Chapter 313 (1/2)

Early the next morning, the recruits woke up with the horn. Led by Shawn, they tidied up and set off for the hills in the north of the city accompanying the few veterans Keane Hill had left.

Although they had been training for two months, the gap between recruits and veterans was still obvious. It wasn’t so obvious when they walked a quick march in the military camp. At this moment, when they marched out of the city, the veterans had a much lighter and steadier pace than the recruits. There wasn’t any trace of fear on the veterans’ faces. They were all full of confidence and had a high morale.

These veterans had been fierce and aggressive since before the volunteers had joined. Many of them had been even hooligans and fighters before they had joined the army. They were happy to hear anything about fights. It was their style. As long as there was a reward, a big fight would be welcomed. Even if there was no reward at all, they would fight when they were bored just for entertainment.

During this period of time, they had been patrolling with Ryder. Ryder was better at martial arts than them, so they didn’t dare to fight in front of him. Thus, since this group of energetic people hadn’t fought for months, they became eager to fight. They were all in high spirits knowing that they were going to exterminate the Grey Gnomes. Their eyes showed bloodthirst and aggression, and they couldn’t wait to vent their destructive desires that had been pent up for several months.

Of course, it was because the Grey Gnomes were weak. If they were going to fight powerful creatures, such as ogres or Bear Gnomes, they wouldn’t have been as excited.

They could take a victory over the Grey Gnomes for granted, but to fight with ogres would be to risk their lives…

Affected by the veterans, the recruits also had more courage. Looking at the well-maintained armor in the carriage next to them, they held their weapons in their hands tightly. Listening to the unconcerned laughter of the veterans, they naturally became more confident.

This was the advantage to the veterans leading the recruits. As long as the veterans weren’t all killed, they could help lead the recruits, which made it faster to rebuild troops again.

Crick had spent enough money on training of the recruits, so they were well fed and warmly dressed and also had enough training every day. They were not only well disciplined, but also in good physical condition, which was the most important in modern and contemporary armies.

In Crick’s view, although they still weren’t strong enough, much weaker than the veterans, they still represented the direction of development for a future army. As for the veterans, they could either go further, to the level of senior adventurers, and become specialized elites, or they could be phased out and assigned to the countryside as captains of the military.

That wasn’t bad. The bravery and power of the veterans could effectively inspire and lead militias. When the territory had enough manpower and material resources in the future, it would be more convenient to train militias.

As the troops slowly left the city, Crick saw a horse galloping away, Rena on its back.

He couldn’t help smiling and became more confident of that day’s victory.

In order to preserve the strength of the soldiers, the troops didn’t march fast. They came to the foot of the mountain just before noon.

Instead of rushing up the hill, Crick let the soldiers stop to have lunch and recover their strength. He took out a simple map he had drawn earlier and discussed it with Ryder and Shawn.

“I arranged for some adventurers to lure the Grey Gnomes to the curve of the river.” He pointed to the map and said, “The terrain is open here and suitable for us to fight at.”

Ryder and Shawn didn’t know this beforehand, but they couldn’t help smiling at each other upon hearing that.

“I was thinking that it wouldn’t be convenient to use Two-Handed Spears in the woods, and that our array would be limited by the space. I thought we could only fight slowly with the advantage of armor. However, sir, you’ve figured it out!” Shawn laughed and said, “There’s no way back for the Gnomes in the open terrain. If I still couldn’t win, I would just jump into the river and die.”

“It’s favorable for archers to fight in such open terrain.” Ryder said, “There are armored spear soldiers in front to hold down the position, and I’ll be behind with my archers to make sure that no Grey Gnomes can escape.”

He talked about it with ease, not taking the twenty to thirty Grey Gnomes seriously.

That wasn’t due to pride. With his strength, even he alone could wipe out a tribe of hundreds of Gnomes. The reason for leading such a large scale army was nothing more than training his soldiers.

Crick had brought the veterans for two reasons. First, for safety, in case these inexperienced recruits made some errors when it mattered. Second, he needed a reason to ask Ryder to come along with them.

To be honest, having a high-ranking master on the team made him rest more assured, not to mention that this master was an excellent archer who could shoot three arrows in a flash. With Ryder in the troops, he could make sure that nothing went wrong and avoid any casualties.

The Keane Hill wouldn’t suffer any casualties now!

To prepare for the coming fight, the soldiers didn’t eat much. They just had a little bread and drank some cold water that had been boiled beforehand. After a while, they stood up again, moved their bodies, and waited for the order to move.

After a while, a horse galloped up and stopped beside the troops. Rena jumped off the horse and smiled, although she looked a little unnatural. She said, “The mission has been completed. I set up a trap by announcing that a hunting wolf was killed by a passing adventurer. The Gnomes are coming out and heading for the river.”