Chapter 63

To speak of it, the battle seventeen days ago had an impact that exceeded Rodi's imagination. He was not surprised by the 4,600 experience points gained from the "Raid on the Orc Camp (Completed)" mission, but was instead greatly astonished by the fact that all the scouts in Nolan Village had leveled up.

After this battle, the fourteen scouts all advanced two levels, from an average of level 3 to an average of level 5, and Lug even reached level 6. At this rate, Rodi realized that if he continued to lead them into battles and provided sufficient military equipment and food, he could indeed train a highly skilled cavalry unit!

In the game, no "player" had ever done such a thing, because NPCs, unlike players, did not pursue "leveling up" by completing missions and killing enemies. Life was precious, and they could not "resurrect" in the graveyard, so no one would risk death every day to fight orcs. Moreover, the experience required for NPCs to level up was about 15% more than that for players, making the cultivation of NPCs a thankless task.

Rodi had previously intended to establish his own force, and he had invested a lot of effort into this foundation. However, to be honest, he had not expected such immediate and significant results from his investment...

A two-level increase, after Rodi's calculations, meant that their current experience requirements were the same as his!

Almost immediately, countless aspirations sprang up in his mind—what would happen if he developed this team into an elite force?

Soderlor could become a "Guardian Knight," Lug could become a "Lance Knight"... the remaining scouts could be assigned to different knight classes based on their strengths, using various skills, auras, and attributes to support each other, forming a small but terrifyingly powerful team...

Transforming a border patrol team, which was at the bottom of the hierarchy, into a formidable knight unit that even a duke might not possess—such a feat seemed unbelievable, but no one knew that Rodi had already begun planning this long-term project on the parchments on his desk.

How to level up, how to change classes, the locations for class changes, the types of missions to undertake, and the required materials were all meticulously organized. While the scouts had no detailed plans for the future, Rodi had already begun planning their growth.

Of course, to achieve this ideal, the prerequisite was to continuously find opportunities to train these scouts and ensure they did not die in battle.

As he thought this, the morning training of the scouts ended, and the patrol team from the grasslands returned safely, reporting that "all was well on the border."

"Gather up, it's time for lunch."

Rodi shouted to Soderlor, and from a distance came a response of "Yes," followed by commands like "All gather" and "Attention."

If it weren't for the scouts' medieval-style leather armor, Rodi would have thought he was in a military camp from his own era.

The thirty scouts were divided into two teams, with Lug and Soderlor as team leaders, and "Commissar" Carter, who was a special member, also participated in the training. Rodi became the commander of the entire team, calling himself an "instructor" since his rank was not recognized by the Lucifer family.

At this moment, looking at these young men who had lined up neatly, counted off, and then sang "Unity is Strength" together, Rodi could almost see a group of future knights who could easily outperform the "Royal Guard."

However, after seeing the thirty-odd people eating a "premium" lunch with large pieces of beef, he sighed inwardly: to achieve those things, he first needed money!

The destroyed orc camp did not yield much loot, except for the scimitars and about forty worgs, which were the only valuable items. Rodi had no intention of keeping them as mounts, as he couldn't afford to feed them or ride them. So, he had most of them slaughtered, selling the worg hides, claws, and bones to subsidize expenses. The remaining worgs were left on the grasslands for the Condon cavalry to "find" and claim as military achievements, providing an explanation for the disappearance of the worg riders.

To date, he had ordered all the scouts to keep the news of the worg riders' annihilation secret, so the entire kingdom was still in the dark about the true reason for their disappearance.

The discipline at the dining table was strict, with all the soldiers focused on eating and no idle chatter. In the game, "food" had little impact on players, but Rodi knew that "daily diet" had a significant effect on NPCs' attributes—so to ensure the soldiers' attributes were not compromised, the food served to the scouts was incredibly abundant and genuine.

In twenty minutes, the tables were spotless, and Rodi clapped his hands to signal that he had something to say:

"Everyone, I'll briefly explain our next plan."

"It's now the end of June, and our training will continue for about a month. I'll tell you what we'll be doing next, so it's best to be mentally prepared."

The soldiers on both sides turned to look, their sun-tanned faces showing the same determination.

"The plan is simple: in mid-August, we'll go to the Orc Kingdom."

When Rodi finished speaking, he could almost hear the sound of several people swallowing hard.

"It sounds scary, but it's much easier than you think. Starting tonight, I'll begin telling you what to do, what you'll encounter, and how to handle it—so... everyone, study hard and remember, I don't want to lose any brave soldiers, and I don't want to let any damn orcs off the hook."

Such words might not have been taken seriously in the past, but the soldiers had already thoroughly accepted the concept of "obeying the commander's orders" during training, and Rodi's demonstrated strength and authority in previous battles meant that no one questioned the feasibility of the plan. Instead, they began to think about how to "study hard" in the evening.

From this, one could see the effects of Rodi's military management and Carter's role as "commissar."

"I can assure you, our actions are not suicidal. We have excellent warhorses, and you are the best soldiers on the entire border! If the worg riders can invade and wreak havoc, why can't we do the same in the Orc Kingdom?"

