Chapter 197: The Busyness Before the Eve

Three days after Dean returned to the Knight Order’s station, the entire Knight Order became busy once again—

To welcome the Midwinter Festival, which was only two weeks away!

Although the Midwinter Festival was just the last day of December, in reality, to welcome the arrival of this day, most Lords would start preparing two to three weeks in advance.

After all, on the day of the Midwinter Festival, Lords from various places needed to form alliances and renew treaties with other Lords and exchange gifts. Moreover, they would hold a ‘Winter Feast’ within their Territory, inviting prestigious people from the Territory to attend. Although the scale of the banquet generally would not exceed a hundred people, this was absolutely not an easy job.

More importantly, for the smooth conduct of the Midwinter Festival, security was naturally the top priority.

Therefore, for Knight Orders everywhere, this time was also the busiest time.

“Regiment Commander, within a thirty-kilometer radius of Tier Town, we can confirm there isn’t a single robber or bandit left!”

The young Captain Theron reported seriously to Dean.

“Mmm, next, it’s the villages!”

Dean nodded and pointed a finger at the map—the Tier Territory was composed of Tier Town and four villages. Tier Town was located right in the center of the Tier Territory, while the four villages were scattered around Tier Town; the nearest one was less than twenty kilometers from Tier Town, and the farthest one was over eighty kilometers away.

“Huck!”

Dean raised his head and called out to his deputy.

“My Lord!”

Huck bowed and saluted—ever since the master-servant relationship was confirmed, Huck’s attitude toward Dean had become increasingly respectful; after all, according to the noble system of Emerald, if Dean possessed a Territory, then Huck would be this Family’s Guard Knight; and for anyone who adhered to the Way of the Knight, this was a tremendous honor.

Naturally, Huck was no exception.

Although Dean did not yet have his own Territory.

“The subsequent extermination task will be led by you, taking Theron and Ike. Especially near the villages close to the Snowplains Dense Forest, those guys like to set up their camps inside the Dense Forest, and their numbers are definitely not small…” Dean reminded, and then instructed: “Bring a Crossbow each. As for Warhorses, the purchases in the last few days are enough for two teams!”

“Yes, My Lord!”

Huck bowed, and then took the two young Captains, Theron and Ike, to prepare and arrange things; ten minutes later, two teams of men left the Knight Order’s station once again.

“Although there is the Skill [Military Organization] as support, without true means of communication, it really is very troublesome…”

Watching his subordinates’ departing figures, Dean could not help but frown.

Although in the shop, Old Anders had already received the information and was personally conducting transactions with the Barbarians, Huck had not found any suitable carrier pigeons from the hunter who raised them; they were all already adults and set in their ways, difficult to train again. To raise a new pair of carrier pigeons would take at least six months, and this was definitely not time Dean could wait for.

“I need one or two Falcons… I cannot get them from the Thieves Guild; it is too dangerous and easily exposed. Moreover, it’s not safe for transmitting information! Is there really no falconer near the Tier Territory?”

Dean crossed one arm over his chest and propped his chin with the other hand, thinking.

The most convenient channel to find Falcons was naturally the various Black Markets controlled by the Thieves Guild.

The Falcons there were sold at clearly marked prices. Although the price was not cheap, for the current Dean, it was not a problem.

However, the habits of the thieves made Dean dare not obtain them from there.

If it was a Falcon that had been ‘tampered with’ and leaked some of his information, then Dean would regret it too late; after all, strictly counting, there was only one person he needed to contact with a Falcon—Long Lang!

And Long Lang was related to that smuggling passage; once it was leaked, what would happen was naturally crystal clear to Dean.

“Mah!”

Dean shouted loudly to the Auxiliary Soldier Captain who was patrolling.

“Regiment Commander, what is it?”

The equally young Auxiliary Soldier Captain immediately ran over—because Theron and Ike’s two teams had left, only five people remained in the entire Knight Order station, and that included him.

Therefore, the guard and patrol tasks suddenly became heavier, and as the Auxiliary Soldier Captain, Mah naturally needed to do it himself at this time.

Basically, four people formed a group, with one person resting, and then they rotated every four hours.

However, these Auxiliary Soldiers did not have any complaints.

After all, when the Ferrchelen Knight Order was still controlled by Potts, they worked like this. Moreover, at that time, they not only didn’t have enough to eat, but also didn’t have enough warm clothes; whereas now, with Ye Qi becoming the Knight Order Regiment Commander, they were well-fed and warmly dressed, and various benefits had undergone a qualitative change, so these simple young men naturally would not have complaints.

