Lilia was very happy.
Today the sun was shining brightly, and the usually cold streets had become much warmer; such good weather was rarely seen in the Season of Waters.
This youthful and radiant girl was wearing a full set of rhinoceros leather armor.
The thick leather wrapped around her exquisite figure in layers, making it both practical and aesthetically pleasing. Even though she was the younger sister of the commander, Nelson, she had never owned such fine leather armor before.
However, what truly brought joy to Lilia was the emblem engraved on the leather armor: a bright moon shining down, with a Nightingale standing on a rose branch and singing loudly.
This emblem was a noble family crest. Lilia did not understand the meaning it contained, but she knew that she was now a family guard of a lord, and everyone else in the mercenary group had also become guards of this family, including even those uncles who had been disabled in battle.
Amidst the envious and jealous gazes of the other mercenaries, Lilia returned to the encampment of the War Bear Mercenary Group.
Before she even entered this temporary encampment converted from a stable, Lilia heard a burst of commotion, playfulness, and cheering coming from inside.
Pushing open the wooden fence, she saw the two big fellows, Gru the One-Eyed and Iron Hammer, wrestling into a ball on the ground, while the nearby War Bear Mercenaries cheered loudly.
"Gru, use more strength! Pin him down, and this full suit of chainmail will be yours!"
"Iron Hammer, didn't you eat enough? If you don't exert some strength, this little darling is going to fall into the One-Eyed's embrace! Haha!"
Lilia gave this group of ruffians an annoyed glare, pushed through the jubilant crowd, and walked straight into the inner room.
"Brother, I'm back," Lilia called out toward Nelson, who had his back to her and was studying a map.
Hearing his younger sister's voice, Nelson turned around and asked with a smile, "Lilia, how did things go?"
"Brother, the food and farming tools have all been procured, and the carriages and livestock will be delivered to the encampment shortly. However, the progress on recruiting domain residents is not ideal."
Hesitating for two seconds, Lilia honestly confessed to Nelson: "Linda and Old John and the others are still recruiting people in the shantytown outside the city. By the time I came back, they had only recruited a few dozen people… I feel that it will be very difficult for us to complete the task assigned by that lord."
Lilia looked somewhat dejected. Naville frowned his thick eyebrows, nodding and saying, "Is that so? Well, take Gru and Iron Hammer and the others over in a bit, have them dress a bit more spiritedly, and bring more black bread; that should get us a few more people." He gently patted his sister's shoulder and added, "I'm going to see the Lord right away to explain the situation to him. I presume the Lord won't blame us."
"Okay, Brother, I'll go right now."
The young girl left happily; she always believed that her brother could solve all problems, but she did not notice the gloom deep in Nelson's eyes.
Looking at the respectful mercenary group commander Nelson, Victor revealed a calm and warm aristocratic smile.
Starting yesterday, Victor began preparing to recruit people. He did not seek help from Count York; that fat pig would only laugh at him loudly and make everyone watch him make a fool of himself. He went directly to the castle quartermaster.
After covertly presenting a purple gold coin, the quartermaster, who had originally been very cold, immediately entertained him with burning enthusiasm. Not only did he sell him a batch of "obsolete" armaments and armor, but he also thoughtfully had people engrave the Wimbledon Family crest on these "obsolete goods".
When Victor expressed the need to recruit some people, the enthusiastic quartermaster even had his trusted aide take Victor to Old Jack Tavern.
After explaining his purpose to Old Hall, the tavern owner eagerly recommended several mercenary groups to Victor. However, in such a mixed bag of a place, Victor had cautiously remained in an Overlimit state. His perception, which was already far superior to ordinary people, became increasingly acute, and the conversation between Nelson and Gru downstairs was all heard by his ears.
Victor was tempted on the spot. Mercenaries were inherently a half-black, half-white, and unevenly mixed armed force of Freemen, and a mercenary group that could uphold mercenary morality was truly rare. He learned from Hall that the War Bear Mercenary Group was originally quite famous in the mercenary world, and had even been employed by the Tudor Kingdom to fight a few hard battles against the formidable Sassan Empire.