"It's been nearly seventy years since Emperor Con drove the orcs to the back of the grasslands. Has any other army in the Kalen Kingdom achieved what we have today?"

"Flattening the entire orc vanguard camp and slaughtering thirty-three fully equipped worg riders—ask yourselves, have the nobles achieved any of this? Has Lord Kirk, who hides like a turtle, done anything for the dead villagers of Kri?"

These words, which Rodi had been brewing for a long time, were highly inflammatory. The soldiers, with low cultural literacy and mostly illiterate, were easy to "persuade." After a few words, their expressions became slightly excited, and their blood boiled—

After all, one fact could not be denied: they were the first humans in decades to resist and defeat the orc invasion!

By using the reality of battle to show them that "orcs are not invincible" and planting the seeds of "achieving glory and serving the country" in their hearts, in this era where knights valued honor more than life, these scouts gradually possessed the courage and belief that ordinary people could not match, taking the first step in theory toward becoming the "knight unit" Rodi envisioned.

When announcing such matters, Rodi did not use a consultative tone. After a passionate speech, he let the excited scouts rest in their dormitories and then called Soderlor and Carter to his study—

"Here's the situation, what do you think?"

Only at this moment did Rodi use a consultative tone, as the soldiers could have minor grievances, but the management must be united—Rodi did not want to be held back by uncooperative subordinates while navigating the dangerous Orc Kingdom.

"I fully agree."

As Lug, who had witnessed Rodi's "miracles" and "achievements," had no objections to any of Rodi's decisions, he immediately expressed his support without hesitation.

Soderlor, however, frowned slightly and said softly, "Attacking the Orc Kingdom... this plan is too crazy."

"Because it's crazy, no one will expect it, which is our first guarantee of success." Rodi had long prepared an answer, so he reached out and pulled out a large scroll of parchment, slowly unfolding it.

What was revealed to Soderlor and Lug was a detailed military map that the Kalen Empire had never drawn before. Rodi had drawn this map of the Orc Kingdom from memory and made modifications based on information obtained from the orc Kosa. The final product on the table showed the locations of all the orc tribes in the northeastern part of the Orc Kingdom, even marking the approximate population and military strength.

Soderlor squinted, fully aware of what such a map meant militarily. Reflecting on it, he couldn't help but feel pity for the orcs—these orcs probably still didn't know the exact location of Hollar City, right?

"If you were in charge, where would you choose to attack?"

Like in battle, Rodi always easily maintained the initiative in conversation. Soderlor, who had forgotten his purpose for coming today, immediately began to think about the question, as if a student being questioned by a teacher.

Lug bent down to look, but as a qualified warrior, he was not a command-type talent. Not recognizing most of the words, he shook his head and shrugged, passing the task to Soderlor.

Soderlor, however, clearly had a deep understanding of the matter. After some thought, his finger landed on a spot and traced a path into the Orc Kingdom— "The orc tribes are sparse. From here, we can penetrate deep into the Orc Kingdom and almost freely choose weak tribes to attack without worrying about retaliation... if we move fast enough, we can raid here, here, and here within two days."

Rodi nodded inwardly, amazed by the man's keen observation and judgment, as everything he said aligned with Rodi's original plan: to strike hard at the enemy's soft underbelly when they were unprepared!

What Rodi alone knew was that the Orc Kingdom was in a state of "civil war" for the first three years after the game's launch. Like human noble lords, these tribal barbarians were not as united as imagined and were even more chaotic than the Kalen Kingdom in some ways.

This civil war lasted for three years until the "King of Ten Thousand Axes" Chief Solon unified the Orc Kingdom. Only then did these barbarians begin to harbor ambitions against the human kingdom. Before Solon conquered dozens of tribes, the conflicts on the kingdom's border were mostly due to the greed of small tribes like the "Hammer of Rohar," not the unified actions of the Orc Kingdom.

In this context, Rodi could carry out his plan without being detected, making the orcs think it was a provocation by another tribe. Such a trip would result in enough orc deaths to level up the team and himself several times. Upon return, the team's strength would be significantly enhanced, and he would have enough power to deal with Francis.

Eliminating Francis was the next goal after this trip. Other noble lords might just be "useless teammates," but Francis was directly classified as an "unforgivable enemy"—this "traitor" was someone Rodi had to eliminate.

Soderlor thought for a moment and finally nodded in agreement with Rodi's plan, then asked his final question:

"Attacking is not a problem, but—why choose mid-August? That's..."

"It's the rainy season, and the time of the most rain."

Rodi squinted slightly, pointing to the grassland near the border of the Orc Kingdom, "So I tell you not to worry about the enemy's pursuit, because during the rainy season, we will have a safe retreat."

"Retreat?"

Soderlor and Lug both looked puzzled, as Rodi was pointing to an open grassland.

"Before the rain, this is a grassland. But after the rain, it has a new name..."

Rodi squinted, lightly tapping the parchment, and said the name of a place Soderlor had never heard of—

"Death Swamp."

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