New troop types

After winning the victory, Damian led the cavalry back.

The continuous galloping hooves stirred up waves of dust and mud. Even if they were a group of ordinary horses, as long as there were enough of them, their momentum would be astonishing, not to mention that the mounted cavalry also carried various kinds of spoils.

Whether it was corpses or bound slaves, they were enough to showcase Damian's strength to the surrounding villagers.

After defeating the bandit knights and deliberately showing off in the surrounding villages, Damian's reputation rose significantly. And from being referred to by the nobles as "a lucky lad," he became "a brave and resourceful knight."

Those villagers who had participated in the Free Market also strengthened their belief in Damian's indomitable city.

This is a simple era, where one belief could be remembered for a lifetime.

When the army retreated to the village of Bovendon, Damian saw his old father, Madi, standing on the edge, looking at him from afar with a slightly complex expression.

"I'm not going back. Take half of the slaves and have people supervise them to repair the castle," Damian said, turning to Amelia.

There were only three knights left in the village of Bovendon, along with Amelia and two distant relatives. She glanced at Joan, whose expression suddenly turned ugly, and still nodded her thanks sincerely, "We didn't contribute much this time, but... thank you very much."

With that, the knights and attendants of Bovendon returned to their village with half of the slaves.

"What are you thinking? Giving her half, what about you?" Joan pinched Damian's waist slightly dissatisfied.

"Me? I don't need it, you take the remaining half back to the estate," Damian said with a smile as he hugged Joan, "After all, it's the land left by my elder brother. I have to take care of it more. It's not as prosperous as your estate here."

"What if the church finds out about the use of slaves?"

Damian hesitated slightly, thinking of the ambitious Dean Andreas, and then pondered, "We'll figure it out when the time comes. Just say they are serfs. If they ask again, accuse the monastery of being corrupt, with many monks engaging in homosexuality. Let's harm each other."

Damian didn't lie here.

Human nature is hard to change. The suppression of sexual desire, gathering teenage boys together, not allowing even a glimpse of female beauty, resulted in the relatively common occurrence of homosexuality. It's not only unhealthy but also distorts human nature. Medieval murals were very bold, daring to depict such things on the walls.

In addition to boys, there were also outdoor liaisons between men and women, women with monsters, and so on. What modern people can think of, medieval people probably painted similar things.

Moreover, Damian really came out of the monastery and knew that in recent decades, the call for church reform had never disappeared.

Many prominent pastors in various places were trying to establish new types of monasteries to prevent the widespread phenomenon of nobles seizing church property, vulgar and uncultured bishops and priests monopolizing the channels of promotion, priests marrying and having children to inherit church property, and so on.

The previous pope was a pioneer in advocating church reform.

Unfortunately, his death was quite tragic. Not only were his facial features gouged out, he was also exiled to a monastery and died in less than a year.

The residence of the Roman Catholic Church, the city of Rome, is a city full of killers, where alliances of noble families sit in power. If a pope elected from outside doesn't listen to the nobles here, then he can think about the kind of death that suits him.

From Damian's observation, it was not yet the late Middle Ages where the entire Europe would tremble at the Pope's footstep.

The Pope was still just a plaything of the Roman nobility, a puppet chosen casually when they were bored. Even if they had real power, they only had two choices: rely on powerful kings from outside or ally with local families in Rome.

...

In the morning they set out for battle, and returned victorious in the afternoon.

Damian's success gave Conosa more confidence.

But what displeased her was that Damian seemed to have gotten too close to Joan. The two even rode back to Gothingen Castle side by side.

For Conosa, she preferred their marriage to be a business transaction rather than a genuine and touching love.

Sitting in front of the dressing table, the countess looked at her beautiful face in the mirror, clenched her fist, and cheered herself on, "Believe in yourself, you can do it."

Conosa soon found a suitable position among a heap of official titles.

Forest Warden.

During the Middle Ages, lords generally considered mountains, rivers, forests, and swamps within their territories to be their exclusive properties, closed to commoners. For instance, in forests, peasants could gather firewood, but cutting trees would result in punishment.

Therefore, besides guardianship over people, guardianship over forests was also a rentable authority.

Conosa owned about 42% of the forests in Gothingen County, mostly concentrated in the central northern part of the fiefdom. These forests were available for hunting and logging, producing various materials.

The countess believed transferring guardianship of the forest to Damian was a good reward.

Soon, Damian and Joan entered the council chamber together, and Conosa, surrounded by attendants and household knights, announced the reward for Damian.

"Damian, I thank you for your dedication to Gothingen County. I appoint you as Forest Warden, to guard my forests."

[Unlocked Office: Forest Warden.]

Unlocked Common Unit: [Forest Axeman]

Basic Unit: Forest Axeman (Basic number 40, monthly salary 3 gold, recruitment cost 12 gold. These axe infantry lack armor and discipline. They neither line up neatly nor defend against enemies. Armed only with an axe, they fight to the death. Attributes: Forest combat bonus, heavy axe armor-piercing attack.)

Unlocked Excellent Unit: [Forest Hunter]

Excellent Unit: Forest Hunter (Basic number 40, monthly salary 6 gold, recruitment cost 24 gold. Robin Hoods don't appear out of thin air. These commoners, who love freedom and despise the powerful, hone their skills in hunting and combat in the forest. They have accumulated wealth to obtain excellent armor and astonishing combat prowess. Attributes: Versatile at all ranges, no melee penalty.)

Unexpectedly, the Forest Warden unlocked two units with unique attributes for Damian.

The first, Forest Axeman, is clearly a terrain-specific unit, suitable only for forest use. Without armor and unable to maintain formation on plains, their morale might collapse after a few volleys. However, if used properly in the forest, they can be a formidable force. After all, this is the first armor-piercing unit Damian has seen.

The second, Forest Hunter, is even more surprising. Regular ranged troops suffer a melee penalty, halving their damage in melee combat. However, Forest Hunters not only have excellent range and damage, but also perform well in melee, with decent armor. They are truly outstanding units.

With these two units, Damian's plans became more complete.

Therefore, during the meeting, Damian casually mentioned, "Speaking of which, that bandit knight I drove away claims he will attack Gothingen again with Count Milhous and divide all our territories among themselves. Perhaps he's just joking."