You were made to farm, and now you're the emperor of an empire?

Chapter 138 Do you think I'm made of clay? (Bonus chapter for Alliance Leader Torch)

"Go ahead and do it. If it's not enough, grind these two pieces of jade into powder as well." Roman's attitude was firm as he handed two pieces of green jade to Green.

Green had no choice but to do it.

Jasper and malachite have similar effects; both are green gemstones.

He felt this was a waste of resources.

A piece of jade or malachite is worth at least several gold coins; the higher the quality, the higher the value.

But this stuff can't bring the dead back to life. It can only promote wound healing and promote new tissue growth—essentially a potent anti-inflammatory drug.

One malachite stone can only be ground into enough for twenty or thirty people. If each person gets a small amount, it's barely enough.

Based on the number required by the conquering knights, that's even less.

Exchanging a few gold coins for anti-inflammatory medicine for twenty or thirty people is too much of a price to pay; with that money, one could buy the same number of slaves.

Roman didn't think that way; he had his own standards for judging the value of inanimate and living things.

Those conscripts were not his enemies, but rather the people he would rule in the future; there was no reason to criticize them.

Roman was busy until midnight, when he finally had a chance to rest.

He was not afraid of a night raid.

They would be considered to have won if they could organize a team that could advance more than ten kilometers in the dark without collapsing.

Therefore, all that is needed is to set up some scout posts.

……

Roman slept for about four or five hours before being woken up by his biological clock.

As dawn broke, the grayish-white mist appeared very hazy.

Now that it's late winter, the temperature is rising instead of falling.

Roman can check the weather at 'Origin Farm' through [Life Story], but he doesn't know the weather outside the farm.

But Sig Town will experience a heavy snowfall tomorrow.

This means that Kantling may also experience snowfall.

It's just that it's rather bad.

Neither the weather nor Roman's mood.

To make matters worse, they are going to have a real fight with Count Condé's vassals today.

A whole day has passed.

Even if Count Condé was slow-witted, he should have realized it by now.

It is impossible to mobilize all conscripted soldiers directly.

In particular, they lost a number of war knights and conscripts yesterday, so they have even fewer men available to deploy now.

With such a short timeframe, they could at most muster an army of a few hundred men.

……

By six o'clock in the morning, preparations for departure were complete.

The handymen got up early and went to bed late.

They were responsible for logistics and miscellaneous tasks throughout the march, which was quite demanding.

In particular, they had to manage the slaves and prevent them from escaping—the four hundred servants also carried scimitars—Sig Town had nothing else but a huge output of steel weapons.

But someone always has to do the dirty and hard work.

Roman's soldiers were meant to kill enemies, not to do menial tasks.

There are benefits as well.

After the mission was accomplished, each servant would receive a reward of five copper coins without having to go to the front lines.

All of them combined, Roman had to pay 20 gold coins for the robbery.

With money, they naturally became more diligent in their work and gained more endurance in cold environments.

They woke up all the slaves one by one, tied them back to the ropes, and then gave each of them a piece of roasted meat and the rest of the food.

The villagers of Putton were horrified.

The roasted meat comes from the livestock they raise.

Their food came from the provisions they had for the winter.

Theirs!
They're all theirs!
But they dared not speak out against their anger!

Baron Crow's body was still dangling from the tree branch.

Gods above!

That was a distinguished nobleman, and now he's died so swiftly and cleanly.

'May the gods punish these lawless thugs and let us return to normal life!'

All the farmers were praying silently.

This must be a nightmare! They are slaves now, their hands are bound and they are huddled together like grapes.

There weren't enough menial laborers, so some of the stronger slaves had to be freed to help Roman drive oxcarts, take care of yesterday's wounded, and care for the infants who couldn't walk on the supply wagons.

One soldier is enough to intimidate dozens or even hundreds of slaves, preventing them from making any rash moves.

Under the herd mentality, no one dares to stand out.

Moreover, they were not subjected to any form of abuse.

It was nothing more than being forced to leave their homes, losing all their land, property, and social status, and becoming the lowest of slaves...

"Hurry up! Don't delay!" the servant urged, his breath creating thick white mist.

Everyone's fingers were frozen stiff.

The cold season is not over yet, and the land in Kande is much colder than the town of Sig.

They found it difficult to adapt, but they had to adapt nonetheless.

Roman urged them to reach the fourth village as soon as possible and try to leave the land by tomorrow, as the empty merchant ships were already prepared upstream on the Bro River.

But you have to go through Kant's Pass to do that.

Earl Conde's territory is vast and located upstream of Sig Town. It is not actually adjacent to this tributary of Silver Dragon Canyon, but rather to another tributary.

To be precise, the Bro River branches off right next to the Canterbury Territory, and that tributary brought some prosperity to the territory. However, the Canterbury Territory had no special products, so most merchant ships did not stop there, at most considering it a stopover point for supplies.

A baron is in charge of guarding the branching point, which has a bridgehead—no bridge, only a castle—to guard against enemies coming downstream.

To everyone's surprise, the one who stabbed them in the back was their downstream neighbor—it was unbelievable!

Roman was not worried that the baron at the bridgehead would interfere with his evacuation plan.

Nothing else.

It's hanging on the tree.

Roman's planned route of plunder was circuitous.

After all, the location of villages cannot be a straight line. The landing point is different, so it is natural to go up and down, and plunder some small villages along the way.

The fourth village is the one deepest into the territory of Kant, and can be considered to be deep in dangerous territory.

According to Daken, the village was situated in a very open area, which was convenient for the knights to move around.

The marching direction cannot be concealed.

This also means that the probability of a battle is extremely high.

Of course, if you want to take an alternative route, avoid the fourth village, and simply retreat, there is a side path that can largely avoid battle.

But this contradicts Roman's original intention.

In order to save time, they could only eat breakfast on the road, otherwise they would not have the energy to continue their journey.

This can be considered as using war to sustain war. There were basically no supplies; the caravans carried the shields of heavily armed soldiers, but the slaves' walking speed was equal to their forward speed.

Walking two kilometers in an hour is barely manageable.

We rushed as fast as we could and approached the fourth village before the morning ended.

Just then, a whistle sounded in my ear.

Scouts gathering intelligence alerted the enemy to an ambush in the distant forest.

Once the number of people exceeds one hundred, a forest is no longer enough to hide everyone. The trampling and horse tracks leave too many marks, which a careful scout can easily spot.

But the second piece of intelligence from the scouts made Roman frown.

Residents of the fourth village are moving.

It is clear that the looting of three villages yesterday and the failure of the resistance have greatly shocked the residents of the fourth village.

They were terrified when they learned that Roman's convoy was heading there.

Most people fled in panic, taking their families, possessions, and livestock with them to other places.

Roman, leading his horse, said to Dick and Jeter, "Heavy armor for defense, light armor for raiding, raid as many as you can... This time I'm going with Aaron and Green."

He didn't care about the army led by Kant; those rotten fish and shrimps were not worth mentioning.

But we cannot ignore those precious people.

If he just stands by and watches all the fools in the fourth village run away, wouldn't his trip have been for nothing?

Dick exclaimed in surprise, "Huh? You..."

He was somewhat worried that Roman might be in danger.

"Do you think I'm made of clay?" Roman glanced at Dick. He was also capable of going to the battlefield, and he was terrifyingly strong, the kind of person who was invincible among his peers.

Dick sighed, "I'll go with you. Just let Jet stay and take command."

Roman thought about it and nodded in agreement.

Admittedly, Dick is now the strongest in the army; even Jet can't beat him.

(End of this chapter)