“What just happened last night?” Julia asked. This morning everyone in the city and in the castle received the news. [600+] dead bodies were found lying on the streets. The streets of the western part of the city were dyed in blood. Many big houses were burned to the ground. This incident frightened ordinary people. The ordinary people now were in a panic, not knowing when their turn will come. Some people even went as far as to complain to the King and ask for his protection.
Sigh!
“I am not sure what happened. But this was done by the young master.” This morning Watson had personally gone out to investigate the entire place. From the investigation, it was clear that all of these criminals were killed by a fire cultivator.
Also this morning, a person named Alex came with his family. Alex showed Watson a red scale that Aditya gave him. Watson without asking any questions helped Alex in settling down. Since the number of slaves in the castle was already too big, Watson had no choice but to temporarily give Alex and his family two rooms that were previously used by King Ahmed and the queen.
“By the way, where is Aditya?” Julia felt concerned. At first, she feared that last night Aditya had gone out to drink again, but later she learned from Amber that Aditya has gone somewhere else.
“I am here.”
Hearing the familiar voice, everyone sitting at the dining table turned their heads. At the entrance, Aditya was standing wearing an old and dirty cloak. “Young Master, where have you been all this time?”
Opposite of what everyone was expecting, Aditya smiled and took out a leather bag.
“Master, what is this?” Aditya gently shook the leather bag. Everyone heard the sound of coins.
“Master, from where did you get all this money?” Watson asked with an astonished look. Just like Watson, Julia, Amber, and Alex all had the same shocked reaction.
“Plundering is the easiest way of getting rich. Last night, I happen to run into some criminals who needed to be punished. So I just took things in my hand and killed them.” Seeing the innocent smile on Aditya’s face, no one would believe that this innocent-looking man was responsible for killing [600+] criminals in a single night. Even Julia and others had a hard time believing in Aditya’s words.
Compared to everyone, Watson was the most excited as he knew how desperately they needed money. “Young Master, how much did you manage to earn?” Alex, Julia, and Amber’s right eyes started twitching hearing Watson’s words. Watson’s words sounded like Aditya had profited after doing business. Watson sounded like he was praising and encouraging Aditya.
Aditya grinned and gave the leather bag to Watson. “There should be at least 800 royal gold coins.” Watson opened the bag and looked at the shiny white gold coins. “Young Master, it looks like we have become rich. Now we can finally separate enough budget to renovate this castle.” Both men grinned like fools.
“Together with the remaining money that we have in the treasury, now we should have over 1050 royal gold coins. We won’t have to worry about money for at least for next 2 to 5 months. We can even recruit new soldiers. Not only that we have enough money to start repairing the city walls.” After seeing that nightmare, Aditya was not going to hesitate in investing in his military powers. Currently, this Kingdom urgently needed an upgrade in its military powers. 𝙡𝙞𝒓𝙚𝓪𝙙.𝒄𝓸𝓶
“Are the two of you done?” Julia asked in an impatient tone. Everyone was waiting to have their lunch.
“I apologize. You all should have lunch without waiting for me. I have to take a bath.” After all the killing last night, there was still blood on Aditya’s body. He was not going to have anything without washing his body first.
“Aditya, we will just wait for you. But Don’t take too much time.” Julia after saying that sat down and began to talk with Amber.
Aditya still hesitated. He felt bad for making everyone wait for him. Aditya quickly went back to his room and grabbed a set of new clothes and entered the bath. The bath of this castle was completely different from the baths on Earth. The baths of the servants and the royal family members were separate.
The bathroom was about 30 meters in size. At the center, there was a large poll with rose petals on the water. Normally servants of the same gender would accompany to help in washing. But Aditya being a man from the 21st century, preferred to bathe alone.
After bathing 15 minutes later Aditya joined everyone for lunch. While having lunch, Aditya everyone a few questions to know the current state of the castle.
First of all, after accommodating more than 700 people in the castle, there wasn’t any space left in the castle. The entire Castle was very old and had cracks all over it. The Castle was in serious need of renovation.
“We will have to build houses for the slaves.” Aditya decided to build houses for the troops outside the Castle.
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Scene change___
After having breakfast, Aditya ordered all the slaves to gather in the training ground. Standing before [700+] slaves, Aditya noticed several things. The slaves were wearing old and dirty clothes. Except for the slaves belonging to the beast race, all other slaves were skinny and malnourished. And the last and most important thing, Aditya could see fear in everyone’s eyes. With this kind of mentality, these slaves can never become a soldier.
‘I will also have to train their mentality along with their bodies. These slaves are like unrefined iron ores. Just have to go through several processes to become sharp steel swords. But these slaves have one advantage over the other newly recruited soldiers.’
‘Everyone here has lived the life of a slave. All of them here have gone through the dark times of being a slave. They are used to being starved and getting injured. Their instinct for survival is stronger than normal soldiers. As long as everyone here is properly trained then I am more than 100% sure everyone here will become elite troops who have the killer instinct and easily can slaughter ten normal soldiers.’ If someone asked anyone other than Aditya if these malnourished and skinny people who have been living as slaves could become soldiers. Anyone in Aditya’s place would immediately answer saying no.
