25 Continue or Return

"Hooves rise, Hooves fall, The herd galloping between mountains and plains sweeps like the wind.

You are in the rivers, You are in the mountains, You are in the grasslands, You are in the herd.

Now is the age for you to conquer the Gallop Plains.

Our Gallop Tribe is under the protection of the God Emperor Augustus VI, Of the Night-Kirin City, cast from giant stones and temples.

March forward, to awaken the glory of our ancestors.

You are in the writings of men, You are in the words of men, You are in the hearts of men, You are above the heads of men.

Now is the age for you to conquer the Gallop Plains."

43 barbarian magic-users and nearly 100 non-magic-users in the Right Camp sang the song Landen had adapted from his homeland.

Today is October 20th. Over the past 10 days, Landen has routed two small-to-medium camps and one large-to-medium camp.

These three camps yielded a bounty of Black-Scaled Horses, pack animals, and Long-Haired Sheep, along with 350 gold coins, 42 sets of iron armor, nearly 4 tons of grain, a dozen magic rune tablets, and nearly 30 magic crystals.

From the hands of these three barbarian groups, he liberated 21 human magic-users, including 5 knights.

Although no small tribe has formally pledged allegiance, the songs Landen adapted are already being sung across several small tribes.

Military strikes for large tribes, cultural conquest for small ones—this is Landen's current attitude toward the various barbarian factions.

Furthermore, as a race that worships the strong, barbarians naturally revere powerful tribes and the champions within them.

Landen's tribe has achieved a string of victories, and in every major engagement, Landen has led the charge, spearheading the breakthrough and securing the first kill. Seeing him break through enemy lines naturally earned the barbarian cavalry's loyalty, though such loyalty does not come cheap.

Before each battle, Landen must consume 2 magic crystals to activate his armor and 1 to replenish his battle qi; thus, three battles cost 9 magic crystals, equivalent to 90 gold coins.

If not for the fact that during downtime, Landen takes Neil and a few others to hunt low-level water-type Magic Beasts in the ponds, he would truly be reluctant to burn magic crystals on warfare like this.

Of course, such combat is not merely consumption. Landen feels that after every high-expenditure engagement, his proficiency and frequency in using battle qi techniques have increased, even leading to more activations per magic crystal consumed.

Regarding this, Raul believes that as the release of battle qi increases, Landen's own storage capacity has grown, and his proficiency has improved—this is the process of breaking through to the intermediate level.

After several campaigns, including the absorption of remnants from defeated tribes, the number of Landen's barbarian magic-users has reached 43, with 35 capable of mounting a horse for battle.

Following the traditional barbarian ratio of 1:5 for magic-users to non-magic-users and estimating by traditional barbarian scale, Landen's Right Camp can be considered a bona fide large tribe.

Currently, Landen's Left Camp has reached 33 human magic-users. Whether in terms of magic-user population or non-magic-user population, it far exceeds the former Baron Gallop's Territory, with 9 junior and reserve knights and 24 magic-users, all fully equipped with iron armor and Black-Scaled Horses. This force is a force to be reckoned with within the Northwest Earldom.

The number of non-magic-users in the Left Camp has also increased by over 200. With a larger population and more literate individuals, Landen has found more people to begin territorial education. Now, all the children in the territory are divided into 3 classes, conducting four courses: literacy, arithmetic, physical education, and skills.

Literacy involves teaching all children the alphabet, vocabulary, and grammar of the human common tongue, with the goal of having them recognize the alphabet within a month and perform simple reading within 2-3 months. Arithmetic teaches children addition and subtraction within 20, and higher-level multiplication within 100; needless to say, even Albert isn't very good at it.

Physical education focuses on strengthening the body, with some promising youngsters following young barbarians to learn horsemanship and following Fang to learn swordsmanship. Skills cover a wider range.

It mainly depends on what the craftsmen in groups 1 and 2 are doing and what they have time to teach. Some craftsmen also take a liking to certain children and allow them to become their apprentices.

More talent has also brought more management difficulties. The knights and magic-users come from different kingdoms and families and were liberated from different tribes, so they are unfamiliar with each other. Landen's daily hunting also requires him to take the newly joined magic-users for riding and combat recovery training.

