Volume 1 Chapter 7 (2/2)

Five goblins! ‘One of them is oblin was near death, he shot an arrow precisely at the goblin’s neck

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You have leveled up

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Since Weed reached level twenty-six, kobolds had not yielded as much EXPs as before It was still a lot whichever way you looked at it, but too low for Weed

A goblin belonged to a different dioblin, it alone filled thirty-seven percent that remained for the next level, at twenty-seven, and took extra ten percent for change

‘At level fifty, goblins give much better EXP than kobolds’

Weed was teoblin’s ass Only God knohat he would have done if the soldiers were not around hiround better than this

“We won!”

The soldiers exclai swords in the air They were bolstered in confidence that they had successfully defeated the first goblins

“Goblins are no match for us”

“No, on easily because we followed Weed’s coift of a leader”

“He’s excellent in th”

“Under his coh”

When the battle was over, the soldiers co his back

The Goddess of fortune was saze to Sir Midvale cautiously

If the knight was offended that his coht to execute Weed without trial, though Weed assured hiht would prevent the worst in that case

Sir Midvale looked at the corpse of a goblin, deep in thought for a ood soldier, Weed-ni the path of royal guard?”

“A royal guard?”

“You will becodo position will be a denarion”

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You have received a job offer!

If you accept it, you will take a military position of Denarion in the Rosenheim army You will coular training, and a monthly income of fifty silvers Will you accept this job offer?

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Upon the co, a few basic sword techniques and a quantity of iven Certainly, they are not the sharpest tools in town—an iron sword, or similar, and heavy armor with only defense options

Weed shook his head because, according to his blueprint, it was too early to settle down in a specific career

“I ah opinion of uard is undoubtedly what I aspire to be, but I want to devotefreely to help the poor and the weak, and destroy evilA wanderer’s blood flows in e your mind, let me know For now, take command of my men”

“Can I really do that?”

“It is my duty, but it seems my men follow you, and learn a lot from you I atch from behind how far your leadershi+p can lead them”

Sir Midvale transferred the command of the punitive force to Weed

For now, the soldiers were obliged to obey him at least in this lair Of course, he did not expect loyalty that could cole word

Weed’s charisma was too low, so he counted on his friendshi+p with the soldiers Still, he was thrilled at his new assignment

‘Sweet! I’ll make the best out of this situation,’ he said to himself

Weed swiftly packed the bow, took out the sword and held it up It was a demonstration of his newly-acquired position It would have been less i his troops of his past behavior in battles that could not strike them as honorable

“Listen, soldiers! My name is Weed, and as of now, I take over the command of you I ask you to follow my orders dutifully”

“Yes, Commander!”

“My foremost objective is to defeat the lair without any casualties Do your best, and not a single drop of blood will shed in vain”

“Yes, Commander!”

Since Weed took over the command from Sir Midvale, the attitude of his troops toward hied drastically

“Buren, Becker”

“Yes, Commander!”

“You are scouts now Stay ahead of the araged in battle, youenemy”

“Yes, Commander!”

Weedthe

“Co, sir! Seven goblins at twelve o’clock Two feoblin raiders”

Goblin raiders were, according to Weed’s private database, Lv 58 ood job, Buren Everyone, halt!”

Weed ordered his troops to stay put in an open clearing, and set up a few traps Then, he went alone to the location where the goblins had been spotted

As Buren reported, the seven goblins were resting there Weed took out his bow and shot at the farthest goblin Before the arrow hit the target, he turned and ran away

oblins looked around, spotted Weed and chased after him in a rush

Weed knew that, if he was surrounded by the seven goblins, he would not stand any chance He just prayed his feet would not fail

on hi spears, the goblins were running with heavy strides

‘God, they even sent a chill down ame No, the coolest job for erous spot, Weed’s thoughts were still positive He was alone, but he would be safe once he reached the place his troops were hiding Weed ran like his tail was on fire, and arrived at the clearing

“Commander!”

Buren and Becker were the first faces he saw

“Get ready for the battle Goblins are incoh the space, the seven goblins sprang out of the cave In only a h?”

The goblins that were stupid and witless were mesmerized at the sudden appearance of the soldiers fro cover behind Then they threw burning torches at the goblins

“These bastards are trapped!”

“Push forward!”

