Chapter 294: On the Farmland Outside Kendall City — Militia Training and the Long-Lost Story of the Dragon

After the five barons ascended the platform, the surrounding crowd of onlookers cheered and jumped for joy. They also waved their hands at the cheering crowd in response.

Immediately following, the Kendall Baron walked to the front of the platform, facing the more than six hundred militia, Kendall Guard, scribes, and city militia, and raised one hand.

Jier saw the gemstone ring on the Baron's right hand flash, and the entire training ground fell silent. Then, the Baron began to speak; his voice was calm yet carried very far, and even Jier, who was mixed in with the onlookers, could hear the Baron's words clearly.

This was definitely supernatural power; it was just unclear what power was supporting the Baron. Was it Divine Power? Or Magic? In any case, it didn't look like the knightly power of Kela the Knight.

What the Baron said was nothing more than clichés; to Zhao Ji, who had experienced a previous life, it was content that had already made his ears callous. It was nothing more than the necessity of militia training and the results of militia training in past years.

Next were some words of encouragement for these young people. He didn't say anything about not being afraid of hardship; after all, most of these young people were the strong laborers from various settlements who had grown up eating bitterness, so how could they be afraid of such things?

It was more a matter of words of encouragement, and combined with the Baron's age, he was indeed the age of the fathers of these young militia members below.

After finishing these seemingly hollow words, everyone present seemed very happy. Jier scratched his head, not quite understanding the reason; he figured it could only be because they heard these words less often.

Immediately after, the Baron's eldest son stood out.

The Baron pointed at him from a distance of one or two meters, and the voice of this slightly chubby eldest son of the Baron, when he opened his mouth, also carried across the entire field just like the Baron's.

He said that he would also join the militia training, serving as a representative of the militia ranks to train together with everyone.

This time, the militia below were indeed happy; it seemed that being able to train together with this future Heir of Kendall County was also a very interesting thing for them.

Jier saw many tall and sturdy militia members showing themselves off, puffing out their chests.

He estimated that this was also about cultivating connections for the future Heir. These young people from various population centers would surely be the backbone of various places in the future; by getting to know the eldest son of the Kendall Baron, they cleverly consolidated the relationship and ties between Kendall City and various places within the county.

The future next-generation Baron could then very conveniently contact various places within the county.

After the Baron's eldest son said some words about sharing joys and sorrows, he stepped back. Next to speak were two Senior Scribes from the Kendall City Administration Office.

They did not need the Baron to provide them with any sound amplification; they possessed such abilities themselves.

The two of them spoke one after another about organizational scheduling for the militia training, as well as matters regarding the food and lodging treatment for each militia member during future training. Clearly, Kendall City's income was not small, so this time the militia training was better in terms of treatment than in previous years.

It should be said that it was increasing every year.

This was what Todd, who was beside him, whispered to Jier in complaint. When they were in the first batch of militia training, everything was a makeshift operation; if it weren't for the fact that there wasn't much to do in winter, and his uncle wanted his nephew to learn some self-preservation skills, Todd, who had just come of age at the time, would not have been half-forced to join the first batch of militia training.

The place was still here, but the equipment of various tents, weapons, and armor at that time was far inferior to today's.

Weapons and armor were all shared among everyone for training, unlike today where every militia member had their own set of weapons and equipment. Lodging was even worse; also in winter, they could only squeeze fifty people into one tent to sleep. Fortunately, there was no shortage of fuel for heating; the firewood for heating in Kendall City was ridiculously abundant. Every day, huge tree trunks floated down from the Kendall River, were transported into the city from the Kendall North City Wall by the Merchant Guild that specialized in this business, and were processed into small portions of dry firewood to be sold to everyone in the city at an extremely cheap price.

As for food, Jier didn't know what these militia members were eating at this moment, but he could ask Todd what they ate back then.

"The food was actually quite good; every day there was freshly baked Bread and a portion of cured fatty meat strips. You definitely won't believe it if I tell you, but after training back then, I actually gained several pounds." Todd was quite proud.

Jier hadn't expected that the militia's food was actually quite good, but upon reflection, if you couldn't even supply the food during training, don't even think about organizing people as your own armed force.

After all, there was no war now; if there weren't benefits, who would send their children from home to participate in this kind of thing?

