Chapter 87: Establishing a base (2)
The station was a distinctive spring.
Wind blew over the camp.
Flock!
The high flag fluttered with strength.
Amaranth troop was marching below the flag.
And the one leading at the front was Roan.
His armor was really wore down because of the continuous subjugations and battles that happened during the past 5 days.
But the eyes shining below the helmet was clearer and deeper than before.
“You have done well!”
“Hurray Amaranth troop!”
As they entered the camp, the troop members that were standing guard shouted cheers.
The more was as high as if it would poke the sky.
“Troop commander.”
The centurion(hundred man commander) Semi, that was guarding the camp while the troop was away, approached.
‘Huh?’
Roan opened his eyes roundly.
Because he saw a familiar face behind Semi.
‘Barone Hape?’
A middle aged man with neat and tidy clothes.
He was a retainer of the Lancephil family, Jerom Hape.
Because he came once per two weeks to provide them with food and provisions, he was familiar with Roan.
Semil said in a low voice.
“Barone Hape has come. But it’s not because of the supplies.”
A little excited voice.
Roan slowly nodded and bowed towards Jerom.
“Barone Hape.”
Light greetings.
“Troop commander Roan. You came just now.”
Jerom smiled brightly and grabbed Roan’s hands.
Greetings came and went for a short while.
“Troop commander Roan.”
Jerom’s voice became lower.
A faint smile.
“Receive this.”
He took out an envelope from his chest.
A high class paper.
Roan carefully teared the envelope and took out the letter inside of it.
“Ah…….”
A low exclamation flowed out.
His eyes stopped in one sentence.
The letter he had waited for 5 months.
It was a letter that informed him of his remission.
‘It seems like the situation finally concluded.’
Roan heard the situation in the capital of Mill through the staff of Chris’s agency.
‘As Benjamin died in prison, the final judgement got suspended.’
No, it wasn’t merely a suspension.
But rather, the situation took a great turn.
The atmosphere of having to reevaluate Roan’s merits and remit him from his exile turned to a situation of inquiring the conspiracy theory of Benjamin’s death.
Even when Io paid attention to laying down the final judgement, the nobles showed more interest in other stories.
In the end, it took five months until he received the judgement of remission.
Roan breathed out longly.
‘Anyways, the results are better than what I thought.’
In Roan’s situation, there was nothing bad.
ALthough he still was a sinner, compared to the exile situation, he became a lot more free.
‘Is it the real start.’
His mouth slightly rose.
He bowed towards Jerom for now.
“Real thanks.”
“Hahaha. What did I do? Thanks anyways.”
“I will cleanly subjugate the monsters in the region of Tale.”
Roan said as if he was determined and then looked towards Semi.
The troop members had already gathered behind him.
Roan looked at the members with a nervous expression and put a faint smile.
Because he thought of another thing that was written in the letter.
“Count Lancephil has forgiven the sins of all those soldiers that received the punishment by him.”
“Re, really?”
Semi and the ex Sollum troop put surprised expressions and asked back.
Roan smiled faintly and nodded.
“Right. You aren’t sinners anymore.”
“Ah……”
Semi and the others let out low exclamations.
Originally, they were soldiers that belonged to a troop in the Lancephil territory but got punished because they made small and big mistakes.
Originally, there were even sinners that got exiled from other places but the ones that didn’t belong to the camp had already died.
“Ah! Only now do I feel my chest cleared up!”
“Damn! Am I also a common resident now?”
“Kuk! It feels good!”
Cheers poured up from everywhere.
Roan looked at that for a moment and then cleared his throat.
“Hm!”
The troop members shut their mouths like a lie.
However, they couldn’t hide their happiness.
Roan smiled faintly and continued saying.
“The soldiers that want to can return to Pavor castle.”
As soon as he finished saying that.
“Troop commander!”
“What do you mean?”
The expressions of Semi and Sollum’s troop members stiffened.
And the happy look also disappeared.
They shook their heads with an angry expression.
“Return to Pavor castle?”
“Dont’ say such things.”
Their voices became bigger every time.
Semi took in a deep breath.
“Troop commander. We……”
He continued saying after he looked at the soldiers at his back once.
“Are of Amaranth troop.”
