234 Recruitment for Army (1/2)

”Lady Adria, I chose these men according to your requirements,” Clemo replied, counting his fingers. ”Male or female, no criminal record, above 18, under 35 years old and not disabled... I have checked over everyone carefully”

After Don left for Sigalla, Lord Clemo thought he could have some break, yet, he was busier than a honey bee as Amaryll, Dior, and Adria had given him more work than he imagined.

Alright, Arrora knew that he could not expect too much. After all, the crops that DOn ordered them to buy had just started to sprout and the soups and porridges the black-armored men were giving these people barely filled their bellies, let alone put some muscles and fat in these youngsters.

Since she was a woman, Lord Clemo prevented her from seeing the refugees who had just come to Agoria with no clothes or barely covered only their privates and it had become a common sight in Agoria. Because of the starvation in some kingdoms, especially during the winter, some people made living by corpse collecting. These people dragged away the corpses of the starving who dropped dead in the streets and burned them after looting anything that could get them a copper or penny.

”So what's a long-term war would do to these people?” Arrora closed her eyes and pondered. Although the wars between the rank four kingdoms would usually end in a few days, the war between the upper ranks kingdom would take weeks or even months due to their kingdom size and the number of soldiers and mages they had.

Generally speaking, when a King of an upper-rank kingdom decided to wage a war, he would convene all the noble families in his domain, who in turn convene the lower noble families in their respective domains. For example, a duke would assemble his counts or earls, while a count would gather his viscounts, and a viscount his barons, and so on and so forth.

These noble families normally had a bunch of knights and soldiers as their own forces. These men were the main forces in a war aside from the king's army, and they were well-armed and equipped. At the same time, they recruited common men and peasants in their domains to join the fight as militia also known as peasants with pointy things. In truth, Militia's sole purpose was to carry provisions for the troops and to fight in the frontline as human shields. The ones who suffered most in battle were those groups of ”cannon fodder”. As for the warriors from the noble families, as long as they did not die on a battlefield, they would be captured and then treated well so that they could be traded for ransom, especially Knights like Harris.

In fact, she very well knew that Don would rather use his own army than asking for the nobles' help.

In many rank four kingdoms, a platoon was completely composed of peasants and commoners. They had no education to read the documents or understand orders. Not to mention that they never had any professional training like the knights and warriors who started practicing close combat and the mages who started their magical studies at the age of ten?. And unlike the commoners, they had an abundance of resources to cultivate and climb the ladder of cultivation levels from a young age.

Clemo approached Arrora and said softly, ”Lady Adria, are you still don't want to buy mercenaries from the guild?'' Look at them. Which one of them can hold a sword or cast a spell? I'm afraid that they'd at the first sight of the enemy troops. This will disturb the line of defense and have a negative effect, in case we went to war with these. I suggest that we should send these youngsters to Lady Amaryll and let her employ them to other works”

”No, we can turn them into a proper army,” Arrora said, rejecting Clemo's suggestion. She did not like those mercenaries who fought for money and Don and Knight valued loyalty from their soldiers more than their power.

Lord Clemo sighed as he couldn't believe how she was going to turn these commoners into the famous black-armored guards.

”Okay, what do you want me to do, Lady Adria? Are you going to train them in close combat or spell casting?”

”Neither, They should first learn to stand in formation and run” Arrora said and took a look at the hundred youngsters before her again.

”Give them something to eat first and after that, let Nanbu train work them until they turn into more than just peasants with weapons”

”As you wish, Lady Adria”

He was not going to argue with her for ordering him to feed them as he feared that these youngsters would die in malnutrition before even the first day of training.

”Wait, Nanbu? Isn't that the one we bought them from King Noa?”

*************************

The unbelievable stuff Taylor had encountered today were more than those of the past 18 years combined.

He saw the famous white lady of death with his own eyes! She walked past him and even looked at him. He pinched himself to make sure that this isn't a dream?

Three months ago, when he heard that King Garreth and Prince Jowan were killed by the King of Everlight and Emir, he didn't think that it would make much difference in their livelihood.

However, he was proven wrong when the new King brutally punished two of the most powerful nobles in Agoria for their crimes against commoners.

He was there when Lord Clemo came to his village to take Zac, the little boy who was beaten to near-death by Lord Ryan. At first, they had no idea why Lord Clemo was taking little Zac to the castle but what happened afterward shocked his entire village. He saw little Zac who was talking and smiling at them again as he was completely healed. The more he and the villagers heard what happened in the castle from Zac's mother, the more they became shocked. And even to this day, there was a portrait of King Don hanging on her wall, and praying for him during their festivities.

And in a few days, everywhere Taylor went, he would hear the name King Don and see the parents of the kids who were healed by him would buy his portrait from the traveling merchants and hang them in their homes. His neighbor even tattooed the name King Don on his chest because his nephew was one of the kids who King Don healed.