Thinking about it this way, Jier felt that these militia families, by sending their young people here, might also have the idea of temporarily reducing a big consumer of food.

Anyway, the Baron provided food here; the boys at home should be kicked out quickly to eat the Baron's food, rather than staying at home all day in winter with no work to do, knowing only how to waste the family's grain all day long.

Thinking of this, Jier laughed happily.

After the two Senior Scribes finished stating the precautions for training one by one, they stepped back. Finally, Kela the Knight, wearing heavy armor and holding his Helmet, stepped forward and roared: "Now, the training officially begins!"

The first thing in training was to break everyone up into groups, separating the young people who had originally gathered in clusters according to their various villages and settlements. This was convenient for management and also convenient for these young people, who had basically never left their villages, to get to know more friends of the same age from other places.

After the Baron's eldest son said goodbye to the few on the platform, he also walked down, first going to a tent to change into a less conspicuous set of clothes, then collecting a set of Spear Militia weapons and equipment, and joining a Spear Militia unit that had specifically left a vacancy for him.

All Melee Militia were divided into groups of ten, while the Spear Militia were in groups of twenty.

The Melee Militia were arranged in a formation of five in the front and five in the back, with the group Captain commanding from the middle of the rear rank.

The Spear Militia were arranged in a formation of ten in the front and ten in the back; the group was divided into a Captain and a Deputy Captain. The Deputy Captain commanded the ten-man unit including himself in the front rank, and the Captain commanded the entire twenty-man unit including the ten in the back.

The work of dispersing and reorganizing kept them busy all morning, and it wasn't until noon that things got better. To distinguish the names of each unit, Kela the Knight had the scribes prepare some small flags embroidered with animal images.

The small flags were handed to the Captains of each unit, and the members of each unit only needed to recognize the animal image of their own unit. This also facilitated command and dispatch.

As expected, the Baron's eldest son was the Captain of their unit, and the animal embroidered on the flag was a very vivid and majestic Gryphon.

Generally, people wouldn't embroider a Dragon; after all, Dragons were a group with high intelligence, and they didn't like other species using their image. In a legend sung by Bards, there was such a story.

A thousand years ago, before the Empire was established, there once existed such a city-state.

They greatly admired the Dragon Clan that dominated the sky, so the elements of the giant Dragon were reflected everywhere in the city-state's image. Flags, emblems, the city-state's name, and even the bloodlines of the upper echelons all had to incorporate some image of the Dragon Clan's power.

Although this greatly enhanced the fame and power of their city-state, ensuring that they dominated one side at the time.

But later, news of the small Human world spread, and the Dragons soaring in the sky of the world learned of this news and felt curious. They rarely went to the Human world; after all, the Human world was not big at that time, and Humans mostly lived on the vast continents. Dragons generally lived on tropical volcanic islands, usually consuming huge creatures in the ocean to maintain their survival.

After all, the creatures on land were still a bit too small for the Dragons, and they couldn't even get full from eating them. The power of the Dragons came from the huge food they consumed; every time they breathed Dragon breath and released Magic, they consumed no small amount of energy, and only the ocean could provide them with a sufficient quantity of food.

The curious Dragons heard about this and went to that Human city-state to observe.

After the Dragons arrived, the Humans of the city-state tried their best to entertain these huge creatures that were like castle towers, but even if all the sheep and Plowing Oxen of this city-state were offered to the Dragons, the Dragons could hardly be full.

Afterwards, the Dragons realized in their hunger that these small Humans who revered them couldn't even satisfy their basic appetite, yet they still boasted and used their image in every aspect of the city-state, taking pride in it.

It was simply a joke to their Dragon Clan.

For a period of time after that, the nearby Human city-states only learned of the final fate of this once-prosperous city-state through the rare Refugees who escaped.

The Dragons spread their wings and flew in the sky, proclaiming to the tiny Humans on the ground in the Human language that they must not overestimate themselves by using their image in the future; only powerful biological groups that had obtained the consent of the Dragons were qualified to use the image of them, the masters of the sky.

And this city-state that took without asking, since it could not prove its own strength, then it could only prove itself in martial prowess.

Defeat them and prove yourself.

Otherwise, ten days of the earth's rotation from now would be the time this city-state disappeared.

