have good instructors and the knight's families would never teach their methods of training for the kingdom to train soldiers."

"And the best soldiers that our army has to end up becoming knights too and not teaching their techniques, so our army will never improve."