“They have spears Be careful of their spears! Anyone who is injured must step down, be it severe or not”

Had Weed foreseen that he would be in charge of the troops, he would have bought more snares and traps The best idea he could come up hen there were no other tools was to throw torches at the goblins

Nonetheless, the soldiers were fighting very well The thirty troops were a bigthethened by an incalculable variable called morale

Whether it comes to monsters or NPCs, morale is always a decisive factor in battles The soldiers believed in their newly appointed leader, Weed On the other hand, confused by the torches thrown at theoblins realized that they had walked into a trap, surrounded by ht back

“Cheating humans attack us!”

“Kieeekk! Run for life!”

“Who do you think will let you get away alive?”

While the soldiers pushed relentlessly towards their enemy, Weed’s eyes flashed

“Surround them Block the entrance of the cave!”

“Yes, Coive first aid The other soldiers with full life—focus on defense Those who are healed should reet ready to join the battle when I give you an order”

Under Weed’s cooblins steadily, two of ere felled by his arrows

As he had put his life at risk, he justified that he deserved at least two goblins to oblins held on for a considerable period in spite of low roups, and ordered the the eneoblins left nine silvers, a steel shi+eld and a bronze spear

When Buren and Becker picked them up as ordered, Weed interfered

“Everyone, listen! I am proud of your valor I will divide spoils in a different manner than before”

“…?”

“I will reward the oblins most bravely On one condition—he should not be severely injured enough to be disabled for the next battle My priority is to bring you safely back to your loving families”

“Yes, Commander!”

At Weed’s speech, the eyes of his troops filled with admiration

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Charisma has risen by 2 point (+2 CHR)

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Weed would have sed all the items if he could, but he kept himself in checked If his friendshi+p with the soldiers dropped, his low charisma could not save hi

Sir Midvale’s presence further weighed on hi his troops, Weed systeoblins on the third floor

One day, however, Sir Midvale said with a grimace,

“Weed-nim, the pace of the mission is slow I advise you to pick up the pace”

“I beg your pardon, sir?”

“I borrowed these soldiers froiments I am not allowed to keep them indefinitely They inal regiments”

Weed had never heard of the deadline It seemed that only the soldiers were bound to it Still, he didn’t hasten the pace

Against six or oblins, he always drew the one or two arrohere his troops overwheloblins, he led theht with the enemy

Weed avoided a battle unless the soldiers were fully healed to the last ed weapons and gear to maintain their condition at their best

When the punitive force succeeded in conquering the third floor of the lair, Weed hit level thirty-seven, and his

“Charge!”

“Keep the fore!”

At Weed’s coone berserk, surrendered to

“Yatz! Yatz!”

“Death on you! You ugly s I’ll clean you off the earth”

The soldiers pushed on with their bucklers ahead They were as foul-ht theuez’s dictionary

They soed under apparently impossible circu openings of the goblins that were armed with spears

Weed still maintained the same formation for his troops to ultimately rely on their comrades, but they were oblins repeatedly, leaving thousands of corpses behind theressively, his troops crushed the goblin defense with thoroughly coordinated attacks

Now it took just the blink of an eye to destroy a platoon of six goblins as an army of thirty veteran soldiers rushed on fiercely and devastated the enemy

“Battle is won Let me distribute items based on individual prowess Hosram and Dale”

“Yahoo!”

“Any soldier who needs a repair or a rest?”

“No, Commander!”

“None!”

“Then, let’s move on Scout, report!”

Buren and Becker, in turn, scouted and reported the location and nu, Cooblins have been located a hundred yard away at nine o’clock One goblin alcheoblin”

“Advance!”

The soldiers ran at a co, they were recovering fro battle

“Hu… huoblins began to put up resistance, but it was alless

The soldiers, now veterans in cooblins in morale—and Weed’s arroas a death sentence

His level in archery rose fast as he was actively engaged in battle, and his arroere no longer aioblins

Weed now shot arrows in order to take the initiative, and when goblins were grouping to break through hisshots The oblin that threatened the life of one of his troops

I at you, your leader’s arrow bores a hole in its head, then you will feel saved and thus ic went for a number of soldiers whose life was saved by Weed at the last second

His troops hunted goblins in theway They conquered the fourth floor faster than the third one, and even kept the saoblins in each battle

As the soldiers weretheh level, they were capable of one-to-one cooblins

Nevertheless, Weed stuck to the old tactics of focusing on defense and outnuested to hioblins fairly on a level playing field

Weed stood his ground, though

“Do not consider that filthy goblins deserve fair play! Have you ever heard of a knight asking for a duel with monsters? If there were one, he would be stupid to defend his honor againstthem in order to restore peace and protect the people of Rosenheioblin because you are trying to be ethical, your comrades will pay the consequences!”

