Chapter 17
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nTranslator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
nWe were almost done for.
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nKant breathed a sigh of relief, yet his expression remained glum.
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nThat victory had truly been a lucky one. He understood just how incredibly fortunate he had been in that battle.
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nIf luck had not been on his side, he might have ended up having to move away from the oasis.
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nWorse yet, he might have…
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nWithout luck, Kant and the people of Drondheim would have been chased away from the Oasis Lookout by those Jackalans. They would have been forced to drift throughout the brutal desert, spending everything they had before finally escaping back into the Dukedom of Leo. He would have survived in disgrace, forcing him to live the rest of his life hiding his name.
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nThe 500 Jackalans were more than enough to be called a battalion.
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nEven in the Dukedom of Leo, that number would have caught the attention of the lords of the local fiefs.
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nWhile the Jackalans were no doubt still at a primitive stage and had no civilization to speak of, so much so that they were not even able to produce iron tools, their feral and bloodthirsty temperament made them a terrible threat.
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nThey were not all that much better than mere beasts.
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nHowever, it was fortunate that the Jackalans’ feral temperament eclipsed their capacity for reasoning.
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nBeasts that were incapable of sophisticated thoughts would always be beasts.
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nKant shook his head. The look of feeling lucky to have survived was in his eyes.
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nThere were two main reasons his forces were able to crush the Jackalans in the battle. First, they had been able to deal out massive casualties against the enemy in a short time. Second, there had been a bloody massacre the day before. All of that served to shock the lucky escapees to the core.
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nIt was an overwhelming victory in a psychological sense.
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nThe Jackalans, which had been suffering severe psychological trauma, quickly grew fearful. Thus, they retreated and eventually ran away.
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nMore Jackalans from elsewhere ran away with them.
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nThat became the crumbling of the Jackalans’ formations throughout the frontline.
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nBy then, if some of them had been able to organize defenses to prevent the entire army of Jackalans from falling apart and stabilize the restless beasts, it would have been Kant’s forces that fell apart next.
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nLuckily, for Kant, that did not happen.
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nThe Jackalans had no military organization. As such, they had no concept of barrier troops and reserves.
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nThe scale of victory in that battle eventually tipped in Kant’s favor.
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nThat was why Kant felt lucky.
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nThat was also why he thought the battle was won because of luck.
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nNot only was Kant’s forces severely outnumbered, but they were also lacking in more ways than one. His Swadian forces consisted only of entry-level units, which were actually low-quality troops.
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nFew of them could guarantee their fighting prowess.
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nFor instance, the 10 Swadian Militia and 20 Swadian Recruits, who all wore leather armor and were armed with standard military equipment, as well as had been painstakingly trained and mastered killing techniques in the battlefield, would have served as effective combatants.
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nThe fighting prowess of those people was practically guaranteed.
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nHowever, there had only been 30 infantry units in his line of defense.
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nThe majority of his forces, the main combatants of his formation, consisted of the 50 Swadian Peasants. They were skilled at farming and most other menial labor. Some of them were even capable of working in workshops.
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nHowever, they wore no armor and had poor combat experience. They were not very capable of using that long scythes that had been modified from farm tools.
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nThey lacked strength and nimbleness when compared to the Jackalans, and they performed poorly in combat. The only advantage they had over the Jackalans was that the long scythes they held were metal weapons. Those advanced weapons were capable of dealing effective damage against the Jackalans, which did not wear armor.
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nThen again, despite being armed with metal weapons, casualties among the Swadian Peasants remained high.
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n“F*ck!”
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nKant slightly gritted his teeth.
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nThe thick stench of blood still lingered around his nose, which made his head ache.
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nHe turned around to carefully scan the battlefield.
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nThe place was littered with dead bodies. Most of them were Jackalans.
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nTheir blood-stained grey fur and beast-like heads were unmistakable. Although they wore ragged linen clothing, they still did not resemble humans. They looked more like beasts.
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nThere were also quite a number of Swadians who wore linen robes and hoods among the bodies.
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nIt was apparent that those peasants gave their lives in the intense battle to defend Drondheim.
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n“My Lord, the statistics are out.”
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nThe Desert Bandit walked up to him quickly, wearing a serious expression.
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nThe casualties were apparently heavy.
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n“Speak,” Kant said.
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n“None of the infantry units died. Six suffered light injuries.”
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nThe Desert Bandit hesitated for a bit before saying, “As for the peasants, 36 suffered light injuries…” His tone was shifty and suddenly halted.
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nKant frowned and said, “Go on.”
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nHe knew that the Desert Bandit, who had been tasked with the calculations, was about to tell him how many died.
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nKant was psychologically prepared.
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n“Yes, My Lord.”
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nThe Desert Bandit gulped for a bit before continuing in a severe tone, “As for the peasants, 36 suffered light injuries and 15 are dead.”
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n“Fifteen peasants died?” Kant’s voice was slightly raised.