However, the War Bear Mercenary Group had a tradition that distinguished it from other mercenary groups: the War Bear never disbanded disabled members, but instead supported and cared for them all along.
This rule made the cohesion of the War Bear far surpass other mercenary groups, which was also the reason why the War Bear was stronger than other mercenary groups. But as time went on, the disabled members of the War Bear grew more and more numerous, and the mercenary group's burden became increasingly heavy. Fortunately, the Tudor Kingdom in the northern Gambis frequently fought battles against the Sassan Empire year-round. The War Bear Mercenary Group risked their lives for the Tudor lords, earning generous bounties that allowed the mercenary group to sustain itself.
However, in recent years, the Sassan Empire had relaxed its offensive against Tudor, and the mercenary group's income immediately decreased significantly. Those disabled members then became a huge burden for the War Bear Mercenary Group.
By the time Nelson took over the position of commander of the War Bear, the War Bear Mercenary Group had long been living beyond its means, unable to even pay out commissions.
Those young members cultivated by the mercenary group were successively poached by competitors. The days of the War Bear grew worse by the day, and Nelson hoped to lead his members to pledge allegiance to a noble lord. Unfortunately, the tradition of the War Bear still caused noble lords to turn them away.
For Victor, a principled mercenary group was more suitable to become his guards than a powerful mercenary group.
In the second-floor room of Old Jack Tavern, Victor met with Commander Nelson. Without any concealment, he frankly introduced his actual situation to Nelson and expressed his willingness to take in the disabled War Bear members.
Nelson agreed without the slightest hesitation, consenting to become Victor's vassal. In fact, he no longer had any room for choice.
Subsequently, Victor gave Nelson a sum of funds and equipment, requesting the War Bear Mercenaries to step forward and purchase supplies as well as recruit domain residents.
Now, the supplies had been bought, but he hadn't expected that the refugees, who should have been the easiest to recruit, had very few respondents.
"My Lord, that is the situation. I estimate that by the time we set off tomorrow, we will only be able to recruit around 150 people at most," Nelson looked at Victor with anxiety.
Without enough domain residents, this would completely strand their pioneering plan.
Victor stood up, walked to the window, gazed at the sparse crowd in the square, and asked with his back to the mercenary commander, "Nelson, what do you think is the reason that we cannot recruit domain residents?"
"My Lord, ever since the three eastern provinces of the kingdom were ceded, a large number of landless farmers have gathered in the Centaur Hills, trying to find a way to survive. By logic, we should easily be able to recruit enough manpower. However, we simply cannot recruit people. I suspect…" Nelson answered hesitatingly.
"What do you suspect?" Victor turned around and asked indifferently.
"My Lord, I suspect that someone intentionally spread among the refugees the matter of your last encounter with the Blood Fox Bandit Group's attack. Those farmers probably think that we cannot protect their safety and would rather starve than risk going with us to pioneer a new territory," Nelson said.
"As expected." Victor nodded and said, "Nelson, continue sending people to recruit. In addition, the disabled members should not go with us to the territory."
"My Lord, this…" Hearing that the disabled members were to be left behind, Nelson instantly grew anxious.
Victor smiled and said, "I will give you another 2,000 gold sols. Take this money to buy a tavern and a grocery store in the town to settle the disabled members. I need them to help me recruit domain residents in the town on one hand, while keeping an eye on the situation in Black Castle Town on the other. But remember, their identities must be concealed… Once people find out they are my people, it could be dangerous."
"Thank you, My Lord! My Lord, please rest assured, although those old companions of mine are disabled, every single one of them is very shrewd. This little matter will definitely not stump them." Nelson immediately patted his chest thumpingly.
"Right, prepare a carriage for me."
"My Lord, where are you going?"
"Rose Manor."