Everyone’s expressions turned red.
The soldiers yelled with all their strength.
“We aren’t going anywhere!”
“We will remain here!”
Composed voices and expressions.
But of course, there were some that stepped back and wanted to return to Pavor castle.
But they were the minority.
‘If we return, we will get treated as returnees anyways.’
‘Patrolling the castle is tediouis and boring.’
‘Tch! I don’t want to return to where those helpless bastards are.’
In the first place, the members of Sollum troop didn’t have normal temperaments.
Because of that, they could keep guarding Tale region even after they got punished.
If they were normal people, they would have thrown down everything and become farmers.
“Mmm.”
Roan put a satisfied look at the ex Sollum troop.
He got surprised at the reactions that weren’t expected.
It has only been 5 months since Sollum troop joined them.
Roan thought that they would choose the safe Pavor castle instead of one of the most dangerous places, the region of Tale.
But most of them chose to remain here.
It felt like Roan’s actions until now were proved to be correct.
A feelign that the spirit of the members were poured in his entire body.
He smiled brightly and nodded.
“I’m glad. I also didn’t want to lose outstanding soldiers.”
What Roan wanted to see was right this.
Pressing down with strength and make them submit through rank, power and honor was an easy thing.
However Roan didn’t want to increase his force through that method.
‘I’m gaining their hearts.’
He wanted to make the contents and not the shell to be at his side.
‘At least I made the feelings of Amaranth troop to be mine.’
He felt moved.
The wind blew past him.
‘Then, shall I start earnestly?’
He received the commision and the troop members also became one.
Only work remained now.
‘The first is certainly…….’
Many plans were drawn before his eyes.
And Chris’s agency was at the top of that.
‘I have to establish an agency.’
It was now turn to become proper eyes and ears for Amaranth troop.
Roan clenched his fists tightly.
His eyes moved to the north, where Pavor castle was located.
*****
An earnest change started to occur in the region of Tale.
Chris’s agency, the alchemists guild, and the associations of skilled people entered the region.
As it started in a low scale, the migration ended only after one month.
“We are finally together.”
Roan sat facing Roan and tilted his tea cup.
And Chris also smiled while remembering the past.
“There really happened many things.”
Until now, quite many things had happened.
In the first place, he who’s dream was running a travel agency opened his eyes on gathering and analyzing information and roamed the entire kingdom.
He had also roamed the battlefield and even entered enemy territory.
His life had entirely changed after meeting Roan.
‘He’s my top benefactor.’
Then, Roan’s voice was heard.
“I’m thinking of moving more earnestly from now on.”
“Earnestly…..”
“I will leave your travel agency separately for international uses and establish another organization that will gather and analyze information.”
“Ah……”
Chris let out a low exclamation.
Even so, it was something he had pondered about.
He couldn’t keep running the information agency in a size this small.
“I’m planning to call the group agens. What do you think?”
“Agens…….Good.”
Chris smiled faintly and nodded.
Roan kept speaking.
“You be the head of the agens. From now on, you will have to be the ear and eyes for our Amaranth troop.”
“Yes. I will do my best.”
Chris clenched his fists with a resolute expression.
After that, conversations about the operation of the agens continued for a while.
It was decided that the members of the agens would learn basic martial arts and stamina training and get a more organized system.
“The agens will work as an affiliate of Amaranth troop.”
“Yes. I understand.”
Chris took in a deep breath.
Magnificence kept surging up.
Roan saw that and extended his right hand.
“Let’s keep working hard.”
Chris hesitated for a moment and then said with a careful expression.
“Troop commander Roan.”
A kind of serious and solemn expression.
“The agens now formally became an affiliate of Amaranth troop. From now on, please speak comfortably.”
“Ah……”
Roan nodded with a low exclamation.
Because he realized Chris’s intentions.
‘Right. We can’t maintain this relationship forever.’
Chris’s relationship was different with the other members.
As they each started in different situations, they got accustomed to speaking formally to each other.
However, now that the agens became part of Amaranth troop, there was a need to clearly differentiate the ranks.
“Fine. From now on, I will speak comfortably.”
“Yes. That’s the right thing to do.”
Chris smiled brightly and bowed.