The strong ones of that city-state flew into the sky and immediately fought with the Dragons flying in the sky, while the army on the ground manufactured huge Crossbows, attempting to fire the huge Arrows in the eyes of Humans to kill the Dragons soaring in the sky.

Unfortunately, the Dragons only flapped their wings and flew into the extremely high sky; only the mages of that city-state could fly to such a high place to fight the Dragons.

But Humans were not a race of the sky, and the brave fighting mages only fought for one day before bursting into gorgeous rings of fire in the high altitude.

The various Priests, Knights, and more soldiers and armies on the ground could only watch as the Dragons circled the city-state in the extremely high sky.

Nine days later, the Dragons cast Magic, and their already huge bodies became even more huge, so huge that it was unimaginable.

They didn't do anything else; they just gathered their wings after casting defensive Magic and fell from the sky.

More than ten Dragons as huge as cities descended from the sky; the brilliant giant objects were like the overturning of heaven and earth, like a comet hitting the ground, at the time when heaven and earth were first separated.

The Fire Dragon fell, like a volcano turned upside down, erupting outward.

The Water Dragon fell, like a great lake suspended in the air, pouring down.

The Earth Dragon fell, like mountain ranges inverted, a disaster of total destruction.

The Thunder Dragon fell, like the divine punishment of ten thousand gods, sweeping the world clean.

The moment it touched the ground, every trace of humanity on the surface was swept into ash by the immense impact, and that city-state vanished from the human world.

Perhaps some strong individuals survived at the time, but for the rest of their lives, they likely never again used their names that were rich with Dragon Clan meaning.

Ever since then, no kingdom has dared to overstep by using the image or titles of the Dragon Clan, nor has any human—not even a single kingdom—dared to claim to the dragons that their kingdom was a powerful one worthy of the image of the Lord of the Sky.

Not even at the height of the Empire's power did they dare to do so.

After the Militia units were reorganized, formal training began in the afternoon.

For the first part of the training, Knight Kela chose to have the militia practice dispersing and gathering.

Normally, the militia would naturally cluster together, but they could not remain so densely packed during battle. Even ordinary enemies possessed crossbows for long-range strikes, not to mention Magic Beasts and mages who wielded Magic.

Facing such enemies, one must never keep the unit clustered together, or else they would suffer losses by the entire squad.

Knight Kela had the squads first gather together, then quickly disperse, and then quickly gather together again.

This was repeated until the militia could know where to run just by looking at the Captain's flag.

That part was simple; afterwards, Knight Kela had two or three squads mix together, then gave an order for the soldiers to disperse and then gather again.

The first half went well; although the militia were mixed together, they knew to maintain combat spacing from others. But when Knight Kela shouted again, the militia were at a loss.

Even though their own unit had the Falcon flag, they somehow found themselves swept along by others and running under the Giant Wolf flag.

The chaotic scene made the surrounding spectators laugh out loud; this was exactly what they had been waiting for. Such rare daily entertainment was something they dared not miss.

Kendall Baron, atop the platform, faced the sky, not wanting his eldest son below to see his father mocking him.

Even the spear unit led by the Baron's eldest son was in a mess, even though the clerks had placed the best-looking and sharpest-looking militia from the Spear Militia into his unit for the sake of this Heir; the final result was the same.

Of course, this was not the first time militia training had been held, so everyone had experience with the current scene and knew this was just the beginning; Knight Kela still had many more ways to torment these young men who were now looking utterly ashamed.

Thinking of this, the clerks and Kendall Guard watching from the sidelines all laughed.

The next part would be even more interesting.

On the contrary, Knight Kela, as Commander, seemed quite satisfied; the performance of the militia training this content for the first time already pleased him. Back when he was in the Kingdom Army, those forcibly conscripted soldiers were even worse during their initial training.

Because they came from different cities, the soldiers, knowing they were not "their own people," were very vicious toward one another; if a squad had a blockhead from another unit mixed in during training, they would be kicked and punched out.

But the militia of Kendall County were much better; because although everyone came from different villages and farms, they all knew they were people of Kendall County, and the lord, Kendall Baron, was still watching from above. Therefore, the blockheads who went to the wrong unit simply ran out in shame and immediately returned to their own units.

Next, Knight Kela began to have the militia units start running. The training ground was vast, so he let the militia rest before having them run in large circles by unit.

