Chapter 40: Preparation

Facing the young men whose blood had been roused, Dean did not wait any longer and shouted directly—

“Theron!”

“Yes, Regiment Commander!”

After the young Militia Captain answered loudly, he stood out directly.

“You lead your squad and go to the outpost where I was stationed before to set up defenses—that is the place closest to the bandits and the Tier Territory. If they want to retreat into the Snowplains Dense Forest, that is the only way! Remember, your task is only to set up defenses. After finding traces, report immediately!”

“Yes, Regiment Commander!”

After the young Militia Captain saluted rather unprofessionally, at Dean’s signal, he first stepped aside. Then, Dean’s gaze turned to Ike, and he said: “Although those swords and blades were maintained before, they still fall short for real combat; moreover, you are good at bows and arrows, right?”

The young men, including the two Militia Captains, all nodded subconsciously.

Ike, who had been stared at by Dean, said with some embarrassment: “But there are no bows and arrows in our warehouse?”

“There are none there, but there are in Tier Town. As a place where hunters gather, every household in Tier Town should have a hidden bow!”

As these words were spoken, the young men in the hall were all stunned—obviously, they thought of something bad.

Using some excuses to forcefully confiscate Commoners’ items was too common for Nobles. Although Baron Tier had not done it, the surrounding Barons often did such things, so the young people living in the Tier Territory had naturally heard of it.

Moreover, what was being confiscated this time were bows and arrows—for a hunter’s family, bows and arrows were the foundation of survival, and everyone knew this clearly.

Unless it was the very last moment, no hunter would take out their bow and arrows as collateral.

Suddenly, the atmosphere in the entire hall stagnated, as if it were about to freeze.

However, Dean would not give these newly gathered young men a chance to let their imaginations run wild. He directly took out a money bag and threw it to the thin Militia Captain: “There are twenty Gold Pultons inside. Fifteen of them are enough for you to buy a batch of bows and arrows for everyone! The remaining five are for you to buy a large amount of food. After leaving the Military Camp, that outpost doesn’t have more food!”

The young men, who originally thought Dean had some bad intentions, now lowered their heads in shame one after another. The thin Militia Captain blushed all over his face, while the other Militia Captain looked at Dean with excitement—obviously, he did not expect that Dean would specifically think about their food.

In fact, in Theron’s heart, for this defense mission, if they could bring the leftover food from this celebration banquet as dry rations, it would be the best thing.

However, he naturally knew this was a luxury. The greatest possibility was the dry, hard rye, buckwheat, and some dried wild vegetables mixed together in the Military Camp kitchen—in fact, most of the time in the Military Camp, they ate this; even if heated over a fire, it was like gnawing on a dry clod of earth.

As for buying new food?

Such a thing was no longer just a luxury; Theron didn’t even dare to think about it.

But the thing he didn’t even dare to think about had just come true like this.

Watching the young man sitting there continuing to assign tasks to the rest, Theron had an inexplicable feeling for the first time—he really hoped that My Lord Dean could always sit here and be our Regiment Commander.

Undoubtedly, this feeling was definitely not Theron’s alone; those young men going to garrison all looked at Dean with such excitement.

As for the former Regiment Commander Potts?

Naturally, it would be best if he never came back.

Dean did not know the inner thoughts of the young men, but looking at their expressions, Dean could guess a thing or two.

And this was exactly what he needed—it was impossible to make these young men submit completely all at once, no matter how simple or honest these people were.

Apart from the accumulation of time, it naturally required experiencing such displays of authority and kindness again and again.

Of course, for these honest young men in front of him, ‘kindness’ was undoubtedly more important—the hunters’ Longbows, although also called Longbows, were different from the Longbows provided by Longlang, but were a simplified version. After all, the hunters’ Longbows were all made by themselves.

Although they were considered quite good, it was impossible to reach the level of a real bowyer. Apart from materials, it was mostly about craftsmanship.

Therefore, the value of the hunters’ ‘Longbows’ was several times lower than those of real bowyers.

Generally speaking, a Longbow made of high-quality materials but by an unknown bowyer would cost at most six or seven Silver Horns.

And usually, the price of a Longbow made by an unknown bowyer was two or three times that of a ‘Longbow’ made by a hunter, or even higher.

Therefore, fifteen Gold Pultons, a full one hundred and fifty Silver Horns, was more than enough to buy about thirty ‘Longbows’ made by hunters, even exceeding the cost by more than half.

“Regiment… Regiment Commander, this is really too much. For buying bows and arrows, half is about enough!”

