"So these men serve you, Sir Ethan?" Asked Virgil
"Indeed. This is Quintis Veranis, He leads a Cohort. That's 480 men." Ethan Explained
"Quintis, This is Magistrate Virgil, he's in charge of Justice here. Beside him is Dinnin, Captain of the guard. And lastly is Frans, He lead a group of bandits who now serve me."
"Greetings. I hope we can get along." Quintis said with a stern face
Suddenly a pair of beautiful women appeared
"Who are these lovely creatures?" Quintis asked while his gaze fell on Ms. B, and he was instantly smitten
"This is Amira, my soon to be bride." Ethan said as he pulled her close
"And this is Brianna. She owns and operates the Blue Moon Inn, the finest establishment in Lorik."
"You mean the only establishment in Lorik, right?" Ms. B said with a brilliant smile
"A pleasure to meet you, Sir Quintis."
"The pleasure is all mine my lady, truly." He said with a bow
'Hmm, what do we have here?' Ethan thought with a sly grin
With introductions done and the hour growing late, everyone said some parting words before heading back
"I will come find you in the morning Quintis. For now, you should get some rest." Ethan said
"As you command." Quintis then saluted and returned to the camp that had been constructed by his men.
After returning home, Amira seemed to have something on her mind as she and Ethan got ready for bed, evident by a smile and a slight sparkle in her eyes
"I think he likes Ms. B." she said while getting under the covers.
"I think you're right." He agreed as he joined her
"By the way, I'm sorry I interrupted your talk with Ms. B to deal with that." Ethan apologized
"It's fine. It was getting late already when we got there. So like you, I'm sure I'll be busy tomorrow. Ms. B will no doubt make sure of that." Amira replied
They talked a little longer before drowsiness finally took hold and both fell asleep
Early the next morning, Ethan and Amira ate a small breakfast before he brought out his armour from the system storage and put it on with her help.
"Are you sure you need to wear all this?" She asked him
"I'm going to a military camp. It would be disrespectful to the men if I showed up in normal clothes." He told her
"Besides, don't you think I look like a hero like this?" Ethan continued as he patted her head softly
"Well you do, but why do you always do that?"
"do what?"
"Pat my head like that?" Amira said while pouting
"That? It's because you're so cute, I just can't help myself." Ethan said with a wry smile
"C-cute? Who wants to be called cute by you?!" Amira blushed and ran off to go see Ms. B
'Adorable.' He thought as he watched her run off before heading towards the First Cohorts camp
When he arrived at the camp, Ethan was greeted by a few soldiers with salutes
"Where is Quintis?" He asked with an overbearing tone
"The Primus Pilus is in the command tent. I believe he is meeting with the other officers." One young soldier reported
"Take me there." Ethan ordered
"As you command!" the soldier replied before leading him to the middle of the fortified camp
The Command tent was quite large, big enough for all of the officers to meet and still have room to spare.
"Commander Quintis, I take it everyone managed to get a good nights rest?" Ethan asked as he entered the tent
"Your Excellence, Forgive me for not coming out to greet you!" Quintis said as he kneeled down
"Forgive us!" echoed the other officers in unison as they also kneeled
"Get up, I have no desire to punish you for something so insignificant." He said sternly
"Now what were you discussing just now?"
"My Lord, we were just going over the scout reports from this morning." Quintis informed
"And?" Ethan pressed
"And it seems that besides this small village and a large forest there is nothing of note in the immediate area. No enemies, no cities. However this is only based on our limited time and range."
"That makes sense. Virgil told me that there is a city to the northeast, but it takes roughly a two days to reach. As for any other villages or towns nearby, I'm sure we'll find some." Ethan told him
"Do you still have scouts away from camp?"
"We do. Some should return by midday, the others will be back by nightfall." Quintis reported
"Good. I would like a summary of any scouting reports sent to my residence every morning from now on." Ethan requested
"Of course. Would you like me to assign some men to guard you as well?" Quintis asked
"I know you said the village is under guard from men loyal to you, but I believe it prudent to have some of our men be with you just in case."
Ethan thought it over. He knew he could trust Dinnin and his men to not cause trouble, but Frans' men were different. They had been bandits in the recent past and therefore were innately more untrustworthy. He couldn't assume that just because he and Frans had made a deal that one or more of his men wouldn't try something.
