In the beginning, Padilla strongly refused my participation in this war. She said she couldn’t trust outsiders but that was a blatant lie because Kara was recruiting a large number of mercenaries.
After repeated requests by Uddin and my tough talk, she approved my participation at last. Strangely, she always did as I said.
“Padilla, you’re the commander in chief.”
I insisted on her taking a leading role during the war. Uddin refused my idea but I didn’t care about his opinion. Since Kara was totally outnumbered, the Emir had to step up even though she’s a woman. Also, people were likely to obey orders more strictly if their leader took the lead.
In fact, I was an outsider. Even if Padilla made me the commander in chief, local residents of Kara would not follow my orders completely.
Then I started drawing Kara’s military organization chart.
As I appointed Razal Amuraba as the Commander of the First Army, Uddin strongly opposed my decision again.
“Sir, Razal is not a good commander at all. He can’t lead the army.”
I totally agreed with his opinion about Razal. But there was no other option. Even if you replaced the head of a sheep with the head of a lion, it would still be a sheep or worse. Razal was incompetent but respected by people. So basically, he was a pain in the ass.
But it didn’t matter.
After all, I didn’t have much expectation from the current Kara’s army either. I would give one and only chance to Razal and his army to fight against their enemies. If they failed to meet my expectation, I would get rid of them entirely. That’s why I still appointed Razal as the commander.
“Padilla, you should order Razal to hunt demons and make sure that he learns strict discipline.”
Overall, Kara’s army was a total mess but some of them had actually good skills. Archers were excellent and the close combat skills of soldiers were not that bad. However, they were all cowards since they had no real experience in battle. So, my plan was to train them in fights against demons.
As most of those mercenaries who used to work for people in Kara joined the Robros army lately, there was a great shortage of people hunting demons. Thus, it’s a pretty good idea to order Razal’s First Army to hunt those demons. Chaos Pieces were also valuable for us to make a large quantity of Essence.
“And the newly created Second Army’s Commander is Shura Ides.”
I boldly appointed Shura as the Commander of the Second Army. She had the experience of leading a civil militia in the Aeem Village in the past. Her bravery was noticeable when fighting to the death against the Zes’ Mercenary Guild. Honestly, she was still not a perfect choice for a commander of an army given her lack of experience in large-scale battles. But she’s a Great Saintess so her presence could certainly boost the morale of soldiers.
The Divinity of a Great Saintess was very effective when ruling people. If she took a lead in a battle, the morale of the entire army would be largely boosted. And discontented military officers and soldiers in Kara’s army would not dare to disobey her orders. Even though Razal was a first-rank aristocrat and supreme commander, he could not be in a higher position than a Great Saintess.
The only concern was that Shura’s swordsmanship skill was not good enough yet. So, I would ask Armida to stand beside and help her.
‘Actually, the problem is the Third Army…’
My plan was to recruit 8,000 soldiers among residents in Kara. Shura as the Commander of the Second Army had to command 4,000 of them and the rest of the soldiers were for the Third Army.
However, there was no appropriate candidate for the Commander of the Third Army. Seriously, Kara didn’t have any good military officers.
Of course, I could totally command the Third Army if I wanted to but I had to help Padilla on her side and manage special force operations.
‘Well, I will think about it later.’
Next, we had a discussion about the special force.
Among those born in noble families but failed to become an heir of his family such as a child of a concubine, some became commoners yet had huge ambitions. Since they were not loyal to the military or any establishments in Kara, I might be able to transform them into a strong army by adequate education and training.
In my estimation, we could build a special force of 6,000 soldiers and my plan was to assign them the most important operations during the war. Also, they must follow only my orders.
‘Then it will be around 18,000 soldiers in total.”
18,000 troops were certainly capable of defending against the Robros army for some time. It was true that they were ragtag but after hard training, they would turn into pretty good soldiers.
But first, we had to arm these newly recruited soldiers. In other words, it would require weapons, uniforms, and other military equipment for 8,000 soldiers. And obviously, it was very difficult to get those supplies.
That’s why I suggested an idea to Padilla about the construction of a new social system adopting standardization and specialization.
