He's About to Be a Father

Harrot had expected to join Marcus on a trip to the Elf Forest to see the famous Elves firsthand, but Marcus didn't take him!

"You're really good at training your subordinates! Those five squires are almost as strong as my other knights!"

"I heard that Sun Priests can strengthen their subordinates, allowing commoners to become Sun Knights comparable to bloodline nobles. You also have that potential! It seems that test was inaccurate; it said you had no chance of becoming a Sun Priest, which is ridiculous. After the pioneering effort is over, you should go to the Sun Temple and check it out!"

"For now, focus on training soldiers. Also, you did very well in this pioneering effort, so as a reward, you can pick 5 more people from my troops to be your squires!"

Marcus had Harrot's schedule all laid out in a few sentences. There was nothing Harrot could do but stay in the Eastern Province to train soldiers, and he recruited 5 more New Northern Adventurers.

After killing a large number of Centaurs, Harrot leveled up again to Lv9. With the skill points and attribute points he had saved, Harrot thought for a moment and added one level to Leadership and one to Trainer.

Leadership increased his troop limit to 20 people, and he clearly felt his subordinates looking at him with greater admiration and respect.

Trainer allowed him to gain experience for his subordinates when sparring with them and greatly increased the efficiency of teaching them skills.

With Marcus away, Harrot was once again the highest authority, and the other knights handled the complicated chores, leaving him to simply manage the army.

Thus, during the more than month-long lull when the Pioneering Alliance was seeking aid and gathering forces, Harrot lived a leisurely life, training soldiers during the day and "training" beautiful maids and Sihrulu at night.

"This is delicious, Hill, get me another honey fruit!" Harrot lay on a rocking chair, enjoying the maid's service after a hard-fought victory against The Bald Man.

Hill was the beautiful maid, and the other two maids had been trained by Harrot to be Lucanir Rangers, responsible for protecting Sihrulu.

Lucanir Rangers are the ultimate soldiers, upgraded from Lucanir Recruits to Lucanir Skirmishers and then again. They have 16 Strength and 15 Agility, and their combat power is no less than that of his squires. Harrot spent three or four hours every day for a month training these two maids to promote them to Rangers.

As for why he sent them to protect Sihrulu, it was because Sihrulu was pregnant!

Harrot was full of vigor and hadn't taken any precautions, so Sihrulu's pregnancy was quite normal. It's common in this world for 16-year-old women to marry and have children, but upon hearing the news, Harrot suddenly felt a much heavier burden on his shoulders.

Now he wasn't alone; he had Marcus above him to whom he owed loyalty, subordinates below him to manage, and, most importantly, a child and a wife.

He had now recruited a full 20 soldiers, in addition to his 10 squires and 3 maids, he also had 7 new servants.

All 10 squires were Northern Knight Squires. Originally, if Harrot had trained them with all his might, he might have had a chance to get one or two Northern Rogue Knights, but unfortunately, he spent his time cultivating those two Rangers.

The other seven servants were Lucanir Infantry, with average strength comparable to ordinary soldiers. The Lucanir Imperial Guard, which they would become after another upgrade, would be very strong, but Harrot didn't have that much time.

He couldn't slack off on the task Marcus had given him either. Every day, he and The Bald Man had to teach the ordinary soldiers how to deal with monsters like Centaurs, as these soldiers had only been trained to fight humanoid creatures before.

The Bald Man, who had given his all and still lost to Harrot, felt a bit conflicted. Looking at Harrot being fed by the maid, he sighed and said, "You've finally surpassed me! How do you train? We're always together, and I haven't seen you do any special training!"

Harrot knew The Bald Man also yearned to become stronger, but he himself became strong through the System, and The Bald Man didn't meet the conditions to be a member of his troop, so he couldn't recruit him. He could only vaguely dismiss him, saying, "I'm young and talented. You're older, so your potential isn't as good as mine!"

The Bald Man looked at Harrot suspiciously and asked, "Are you secretly practicing at night? Could Marquis Prague be secretly training you?"

Harrot was stunned and spat out what was in his mouth. He replied helplessly, "I'm very 'busy' at night, how could I have time to secretly train? If you don't believe me, ask Hill. And look, Sihrulu is having my child!"

The Bald Man thought about it and concluded that Harrot was indeed exceptionally talented. Harrot also wanted to complain, Marquis Prague? What kind of person is he? Marcus might not even have the face to invite him, so how could he secretly train me? Why does The Bald Man's thought process seem a bit off?

Just then, a soldier rushed over and reported to Harrot and The Bald Man, "Lord Marcus is back, and he's brought the Elves!"

Harrot and The Bald Man exchanged glances and quickly stopped resting to greet Marcus.

Marquis Prague's Dwarf reinforcements had arrived, and other nobles had also purchased a large amount of supplies and equipment from the other two human kingdoms. The 300 Magical Warhorses supplied by the Kingdom of Qiat were also in place, and Grand Duke Lance and Marquis Prague had begun coordinated combat training.

Except for Marcus, who had gone to the Elf Forest for aid, it could be said that the Pioneering Alliance was fully prepared. Now that Marcus had successfully brought the Elves, all personnel were assembled, and the second pioneering operation was about to begin!

Many nobles and knights eagerly came to the edge of the territory to welcome Marcus and the Elves. The group was not large, totaling less than 100 people.