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nThat somewhat exceeded his expectations.
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nThen again, it was within expectations for a battle.
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n“Huh…”
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nKant clenched his fist and pondered for a bit with his head hung low. He nodded and said, “Give them a proper burial.”
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n“Understood.” The Desert Bandit nodded.
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nThat was the least he could do after such a bloody battle.
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nThey died for the sake of Kant’s fief. As their lord, be it in the game or reality, he was compelled to at least give them a proper burial.
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n“Clean up the battlefield, people.”
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nAfter he was done with the arrangements, Kant turned around and headed back into the council hall. At the same time, he ordered, “I’ll leave you in charge of the rest.”
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n“Rest assured, My Lord.” The Desert Bandit nodded.
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nKant went inside.
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nThe Desert Bandit was a sensible person. Although he was not someone capable of solving a lot of problems for Kant like a Tavern Hero, he had the capacity to shoulder some of Kant’s burden. That was especially so when it came to dealing with simple tasks in this world.
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nAs for Kant, it was time for him to savor the fruits of his victory.
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nSuddenly, the reward from the system came.
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nDing… After a gruesome battle, the enemy was crushed.
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nMain Quest: Annihilate the enemy sneaking in the night is complete.
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nReward Acquired: Hunting Crossbow distributed (available only to Swadian Militia)
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nComment: It was an intense battle. The courage to do or die made the victory praiseworthy.
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nThe completion of the Main Quest brought him his reward.
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nHe laid on the bed, which was on the Council Hall’s second floor. He couldn’t help but frown.
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n“Hunting crossbow distributed? What does that mean?”
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nKant asked the system without making a sound.
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n“The reward permits your Swadian Militia to be equipped with hunting crossbows. From here on out, every troop member who is upgraded will be equipped with a hunting crossbow and quiver of bolts.”
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nThe system quickly answered.
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nHowever, Kant was baffled. “Is this the reward?”
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n“Indeed.” The voice of the system continued without any emotional inflection, “You acquire more than just actual items when you complete quests, which includes armaments for your troop classes.”
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nKant nodded. “Not bad.”
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nThe Swadian Militia was Kant’s only main infantry force. It was best to be able to enhance their combat prowess.
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nHe seemed to have recalled that as well.
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nThe Swadian Militia, a third-level troop class in the game back in his past life, had some of them equipped with hunting crossbows.
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nWhile the hunting crossbows were, per their namesake, crossbows used for hunting, they were still considered ranged weapons in warfare. The ability to shoot enemy troops and weaken them before crossing arms up close and personal was the best method.
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nDing… Your forces have upgradable units.
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nThere was more than one prompt from the system.
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nKant willed the prompts open. It was an important dialog box concerning upgrading his forces.
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nUpgradable Troop Class: Swadian Peasants x 35
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nSpend 10 Denars each to upgrade to Swadian Recruits
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nKant was startled.
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nDid every peasant who fought in that battle become upgradable?
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nWith the 15 dead being taken out of the equation, there were 35 Swadian Peasants among his population. All of them were able to level up to become a first-level troop class. Although Swadian Recruits looked weak, this upgrade almost completely changed the fundamentals.
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nThe peasants, who had once known only farming, were to be turned into trained recruits.
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nA peasant and a recruit were of totally different professions. Becoming a recruit marked the start of a true military career.
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nHowever, that was not all he heard from the system.
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nThe dialog box from the system continued.
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nUpgradable Troop Class: Swadian Recruits x 20
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nSpend 10 Denars each to upgrade to Swadian Militia
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nJust like how it was with the peasants, the Swadian Recruits were able to be promoted to the militia.
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nKant gulped.
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nHe continued scrolling through the system prompts instead of rushing to make any decisions.
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nUpgradable Troop Class: Swadian Militia x 10
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nSpend 20 Denars each to upgrade to Swadian Footmen
/Swadian Skirmishers
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nThat was the true key to the upgrades.
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nThe third-level troop class was the only troop class considered a main armed force in the system.
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nThose classes were two of the three pillars of the Kingdom of Swadia’s military organizations.
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nThe first was Swadian Footmen, which specialized in melee combat.
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nThe second was Swadian Skirmishers, which specialized in ranged combat.
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nThere was no doubt that the Swadian Footmen could continue to be upgraded to either Swadian Man-at-Arms. That eventually led to upgrading them to Swadian Knights. Such was the route of upgrades laid down by the system.
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n“Very good, very good indeed.”
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nKant lightly gulped.
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nEven if he were unable to get to the level of man-at-arms or knights, the current third-level troop classes would suffice.
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nZero-level peasants working with a small number of first- and second-level troop classes enabled him to take on the Jackalans.
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nNow, Kant had acquired a third level of main force units, as well as a huge number of first- and second-level auxiliary troop classes. His forces had significantly grown in terms of fighting prowess. The leap was of different orders of magnitude.
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