Furthermore, during their captivity, the human magic-users were only provided with the most basic rations. The barbarians were extremely wary of powerful magic-users, not only reducing their daily food rations but also whipping them at will or assigning them heavy manual labor.

Therefore, before training, Landen needs to provide the magic-users with large amounts of mutton and even Magic Beast meat to ensure they can recover to a combat-ready level.

The barbarians in the Right Camp have new songs, so the Left Camp naturally wouldn't be left behind. Landen adapted a farewell song from Kislev of the Ersun Republic from his past life, having the women in the camp sing it together. The ladies' voices were gentle and delicate, giving the departing knights a bit more yearning for them.

"Why make this farewell song?" Albert was very curious. "I thought you would make a war song."

"Every time we set out, looking at Nila, I think of a melody—the earliest melody of this song." Landen's reason was fabricated, but his motivation for creating it was not.

"Our human magic-users come from too many places. I investigated, and the barbarians, to prevent human magic-users from colluding after entering small tribes, deliberately scatter them when settling them."

"This leads to our magic-users coming from all corners of the human empire. Most were not even raided from the Dragon Kingdom but were abandoned by their families for various reasons and sent to the Gallop Plains."

"That is the case; I have noticed it too."

"So the question arises: why should they become my magic-user subjects?"

"What? Don't we save them?" Albert did not understand.

"Of course, I saved them, but that doesn't mean that because I saved them this time, they will live in my castle and serve me."

"It's that among our knights, fighting alongside me, what I can give them in the future might only be a knight's fief, or perhaps not even that. If I assign them 10 non-magic-users, they have to develop new territory with me," Landen said. "I am merely the fourth son of a baron; I have neither the financial resources nor a fief. Perhaps these people are the foundation for my future advancement, but there is also a high probability that I will stop here, the barbarians will cease their activities in the south, and I will return to south of Korniko to be a small noble in peace."

"So what?"

"It's not 'so what.' I want to give them a bond to my territory, to make them truly integrate here. Here, they have comrades-in-arms and families of non-magic users. They aren't risking their lives time and again for a lord who saved them once, but for their own territory and their own families," Landen said, looking toward the barbarians.

"I think, regardless of what happens, I don't want to call them barbarians anymore. Perhaps I'll call them herdsmen or prairie tribes. Whether it's the Right Camp or the Left Camp, I want them to genuinely identify as part of the Gallop Barony and the Gallop Tribe."

"Can that even be achieved?" Albert had no idea if this was a grand vision or mere delusion.

"Whether it can or not, we have to start somewhere. As long as we are careful in our decisions and maintain our victories, we will see that day," Landen said with great confidence.

"Landen?" Albert hesitated at this moment.

"What is it, Uncle?"

"Have you considered... returning the way we came to the Gallop Barony?" Albert asked tentatively.

"I have," Landen didn't mince words and spoke the truth. "Every time we win, I think about it."

"You have?"

"Of course. If I went back now, having protected the commoners, expanded the population, and increased the number of magic users, perhaps we could seize a portion of the Rothe Territory, or simply demand the Count let us swap places with Viscount Rothe," Landen said.

His tone shifted. "But Uncle, if I were to go back just like that, how could I face my father and two brothers when I dream of them? Should I tell them I've made enough on the plains and don't want to deal with them anymore?"

"No... we could use other methods."

"We've swept through the tribes of the southern Gallop River like this; do you really think they'd be willing to exchange prisoners of war with us?"

"This... they wouldn't."

"Then tell me, what should I do?" Landen looked at Albert. "If these barbarian cavalrymen, who were just wandering the Northwest Territory, returned to the Gallop Plains and found their camps gone, their fathers and brothers slaughtered by us, and their human slaves set free—and then, right near the Rothe Territory, there happened to be a new barony or viscounty—what would they do? Or, what if they saw us heading south to return to our territory on the way back, riding Black-Scaled Horses, singing songs, and eating mutton stew? What would they think? Could we hold our own in a charge against 200 barbarian cavalrymen?"

Albert fell silent. In truth, he had thought of these things before speaking to Landen, but he still wanted to try.

