It had been almost a week since the absurd night between Locke and Glace. Many things had happened during this period.
Firstly, a group of mercenaries hired by the baron in Bideslane had arrived at the joint camp and officially settled in Locke's camp. This group of professional mercenaries came from all kinds of nationalities. Some were Faustian natives, some were from the southern Ligia Union, some were from Karaman, and some were even from Aomar.
The leader of the mercenaries was a middle-aged man with a thick beard. His thick brown beard showed that the leader of this group of mercenaries was very experienced. He was also a low-rank Knecht. Locke's intuition was very sharp. He felt that he was no match for this bearded man.
However, as the vice-jarl of the Faustian cavalry platoon, Locke's status was much higher than this bearded man's. To put it nicely, these mercenaries were mercenaries. To put it bluntly, the baron had bought their lives with money. Whenever the baron asked them to, they had to do it, even if they might die.
But then again, this group of arrogant mercenaries was also fearless. To them, death might just be a small wound on their bodies, even though the wound was on their hearts.
Another thing was that the new recruits that the baron had recruited in the territory had arrived a few days ago. There was a new platoon of 72 young soldiers. Most of them were between 15 and 17 years old, younger than Locke.
It was worth noting that one of them was Hans' younger brother. There were three brothers in Hans' family. Hans was the second oldest. He had an older brother who had just gotten married, and a younger brother who was three years younger than him. The one who was summoned by the baron this time was his younger brother.
In fact, if a family like Hans' already had a male member in the army, the baron would not force them to send another member to join the army. However, there were really no more young adults in Cardoj's territory now. Just by looking at the age of this group of recruits, one could tell that these soldiers had been painstakingly gathered by the territory.
Of course, the reason why Hans' younger brother was recruited was not only because of the baron's order and generous pension, but also because of the news that Hans had been appointed as an acting platoon jarl a month ago.
With a brother who was a platoon jarl to look after him, it was certainly better than being a farmer in the fields. This was what Hans' younger brother thought. Although there were rumors that nearly half of Cardoj's battalion had been killed or injured a month ago, many families had been broken because of it.
From this perspective, it could be seen that Hans' younger brother was also ambitious. He dared to join the army when there was such a high casualty rate.
"Brother Locke!" Hans' younger brother was always smiling brightly when he saw Locke in the camp. His name was Hank.
"Sister Leah and Aunt Tia were very relieved when they heard that you were fine!" Hank said with a smile.
Locke had just found out about this not long ago. During his days in the Bering Mountains, the news of his' death 'didn't reach Cardoj's domain. Instead, it was intercepted by Hans and Kane. The two of them even sent their pay back to Locke's family to show that he was still alive.
A month ago, nearly half of Cardoj's battalion was killed or injured. It might not be a big deal in Falcon, but it caused an uproar in Cardoj's domain. It might not be a big deal in Falcon, but it caused a huge uproar in Cardoj's territory.
Locke sighed. Fortunately, Hans and Kane had helped him. Otherwise, he couldn't imagine how his parents and sister would be devastated if they knew that he had died in battle. Unlike Hans' family, which had many sons, Locke was the only child in the family.
"Is that so? You have to work hard too!" Locke patted Hank's shoulder. The young man was three years younger than Locke, but he was about the same height. He was just too skinny, like a stick. It was hard to imagine that he was the younger brother of Hans, who was as strong as a bull.
"Yes!" Hank grinned widely and said with a smile.
Unlike Hans, who was a taciturn person, Hank was an easygoing person, which was very similar to Kane. In addition to the difference in physique between the two, the veterans in the camp often joked that Hank was more like Kane's younger brother.
Kane also took good care of his brother's younger brother. Because of Hank's physique, Kane planned to train him into a scout like himself. Kane, who grew up alone, took out all his trump cards and taught them to Hank. It had been almost a week, and Kane was already indifferent about not being promoted to first-class soldier.
Among the three of them, Kane was the most hopeless, but he was also the most open-minded and indifferent about his future. Kane, who was an orphan and a beggar, was easily satisfied with his future.
"As long as I live comfortably!" That was what Kane said.
That morning, Locke completed his routine training. First, he walked around the cavalry camp. After all, he was the vice-jarl of the cavalry platoon, so he needed to get familiar with his men.
