Sauron's Lads

Dust billowed across Frosgard's makeshift training ground, where battle cries mingled with the explosive reports of muskets.

Harald stood on the raised observation platform with his arms folded, his hawk-sharp gaze sweeping over the ranks of new recruits drilling below.

The force he had placed such high hopes in had already begun to take shape. It was a mixed formation of Broomflower Defectors and "Clever Lads" selected from Sauron's various tribes.

The musketeers' loading, aiming, and firing procedures were still somewhat clumsy, but they had developed a rhythm. The spearmen, meanwhile, followed the beat of the drums as they practiced rushing forward after the musketeers in the front ranks fired, using a dense forest of spears to protect the fragile ranged firepower.

The formation was beginning to look respectable. At the very least, it was no longer a complete mess on the surface.

However, Harald's brow furrowed slightly. He keenly noticed that the proportion of Broomflower Defectors in the ranks—wearing modified Sauron Army Uniforms but possessing noticeably more "civilized" features and bearing—seemed to have increased again.

The true Sauron lads were sturdy and fierce-eyed, but when handling muskets that required patience and precise steps, they always seemed clumsy, far less at ease than when wielding bows and curved blades.

More troublesome was the ideological divide. Deep down, many Sauron Descendants looked down on the "cowards" who had surrendered and found it difficult to sincerely obey the Broomflower Officers commanding them.

Harald also felt somewhat helpless about it.

He could not change the Tribal Warriors' deep-rooted traditions and pride in a short time. To build up their combat strength as quickly as possible, he had no choice but to compromise and further increase the proportion of Broomflower Defectors, who trained harder, obeyed more readily, and mastered firearms faster.

The defectors seemed