The current Landen was too dangerous. His actions were digging a grave for the family, and his ideas were nothing short of heretical. In the thousand years since the era of the God Emperor, it wasn't as if no one had thought of recruiting barbarians or extensively training non-magic users, but without the protection of a great family or a legendary powerhouse, such behavior would inevitably invite the hostility of other great families.

What Albert couldn't figure out now was what exactly was backing Landen. Was it a legendary-tier or even a classical demigod aspiring to unify the barbarians? Or perhaps an ancestor of the Gallop Family who had faded into the Magic Web? Or was it the Tower of Purity school in the Imperial Capital? Albert didn't know, so he decided to test Landen once more to see what he truly cared about.

"Since we still have to roam across the entire plains, what effect can teaching the children in such a stop-and-start manner really have?"

Landen pointed to one of the children in the distance. "The first child of a tanner in the Left Camp is called Little Knife Handle. I remember when I first saw him, his little face was sallow, and he couldn't even finish a complete sentence. The old tanner was responsible for maintaining the cavalry's leather armor every day, while Little Knife Handle was left with nothing to do but pee and play in the mud."

Landen looked at Albert and said very earnestly, "For Little Knife Handle, the meaning of education lies in realizing the greater possibilities of life. For me, it lies in cultivating the subjects I need. I want the children to know that their lives aren't just the sand beneath their feet; they can learn planting, animal husbandry, weaving, and music. If they learn to read, they can see a larger world, more possibilities, and a broader horizon in books. For the children, isn't that a good thing?"

"But... how does this concern you? You are their lord; shouldn't you be focusing on your rank, your family, and your territory?" Albert was somewhat confused. He had expected Landen to say the Gallop Family needed talent, or that the Gallop Plains were waiting to be reclaimed, or that the commoner class needed more resources. But Landen had chosen an angle he hadn't considered: the perspective of the individual subject.

"Aren't these things the same? I must develop; the development of the family and the development of the territory are one and the same. Look, when we first entered the Gallop Plains, we faced food shortages and the danger of barbarian raids; just surviving was a problem. Now we have everything. I have rune armor, my own knights, large tents, herds of Black-Scaled Horses, and vast flocks of Long-Haired Sheep. Before, I needed them to follow me so they wouldn't fall behind during the migration. Now, I need them to help me raise horses, skin hides, and make sausages. In the future, I will need them to make pottery, woodwork, and ironware. I can offer them the expectation of a better life, and I need them to possess more skills. They are a part of my territory, so naturally, I will care about them."

"You could let Mevenan handle these things. You could tell him what you want, let him do it for you, or you could let me handle it."

"..." Landen said nothing, but he thought to himself: Don't be ridiculous. The moment I find Hark and the others, you two will take the people and leave with them. Besides, you two manage things too crudely. Mevenan can only manage the hundred or so people in the castle, and you can only manage the magic users. You haven't even figured out how many Black-Scaled Horses or gold coins are in the Gallop Barony. How could I hand over the 570 people of the Left Camp to you?

"How many Black-Scaled Horses do we have?" Landen asked.

"What?"

"When we left the territory, every magic user had a Black-Scaled Horse, totaling 20. Now, after all the battles we've fought, how many Black-Scaled Horses do we have?"

"Th-this, you'll have to ask the groom about that."

"There are 101 horses in total. 81 of them were newly acquired after our recent battles. Among these 81, 35 are foals born just this year, unfit for riding, and there are over 40 older stallions or mares.

Our territory also has 240 pack animals, and we originally had around 650 Long-Haired Sheep, though now only 550 remain.

Furthermore, our grain supply will last for about a month. If we cannot secure a large quantity of grain after that, we will have to consume more of the Long-Haired Sheep.

The remaining pig iron is enough to reshoe all our Black-Scaled Horses two or three times, but if we go beyond two months, the combat effectiveness of our Black-Scaled Horses will decline."

"You..." Albert could not imagine how Landen knew more about the territory than the steward.

"You are not sensitive enough to the numbers or the territory, and my requirements for my subordinates are higher than those of other lords," Landen said with a firm expression.

Albert looked at Landen, his heart sinking into an abyss, for he had never heard such a statement before, nor had he seen any other knight-lord in the Dragon Kingdom pay such close attention to the specific wealth within their territory.

And now, the man before him no longer held the slightest reverence for the aristocratic system that had stood for thousands of years.