In the first place, Chris received Roan’s help when he established his agency.
And after that, most of the inversions were provided by Roan.
Chris’s agency was just like Roan’s.
There was no displeasure or rejection about the ranks of superiority.
‘Rather, I feel more secure now that a branch was formed.’
Roan’s voice was heard.
“Then. Let’s work hard from now on.”
“I will do my best.”
The two people smiled while looking at each other.
Like this, the best information agency in the continent in his past life took its first step.
*****
Tang! Tang! Tang!
Hammering sounds were heard.
A wide plain spread at the south of Amaranth troop’s HQ.
Tens of houses were being made in the place that didn’t have humans in it because of the frequent appearance of the monsters.
“Is there a need to go up to this point?”
Austin had an uneasy expression.
In the other side, there was a faint smile in Roan’s face, that was watching the houses being built.
“Tale region becomes more fertile the more we go to the south. We can’t just let this good soil go to waste.”
“I do know that. But compared to the north, the south has much more monsters appearing in it. Will people move to this dangerous place?”
Austin let out a short sigh.
The smile in Roan’s mouth became even denser.
“We have to make it so they do want to move.”
A composed voice and with strength.
‘I have to move the residents in the north migrate to the south.’
Although Tale region was one of the most dangerous ones and an exile place, it wasn’t that it didn’t have residents at all.
With the permission of the Lancephil family, about 2.000 people were placed to live in a comparatively safe zone located at the north.
It was a measure to provide supplies and for the comfort of the ex Sollum troop, that protected the region and subjugated the monsters.
‘Because there’s a limit with the supplies given my the count’s family.’
The residents of this region gave some of the harvested crops to the troop and made a living like that.
Even in that situation that life wasn’t easy and you didn’t know where monsters may appear, the residents didn’t leave the region of Tale.
‘Because the Lancephil family exempted them from taxes.’
Tang! Tang! Tang!
The sound of hammers became clearer.
The ones building the houses were the carpenters belonging to the artisans associations.
And they were also really uneasy when they first moved over to the region of Tale.
But after they realized that the surroundings were safer than they thought because of the subjugation of Amaranth troop, they got a bit relaxed.
On top of that, they started to build tens of houses according to Roan’s plans and gaining quite the good profits.
Roan looked at the construction and fell in his thoughts.
‘I will build the houses first and make the rent to have no compensation to the ones that decide to move over. On top of that, I’m stationing two companies(hundred men squad) over here.’
The methods to make the residents of the north migrate to the south.
The establishment of houses was one of the main businesses of gold master Sale, in his past life.
Normal commoners made their own houses with their own hands.
But this was a difficult thing and lasted more time than thought.
Because of that, commoners just raised up a wall roughly so it didn’t collapse and covered it with weeds and branches to make a roof so rain didn’t leak in.
A really sloppy shaped house.
If a strong wind blew, the roofs would get blown up and the walls would crumble.
And everytime that happened, they had to repair it or make a new one.
In this situation, gold master Sale made tens of units to build houses and started a business that consisted of lending it instead of a certain rent.
Roan was planning to use Sale’s house business.
‘I will provide them with a house a lot better than what they are living right now.’
It certainly was a condition they would get charmed by.
‘On top of that, if they are farmers, they won’t ignore the fertile ground of the south.’
If only security was assured to some degree, they would come running immediately and start farming.
‘For now, I will have to meet the residents of the north.’
He was planning to meet them and reveal his plans and convince them.
But of course, he didn’t think of forcefully make them move.
“Austin. Keep guard thoroughly and protect the carpenters.”
At those words, Austin that was looking at the situation, made a short salute.
“Sir. Don’t worry about here.”
A reliable look.
Roan bowed slightly and got up his horse.
As he pulled the reins, the horse turned to the north.
“Hiyat!”
As he kicked the horse, it started to ride with strength.
Dudududu.
Horsesteps were heard along a white dust.
Roan sticked his chest to the saddle and took in a deep breath.
Then, he saw black smoke surging up consecutively.
At that moment Roan’s face stiffened.
He knew what the identity of the smoke was.
‘Beacon?’
< Establishing a base (2) > End
Translator : Subak
Proofreader: st8_lupe.