Weed’s charisht a goblin alone was denied his share of recognition He was later excused froer, but soon realized that he had to sit back and watch his coht everyone a lesson, so the troops went as far as stabbing goblins in the back if it became available They were brainwashed beyond doubt by Weed’s tongue Infantry Combat Tactics 101

For less than a month, Weed led the punitive force to sweep over the Lair of Litvart As a as still left, they went back down to the third floor, and on the way back to the bottoan, the soldiers spread in wings, for formation and slew their foe within a few breaths As soon as the battle was over, they advanced to the next one

Blitz

Not one soldier died

They finished the Search and Destroy Operation of The Lair of the Litvart quest with the overall levels of the troops reaching fifty-seven, Weed’s sixty-two Considering that the average level of denarions in the Rosenheim Army was forty, what Weed had accomplished was terrific

“Good job, Weed-nireat service to us”

Sir Midvale didn’t hide the fact that he marveled at Weed

“If we had five e and leadershi+p, then Rosenheiht of a royal knight, I hereby wish to appoint you centurion Would you accept

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You have received a job offer!

If you accept it, you will take a military position of centurion in the Rosenheim army You will command one hundred foot soldiers You are entitled to receive regular training, and a old Will you accept his job offer?

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An officer in command of a hundred troops, a centurion is deeht who is qualified to ehthood in the Red Order If it were other users, they would have accepted it willingly, but Weed wasn’t swayed

“I’lad to hear that, Sir Midvale, but this is more than I can accept”

“Freya forbids it! Tell me if you want additional benefits, Weed-niround”

“Your offer is… beyond my dearest wish But all I want is peace and prosperity in Rosenheidom As my heart leads me to travel to many places and help those in need, it seems too early to settle down If you have another mission to destroy monsters after the autumn harvests, or if Rosenheim is invaded, I will be the first one to run to you and offer eous soldiers in the Rosenheim army”

“Your spirits are well understood, Weed-nim The door to the Royal Army will be always open to you”

Sir Midvale withdrew his proposal with a content look

“Now that we have finished the quest, I a them back to the Citadel Will you join us?”

“I have so to be done here, sir”

“May I inquire as to its nature?” Sir Midvale looked curious

For the last four weeks, Weed had s of stew three tireat food on time, and Sir Midvale was one of the beneficiaries who had fallen in love with it, for a solid friendshi+p with him

“I uez”

Weed had assuoblins would meet the quest’s requirement, but it was a serious miscalculation on his part

The numbers of monsters that he was supposed to destroy was still a hundred without any sign of decrease Anyway, the nuoblins in the lair was hundreds on each floor, at a conservative estiuez’s quest was to sweep away all the ‘oblins were not possibly the target because they greatly outnumbered a hundred

“I see, Weed-ni forward to returning to the Citadel with you, but it seems destiny directs us to part our ways here Instead, I will lend you arse”

“arse? Whose ass?”

“Have you already forgotten the name of the horse you rode here the other day?”

“Don’t tell me…”

Weed’s head suddenly felt thick and heavy The colt that had kicked his and bit his hand! Now he remembered the colt’s name was arse

What a shameful name for a would-be stallion

“The trip to the Citadel will cost you valuable time without a horse arse is at your service”

“Thank you, but no thank you, sir I don’t need any horse”

“I a your favor, Weed-nim Please take it Return it to the Royal Stable when you finish your quest”

“…”

Sir Midvale turned as soon as he delivered what he wanted to say His attitude i else to hear, case closed The knight meant well for Weed’s sake, but he wanted none of it How in the world could he stand such a wild colt?

Weed absolutely hated this pain in the butt, but he had to accept it, or he would ain

“Co home alive, thanks to you!”

“Please visit my place when you come to the Citadel”

“I run an inn in the central avenue You are alelcome”

“My family owns a restaurant My ill serve you a delicious ood as yours!”

The soldiers cah-level veterans, they would probably be promoted upon their return, at least, to denarions while one or two soldiers who score the best could look for a better position

Weed shook the hand of every soldier who used to be his subordinate His hand arrip held on for a few seconds

“Do you really have to leave?”

“I want to stay here with you, Commander, but I’iment”

“Commander, I will miss you!”

Weed’s eyes shone darkly with reluctance What troubles he had gone through to train those soldiers! He was the first to have credit for transfor once new recruits at level twenty into veterans in co robbed of thedom

“Everyone, safe trip!” Weed said

“Godspeed, Commander”

“Commander, you must stop by in my place later!”

After reluctant farewells with his former troops, Weed was left alone