Chapter 342: Chapter 94: Affleck’s Subjects

"Get back! Get back!"

CRACK!

Staring at the massive tree as it toppled straight down, Hans gazed at his own hands in disbelief.

"Not bad, kid! The brothers in the Lord’s Guard are really something else, huh!" Captain Wolf walked over, slapping Hans on the back with a grin.

「A day had passed since the awakening.」

News had already begun to spread through the army that some of them had been guided by their Lord and blessed, becoming Extraordinary.

These men were organized into a single unit called the Lord’s Guard—as the name implied, they were the Lord’s own Personal Guard.

To accelerate construction within the domain, Robson had reassigned these men, distributing them among the various squads.

The mission of these Extraordinary Personal Guard was simple: handle all the heavy lifting.

Take the massive tree before them, for instance. It was at least several decades old, yet Hans had felled it and was loading it onto a cart in just a few swift motions.

Hans stared blankly at the fallen tree.

"To be honest, I didn’t know I was this strong."

Feeling the power coursing through him, Hans suddenly recalled the little book that had been distributed throughout the domain yesterday.

"This must all be thanks to our Lord! This is one of His miracles!" Hans declared, a fanatical gleam in his eyes.

Last night, after the Lord’s Guard was reassigned, Lord Robson handed out that book.

Hans had some basic literacy, so after learning the book’s purpose, he had stayed up all night reading it.

Ais becoming a Knight had been an unparalleled shock to the soldiers, especially the members of the Lord’s Guard.

Everyone knew Ais. He’d been a peasant with no noble background, and now he was on the path to greatness.

The soldiers of the Lord’s Guard had learned yesterday that they now possessed the legendary battle aura—a powerful force that not even Ais had ever wielded.

’If Ais can become a noble, why can’t we give it a try?’

That was why everyone was so eager to participate in the adjutant examinations.

The reason Hans credited Robson also came from that book.

While the book never stated it outright, every page, every line, seemed calculated to enhance the magnificent glory of Lord Robson.

Of course, Hans had no concept of subtle propaganda. In his eyes—or rather, in the eyes of any peasant—if something was written in a book, it had to be true.

Otherwise, how could one explain how the Lord led them to victory in every battle? Or why no one had ever heard of peasants becoming Extraordinary before, yet now it was happening?

"That’s right! That must be it!" Hans said, his expression growing more convinced.

Seeing the confused looks on the faces of the men around him, Hans began to recount the stories he had read in the book.

"Oh, right! The part about the Wayne River, that must be from when we held the bridge! I remember that!"

"So that’s how it really happened... It was so dangerous. Thank god our commander was the Lord..."

Soon after Hans finished speaking, many soldiers from the second regiment who had been there themselves began to chime in.

After all, the short stories Robson had written were all adapted from real events, many of which the men had experienced firsthand.

With each man’s affirmation, the credibility of Lord Robson’s little stories instantly skyrocketed.

Hans, who originally had some doubts about certain parts, found his doubts dispelled without realizing it.

’He’s the Lord, after all. Even if some parts of the book are confusing, it must be because I’m not smart enough to understand them.’

Some soldiers from the second regiment even raised objections, but they were quickly drowned out by others offering alternative interpretations.

Robson himself probably never imagined that just one day after its release, his book would already be the subject of such intense study and interpretation.

Just as the discussion was reaching a fever pitch, a sound of churning earth echoed from the distance, cutting them short. Everyone turned to look.

Hans was no exception. Where the sound had come from, a massive stone golem was rising from the ground.

"What is that thing?"

The surrounding soldiers stared in confusion at the stone golem. After breaking free from the earth, it began to move. It ambled over to a tree, wrapped its arms around the trunk, and pulled it straight out of the ground, roots and all.

"That’s Squad Five over there, isn’t it? I heard they have a Mage helping them. Magic is really incredible," a nearby squad leader remarked with a hint of envy.

’A pile of broken rocks... how long can that last?’ Hans mentally compared himself to the Mage. He knew what those Mages had been up to; their preparations had started last night.

Hans himself probably didn’t even realize it, but he now dared to compare himself to a Mage.

And it wasn’t just Hans; others in the squad said it out loud.

"So what if he’s a Mage? They started preparing for that thing last night. How long can that stone golem even last? If you ask me, Hans is more useful."

"How can you say that? He’s a Mage! We’re just peasants..."

Listening to the men behind him, Hans grew tense. ’Who wants to be seen as second-best?’

"Peasants? Haven’t you heard? There are no peasants in Affleck. We’re all subjects of the domain. It’s just that we haven’t earned enough merit yet, so we have to fulfill our obligations for now.

But Hans is different. He has sixth-rank military honors! Do you know what that means? In terms of goblins, that’s probably equivalent to killing over a thousand of them."

"But..."

"But nothing! Haven’t you seen Captain Ais? He became a noble with twelfth-rank military honors. That Mage is so respected, so how come he isn’t a noble?

And forget calling him ’master.’ The way I see it, there’s only one true master in the Affleck Domain, and that’s our Lord."

The root of it all was still Ais. Him becoming a Knight had made too great an impact on the soldiers.

A living example was placed before their eyes, shattering everyone’s worldview.

As Hans listened to their conversation, he felt something unlock within him.

’That’s right! I’m a subject of the domain! I have sixth-rank military honors! Sixth-rank honors... that represents a glorious past! My past—Hans’s past—is glorious.’

As he thought this, a strange heat surged up his throat. His feelings about Affleck were changing, deepening.

He, Hans, was a subject of the Affleck Domain, a man with sixth-rank military honors serving under Viscount Robson.

For some reason, Hans’s mind drifted back to that night before Thermopylae—to the declarations of the Knights, their fire and their passion.

Now, Hans felt he could finally understand a little of it.

Hans didn’t know many sophisticated words. If he were to study a bit longer, he would learn that the name for the feeling behind that passion was honor.

"Alright, that’s enough talk. What’s any of this got to do with us?

I hear Lord Robson himself is out here working. What are we doing standing around gossiping?

Don’t you want meat for dinner tonight?" Hans added, chiding them with a playful grin.

The men wasted no more time. They immediately singled out the next tree and got back to work.

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