Of course, more importantly, compared to their guard and patrol duties, the tasks of Theron and Ike’s two teams were even more arduous.

Every time they returned, they were covered in blood, and quite a few were even injured.

For this kind of task where one could lose one’s life if not careful, compared to their ‘safe’ task, naturally no one would complain.

“Do you know if there are any falconers nearby?”

Dean asked directly.

“Falconers? I think one appeared in Tier Town, but I didn’t remember who it was!”

Mah said with some embarrassment.

“There is? Then that’s easy to handle!”

Dean nodded with a smile—although Mah didn’t remember, someone would always remember. What’s more, if it really came down to it, Dean could still go ask Baron Tier for help.

“Regiment… Regiment Commander!”

Dean, having resolved one matter in his mind, was about to leave, but just as he was about to turn around, Mah suddenly spoke up.

“What is it, Mah?”

Dean turned his head to look at his Auxiliary Soldier Captain.

“I want to join the extermination team!”

After hesitating for a moment, Mah shouted loudly as if he had summoned all his courage.

“Oh, why?”

Dean turned around and looked at his Auxiliary Soldier Captain with interest—in fact, including Mah before him, and that Chad who had the potential of a Divine Archer, they were all objects of Dean’s observation.

“I want to drive away those robbers and bandits!”

A simple answer that fit Mah, a young man of hunter origin.

“And?”

Dean continued to ask.

“It’s very boring here, and… I can’t get more rewards…”

At the end, Mah lowered his head a little shyly.

For Dean, Mah’s words, although not the most satisfactory answer, were definitely a qualified answer. After all, this young man had a goal, possessed a desire to fight, and also had considerable loyalty.

“Wait a bit longer. After the Midwinter Festival, the Knight Order will have changes!”

Dean patted the other’s shoulder and walked toward his room, while Mah, left on the spot, scratched his head in puzzlement, clearly not understanding the meaning of Dean’s words.

However, the next moment, the young man stopped thinking about it and quickly returned to his post to continue his patrol task—although Mah didn’t understand the meaning of Dean’s words, he instinctively knew in his heart that this was a good thing.

Dean, who had returned to his room, opened the character panel—

[XP: 373]

“Raising [Military Organization] from Lv3 to Lv5 cost 120 points, and the experience from the previous two Grand Knights brought my total XP to 453 points. The extermination by Theron and the others in the last two days gained me 40 points…”

Dean silently calculated the XP gains.

Although at first glance, improving [Military Organization] seemed to ‘not pay for itself’ in terms of XP consumption, this was only short-term; in the long run, it was a hugely profitable investment—[Military Organization] from Lv3→Lv5 not only granted Dean 25 morale when commanding soldiers (increasing combat power by 25%), but also allowed him to gain 30% of the XP from every soldier’s kill.

The extra 5% XP bonus was a special option of [Military Organization] at Lv4.

“The increase in the level of [Military Organization] allows me to better support war with war. Moreover, the soldiers I recruit have innate Strength advantages, but in terms of numbers…”

Thinking of the biggest restriction at the moment, Dean could not help but frown.

The Ferrchelen Knight Order, Dean had planned to recruit to full capacity, but it was still only a number of one hundred; if he included his retainers and followers, the number would be around one hundred and fifty—although from ‘Broken Finger’ Jack in the Janel Territory, it should be possible to recruit another hundred or so men, Dean knew very well that those guys were okay for petty thieving, gathering intel, or knocking someone out from behind, but if it came to charging into battle, they would definitely be a mess.

As for the Barbarians?

Even if he borrowed troops, it was impossible for him to command them—the Barbarians had their own Commander. Moreover, on the Battlefield, wanting a group of Barbarians to listen to the command of an Emerald Person, while not an impossible task, was definitely fraught with difficulties.

“Unless…”

Dean almost subconsciously thought of that Northland Beast Tamer, but he quickly shook his head. Let alone that the other party was not one yet, even if they were, they would be the one commanding the Barbarians, which had nothing to do with him. Wanting to rely on this to gain an XP bonus was simply impossible.

In the following ten-plus minutes, Dean still did not think of a better solution.

Finally, he had to give up thinking further and instead continued to move his gaze down the skill bar, under the General section—

[Body Forging Technique (Emerald) Lv1]

Suddenly appeared there.

Almost exactly as Dean had predicted, with attributes far exceeding ordinary people, about a week’s time had allowed the System to recognize this basic Body Forging Technique.

And the [Hazy Shadow Inter-Space Breathing Technique]?

There was still no movement whatsoever.