Marcus was still as handsome and extraordinary as ever; even surrounded by charismatic Elves, his presence didn't diminish. However, the focus of everyone's attention wasn't Marcus, but the leading Elf!

Elves generally have golden hair and tall builds, but this leader was different: white-haired and short. Most importantly, he wasn't riding a mount but was moving with the group, floating in the air with crossed legs!

Grand Duke Lance, with his rich experience, recognized this Elf at a glance and blurted out, "Archmage Iltiran!"

The Elf leader heard Grand Duke Lance's shout, turned to look at him, and after observing for a few seconds, said, "You're Lance! You've grown so much? I remember you were still a hot-headed young man the last time we met!"

Grand Duke Lance felt a bit helpless. He was quite old himself; at over 150 years old, he was definitely an ancient relic in the human world, but compared to Elves, whose lifespans exceed 1000 years, it was nothing.

The Elf leader and Grand Duke Lance knew each other, and the other Elves were also curious about humans, so everyone entered the castle for a banquet. The Dwarves had already impatiently started drinking.

Marcus then quietly explained to The Bald Man and Harrot, two less experienced knights, "Archmage Iltiran, after humans were defeated by Orcs over 400 years ago, he helped humans establish nations and resist the Orc pursuit. Every 10 years, the three kingdoms, including the Kingdom of Lucanir, send envoys to the Elf Forest to deliver gifts as thanks."

"It's called thanks, but in reality, they just want to build good relations. Iltiran was already a legendary-level powerhouse 400 years ago and could use several types of Magic that were considered cataclysms. He's much stronger than ordinary legendary powerhouses!"

As Harrot listened to this introduction, he felt as if a legendary figure from a book had stepped out. Okay, this has that fantasy world feel!

"Sir, how did you manage to invite such a legend? Is that Sun Orb really that valuable?" Harrot himself also had a Sun Orb, and his eyes widened. Could this thing be some kind of heaven-defying divine artifact?

Marcus shook his head and said, "I don't have that ability. Sun Orbs are produced after every Sun Priest dies. On average, the three human kingdoms together produce one Sun Priest every ten years."

"Over these past few centuries, there's been a stock of over a dozen Sun Orbs. This thing isn't enough to impress a legendary Archmage! I originally intended to invite an Elf who had some connection with my ancestor Elvin, but I didn't expect the Archmage to proactively offer to come!"

"He seems to be researching something that requires the heart of a legendary creature. Legendary creatures are rare and exceptionally powerful; even the Archmage has searched for a long time without success."

"It just so happened that he learned that the Centaur leader in the East was legendary-level, so he offered to help us deal with the Centaurs in exchange for the Centaur leader's heart and a Sun Orb!"

After hearing Marcus's words, Harrot was both disappointed and relieved. Disappointment came from learning that the Sun Orb wasn't as valuable as he thought; the three kingdoms combined had a stock of over a dozen. He had never heard of any divine artifact being mass-produced.

Relief, however, came from a great increase in confidence for the pioneering effort: three legendary powerhouses! One of them was an Elf Mage who surpassed ordinary legendary figures!

The banquet was held in a large outdoor plaza, accommodating over two thousand people, all of whom were elite troops for the upcoming pioneering effort.

One thousand of them were elite Dwarf warriors, each a top-notch fighter, no less powerful than an extraordinary knight.

Dwarves average 1.5 meters in height and weigh 200 jin (100 kg). Their physical condition is excellent, making them one of the few races capable of confronting Orcs head-on. Although they lack mystical powers like "rage" or "qi," Dwarves possess the best forging technology on the continent, and their equipment is exceptionally refined!

This time, the Dwarf Kingdom sent over 800 heavily armored Dwarf warriors and over 200 Bear Cavalry as support to obtain minerals from the Eastern lands. Their leader was a Giant Dwarf whose strength was close to legendary!

Giant Dwarves are human tanks, 2 meters tall and weighing 500 jin, who have activated ancient bloodlines. They are a mutated dwarf species capable of pulverizing Trolls in close-quarters combat.

Giant Dwarves also possess a transformation ability called "Divine Descent," which allows them to temporarily enhance themselves and gain legendary-level combat power. In simple terms, they can be considered half-legendary powerhouses.

There are very few Elves, fewer than 100 in total. Apart from the Archmage, all the Elves are young newborns, curious about the outside world and venturing out to see it. Their strength isn't particularly high; more than half of them haven't even learned Magic yet.

The top combat strength for this pioneering effort consists of 3.5 legendary powerhouses. The high-end combat strength includes over 1,000 Dwarf warriors, 25 nobles, and their more than 200 knights.

The main force is comprised of 8,000 elite human soldiers, 20,000 regular soldiers, and 50,000 auxiliary miscellaneous troops! This is almost the entire combat strength of all the nobles in the Pioneering Alliance. The entire Eastern Province only has a population of one million, and the productivity of this era is underdeveloped, making it very difficult to support so many soldiers.

If they absolutely had to, they could recruit more soldiers, potentially raising hundreds of thousands of militia. However, fighting the Centaurs would be extremely difficult.

It's hard to say how useful farmers and hunters, who have only been trained for a few days, would be. The new territory, once pioneered, would need a large population, so minimizing losses was paramount, which is why no militia were conscripted.