The Heavens Send Divine Soldiers

Reiner stood confidently in place, while the others watched him with a mix of doubt and anticipation.

"Why hasn't anything appeared yet? Was the Baron's dream really just a dream?" Some people began to wonder, their hearts sinking.

Reiner didn't offer much explanation to the whispering crowd. The appearance of the army materialized by the System would be more convincing than any words, and they would be even more shocked then.

Time passed minute by minute. Finally, the moment arrived for the fifty Rhodok Sergeants to materialize. A white light suddenly appeared out of nowhere before everyone, emitting a soft glow that felt warm and comforting on their skin.

Reiner hadn't expected this. Knowing it was the System helping him, he wasn't overly curious, though he was surprised by how intelligent and user-friendly his System was.

As the white light shimmered, everyone immediately knelt, completely disregarding the biting snow on the ground. Their reverence for the Holy Father ran deep; such a miraculous sight, impossible in this world, could only be the Holy Father's doing.

The kneeling people mumbled incessantly, and Reiner couldn't make out what they were saying, but he guessed it was likely praise for the Holy Father and pleas for his blessing.

Moments later, the light dissipated, revealing a squad of fifty men. They weren't wearing the green heraldic armor from the game, but rather the Moreland Family's red Iris Lion Banner.

Beneath their heraldic tabards, they wore finely crafted full chainmail. Their arms were protected by iron armguards, and their heads by silvery, full-coverage helmets. Each man looked imposing, standing at least 1.7 meters tall. Even with their armor, it couldn't conceal the bulging muscles that rivaled those of a Crimson Gryphon Knight. Though they held no weapons, finely crafted longswords hung at their waists.

They stood before everyone in an impeccably neat formation, a perfectly rectangular phalanx. In Reiner's memory, perhaps only the armies of the Celestial Dynasty from his previous life could compare.

The ranks were utterly silent, not a single sound from anyone. Whispering and chattering were even more out of the question.

Upon materializing, they immediately knelt on one knee before Reiner. Their movements were fluid and seamless, the entire squad acting as if they had rehearsed hundreds of times. The sound of their armor rubbing together converged into a single, sharp clang.

Touching their left chests, they shouted in unison, "Please accept our allegiance, our great master. You shall be the sun in our lives, and our sole purpose is to fight for you!"

Everyone was captivated by the fifty formidable sergeants who had appeared. Envoys sent by the Holy Father were truly something else. Although these weren't the immortal, winged, glowing angels they envisioned, such an army could probably only be possessed by the Holy Father or his favored one, the Baron.

Reiner was very pleased with the actions of these Rhodok Sergeants. Looking at the fifty powerful sergeants, a rare surge of ambition welled up within him.

Perhaps becoming Emperor, standing at the pinnacle of power, wouldn't be a bad choice after all! Reiner thought to himself, but he quickly dismissed the idea.

Nah, that would be too exhausting. Besides, with my small frame, I'm no match for those powerful nobles. It's better to just enjoy life here. Twenty years of life… maybe I can live to a hundred. Even if thirty years are deducted, I'd still have eighty left!

Reiner wrestled with these thoughts, simultaneously deceiving himself, completely forgetting the fear and panic he felt when thirty years of his life were deducted.

But at least, the materialized fifty Rhodok Sergeants made him very happy.

"Excellent! I accept your allegiance!" Reiner said to the kneeling Rhodok Sergeants, pushing aside further thoughts.

In the crowd, Reiland watched the disciplined and strong Rhodok Sergeants, his heart stirring with excitement. Even though they wore the Moreland Family's heraldry, he recognized them instantly as the elite troops of the Rhodok Kingdom.

Even when he served as Marshal, commanding the entire Rhodok Kingdom, he typically only had control over a hundred or so Rhodok Sergeants at most. To suddenly have fifty appear before him now was incredibly thrilling.

Leaving aside the commotion caused by the Rhodok Sergeants for now, Reiner had Reiland quarter them in the barracks. Their wages were not low; it would take a full silver coin per month to sustain each of them.

Fifty men would cost five gold coins a month, which amounted to sixty gold coins a year. The Moreland Family's annual income would need to increase by a full sixty percent to afford them. It seemed that manufacturing armor for sale within The Empire was now an absolute necessity.

As for the Junior Blacksmiths, their materialization was very low-key. They quietly appeared in the Morland Castle blacksmith workshop. In just a few days, Goer Castle had also been brought completely under Reiner's control. The iron mines there had resumed excavation, but the blacksmiths there couldn't meet Reiner's desired output.

Reiner assigned two of the five Junior Blacksmiths to the workshop there and began to focus on the soldiers' equipment.

The Rhodok Sergeants had excellent stats. While they couldn't compare to monsters like the Crimson Gryphon Knight, which had griffon blood mixed in, they were already top-tier troops in a normal world. After all, the Crimson Gryphon Knight existed in a fantasy world, capable of suppressing powerful non-human races.

However, Reiner was somewhat dissatisfied with the equipment of these sergeants. As a strategy game enthusiast, he fiercely advocated for a heavy armor elite troop strategy, preferring to crush and overwhelm enemies with the best equipment and strongest combat power.

Even when playing Red Alert, he would only launch an attack once his military strength was completely overwhelming. Given this, he was naturally displeased with the sergeants' chainmail.

Although chainmail offered good defense, Reiner felt inexplicably annoyed. After all, the Crimson Gryphon Knights had a layer of plate-and-mail composite armor as their outermost protection, and even then, he had insisted they wear an additional layer of leather padding underneath for increased defense.

From this, one could see his obsession with army protection.

In the Morland Castle blacksmith workshop, Reiner was discussing with the Junior Blacksmiths about what kind of armor would be most suitable for the Rhodok Sergeants—or perhaps, they should now be called the Morland Army.

He was debating between two options for the Morland Army: scale mail or lamellar armor. He was unsure which type of armor to equip them with.

Both had their merits, leaving him quite conflicted about which to choose.