Although everyone was baffled that the bandit suppression campaign was nearly half complete, when they saw the twenty Sand Bandit corpses thrown out before them, some were so frightened they took several steps back, some looked disgusted, and some seemed disappointed, feeling they had lost their chance at promotion. More, however, looked relieved.
But once the rewards of ten gold coins per person and twenty for noncommissioned officers were handed out, all the soldiers' doubts immediately vanished, and they all praised the Baron's wisdom.
Marching through the desert was a little hard and tiring, sure, but they had come out here, done nothing, and still earned two months' full-attendance pay. They were making a killing.
The militia, especially, nearly smiled themselves silly when they received the reward money too.
After all, militiamen received no salary. Normally, they only got a small allowance for attending drills, and even had to pay for their own meals.
Only during militia training in the agricultural off-seasons of winter and summer could they receive half a soldier's pay and free meals.
It could be said that if not for the capable retired instructors at the militia training camp—and the genuine possibility that strict training under them could turn someone into an adventurer—no one would be willing to take on such a miserable job.
Although militia training basically only produced one class, fighters, once they became adventurers, they could take jobs that paid at least several hundred silver coins each. Even split among several people, that was far better than doing odd jobs in the city.
And adventuring was quite free. Work when they wanted, loaf around when they wanted. When they were done, they could marry some village girl—plenty of girls would be willing—and retire as soldiers with a fixed salary. Wouldn't that be a