After seeing Knight Shiludi off, Hudson secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the one Count Pierce had sent was not a qualified negotiator, or he truly might not have been able to resist the temptation.
If it had been some local knight, he would most likely have accepted that tempting offer, even knowing it was scorching hot.
In the end, the competition was simply too fierce. Every year, there were countless rookie knights like Hudson across the continent, yet fewer than one in ten ever obtained a fief.
Most knights died on the road of conquest, and only a tiny handful of lucky ones managed to stand out.
Compared to them, Hudson was still fortunate. Before leaving home to make his way in the world, he had secured an opportunity to lead troops onto the battlefield.
No matter how useless the serf soldiers were, they were still far better than starting from nothing. Without his family's serf soldiers, Hudson would never have climbed to his current position.
It looked as though he had been passively pushed upward the entire way, but was that not also because he had actively fanned the flames? If he had been unwilling, could anyone really have forced him?
Had he entered this war as a wandering knight, he would have been cannon fodder charging at the very front.
As far as Hudson knew, even the lowest-ranked squad leaders in Count Pierce's Crimson Knights were knights. To distinguish himself among them, he would have needed to survive at least seven or eight wars.
That was in an elite force. In an ordinary army, the odds of making something of himself would have been even lower. The odds of receiving a fief from a lord would have been lower still.
Most knights had only titles and no fiefs. If they served a generous superior, they might perhaps receive a manor as a benefice.
Most ordinary knights could only collect meager salaries. If they wanted more, they could only seize it from the battlefield.
If his purse had not truly been empty, Knight Shiludi would not have been so easily bought off by Hudson.
The Snail Brigade set out once more, and Hudson could clearly feel the transformation in the serf soldiers. After two consecutive victories, they finally showed a faint trace of veteran soldiers.
Unfortunately, this force was only under his temporary command. Once the war was over, they would all return to their respective homes. No matter how well he trained them, he would only be making a wedding dress for someone else.
Having suffered an attack once, Hudson became increasingly cautious and sent scouts out five li ahead.
In his spare time, Hudson began studying his cheat— the Mysterious Compass.
The Soul Fire of five Silver Skeletons was like five blood packs, giving the Compass a huge boost, and Hudson benefited immensely as well.
With his keen perception, even this rookie archer had evolved into a master marksman. His overall physical capabilities had also improved dramatically.
Unfortunately, this external enhancement came at a price. Once the energy within the Compass was exhausted, he would return to normal.
Before this, Hudson had already experienced a boost to his cultivation speed. Sadly, it had not lasted long before disappearing due to depleted energy.
Of course, it had not vanished completely. His physical condition had still improved considerably; he was simply no longer as formidable as when enhanced.
"Mysterious wind elements, heed my summons—Rippling Wind!"
When the incantation ended, the leaves before him merely swayed twice. Whether that had been caused by the spell, or by the spittle Hudson had sprayed while chanting, remained unknown.
Everyone had long since grown accustomed to such scenes. They all knew that their noble lord was practicing magic.
As for why he had failed to cast any magic, they did not know. In any case, no one dared discuss the matter openly.
As long as one's skin was thick enough, embarrassment did not exist. To become a great mage, Hudson was going all out.
There was not the slightest problem with meditation. With the Mysterious Compass assisting him, he could enter the proper state every time, and his spiritual power kept climbing rapidly.
As for magic power, all he could do was laugh bitterly. Though he was not completely incapable of magic power, he was not much better.
The magical elements between heaven and earth had never cooperated with him. Even though Hudson's spiritual power was already no weaker than that of a novice mage, he still could not cast a single spell.
More precisely, he could not cast a single spell through his own efforts.
With the Mysterious Compass's assistance, Hudson could still cast magic. For example, while hunting at noon, he had cast the first-circle spell Earth Arrow.
The price was that the only earth-element Magic Core in his hand had completely turned into dregs after a dozen or so casts of Earth Arrow.
Compared with knightly cultivation, magical cultivation was far too picky. Every spell had to match magical elements of its own type before it could be cast.
The energy currently stored in the Mysterious Compass had all been converted from skeleton Soul Fire, so it was clearly biased toward the Undead element.
Regrettably, Undead mages were far too rare. The incantations Hudson had traded from Chers did not include any Undead magic.
Lacking the relevant energy reserves and unable to cast spells did not stop Hudson from memorizing magical incantations.
It was best to become proficient in advance, so he would not panic at a critical moment. The speed of chanting often determined the speed of casting, which was why every great mage was a "fast talker."
Hundreds of failures did not shake Hudson's resolve to learn magic in the slightest—at least, that was how it appeared on the surface.
He had been forced into it. Learning magic was not easy, and teaching himself without an instructor was even harder.
If a mage suddenly appeared out of nowhere, how could he avoid attracting attention? Anyone who investigated would immediately discover that something was wrong.
When faced with such abnormalities, the first thing people thought of was Evil God Cultists. For instance, the High Priest of the Skull Society relied on the Evil God's power to cast magic.
Hudson now had one foot in the noble circles of the Southeast Province, and he had no desire to be suspected of being an Evil God Cultist.
Therefore, before establishing himself as a magical genius, it was necessary to add a period of learning magic beforehand.
At the very least, it had to make sense in theory and leave no room for others to find fault. These soldiers were now the best possible witnesses.
They knew nothing about magic, so he could fool them however he liked. If he were before a crowd of nobles, Hudson would not dare play such games.
Memorizing incantations and calling it magic practice might barely be acceptable. But if he could not stir even a trace of magical elements, then he would be no different from Knight Chels, who had achieved nothing after decades and was utterly unrelated to the image of a genius mage.
For the sake of being able to reasonably purchase Magic Crystal Stones in the future, Hudson was going all out.
After repeatedly failing, the Fifth Army's raiding party finally got a taste of meat just before the final deadline. The facts proved that Commander Chers's judgment had been correct: the Rebel Army really was moving supplies to the rear.
Having successfully robbed a Rebel Army transport convoy, they obtained wheat, cloth, salt, tea, spices... and even several chests of coins.
The preliminary estimate placed the haul's value at no less than one hundred thousand gold coins. It was truly a bountiful harvest.
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