Chapter 106 (1/2)

The Torlot fortress was located in the middle of San river.

The San river, which originated from the Volga republic, flowed into the Baroque Empire and the Torlot fortress was situated on a hill overlooking the river’s meanders in a ‘U’ shape.

The parade ground in the center of the stone fortress was insignificant.

Soldiers and knights had to be fully trained. The normal white dust had to rise.

However, only a dozen people were in the parade ground—those were the knights.

And there were a few who were resting in the shade of the tree.

The dress of the knights wasn’t in place.

Their breastplates couldn’t be seen, and the buttons of their uniforms were open, revealing the hair on their chest.

“Seniors! Won’t you train?!”

A slim girl with a knight’s armor asked the ones taking a rest.

The senior knights rolled over the floor and said,

“It’s bothersome.”

“Anna, do it.”

“I already did this morning,” spoke the knights.

At their response, the girl knight, Anna, frowned.

“Ugh, the new commander will come today! What would he say after seeing the seniors act like this?”

She wanted to give the new commander a good first impression.

However, it looked like the seniors hadn’t thought about that.

“He would probably swear.”

“I heard it is going to be a kid in a blue uniform. What solid information do we have?”

“Right. What good can practicing do, right?”

“Anna, you go and practice. If the new commander knows, he will make us suffer,” said the senior knights.

The knights of the Torlot Fortress were mostly sons of nobles, who had been enlisted for two years.

Most of them were second-class nobles or lower class nobles. However, because of the lack of any historical background of their families or their family’s support, they were placed at the forefront of the poorly conditioned war.

In fact, they were no different from being abandoned. They had nothing to be motivated about.

And as a result, most of them wanted to avoid crossing swords with the enemy and just wanted to be discharged after their time.

‘Kew! I don’t know much either.’

Shaking her head, Anna picked up her sword and began to practice.

Being a girl from the Baron family, she had been always told that she was talented in fencing.

With support from her parents, she was able to attend the military academy. She graduated earlier this year and was deployed to Torlot fortress.

However, the atmosphere in there wasn’t what she had heard.

The soldiers were rough and had poor skills.

Most of them had come in after being changed from their original troops, moved out of jail or for misdemeanors, and most of them came in because of debt.

So their discipline was a mess.

However, the actions of the knights and officers, who had to correct them, weren’t on point either.

Like the knights who just spoke earlier, they were taking naps or playing cards or just plainly having fun laughing.

They would say that they were going to patrol, but they were going to go fishing instead or would pick a fight with other people.

The former fortress commander was always stuck in his office room and couldn’t see any of it. The moment he was informed that a new commander was going to join them, he left that very morning.

He left without even waiting for the new commander to take his job.

‘Haa, won’t the Volga try to take down the fortress if things go on like this?’ Thought Anna.

Anna was scared.

She became a knight. She was a talented swordsman. However, she didn’t want to die and leave her family.

And to do that, she had to change the attitude of the senior knights, but it wasn’t a task that a young woman could do.

Anna was in concern over this and that.

Brrrng!

Kun! Kung! Kung!

A trailer full of luggage and a Gigant came across the parade ground through the fortress gate.

Three people got off the trailer and the Gigant stopped in front of the fortress office.

‘That might be the new commander,’ thought Anna.

It was very likely.

With her eyes shining, she rushed over to the office.

“It is completely open.”

Those were the first words that Luke uttered after seeing the Torlot fortress.

The walls of the fortress seemed to have been neglected for a long time and looked like they would crumble quickly, and there were no soldiers patrolling around.

The knights began to appear in the parade ground at last.

There weren’t that many people who gathered to train, and it was just before the end of the day so not many soldiers were there.

“It was much worse than the information I got from the guild.”

Philip’s face became distorted,

“Let’s go inside first,” said Luke.

Luke sighed and they stepped into the building.

At the same time, the envoy, which ran from the barracks, came. He stood in front of Luke and his party and gave her salute.

“Salute! Anna de Noah from the 7th knight of the Northern army. Are you the new commander, sir?”

“Yes. This is Luke de Rakan who has been appointed as the new commander here.”

‘Ehet!’

Anna was flustered, and her face became red.

Just a moment ago she had saluted to Philip. It was because of his appearance and age. He looked like the new commander.