Episode 111
“…is this how it happens?”
“I will entrust the training to Kai. I will also send instructors from the Logan Mercenary Corps to each castle to lead the training.”
“okay.”
“…Are you really shocked?”
“Oh no. That’s good. I learned a lesson, Dwayne. Haha.”
I burst into laughter at the realization created by reporting the absurd results.
– Human desires sometimes take precedence over everything else.
One truth that Logan came to feel again was clearly engraved in his heart.
* * * The training of the newly selected soldiers was completely left to instructors from the mercenary corps, including Kai.
Although they had already accumulated a lot of know-how, it was difficult to handle the number of trainees that doubled at once.
But their suffering did not end there.
[A vigilante group is organized in all villages of the nine provinces. Applicants will receive a small amount of compensation and will receive only basic military training, mainly crossbow training, from experienced instructors in the evenings.]
“Confucius! How many replacement soldiers are you planning to make?”
“First of all, the goal is 10,000 people.”
Kai couldn’t help but be momentarily dazed.
“10,000?”
“huh.”
“10,000 vigilantes, excluding soldiers?”
“That’s right.”
“why?!”
It was a question I heard often.
“…Are you taking after Dwayne too? Why? Why is it necessary?”
“You say we’re not going to war anymore?!”
“Uh… because we don’t know the future.”
It’s war.
This man is thinking of going to war again.
“10,000 crossbowmen. Yes, that’s good. But right now, we don’t even have enough crossbows. We don’t know how much the magazines that need to be consumed continuously will cost. Are you thinking about all that?”
“that’s interesting.”
“yes?”
“You really sound just like Dwayne. Are you two brothers?”
“….”
Kai felt his strength drain away from Logan’s nonsense.
“Ah. Hmm, just kidding. Don’t worry about that. I have another solution in mind.”
“…You’re saying you’ll do something.”
“Yes. I will appoint senior soldiers as trainers. You can tell me as much as you want.”
“No matter what…”
“It’s not a joke, a war may break out that we have to fight even if we don’t want to. At that time, they could become our lifeline.”
“What kind of situation are you imagining?…”
Kai shook his head as if he was dumbfounded, but Logan didn’t laugh.
It’s still early days of the civil war.
Not only Kai, but most people could not have imagined that the civil war would last for three years or what the three-year civil war would look like in the end.
A war that was fought only with elite soldiers eventually spreads into a war of mercenaries hired with all their wealth, and after spending all their wealth, it escalates into an all-out war that forces the people of the territory to rush in with spears and swords.
That miserable sight was literally no different from hell descending on this world.
Logan was preparing for that time.
And even if hell comes again.
‘10,000 crossbowmen will come from our territory alone.’
Even if the blueprint for the repeating crossbow was released, there was no way other rulers would release it to the general people of the territory.
Logan was sure of that.
‘No matter how urgent the situation is…’
Other lords do not allow ordinary citizens to carry weapons that can kill a knight.
‘Because the kingdom will think that the caste system could be a poison that overturns the foundation of a society with a strong caste system.’
A ridiculous, selfish illusion.
If you let your people live well, there will be no rebellion even if they carry something other than a crossbow.
‘The fundamental idea itself was wrong in the first place.’
By digging into the gaps in that thought, he creates a large army that others cannot even imagine.
That was one of the ways to overturn the civil war that Logan had in mind.
And the first steps toward that end have already been taken.
* * * Ddddddddd.
“This is where I am.”
“There are so many humans.”
“Shh. Watch your mouth. I know what kind of guy the owner here is.”
“Heng, I know something. If you die, you die… Huh? Are you saying that you, a dwarf, would give up even the slightest bit of pride and bow down to humans?”
“Oh, no way. I’d rather die than do that.”
“You’ve lost your pride now that you don’t have one hand? Really?”
bang!
“The dwarves over there won’t be quiet!”
The dwarves who were talking loudly inside the iron cage became quiet with a single tap on the iron cage.
And Tamer, who read the mood, snorted inwardly.
Although he had an iron hook on his left hand instead of his normal hand, their minds were not normal.
‘Are you protecting your pride just by not using respectful language? Why don’t you know that your situation is only getting more miserable?’