"As long as it doesn't hinder my movement, I don't mind a few guards." Ethan finally stated
"Understood. I'll have a Contubernium reassigned to you before you leave." Quintis then sent a messenger to find someone.
"In the meantime, is there anything we should be focusing on besides scouting?" He inquired
"Yes. If you hadn't noticed, the defenses of Lorik are lacking. Aside from the towers which I had built, the walls and gates are a joke. For now, Lorik is our only source of stability, so if there is anything we can do to improve it..."
"I understand. It may take a few days but we can begin reinforcing the walls and digging out a ditch to surround the village that will be filled with spikes. It won't be a big enough improvement to hold off a large army, but it should be able improve our odds in case of a smaller attack." Quintis suggested
"Alright, let's go with that then. You have my thanks Quintis." Ethan said with a friendly smile
"By the way, I'm surprised you haven't asked me about 'Her'." He said changing the subject
"Her?" Quintis asked confused
"Ms. Brianna of course. You like her don't you?" Ethan stated plainly
"Well i-uh...yes." He replied bashfully
"You should know that my fiancee thinks of her as a sister, and therefore she is like mine. If you wish to woo her, keep that in mind."
"I understand. You need not worry." Said Quintis
"That's good then. I believe my business here is done for now. I will see you later." Ethan told him
"As you command." Quintis said with a bow.
He then soluted while shouting "Ave, Caesar!"
"Ave, Caesar!" cried the other officers in unison
When Ethan walked outside the tent he found a group of eight soldiers who seemed to be waiting for him
"Ave, Caesar!" Shouted one of the men. He was obviously the leader.
"And you are?" Ethan asked
"Your Excellence, I am the Decanus of this Contubernium, Flavius Maxios. We have been assigned as your guard from this day forth."
Flavius was young, maybe 22. He stood roughly 5'5" with a slender build. His sand coloured hair flowed from under his helmet while his dark brown eyes seemed to radiate with barely contained excitement. There was also a deep cleft in his narrow chin that gave his features a certain flair.
"Very well. I look forward to our time together, Flavius. Now come along, I still have other business to take care of today."
Ethan then left the camp followed by his new personal guard and headed back to Lorik
Once back in the village he took his time walking around the inside of the walls, giving them a thorough inspection before the upcoming work to improve them. Currently the walls, if they could be called that, were essentially just a a bunch of posts roughly 12 feet in height that were roughly lashed together with rope.
After seeing what he needed, Ethan then stopped by the north gate which was guarded by a group of Dinnins' and Frans' men, Exactly two each. While he seemed to just be having some casual conversation with them, in reality he was looking over their armour and weapons
Dinnins men wore basic looking leather armour with iron helmets that reminded Ethan of overturned sauce plates. The weapons were at least made well, albeit out of iron. He wasn't sure if their gear was standard issue or if they were especially poorly equipped since this area was so far from the capital.
As for Frans' men, they were even worse off. No helmets or shields, and just a thick, woven cotton chest piece. It wouldn't be able to block a sword, let alone an arrow. The weapons were embarrassingly bad, rusted and cracked, Ethan wouldn't doubt if they broke during combat at the first strike.
'Right then. I'll see what I can do for them." He thought to himself
Ethan then made his way to see the village blacksmith Markus
"Wait outside for me." He ordered Flavius
"As you command." He replied before taking up a guard formation with his men
Inside the smithy, Markus was hammering away at his current project, a scythe for field work. When he noticed the room light up more, he looked towards the door and saw Ethan enter
"My Lord, What brings you here?" He asked politely
"I need your help with something. If I may ask, Are you capable of making weapons and armour?"
"While most of my work is making and maintaining farm tools, I am capable of making daggers and swords. However armour is a different story. You need to be skilled in leather working for that." Markus explained
"What about metal? Couldn't you make armour out of that instead?" Ethan asked
"I've never heard of something like that. Besides helmets, all armours are made from either leather or thick cloth. Yours is the only i've seen that wasn't."
Hearing that, Ethan removed the Lorica Hamata still in his storage and Handed it to Markus
"If you have this, can you replicate it? If you think you can, I'll pay you whatever you need to get the job done." He said
Markus took the thin mail armour with trembling hands, gazing at it with sharp eyes filled with determination
"I can do it! No, I must do it!" he shouted with the heart of a craftsman
"Good. then I'll return in two days to check your progress." Ethan said with a smile before leaving
"I won't let you down!" he heard from behind.