Chapter 140
Winston’s parade ground.
There were exactly 100 soldiers gathered in a large space that could accommodate 5,000 people. They were bewildered.
“Morning training has ended, so why are we here?”
“I agree… It is also just our 100 man unit.”
Currently, Winston had 2,030 troops. Many troops had been lost due to the repeated battles with the Yatan Church, but Earl Steim had brought new soldiers to fill up those numbers. Only 100 of them were called out of 2,000 troops, so they couldn’t help feeling anxious.
They were the 13th Hundred Man Unit, famous for causing a lot of mishaps! Therefore, they waiting anxiously as they thought about the punishment they would receive.
“First of all, let’s try to think about what we did wrong. Last night, the armory guards… The third group? Did you doze off while keeping watch?”
“That doesn’t make sense. The situation is still tense because of the Yatan Church, so how can we sleep on duty? We slept secretly in turns. Our network was very thorough. We weren’t caught.”
“Really? Then the second group? You patrolled the market. Did the merchants complain that you stole things?”
“It can’t be. We only ate fruit or meat skewers, and no one made a fuss.”
“Umm… I don’t think we did anything wrong recently. We made some gangsters who worsened security disabled, but we can’t be punished for that. Right?”
“That act deserves a reward… Then what? What did we do wrong that we were made to gather?”
In the end, the soldiers couldn’t solve it on their own and asked their captain, Jude.
“Captain, why have we been called?”
“…I don’t know.”
Jude was also unable to understand the situation. He was moving about the usual schedule when there was suddenly an order to assemble. Jude wasn’t smart enough to guess why, so he just stood silently.
“Anyway, our captain won’t know anything about it.”
“I agree. Fighting is our captain’s strongest point. He is useless in everything else.”
“…”
The soldiers were in the midst of talking when two knights appeared. They were Romeo, an outstanding knight and his second in command, Deck. Romeo, who wore glittering golden full plate armor and a red cloak, shouted in a loud voice.
“Be quiet and pay attention! Viscount Grid is coming!”
“Viscount Grid?”
He married the lady just yesterday. Did he become a noble today? A noble should consume their stamina on the first night and enjoy the honeymoon, so why was he coming to the parade ground?
Grid appeared while the soldiers were feeling puzzled. He was wearing white armor and gloves and a great sense of dignity was coming from him. He made Romeo’s brilliant gold armor seem shallow.
‘The rumored hero who saved Winston from the previous lord and the Mero Company…!’
This was the first time the 13th Hundred Man Unit saw Grid. They all felt admiration.
‘There is a story that he rescued Lady Irene after killing Malacus.’
‘Isn’t he also a great blacksmith? He is amazing.’
Grid had a high amount of reputation, and was also rich in the dignity stat. The soldiers were envious and overwhelmed him with their gazes, causing Grid’s head to lower in embarrassment. Grid climbed onto the podium and fixed his attention on Jude before smiling faintly and saying,.
“The quality is generally good. Irene recommended this hundred man unit for a reason.”
The average level of the current Winston soldiers were around 70~80. The soldiers that Grid saw yesterday had an average combat power of around 1,000. But the soldiers of the 13th Hundred Man Unit had an average combat power of 2,000 while Jude had a huge 5,000 combat power.
Given the fact that the level 180 knights armed with top-tier items had a combat power around 7,500, Jude’s combat power was unusually high for someone only wearing poor quality chain mail.
Grid felt a strong interest and touched the sheath at his waist. Then he pulled out the sword received from Irene.
[Commander’s Sword]
Durability: 100/100 Attack Power: 100
* Dignity +30
* Skill ‘Character Observation’ will be generated.
A sword given to military commanders appointed by royalty or nobles. It isn’t suitable for use as a weapon because of all the jewels.
But it gives the military command the advantage of being able to observe the soldiers’ abilities closely. It is useful when commanding an army.
Weight: 220
‘Character Observation.’
[Your insight is more than 600 points. Due to the influence of insight, Character Observation Lv.3 is activated.]
[Character Insight Lv.3]
You can grasp not just the personal information of the target being observed, but their current stats, the limit of their stats and their skills.
* Targets to be observed are limited to allies.
Name: Jude
Age: 25 Gender: Male
Occupation: Captain of Winston’s 13th Hundred Man Unit
Level: 103
Strength: 818/2,080 Stamina: 431/908
Agility: 34/330 Intelligence: 11/20
Skills: Snatch the Enemy’s Weapon and Use it as a Weapon (S). Silence (A). I have no Idea (SS-).
A rare fool born in Winston. When it comes to strength, he doesn’t fall behind anyone. He is a natural warrior who doesn’t know fear.
Unfortunately, his brain is less evolved. No matter how hard he tries, he can never climb to a higher position. It is close to a miracle that he became the captain of a hundred man unit.
‘Then what about the knights?’
Grid followed by observing Romeo and Deck.
Name: Romeo Laniche
Age: 34 Gender: Male
Occupation: Lady Irene’s knight.
Level: 196
Strength: 878/910 Stamina: 420/441
Agility: 253/270 Intelligence: 174/200
Skill: Elite Spirit (A+). Decent Blow (A+) Cool-headed (B).
The son of Viscount Laniche and Phoenix’s disciple. He followed Captain Phoenix and naturally served the Steim family.
His talent grew from the beginning and trained in an elite course. However, he is in distress because his growth has been stagnant lately.
Name: Deck
Age: 32 Gender: Male
Occupation: Lady Irene’s knight.
Level: 185
Strength: 750/1,050 Stamina: 334/536
Agility: 213/320 Intelligence: 199/230
Skill: Flattery (B+). Ability to Grasp the Situation (S-). Conventional Swordsmanship (B).
