With the near-miraculous results of the first bandit-suppression campaign still fresh in everyone's minds, when Ye Wei'an announced another was about to begin, the sign-up event nearly spun out of control.
The soldiers and militiamen applying to join numbered more than ten times what they had before.
The previously quiet recruiting station was packed so tightly that people could barely move. Some even shoved one another for a place near the front.
The soldiers had their own reasons:
A soldier's greatest fear was following the wrong commander, only to end up as cannon fodder or die without knowing why.
"Follow the lord, and there'll be meat to eat! Follow the lord, and we'll stay alive!" This simple belief was deeply rooted among the rank and file.
On top of that were all the rumors about "divine favor." People began to think that Lord Ye Wei'an might really be an avatar of some deity, chosen to walk among mortals. Surely, following someone so "favored by destiny" was the right call.
It wasn't only the common soldiers. Even the territory's formally titled knights, who prided themselves on their lofty status, were no longer sitting at home watching from the sidelines as they had before.
Some clever ones had already begun pulling strings and calling in favors.
Some brought fine wine to Volodya, while others hovered around Cain with obsequious smiles. A few even went to the Grand Knight Morey, all hoping to secure a place on the next expedition roster.
They weren't after the bounty. What they wanted was the elusive "chance to break through."
After all, ordinary people didn't have a system that let them add points directly, the way Ye Wei'an could.
In this strictly stratified world, improving one's strength required not only years of training and the trials of