Before he lost his hand, he tried to protect his pride in this way.
Only after losing one of his hands and losing his blacksmith skills because of it was he able to let go of his useless pride.
That’s why a dwarf who wasn’t even good at blacksmithing was able to survive until now.
But every time I saw that iron hooked hand, the thought that came to mind was always the same.
‘why. Why did my ancestors stay instead of leaving during the Great Migration….’
Was it because they failed to anticipate the situation of the remaining descendants?
Or was there another reason?
Skepticism about the meaning of one’s own existence and fundamental doubts about the current situation of the species.
The end of self-reflection always leads to this kind of frustrating imagination with no answer.
And eventually.
‘Will I just… die?’
I always ended up with thoughts that I couldn’t carry out.
When Tamer was once again ruminating on despair.
The cart transporting them stopped.
Heeeeeee!
“Whoa whoa. Here it is.”
“Oh, welcome. Here’s the balance.”
“One, two, three… That’s right. Thank you for the good deal.”
“No, we should be thankful. Hey, tell Hamar! The people you mentioned have arrived!”
Tamer’s ears, who had been listening calmly, perked up.
‘Hamar…?’
I definitely said ‘nim’ just now.
The man who traded a large sum of money to buy them gave them an honorific title after a dwarven name.
I’m curious about things I’ve rarely heard of.
The eyes of the other dwarves who were taken out of the bars of the cart and lined up were also shining with curiosity.
“Hey human. Did you say you were Hamar?”
“Oh dwarf. Do you know Hamar?”
“Oh no. That’s not it. Is he… a dwarf?”
“That’s right. You are the best craftsman in our territory.”
The eyes of the ten dwarves who were dragged in by those words lit up at the same time.
‘Dwarves are the best craftsmen in the human territory?’
‘Are you saying you’re not being forced to do this?’
‘Or, even if they were forced to work, their skills would be amazing…’
While they were lost in all kinds of imagination, they were struggling.
“He is an amazing person. The things he creates are changing the territory. So everyone has high expectations for you as well.”
The words of the furry human guiding them made them even more excited.
‘No way, this is a human territory where dwarves are treated well.’
‘If this is the place, we too…’
‘It looks like there are some great dwarves.’
A paradise where you can be treated as a craftsman rather than a machine that produces things.
A similar hope arose in each of the dwarves’ minds.
And at that moment, a voice with a distinctly different accent from that of a human caught their ears.
“Oh… you’ve finally arrived, my compatriots.”
The dwarves, including Tamer, all turned their heads in one direction.
There, a dwarf with a grave appearance, who must have been over middle-aged even in dwarf age, was walking there wearing rough work clothes.
Extremely efficient work clothes with plenty of pockets for carrying various tools for carving and trimming wood and metal.
And the handsome eyes of the owner of the work clothes did not look like a dwarf who had been captured as a slave and forced to work.
‘Really, we too…’
When the dwarves’ eyes lit up as they saw that.
“Welcome, slaves.”
…huh?
“If you just do as you are told, there will be no bloodshed.”
For some reason, my heart felt cold when I saw the smiling eyes of my compatriot.
* * * Hamar’s workshop in McLane Town expanded several times in a matter of days.
Five existing human artisans and their apprentices.
And ten dwarves who had newly arrived in McLane joined the workshop, and in an instant, a population of nearly thirty was living together.
Fortunately, the workshop was already built on the outskirts of town with that in mind, so increasing its size was not difficult.
There it is.
– If you work hard for 20 years, I will give you freedom.
Since he made the same offer he first made to Hamar to the other dwarves, the morale of the newcomers was bound to be high as well.
However, what the new dwarves first heard when they entered Hamar’s workshop was quite different from their expectations.
“From now on, you are no longer craftsmen. You are lines.”
line?
All the dwarves were confused by a word they had never heard before.
But Hamar didn’t care.
“Each person will be assigned one part, so they only work on making that specific part. I call this division of labor.”
“What is that…”
“Work efficiency has been proven, so there are no objections.”
We need to produce close to 20,000 repeating crossbows and magazines for them as soon as possible, including spares.
That was the only thought on Hamar’s mind.