After that, he went straight to Hans and Yoshk. The few of them always went to the baron's tent for lunch together.
When he went to look for Hans, he happened to see Kane training Hank. Hans and the others were watching the two people training in the camp with their arms crossed. Kane was teaching Hank the essentials of crawling forward. As a scout, it was the most basic and important skill.
They could only watch Hank eat mouthful after mouthful of yellow soil with a bitter face, and they couldn't help but laugh. There wasn't much fun in the camp now, so watching others suffer was a good way to pass the time.
When Yoshk and Karl saw Locke, they smiled and said, "You're here!"
Because of the special nature of cavalry platoon, Locke's current position was one level higher than that of a regular platoon. Moreover, he was a low-rank Knecht, so other platoon jarls had to be respectful when they saw him, but not Yoshk and Karl. They were Locke's elders, and he would never put on airs in front of them.
He nodded and replied kindly, "Yes, Uncle." He respected Yoshk and Karl from the bottom of his heart.
When it was almost time, Locke and the others said goodbye to Kane and Hank, who were still training, and walked to the baron's tent together. Hank, who was being tortured by Kane, raised his head at this moment. His eyes were filled with envy as he looked at Locke, Hans, and the others in the distance and said, "When can I be like my brother? That'd be great!"
"As long as you have the ability, you can also reach that height," Kane replied snappily. His' disciple 'had a good physique and was quick-witted, but he was lazy and always wanted to slack off, so Kane had to keep an eye on him.
"Continue training. If you don't finish crawling three times, you're not allowed to have lunch!" Kane said fiercely to Hank. Although he didn't care whether he was promoted to platoon jarl or not, he still had some regrets. Hank had inadvertently exposed his scars, so he was sorry. Kane would make him train two more times.
"Ah?!" Hank, who was practicing crawling on the ground, let out a scream. The other soldiers in the distance heard it and shuddered.
While Hank was still struggling on the training ground, Locke, Hans, Yoshk and the others had already arrived at the baron's tent.
The four of them sat together tacitly. The seat at the head of the table was, of course, Cardoj. The seat on the right belonged to Wyr, and the seat on the left belonged to Solon, even though it had been empty recently. Below them were Mond and Locke's seats, followed by the other platoon jarls.
Locke sat next to Wyr. As he was Wyr's deputy, it was normal for him to sit here. Next to Locke were Yoshk, Karl, and Hans.
Not long after, a few people entered the tent one after another. First, it was Squadron Leader Mond who walked into the tent with a smile, followed by his deputy squadron leader. Then, it was the squadron leader of Hans' squadron, Third Squadron. This guy sat close to Hans. It looked like Hans was the squadron leader, and he was Hans' deputy.
The last to come in were the bearded mercenary platoon and a pale-skinned, gloomy young man. Both of them were in charge of the mercenary platoon. Perhaps because they came from a mixed group of mercenaries, they were more undisciplined and were the last to come.
But also because they were mercenaries, credibility was very important. Although they came late, they were never late. They entered on time and no one could say anything about them.
As soon as the bearded man and the gloomy young man entered the tent, Cardoj and Wyr walked in together. Cardoj and Wyr were probably discussing something with Wyr. They walked to the entrance of the tent and were still talking about something.
There was still more than a week before the arrival of the new year. At most, Locke would have been in the army for five years. Looking back on his experiences in the past five years, it was an unforgettable memory for Locke.
Recently, the baron had given very few orders. Most of them were training soldiers. There were more than 70,000 soldiers in the joint camp. Coupled with the new recruits from Faustian, the actual number was almost 80,000. This large military camp was full of vigor and vitality. Every day, the sound of soldiers training could be heard.
Locke had once taken the time to go to the other side of the joint camp and secretly took a look at Audis, which was surrounded by them. The simple and majestic city tower, the tall and steep walls, and the countless defensive equipment set up on the walls gave Locke a great shock.
This was the first time Locke had seen a large city with a resident population of more than 100,000. As the capital of the kingdom, Audis gave Locke the first impression that it was magnificent. Were they going to attack a city like this soon? Locke looked at the pruned city walls and the tense atmosphere in Audis. He actually felt a faint excitement in his heart.