“Standardization and specialization?”
“Yeah. We need them for mass production of supplies.”
During the Era of Destruction, mankind faced a huge problem which was the shortage of supplies. To solve that problem, a mass production system was necessary so people adopted standardization and specialization.
Mass production could not make customized weapons for each soldier but was able to produce standardized weapons in a large quantity. The number of produced weapons was hundreds of times more than before.
The production process was very simple as well. People could learn manufacturing skills much faster. Thus, this was a perfect system for Kara which didn’t have much time to mobilize.
‘Military supplies are now taken care of.’
At this point, the biggest problem in Kara’s army was the level of their combating skills. Not a single soldier was strictly disciplined.
Against the Robros army of 200,000 to 250,000 soldiers, Kara was totally outnumbered so I had to make plans to offset the disadvantage in numbers.
Shortly after, our discussion was over and I went outside. In fact, there were unknown but strong troops in Kara. If we got their support, the total number of troops in Kara would be way over 20,000 with a higher level of combating skills
***
“Hey uncle, I’m back.”
Zenbe glanced at me and then wiped off his hands with a towel.
“Did you come here to eat?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“What do you want? The same as usual?”
I took my seat and started thinking about which one I should order. Usually, I was not picky with food but today was different.
“No, actually I want some noodles today.”
“Noodles?”
“Yeah, it brings back the memory of my hometown.”
As I stared at the sky in the far distance with a nostalgic look, Zenbe narrowed his eyes and folded his arms.
“Hey, human, are you trying to do some kind of silly things again?”
Zenbe became more quick-witted. He knew I was up to something at once.
“What the hell? Why are you being so mean to me? It’s been a while since I left my home. It’s so normal for me to miss my home. How could you say that I am up to something stupid?”
“I see. Sorry for the misunderstanding. So, what kind of noodles do you want?”
“Just fried noodles with meat and vegetables. Home-cooked meals are just ordinary food with ordinary ingredients.”
“Sure. I got it.”
As he put meat on a pan and started frying it, I began baiting him.
“By the way, how long have you been here?”
“Well, I think about eleven years.”
“Wow~ Then Kara must be your second home.”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Seriously, people in Kara are very nice. Thanks to them, even a stupid Orc like you can make his living here.”
As the meat got half cooked, Zenbe put noodles in the pan.
“Yes, you’re right. The people in Kara are very nice. When I first came to Kara, I didn’t have any food to eat for several days. And one day, a young girl came by and handed me a loaf of bread. I would never forget her kindness.”
“A young girl… She must be a pretty lady by now.”
“Yes. I ran into her a little ago and she told me she’s getting married soon.”
“I see. That’s good for her. So, why did you start this street vendor?”
“For three years, I worked as a laborer at the restaurant nearby. My job was carrying loads and other stuff. Also, I learned cooking and saved some money while I was working there.”
He started frying noodles with vegetables and sauces.
“Really? What about the owner of the restaurant? What is he doing right now?”
“He’s running a large restaurant in the eastern part of the city.”
“Is he a good man?”
“Yes. He’s a good husband and father. He’s also nice to his neighbors.”
“He is a good man for sure.”
“Yes.”
After he finished cooking, he put noodles in the dish and handed it over to me.
“Hey, human, why do you keep asking me questions?”
“You know, I just miss home…”
I started digging in fried noodles. It was not too sweet or salty. Actually, it was quite tasty. Zenbe was a decent cook for sure.
“Why do you miss home all of sudden?”
“Well, maybe because of this?”
I gently drew Yojo on my wrist. As I infused mana into it, a nearly 30cm-long white Aura Blade came out.
At that moment, Zenbe and I both were astonished. Until not long ago, my Aura Blade was about 20cm long but now it’s 30cm long.
“Hey human, you’re now a Mid-Level Master?”
“Maybe…”
“What has happened since the last time we met?”
To be honest, I also had no idea. Recently, I only visited the room full of my portraits and discussed with Uddin about plans to defend Kara. There was nothing much else except mediation training and enjoying my normal life.
I cleared my throat to set a calm atmosphere. The size of my Aura Blade or reaching Mid-Level Master didn’t matter anyway right now. I just came here to persuade him.
