Chapter 58: Chapter 58: Death Warrior Training, The Swamp Territory’s Recent Situation
Swamp Territory, the training grounds.
The training grounds in Swamp Territory had already been fully expanded.
To the east of the Lord’s Mansion was a secondary fort, built specifically for this purpose.
The secondary fort covered an area of about fifty thousand square ters. At this mont, over one hundred and thirty children around the age of ten, along with seventeen Beastn, were gathered on its training grounds.
York had spent a small fortune purchasing these seventeen Beastn on the black market.
After all, Beastn could only be found in the Northern Realm. One could only imagine how inflated the prices would be for black market rchants to transport these Beastman slaves from the Northern Realm to sell in the Western Realm.
Of the seventeen Beastn, seven were bull-n, five were cat-n, three were hawk-n, and two were tiger-n.
The bull-n and tiger-n had the most robust physiques, both standing nearly two ters tall.
The hawk-n were next, and the cat-n were the smallest.
The seventeen Beastn were extrely conspicuous, but on these training grounds—in York’s own words—they were equal to the Human children.
From now on, they were all the private property of the Smith family of Swamp Territory. At the sa ti, they were glorious mbers of the Baron’s Mansion, and they would all bask in the great Divine Grace.
What was Divine Grace?
The Beastn didn’t know, and the children, who were slaves, knew even less.
To these children, who had long been broken in by slave traders, and to the ignorant Beastn, Swamp Territory was their new ho, and Baron York was their new master.
The master’s word was absolute, not to be questioned!
They were trained and indoctrinated.
They had to be loyal not only to the benevolent and powerful Baron York, but also to the supre and majestic God of Radiant Light.
It didn’t matter if they didn’t know or understand!
Because the training and knowledge they were receiving would soon make them understand everything.
The ones responsible for training the children and Beastn in martial arts were Paul and the other six Knight’s Squires, who took turns on rotation.
As for their academic education, they were the only teachers as well.
At this mont, York arrived at the training grounds with his wife, who was six months into her second pregnancy.
York held their son, the one-year-old Caesar, while Lucia, supporting her large belly, sat in the rest area on the side of the training grounds.
"Lord!"
Paul ca before York and bowed.
"Paul, no need for formalities. Tell , how has the training been going recently?"
"You all hand-picked this group of children after a careful selection process. I trust they won’t disappoint ?"
Upon hearing this, Paul imdiately adopted a serious tone. "Rest assured, my Lord. Although the children have been training for less than a hundred days, there are already clear results."
"Among them, a dozen or so are exceptionally talented. They’ve managed to get the hang of the Basic Swordsmanship techniques made public by the rcenary Guild."
"As for the ditation thod, three of them are showing ideal results. The next seventy or so are progressing at a normal pace. The remaining children are a bit slower, but they are still much better than ordinary people with no aptitude."
At this point, Paul sighed and said,
"In the end, it’s just hard to find good candidates among slaves. And it’s true that Commoners are unsuitable for being raised as Death Warriors."
"As for the Beastn, while most have specific racial strengths that surpass the Human Race in certain areas, their speed in ditation and martial arts practice is no faster."
"Furthermore, Beastn are too rare and expensive on the black market in the Western Realm."
"Buying too many would attract unwanted attention. It’s really not worth the trouble."
"And as for Elves, while they are a Race of natural Casters, there aren’t even enough to go around the black markets of the Eastern Realm’s nations. How could they possibly be sold all the way out here on the border of the Western Realm?"
Paul truly didn’t understand why his Lord insisted on spending so much money on Beastn.
After all, while the Beastn sold in the Western Realm weren’t exactly the bottom of the barrel, you couldn’t expect to find any Entry Tier ones.
Even if there were so occasional Entry Tier Beastn, they would have long been snatched up by the established noble families. The ones that actually trickled down to the black market were almost all old, weak, sick, or disabled.
And why would anyone buy the old, weak, sick, and disabled? So people would buy them just for the novelty, a common enough occurrence among the Nobility and wealthy rchants.
The only reason York had been able to buy these seventeen relatively healthy Beastn was that he had called in favors from Baron Eric of Gale Territory and even from his wife Lucia’s family.
Speaking of Baron Eric of Gale Territory.
He was being exceptionally low-key lately, adopting an almost completely hands-off attitude toward Swamp Territory. However, whenever York requested so help, he would still do his best to provide it.
This made it rather difficult for York to figure out what his father was thinking.
As for his wife Lucia’s family at the Viscount’s Mansion, his father-in-law, Viscount Callum, had shown a bit more interest in Swamp Territory.
He had even sent his steward and an entourage to Swamp Territory six months ago, ostensibly to visit family.
But in the end, the Viscount was a very cautious man.
The letter he sent contained only warnings, without inquiring about any of Swamp Territory’s internal affairs.
In the letter, he sternly warned York and his wife about their previous talk of Divine Favor in front of rchants. He stated that regardless of whether the Divine Favor was real, they must never ntion it to outsiders again and should even deny it if asked.
Furthermore, his father-in-law also inquired about the movents of Demon Beasts in the Wilderness. He warned York to take the tracks of Demon Beasts seriously and to be careful. If a Beast Tide truly erupted, he should retreat to Gale Territory if things beca untenable.
There was no sha in retreating from a Beast Tide; over the past century, countless people had died trying to develop the Western Realm.
Now, under the call of the Duke’s Mansion’s eldest son, the Korola Highlands had already fully committed to preliminary military preparations and alert.
The Lords within the Duchy had all answered the call, and now more than fifteen thousand elite troops were gathered in the Korola Highlands.
Though the force was large, this coalition army would not venture beyond the highlands, let alone co to the aid of a newly developed territory like Swamp Territory, which had no natural defenses to speak of.
For this reason, he had seriously advised York in his letter.
’When the Beast Tide truly cos, do not try to make a desperate stand. A title and a territory can be lost and regained, but you must not throw away your life out of youthful hot-headedness.’
He also ntioned that with York’s Tier Two strength, plus his Tier Three Contracted Demon Beast, where could he not go with such Potential and talent?
He even stated outright that if York didn’t want to return to Gale Territory, he was more than welco to walk through the gates of Viscount Callum’s Mansion. He would be welcod with open arms, and he would absolutely not let York’s talents go to waste.
One could say that Viscount Callum was making his calculations so loudly that the abacus beads were about to fly off and hit Old Eric, the Baron of Gale Territory, in the face.
York was rather speechless about this.
His wife, Lucia, was even more embarrassed.
Looking at Paul, York nodded in satisfaction, but his expression was simultaneously very serious.
"It’s good that there are results. As for what you said about the Beastn and Elves, I’m aware of all that."
"However, those are not things you should be concerned with."
"Alright, Paul. Continue training the children."
Hearing this, Paul didn’t dare say more. He accepted the order and walked back toward the training grounds.
And not long after, what was bound to happen finally happened.
Just as York was playing with his one-year-old son, little Caesar, he suddenly froze in his crouched position.
Little Caesar looked at his father, not understanding what was wrong.
anwhile, Lucia, who was sitting to the side, looked startled for a mont before her face suddenly broke into a joyful expression.
"Your Majesty?!"
York snapped back to his senses. His face filled with a grave and excited expression as he gave Lucia a heavy nod.
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