His ability to read the situation is excellent. He always acts according to the trends. He has talent as a commander.
Looking at the total stats, the knights were much higher than Jude.
‘But considering the level difference, Jude actually has higher stats compared to the knights.’
The innate stats that Jude were born with were higher than the innate stats of the knights. It was a reasonable thought. By nature, weren’t humans born with different talents? Jude was born with talent higher than Romeo and Deck.
‘But more than the innate stats… It is the maximum growth of the stats.’
The numbers that Jude’s stats could grow to completely overwhelmed Romeo and Deck. If Jude was able to grow to his full potential, he would be at least twice as strong as Romeo.
‘The disadvantage is his unreasonably low intelligence, but Jude has many advantages to overcome that shortcoming.’
Grid noted the ratings of Jude’s skills. The ratings of Jude’s skills were much higher than the knights, and these skills seemed to be one of the sources of Jude’s high combat strength. Grid made his decision.
‘Jude, I will raise you as my knight.’
As a viscount, Grid had the authority to appoint three knights. A normal person would’ve wanted a smart knight or a governor of a city, but Grid thought differently.
‘I can’t be stupid.’
He would pick those whose stats could grow to become his knight and make them as loyal as dogs. Grid smiled wickedly and started to check the character information of the other soldiers. Unfortunately, none of the remaining 100 soldiers had talent worthy of Jude. But they definitely were more skilled than ordinary soldiers.
If Grid made them work in this raid… No, if he trained them well, they would be reborn as elite soldiers who would help protect Winston and Irene.
‘Is it good to have a husband like him?’
‘What is he doing?’
After Grid’s appearance. He didn’t say anything and pulled out a sword, looking over the soldiers with a grin. Grid’s appearance didn’t look normal. The person who was lauded as a hero was behaving strangely, causing the knights and soldiers to feel anxious.
‘This is a little…’
‘It seems like they are just rumors.’
They started to feel disappointed with Grid! After verifying all of the soldiers’ information, Grid finally returned the Commander’s Sword to its sheath before cutting straight to the point.
“We will depart for Bairan Village.”
“Bairan?”
“Why are we going there all of a sudden…?”
The soldiers started to murmur. Romeo frowned at them.
“Hey! Concentrate!”
“Ah, what a surprise.”
“I’m sorry.”
Grid was startled because he was standing right next to Romeo. He smiled at the soldiers then started explaining, “We are going to Bairan Village to defeat the Guardian of the Forest. It will be a tough journey, so everyone should be prepared.”
“Heok!”
The exclamation of shock wasn’t from the soldiers. It was from Romeo, who looked at Grid with hesitation. As a knight from a noble family, he was normally highly conscious of his image. However, he forgot about it as he trembled in front of the soldiers.
“V-Viscount? You want to defeat the Guardian of the Forest? With just these people? Are you serious?”
Of course.”
“Hat…! No, why are you saying something so absurd?”
The Guardian of the Forest was a peak golem type monster, and was impossible to damage with merely swords and arrows since its body was covered with hard rocks and orichalcum. It also constantly summoned small golems and the attack power was threatening enough to cause earthquakes. It was one of the strongest monsters in the north.
“It will be difficult to defeat the Guardian of the Forest, even if you bring along all of Winston’s troops!”
Romeo asserted. This wasn’t an exaggeration. The Guardian of the Forest required dozens of magicians or two or more great magicians to defeat. But the magicians in Winston were at a mediocre level and there were only four of them.
It was impossible to knock down the Guardian of the Forest with 2,000 troops if they didn’t have a powerful magic unit. The 2,000 troops would be wiped out. Yet Grid wanted to defeat the Guardian of the Forest with 100 soldiers and two knights?
Romeo then recalled the Tzedakah Guild.
“Ah! Perhaps you are planning to call the Tzedakah Guild? Are you planning to join forces with them, just like when you defeated Malacus?”
“What nonsense are you saying?”
Obviously, it would be easy to defeat the Guardian of the Forest if he called the Tzedakah Guild. But Grid had no intention of doing the raid with the Tzedakah Guild. The soldiers and knights were NPC salary workers, so they couldn’t look at the items dropped by the Guardian of the Forest, while the Tzedakah Guild members were equal to Grid.
If he did the raid with them, Grid would have to split the items with them. He didn’t want that. In other words, Grid planned a raid with NPCs in an attempt to monopolize all the drops from the Guardian of the Forest.
‘In the first place, there is no need to ask for their help.’
Grid had defeated the pope alone. Why should he borrow the guild’s hands when he could easily get rid of the Guardian of the Forest? He shouted, “Everybody move! We will depart straight away!”
“Isn’t this like a lightning bolt out of the blue…?”
The knights and soldiers were grouchy. They thought they would die. Grid was making the wrong moves as soon as he became the lady’s husband. They were worried about their future. But Jude had no thoughts. He just silently followed Grid.
It was the day when Grid’s subordinate fostering program began.
At the same time, Khan’s smithy.
“…When is Grid coming to work?”
Vantner had arrived at the smithy since early morning and had been waiting for Grid for five hours. He had been too agitated about being deprived of Irene and lost his temper. Therefore, he wanted to apologize to Grid for being rude and ask him to make the armor.
It was the moment he had been waiting 40 days for. He hoped that Grid would come to the smithy as soon as possible. But Grid never showed up at the smithy, even when lunchtime passed and it became night.
‘He is enjoying his honeymoon and not even showing up to his job… That bastard… He isn’t even responding to the guild chat or whispers…’
Vantner’s expression turned dark.