While other lords and nobles would have found these slaves as useless trash, Aditya viewed them as unrefined diamonds. Being a man from the 21st century, Aditya’s mentality was very different from the people of this world. It was his mentality, and his ability to use any resources at his disposal that made Aditya more dangerous than other nobles and Kings.
‘Young Master knows when he needs to be ruthless. He is not careless. He is always thinking 3 steps ahead. He can see the bigger picture. His every action is always calculated. He has the vision of leading his Kingdom to a golden age.’ Watson felt pride when he looked at his young master. Before Watson only served Aditya because of Julia’s orders but now he wanted to serve Aditya from his heart. Watson wished to witness when a new page of history will be written.
‘There were even times when even I couldn’t comprehend the meaning of his words.’ After working with Aditya for a day, Watson has learned many things. Aditya has told Watson the changes that he would like to bring to this Kingdom. After hearing the changes that Aditya wanted to bring, Watson was convinced. Right now even if his lady Julia left this Kingdom, Watson would still stay here to see the young dragon rise.
Looking over the [700+] slaves who also had their eyes on Aditya, the young dragon opened his mouth and began to speak.
“My name is Aditya. I am the King of Istarin Kingdom. By now all of you should know why I have bought you here.” All the slaves curiously stared at Aditya. There was something about Aditya that made it hard for them to ignore him.
“I don’t how long each of you have been a slave. But I do know that each of you here has suffered. All of you have experienced what cruelty really is.”
Aditya paused for a second and looked into the eyes of the slaves. Aditya’s words have managed to capture their interest.
“People were laughing at my back when they heard that the King of the Istarin Dynasty is training slaves to become soldiers. I don’t care what others say. But in my eyes, all of you are unrefined diamonds that could become the mightiest elite troops of this Kingdom.” Julia was watching this from the kingdom. Her eyes couldn’t stop looking at Aditya. At this moment Julia just couldn’t resist this man’s charm.
“With that being said, I am not going to take away your freedom of choice. I give you all of you two choices. The first option is that you become my soldiers. Those who become my soldiers will have to go through harsh training for months. I will give my future soldiers body cultivation techniques and the resources for you to cultivate. I will make sure all of you get three times meals and proper shelter. I promise those who agree to become my soldiers will never be mistreated. Those who work hard for this Kingdom and manage to collect a certain amount of merits will be freed from their slave status.”
Aditya smiled seeing that determination in everyone’s eyes. It seems his words have worked. Aditya has purposely asked Watson to only buy young adult slaves. If Aditya adds any weak or old slaves, then those people won’t able to become soldiers. Having young soldiers would mean that Aditya can expect their service for at least 10 to 15 years before retiring.
Compared to elderly people, young adults are hot-blooded. Compared to elderly people, young ones wouldn’t hesitate to do hard work for a better future.
“Also once you become a full-time soldier, no one would dare to call you slaves. You will have known as soldiers who protect this Kingdom. Your status will no longer be associated with slaves. The people will have to respect you.” These few sentences had deep meaning for the slaves. If the slaves can disband their identity and walk-in society with a proud look, then becoming soldiers of the Istarin Kingdom is a small thing for them.
Aditya’s words affected all the slave’s minds. Their determination to become soldiers increased. Aditya, Watson, and others could feel the sudden changes in the slave’s eyes. Their eyes now were burning with passion.
‘As expected of the young master. His words really motivated everyone.’ Watson smiled looking at the people who will become their elite troops.
“As for the second option, do you people want to hear it?” Aditya asked with a loud voice, showing the passion that was burning in him.
“No”
“Do you want to go through harsh training to become the future light of the Istarin Empire and live your lives as a respected citizen of this Empire?”
“Yes”
Just like Aditya expected, since everyone here was young and hot-blooded, they wanted to abandon their slavery status more than anything. What Aditya was giving them was the opportunity of a lifetime. By becoming slaves, everyone here would become a citizen of this Empire, meaning they wouldn’t be called or treated as slaves anymore.
“Now, I called the 7 warriors to step forward.” With Aditya’s order, his 7 future generals stepped forward and next a few meters away from Aditya.
“Watson already should have told you everything.” Aditya then looked at the slaves behind. “From now on, these 7 are going to be known as your captain. In ordinary times, you will address them as your captains. While on the battlefield, everyone shall call them generals.”
Scott, Amber, Scott, Tyler, Nathan, Eleanor, and Henry all looked shocked to hear Aditya’s declaration.
Watson had not told them about becoming the Istarin Empire’s general. This sudden revelation was so shocking for each of them. It’s not like Amber and others hated it. Every 7 individuals felt extremely proud standing before Aditya. But deep inside, Scott and others feared something. Since their mana heart has been crippled, everyone felt that they are not worthy of becoming a general.
“Your highness, I don’t think we’re worthy of becoming your generals.”
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The source of this content is 𝙡𝙞𝒓𝙚𝓪𝙙.𝒄𝓸𝓶