The thin Militia Captain held the money bag in his hand as if it were extremely hot, handed it in front of Dean, and stammered to Dean.

“Then you choose Longbows of sufficient value for me, and enough arrows. Remember, these are the weapons you will use yourselves, and there must be no carelessness, because this concerns your lives—now, Captain Ike, I order you to lead enough men to buy bows and arrows. Can you complete this?”

Dean did not take the money bag at all. He looked at the thin Militia Captain in front of him and said very solemnly.

“Yes!”

The thin Militia Captain answered loudly, then, under Dean’s gaze, selected six companions, turned around, and walked out of the Military Camp.

“Theron!”

Dean shouted.

“Yes!”

The remaining Militia Captain immediately answered loudly.

“Before Ike returns, you lead your men to start resting, and switch the guards to Auxiliary Soldiers!”

Dean instructed.

“Yes, Regiment Commander!”

The Militia Captain saluted once more, then turned and left.

Compared to before, this salute was undoubtedly a bit more standard.

…

When the Setting Sun in the evening stained the accumulated snow on both sides of the path in front of the Military Camp with a layer of red, Ike returned to the Military Camp with his six companions.

Not only did he smoothly bring back enough Longbows and arrows for thirty people, but there was also a considerable amount of food, so much so that the six strong young men collapsed on the floor of the hall as soon as they returned to the Military Camp, panting and needing others to help them take off their loads.

Theron was the first to run over, took out one of the Longbows and several arrows, and handed them to Dean.

Holding the Longbow and arrows handed to him by his subordinate, Dean could confirm that these were definitely excellent Longbows and arrows from hunters. Although they were not made of pure steel like arrows and bow fetuses, they were made of tough and high-quality birch—and this was definitely not a simple matter. At least from the initial selection of materials to oil immersion, and then to drying, it took nearly a year. Coupled with the subsequent maintenance of bowstrings and Longbows, the time and effort spent would be even greater.

Undoubtedly, that thin Militia Captain had done this matter very carefully.

Not only did the Gold Pultons he spent get their value’s worth, but they even exceeded it—and the exceeded part was naturally the result of Ike and others’ own efforts.

After all, there were things money could not buy.

Just like the birch bow in his hand, it was definitely a weapon and survival tool that every hunter cherished. Without some connection, spending more Gold Pultons would just be a waste of effort—do not underestimate the stubborn temper of mountain people, and the people of the Tier Territory, as representatives of mountain people, were even more so.

“Ike, well done!”

Dean said, while taking out three Gold Pultons and placing them in the hand of the thin Militia Captain—facing subordinates with merits, Dean would never be stingy with rewards. Moreover, the Longbows in his hand were worth such a price difference to make up for it, Dean confirmed again after checking.

Moreover, asking his subordinates to ‘make up’ the price difference for him was not something Dean could do with peace of mind.

“Regiment… Regiment Commander, this, this…”

The Militia Captain, who was paralyzed on the floor, immediately jumped up, looking at the Gold Pultons in his hand helplessly.

“One of them is a reward for you and the six people who completed this task. As for how to distribute it, that is up to you!” Dean said, sat back in his seat, and then pointed to his eyes and said: “The rest is the price difference for these Longbows—I don’t want others to mistakenly think that I did this for some selfishness!”

“Everyone gave voluntarily, and the Gold Pultons you gave before were already enough…”

The thin Militia Captain tried hard to explain.

“We all know these things, but what about others? Especially some of my enemies, they definitely wouldn’t mind throwing dirt on me, making it a stain on my life!”

Dean directly drew closer the relationship between both sides, and spoke with implied meaning—integrating oneself into a group, establishing mutual interests, and presenting an imaginary enemy who wanted to compete for these interests would undoubtedly bring each other closer together.

Although using such methods against some simple young men was not very good, Dean had to use some methods to gather this team around him in a short time.

“Theron, now choose suitable bows and arrows and enough food, then take your Long Spears and start heading to the outpost to station—I need to know the news there every other day. You can take two horses for sending messages! Remember, I only need defense and surveillance, not fighting!”

Dean instructed once again.

“Yes, Regiment Commander!”

Theron answered loudly, leading his team to start preparations. Meanwhile, Ike and others on the side also began to help their companions and friends prepare, and from time to time offered some words of blessing—just like new recruits going to the Battlefield for the first time, even though their task seemed very simple.

And Dean, sitting in the chair, slowly moved his line of sight. When he saw the clouds in the sky outside the door dyed red by the Setting Sun, like Blood, he could not help but silently think: “A battle like blood… will last for a long time!”