‘The given period is only three months. If I don’t achieve it….’
Burr.
– If successful, long vacation. If you fail… imagine it for yourself.
Thinking of the owner’s face smiling like a devil, I couldn’t relax even a little.
However, his fellow countrymen whom he had not seen in a long time did not easily follow his words.
“Making only the same parts. What does that mean!”
“Is it really necessary for us to do something that anyone can do?”
“There is a craftsman’s pride. Even if you are a master craftsman, you cannot follow such words!”
“Huh…”
Hamar’s hand naturally gained strength.
“So you can’t do it?”
“We can’t do it! It would be better for us to produce finished products one by one, but only parts…” “
That’s right! Give us a chance. We will do our best to create the work…”
“We have to make it in one day. “There are 200 repeating crossbows and three times as many magazines. Even if all the auxiliary work is done by human craftsmen and apprentices, you can make 20 crossbows and 60 magazines by yourself? In one day? Even I can’t do it?”
Twinkling eyes with a hint of madness.
The dwarves who were each trying to raise their voices turned their heads one by one as soon as they met his eyes.
but.
“A craftsman’s pride? Well, if you’re really confident, I’ll give you a chance. Instead, you will have to prepare yourself if you don’t meet the quota.”
The dwarves couldn’t bear to say that they couldn’t do something because Hamar said something that stimulated their pride.
Except for one person.
“I will follow Hamar’s words!
” Hmm?”
Everyone’s eyes turned to the dwarf who raised one hand.
Then, they looked at the iron hook on his left hand instead of a hand and nodded in understanding.
Hamar did the same.
“You said Temar. Yes, it’s hard with those hands…”
“I think the division of labor can maximize work efficiency.”
“Huh?”
“If each person continues to do one task, of course the quality will improve and the speed will also increase. “It’s the same.”
“…That’s right.”
“Is there a need to make something difficult when it can be done easily? I’m not a craftsman, I’m a craftsman.”
Instead of making excuses for his disability, Temar praised the system he had built, and Hamar nodded repeatedly.
Then, one by one, the other dwarves who saw him started to turn to Temar. He started to turn his head away from Le.
‘The dwarf is flattering me.’
‘That guy is not even our kin.’
‘I didn’t lose my hand, I lost my pride. Tsk tsk.’
While most people were thinking similar thoughts, Temar added,
“But in order to recognize the efficiency of the division of labor and do it properly, I think it is necessary to make a finished product properly at least once. Give us a chance to find out its effectiveness.”
“Hmm?”
All the dwarves paid attention to Temar again.
“Wouldn’t the work be more productive if others were fully aware of the differences from the existing work method? “I would like to.”
“So, rather than simply stretching out to build one’s pride, this is also a process of accepting a new way?” “
Yes.”
Hamar looked at Temar with surprising eyes
. Okay. good. First, I’ll give you a week.”
“Thank you.”
“Three days to learn the work process. I will give you 4 days to try making it yourself. Even after that, anyone who says they will work alone must adhere to the standards I mentioned earlier.”
“What happens if you are unable to do it?”
This time, it was Temar who raised the question.
He was probably asking the question on behalf of others who could not bear to ask it.
Hamar had an eye on Temar, who was unusually considerate and friendly for a dwarf.
“…There is no food or sleep until the daily quota is met. And if that continues, it will be ‘returned’.”
Return.
The dwarves all swallowed their saliva at that inhumane choice of words.
Then they looked at Temar with grateful eyes.
Temar quickly became the focal point of the new dwarves.
Hamar too. He nodded happily at the discovery of an unexpected talent.
However, his joy was shattered when Temar came to see him separately after the job description.
“Hamar. As you can see, my hands are like this, so I think I can play the role of a supervisor better than directly working on the line…”
Hamar swallowed his disappointment and answered sharply.
“Me. big. No.”
“I’m sorry. I was presumptuous…”
Seeing Hamar’s expression turn cold in an instant, Temar hurriedly put the words together.
“It’s my role to be the supervisor. Look where you’re going.”
“….”
You bastard….
‘ ‘That’s a big deal.’
The same thought occurred in the minds of both dwarves at the same time.
