Chapter 336: Chapter 89: A New Day

After the enfeoffment ceremony ended, the Soldiers on site were stunned for a long time.

It was the first time they had ever witnessed the creation of a nobleman, and they knew it wouldn’t be the last.

Robson had just made it perfectly clear: the reason for Ais’s enfeoffment was his contributions in the northern and southern campaigns—Level Twelve Military Merit!

In the past, whether a Soldier had merit was entirely up to the noble lords. Whether that merit was enough to transcend class was also their decision.

In the beginning, during the era of the First Empire, when people had just moved on from city-states, there was a path for advancement. This path, similar to the one Robson was establishing, was also based on military merit.

But as the nobles consolidated their power, this path of promotion was blocked, gradually leading to the rigid aristocratic system of today.

Now, Robson had shown them this path once more.

As long as one had military merit, they could become a noble lord.

Even if Level Twelve Military Merit required killing tens of thousands of goblins, at least there was a path forward now, wasn’t there?

Once everyone had collected themselves, Robson called Gerard to the front of the crowd and handed him a sheet of paper.

"You read this out," Robson said, looking at Gerard.

Gerard glanced at the paper in his hand. It detailed matters concerning the development of the domain, as well as the appointment of its officials.

By arranging things this way, the proclamation would not come directly from Robson’s mouth. This left room for maneuver in the future—after all, what if he wanted to reform the system someday, or what if these methods proved ineffective?

Secondly, Lord Robson was genuinely short on manpower. Gerard’s performance had been quite satisfactory recently, so Robson intended to involve him in the domain’s administration.

Having Gerard announce these new decrees would also raise his prestige within the domain.

Gerard, naturally, understood all this and cast a grateful look toward Robson.

"Next, I invite Mr. Gerard to come forward and announce the subsequent orders," Robson declared.

Gerard stepped forward and cleared his throat with a couple of coughs.

"Everyone, I am honored by the trust our Lord and all my brothers have placed in me.

I will now announce the decrees concerning the development of our domain.

First, as of today, one regiment and the Cavalry Team will be maintained as a Standing Army. The other regiments will retain their organizational structure, farming during the busy season and training in the off-season.

Second, as of today, squad leaders with Level Three Military Merit or higher will be selected to undergo training to serve as government officials. Afterward, they will be assessed, and only the best will be appointed.

Third..."

Gerard’s voice rang out, announcing decrees that had mostly been rumored throughout the army for some time.

The system was based on the military agricultural colonies from Robson’s past life, where the army farmed in times of peace and fought in times of war.

Robson had always believed this was the approach best suited to the conditions of the Frank Kingdom.

It was worth noting that Robson had divided the people in his domain into two groups. The first group was the military. They would be the first to benefit from the military merit system, and the treatment for Soldiers would be significantly better.

However, the performance quotas for Soldiers would also be much higher. These quotas were calculated per ten-man squad, led by a squad leader. Failure to meet the quota would result in punishment. To prevent individuals from slacking, all quotas were based on group performance.

The second group consisted of ordinary civilians. Their compensation was lower, but their organizational structure was similar, with task completion also measured by group.

The only difference was that the Soldiers’ performance was tied to military merit, whereas the civilians’ performance was only tied to their compensation and food rations.

Of course, any system had to be flexible. People were not machines, after all, and every team had its own strengths and weaknesses.

This flexibility was mainly for the civilians. As for the army, Robson had his Mount & Blade system panel, which allowed him to determine which units were suited for heavy labor and which were only capable of light work.

These were all things that had been circulating as rumors in the army; now, they were simply being confirmed.

This was Robson’s usual method: leak some information beforehand to let everyone get accustomed to the idea.

If there were no objections, he would implement it. If there were, he would address them as they came.

Gerard read on, word by word, his delivery becoming more fluid as he found his rhythm.

But when he reached the final sentence, he hesitated and glanced at Robson, who was standing to the side.

Robson simply nodded, signaling for him to continue.

"The Affleck Domain belongs to our Lord! It belongs to me! And it belongs to you! Everyone, this place is about to become our new home!"

...

Last night, in a rare occurrence, Robson had gotten drunk with the army and hadn’t used his aura to sober up.

Early the next morning, he was awakened by several faint, muffled voices.

Robson’s head cleared.

It was Ais. Knight Ace.

"Ais, what’s wrong?" Robson asked, looking at him.

"My Lord, it’s happening again... I don’t know why, but over a hundred men suddenly fell into a coma today!" Ais looked frantic.

Ais had seen this happen before, but last time it was only one or two men. He’d never seen so many fall unconscious at once. For a moment, the entire camp had been thrown into a panic.

Robson understood. The Tier Six Soldiers were advancing. He had mentioned this to Ais before.

But he hadn’t explained it clearly at the time.

"It’s all right. ...Do you remember what happened last night?" Robson asked.

"Last night?"

"When everyone swore their oaths together," Robson said, getting to his feet.

"Perhaps you don’t understand. The way humans become Extraordinary is by having their deeds and loyalty pass a divine trial.

You remember how you felt, don’t you? It’s the same for them." This was the explanation Robson had concocted. ’For my own people, a simple fabrication is enough. Anything that’s difficult to explain can just be attributed to the gods.’

’This was the benefit of having uneducated subordinates. They were easy to fool.’

’And if someone objects later? What, are you going to question the great Lord Robson?’

This was the story for his own men; he certainly couldn’t say the same to the other nobles of the kingdom.

Of course, it didn’t really matter. The lands beyond the frontier had been brought to heel by Robson, and the men under his command were merely pseudo-Extraordinary.

Although their combat strength was comparable to, or even surpassed, that of true Extraordinary individuals, they weren’t the real thing.

To the noble lords, that small amount of aura just made them powerful mortals who couldn’t advance further. At least, those nobles couldn’t comprehend how these men were promoted in the first place.

The ability to create pseudo-Extraordinary individuals on a small scale was not considered a major feat.

When his Tier Seven Soldiers were promoted for the first time, Robson had specifically researched the topic. He found that the Tilia Kingdom had conducted similar research long ago and had succeeded, also creating pseudo-Extraordinary individuals.

However, the Tilia Kingdom hadn’t implemented this technology. Firstly, the cost was exorbitant; the materials required to cultivate a single pseudo-Extraordinary Soldier were enough to train several true Extraordinary ones. Secondly, an ordinary Soldier lacked the combat experience that Robson’s Tier Seven Soldiers possessed. Even with an aura, their combat effectiveness wouldn’t be much higher.

This technology was later developed further. Though originally intended for commoners, it ended up being used on nobles, since not every aristocrat possessed Extraordinary talent.

The current King Louis III and Prince Noah were both beneficiaries of this technology.

’As for what happens later, when people start to catch on and realize something is amiss?’

Lord Robson could only say: ’What’s that? Are you speaking to the Commander-in-Chief of tens of thousands of Extraordinary Soldiers?’

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