Army

After the warrior division, the tribe established an "army" composed entirely of full-time warriors. But its numbers were small—only 125 members at most.

Though Blade Tusk had been no military theorist in his previous life, the advanced internet society had provided him with plenty of fragmented bits and pieces of knowledge.

That knowledge might not have formed a system, and it might have been far from complete, but it was still better than what these primitive commune natives possessed. It was enough to support the basic training of such a small force.

So, blending together what he knew with things he had imagined and conjectured, he drafted an organizational structure and training methods for the tribe that looked fairly convincing.

In terms of organization, five warriors formed a "squad," and from among themselves they elected a Troll to serve as "squad leader." This counted as the most basic combat unit;

Five squads then combined into a company, with the squad leaders electing a "company commander" from among themselves;

Further up, the plan was for five companies to form a battalion, whose leader would be called a "centurion."

At present, the squads and companies had basically taken shape and begun joint training;

But the higher-level "battalion" had yet to undergo formal organization, so the position of "centurion" was naturally out of the question.

The reason was that, in theory, a centurion needed to shoulder command duties far beyond those of a squad leader or company commander. It was not a role someone could fill so simply.

Thus, the exact method of appointment left Blade Tusk hesitant.

Should it be like the squad leaders and company commanders, elected internally by the army's lower ranks?

Or should it be appointed directly by the higher-ups?

Or should internal election and superior approval proceed side by side?

Still, there was no rush to decide. The tribe only had the framework for a single battalion anyway, so they could train first and worry about it later.

Having covered organization, it was time to discuss weapons.

Every warrior received a square Steelwood greatshield fully three centimeters thick, broad enough to nearly cover an adult Troll;

In addition, they were issued eight heavy throwing spears as secondary weapons, each as thick as a wrist and more than two meters long;

Their primary weapon was a Steelwood greatsword one and a half meters in length.

Blade Tusk had originally proposed axes, spears, sabers, and other primary weapons as well, but they were gradually discarded in later practice.

It was not that they were ineffective. Rather, with the Armament Tree's output severely insufficient, the more versatile greatsword became the most suitable choice.

Thus, the combination of greatshield, heavy throwing spears, and greatsword became the standard equipment for warriors.

As for the weapon materials, Steelwood was somewhat lighter than the steel of his previous life, but the full set was still absolutely not light;

It was only thanks to the warriors all being brawny men and women nearly three meters tall that they could be armed at all.

As for training methods, because Blade Tusk initially knew little about battle formations, he had simply copied the university military training regimen based on considerations of "obedience" and "cohesion"—drills, barracks upkeep, and the like.

Overall, the results were fairly good. It greatly reined in their formerly excessive freedom.

Training in battle formations only began to be gradually tested and refined after the weapon combination and organizational structure had been decided.

In summary, although Blade Tusk had always participated in "army" affairs to some extent, he had mostly used his nominal positions in the Training Committee and the Witch-War Integration Committee to carry out broad, high-level development far removed from the rank and file.

But that changed after the duel in which he subdued Moose that day. His interest clearly shifted somewhat toward the "army."

After that, Blade Tusk went to the warriors' training grounds almost every few days.

There, he tried picking up shields and spears alongside the warriors to practice battle formations, and he dueled them during breaks in training.

Of course, he never used magic in duels with the warriors;

But even so, relying on his already outstanding physical qualities, he earned himself the title of "brave warrior," and took immense pride in it.

During training, he first took the place of an ordinary warrior, intending to understand things from the most basic level.

Training for ranged combat was relatively simple.

From how to raise a shield to how to advance in formation;

From halting to ready their spears, to throwing them in successive volleys;

The difficult part was perhaps mastering the accuracy of the throwing spears.

But Trolls seemed gifted in that regard. After twenty or thirty attempts, even Blade Tusk, who had never received relevant training, could throw one with a decent semblance of skill.

The following close-combat portion was considerably more troublesome.

From engaging the enemy with shield in hand, to resisting impact, to launching attacks, every aspect came with its own difficulties.

Blade Tusk took a long time to adapt before he initially learned how to attack forward through gaps between the greatshields without hindering the comrades around him or being hindered by them.

Though he had only "initially learned" it, a mere "private" would never be Blade Tusk's position on the battlefield. Learning this much was enough for him.

His contact with these things was only meant to give him a better understanding of how battle formations operated at the grassroots level. He had no real intention of becoming a seasoned veteran.

So next, he conducted several exercises in the respective roles of squad leader and company commander, gradually familiarizing himself with each position's battlefield responsibilities;

Finally, he also tried taking on the envisioned command role of centurion, learning to operate battle formations and the army from the perspective of the whole.

After all that tossing about, he could say he was quite satisfied overall.

Perhaps this organizational form would seem rigid and inefficient when it came to hunting, but the "army's" hypothetical enemies had never been prey. They were Trolls from other tribes.

He believed that when those hostile Trolls, scattered like loose sand, faced their own orderly ranks and fine weapons, they would surely meet with destruction as devastating as withered branches before a gale.

Now, only one problem remained. There were too few of them—far too few.

But with the tribe's current food supply capacity, this was already the absolute limit;

To go any further, they needed more surplus food—and surplus food was tied to productivity.

At present, when the output of Fruit Trees and animal husbandry was still insufficient to replace hunting, the best way to increase productivity was undoubtedly to expand the "population."

On further thought, the current "population" issue had practically begun to restrict the tribe's development in every aspect.

Whether it was expanding the army's numbers or increasing the number of Witch Doctors, progress had been slowed by the "population."

Yet the Trolls' less-than-outstanding fertility meant that natural population growth could no longer keep pace with the tribe's advance.

That being the case, replenishing the "population" from outside became the only solution.

Although Blade Tusk had always kept words like "conquest" and "expansion" on his lips before, making it seem as though he were about to set out on a campaign at any moment.

Whenever such thoughts arose, however, he would always think, I should prepare a little more thoroughly.

As a result, after all these years, the tribe had practically not moved an inch in that regard.

Only when the bottleneck was truly laid before him did Blade Tusk realize that "preparation" would never reach the point of being "most thorough."

The time had come when action had to begin.

I couldn't sleep tonight, so I simply got up to write.

I'm going to sleep after posting this chapter. The second update will probably be in the afternoon.

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