The Vastness of Magical Destiny-Chapter 130 - One Growing Stronger
Chapter 130: Chapter One: Growing Stronger
Chapter 130 -One: Growing Stronger
The long-delayed winter in the Caucasus had finally arrived, perhaps the busiest and most fulfilling time in Komer’s life. Despite the assistance of Puber, Hesse, Neptune, and the newly joined Reese, Lafayette, and Hozer, the influx of one hundred and fifty thousand people still plunged this yet-to-be-formed lordship institution into chaos.
Fortunately, on the journey, Komer had already fully prepared himself mentally for the various difficulties and troubles that were to come. At this time, Komer couldn’t afford to consider many unresolved issues and immediately simplified the division of labor within his territory’s administration. Reese, possessing both experience and integrity, took over the judicial affairs from Puber. Lafayette took on the management of immigrant settlement, reclaiming wasteland, and housing, while Neptune was formally appointed as the assistant to the Administrative Officer for civil affairs, responsible for miscellaneous tasks other than finance, especially the population statistics of villages and fairs, plus the selection and appointment of village-level officials based on geographic boundaries. For a young man like Neptune, this was a highly challenging and tempting task—equivalent to being half a territorial official. Komer’s evident trust in Neptune solidified Hesse’s resolve to tirelessly campaign and advocate for Komer.
Fran and Ilot took charge of the work of setting up the Lord’s Guard. Before the immigrants arrived, Komer, who had already returned to Ugru ahead of time, disregarded the objections of Ilot and Baoling and decided to expand the Lord’s Guard once again. He grew the newly established guard from one hundred eighty to five hundred members. Such a large-scale increase in military force was undoubtedly a shock for a remote territory like Caucasus, and even Hesse and Puber didn’t understand why Komer was so eager to expand his martial power. To them, there seemed to be no external threat to the Caucasus at the time, and there was no need to spend such a huge sum of money to build a massive armed force.
However, no one could change Komer’s decision, and Komer did not explain to anyone why he was massively building up the Lord’s Guard. Only Ilot vaguely felt that Komer’s actions were probably related to their conversation one night. Ilot’s opposition was not because he found the expansion of military power inappropriate, but because the second batch of one hundred and eighty recruits had just been brought in, not even having completed basic formation training. Bringing in several hundred more people in such a rush meant the troops would essentially lack combat effectiveness. To truly become an army fit for battle, they would need at least a year and a half of rigorous training.
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Komer’s demand from Ilot and Baoling was quite simple, however—to train these five hundred, mainly Half-beast soldiers, of the Lord’s Guard to seem intimidating on the surface was sufficient for the short term. As for their true combat effectiveness, Komer was well aware that it couldn’t be improved quickly. Ilot and Baoling could not understand this view. An army is not a ceremonial guard; merely looking fierce is useless. When actual combat arises, enemies will certainly not abandon their attack just because you look formidable. But the Lord’s demand was not excessive either; with five hundred soldiers clad in simple armor and weapons, and after some rudimentary discipline and formation training, they would appear to be somewhat a force to be reckoned with.
Only Komer knew his intentions. With the influx of over a hundred thousand immigrants, tensions were bound to arise between immigrants themselves, and between immigrants and the Indigenous People. To quell these groups from different regions, it was necessary to not only win over some influential people among them but also to demonstrate his own formidable martial power. For those who harbored a fear of the Northern Beastmen, seeing a mighty Half-beastman Armament in their Lord’s hands would be far more intimidating than any sermon.
The large-scale formation of the Lord’s Guard was merely the first step of Komer’s plan. Fran became the captain of the Lord’s Guard, and Baoling served as his deputy, while Ilot did not hold any post within the Guard, only temporarily taking the role of martial arts instructor. Training was not Ilot’s forte, and even he was aware of that. Having Fran and Baoling take on the tedious but necessary training duties, allowing himself the luxury of idleness amidst the busyness, was precisely what Ilot had hoped for.
To equip this batch of Lord’s Guard, primarily composed of Half-Beastmen, Puber had to spend a huge sum of money purchasing military equipment and armor from Bruce. Weapons were relatively easy to secure, but the robust and sturdy physiques of the Half-Beastmen meant that their armor needed to be one size larger than what was available on the market. Puber had no choice but to place custom orders in Ugru and Bruce to ensure the Half-Beastmen could be outfitted with appropriate armor.
Komer’s two-pronged strategy can be considered successful. In addition to using land and stock rights of iron and coal mines to bribe influential gentry among the immigrants from three regions, the formidable Half-beastman armed forces also had a considerable deterrent effect on the human immigrants who arrived one after another. Seeing squadrons of full-armored Half-beast Warriors patrolling from Ugru to Mattdam, the immigrants who had started to fell trees and build houses according to the plan along this line were shocked, yet also felt some reassurance. Being able to command these Half-beast Warriors meant that their Lord was indeed a strong and domineering ruler. Seeing the destruction of their own country, what these immigrants needed most was a peaceful and stable environment to live in, especially those who had fled from the brutal wars treasured this hard-won happiness even more. What they needed now was safety and the right to survive. As for democracy and freedom, those were matters for the future. In the face of life itself, all these could be set aside temporarily.