This was just the beginning; next, there would be squads dispersing to run in combat formation, squads moving close together to run in circles, squads dispersing and mixing while running in circles, and finally, having them gather again after running to see how many people would still run to the wrong unit.

These simple drills basically covered all the situations the militia might encounter. After that, it would be training on combat content.

On the other side, in Yinyulin Cunzi, at the home of Steward Irupachi.

"So, that young man with the wooden splint on his leg is the Jier you said drove away the Magic Beast?" Knight Lanisha sat in the center of the hall in Steward Irupachi's home, arms crossed, asking the steward with displeasure.

"Yes, yes. When Jier attacked the Magic Beast, he was carried to a high place by it, and when he fell, he broke his right lower leg. The leg was deformed! But he recovered so fast; he stayed in the village for two days, and he was almost better. It's truly amazing." Steward Irupachi stood to the side, with other village stewards beside him.

Because Steward Irupachi held the most power and his home was the largest, Knight Lanisha's questioning took place here.

None of them expected that Jier and the Knight's party had actually met on the road, yet they had not communicated.

Hearing the village steward's exclamation, Knight Lanisha explained to them: "That is because he has a Protection Badge gifted to him by the Agricultural God Church. The badge automatically heals his ailments; well, a broken leg counts as a type of ailment, so it seems it was healed by the badge as well."

An old Hunter standing behind the Knight said at this moment: "Sir Knight, actually, without the help of that hero Jier, we should have been able to slay that Magic Beast. After all, we already knew the relevant intelligence about the Magic Beast, and everyone just discussed it for a while and already had a plan to deal with it."

Knight Lanisha smiled slightly; she was still very satisfied with the team she had built, as they had rich experience in dealing with Monsters.

The three Hunters killed by the Magic Beast earlier were only due to a lack of vigilance regarding the incident at the time; they had not expected that the reason for the disappearances on the road to Yinyulin Cunzi was a rampaging Magic Beast.

If they had known this premise, those three Hunters certainly would not have sacrificed themselves in vain.

After all, this also made her look bad.

These experienced Hunters were her main force for countering the Wolf Pack; she herself had to confront the leader of the Wolf Pack, which was certainly already a Magic Beast, while the other ordinary wolves naturally had to be left to these Hunters to deal with.

The reproductive ability of the Wild Wolf is very strong; it only takes them a few years to grow from a newborn cub into a wild wolf with rich combat experience. Compared to them, human growth is far too slow.

And ever since the leaders of those Wild Wolves became Magic Beasts, they have had no natural enemies in the forest near Umi Lake. Top predators like the Giant Bear, Forest Tiger, Forest Leopard, and Giant Spider were no match for the Wolf Pack; they went from mutually checking each other to all being hunted to extinction by the Wolf Pack.

When the scale of the Wolf Pack grows to a certain level, they will naturally attack humans occupying the plains due to a lack of food.

"I just want to recruit this young man who is said to be quite active into my team. According to rumors, he has a way with dealing with Monsters. Do you remember those wolf-fur cloaks worn by the city gate guards?" Knight Lanisha said to her subordinate Hunters.

The Hunters standing or sitting behind the Knight all nodded; they frequently entered and exited Kendall City and had naturally seen those exquisitely crafted wolf-fur cloaks.

They had also hunted many wild wolves, but they did not make a living from it; after all, under Knight Lanisha, there was a salary to be earned. Their job was to go out and hunt man-eating beasts, and the carcasses of the wild wolves they killed were all handed over to the Knight's Butler.

Many of the pieces of equipment on their bodies were made this way. However, before this, no one had thought to use the entire pelt of an adult wild wolf to make a cloak; after all, the hunter's cloak with a cotton lining and linen cloth outer layer was already very good.

Whether in terms of concealment or convenience, they were excellent. They just weren't as flashy and beautiful as the wolf-fur cloaks.

"My people inquired, and those adult wild wolves were all hunted by that Jier alone. Being able to hunt so many adult Wild Wolves alone, he is indeed not simple; he must have his own method for dealing with the Wolf Pack. I need this." Knight Lanisha nodded and said.

The other Hunters suddenly realized; indeed, any of them could deal with a single wild wolf, and two at the same time was not impossible, but for one person to confront so many wild wolves, this method was indeed very important. For their target Wolf Pack, this was a crucial method.