“I am not quite sure either. Maybe thanks to ‘Formation Theory’ which you mentioned before.”
“Formation Theory?”
“Don’t you remember the mental world we discussed last time? You talked about Formation Theory and we’ve figured out what Outer Mentality Theory is.”
“Oh, now I remember.”
“Outer mentalities of humans are connected and shared by human relationships and decisions made in life. Thus, human mentalities grow together. Is that right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“And you know what? Lately, I’ve made quite a lot of relationships with people in Kara. I think they have a large influence on my life now.”
Zenbe cupped his chin in his hand.
“I think that makes sense. Lately, you’ve built relationships with many priestesses in the Temple of Corruption. So, they must have a large influence on your life.”
“What the hell? Why are you talking about my private love life?”
“I didn’t mean to offend you.”
I curiously looked around Yojo covered with Aura Blade.
“That’s why I miss home now. When you meet nice people, you start missing home. Because home is always a nice place to think of.”
“Well, maybe you’re right.”
I grabbed the hilt of Yojo tightly.
“So, I will protect these good people in Kara.”
“What do you mean?”
“Actually, I’ve decided to participate in this war.”
Zenbe’s eyes got wide open.
“Are you insane? Kara will be conquered by the Kingdom of Robros very soon. If you help Kara, you will be dead.”
“Death? I don’t care about my life anymore. I will protect my second home, Kara. I will protect a girl who gave you a loaf of bread as well as the restaurant owner who taught how to cook. Why? Because I am a true warrior. And you know what? The warrior’s honor only shines when he protects others.”
As I talked about something emotional, Zenbe made a suspicious look.
“I was right. You are up to something stupid.”
“No way!”
“I know who you are. Seriously, how much money did you ask them for?”
“Hey uncle, trust me. I don’t fight in this war because of money. They will not pay me a dime.”
In fact, the entire Kara was at stake. Padilla was the ruler of Kara. And if Kara won the war, the whole western part of the Great Desert would be under her rule.
He looked at me with distrustful eyes.
“Really?”
“Of course. It’s about the honor and loyalty of a true warrior. That’s why I am trying to help Kara. I have been living here for quite a while. I think I should pay my debt.”
“So, are you trying to say that I should also help and pay my debt to Kara because I’ve lived here for eleven years?”
Such a quick-witted guy now. He was certainly not the same stupid guy I saw before.
“What? I never said that. It’s your decision whether you help Kara or not. If you are happy with your life while everyone in Kara is dying, what can I say? It’s your life so do as you wish.”
As I got upset, he chuckled.
“Alright then.”
“Huh?”
“Frankly, it still troubles my mind because I didn’t have a duel with him last time. When he comes back, I will request him a duel. And you should not get involved in our duel, okay?”
“Of course. I don’t wanna fight against Fabius. He’s all yours.”
There was a smile on my face.
At last, I succeeded in persuading Zenbe and Kara got a very strong ally now.
Not only is he a Master-Level Berserker but also the person who could exert huge influence over thousands of the Orc mercenaries. He’s their leader and chief.
‘Good. Now, the Orc mercenaries are on our side.’
Since they had a warrior’s honor, the Orc mercenaries seldom raided civilians. And each Orc mercenary was 1.5 times stronger than a human mercenary. Their combating skills were excellent and they followed their order with great discipline.
I didn’t like human mercenaries but I always wanted to have the Orc mercenaries on my side. Unlike humans, they were very loyal to their friends and superiors.
“By the way, you should pay your tab.”
“My tab?”
“You never paid for your food.”
I rolled my eyes. It was true that I never paid my bill. Strangely, something always happened when I came here.
“Honestly, it’s not my fault. Every time I come here, something happens. I think this street vendor is not a good place for customers.”
“Then you’re gonna pay today, right?”
“Of course.”
But only after I checked my pockets, I realized that I left my wallet at my office. It was because of Uddin who hurried me so much before. That’s why I went to the palace without bringing my wallet. It was just bad luck for Zenbe again.
“Just put it on my tab for now. I will pay you later.”