Most of the time during the past year that the garrison was built, the trainees and militia practiced but most of them were half-hearted. They would launch attacks with barely any energy behind them or throw out wild moves that made no sense, even less so than their normal ones.
The instructors were not much better. They would only correct the mistakes of the few who were truly there to train and learn how to wield a weapon. As for the rest, it was as if they were not being paid to truly train everyone who was hired.
Seeing this, filled Nathan with amusement. Amusement by how weak most of the people were and their lack of awareness. But after he had watched for 30 minutes, he saw the top brass arrive as well as all the truly trained soldiers being called in.
He even saw Phil who looked a bit tired and had some mud in his hair. Nathan could tell that they had grabbed him while he was still hunting out in the woods.
Soon after all of them arrived, it seemed like the men and women there were turned into proper military trainees.
'I wonder what's going on. Most of the time these high-rank guys barely leave their homes except to go on official business or brothels, and even when they gather here, they only appear one at a time. For all 3 to appear as well as all the true soldiers, it must mean a big shot had arrived.'
Unknown to Nathan, these men and women who were members of the military had the rank of knight. This was the highest rank one could achieve without magical abilities unless one was truly skilled.
To make him even more sure of his guesses, a few of the militia came up and began to shoo away all of the civilians who had free time or were on break from their jobs. They did not state a reason but this made Nathan all the more curious.
He pretended to run away but used his skills to sneak around the garrison until he arrived in an unsuspecting room on the first floor of the garrison. This room was close enough to the main training area where he could hear everything that was going on and even had a window, but the window was at a weird angle which made looking into it difficult.
This was his favorite place to watch the training but he would rarely go to it in order to decrease the chances of him getting caught. He wanted to use the room only when truly necessary like on a very hot day, when the weather was bad, or for occasions such as this.
After another hour, Nathan finally found out the reason why. In rode 20 men and women on horses covered in armor arrived on the east side of the training field. They spread out into a fan shape as if they were protecting something.
Soon after they arrived, a carriage that had the seal of a noble family arrived. This left Nathan surprised.
'For a member of the nobles to come here, this must be something serious. Maybe they are doing an annual check on the quality of the training. The commanders of the garrison might be in for some serious trouble.'
Nathan let out a small, silent chuckle before focusing his eyes and ears on the training grounds. He did not want to miss a thing.
---
The 3 garrison leaders walked over to the carriage and waited patiently for a few minutes for the noble to leave but they made no move to or indication that they would anytime soon.
When one of the garrison leaders tried to get closer, two sharp spear tips were pointed toward them so they had no choice but to back up to where the other garrison leaders
A pair of silver eyes were looking out of the carriage and swept over the men and women who were training. Under that figure's eyes, it was like nothing can be hidden.
The owner of the silver eyes pulled their servant's face close to them before whispering some words into that servant's ears. After they were done speaking, they placed a pillow behind their head and closed their eyes to sleep.
Soon, the garrison leaders, knight entourage, and Nathan (who was in the room next to them) heard a voice come out of the carriage. It was the voice of a young woman most likely in her teens.
"My lady has said that the garrison of this town has failed in its duties. Whether it is from the 27 members who can not even do a proper swing more than 3 times in a row, the fact that most of the members are not even sweating like they should if they had been practicing as intensely as they should since the daily start time, or the lack of instructions from the instructors, both lacking in volume to make sure every order is heard as well as not correcting mistakes as they should.
As punishment, taxes for the entire town shall be increased by 10 percent for the next 3 months and all members of the garrison shall repay half the salary they have earned since they have been working and a decrease in their salary by half for the next year. I will send someone to collect the amount owed in one week's time. Anyone unable to pay back half their salary owned will be forced to take a pay cut of an extra 25% until they have paid back the full amount plus interest.
My lady says that she will send knights to check up on the militia at irregular intervals and hopes to see improvement. If no improvement is shown, permanent tax increases, permanent pay cuts, as well as the restructuring of the garrison, will occur.
That is all. We shall take our leave now."
And without even exiting the carriage, the noble took off and left at the rate she came in with her entourage. She did not even personally explain to the commanders or give them a chance to explain or find an excuse. She even left it to them to explain to their men.
Everyone was dumbstruck by the noble's attitude. But Nathan thought that the woman inside was interesting.
'I truly wonder who that is,' he thought as he snuck out of there and ran home to make sure he got there in time for lunch.